Jesse's Prayer...

Dear Heavenly Father
Please bless us that we will all be safe
Please bless that I won't have any bad dreams or sleep walk
Please bless Lance (Armstrong) that he will win tomorrow
Please bless that everyone can go to Walmart
and spend less and live better
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

July 4, 2010

To celebrate the fourth of July, we headed south for St. George. We swam in the pool, ate lots of good food...grandma made ribs! We weren't able to set off any fireworks because it was too hot and dry, but we did visit historic Cove Fort. Cove Fort was built by the Hinckley family in 1857. The pioneers used lava rock that is from an extinct volcano in the area, to build the fort's massive walls. When you walk through the 15 foot solid wood doors and into the courtyard, you are greeted by giant black wood trees used by the blacksmith to make wagon wheels. They are the most beautiful trees! Our tour guide led us into each room and taught us all about life in the fort. Not all the artifacts are original to the fort, but they are from that time period. I was pleased to see that some of the oil lamps that they had sitting on their fireplaces were the same as some that I have in my collection! For some reason, my computer is not downloading my pictures properly, so I have no idea what order they are in and I have no way of captioning (is that a word?)them....but here are some pictures of our fun day at the fort:

Why I Love Summer

*I love longer days. I get so much more done in the summer.
*Summer thunderstorms. They make the air smell so fresh and I love the sound of the rain falling.
*The sun-kissed faces of my children. They look so cute with their rosey cheeks.
*Going for long walks after dinner.
*Watching the sun go down and the way the rays of light branch out as they touch the mountains to the west.
*Bird watching. Yeah, I know it makes me sound like an eighty year old, but I love to watch all the different song birds that come to feast at our bird house. We actually have a gang of yellow-headed black birds that come and fight one another for food.
*Sprinklers. I love to run through sprinklers with my kids and making butt prints on the cement still makes me laugh.
*Fruit. Watermelon, cherries, grapes, peaches, nectarines. I love them all.
*Corn on the cob. With butter and salt. Fresh garden tomatoes.
*Summer movies. I miss summer movies. I refuse to be one of those people who take their screaming baby to the movies, and so, I have not been to the theatre since Tuck was born. I will however make an effort to get my kids to Toy Story 3 and I would really like to go see Eclipse.
*Camp Fire dinner nights. Roasting a hot dog and making a s'more for dinner is all one needs to really enjoy a summer evening. Fires are just cool. Burning stuff is fun. I guess it's good that I have boys because we're all into burning stuff around here.

Well....I better be off to bed. Tomorrow will be spent getting ready to go out of town for one of my favorite summer holidays. Happy July 4th Everyone!

Hiking!

Days that I go hiking with my boys and other special people are truly perfect days. It is one of the moments in life where I feel spiritually connected with my hiking mates and with our beautiful surroundings. It's like I get to literally escape the everyday norm and I get to jump into a place where I can relax, explore, and share my inner thoughts with others....I hope they don't mind listening. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to hike one of our favorite trails twice in one week. The first time was with my mom, my sisters, and all our kids, and the second time was with my sister Wendi and her boys...otherwise known as the "Adventure Club"! Here are some great pictures of our explorations:

Happy Birthday Carly!

My little sister Carly's Birthday is today! We celebrated yesterday with most of our family at Lagoon! Thanks Dad! We had such a great time! It was the first time that Jesse has been there since he was two and it was great to watch his excitement on every ride. James has graduated to "big kid" status, and hung out with Kait, Carly, Easton, and Collette without parental supervision. He thought that was awesome. And of course it was Tuck's first amusement park outing, and he did very well....except when he was hungry on the train and he screamed through the whole thing. But, if you feed the kid and make sure his diaper is dry, he is content to ride in his stroller or be held by Grandpa! What a cutie! Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Our Blondie Turns "5"!

Jesse and his "Lego Power Miner" cake!

As a parent, the question, "When did you get sooo BIG?" crosses your mind just about everyday. I look at Jesse and I wonder to myself, "When did his legs get that long?" "When did he stop calling me Mama?"

Time never stops, and I guess the growth of all things human continues as well. Which obviously is common knowledge, it's just shocking when you see it happening to your own kids.

Jesse turned 5 on May 11th and we had a very fun party for him at Bouncin' Off the Walls. Here are some of the cute pictures of his special night!

Catching Up!

I celebrated my 33rd Birthday with my family on April 16th! Dan went to Olive Garden and bought one of my favorite desserts...Lemon Cream cake! It was very yummy!

Danny and I celebrated our 13th anniversary with our boys on April 19th! We made a three coarse meal....this was the first....artichokes! The boys had never tried them before and I think they liked them because of the whole process of eating them and the "surprise" in the middle.

James participated in his 2nd grade poem play. He recited a poem about flying called "High Flight" written by a WWII pilot, which was very fitting since his Great Grandpa Evans was a WWII pilot! Our parents and my sisters came to watch, and it was really incredible how much information these young kids memorized. Most of them had memorized four or five poems including the Gettysburg Address! I was very impressed.

Jesse came in my room the other day, and I snapped this pic of him and Tuck! I thought it was quite precious.

Jesse took this picture of me with Tuck. Jesse loves my camera, and if I leave it where he can reach it, he is sure to sneak off with it and take pictures of very random things, like the T.V. or his foot. It's actually quite funny to look at the pictures he takes. He has a very interesting perspective on things!