It was NOT my day.

Last week, I was making myself a lovely hot fudge sundae, scooping the ice cream, heating the hot fudge in the microwave, and watching the hot fudge explode all over my kitchen. It splattered from the ceiling to the floor and everywhere in between.

I guess wiping up all that hot fudge up got me in a mood, because I decided to clean out my fridge, including taking the shelves out, washing them in warm soapy water and watching two of the four explode...self destruct...and fly all over the kitchen. Poor Michael even got hit and cut (just a tiny bit) by flying refrigerator shelf shrapnel.

Ugh.

Big Trip

I've been putting this blog post off for a bit because it was overwhelming - so many pictures to organize. I finally conquered them, so here you go!

We went to Utah for the annual family reunion, but left a few days early so that we could be with Father on Father's Day. The kids and I gave Stan, and we all gave Father, each an owl tie.

The next day, we went to one of my favorite places - Snow Canyon. Rachel was messing around with my camera in the car and took this inexplicable picture.

One of the things I love about Snow Canyon is all the different colors of rock - black lava flows, read and white sandstone. Its so pretty.

The kids climbed some petrified sand dunes.

We saw lots of little tiny tracks and...

...a couple dragonflies.

We found the canyon trail that we went on last fall and took it again.

It seemed about 20 degrees cooler in the shade.

Our nephew Tristan did some climbing...

...and found some interesting rocks.

We spent the next day doing laundry and getting ready for camping. The last few years, the family reunion has been on Pine Valley mountain. It is a great place to camp. This year especially, it had everything a good camping spot should have, starting with lots of dirt. This is Naomi about five minutes after we got out of the car.

Of course, the best way to improve dirt is to find a cousin to make mud with. Toddler heaven.

There were lots of cousins and lots of pine trees...

...fun places to sit...

...good food...

...and piles and piles of dessert.

Stan's coworker told him that roasted Starbursts were delicious. I was underwhelmed. Give me a good old s'more.

We saw a few deer...

...and Uncle Will caught a fish.


Oh, joy.

I fed my inner pyromaniac by building and maintaining lots of fires.

There was rest (sort of)...

...and relaxation. (What a lot of pretty girls!)

We left straight from the camp out on Friday to go north to stay with Derek and Holly for Genola Days. Kate came with us and her blow dryer was a little too noisy for her cousin.

Genola Days was a ton of fun. There was a parade with a giant chicken float.

There was a carnival and...

...our niece Natalie was one of the performers that took to the stage set up in the park.

The rodeo was the highlight. In between the events, they had activities for the kids.

The 2-5 year olds raced for candy.

People donated kittens, bunnies and chickens for the 6-9 year olds to chase and adopt as pets.

Finally, the 10-14 year olds got to chase the Cash Calf, a young bull with bills ranging from $1 to $20 duct taped all over him. It was pretty entertaining to watch :)

Heather and...

...Kate each got a dollar.


Here are some more rodeo pictures. I liked the bare back riding and the fireworks best.



Sunday, after church in Genola, we headed to Orem to see some friends and then took a short drive up Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls.

Lots of people were wading at the base of the falls, but we were the only ones looking out of place in our Sunday clothes. It took multiple washings to get the mud out of Gwen's white skirt, but it was worth it.

Sunday night we were back in St. George, where I caught a toad in the front yard. I showed it to a cluster of kids and made my sister-in -law scream by surprising her with it, but I didn't kiss it because...

...I already have Prince Charming.

Happy Halloween

Summer took all the pumpkin carving pictures, including the one below.

Rachel isn't really mad, she is just teasing Summer by being photographically uncooperative :)

I like the contrast between their expressions.

Michael was so excited to be a frog, I had a hard time keeping him from hopping during the picture taking.

Heather and Kelly - pioneers

Gwen - cowgirl

Michael - frog

Naomi - fairy princess

It is so hard to get good help these days.

This morning before breakfast, some of the kids were in the back yard. Naomi found her jacket, which she had left out overnight, muddied and soaked in sprinkler water. She brought it to the kitchen, handed it to me and said, "Dirty."

Then, while we were eating breakfast, she dropped a blog of Cream of Wheat on the table. She looked at it, looked at me and said, "Clean this."

I scooped it up with her spoon and holding it up to her mouth, replied, "My, you are imperious, aren't you?"


She said, "Yeah," and ate her bite of Cream of Wheat.

Michael the Landscaper

The funny thing is...we only have a small patch of grass. It covers maybe 20-25 percent of the back yard and that is not counting the south forty. Most of the yard is dirt...arranged with swings, a rabbit, chickens, fruit trees, this year's garden, the track, etc. There is more than enough space for any kid to dig and cover themselves in humus and disintegrated rock. I guess Michael thinks you can never have too much of a good thing.

Michael - Mommy, sometime we should take away all the grass in the backyard.

Me - But I like the grass. You don't like the grass?

No.

If we do there will just be dirt.

Yeah...and mud. (happy, happy face)

A Couple of Random Thoughts

I found Michael surrounded by sisters and this is what he looked like. It must be time for a haircut...

This is why the baby of the family is spoiled. They do the same obnoxious things as all the older siblings (like writing on the sheets), but the mother has been through it so many times before, stuff isn't shocking anymore. EVERYTHING is cute and sentimental. "Look dear, the baby is ______ (fill in the blank with something horrid), isn't she darling?"

Or MAYBE it is just that most of the families belongings have already gone through the kid machine, so there isn't much to get upset about.

Or maybe the mother's brain is just addled by then.

My kids are SO OPPRESSED!!!

Almost every Saturday morning, I get up and make a batch of muffins. I use a recipe that calls for 1-1 1/2 cups fruit or vegetable. I usually use pumpkin or banana, sometimes apple or zucchini.

Okay, flashback to Thursday. I'm at Costco, looking at the spinach, wondering if I should buy some. I pick up a three pound bag of fresh spinach and stare at it for a minute. "No" I think, "we'll never finish this before it goes bad." As I lower it back into the box, I hear a faint ripping sound as the perforated plastic top rips off. I put it in my cart.

So...I've been trying to figure out how to eat this up and muffins came to mind. As I told Stan, "Anything tastes good if you mix enough sugar and oil in with it."

I kept the kids out of the kitchen so that they wouldn't see the blender when it looked like this.

They thought maybe I used the new food coloring I bought at Michael's. I wouldn't tell anyone the truth until after they ate at least half a muffin. Rachel was even more appalled when she found out they were FRESH spinach muffins. She said, horrified, "That is like LETTUCE muffins!"

Stan liked them. I thought they were okay, but a bit bland. Summer was frightened that I would even attempt spinach muffins. Rachel's reaction is noted above. Heather liked them. Gwen didn't. Kelly liked them. Michael liked them. Naomi loved them. I guess they were a semi-success, depending on who you ask, but I think I'll give the spinach a wide berth a Costco from now on!

Sunday Afternoon

Last Sunday, the weather was just so perfect, we had to go outside...well most of us went outside. One of us napped through the whole thing.

Back to the Beach

We went back to the beach on Saturday. This time, instead of being relatively healthy and taking muffins, we reverted to our traditional beach food and took a whole 9x13 pan of brownies with walnuts and chocolate chips. Yum! We also made some egg and cheese breakfast burritos. An excellent combination - brownies and burritos on the beach.

While we were walking down the path to the sand, we noticed this group of martial arts students and teachers below, jogging the length of the beach and back.

They got pretty sandy as the did their "hiya HA" thing by the volleyball courts and I was feeling sorry for the mothers that had to launder those karategis...

...but the next exercise took care of the bulk on the sand they had ground into their white uniforms.


We had fun people watching, eating brownies, swimming, exploring the tide pools, playing frisbee, and flying a kite. All in all a great morning.

I found lots of sea urchin bits and spines.

Naomi got sand on her pacifier.



Gwen took a nap.


Rachel is at the bottom left in her red swimsuit.



Yep, we ALL have fun at the beach!