Our Last Few Months

Obviously I've fallen behind in keeping our blog up to date, so I'm going to jam our last few months in this one post. (Hopefully it's not too overwhelming.. or boring!)

Back in May we had the McDowell Family Retreat. We all drove up to Payson, and went to Camp LoMia to plan for the Haymore Family Reunion that we will have up there in November. On the way home we stopped at the Tonto Natural Bridge. It was absolutely beautiful, and ALMOST reminded me of home! We had fun taking pictures, and enjoyed being outside (even though it felt like it was 200 degrees!)

In June the Bates Family had a momentous occasion.. the first Bates Family Campout EVER!!! We camped at Bear Canyon Lake. The kids had fun playing by the lake, catching bugs, and pretending to fish off the truck bed. Even Dash enjoyed being outside and unleashed. It was really fun to be together, and spend time in the great-outdoors. Unfortunately Jared, Julie, Jeffery and Joshua were unable to make it, but hopefully we'll have another trip soon!

Also, in June, Cory and I became the proud parents of a Wii! Cory entered a drawing for it, and he actually won! He couldn't believe it at first, but has quickly become a professional Wii golfer.. watch out Tiger Woods. ;) As for me, I enjoy spending my Wii time cow racing, and shooting, with a little bowling thrown in here and there, but I am far from a professional! Needless to say.. Cory loves every second he and the Wii get to spend together.

July 3rd marked Cory's last day at University of Phoenix. (YAY!) On July 15th he started working for Verizon Wireless. We've enjoyed the change, and are excited to see what's in store for us! Hopefully in the future I will be better about keeping our blog up to date so you won't have to be stuck reading another one of our "mass posts" again!

We're joining the circus!

When Cory's little brother got a new unicycle, I found out about a talent I didn't know my husband had! Needless to say, I think we should join the circus. The only thing holding us back is the fact that Cory doesn't have curly multi-colored hair! Oh well, I guess we can dream.

German Pancakes

So.. a couple of weeks ago I decided to be domestic and make breakfast for Cory. I had never made German Pancakes before, but heard it was pretty easy. (My kind of meal!) I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually very easy to make.. a little too easy! As usual, whenever I'm in the kitchen something has to go wrong. It's pretty hard to mess up German Pancakes though, and everything was going really well.. that is, until the end. When I went to take them out of the oven this is what we found! I like to call them "Exploding German Pancakes a la Amy". The good news, however, is that they still tasted fine, they were just trying to take over the oven! :)