Hatch

 Courtney, Hayley, and Kooper decided to go to the Larsen's cabin in Hatch for the weekend.  They had a carriage ride, rode 4 wheelers, played in the rain, hiked in Bryce Canyon, and then they came back to Ivins to swim in the Larsen's pool, watch movies, and sleep at their house.

They are fun girls and had a great time together on their "getaway."

Braces are off!

Courtney got her braces off!  She was so excited.  Since she is missing teeth, we had to go buy some new ones that they could glue to the teeth next to them so her smile wouldn't have gaps in it.  We could have gotten her a retainer that she could take in and out that had the teeth attached, but the orthodontist prefers to have the teeth glued in because it looks nicer.

The bottom ones were off before I thought to take a "before" picture.  So this is partway through them taking the braces off:

The braces are off and you can see the holes.

She's done!!

Can you tell how happy she is to have her braces off?!

Courtney has been craving Dots for as long as she had her braces on.  I think she cheated once and ate one but she was so nervous to break a bracket that she didn't dare again.  The first stop we made was to Lins so she could buy a huge box of Dots!  

The orthodontist gave her a bin of contraband candy that she can now eat. She got soda pop, pop rocks, blow pops, etc.  She was in heaven.

People say that, without the braces, Courtney looks a lot like Ethan.  I did a side-by-side to see what I think.  Courtney doesn't see it but I do.  You can tell they are siblings.

The orthodontist gave Courtney a retainer to wear at night.  Because of her fake teeth, they gave her a thicker one than usual so it's like sleeping with a mouth guard in.  

Pack Family Reunion

 July 6-10, Pack Family Reunion, Royal Gorge, Canon City, Colorado

We left on Monday to drive to Colorado.  It was a long drive but we had Courtney to take a turn driving.  She was thrilled!

By luck, we met up with Andrew and David on the way so we were able to caravan with them through Colorado.  It was fun to leapfrog with them all the way to the KOA.  We arrived later than we had expected but we got all unpacked and then went to bed.

It was a great KOA and we stayed in a cabin with a bathroom/shower.  It was a nice facility.

The next morning, we got up, ate breakfast, took family pictures, and went to the Royal Gorge Bridge. 

We rode the gondola across the gorge, Courtney rode the zipline, and we explored.  There were a ton of people and it was pretty hot but the view was gorgeous.  

It was a long way down!

That's Courtney on the right in the center (on the zipline):

The next day (the 8th) a group went to Great Sand Dune National Park to do some sand surfing.  Courtney and Bryan had a great time!

When the sand surfers got back, we loaded up and went to Centennial Park in Canon City.  It was SO COOL!!  They have a river with small rapids that runs through the city.  All along the riverbank, they have stations with life jackets that are free to use and cemented pull-out locations with stairs and stuff.  We put on the life jackets, got into the river, and would float down to the out-take point.  We had a BLAST!!!  We spent a long time there and could have stayed for longer but it was getting late.  The park was so much fun!!

That night, Andrea taught us how to paint a self-portrait.  She is an amazing teacher because they turned out really well.

The next day we went river rafting.  That also was SO FUN!

We got to get out and jump from a rock into the river.  The water was cold but we were so hot that it was refreshing.  We had water fights with the other boats and had a lot of fun!

Bryan was bitten by the river shark:

It really was a rock that he fell on in the water, but we told Tyler it was a river shark.  ;)  We told him the truth but the cut was really gnarly.

It was a great reunion hanging out with family and playing.

She didn't want to take a picture ;)

Exhausted!  That means she was having a great time!

Courtney got to hold her baby cousin, Johnathan.  

We drove home on Saturday.  It was such a fun week with a great family!

July concert

There is always a 4th of July concert at Dixie State.  This year there was an artist (Russell Dickerson) that Courtney really likes so she really wanted to go.  Because the 4th is a Sunday, they had the concert on Saturday night.  Courtney was in heaven!  It was super hot but we were able to get seats in the shade so it wasn't too terrible.  

The seas were first come-first served.  Many people brought blankets and set up on the turf of the field but we decided to go to the seats of the stadium where there were back on chairs and shade.  I was amazed at how much room we had around us during the concert.  It definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

The opening act wasn't that great but the main act made up for it.  Before the main act started, Bryan took Courtney to buy a t-shirt and she was in heaven.  

Courtney enjoys my struggle to take selfies, as you can see.

There they go to buy a shirt, can you see them?

After the concert was finished, they had fireworks which were synchronized with music.  It was really cool.  We were high in the stands so we got a good view of the explosions.  

It took a while to get out of the parking lot but we finally made it home.  It was a great family activity.

Family Date Night

We decided to do something as a family as a "date night."  We chose to go bowling at Dixie Bowl because we had a coupon so it was really cheap.  There weren't too many other people there so we had a lot of space.

Bryan won, as he usually does, and Courtney and I tried to keep up.  We played 2 games and had a great time!