Temple Square

From the Timpangos, we went to Salt Lake City to see Temple Square. The boys had not been before and they really enjoyed it. We also went out to dinner at a restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Building, that was fun! The boys really enjoyed it.

Here we all pose in front of the Christus. We also viewed a movie about Joseph Smith, it was very moving for us all.





And this is what happens to 10 yr olds at the end of a long, physical day of hiking and walking!

Timpanogas Cave

On Wed. Merrill and Pam let us know that they were headed to Timpanogas Cave. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded good! I heard it was a stiff hike up to it, but you know I'd done that hike in AZ up to the Indian runes, so no worries right!! Riiiggghhttt.....


Here Jayden and Max pose next to the sign.



When you go to the cave you have to buy tickets and then hike up to the cave by your scheduled time. Only 20 people are allowed to go through at a time, and guess what we were 13 just by our selves, and then Pam had family coming. So we had to buy tickets for a tour a couple hours out. We spent some of our waiting time looking at the river the runs through the canyon below the cave. Here are the guys.



With this gang fishing is always on the mind around water! Here Brent points out several likely holes to Collin.

Finally we get to start up. They give you a start time, to keep foot track controlled on the pathway up. They give you an hour and a half.....piece of cake! Riiigghhhttt........ Here Brent, Than and Collin pause to read the sign that talks about the different layers of stone we'll see.

When you go into a cave you're headed into temps of around 60 degrees usually. So you might need a jacket, especially if you're going from 80 plus to 60 degrees! Here Brent carries the pack containing jackets and water bottles for all of our family.

Here's a clue that it wasn't an easy hike up! Yes it really was that steep at times. And that red line isn't there to show you which side is your side.....it's to warn you not to stop at that point, as a rock slide could happen and you'd be in the pathway!

THANK GOODNESS!! Somebody decided it was worth it to put a bathroom at the end of that 1 1/2 hr hike!! From here there is another short hike to the entrance, here Lee points to it.

I turned the camera over to Collin while I used the facilities and this was one of the pictures he took, not to shabby!

Lee, Collin, Carsten and I think Aubrey and I all arrived first. Carsten led the way, the entire way up and down. In the picture below I took a picture of Brent coming up behind us, and it gives an idea of the switchbacks we hiked!

Here's a look down the canyon from the top of the hike. Did I mention it was a tough hike..... That is a long way down and we went almost straight up, using switchbacks most of the way.

My camera isn't set up for taking pictures in the dark, so no cave pictures, sorry. But the boys and I have now been through several caves in three different states and we've enjoyed them all. This was Brent's second cave with us. We went through with only one other family, so it was a nice cozy group. Here is the exit area out of the cave. This picture drives home all much the boys have really grown, especially Than and Collin. Brent is standing downhill a little bit, Than really isn't taller than him......yet......

And then we got to hike down......so we thought, first you have to go up a bit to get around to where the entrance trail is. Did I mention there were very few barriers between the trail and the cliffs!!

Here we're still on the exit trail and that's valley down below us. Did I mention we were up a ways? In the picture is Brent, Lee in red, our nephew Carsten in green, Jayden in stripes and Max in the black shirt. And yes he fit right in. A large amount of the grand kids have blond hair and blue eyes, making them look like they could go with just about any of the family!

I stayed behind to take a picture of the next group, and so did Lee. Here is our niece Aubrey and then Collin. Merrill about had a heart attack over this picture. Aubrey kept getting closer and closer to the edge and looked like she was going to go over.....it was a little nerve wracking for a second!

Did I mention it was steep?


Here is Merrill and Lauren. Lauren and Than formed a bond very quickly and he was always on hand to help with her the rest of our visit.

Than was so great, he also packed a backpack for Merrill, as Merrill had the baby the whole hike.


And what do you get after a 3 hr hike straight up and straight down...... One very, very tired five year old!! He didn't even make it to the Wendy's at the entrance of the canyon area. He was out! We drove up to Salt Lake City after hiking the caves and he slept the entire way.

We had such a good time on this hike and are so happy Merrill and Pam invited us to go along. We rarely make time to "sight see" when we visit family and obviously we need to do that.

Oak City Canyon

On Tuesday we went "up the canyon". Brent has really fond memories of going "up the canyon" growing up and had mentioned when we were traveling that he would like to take the boys to Oak City Canyon. So it was really great and just one of those moments when we found out the plan was to go to the canyon on Tuesday. We decided that the boys should go fishing while we were there. And we had lunch there too.

Here Brent and Merrill get the poles ready. With the boys eagerly looking on.

I think Max shadowed Brent the entire time he was fishing! He loves to fish.

Oak Creek Canyon is a campground. It has individual campgrounds and large group campgrounds. When we went up we used one of the group ones, we were the only ones up there and it was great.

Sharleen brought up some board games and the kids enjoyed some great games with her and each other. They started with Mexican Train.

Sharleen told us when she was a teenager they would all drive up to the campground, turn on their radios and have a dance. Jay said he would just park on a back street in Delta and turn on the radio and dance with Sharleen. It was fun to hear the stories of their youth! In the picture below they would park towards the back right side of the parking lot.

The Trip

Ohhhhhoooohhhh...... You wanted posts about the TRIP......well.....ok...... I guess I could give ya those......

We did indeed have a very, very good trip to UT. We left June 28th an hour ahead of schedule! Mom has already posted some great pictures of that over on her WI Snapshots blog. We had a great trip there.

Brent decided to have us drive straight through. The energy it takes to unpack and pack a family of 7 takes as much energy as just driving straight through the night! The only reason we could do it was because Brent handles sleep deprivation well! I only have to spell him for a few hrs and he does the rest.

The boys did really well, no fighting, everyone was cheerful and happy to be on the road. The trip home was a complete 180 from that, but I get ahead of myself.....

So we got to UT Monday afternoon and it was SUCH a relief to be DONE driving for a bit! We got there a bit earlier than anyone expected, so that was fun!! The boys were very happy to be set free!

Further posts will have pictures....I really did take them.....I promise!

Fishing!

So the boys got fishing poles for Easter, wasn't that cool.....don't they look neat hanging on the wall......

So yeah.....we did finally take them fishing..... Here Brent walks Jayden and Max through casting.


You are very lucky to have any pictures for this post. My inclination was to stay home and avoid the whole scene of five boys and five poles all with sharp hooks on the end! I did cave in the end and go, the boys wanted me there after all. Then I even managed to not cover my eyes or hide in the car!!

Here Jayden throws out his line.

He was a happy camper to be fishing finally!

Here is a wide shot of the pond they fished in. We went to our great friend's home and fished out of their pond.

Max shows off his technique. And look I even managed to keep my eyes open again! He stops my heart when he has a fishing pole in his hands!

And of course he was one of the only two who caught a fish that night! Boy was he thrilled! Although Daddy had to take it off the hook and throw it back in, Max wasn't going to touch it!

At the end of the night, Brent got to fish in peace and quiet as the boys all got cold and went indoors.

Mother's Day Gift

Ain't sha a beauuuttty!!! Yes, this is really what I got for Mother's Day. And yes I really wanted it!

And here's proof that I can use it and that I do use it!


We won't mention that it's just as finicky as every other machine I touch and regularly refuses to work for me......even though it is MINE.

We'll just focus on the nice picture of it running and finally cleaning up the apple tree that went down TWO winters ago.

Brent was supposed to get a large waffle iron for Father's Day, but instead I super suprised him with a new cordless drill. Ours bit the dust and Dad's needs a new battery.

So I decided to get Brent a new one for the farm and then we're supposed to get Dad's a new battery, hasn't happened yet......But then it'll stay at the cabin.

Having two places is lots of fun to juggle, really....don't you believe me.......

Max's b-day

Here's another post that was hiding in the list. We had another pink b-day, but not quite like the one that we had the year before.

Than was right there, willing to help him open and read his cards.

And use his pocket knife to pry out the My Little Ponies that got added to the herd.

Lee too was happy to help, since it involved using a pocket knife!

Grandma and Max work on Max's Lego set "themselves". Every one else was shooed away so that Grandma and Max could work without the help of eager hands and voices. And they did just fine, thank you very much!

Jayden and Nebby

So then of course like any good respecting younger brother, Jayden wanted to ride Nebby.


He does a pretty good job with her.

Collin and I riding Nebby and Leo

These are from April. I was going through the list of my posts and discovered that I had uploaded some pictures, but never posted them! So here is one set of them.


Collin and I are riding Nebby and Leo and there is a tractor heading towards us. Nebby doesn't like tractors. Collin doesn't like it when Nebby acts up, he's come off her one to many times. So I suggested that we turn off into the dirt field and ride away from the tractor. Which Leo thought was a fine idea.




He's pretty easy going once you get on him. Getting on him is a whole nother story, due to the abuse he's been through in the past.

Nebby on the other hand not only doesn't like tractors, she doesn't like it when the ground changes color under foot.


I was really proud of Collin, he calmly kept working with her and didn't panic.


And she finally took that first step that told her the ground really wasn't going to eat her,

This was a really big step for Collin and I was very proud of him for staying calm and working through it with her and with himself and his fears.