The Gifford Family: June 2015

Mt. Charleston

Mt. Charleston

To escape the Nevada heat, we jumped in the car and headed out an hour to Mt. Charleston to have a picnic. It was still warm, but nothing like the triple digits at home. It was beautiful. We hiked around for a few minutes and found a picnic table to have lunch at. Grace enjoyed being out and about, and the pups loved getting out of the house.

Kodi Bear

Picnic

Sadie Girl

Grace found her tongue

Smiles

Talking to each other

Loves

Perfect escape!

Kolob Canyon

Melissa, Aaron, Grace, Sadie, and I all hiked Taylor's Creek in Kolob Canyon. Usually we hike the other side of Zion, but none of us been hiking in Kolob Canyon before. It was only 85 degrees outside, but it felt like a million. I got so sunburnt with the sun right above our heads. We finally turned around after two miles because I was worried about Grace overheating. It was beautiful and so fun to get out of the house and see some nature.

Summer Games 5k

Summer Games 5k

I signed up for the Summer Games 5k with my dad six weeks after I had Grace. We almost didn't make it. Dad set his alarm for Friday on accident so it didn't go off. I finally knocked on his door at 5:45am. The last bus was supposed to go up at 6:45. We left Hurricane at 6:05 and made it to Cedar in 25 minutes. Speed much? We made it to the race and then they set it back to 7:30 so we didn't actually need to speed like we did. lol.

I felt so good running again, but I was so much slower than I used to be. It was so discouraging. I went in hoping for something under 33 minutes or 11 minute miles. I got 29:06! 91/2 minute miles. Yay! Dad had a bad run with some side aches, so I got his picture running in a few minutes after me. He got 3rd in his age group! I was pretty proud of my papa! It was an awesome race.

After the race

Getting his medal

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Aaron!

On Father's Day the power went out. It was the hottest day of the summer so far and the someone hit a transformer in their car so the power was off from 7:30am to 2:30pm. So the Father's day breakfast was a no go. We had church at 9:00am so we got ready for the day without power. Church was amazing. Aaron had to speak and did an amazing job as a new dad! The Father's day program was so cute! We also had so many offers to go to different people's houses, and the church stayed open so no one would have to be in a hot house. I had done a photoshoot the day before so Aaron could have some love on Facebook from his little lovebug. Grace got him an 11x14 metal print of his choice.

For dinner I tried to make Lobster for the first time. I think I cooked it for too long because it was a little bit rubbery tasting. The claws were delicious though. We had lobster, salmon, rice, and salad. It turned out pretty good. I hope Aaron's first Father's day was a success.

Grace's baby blessing

Grace's Baby Blessing

The day after we got home from Oceanside, Aaron blessed Gracie at church in our ward in Las Vegas. Aaron's parents and my parents came down and so did Jeremy and Brittany's family. I know it was a two hour drive for a five minute blessing, so I'm so grateful they were willing to drive down and support Aaron as he did the blessing. Both Dad's went over how the first part should go with him so he wouldn't forget. He was really nervous, but he did an amazing job. He remembered her name, so that's a plus. ;) Grace did really well. She just slept through the whole thing. I wrote it down and we put it in her baby book so she could read it when she's older. Dad kept nudging me to go bear my testimony, so I did, even though in our ward you have to wait forever to do it. It's a far cry from our branch where you were expected to bear your testimony every month just to take up the time. haha. Grace got really fussy and started crying when I left and I felt really bad for leaving her.

Our little family

Both sets of parents

We had sandwiches, a veggie tray, fruit salad, chips, and cookies for lunch.

Staring up at Grandpa

Her beautiful dress inherited from Brookie. Thanks Heather again for all the baby stuff!

Getting loved on!

It was a perfect day!

SeaWorld

Aaron had never been to SeaWorld before! I couldn't believe it. It was so magical when I was a kid, I thought we had to go. We did both watch Blackfish and I think while some of it might be true, most of it was not. They did change all of their shows in response to the film. They made them more educational instead of entertaining. We had a ton of fun!

Seaworld. Yay!

The Shark Encounter. It was one of my favorites.

The Sea Turtles

Pink Flamingos

They got into a fight

One World. Orca show. Grace hated the shows. I think they were a little loud for those little ears. She cried in every single one of them. I nursed her, and she would quiet down, but I missed a lot of the show trying to calm her down. haha.

The Sea Lions were very entertaining. They kept talking and hissing and waving their flippers for people to feed them. We were going to feed them, but someone told us to feed the Manta Rays instead because they take it right out of your hand.

The Manta Rays were huge! I put the fish in my hand and the thing tried to suck my arm off. I just dropped the fish and screamed. Grace was startled and cried for the next ten minutes. Aaron had to feed the other ones because there was no way I was doing that again!