Summer Fun Catch up

Here are just a few more activities we did this summer!

Bird Feeders

Trafalga with cousins

  


Walk to the Temple





 And stopped and smelled the roses...



Painted rocks

 

This is the Place Heritage Park

Stewart Falls

My freshman roommate, Katherine, called me up while I was trying to keep the kids out of the lily pads at one of our trips to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. She was coming to Utah for BYU Education Week. The timing worked out this year so that I could for the first time ever. And it was amazing!! I went to the evening classes (about 20 hours of lecture) and I was soooo edified. I had a renewed desire to be more organized, a better mother and a more Christlike being. It was amazing and I recommend it to anyone who can go!



She was able to stay with me for a couple of nights and she suggested we take the kids on a little hike. She suggested Stewart Falls in Sundance. I'd never hiked to it before and was a little hesitant with the children. But Tyler was home (school hadn't started yet) and was able to stay while Cecily napped. So it was Samuel, Jocelyn, Kat and I. The weather was perfect. The hike was short (about 2 miles in total) and we all had a blast. It's beautiful!! On our way down we saw this lovely, of many, cabins. I read this gals blog from time to time (who is amazingly talented....check out her lovely studio. To die for.) and she blogged about vacationing at this family cabin. If we hadn't been trespassing in this private area, I wouldn't have seen it. Eek.


I did learn a few things too on this hike. As we were looking for the starting point of the hike we had to go up and down a lot of hilly roads. Finally, we stopped and asked a family who was just finishing up. It was then I noticed my breaks were awfully smelly. So we stopped and asked another male person how to prevent this (because I never took driver's Ed and this was not common knowledge to me) and he suggested we drive in a lower gear. Ah! No more break damage.

Then I also learned that peeing over a log is not very....how shall I say? Hygenic? For Jocelyn, not me. Luckily, there was a nice little stream with fresh clean water that worked for both toilet paper and laundry services :)

Apparently my two oldest don't' know how to smile for the camera.

Lake Powell 2011

We went to Lake Powell in August this year with Tyler's family, as tradition. But this year Tyler opted to come only for the weekend and left me and the kids behind to go back and work for one more week. I didn't know if I could brave the waters and the children by myself but I did it! Mine were the only kids on the houseboat so they were spoiled with attention and I was able to have some quiet time while they went off swimming, fishing or tubing with their aunts/uncles and grandparents. It was a relaxing week and no injuries or drownings, on my part at least. Heidi, Tyler's sister had a little mishap with the wake board, as you'll see later. Here are a bunch of photos for your viewing pleasure.

This year we lucked out again and found a great beach in Good Hope Bay, our usual spot. It didn't drop off too quickly which was safer for the kids and the sand was nice.
And because the water was so high this year there was a ton of drift wood scattered everywhere. We attempted to make a wood/mud fort. It took forever especially when you're sweating like crazy in the heat. I don't know how pioneers or Native Americans did it!

I saw this on Pinterest. Filling a ziplock with gel, dying it blue and adding glitter if you wanted. I used some shampoo that Tyler hated. Only problem, if it is used on a table with small chips it can easily rip. So, it didn't work very well.

Jocelyn played on the beach by herself for hours. Here she is watering a dead tumbleweed? Probably pretending she's gardening, that's what I hope :)

The guys golfing. Tyler bought a hug box of golf balls at a garage sale years ago and we've been lugging them around with each move. Finally, he was able to use them up here. There was a green golf pad left on the houseboat so they took it out and used it. yay for getting rid of the dumb box of golf balls! Plus it's a little male bonding. Two of these guys are the "new" members of the family, the new brothers in-law, first time to Lake P.

It's all about location, location, location!

Cecily was a little fish this year, very brave in the water, a little brave. I think it's because we took a swim lesson/class together earlier in the summer.


Heidi, after she went into shock from splitting her head open. Luckily, they hair tied it back together really well, doused with anti-biotics, gave her a blessing and she was good to go, no stitches of doctor needed.

Bath time!

Our "pets". I caught this baby two inch long catfish swimming in the most shallow waters. Somehow it died mysteriously, it "scratched itself" so said Jocelyn. I think she was just holding it too much.

Here is the baby frog we found. He also died, from causes not so natural. Let's just say from "love."

The poor tail-less carp. Samuel loves to fish for these guys. They're so easy because they eat just about anything. And because all of the guys were out I had to pull the hook out. Yuck! They are so slimy!

Food, food and way too much food! Featured is part of the meal we cooked. A delicious pasta salad, BBQ Chicken (not pictured) and apricot cupcakes.

Jocelyn. She's growing up too fast and yet at other times I have to remember she's only 4.

Chubby legs. Cecily had to get used to the feeling of sand under her feet :)

A little Andy Griffith before the laptop battery dies.

The man of the boat, Papa, taking some well deserved rest.

Cecily and Great Grandma F

Little feet

In attendance this year: Everyone with the exception of Stephanie who is on her mission, and Troy and Jana and kids and Tyler for part of it. Included, Gma and Gpa F.
Food eaten: Fajitas, BBQ Chicken, Taco salad, Hamburgers/brats, Fish 'n Chips (striper & blue gill), Sirloin Steaks and way too much chocolate

Life

Photo courtesy of Leslie

Wow!! It's been nearly two months since I last blogged. I've been busy! I may or may not "catch up". You'll have to wait to find out. I know, I know, you're all dying with anticipation but you'll just have to be patient.

Nothing terribly great has happened, just the busyness of life. I'm not pregnant. Tyler hasn't graduated. No children have broken any bones. We haven't moved. We just enjoyed Summer and tried not to just "endure" it. As a result, I didn't get much blogging, or etsying done. Instead, I was able to enjoy my children as much as possible (which during certain moment of the day, is not possible).

We tried doing something special each day....that didn't work out quite as I expected. We completed over half of the activities on our list but we also added a few things. We made it to Seven Peaks enough times to pay for our Pass of all Passes. We took a trip to Colorado to visit cousins (my sister Jennie and BIL Grant and their two boys) and grandparents. We went to Lake Powell. We took swim lessons. We gardened. We managed not to kill each other :) I worried about spoiling the kids with too many special things and it died down a bit. And while we "played" Tyler worked. And it all culminated over Labor Day weekend where we were able to relax a bit for our pre-anniversary trip (more on that later).

Tyler did an internship with a medium sized firm in Salt Lake City. The first two weeks were rough and he was not looking forward to the rest of the summer. But things improved and he really enjoyed his experience there. He's met some great people one of whom, completely coincidentally, happens to be my fairly close cousin (someone twice removed?) The commute, 2 hours a day, was not ideal but we managed. We went to a few firm parties and it was nice to meet and mingle with other real life lawyers and their families. After Lake Powell we awaited an offer. It took a couple of weeks and I started to panic a little. If this offer didn't come through then we would be at point zero again...I had visions of living in my in-laws basement again out of desperation (not that I don't like my in-laws or living with your in-laws is bad....we've just done it for two short rounds and I'd rather not have to do it again). But after about 2 1/2 weeks, he received an offer and he accepted! It is confirmed that we are headed to SLC after graduation. I was hoping we could buy a home soon after but we've been advised to wait it out and rent. See what the market does and how much we'll really be making. Once he takes the bar next July (after a 3 grueling months of studying) he'll continue to work for the firm and then take a break to do a clerkship for the Utah Supreme Court for a year.

That's probably more than you wanted to know but it's an important part of our lives. Tyler will be done with school next spring after having gone our whole 9 years of marriage!! That is huge! Wahoo!

So things are going well. The first week of school was for both Samuel and Tyler. I hope to reference that in a later post. The first week is always a rough adjustment for me. I'm not exactly sure why but I think it's because of the schedule changes and getting used to more paper work, homework, etc. This year Samuel was off to particularly rough start, dealing with behavioral issues at school. We're still working on that. It's been a great trial of faith and love.

So thanks for listening. I hope you're still there!