Saturday was about the hottest day we had all year and we celebrated by working out in the heat!! :P We had our fun first though.
In the morning GM and I went down the street to an open house of a new model home village they opened over the weekend in our neighborhood. They made a big deal out of it by having free food being cooked in many of the homes (by local restaurants), prize drawings, cupcake decorating, a few live bands, and free movie tickets to see WALL-E for the whole family. We had fun looking through the homes for a while (while our kids stayed home and played wii) then we picked up our kids, grabbed some lunch and went down to the theater to see the movie. We all loved it. BR can't stop laughing about WALL-E picking up the bra and covering his eyes with it and then making some exclamation. :)
After the movie we came home, and in honor of the hottest part of the day, we decided to weed our yard and work in our garage and the loft above it. (I think it was hotter in the loft than it was outside!! It felt like a sauna up there. :P) Despite the heat we were able to get all the weeds pulled, the loft organized and some things taken care of in the garage and loft. After that, GM took a little break and then went to the loft to clean his guns (he got most of them done but it's so stinkin' hot up there he almost passed out...in spite of the window air conditioner we put up there) while I did some organizing in the house. We really got a lot accomplished and I felt super (I love that sort of thing, minus the heat).
For dinner I decided to make breakfast and BR offered me his services. He's really turning into quite a good little cook! He made waffles and I made an omelet. (The other night he made spaghetti and spaghetti sauce from scratch with minimal help from me!! Sunday night he and I made fajitas together, but he helped tremendously, he ran the salad shooter himself until we both broke down in tears from the onions.)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Pinewood Derby
Last Thursday night was BR's 3rd Pinewood Derby. He named his car Turbo Thunderbird (he's pretty much obsessed with Thunderbirds), or something like that. But he'd missed the scout activity where the scout leaders help weigh it and adjust the weight so GM helped him instead. Well they were low on time so they just ended up screwing a socket to the top (from GM's socket wrench tool kit) and it weighed exactly the right weight. Well BR was a little embarrassed by the big ol' socket on top despite our efforts to convince him that it was cool because it looked like a really big blower...or some other cool device on a car. :P Once he took it to the derby though, and showed his scout leaders, they dubbed it "The Socket" and so BR ran over to me all excited and told me that his car is called "The Socket". I guess it's cool if it's your scout leader. :)
BR has never won anything at a pinewood derby except an award for most original. He always has high hopes but we try to prepare him to not be too disappointed if he doesn't win. This time as BR and GM were working on the car, GM was doing this little pep talk again and BR said, "I know dad, it's not about winning, it's about having fun!" :) So now he'll tell you about what happened on one of the rounds:
(In case you didn't catch that, he was explaining how his car was in first place that round). :)
He didn't end up making it to the semi-finals but he was a pretty good sport about it, and handled his disappointment really well!
Molly played in the hall and in the nursery the whole time, with a bunch of other little kids.
Afterward we all went to the library to check out some books, and then over to REI. While GM was looking at some backpacks BR was reading his recently acquired books (surprise, surprise) and MC found her own entertainment. There were about a dozen little suction cups on the window by the rock wall and she could have stayed there for hours playing with them!!
BR has never won anything at a pinewood derby except an award for most original. He always has high hopes but we try to prepare him to not be too disappointed if he doesn't win. This time as BR and GM were working on the car, GM was doing this little pep talk again and BR said, "I know dad, it's not about winning, it's about having fun!" :) So now he'll tell you about what happened on one of the rounds:
(In case you didn't catch that, he was explaining how his car was in first place that round). :)
He didn't end up making it to the semi-finals but he was a pretty good sport about it, and handled his disappointment really well!
Molly played in the hall and in the nursery the whole time, with a bunch of other little kids.
Afterward we all went to the library to check out some books, and then over to REI. While GM was looking at some backpacks BR was reading his recently acquired books (surprise, surprise) and MC found her own entertainment. There were about a dozen little suction cups on the window by the rock wall and she could have stayed there for hours playing with them!!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Who Knew Chickens Would Be The Highlight?!
After we left East Canyon on Sunday, we decided to take a detour on our way home and drive through Emigration Canyon along the Mormon trail. As we passed the "This is the Place" monument we decided to stop and see if they were open. 
The village next to the monument is usually open and populated with actors from the early pioneer era but since it was Sunday it was almost completely vacant. The little gift shop/visitors center at the front of the village was open and inside we were told we could go into the village and walk around for free but none of the buildings/houses would be open and there would be no "villagers" about. MC and GM made a pit stop in the visitor's center while BR and I explored a bit. 
We decided that we'd go into the village and check it out since our kids were game for it. Shortly after we entered the village, we encountered a whole bunch of young chickens running around one of the houses. My kids were so intrigued by them that we decided to stop and let them watch the chickens for a while. I figured they would soon tire and want to move on, but I was quite mistaken! I believe we stayed nearly three quarters of an hour and as we sat there we all decided which ones were our favorites. They all had their own unique "personalities". (MC and BR would have stayed even longer just watching and playing with them.) It was fun to watch how engrossed they were with these little birds. (BR said that it was the best time he'd ever had and decided he wants a pet chicken!!)
We were a little shy at first
Getting braver... 
BR had little yellow dots on his shoes that they must have thought were seeds of some sort. It thrilled him that they loved his shoes so much! :) 
Their little feet tickled ours as they walked over them 
BR was the first one to be brave enough to pick one up 
When GM went over and sat by the kids the chickens had to check out the new feet :) 
MC holding her favorite, the white one (it was very skittish and it took a while for BR to catch it for her) :P 
BR caught my favorite one for me. It turned out to be a very calm one that everybody liked holding.
After a while we coaxed the kids into moving on. We saw other animals around, but they were all in pens and it wasn't as much fun for BR and MC because they couldn't interact with them. We found a few buildings open in a little "play house" area. The kids had fun exploring the little houses, the TP and the train, but the most fun they had was when their dad decided to start chasing them and squirting them with their water bottle.
They would have done that for hours too but GM got worn out. :P
The village next to the monument is usually open and populated with actors from the early pioneer era but since it was Sunday it was almost completely vacant. The little gift shop/visitors center at the front of the village was open and inside we were told we could go into the village and walk around for free but none of the buildings/houses would be open and there would be no "villagers" about. MC and GM made a pit stop in the visitor's center while BR and I explored a bit. 
We decided that we'd go into the village and check it out since our kids were game for it. Shortly after we entered the village, we encountered a whole bunch of young chickens running around one of the houses. My kids were so intrigued by them that we decided to stop and let them watch the chickens for a while. I figured they would soon tire and want to move on, but I was quite mistaken! I believe we stayed nearly three quarters of an hour and as we sat there we all decided which ones were our favorites. They all had their own unique "personalities". (MC and BR would have stayed even longer just watching and playing with them.) It was fun to watch how engrossed they were with these little birds. (BR said that it was the best time he'd ever had and decided he wants a pet chicken!!) We were a little shy at first
Getting braver... 
BR had little yellow dots on his shoes that they must have thought were seeds of some sort. It thrilled him that they loved his shoes so much! :) 
Their little feet tickled ours as they walked over them 
BR was the first one to be brave enough to pick one up 
When GM went over and sat by the kids the chickens had to check out the new feet :) 
MC holding her favorite, the white one (it was very skittish and it took a while for BR to catch it for her) :P 
BR caught my favorite one for me. It turned out to be a very calm one that everybody liked holding. 
After a while we coaxed the kids into moving on. We saw other animals around, but they were all in pens and it wasn't as much fun for BR and MC because they couldn't interact with them. We found a few buildings open in a little "play house" area. The kids had fun exploring the little houses, the TP and the train, but the most fun they had was when their dad decided to start chasing them and squirting them with their water bottle.
They would have done that for hours too but GM got worn out. :P
East Canyon
Our annual Dalton family vacation/reunion was the first week of June this year (June 3rd-8th). It was very different this time than other years. First of all GM wasn't there until Thursday night and most other years he came up for the evenings even if he had to go back down the canyon every morning to work. Another big change was that I decided to give my kids more independence this time as long as they used the "buddy system". They were free to go from our condo to my sister Amber's condo, to my sister April's condo, to "The Bus" (my parents' motorhome-ized bus) as much as they wanted as long as they stayed in groups (with their cousins). They slept at "The Bus" or other condos most of the time and lots of times ate their meals with grandma and grandpa or their cousins so I didn't see them very often!! Because my kids are the main focus in photography, and because they were off with their cousins so much of the time, I took very few pictures this time as well.
If you look closely you can see BR in the background eating breakfast and watching TV. :) In the foreground is my oldest niece doing some scrapbooking. (My sisters and my mom and I also did a bit of scrapbooking.)
MC getting ready to go swimming.
I spent a lot of time with my sisters and I took some pictures of Amber's kids (her kids are also some of my favorites to photograph).
We went during the first week of June, from June 3rd through the 8th and it was very cold and rainy most of the time. In my opinion it was much too cold to swim (this wasn't helped much by the fact that I'm not a big fan of swimming), and I thought, foolishly, that my kids would feel the same. How wrong I was!! They went to the pool every single day, multiple times, rain or shine!! The only thing I made them get out for was lightning storms or if no other "big people" were going to be there. (BR would have probably been there twice as much if he could have stayed on when nobody was there or when the weather was too bad to permit swimming! GM and I call him our little guppie!)
GM decided to surprise me and come up on Thursday evening instead of the planned Friday evening. (I was glad to see him!!) We went to the hot tub together, 4-wheeling together and watched a movie or two together, but he also went off and did stuff without me as well. He went shooting with BR and my brother-in-law Alan. He also swam with the kids and I believe he went mini-golfing with BR.
If you look closely you can see BR in the background eating breakfast and watching TV. :) In the foreground is my oldest niece doing some scrapbooking. (My sisters and my mom and I also did a bit of scrapbooking.)
MC getting ready to go swimming.
I spent a lot of time with my sisters and I took some pictures of Amber's kids (her kids are also some of my favorites to photograph).
We went during the first week of June, from June 3rd through the 8th and it was very cold and rainy most of the time. In my opinion it was much too cold to swim (this wasn't helped much by the fact that I'm not a big fan of swimming), and I thought, foolishly, that my kids would feel the same. How wrong I was!! They went to the pool every single day, multiple times, rain or shine!! The only thing I made them get out for was lightning storms or if no other "big people" were going to be there. (BR would have probably been there twice as much if he could have stayed on when nobody was there or when the weather was too bad to permit swimming! GM and I call him our little guppie!)
GM decided to surprise me and come up on Thursday evening instead of the planned Friday evening. (I was glad to see him!!) We went to the hot tub together, 4-wheeling together and watched a movie or two together, but he also went off and did stuff without me as well. He went shooting with BR and my brother-in-law Alan. He also swam with the kids and I believe he went mini-golfing with BR.
A Tribute to Aunt Peggy
We were looking for our wonderful Peggy treasures one day to take pictures of them for her and so MC wanted to "sing" how much she loves her since MC loves to cuddle with this lovely blanket from Aunt Peggy. We do love you Peggy!
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Fun Friday #2
This week was our second "Fun Friday" so my sisters and I and all of our kids all went to the zoo together. There was tons of chaos with so many kids, but it was tons of fun! And the thing that made it the most fun was that we all got to be together! We (BR, MC an I) rode with my sister Amber and her kids. We met up with April, Julie, Grace and my mom showed up at the zoo. They've got a new carousel and so everybody had to take a ride on that, we also got to see a bird show (which is always a highlight), and take an *amazing* train ride (well, at least the kids always think it's amazing). :)
It's always fun for me to see which animals my kids will want to ride on...
This was a bowl that you rub and it makes a surprisingly loud ringing noise.
This cute little baby is my "big Buddha" Big HAPPY Buddha! :)
These boys sat there forever staring at this frog with its tongue hanging out. :)
It's my kin about as far back as the eye can see! And that's not everybody!!
After the zoo Amber's kids played at our house for a while (BR played wii with her oldest son while MC played with the baby and her middle son played with GM's "Matryoshka" doll. There's something fascinating to kids about that doll!! It doesn't matter how many times they've played with it before, they still want to play with it again the next time they come!
As we drove home from dropping off Amber's kids, my kids, GM and I were discussing what we could do that would be fun and different, but cheap. :P And as we were listing off the possibilities we came to kayaking on the Daybreak lake (which is conveniently free) and everybody was game so we rushed over there ASAP. (We got there at 7:15 and had to be back by 8:00). They have 2 man kayaks, 1 man kayaks and also row boats. We opted for the 2 man kayaks into which BR and I were a team and MC and GM were a team. It was tons of fun, in fact it was so much fun the kids were both begging to go again the next day!! (Which we had to decline due to blisters that we both got from the oars, GM's were much worse than mine). :( BR was quite a good little rower!! He and I could just keep up with GM's rowing by working together (our hardest). :P
Once we were done we decided it was high time for dinner. We grabbed some sandwiches from Chick-fil-a and supplemented those with some left over salad from our fridge. :)
It's always fun for me to see which animals my kids will want to ride on...
This was a bowl that you rub and it makes a surprisingly loud ringing noise.
This cute little baby is my "big Buddha" Big HAPPY Buddha! :)
These boys sat there forever staring at this frog with its tongue hanging out. :)
It's my kin about as far back as the eye can see! And that's not everybody!!
After the zoo Amber's kids played at our house for a while (BR played wii with her oldest son while MC played with the baby and her middle son played with GM's "Matryoshka" doll. There's something fascinating to kids about that doll!! It doesn't matter how many times they've played with it before, they still want to play with it again the next time they come!
As we drove home from dropping off Amber's kids, my kids, GM and I were discussing what we could do that would be fun and different, but cheap. :P And as we were listing off the possibilities we came to kayaking on the Daybreak lake (which is conveniently free) and everybody was game so we rushed over there ASAP. (We got there at 7:15 and had to be back by 8:00). They have 2 man kayaks, 1 man kayaks and also row boats. We opted for the 2 man kayaks into which BR and I were a team and MC and GM were a team. It was tons of fun, in fact it was so much fun the kids were both begging to go again the next day!! (Which we had to decline due to blisters that we both got from the oars, GM's were much worse than mine). :( BR was quite a good little rower!! He and I could just keep up with GM's rowing by working together (our hardest). :P
Once we were done we decided it was high time for dinner. We grabbed some sandwiches from Chick-fil-a and supplemented those with some left over salad from our fridge. :)
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