Josh has been such a great kid lately! He is just so full of smiles and even though he gets a good amount of bonks on his head from learning to walk, he gets up and grins again!
My cousin, Karen Adams, was sealed in the temple this week to Matt McNeff. They are adorable together and both look so happy! Here are some pictures I took:
I was told that Brother McNeff was one of dad's mission buddies! Cool!
Emily and Colin
Sherie and Katherine
Emilie and her sweet little girls! 
As soon as I pull out the camera, I have about 3 seconds before this cute little guy has gotten a hold of it, so I end up with lots of cute close-ups!
Another fun thing about him is that the second we sit down to the computer (even now as I'm typing) Joshua gets up and reaches for the keys and the mouse. Its so hard to get anything done, but when I stop and think about it, its hilarious.
A few other new things:
--grinning at the pictures of Jesus in our home, even after he's been pitching a fit
--playing peek-a-boo
--giving 5's if we hold out our hand
--LOVES sitting in the 'car' shopping carts at Macey's
--can now throw a ball to you with both hands if you are sitting in front of him
Mom and dad were busy putting together a family banner for their stay at Philmont the following week. It turned out to be spectacular and they are very proud of their work!
The reunion (dad's siblings) began on Wednesday June 23. Because Steve had to work Wednesday and Thursday nights, Joshua and I drove down with my family to St George where we had all rented a house for the weekend. It was a gorgeous house and because of Joshua, we got to stay in the master bedroom. Thank-you Joshua! He had his own little walk-in closet with a crib and a noise-maker so that he could get the sleep he needed during the reunion.
I definitely missed Steve during the trip. Luckily, I found out that he was able to get Friday and Saturday nights off, so he joined us after only 2 days instead of 4. Thursday was the day that was planned for the lake, but because their wasn't a good deal of shade and Joshua was already cranky, I ended up going back home, letting Joshua sleep, and enjoying the pool. It was a very pleasant afternoon for me! I was also very proud of miss Anna, who I was able to teach how to dive into the pool. She was so fearless!
Joshua made a number of friends, and I was so happy to have my family help keep track of him. 
Friday was dad's 52nd birthday and our Zion's National Park day. Because our group had a 1-year-old (Joshua) and a 4-year-old (Grace), we were dubbed the wimpy group and did smaller hikes, including a hike to a look-out point to see the Court of the Patriarchs and a hike to Weeping Rock. We rode the bus between the parking lot and up to the Temple of Sinawava. I loved the ride: it was nice and cool inside, and we were able to see lots of the scenery. Joshua did decently, especially when he was in reach of the tube that goes to my water pack. I made sure that I at least made it into one picture, claiming that I was definitely there.
People in the picture left to right: Hannah, Mandie, Katherine, Rachel, Janece, Anna, dad, Grandma, Brynn and Grace, Mindy and mom. Everyone there has the Nufer name except for Joshua and me. Josh and I are in the front, sporting Grandpa Nufer's (my dad) volleyball shirt for shade.
Joshua love his grandparents and we sure loved getting to be with my family for a few days!
"Helping" grandma
Being there was so nice! We got there early Friday afternoon (June 11) after spending the night at the Baker's home in Pocatello, ID. We sat and talked with mom until dad came home from work and we got lots of Monson grandparent/Joshua time. It was so fun for me to see mom and dad getting down on their hands and knees and chasing Joshua around the living room.
We also had some good park time while we were there. On Saturday, after we all did our exercise, dad mowed the lawn and we all had lunch, we went to a nearby park to play games and enjoy one another's company. We played a good lawn game. It turns out that mom, dad and Steve are all really good at it, while Joshua's Ring Wraith-like screams proved to be good cheerleading.
We visited a few other parks during our visit including Manito and Riverfront. At Manito park, we enjoyed the Japanese gardens and Duncan Gardens. We were a little disappointed that the Rose Garden wasn't quite in bloom. We were about a week too late last year and about a week too early this year! Sooner or later, we'll catch those roses at the right time!
While we were there, we also got Steve's parents hooked on the show Stargate SG1. (Disclaimer: the pilot episode has some nudity in it, in case anyone decides to take me up on this recommendation. After the pilot, its very clean. We, luckily, had the edited episode that we borrowed from the Gibbons'.)
Probably the best thing we did in Spokane with Steve's parents was to celebrate Joshua's 1st birthday! I have trouble believing that he is already a year old! He brings so much happiness to us and we are just thrilled to have him as a part of our family.
So mom went out to Baskin Robbins the afternoon that we celebrated Joshua's birthday and brought home an icecream cake. After taking pictures and blowing out the candle, we set the piece down in front of him. At first he looked at it, then got a tiny bit of it between his fingers and tasted it. Upon deciding that he liked it, he went face-down into the cake and began to devour it! We couldn't have been prouder of his reaction! He continued to plant his face into the cake until he decided that the ice cream portion was much to cold to be enjoyable. He started picking up chunks of it and tossing them aside. Unfortunately, one fell on his leg and he shrieked until I got it off with a paper towel.
Clean-up of the 1st birthday cake was a piece of work and I'm not sure I was able to get all of the blue frosting out of mom's high chair, but I think Josh really loved the experience!
We had such a wonderful trip! Thanks mom and dad for letting us come and stay!
The St George Temple 
This is a picture of three of us that were really close roommates. It was so nice to see Lindsay, since the last time I saw her was just a few days before she left on her mission to California.
After we went back to Cedar City to pick up Joshua, we drove out to the reception, which was Alton. Now, you've probably never heard of Alton because it has a population of 120, and I'm not kidding. It was teeny, but it was a gorgeous drive through the canyon that goes past Cedar Breaks. We really enjoyed the drive.
The reception was very beautiful and we were happy to have been able to talk with Mike and Nicole a little more before they move to Washington. I will definitely miss her!
The drive home that night was similarly beautiful. We took more of a scenic route home that joined up with the highway a little ways further north. It was fun to explore new areas and get to know the land a little bit better.
Destination #2: The following morning, we left our apartment (after getting home at 11:30pm) at 8am to get ourselves up to Idaho. We had received an invitation from the Baker family to hear Mark Baker II's homecoming talk in their sacrament meeting. (It was an excellent talk, by the way.) We got there right on time but then had to change Josh into his Sunday clothing before getting into the meeting.
One of our primary reasons for visiting was that Julie (my cousin with whom I get along the best) is staying in Pocatello for the summer (as versus Lincoln, Nebraska) and we wanted to make sure that we got a chance to visit her. We weren't expecting her husband to be there and we were very surprised and excited that we got to spend time with both of them. After a rousing game of Risk (well, no, I don't actually play), some excellent cookie-making and lots of talking, the day was over.
On Monday morning, because we didn't want to have to entertain ourselves for several hours before people woke up (since Joshua was up anyway) we decided to visit Rexburg, ID, home of BYU-Idaho. I can't say there was much to see, but we enjoyed seeing the temple there and seeing what the campus was like.
The drive home was also a bit of an adventure. Because I had heard so much about Logan, UT and had never seen it, Steve suggested we drive home by way of this city. It was also very beautiful and worth the trip.
One of our favorite parts of our trip was that we got to see 11 LDS temple just in a 3-day trip.
Utah temples: St George, Provo, Mt Timpanogos, Draper, Oquirrh Mountain, Jordan River, Salt Lake City, Bountiful and Logan.
Idaho Temples: Idaho Falls and Rexburg.
It was so neat to see such beautiful Houses of the Lord! I know that the temple work is important and I am grateful for the chance to more fully worship our Lord in His houses.
I hope you all had a great weekend! I look forward to reading the blog posts!
