Arizona

Two days after getting home from Wyoming, the kids and I took off again.  This time we were headed to Sierra Vista, Arizona for my niece, Keesa's, wedding.  We drove up to Salt Lake the night before our early morning flight and stayed the night with Darin.  We had fun that evening going out to eat with Darin and then going to a fun frozen yogurt place where you add your own toppings.  The kids loved it, and so did I!
I was a little nervous about handling the airport and boarding the plane by myself with the kids.  Haylie was extremely nervous about flying so I was afraid she was going to throw a big fit when I tried to get her on the plane.  We had talked about it with her tons of times so I think she knew that she had to get on, there was no other choice.  Both kids were fantastic!  We met up with my brother, Ryan, on our connecting flight in Denver and Zander made a friend for life when Ryan pulled out some Legos!  They are now seasoned flyers and can't wait for another chance to do it.
While we were in Arizona, Zander became his cousin Devin's shadow.  It was fun for them to spend some time with our family in Arizona.  It was also exciting to be there for Keesa's wedding.  The ceremony in the Gila Valley temple was beautiful and so was the backyard reception.  It was a little frustrating to set it up since the wind was undoing things as fast as we could do them.  It turned out to be a great night though.  I was glad I went and missed Dave, who flew to Orlando for training a couple of days after we left for Arizona.

Ready for take off!!  Zander with a huge smile and Haylie forcing a little grin.

All of the worker bees getting ready for the reception.

Keesa with her dad, my brother in law J.D.

Keesa and J.D., Louis (the groom) and his mom

Devin and Zander bonding over some Plants vs. Zombies.

Gram Holzer's Memorial Service

On Monday, June 17th, a memorial service was held for Sally Ann Holzer, Dave's paternal grandmother.  It was held under the direction of Pastor Paula, the pastor of the church that Gram attended.  Pastor Paula said a few words, as well as Dave.  It was a nice service and it was good to finally have Gram's ashes buried.  After the service, Dave and Lyman Sibbett (a good friend to Gram and one of Dave's old high school teachers) dedicated the grave.  It was good to be there for Gram at this special time.  It was also a great chance to get to know the Holzer side of the family better.

Yellowstone

This summer was a busy summer of traveling and the first big trip that we went on was to Cowley, in Northern Wyoming.  A memorial service for Dave's grandma, Sally Holzer, was scheduled during our visit.  Dave's grandma and uncle from Pennsylvania came to Wyoming for the first time as well.  It was fun to  meet some family and take them to see some of the sights of the area.  One place we went to was Yellowstone National Park.  Dave and I have been several times but this was the first trip for the kids.  It was a LONG day of driving but we got to see some interesting sites. Next time we will plan to camp in the Park and not have so much driving to do in one day. I think the trip is best described in pictures so I will describe the pictures in the captions.

At the Park's entrance. Our family along with Alexa, our niece (Dawn's daughter)

The buffalo you would swear is a plant to excite the tourists right inside the gate.

Skipping rocks at Yellowstone Lake.  In the red is Skyler.  He is the son of Dave's Aunt Bobblie.  He is a step son to Bruce so kind of Dave's cousin.

Haylie sitting outside the Old Faithful Lodge.  The inside of this building is beautiful but there were about a million people inside trying to take pictures so I decided to not be one of them!

Old Faithful!

More buffalo.  This is about as close as you want to get when you are taking a picture with a buffalo!

Zander and the buffalo.  He was posing for Dave so that it looked like he was holding a buffalo on his hand from Dave's angle.  I will have to see if I can round up that picture.

Bowling

Haylie had a great game of bowling on a trip to the very classy bowling alley in Helper.  She beat everyone in the family!