Lots of Pictures!!

After Joe finished taking the bar exam we left town for the month of August. Yes, you read it right...the whole month of August! He didn't have school and he doesn't start his Job until Sept. 15th so we took vacation after vacation after vacation. It was awesome! But lots of vacations means lots of pictures!

So we started out the month at Smith Mountain Lake in Southern VA. We spent the week on a house boat water skiing, wake boarding, jet skiing, para-sailing, and just plain hangin' out in one of the most beautiful places in VA (in my opinion.) The water was warm, the weather was perfect, it was awesome! Emily got sick the last few days which put a little bit of a damper on things for a while but that's what happens when you have kids right?














Dallin chillin' in the sun















Emily and Daddy relaxing















Sidney Garver and JJ were inseparable the whole week















Rachel Garver, Becky, and Emily Padilla takin' a spin on the jet ski


Two days after we got home from the lake we flew out west for 2 weeks. The day after we arrived in SLC we drove up to Cascade lake in Idaho for the Nattress Family Reunion, and more water skiing, wake boarding, tubing, etc. Julianne and Becky were sick for the first part of the trip. (thanks to their little sister:) But it was so beautiful and we had such a great time catching up with everyone it was hard not to have fun. (Even if Idaho mountain water is A LOT colder than Virginia lake water!) We were able to be there for My Mom' s graduation from BYU! Yeah Mom!! Then we drove to Midway, UT to attend the Sorensen reunion (My Mom's side of the family.) This was a lot of fun for me since I've missed the last three years due to living soooo far away. I got to catch up with a lot of my cousins and aunts and uncles.
















Having fun with cousins!
















Ice cream is Delicious!



















My Mom and some of her grankids at graduation!


Our second week in Utah was spent with Joe's family. We have lived in Virginia for three years now which means our kids have forgotten a lot of the cool things that are in Utah. So we took them around and showed them some of our favorite places we used to go when we lived there. We went to SLC and took a tour of the conference center, visited temple square, had lunch on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building, and walked through The Church History Museum. Then we visited BYU campus and bought everyone t-shirts at the book store. And finally ended the week at Lagoon! Whew!!! Needless to say it was a busy two weeks but we had a lot of fun.














Playin' in Grammy's backyard with Sami

















Ridin' rides with cousin Sami, uncle Jon, and aunt Amy at Lagoon






























Then three days after coming home to Virginia we packed our car and headed down to Outer Banks, North Carolina. We stayed in a motel in Cape Hatteras just 30 yards from the Ocean. The beach was amazing! The girls had a great time chasing the waves and building sand castles. (Emily liked wrecking the sand castles more than building them:) And Dallin liked eating the sand every time we weren't looking. It was so relaxing. Just what we needed after such a busy summer.















Emily, Kendall Jones, Garrett Jones, and JJ playin' in the sand




Well that's it for now. However, before I sign off we need to say thank you to: The Padilla's and the rest of the SML gang, My parents, Joe's parents, and the Jones' for making all of our trips possible.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! We had a great time with all of you!