The Holmes Gang: July 2007

7/21/2007

Goodbye!

Here are some pictures from the farewell party for the Bates. It feels like everything has been changing lately and we are so sad they are gone!!...but, we wish them well and we know they will love Arizona! It's hot, but aside from the 4-6 months of crazy heat...it's a great place to live! :) Plus, we're happy that at least we'll get to see them occassionally when we are in AZ visiting my family! Love you guys!!

Koolaid smile!

Some of the girls

Daddy & his girl

Josh & Robert

Sweet Anna

Big hug for best buds!

Meredith, Carter & Chase playing outside

CUTE pics of Carter

Come back soon!

When we got back from Utah, some of Robert's family came to visit. Gerald & Kim and their kids...and Barbara, too. It was SO great to see them! Gerald & Kim got to meet Meredith for the first time and it was fun to see Meredith and Haven (their youngest) play together. They got along well...it's too bad they don't live closer!! We always love hanging out with Aunt Barbara, too! Unfortunately we only got to see her for one day, but I guess it is better than nothing!!

Barbara, Gerald & Me

Aunt Barbara & Meredith

Robert & Barbara

Haven & Meredith - so cute!

7/16/2007

Utah Tour - Summer 2007 (part 3)

Mini-roommate reunion! Here are my good friends ShawnaLee, Mary & Kiersten! It was so fun to see everyone again! Especially Mary, since I didn't expect to see her...but luckily she was in town from Washington! Laura & Kimmy...we miss you guys!

Robert flying in a paramotor with our friend's dad! This was probably Robert's favorite part of the trip!

Family Reunion - Layton, UT

Visiting the Warburton Family - Huntsville, UT

Visiting the Holman Family - Centerville, UT

On our drive home, we took a few pictures of some of the fires down in Southern Utah. We were afraid the fwy was going to get shut down, but luckily we snuck by without any problems!

7/12/2007

Utah Tour - Summer 2007 (Part 2)

Happy 4th of July! I love this country and every 4th of July I get teary thinking about how lucky we are live in this amazing, free country. I also get teary thinking about the young and old fighting to protect our freedom. I just want to publicly thank our troops for protecting this country that I love so much!

We had a very busy 4th...we started off in Provo with the Hoagland's at the parade. Then we were off to Park City to watch Russ play in a sand volleyball tournament. They came in 2nd place...go Russ! Then we went to visit Doug Holmes (Robert's cousin) in Heber. It was fun to catch up with them. Then...we were back in Provo for dinner and fireworks with the Hoagland's. Here are a few pics:

Meredith loved the floats...and really loved all of the horses!

The Russell fan-club

Fireworks!

Utah Tour - Summer 2007 (part 1)

Our first stop on our Utah trip was to meet little Sadie Rae in Provo. It was so great to finally see her in person and hold her. She is adorable...just like her parents, of course. I am so happy that Russ & Julie are going to be home in California this summer so that we can all hang out and get to know Sadie better!

Sadie Rae...so cute!!!

Meredith was a bit jealous, but she was really sweet to Sadie!

Meredith stealing Marji's shoes :)

Next stop - Hoagland Hotel. It was so fun to be able to spend time with the Hoagland Fam. We miss them and it was great to catch up! All of the girls had so much fun!

Our walk up Provo Canyon. It was fun, but it was SO HOT!! Look at Meredith's cheeks...they were so red, poor thing!

While in Utah, Robert had a mission reunion that we attended. It was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the view of the SLC Temple was amazing. Meredith fell in love with the temple and within minutes was actually saying "temple". It was so sweet!

Elder Hakala and Elder Holmes

Beach fun

I've been trying to get down to the beach at least once a week this summer, but a few weeks ago we managed to hit the beach two days in a row! Meredith is such a little beach-bunny. She LOVES playing in the sand...but she is afraid of the water, which I don't mind so much...at least for now! We went down to the beach by ourselves on Friday and met up with Shannan, Owen & Clay Ohlsen. It was nice to see them while they were in town!! We went down again on Saturday (with Robert...yeah!!) and we met up with a bunch of friends from our ward. Fun times!