Our last day together

On our last day together, we crammed in quite a bit.

We went Ice Skating. We used to ice skate in Scottsdale when these girls were tiny. That's how we found out Victoria had a knack for skating. She was 4 years old and just did it. The two of them would skate all over the place and then throw themselves on their bellies and called it the Polar Slide. I remember once one of the attendants told them to stop doing it that they were going to hurt someone or themselves. Scottsdale Ice Rink had so many rules it was stifling. Eccles Ice Rink is awesome! They even let you push babies in strollers on the ice.

We had lunch at Romo's Mediterranean Grill, our favorite restaurant! 

We browsed our tiny mall. We had to show them how small it is in comparison to Paradise Valley Mall.

The girls made Snuffle Mats for their dogs.

It makes me cry seeing this last photo when we were at the airport that night. Victoria and Hannah were drawing on Victoria's phone and laughing about the craziest things. It was almost surreal that they were here and leaving. I couldn't believe it had been a whole week already. I miss them!

 

Hiking Tony's Grove and Temple Fork

It was a little late for wildflowers at Tony's Grove Lake, but it was still a beautiful day with lots of flowers still blooming. It was fun to share it with them. I remember the first time we ever went. I was in awe because everything was green!

Kelly and I will forever be friends. We don't have to worry about any time making us distant. It can't and won't happen. She's like a sister. We have been friends for 21 years. Kaleb was just 5 months old. She would prop Kaleb on her hip while we had our Homeschool Co-op and would preoccupy him with their pencil box. I loved that she took the time to interact with him. 

Those days of Homeschooling are long gone. We could have had a great time schooling under these trees.

We sat on this rock and watched Victoria and Hannah walk all the way around to the other side. You could see them chattering away, turn to look behind them, and start walking back the way they came from to find us.

Hannah giggles ALL the time. There was never a dull moment with them. They almost had a language between them like when they were little. 

We hiked Temple Fork too because the boys came home for the weekend, and Kirk came too. It was kind of funny, for some reason, we just stopped right here and talked about random things. 

I LOVE these two!

 

Kelly and Hannah are HERE!!

In looking back, I still can't believe that Kelly and Hannah came for a visit from Arizona. 

This was at the end of July. 

It was the best week ever! 

We had a very long, long list of things that we wanted to experience with them. There was almost too much but we wanted them to have a fun vacation in Cache Valley.

For starters, we headed to Bear Lake....of course. And on the way we stopped by to see the boys. They were building a cabin in Bear Lake. You can see the lake in the back ground. There was quite a bit of smoke though from a fire in another state.

This is their high tech paper weights to hold down their blueprints.

Kaleb and Jared were shocked to see little Hannah all grown up. It has been 9 years since we saw them last. Hannah was 11 and Victoria was 9!

You gotta love Kaleb's mexican shade hat.

These two picked up right where they left off. It was like they have been together all this time. The funny thing is they both have red tricolor border collies. Hannah's dog's name is Cooper.

We kayaked and floated in tubes. I would have loved to have had time to take the kayaks to a different, more secluded place with birds but of course, we didn't have time.

We met up with the boys and ate dinner before heading back through the canyon to go home. I didn't want the day to end but boy were we tired. 

 

Spartan in Utah and Montana

 Jared and Kaleb ran two Spartan runs this summer. One in Snow Basin, Utah and the other in Big Fork, Montana. The one in Utah was an obstacle course, literally 100% up hill and 100 F! Jared came back clean and Kaleb came back filthy! Jared said it's because Kaleb had to throw himself into the mud all along the way. Kaleb wore his dirt proudly.

This Spartan Run was in Montana and cold. Which is why they are wearing thermals.

I love that these guys will do these things together. The crazy part is these guys are best buddies since birth. And these guys are 4 years apart!

The photographer caught lots of photos of Kaleb. Probably because of his crazy screams and calls that he does all along the way.

Kaleb is such a skinny, light weight but super strong. The only thing he had trouble with was pulling a sandbag on a pully. It kept yanking him up in the air. Guys were telling him to climb the wall and jump. At one point, Jared just reached over and pulled down. 

That's Brotherhood!

Kaleb said this was fun running through the muddy water. I don't doubt it. He gets in to everything he does. He also ropes Jared into doing things like this.

 Jared always says, "why do I want to do that?"

These photos are from Utah where it was 100 degrees. Can you tell who the crazy one of the two are?

I love this picture. 

These are my crazy boys!

Kaleb said he was the only with a daypack. He has everything but the kitchen sink in that bag.

July

Victoria was hungry and inpatient for dinner.

So she grilled the hamburgers....which only proved that she 

could start a fire and grill the burgers all by herself. Aha!

We were at Bear Lake and this guy was sitting in front of us. 

He was using this little kids umbrella to shield himself from the sun. It made me laugh.

Super Cute

Paisley has made a great Mama. 

All these babies are healthy and she has plenty of milk for ALL 3!

Petunia, looks just like her Mama and is very loud like her Mama.

The smallest, Ollie, ended up being the biggest.

Sebastian head bumps like his Daddy. He rears up like he's going to hit hard and then he is super soft. Victoria taught him to fist bump on command. 

All three were adopted into their new homes. Petunia will be bred eventually and both little boys were made wethers. The little boys were adopted together, which I was so happy about. I wanted them to stay together. They looked pretty happy at their new home, hanging out with chickens.

 

July in a Blink

I love these Hollyhocks!

Mostly because of their beautiful color but especially because the seeds were collected from our Arizona friends, the Dart Family long ago. Every year I collect their seeds just in case something happens to the plants and they die or something. I'd feel horrible if I lost that connection with Chrissy.

I often hear a massive bumble bee busy collecting pollen and nectar before buzzzing to another bloom.

MerkTavitch is so cool!

We just need to get some meat on his bones and then keep it on.

July was busy with the installment of our front door and our back doors. We literally lived about three months without door knobs and the doors unstained but they were in place. I love these doors already. 

I was out back visiting with Brody over the fence when I saw this frog hanging out in the canal...and then I saw a little garter snake just a couple feet from the frog!

I love living up here in Northern Utah. We have all sorts of critters that come through our property. We have frogs, snakes, deer, raccoon, pheasants, ducks...

 

Thomas Reunion

Thomas Reunion, July 2, 2021

Kathy and Troy, Rich and Natalie, Mom and Dad, Kirk and I, Daphne, Jared, Kaleb and Victoria. I am so bummed that Aunt Carol didn't make it. She was undergoing treatment for Skin Cancer and didn't want to make the trip. We missed her. And now we really miss her. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her.

 Daphne always has an awesome project that she has been working on to show Uncle Rich. She sculpted this unicorn and painted it. It's beautiful

Can they slouch any more than they are?

We floated the canal, something I absolutely love to do so it was pretty fun sharing it with everyone.

Wildflowers

I haven't decided yet if I love, love, love the wildflowers in our yard every summer or if I hate the wildness mess of them as they grow out of season. They pop up everywhere, in places that you don't really want. But they are so, so pretty. I will probably let them spring up everywhere again next year. Every year I say that I am going to contain them in just a certain area. We'll see.