The island of Gran Canaria, Spain

We boarded the Fred Olson fast ferry which took us directly to Agaete, Gran Canaria one of the areas I served in as a missionary.  Waiting for us at the doc was an old friend, Noelia and her two darling little girls.  It was so fun to see her again!  We drove up the mountain a ways to find our enchanting hotel, which was an old country home dating back to the 17th century, nicely remodeled.  The home was surrounded by orange, lime, avocado and banana trees.  Every morning we were awakened by a rooster who was directly under our window.  It was great to walk down the narrow, cobblestone streets I knocked as a missionary. We spent a day in Galdar, another area I was in as a missionary, visiting a family I spent a lot of time with.  Hortensia showed us how to make the tortilla espanola the correct way. We enjoyed the food so much while in the Canaries we had to take a picture every meal!  Shawn is eating boiled potatoes with a sauce called "mojo"- very delicious!  While visiting Galdar we walked right into the towns festivities.  The were bringing their food offerings to the conquerer idol for the poor.  They were all dressed up, singing and having a great time.  We also spent some time in Las Palmas the capital city and saw the house of Christopher Columbus.  Columbus took off from the Canary Islands on is voyage to the Americas.  We had such a great time!

The Island of Tenerife, Spain

Shawn and I went to Spain!  Because Shawn received funding to go to Spain to do research, we had to take advantage of the opportunity to go back and visit my mission in the Canary Islands!  It was AMAZING!  The islands are so beautiful and we had such a great time visiting old friends from my mission 9 years ago.  This group of pictures were taken in the island of Tenerife where we stayed for 6 days.  Our little apartment had an ocean view next to Los Gigantes, which can be compared to the cliffs of insanity.  So beautiful!  We spent time at the beach relaxing and snorkeling.  Shawn was able to get up close to some sea turtles!  We ate the most delicious pastries imaginable and hiked around the top of Teidi, one of the largest volcanos in the world.  Teidi happens to be the highest point in Spain.  We had such a great time in Tenerife!!

Pulling up to Grandma and Grandpa's house was exciting!  The yard was immaculate with beautiful flowers blooming everywhere, the grass freshly cut, raspberries ready to pick and the garden planted and growing.  Grandpa had built a slide just for the kids and had borrowed bikes for them to ride during their stay.  We had a great couple of days together before Shawn and I took off for Spain.  We celebrated Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary together as a family with a family concert and a BBQ.  Annie lost her front tooth the night before we left.  She was very excited to say the least!

Pitstop in Moab

On our way to Utah we decided to stop in Moab to meet Nana and the McIlnays .  We always cruise past Moab in a hurry to get to SLC.  It was nice to stop and enjoy the beautiful red rock and arches in Canyon Lands.  We also had a lot of fun swimming in the hotel pool and riding Uncle BJ's Razor.

Fun with Arizona cousins

The McIlnays stopped by on their way to Colorado to spend a couple of days with us.  We decided to announce the gender of our babies to Mom and Dad together over the webcam.  We tied pink and blue crate paper around our bellies and had them guess who was who standing up in front of the computer with only our middle sections showing.  They guessed right on- Tami pink, Cami-blue!  We spent a day together Jemes mountains rock climbing and wading in a stream with mountain cold water.  So great to be in the beautiful mountains spending quality time with such fun family!

We had an incredible summer this year!  The month of June was busy with swimming lessons every day, catching lizards in the backyard, slippin' and slidin', and spending as much time as we could at the park on on our bikes.