Woo Hoo, Look who's 32!

Bradley had a birthday on Friday and he requested pumpkin pie instead of cake. I noticed that he was holding Nathan in his birthday photo last year. Maybe we should make it a tradition. Could get interesting.

Last Night

The middle of last night found Brad and I both in the deepest belly laughs we have had in a long time, I am sure it was one of those "you really had to be there" moments but I will try to do it justice. Nathan woke a few times last night and would whine a little every time he woke up. Well, one time it woke Hyrum up. As six year olds are prone to do, instead of going back to sleep, he decided he would look at all the shadows and listen to all of the night sounds and sufficiently creep himself out. After a while, he had worked himself up enough to have to go to the bathroom. He was by this time too spooked to attempt this long and dark journey the few feet to the light switch, let alone the walk straight across the hall to the bathroom. He called out for us and Brad got up to escort the little haunted soul to the bathroom. Hyrum turned on the light and shut the door and all was finally well in his world, at least momentarily. When he was finished he opened the door and in a moment of disorientation he turned the light off. Then the scream, or shall we say the toe curling, blood draining, breath of terror. Brad bolted to the scene to save his second born from what was sure to be the most awful of awfuls. Turns out, Hyrum was being attacked and the fiery culprit had a grip so tight it would not release him! And just where does the belly laugh come in you ask? Well you see, Hyrum was wearing a glow-in-the-dark transformer t-shirt. I'm thinking he will rethink his "must have" purchases in the future! It took a little convincing on Brad's part, but he finally assured Hyrum it was just his shirt and he really was not in any immediate mortal danger. The little guy finally got back to sleep but Brad and I were left with involuntary bouts of laughter for quite a while.

Hurray for Club Cards!

Ok, so I know that lots of people hate club cards and wish you could just get the best price without having to have a card with you. Well, the best grocery store in town is Safeway and yes, you have to have their card or you have to pay the crazy price. Well, I play their game and it paid off. I won a $100 gift card in one of those "you are entered everytime you swipe your card" sweepstakes. Yeah!

First Day of School

I must say this is the first summer with kids that has gone too quickly. I really could have had them home for another couple of weeks. But, since I do not set the school calendar, it was up-and-at-em this morning. Both boys were pretty somber, not really admitting to feeling one way or the other. Hyrum did say on the way to school, "I am a little nervous, I hope my teacher changed her attitude over the summer!" Quite amusing, I guess the meet your new teacher encounter at the end of last year did not go so well for the little guy. When we got to school we met his first grade teacher before we even entered the building. She knew who he was and introduced herself as a neighbor who lives only a few doors down. She is young and pretty and Hyrum even blushed as he told me after she left, "I didn't remember what she looked like, but it's nice." Harker's only comment as he looked at his new class list was, "Man, I'm glad_______ isn't in my class! After breakfast, I walked them both to class. Hyrum said goodbye ten feet before the door and was off. Being in the third grade has graduated Harker to the big kid wing of the school which Harker thought was cool. I made sure to kiss him goodbye a safe distance from the watchful eyes of his classmates. His teacher greeted us at the door, and after a quick "he goes by his middle name" exchange, Harker was finding his way to his seat and I was walking to the car wondering as I do every year where the time has gone. Back to homework, stomach bugs and bedtimes.

Camping Trip to Bluewater Lake

A few days after everyone said goodbye we were ready for more adventure so we set off on a family camping trip for a couple of nights. It was really pretty and we had lots of privacy. The kids loved exploring (especially Nathan) and seemed to have a great time.

El Morro

We had just been to El Morro with John and Ray but it is such a cool place I didn't mind taking the troops. I carried Nathan in the backpack and pulled Natalie and I still enjoyed myself most of the 2 miles.

The decent, we made it!


Aunt Audrey with some ancient ruins.


Red faced at the top.


Mom giving Natalie a pep talk.


Aunt Audrey taking a break.

Meteor Crater

The Meteor Crater is huge but it is still hard to believe while looking at it that 20 football fields can fit at the bottom. They said the meteor was about the size of a bus!

Grand Canyon

After the Painted Desert we headed on to Flagstaff. The next day we went to the Grand Canyon. It was so amazing! The kids really enjoyed it.


Nathan got many kisses from Grandma.


Harker making memories.


One Crazy Crew!

Painted Desert, Petrified Forest Arizona

Here I go trying to catch up after lots of fun. Mom, Dad, Aunt Audrey, Katie and the family all set off on an adventure to Arizona not too long ago. We had lots of fun and saw some neat stuff. Our first stop was the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest. It was really hot but that did not stop us from exploring the desert. Yes people, we went out on one of the hottest days of the year and walked around in the desert, AND we had to pay for it!!


This is Harker next to an awesome "piece" of petrified wood.


Mom and Dad got their photo taken with the beautifully painted desert.


Mom and Katie very excited about walking through a load of petrified wood.


Natalie wondering a trail with a view.


Natalie walked around covering her eyes saying, "It's too hot!"