Fremont Indian State Park

 We took a quick over night trip to central Utah and Fremont state park.  

We saw beautiful scenery, petroglyphs and pictographs.  The kids climbed into a hole in the ground called a pit house and we hiked up stairs built into the mountain by the Fremont indians 1000 years ago. 

The Ogden Temple Open House

 Audrey and Holly

Rob's post

Max is sick. Annie is watching over him, in the sense that she's a lazy dog looking the other way.

Holly

Holly performed in a play in May.  Neverland an Epic Adventure.  It was a mash of many different movies and pop culture.  Holly played "Lotso Bottle Logan" and "Bright Butterfly". 

She was fantastic!

My favorite is this picture.  This is Holly doing the Haka.  

The Redwoods

I found where I want to spend the rest of my life.  We took a family vacation this summer to the Redwoods in California.  I didn't expect to be so in awe of nature.  When we came into the forest there were gasps and "holy crap"s for the rest of the ride.


We stayed in a cabin in the Redwoods for three days.  During the day we explored and in the evening we went to the beach.  There is a small farming community close to our cabin and that was where the beach was supposed to be.  We saw a few signs at the beginning showing us public access to the beach but we got lost pretty quickly.  Finally we pulled over and asked a man who was out working with his cows.  He talked to us for a long time about the area and his farm.  I think he said that four generations of his family have been working on his farm.  His Son is in charge now.  He pointed us the way to the beach and told us to look for aggies.


  The beach was by far the highlight of the trip for me.  That is saying a lot because the Redwoods were amazing.  This "public" beach was a secluded spot with only a few people here and there.  I felt like I was in on a really cool secret.  The kids immediately ran for the waves.  Holly and Rob spent most of the time going out to the bigger waves and trying to stay up as the waves hit.  In the sand instead of sea shells there were the most beautiful rocks.  Aggies.  The kind of rocks you find at a gift shop and fill a little bag.  It was amazing and I couldn't help but spend most of my time looking for rocks.  I did join the family in the water a few times though.

Peaches again!

  We went peach picking in the churches orchard.  There were two things significant about this assignment.  The first is that Rob was well enough to come with us.  The second is that the orchard had a huge crop this year.  they were desperate for our help.  In church our speaker from the high councel told us that the largest crop in the past was a little over 300,000 lbs.  This years crop is expected to reach about 700,000 lbs. 

  My hopes for a church ad experience crumbled when Max found a bug and started screaming that there were bugs everywhere.  Then like dominos the other two children fell.  Holly first because "picking peaches was making her itchy" (It is a dirty process and we all were itchy).  Sam next because he was too tired.  I was able to keep him with me by making him explain the new minecraft version that came out that day.  Rob took Max to the car and Holly followed pretty quickly.  Sam and I filled a couple of more bags and then we all headed home. 

  Rob said that on the way back to the car he tried to get a picture of Max next to the peaches.  Max yelled that he "hated peaches" and that he "will never take his picture with peaches".

   Sometimes service is just service and the warm fuzzies come much later when the kids are all in bed asleep.

I read this this morning

“Our Heavenly Father, who gives us so much to delight in, also knows that we learn and grow and become stronger as we face and survive the trials through which we must pass. We know that there are times when we will experience heartbreaking sorrow, when we will grieve, and when we may be tested to our limits. However, such difficulties allow us to change for the better, to rebuild our lives in the way our Heavenly Father teaches us, and to become something different from what we were—better than we were, more understanding than we were, more empathetic than we were, with stronger testimonies than we had before.
“This should be our purpose—to persevere and endure, yes, but also to become more spiritually refined as we make our way through sunshine and sorrow. Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life.”
President Thomas S. Monson, “I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee,” Ensign, Nov. 2013, 87.

Serious Boys

My boys are too funny.

Max woke up worried in the middle of the night.  He said that his "worst fear"  was that Gollum would crawl out of the TV.  I told him that Gollum was imaginary and he asked who made the movies the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  I told him it was Peter Jackson and Max said "that's a good name for a human."  He then went back to sleep.

I was helping in Sam's second grade class this morning.  The kids were coming out and reading to me.  When it was Sam's turn he came out and said "Mom, we are watching a safety video.  It should be very educational".

 my favorite part - "very educational".

That's my Sam though.  He is always concerned about safety and being properly educated.

How did I get such serious children?  Rob and I are never serious.