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!!!!

Broken

Here's the story.

Stevie was playing in a little league lacrosse game.  He was playing attack when his team got the ball.  The ball was passed to him and he caught it mid-air.  He turned quickly and ran down the field, dodging players from the other team right and left.  He was within shot distance when he found a break in the defense.  With defenders slashing at his stick, he took the nearly impossible shot with incredible force.  It hit the goal post and rebounded violently back and hit him right in the forearm, shattering it instantly.

Or, he fell off the swing at school during recess.

Believe what you want to.

Emma's 1st 4th Birthday Cake

Did I make that confusing enough?

I was told by Emma's preschool teachers that it was ok to bring a homemade cake for her birthday treat.

So I did.

Yes, it is very similar to Sara Jane's graduation cake.  Emma really liked it, so I did it in pink.

Now to start on her real birthday cake.

Sigh...

Not BYU, But Still Very Awesome!!!

Congratulations Sara Jane!!!

We are very proud of all your hard work...even if you did it at U of U.

(will update with pictures of the graduate soon)