Into the Caves

As a prelude to our weekend at the cabin, the whole family (minus Grandma & Grandpa) hiked up to Timpanogos Caves.

Emily, Hillary, Sarah and Maddie. Intrepid hikers.

Flushed cousins. It was plenty warm.

Top of the trail. 1100 foot climb in 1 1/2 miles. Steep enough.

Flowstone, stalactites and helictites (the curly gnarly ones). The yellow and red colors come from minerals.

BIG stalactites.

Em and Hillary were much happier once they cooled off inside the cave.

See the rat? It's hanging by the tail. So said the park ranger. (They spend a lot of time in the dark.) Interpretation of these formations is akin to a Rorshach test. Spooky.

On the way down we stopped for a photo op at Lover's Arch. Sarah dubbed it thus and so it shall remain for us.

After Timp, we headed to Heber and dinner at the Dairy Keen on our way to the cabin. The DK serves up a very fine burger and shake. We were all feeling justified (calorically speaking) after having hauled it up and down the mountainside. A good time for sure.

This is me

Observe the following pictures for clues to my identity.

Square. That's me.



Apparently I'm the female equivalent to this.

And this.

Sweet.



Yesterday Emily said,

"Mom. I should teach you how to text so you can be one of the cool moms."

Ouch.

a. When did my nine year old learn how to text?

b. To whom does she text?

c. On what phone does she text?

d. Isn't it enough that I can input names & numbers in my contact list on my phone?

If anyone needs me, I'll be ironing a crease into my mom pants.

Gotta look sharp.

82 is looking good on you.

A few weeks ago we celebrated Rich's dad's Birthday. We were at Rich's brother Dave & sister in law Amelie's beautiful home in North Salt Lake. Amelie had an emergency at work and wasn't able to get home... we missed her.

This is the birthday boy. Guenther. a.k.a. Dad, Grandpa, Ging, etc. He has one of the best laughs around and a great smile. If he's smiling, everyone wants to smile. One of the reasons he's smiling (other than his posterity had mercifully just stopped singing) is the lovely woman to his right. This is Jeannine, his wonderful wife and companion. Thank you Grandma Jeannine for loving Dad and for taking such good care of him.

Rich serving up some cake and ice cream to Sarah. Yum.

Emily taking a break on Dave & Amelie's couch.

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you.

Out to Lunch

Last week, in an attempt to make sure we squeeze in as much fun as possible before school starts, my girls and I went out to lunch.

We went to the Pantry at the Lion House.

My, but it was delicious!

Sarah and Emily in front of a massive hanging planter outside the Pantry. The grounds of the church owned properties in Salt Lake are amazing.

Sarah took this closeup as we strolled the gardens.

I sure had a fun afternoon with my girls.

Scenes from Cherry Hill

Today we went to Cherry Hill. Even though it was very windy, it was still hot and we needed some splash time. Happily for us, most of the mommies with little, little kids decided the weather was too rough for them so we had our pick of choice parking spaces and lots of elbow room in Lazy River. Sweet! After floating on our tubes for a spell we headed over to the swimming pool. (FYI- Cherry Hill's Lazy River has an old west mining town theme so I must use words like 'spell')

Photo from Cherry Hill's site.

Now Sarah and Emily are doing swim team, they feel obligated to get me really moving whenever I'm in the water with them. We were at the edge of the pool with Sarah on my left, Em on my right.


Sarah - "Come on Mom. We can hang on to the side and just kick!"

Me - "Okay." Willingly complies and begins to kick (and kick hard I thought). A moment goes by.

Emily - "Mom... she's mocking you."

Me - Turns to look at my sweet eldest child. "Really?"

Sarah - "Just a little."

When did I become mockable? Don't answer that.

Next scenario. Emily decides that she will hold me. You know how in water you become light... buoyancy... that's it. I put my arm around Em's neck and she scoops me up in her arms (quite easily I thought), hefts me a little and then pronounces, "You're not the lightest fish in the ocean!" Lovely.

(A slight detour: Last week I was visiting with a male neighbor in our home when Emily walks in, interrupts our conversation and asks, "What size shoe do you wear Mom?" Extra lovely. I'm not revealing my shoe size here, suffice it to say it would be difficult for me to tip over in a very strong wind.)

Emily is shaking my confidence just a teensy bit. She's also making me laugh, so I guess its alright. I love being at Cherry Hill with my girls.

Pioneer Days

This is my brother Tony & my darling sister in law Connie.

They're instigators.

They are the stimulus behind a lot of our good times.

They got the whole family to go to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo. This is a pretty big deal as we're not typically rodeo going folk. Rich and I figured it's been close to 20 years since we'd been to a rodeo, so needless to say our girls were very excited! Mutton bustin'... they particularly liked that. Who wouldn't enjoy seeing little kids flying across the arena hanging on to a smelly old sheep for dear life? They also liked the barrell racing. Me? I like the ladies vying for the spot of Rodeo Queen. I love the fancy outfits and curly, aqua netted hair cascading out from under their cowgirl hats as they glide around the arena at lightning speeds with their smiles and patented 'come a ridin' wave. What a great night! Ropin' and ridin' and buckin' broncs and big old bulls. Finish it off with some amazing daredevil dirt bike riding and a firework display for the cherry on top.

Tony, Tatiana, me, Mom and Dad.

Mom & Dad were the generous sponsors of the evening.

The whole fam, except for nephews Clark and Chase and little Henry who was not ready for his closeup. Sometimes that happens when you're 5.

After the rodeo, all the cousins had a sleep over at Tony and Connie's house because they are the most excellent aunt and uncle around. We called the next day to see when we could get our girls and were told to not bother them... busy having a good time.

Later that day, we all met up at Mom and Dad's for a yummy barbecue and more fun visiting.

Sarah loves to be by her Uncle Tony.

Sweet Em with french braids courtesy of Aunt Connie.


Rich was on grill duty.

Emily put on the pre-dinner floor show. Mom in the background getting the finishing touches on dinner.

Emily is now an official lighter of the fireworks. Grandpa lent some adult supervision.

My beautiful niece Megan... love this girl.



We fell into bed on the 24th smelling of pyrotechnics, bug spray and having had more fun than should be allowed. I love my family.