Campout

This summer we had a lot of fun right here in Utah!

 

For example, we finally went on the ward campout for the first time in 7 years.  Although somewhat entertaining, the very best part came after we left the next morning.

 

Some good friends in the ward invited us to go...

HORSEBACK RIDING!!!!

 

 

 

This particular friends' in-law's lived about 15 minutes from the ward campsite. 

 



 

Those of you with whom I grew up, know that I ALWAYS wanted riding lessons.

 



 

 

I did have a friend with a horse who taught me to ride.



 

 

I went so far as to take a class at BYU.

 

I was so excited to be able to take my kids and let them have this experience.



 

 

They LOVED it!!!

 

Even though they were mostly led around the corral.

 



 

 

I know I took pictures of Stevie and Steve, I just can't find them.  I'm especially bummed I can't find the one of Steve looking completely awkward on the horse.  Hilarious!!!

Riley's Baptism

We are SO proud of you big girl!!!

special thanks to Jesse who took all the pictures

Riley's Birthday

This has been a very busy week.

On Riley's birthday we just happened to have a ton of kids at the house around lunch time so I had Steve get us some pizza.



I also went a little pinterest crazy and made this wreath for her.

That night we went to our favorite place to eat to celebrate, the canyon.

Always a big mess, always fun.  Em and the kids are here from Boise and grandma came back from Atlanta just hours before.

 Of course I didn't have any candles, so we used sparklers instead.

A note about the cake.

I didn't have time to decorate a cake, so Riley was more than willing to decorate it herself.  This is how I handed it over.

There were no end of helpers.

This was the end result.  It is an ocean themed cake with many eels.  Eels turned out to be easier to make than fish.  There are some octopi and sharks in there as well.

As if it wasn't beautiful enough, I decided to drop the cake on the way up the canyon and it had to be somewhat patched back together.

At least it wasn't a wedding cake!!!



What a difference...

...a day makes!

Stevie and I spent 4 hours yesterday hauling concrete to fill the dumpster.

Then Steve came home and filled it a second time in 2 hours. 
Show off.

Either way, it looks like just one more load till we're done!

Right Now

I didn't take any "before" pictures, and I wouldn't really call these "after" pictures, but here is the result of our Saturday.

For now, I will call these "right now" pictures and hope that they don't become "a month from now" pictures.

If you are available in the next week, I am now accepting volunteers for hauling the mess to the dumpster.  There may or may not be pizza involved for those who participate.



4th of July

I have been a total slacker with the blgging lately, mostly because I never take a camera with me...ever.

Well I almost forgot it once again when we decided to go on a last minute Independence Day hike yesterday too.  But I didn't!  So here I am, going overboard, with a bunch of pictures of how we celebrated our Americanism...hiking through purple mountains majesty!

We opted for a relatively short hike whose trailhead was only about 8 miles from our front door.  It's Dog Lake and is about 2.5 miles in.   It seemed pretty good for all the beginners so we went for it.

 

It was a very pretty wooded area up Millcreek Canyon in the mountains above our home.

The wildlife was plentiful, mostly in the form of bugs.  I don't remember there being so many flies in the great outdoors.  I'll have to remember insect repellant next time.

There were tons of butterflies too which seemed to not mind my girls repeatedly picking them up and carrying them around.

Then there was this adorable dog that followed us around all over the place.  Oh yeah, that's my dog Bobo.  He LOVED it!!!  He is a very good off-leash dog who follows almost any command and always comes when he's called.  He's going to be great to take down the Grand Canyon next year!!!

Here's the whole family, minus one "photographer".

Too, too, too cute!  Steve with my baby girl.

Emma was a real trooper.  She insisted on carrying the water backpack, which was not light.  She didn't complain at all about ever being tired.

Turns out she LOVES bugs.  I always knew she liked them, she always is playing with them in the yard.  But yesterday she chased down everything she could find and cried when we couldn't bring the butterflies home to be our pets. 



We brought a little snack with us and stopped at a nice little creek to re-energize.

Riley finally got a hold of the camera and took my photo.

It was a really fun time.  I forgot just how much I enjoy hiking.  I was glad that my kids had such a good time doing something I used to love.

Scotty Potty

This afternoon my darling Natalie got into my pristine minivan and promptly said, "It smells like Scott in here." 

My apologies to Uncle Scott.  I do not know to which sticky mess in the back of the car to credit the smell she smelled, but evidently it reminded her of you.

Hahahaha!!!!