Antelope Island

I have been wanting to take the girls to the Great Salt Lake for a long time.  I was 50/50 on whether or not I wanted to go this past weekend.  Then I found out that they were having a little festival out on the island, and that sealed the deal for me.  And bonus....they had a place to do horse-back riding.

This was our first glimpse of the bison.  

Then we found some closer to the road.

 Then they had to cross the road....

 Then we got to the ranch, and our guide (DJ) got our horses saddled up.  This is Dom's horse.  His name is Maverick because he was in the Mel Gibson movie with the same name.

This is Elle on Navajo.  He was in the movie Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

We took a 90 minute ride up the trail.  It took us a bit to get adjusted to our horses, but once the girls got the hang of it, it was just a lot of fun! 

I have about 15 pictures that look like this.  Can I tell you that the ride would have been much more enjoyable if I had not been lugging my big old camera.

This was the pinnacle (literally) of our ride.  It's difficult to tell, bu the view is really, really awesome.  When we went down the hill, DJ told Dom and Elle to lean back, and use the stirrups to balance and hold on to the reigns.  Dom was holding on for dear life, and he had the reigns too tight.  She said, "Why won't he go?"  I said, "Do you have the reigns pulled back so he thinks you should be stopped?"  She said, "Oh....that."

All along the way there were thousands and thousands of beautiful sunflowers.  It was SO picturesque!

After our ride, we went to the other side of the island and took pictures along the way.

And more bison....

And more sunflowers.....

Then we went to the Stampede Festival and ate some carb-loaded, fried food.  The girls really wanted to dip their toes in the Great Salt Lake.

On the way to "the beach," we saw a few of the balloons that flew that evening.  

This is one of my favorite pictures....

We got to the west side of the island as the sun was going down.  I haven't altered any of these pictures...

Here they are....as the sun is going down...in the Great Salt Lake.  They are probably about 1/4 mile away from where I'm standing.  

I love this picture.

I love living in Utah; it is so unbelievably beautiful!  This whole state is a testament to God's great creations!

She has an old soul....

On June 27th, Layla Rae Davis was born.  What a day!  On Sunday night, Elise and Bradley had been over for dinner.  At about 9:30 PM ALL of the girls (Mariah, Elle and Dominique) wanted to go sleep over with Bradley and Elise.  Poor Elise never did go to sleep that night.  She started having contractions, and she went into the hospital in the wee small hours of the morning.  Later that morning, Dean went to pick the girls up and took Mariah up to the hospital to wait.

I think I had 6 meetings that day.  I started moving meetings off of my calendar because I knew that this was the day that the baby would be born.  Mercifully, I was home that day (not traveling). 

After a long day, the doctor decided that there were some questions about the baby's condition and that it was safest to take her c-section.  Dominique and I were at Harmon's getting cake, cupcakes, flowers...and all of that stuff when we got the call from Bradley.  We started making calls and hustling as quickly as we could out of there.  Dominique, Elle and I arrived with goodies in hand to the waiting room.  Less than 10 minutes later, we were able to see Layla for the very first time through the window of the nursery.

She is a BEAUTIFUL baby girl.  She weighted only 5 pounds, 4 oz, and she was 18 1/2 inches long.  Did I mention how beautiful she is?  Wow!  What a little blessing.

Here are a few pictures either taken on the day of her birth or within the first 24 hours.  Did I mention that she has an old soul?  This is only my opinion, of course, but the first time I held her, I thought that.  I still do.  I love to hold her and look at her.  She's a wiggler when she's awake.  She's a beauty when she's sleeping...but then again...I'm kind of biased!

Can you tell how much we all lover her??? 

Surfer Girl

Last Saturday, Mariah and I were in San Diego, and we headed to the beach for lunch.  Mariah was instantly enamoured with the beach.  She decided that she really wanted to surf, and so she did.

 Her instructor was Charlie, and he was great!

 All lessons start on dry ground.

 Photo op while still dry.  The pier makes a great backdrop.

 Mariah and Charlie

 Going in!

That girl got up on her very first try...which is unbelievable.  The next several pictures are a play-by-play of that first time up on the board!

 Notice that HUGE smile! 

 Most of the 90 minute lesson looked like the next three pictures...a great attempt to get on the board and "something happened."  She *really* wanted to get on that board, and she used all of her athleticism to try and get up as often as she could.

On this turn, the board clonked her in the head.  That couldn't have felt good!

 So, they got out of the water and moved down several yards to find some waves that were a bit more tame.

Charlie watching the waves to find her a good one...usually then he would "push" her into the wave so she didn't have to paddle too much.

This next series is one of those "nearly got up on the board" times.  Me and the photographer were on the shore cheering her on!

You me here in the background say, "Oh, shoot."  I was pulling for her every time she tried to get up on the board.  I knew it was hard, and I knew that she was getting tired.

Cool shot with birds in the background.

This next series is her second time up on the board!!!!!!

...and I caught it on video.....

And she ended on a great note with one final time up on the board...

She absolutely loved this experience!  She said again and again that it was her favorite part of the weekend.  I have a feeling this won't be her last time surfing.