The Many Faces of Andyloo

Have I ever mentioned that we LOVE our dog Andy? Well we do. And I take lots of pictures of her.... which is kinda dumb because she's just a dog... but she does make many different faces! Here are some examples :)

This is her "caught off-guard" look

This is her warning look... I call it the "evil eye"

This is just her normal serious face... do you like the green eyes? haha

I love this one... who couldn't love that face?! This is how she gets what she wants :)

Sometimes I could swear that our dog is depressed!! Mitch thinks that it's the Hound coming out in her, but she looks so sad sometimes. We've decided that she's maybe going through her "emo" years of being a teenager haha I hope she cheers up soon!

And this is her focused look... she kinda seems like she's ready to pounce on something :)

Obviously, we love our little Andyloo!!

Oak City Days

Another family tradition that Mitch and I went to this summer was Oak City Days. Mitch's Grandma Schmutz was raised in Oak City. She lives in St. George in the winter and Oak City in the summer. She still lives in the little house she was raised in too! I took a picture of the house, but somehow it got erased! The house in half underground, half above. When you look at it from the front, it seriously looks like someone chopped off the bottom half of the house... because all you see are some windows right above the ground, and then the roof!! It's awesome. Anyways, the city has a celebration every year which includes a parade, movies at the park, a big lunch, and a little craft fair type of thing at the park. We drove up on Friday evening after I got off work, and JUST missed the parade :( We visited with the family, ate dinner, and then drove up the canyon to set up camp. Mitch's family always camps together since the house only has two bedrooms. We roasted marshmellows and got to visit for a while before we went to bed. The next morning after we had breakfast and got ready, we went down to the park to see if there was anything we "needed" to buy at the booths. Amazingly, I refrained from spending any money. Grandma Schmutz's house is only about a block from the park (in reality, everything is a block from the park because the town is so small!!) which made it easy to walk down to the festivities about 5 different times within 2 hours. Did I mention that it's pretty small? Everybody is at the park pretty much the whole time... but there still isn't a lot to do, other than visit. It was really fun though :) Needless to say, we'll be back next year!

Some buffalo on the road up the canyon

The only store in town... which is 3 houses down from Grandma's house

I just thought this was cute :)

The booths at the park

This is in Grandma's backyard... it used to be the town post office!

We stopped at the Cheese Factory in Beaver on our way home...

And this is why!! They have some of the best ice cream!! Mitch looks like he's really concentrating huh?! haha

And he kinda looks like he's in pain in this one :) I promise that it's worth stopping for! So yummy!

Mega-Scorpion!

A few weeks ago, I was brushing my teeth before bed when I heard our dog Andy growling outside. That may not sound strange to you, but she VERY rarely growls or even barks. I asked Mitch to go outside and check on everything. A minute later, I hear Mitch run inside and yell for me to come into the yard. A little worried, I ran outside to find Mitch shining the flashlight into the lawn (just a few inches outside of Andy's dogpen). I didn't notice it at first, but suddenly I realized that there was a HUGE scorpion in the grass! Being the whimp that I am, I immediately let out a little scream and started freaking out. I've never seen one that big before... and I quite enjoyed living in the ignorant bliss of thinking that scorpions of that size didn't live around our house! Anyways, Mitch decided that he'd catch it in a jar to show off to everyone. Creepy!! Btw, Andy was trying desperately to stick her paw through the fence and catch it! Thank goodness she couldn't reach.... I'm pretty sure that scorpions aren't the best for her to be playing with!

I was thinking that comparing it to a pen would show how big it was!

It's a wonder that I can even fall asleep at night haha I honestly dream about scorpions almost every night... only they're usually even bigger than this and can jump on you and stuff. Yikes!

Gubler Family Reunion

My dad's father's side of the family has had a Gubler family reunion every year for like 50 years. So for as long as I can remember, I have spent the first weekend of August with the Gublers... usually camping in the mountains. This year was actually Mitch's second time coming to the reunion... which is quite the accomplishment! I was sure that after the first one, he'd turn and run away haha. The family is a little crazy, so the reunion is an interesting event for first-timers.... actually, they're interesting no matter how many you've been to :) Anyways, the reunion was held up on Kolob at the community center, which just so happens to be down the road from my mom's family's cabin. My immediate family and grandparents decided to stay at the cabin where we had a toilet and shower. Good choice!! The cabin isn't very big though, so Mitch and I slept in our tent out front. It was pretty stinkin cold, but it was lots of fun. It was great to see all of the extended family (even though I don't know 75% of their names or really even who they are since there's about 250 of us). We love camping and love family traditions, so it was tons of fun for me and Mitch to spend a weekend at the Gubler Reunion!

My nephews Blake and Payton on the 4-wheeler with Uncle Mitch

Our family's cabin (it's kinda hard to see) ... and that's our little tent out front... cozy huh?

This is the view from the road in front of our cabin. I love it!

Some horses we saw on our 4-wheeler ride

The reservoir was really full and beautiful like always

One of the views from our 4-wheeler ride on my grandpa's property

My cute niece Brooklyn!!

My cousin Noah was the happiest when he was just chillin on the 4-wheeler by himself :)

We would drive around every evening trying to spot deer

Lady Antebellum Concert!

On July 22nd, Mitch attended his first concert!! haha it's actually kind of a sad excuse for a first concert, but it was pretty good actually! Due West opened for one of my newest favorite bands, Lady Antebellum. The concert was held on the field of the Sunbowl here in St. George. First of all, it was INSANELY hot... so that kinda sucked. And we also didnt' realize that everyone would be sitting on the field, so we didn't bring chairs. We ended up sitting on the cement stadium seats, but it turned out to be a good spot. I hadn't heard much of Due West's music, but they were really good. Of course, I loved getting to hear Lady Antebellum play all of their fun songs, plus some others' songs! It turned out to be a really fun night!

Waiting for the concert to begin

Due West on stage

Lady Antebellum on stage

Pine Valley

A couple weeks ago, Mitch and I decided to visit Pine Valley on my day off. We went drove around for a while, then went on a hike, and then ate our picnic lunch. I had never been there before, so it was a fun little trip :)

Mitch and I on our hike

Eating our lunch... Mitch will LOVE that I put this picture on here haha

I loved this old church in Pine Valley!

I thought this was really pretty

Angel's Landing

About a month or so ago, some of my friends from work decided to go hiking in Zion's. We woke up early to try to beat the heat, and hiked up Angel's Landing. It was still pretty hot, but it's GORGEOUS up there! I did the same hike last year with my cousin, but it's still shockingly beautiful when you get to the top of the hike. Everyone should do it at least once!

On the way up...

Kaylecia, Me, Taleesa, and Jamie hiking up "Walter's Wiggles"
aka the worst switch-backs EVER!

Taleesa, Kaylecia, Jamie, Ashley, and Me

One of the views from the top