Wax on, Wax off, Daniel San!

In the middle of July, we invited ourselves to go to Fish Lake with my parents. I love Fish Lake. It is one of those places that our family frequented when I was a child. I remember that we always camped in the same group site, and us kids did some of the craziest crap! Seriously, where were our parents? Anywho, I am glad that I am now able to indoctrinate my children to believe that this is one of the greatest places ever to go camping! I know, I am a great mother! As the boys wandered into the lake at the beginning of a lightning storm, I decided to get a little nostalgic on them. They have no idea why they had to stand like that in the middle of the lake so that I could take pictures! It still cracks me up! I am easily entertained!

Branden doing his best Daniel San impression!

Ashton just about to fall into the freezing cold water! His balance must not be so great yet!

Jace almost balancing on the cold rock!

Acting in true boy fashion, trying to freeze their little tooshes off!

Birds and Bikes

This summer, we went for a few bike rides as a family. Most were just around town, but one Saturday, we went up to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo. We started just below the falls, and rode up to them and let the kids play, then continued up to the park where the Heber Creeper starts (I can't remember the name!) and had a picnic then rode back down to the car. In all we guessed that it was about 3 miles round trip. Quite an accomplishment for the kids with half of it up hill! Stupid me, left the camera in the car! So this is the only picture I have of the whole trip. This is how Keira ended up! The cooler was where her feet should have been, so she was stretched across the seat (which she hated). Poor baby! I really tried to make her more comfortable with the blanket, but she wouldn't lean that way! We have plans to do much more biking and hiking this next summer. Anyone up for the back side of Mt Nebo?

I got to go with Branden to Tracy Aviary for the 2nd grade field trip at the end of last year (yes, I really am that far behind!) It was fun to spend the day with him!

This was the biggest, creepiest bird I have ever seen! Seriously, the picture does it no justice!

This bird was part of the bird show. It was fetching raw meat here!

Baseball and long grass!

We put the boys into coach pitch baseball this summer. They had a great time (except when Jace didn't want to put any physical effort into playing, typical Jace). I am a horrible mom, and forgot to take any pictures of Ashton. He was in T-ball this year, and loved every second of it! His team was the Angels, and he was so cute trying to field the balls!
Branden and Jace were on the same team, which included all the kids from our town, The Rockies. Here is Jace batting. It took him a while, but he got the hang of it eventually!

Branden batting.

The "little sluggers" all tuckered out after a long game in the sun!

Jace in the out field..... What? What ball?

Branden playing catcher. The equipment was too big for him, so he opted out of the leg stuff!

Getting ready to throw the ball back to the coach.

A few times this summer, the lawn got a little longer than it should have. We decided to play a game for FHE, and Ryan mowed a kickball diamond in the grass. Grandma and Grandpa even came to play with us. It was a lot of fun! This isn't the picture of the diamond, but the grass was about the same length as it is in this picture.

Playing catch-up!

So, Here I am, feeling stupid because I am so far behind! Here is my excuse....

I have recently rediscovered reading. I have always loved reading, but kids, and a household had distracted me for the last 9 years. My new found fun started with the combination of our ward book group mixed with my good friend Jason writing his own gem. I was able to talk Jason into letting me read his rough draft (he didn't however tell me that it wasn't complete!). I really enjoyed not only the story, but the act of reading something with substance (not a free parenting magazine article). The ward book group was reading a book that I thought sounded interesting, so I joined. I read both things really quickly, and soon felt bored. I forgot about TV, and housework started to suffer (who needs a clean house?). I needed more books! So, for the last 4 or 5 months, I have made frequent use of the county bookmobile service (no library in our little town!) each time taking several novels for me along with audio books for Ryan and children's stories for the kids. Needless to say, I end up with a large armload of new books every other week for my family to enjoy! I have been able to read many books that I have wanted to try out for years, and some new ones that I would never recommend to anyone! Branden has caught the fever, and has read the first three Harry Potter books and is starting on the fourth. I am reading them with him, and when we finish one, we watch the movie. It has been fun for me to see the excitement he has when he finishes a large book. He is only 9, and is usually not so confident in his abilities. I love that he feels good about himself when he reads. Jace has also started "reading" Harry Potter. He says that he is reading them, and he is capable of it, but I think that he is not quite ready emotionally to deal with such a drawn out story. He tells me one morning that he is on chapter 3, and by the end of school, he's on chapter 19! Unfortunately, I know that he is not given enough time in school to read quite that much in one day. Oh well! When he's ready, I'll be there to help! Anywho! That is my excuse! The suffering of my blog was one of the unfortunate downfalls of my reading addiction! In fact, the bookmobile took a month off for Christmas, and I ran out of things to read, that is probably the only reason this is being posted!
By the way, Jason, I am still waiting on the edge of my seat for the ending of that book!


Now for the catch up!
This was at the school playground next to Tayna's house in Draper, kind-of old, but I thought it was a cute picture of my little ones!

Fun at the Museum

We were luck this summer, we did lots of fun things! We spent one whole day with our cousins, Shaunda, her kids Porter, Kellin, and Teagan, Brena and her cutie Camden, and Kim, in Provo at the BYU Museums. We went to the park first and had a picnic lunch, then we headed over to the Museum of Palaeontology (Dinosaurs) It was small, but had plenty of hands-on stuff, and the kids had so much fun! These boys just love to get together. Too bad that it seems to only be a few times a year. Next we went to The Museum of Living Sciences (the Bean Museum). There were all sorts of animals there, complete with a giant elephant (my favorite!). When we were done there, the kids all voted to go to the Art museum. There is some strange stuff that is considered "art" these days! We had a really great time, and hopefully it won't be a whole year before we can play with these fun cousins again!

Here is Branden and Porter in a Dino head.

Branden trying to get his head bit off! Watch out! That is Kellin waiting for his turn, with Ashton right behind!

This is the picture that got me in trouble. The boys were getting tired, and were being silly. I thought it was a cute photo, and as soon as the picture was shot, the security guard ran over and politely told me that no pictures were allowed in the art museum. Oops!

The whole crew in front of the Dino wall. My camera wasn't good enough to get everyone in, but they were trying to "blend in" to the mural by being dinosaurs!

Watching the video presentation at the Bean Museum. Cute Jace and Kellin being bestest buds!

This is the whole crew, L-R, Teagan, Porter, Camden, Branden, Keira, Ashton, Kellin, Jace.

Swimming Lessons

We signed up for swimming lessons again this year. I had high hopes after my boys spent so much time in our pool last summer and this summer. They all seemed to do really well, but when it came time to test, they all fell a little short, literally. None of them could swim the distance that was required on certain strokes. Bummer! Ryan said that we're not letting them try again next year. We'll see! I know that they can do it, and one teacher even said that if he practiced, he could move up next year. Anywho, I was proud of them. I can't swim with my face in the water, so they are all better than me!

Mammoth Parade

This year, my kids were invited to ride on the Sheriff's Office float for the Mammoth Parade during the Ute Stampede. They were really excited to say the least! I only got a few pictures, they were moving and I wasn't going to chase them in 100 degree weather!

They had a great time throwing candy, and when they got to the end, the Sheriff lost them. Yup, I did say that. They were supposed to wait there for me to come to get them, but the message was lost somehow. So, they decided to walk the 5 or 6 blocks to where I was. Honestly, it would have been OK if they had, but when I showed up to get them, I asked the Sheriff where they were and he just gave me a blank look. I told him who I was, he said he knew who I was, but didn't know where they were. I jokingly said "Oh great, you lost my kids? If I can't trust them in the care of the Local Law Enforcement, who can I trust them with?" Ryan didn't think that it was funny. I'm sure that the Sheriff knew that I was kidding. Anyway, I found them about 3/4 of a block away headed to where I was sitting during the parade. No harm done!