We May Not Have It All Together...But Together We Have It All

Monday, December 10, 2012

Richfield

Richfield, Utah

This is our second year to go on this 4-wheeling trip with this group of heathens! ha ha. We go to Moab every spring with them, and that just wasn't enough. So we added Richfield in the fall. It's still not enough, but it will have to do for now! Some of the couples go to just one of the trips with us - but the Petersens, Douglas's and us are the die-hard 4-wheelers who go in both the spring and fall trips. We have really come to love them, and we have a really great time together. This is the first trip we have ever been on together where the weather cooperated. It was almost too good to be true! We have froze on every trip, and this one was just pleasantly beautiful. It was perfectly perfect.

We love these two, Marilyn and Roger Douglas. Some people don't have to be blood relatives to be considered family. We feel blessed to have found our way into their lives, and them into our hearts.

And these two, LuAnn and Sheridan Peterson. They are such a fun couple, and we have come to love and adore them as well. Oh the laughs we have had with them.....priceless!

This is the biggest group we have ever had on one of our trips. So.Much.Fun!!

Douglas's, Petersons, Crawfords, Drifty & Krista Crossley, Jen & Bryce Douglas

I think if Roger had to chose between his Dr. Pepper and his family - he'd chose the Dr. Just kidding - but it would be a hard choice!! :)

Crossleys

Hold on Drifty!

We think we're prepared for about anything in the back woods - even flat tires. But not for this one. The stem of the tire broke. So we got to take it easy going back, and enjoy the scenery a bit more. That's not such a bad thing. It was actually very relaxing.

But taking it easy and repumping the tire over and over wasn't doing the trick. Ira and the other guys headed back and switched tires and brought a new one back for the broken one.

Drifty is pretty much impossible to get a picture of. So Sheridan posed with Krista since Drifty wouldn't. Finally he agreed, and this was the best I got. Him with a mouth full of sesame seeds. Oh well, now he will go down in history like that. ha ha

We have been on many beautiful rides. But this weekends rides was on the top of the list. It was just so beautiful with all the colors, the fresh fall air, the fun friends and family. It was wonderful and I can't wait to go again.

Grand Canyon

We got the chance to go to the Grand Canyon (North Rim). We have never been there before. Ira's dad works there during the summers, so we went to see him. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to be too impressed, because I had seen canyons similar in Moab. And that first time "awe" experience was already past. They are all beautiful, but they all kinda look the same.

I don't know what it was about the Grand Canyon, but even though it did look a lot the same as others, it still was breathtaking. And still awe inspiring. It is just a work of art by the hand of God.

The sunsets...... so amazing!

This squirrel, known as the Kaibab. The only place it lives is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. They were really fun to watch, and they are big and fluffy and cute and they have luscious fur (description thanks to Brayden)

Brayden, Kamden, Emilie, Jarin

Ira's dad, Ron, was with us

I just had to add this picture of Ira grabbing Jarin. We were nervous parents with our children so close to very tall, very scary cliff edges.

On the way home we stopped at another place to explore. I think it was called Red Rock State Park. We had fun there until we were too tired to play anymore. Then home we went - happy and tired, with wonderful memories and some pretty great pictures! :)

Summer

This post is just a few odds and ends of the summer fun, that wasn't posted in some other post along the way.

Our kids were in "Kids Crossfit" this summer. It was so good for them to get exercise and to feel good about themselves with the new things they learned they could do.

Kam especially loved it. He really wasn't old enough to be signed up, but since his brother was in the class, he just hopped right in. He was quite a bit smaller and younger then the others, but he didn't let that stop him. When they would all do jump rope. He would lay the rope out on the floor in a straight line and hop across it over and over. If there was something he couldn't do - he found a way to do it the "Kam way".

One of our 4-wheeling adventures brought us to the Ice Caves.

(Emilie and Jarin)

We even had some cousin time.

(Kam and Des)

Our neighbors have a fun tradition of a lawn mower parade. We decorate our lawn mowers and parade them up and down the streets. Our family went as Islanders. :)

We love our Kayaks - great investment for some family togetherness. Weather we have all day to play or just a couple of hours to run to the nearest reservoir - we love this way of cooling off with some good water fights.

Jarin got tired, so I am toting him behind.

We had Ira's cousins come from Saint George for a couple of weeks this summer. We played hard while they were here. Three extra boys was exhausting, but a special treat. I grew to love them in that short time, and look forward to next summer.

Every good summer eventually faces it's sunset. I love summers in Cache Valley. I feel so blessed to get to live here. Now that it is getting colder, I'm not sure it is really a blessing - but I look back on those summer days and look forward to the summer days to come - and there is no where else I'd rather be.

Kute Komments!

Jarin: "I've been waiting all day for Kamden to grow up...when will he grow up like me?"
4-2010

We were driving by a farm which was being fertilized. Jarin sniffs a big sniff and says, "Mmmm...that smells like my strawberry nose" (the strawberry nose was a yummy smelling gas mask from the dentist)!
Jarin: "Is is "fat man or bat man"?
Jarin "My heart is dirty and needs to be cleaned." Then I wash his face, and he says, "My heart is clean!" (He watched me put lipstick on once, and thought my top lips looked like hearts. Now he thinks that lips are hearts). Which makes me wonder what he thinks when he says, "The Holy Ghost makes our heart feel good."
Jarin asked with a great big smile that melts my heart, "Mom, are you being grumpy with me?" (yes, I was - but that started us both laughing instead!)
We were having a family home evening helping Emilie to prepare for baptism. We talked to her about making good choices and right vs. wrong. We were trying to prompt her to give an answer when Ira asked her, "What's opposite of right, (he asked it in the context of right choices), and she answered, "Left." (you should have seen the look Ira and I gave each other - it spoke volumes!)
Same family home evening... we were talking about the Holy Ghost. Jarin (being very tired and very sensitive at the moment anyways), started going balistic on us. Not only did he say he was scared of the Holy Ghost. And not only was he crying because he was scared, but he was SOBBING, and it continued for about an hour (which is when he fell asleep still crying)!! Then first thing out of his mouth when he woke up was that he was scared of the Holy Ghost! We think we are doing the right thing by teaching our children, but really - we have taumatized Jarin! I can only imagine what was going on in his little imagination. Did I mention that FHE finished earlier than planned?
Ira was feeling the baby move at a particularly active time. He said, "Is he moving furniture around in there?" (some days it sure feels like it!)
There was a baby being blessed in church Sunday, and Jarin saw the priesthood men in a circle, and loudly proclaims "Look mom, their playing ring around the rosies!"
Emilie asked me, "Since our eyes are blue, how come everything doesn't look blue to us?" I explained how we see through the black circle in our eyes. She said, "Then the blue is just for decoration?"
Jarin walks around the house constantly saying, and singing "I am a Child of God, and He has sent me here." And when anyones voices get too loud, he sings, "Love at home... Love at home..." I'm not sure he even knows the meaning of what he's singing, but it stops the contention and usually starts a few giggles.
Ira was talking about leap year, and Emilie asked, "What is leap year? Is it when we leap to school?"
Ira asked Emilie if you put plastic wrap or foil over a pan going in the oven. She said tinfoil. Ira said "Good thinking Emilie." She responded by saying, "No, I didn't think...my teacher told me." (thank goodness for teachers, so we don't have to think!)
Jarin asked me if he could have something, and I had told him no. He responded by asking again, then answering his own question as if he were me, "Of course you can sweetheart." (it's no wonder he gets whatever he wants - how cute is that?)
In church today, a half a second before the sacrament prayer was being said, (so it was very quiet in the room), Jarin observed that his dad was sitting on the stand, and calls out in his loudest voice, "That's my daddy up there!"
Brayden said, "I've learned to never mess with a pregnant person."
Today I told Jarin he was a sweetHEART, and he said, "No, I have a beautiful HEART, and mommy is beautiful too." (a comment like that, he can have whatever he wants!)
This one was said a year or so ago, but it was one of the best we've had ever - so it bears repeating! Emilie said to mom, "Someday I am going to marry my prince, just like you married your prince."
Jarin said, "We don't say 'monkey butt' do we?"
Jarin see's a bumble bee and says, "It's a bum-bum bee".
Emilie singing, "Loose, footloose, kick off my church shoes."

Hmmmmm...

I copied this from my sisters blog, but it's just too perfectly perfect to not be reminded of as often as possible!

Hmmmm....
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.'Well,' she said, 'I think I'll braid my hair today!'So she did, and she had a wonderful day.The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head.'H-M-M,' she said, 'I think I'll part my hair down the middle today!'So she did and she had a grand day.The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head.'Well,' she said, 'today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail.'So she did and she had a fun, fun day.The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.'YEA!' she exclaimed, 'I don't have to fix my hair today!'Attitude is everything. Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

INSPIRATION

"A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation." Joseph Smith

"The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone. The things you do for others remain as your legacy."

"Fix it up...wear it out... make due...or do without!" - Gordon B Hinckley

"In righteousness there is great simplicity" - William R. Bradford

"The most important thing parents can do for their children is to teach them to feel The Spirit and recognize when it is no longer with them."

Elder M. Russell Ballard: "There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children...What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."

The adversary would keep us busily engaged in a multitude of trivial things in an effort to keep us distracted from the few vital things that make all the difference."-Ardeth G. Kapp