The perfect summer day--minus the Hindu Tourist attack

It's been years since I have been up Payson Canyon. I have memories of camping at Payson Lakes, only to be awakened by COWS roaming through camp at midnight. I really don't even remember ever seeing the lake. Yesterday my friend, Holly, called and we jumped at the chance to head up Payson canyon with them for the day. We had A BLAST and, yes, we did see quite a few wild cows.

This place is called The Grotto. Totally cool place that was only a 10 minute hike to get to. Jenna wasn't very excited when I said we were hiking to a waterfall--memories of the 4 mile trail of tears to Stewart Falls, I suppose. She said, "Is it just going to be ASPENS and ASPENS and ASPENS and ASPENS???" You can't really see how cool it was in this picture. It was a little cave in the middle of nowhere. Like something you would see in The Count of Monte Cristo.

All the kids (minus miles)

After a bus load (or so it seemed) of Hindu tourists arrived, we decided to keep driving up the canyon to Payson Lakes. Neither of us had been up there for years and we thought it would be fun to go hike around and eat a snack...or two. When we got there and saw how AWESOME the lake was, and how much fun people were having swimming in it, we stripped the kids down to their skivvies and let them have at it! They had the time of their lives with nothing but a big log. Next time we will come prepared with swimming suits and maybe even a raft...SO FUN!
We ended the day at my house with hot dogs, corn on the cob & watermelon. It was a perfect summer day.

As requested...

Blogging blues. Same stuff--another day--why post?

Kesley saved the day. She is begging me to post this video she just made with Jenna. It is her big film debut and apparently, Jenna's directorial debut--Thanks Amber for helping them both get started out on the right track with some pretty snazzy equipment! I'm sure this will be the first of many...

I did it....now please, PLEASE do not let me run into one of these people...

I just deleted 50 people from my facebook friends...just did it...not sure how I feel. Liberated? Not sure. Now I only have 102 friends--and some of them are still questionable--the others are mostly family. What does that say about me? Am I a looser? Kind of. I guess I'm ok with that.

But, I finally showed all those stupid popular girls who's boss...right?

Old friends

There is a saying that goes something like, "You can't make new, old friends." I am TERRIBLE at keeping in touch with people. This week I have been able to reconnect with an old favorite mission companion--I am lucky enough to have two (You were missed, Mary!) and my two best friends from high school. I love that no matter how long it's been, it always feels the same. You can't just make a new friend that you have known for--20--or in Chrissy's case 30 years!!

Chrissy, Marianne & Me

I like this picture because we are all laughing at the absolute mayhem that is going on around us... Here is a cute picture of the mayhem--I mean offspring of ours--minus the kid in the red shirt. Not too bad for 3 wannabe hippies from the 90's!It's not like that with all my old friends. Facebook, as much as I love it, also makes me realize there are some old friends that make me feel insecure, or drained when I talk to them--or even angry and frustrated just by seeing their name! Why can't I delete them? Why do I still agree to play dates? Am I scared? I think I'm scared they will see that I deleted them and then...I won't be popular anymore. Ja-know-what-I-mean? Why do I keep these people in my life? (Obviously none of these people even know about my blog...that I write to myself...)

Then there are others that I still have not looked for yet, or haven't been able to find, or I see them once every couple of years. It kinda makes me sad. Why do I let so much time go by without tracking them down? Why aren't they tracking me down? grrrr. So much of my life is in memories they may have of me--because we all know I can't remember any of it. My memory really sucks.

You can't make new, old friends. It was a good week.

DAY 3!!!

Look at this kid. Smiling. Happy. Fulfilling his first big DREAM! It was just the best. He did AMAZING! 9 minutes 11 seconds. He was 4th in his age group and 85th out of 461 runners!!! What a stud!
The day started early--5:00a.m. as a matter of fact. I had to get down to the park to register him because I missed the early registration. They gave me a number for him and also a shirt. The lady looked at me weird when I said I wanted a small. I realized why when I got home to wake Gavin up--the shirt DROWNED him, there was no way he could wear it. That lady at the park gave me a women's small and had been looking at me like, "Ha, there is no way YOU are a small"...stupid lady.

We got G-man a good breakfast and woke up the girls and took off to the park: 6:30am

Gavin was SO nervous. He kept saying he thought he just might watch the race instead of run in it. Poor little anxiety boy. Brent took him up to the starting line while I went to exchange his shirt. When I got to them I found Gavin at the front of the pack--nervous as can be--waiting for the starting gun. It was kinda nice the shirt didn't fit because the red helped me find him in a sea of blue.Luckily, I caught the start on video--check out this scared little guy just SPRINTING off!



Brent ran up to the first turn of the race to cheer him on and Me, Kesley, Jenna, Bonnie & John, and Grandpa all ran across the field to catch him at the half way mark. I was so surprised by how fast the first runners started running by us! Not far behind the front of the pack came G-man! He couldn't help but smile as we all cheered! Then we ran across the field to catch him at the second to last corner. He was DYING, but still running hard!



We all made it over to the finish. Not the best video, but SOMETHING!

Thanks Grandpa and Bonnie & John for coming to cheer him on! And thanks everyone else for all the nice phone calls congratulating him. He sure had a great time.Jenna was extra proud. Here is G in his new shirt and his shiny medal getting molested by his #1 fan.
We finished the morning with a yummy breakfast at Grandpa & Grandma's. Grandpa made his famous omelets and Brent made his famous pancakes topped with the best Red, White & Blue toppings.Later in the afternoon we swam with Bonnie & John & had a blast. Jenna was so tuckered out from the big day, she got herself out of the pool, snuggled in a towel and fell asleep! Love this lady.We ended the day with our own fireworks in the church parking lot. James and Ashton came with a few too. Nice cherry on top of a 3 DAY PARTY!!

Day 2 and 3/4

So remember how Kesley fell asleep at 8:30pm the night of the fireworks? I tried to wake her up at about 10:00pm when the fireworks were about to start, but her eyes were rolling back in her head and she was NOT going to be waking up anytime soon...so I let her sleep through them. Bad idea mom. BAD idea.

4:09 A.M. rolled around. I am SOUND asleep. Then, out of nowhere--"BAM!" My door flew open and hit the wall. "FLICK" on went my room light. I was totally out of it and trying to figure out what was going on--what day was it? Who am I??? Then I looked over at the door. There was Kesley. She had her chin down to her chest and her eyes were glaring up at me in a very frighting DEATH STARE.

Kesley: "Did...I...MISS...the...FIREWORKS???"
Me: "O crap."

DAY 2--Shumway EXTRAVAGANZA!

Another year, another party! This morning I went through the last couple years of Shumway party pictures. Love this tradition but also hate seeing all the kids growing up so fast!! It was a good reminder to document, Document, DOCUMENT everything with pictures! Before the onslaught of pictures, I have two short videos for Elder & Sister VanCott:

And a wave--

Let the party pictures begin:Two of the 4 Pregnant ladies, because we all know pregnant ladies do not post pregnant lady pictures of themselves unless it is their first baby--and then they post them daily. :)Brian cooling off in his biking gear after biking 3 HOURS and then from their house to Shumways. All the kids think this is cool--all the adults are secretly wondering how they might inconspicuously add chlorine to the pool water...Yay! Aunt Linda made it! She also promised to begin the Sunday evening get togethers starting NEXT WEEK! The Muscle men...or not! p.s. Is Jamison double jointed?

Adult conversation & teenage girls trying to stay busy in the back groundDad & BeansJenna & Paige

Tanner DudeRebeccaEliThe best back yard for a party...ever!The fireworks were also tonight. Kesley threw up right when we got home, so that kinda changed our plans. She fell asleep, so the rest of us climbed up onto the roof and had a spectacular view of the entire show! No crowds, no smoke, no walking a mile to our car...it may just be our new tradition! It lacked cousins, but we can fix that next year.

Day 3 is Gavin's big race! Stay tuned!

It's a 3 day party! DAY 1

The 4th of July falls on a Sunday this year. I find it funny that nobody seems to know when to actually celebrate--heaven forbid we actually celebrate on a Sunday... In any case, it is a great excuse for a 3 day party!

Friday started the party off early with a 6:00 a.m. roll call for the balloon fest. The kids were hard to rouse--I didn't even attempt to wake up Brent...shhh. Why is it that kids can have a blast with a garden hose, but you actually take them to something AMAZING and you find yourself trying to convince them that they are having fun the entire time? This picture perfectly summed up everyone's individual morning personalities: Eventually everyone came around and we had a great time. There was a new balloon this year that was AWESOME. Check out the size of this balloon!The balloons didn't take off because of the wind, and not all the balloons were there because it was only the first day and windy. Still totally fun--just not as magical. What it did allow for was a little extra time walking around and looking at all the balloons--and running into COUSINS! We ran into James, Ashton & Mercedes and Heather, Megan, Paige and Tanner. Here we are by Smokey The Bear and his...balloon--times have sure changed.Lot's of work, but I love this tradition!