Movie Night

Beautiful summer night.
Music playing.
Friends and neighbors gathering.
Kids running and playing.
Lots of visiting.
Laughing.
Loads of treats at the concession stand.
Candy cannon.
Glow sticks.
Dennis the Menace on the big screen.

Highly Anticipated

Dalanie has been dreaming about her fourth birthday since Hudson's in March. Finally the day arrived.
-greeted the morning with 'loves' from everyone
-opened presents in her pjs
-had sprinkles on her breakfast while talking on the phone
-had friends over for a Mermaid party
-loved her special cake
-rode in Grandpa's car to the Fifties diner where she got to put a quarter in the jukebox and pick the shake flavor (strawberry oreo)
I think we met all of her requirements because she sure enjoyed the day.

Summertime

I love the summertime! I forget how tiring and completely wonderful it is all at the same time. We have been going non-stop for awhile. There is so much to do and so much fun to be had. We have been trying to get a bunch of activities crossed off our summer bucket list and keep the yard and garden watered and weeded.

-backyard campfire and weenie roast-scavenger hunt at the River walkway & sno-cones-day trip to Bear Lake. The water was really high so there wasn't much good sand, but the kids still loved the water.-visit to the City of Rocks-Parish Family reunion (making new friends with cousins) It was hilarious, there were almost as many dogs as people. Jones' invited us to tour the 'Mansion'-swimming at Indian Springs.Dalanie finally decided that going under the water is fun.

Cherries

Uncle Randy had a bumper crop of bing cherries. Brent happened to be passing through and stopped to pick some. We ended up with 14 quarts and plenty to snack on and share. It made me want to get my own cherry tree planted. They were so beautiful and tasty. I remember sitting at the table, eating bottled cherries before bedtime. Maybe my kids can enjoy the same memory.

Sunday Books

As with lots of things around the house, my church magazines were starting to pile up and I feel guilty just tossing them. So for an activity, the kids and I cut out pictures to make a church book. We slid the pictures into a little photo album. They love to look through them and recount the stories that we've read or point out pictures of the prophet, Jesus, and scripture stories.

To make things easier and more kid friendly, I just made a 4 X 6 template out of chipboard so they could see if the picture would fit. They could trace around it and I squared things up with my paper cutter.

Eight Mile

A few things we learned camping at Eight Mile:

-when in doubt, turn the train around
-a nice big pine tree is a great umbrella
-sunflower seeds are the preferred treat
-life as a sheepherder would be pretty lonely, they readily accept dinner invitations
(Luckily Brent speaks Spanish so he could talk with the Peruvian.)
-on snow is Dalanie's favorite place to ride
-Hudson makes a great chauffeur
-run off follows the path of least resistance making roads into waterfalls
-the creek is not much warmer than the snow