Our 16th Anniversary

We celebrated our 16th Anniversary with a trip to Yosemite for two nights (July 8-10). It was just the two of us so it was such a treat. Lloyd and I both love being outdoors and with Yosemite practically being in our backyard we couldn't have picked a better place.
We got around the valley on our mountain bikes. It was a lot more fun than taking the shuttle. The first night we got there we had a beautiful ride at dusk, unfortunately that was the time when all the mosquitoes came out too!
We had a little canvas tent cabin in Curry Village. It wasn't real fancy, but you can't beat the location - right on the valley floor!

Our wedding day was 7-09-94. We thought it was very ironic that our cabin was #7-09. It was meant to be for our anniversary!

My best souvenir was this little towel from the pool. The attendant said I could keep it. I just love it because it's the perfect size for spin class!

The highlight of our trip was floating down the Merced River. It was so peaceful! I loved letting the river pull me along as I enjoyed the gorgeous views of Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, and all the beauty of Yosemite. Our only complaint was that our river trip was too short - less than an hour of floating and then the river is blocked off. I could have been on that river for hours!
You can see upper Yosemite Falls in the background!

We are so glad we brought our own boat. We didn't want to rent one for such a short trip!

Relaxing by the pool (without any kids) was heavenly!

On our final day of the trip (and Lloyd's birthday) we hiked to the top of upper Yosemite Falls. Here we are at Columbia Rock. The view was breathtaking! Here's Lloyd next to the falls on the way up the trail.
Here's the view of the valley floor once we reached the top of the falls...

...and here's the top of the falls!

Glad to have reached the top - hold on! The foot bridge over the falls was a cute little bridge.

We hiked a bit more to Yosemite Point. A nice man took this photo of us with Half Dome in the background. It was a strenuous hike. First it was all uphill and then, on the way back, it was all downhill. The downhill is actually a lot harder for me. We've done Half Dome the past two years so it was fun to do something different!

After the hike we celebrated Lloyd's birthday at Claim Jumpers, our favorite!

The kids sang "Happy Birthday" to their Dad and enjoyed his favorite birthday cake - an apple pie. We were so grateful to Bryce and Chareen for watching the kids. It was a perfect anniversary and birthday celebration for me and Lloyd.

Conner's Swim Lessons

This was Conner's first year of swimming lessons (June 21-30). It was quite an experience! On the first day he HATED it! He wanted me to hold him and didn't want anything to do with the water. I literally had to sit by the edge of the pool and force him to stay there. I really felt like he was the "problem child" and I got several sympathetic looks from parents! The next day was a little better, but not by much. When the teacher asked all the kids to put their face in the water and blow bubbles, Conner emphatically said, "I NOT blow bubbles!" The swimming lessons were for two weeks and every day he improved a little more and cried a little less. I took all of these photos on his last day. I was so proud of the progress he made. We'll see how next year goes!

He finally agreed to blow bubbles. He was so proud of himself!

His teacher was very patient!

I adore his smile!

He loved grabbing his fish ring!

This took a lot of courage for him!

I love my little swimmer. I think he's a real cutie!

Eclipse

Yes, I did it again! I went to the Midnight Showing on another Twilight movie. The third movie, Eclipse, came out at midnight on June 30. So we headed to the theater late on June 29. It was really crowded with lots of Twilight fans! Katelyn got to come along this year with her friends Brianna and Caslynn. I had fun hanging out with their moms! I think we all agreed this was the best Twilight movie so far (and I didn't hear many complaints about Taylor Lautner having his shirt off for most of the movie). The Twilight midnight showings has become a tradition for me. I guess I'll have to continue it with the fourth and fifth installments!

Serpentarium

On June 26 we took a little field trip to the Serpentarium in Stockton which is a living reptile museum. We got to see tons of reptiles - snakes, turtles, lizards, iguanas, etc. We also saw several insects, frogs, and snake eggs about to hatch. The highlight of our trip was seeing a live feeding - it was truly amazing to see how quickly the live mouse was snatched up by the reptile!

All of us, except for Conner thought the animals were pretty interesting. It is amazing how many different creatures there are here on earth!Cameron

Kylie

Kristi Lloyd

and Conner not looking too thrilled!

We were glad we could shared this fun trip with the Haslem, Lees, Boyds, and Counters!

Camping with Grandpa

Lloyd's dad came out for his annual trip from Utah. We are always so excited to see him and appreciate his visits. We decided to go camping and take him to
Yosemite this year. Our trip was June 27-29.
We had fun at the Visitors Center and exploring the park by riding the shuttle.

We also enjoyed a picnic lunch while we soaked in the beauty of Yosemite.
The camping at Yosemite Pines was really fun too! Grandpa even brought us a new tent. We were shocked when the sprinklers came on in the middle in the night! We enjoyed being together, cooking out, playing on the playground, and swimming in the pool. It was a great trip with Grandpa!

Half Dome Midnight Hike

Lloyd hiked Half Dome for the fifth time on June 21. He went with three other guys from our ward- Ben, Roy, and Jonathan.They started at 10 pm and reached the top at sunrise.
Here's a photo of the long climb up the cables to reach the top of Half Dome. It's an exciting and daring trip!
He made it! Now it's time to relax and enjoy the sunrise.

It's a long and scary drop down from the diving board. Nothing can really compare to the exhilarating feeling at the top of Half Dome. Lloyd loves it, but would like to try something different now. He'll be climbing Mount Whitney at the end of August. Keep it up, Lloyd!

Rancho Seco Camping and Triathlon

On June 4-5 we went camping at Rancho Seco and I did my first triathlon of the season. I loved having my whole family there to cheer me on.
It was a sprint distance - a half mile swim, 16 miles on the bike. and a 3 mile run. It was still a challenge. I am gearing up to do a half ironman triathlon at the of the summer. This was good training in preparation for my big race!
The kids and Lloyd enjoyed playing on the beach and swimming in the lake. The water was actually really warm! It was so fun to camp out and be together as a family. In fact, we loved it so much we are going camping at Rancho Seco four different times this year!