Little Cottonwood Creek

We went on a little outing into the mountains this evening. Corey came along too. And look at how on top of it I am... I brought folding chairs! 

(K striking a pose) - 

And I brought granola bars for snacks! The children were pleased with me.

We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon and parked at the Lisa Falls parking lot (south side) and walked down the trail to where the end of the Techy Section is. We didn't set up on the trail, but we did wander along it a few times. Points if you can see all 4 kids in this picture. 

The kids threw rocks in the river. Katharine liked picking up dirt and letting the gravel run through her fingers, then scoop it up again and throw it in the creek. 

And of course she is in her usual hiking attire, aka a pretty dress. 

She is wearing new "Elsa" sneakers that I got at Walmart today. But what I really wanted to buy for her were more princess slippers! Sophi and Natalie went to the store with me and we admired all the pretty Disney slippers they had. I didn't know that Katharine's shoes were sold here! I those pink "slippers" were an exclusive Disneyland or Disney Store item... I could have gotten her a fresh new pair anytime. They had the pink princess slippers, or frozen slippers, and red slippers! 

Those are "Minnie" but look like Dorothy's ruby slippers. I put them all in the cart just for fun, just pretending that I could buy her all the shoes she wants... and then I let her choose one, and she went for the Elsa sneakers, not the heels. 

That's a good choice, Katharine. She's thinking of her bone and hip development. Yes, better to not have toddler high heels messing up your skeletal structure. But oh, to be a toddler girl again in this world! They get to wear such pretty glittery attire! My baby asleep this morning, asleep on our floor. 

After admiring her pretty little face, and then later Sophi did her hair and dolled her up. 

I'm glad we got out into the mountains. With that it turned into a pretty good summer day. Natalie got up early and had made apple muffins and a fruit smoothie shake for everyone for breakfast! 

Then lots of play. Katharine has been making up her own game, using the waterbottles as her people, and lining bottles and toys all up in a row. 

Corey and I took a ride to the ruins at 6:50 am. I am on day 2 of a waterfast (started Tuesday) so I was slow and had to walk it a few times. I told him to go on without me, cause he had to get back to take Lily to drivers ed. I was slow but I made it to the top in 1 hour 22 minutes. Back home at 1 hour 51 min. 

Switching Rooms

So we've been switching around bedrooms the past few days. We started this project on Monday, when we probably should have been enjoying the last few moments we had with Joseph and Eliza. But I guess they were busy organizing stuff and loading the car up, so maybe it is ok. Sophi and Natalie saying goodbye to the small room with it's small closet.

Peter saying goodbye to the big room where there was room for all his toys and project. 

We're on our third day in and Sophi and Natalie's room looks good and is basically done. The boys' room is a bit messy still. We need to reduce their possessions to make them fit in the smaller quarters. Daniel doesn't want to help us. 

This is his "ugghhh I'm tired..." pose. He doesn't want to practice music either. He doesn't want to do anything except try to not do the stuff we want him to do.

Corey and I went on a ride yesterday morning, and just so happened to be going up to Ann's at the same time as our high school friend Mike! He and Corey were in the same church ward growing up too, so they had fun catching up. 

We rode with them up to Potato Hill then across Ann's to Rush, then he went down Rush with his Alta High biking team and we were behind their group. We said bye at the bottom of Rush. It was fun to see him! When we got home, Owen and Natalie were both awake and working in the backyard raking. Wow!

Natalie want to plant grass under the pine trees. She's got a backyard vision that she wants to have happen for her birthday party in July. I'm not being very helpful in supporting her dream, but I guess she can try to make it happen. (I don't think grass will grow back there. We can't even get grass to keep growing where it is supposed to be.) But our summer roses are looking beautiful!!

I wish rose season lasted longer. Roses are in bloom everywhere though, they are beautiful. And other things going on the past two days - Katharine was working on her cup stacking skills...

Kids were playing with costumes in the basement, and left them ALL over. This was Daniel. 

I told him to go pick them up, and he did. Good job Daniel. Peter was in the basement today working on a Duplo Lego zoo/amusement park. He was very proud of it and gave me a full tour. This is the view from the entrance. 

We talked to Abi tonight! She's doing well in Brazil. She is treated like a celebrity at the school she is going to. It sounded fun, and familiar to her brothers, who had that same "Justin Beiber" status when they went to school in Chile. They told her to enjoy it while it lasts, cause when she comes back she'll be just a regular person again. Ethan took this pic of Abi being weird before she said bye to us.

Ethan is doing well and adjusting to being a new father. Hyrum's 'stache looks pretty sweet. We call him Mario, cause he looks like super Mario. Ethan's jealous of H's facial hair. And that's about it for what's going on here. 

Headed to Ohio

Joseph and Eliza are on their way back to Ohio.

They packed their car AND they were able to fit their wedding photos in too! Except for one really big frame, so the frame is still in the basement, but we opened it and got the photo out, so now they can go thrifting to find a big ol' frame in Ohio and then put it up on the wall in their bedroom, haha. Beautiful photos though. In heaven I think God will let us have nice big photos like that of our wedding day. We didn't get that done here on earth though. 

Anyway, so they are on their way. They asked me to take a photo of them before they headed out with Eliza's car. 

Joseph wore the exact same clothes on purpose, to recreate their pre-road trip pic from last summer!

Doh, we should have had the right door open. Oh well. I like how the backpack being swapped out for a diaper bag this year! A lot changed in a year! Having Mary here is the best part. Eliza with her Mary, and Katharine with her baby Mary too. Cute. She's a little mother. 

I took a few pics of kids with Mary. Natalie had the most. She didn't totally hog her, but she was pretty quick to take Mary if she fussed while the boys were holding her. 

(She might have hogged a little bit.) But everyone did get a turn. Katharine ~

Peter

And Daniel. Yay, Mary is awake!

Owen ~

Natalie (again...)

Sophi

Lily ~

So it was fun. The girls and boys all loved having a baby in the house. We'll have to go down and steal Alvie from Ethan and Bella now and then to get our fix. 

I was kinda going nuts today and needed to get outside, so we went up the canyon for FHE tonight. I felt much better once we were up in the mountains. Walking on the quarry trail. 

Corey and I let the kids know we bike this trail every day. "Good for you, mom and dad." Yeah, you guys would be impressed if you tried to bike up to the ruins. Not to mention going on Techy. Dad and i are hardcore. We took a little path off the trail and found some trails to boulders. We saw chalk on them and tried to see if we could hold them. They were impossible. I can't believe some people can climb things like this! I was able to hold on to the beginning of this one. 

Maybe I could do better if I had climbing shoes. We got back on the main trail, passed the 1st bridge, and then explored paths on the south of that. There were lots of boulders there. 

I've never explored any of that area before! It was fun. Corey stayed back with Lily...

and Daniel, Peter and I let Katharine lead the way up a trail. We found a pretend house with door between some boulders, that lead to a table. We set our dinner with sticks for our forks and spoons. Lots of places for imagination. Natalie was a mountain goat and climbed to the top of every boulder that she could. 

Soon the sun was setting and it would be dark, so we headed back to the car. Katharine blowing a dandelion. Cute little lips

Then we got some Red Button Ice cream and I let Lily drive us home from the store. Joseph and Eliza made it to the east side of Montana tonight, 4 hours away. They plan on going to Nauvoo and so will be driving for a few days to get home. 

Alvie and Mary

Joseph and Eliza have been here for a few days and are heading back to Ohio tomorrow. So we had plans for everyone to get together today. Ethan and Bella came up and little Mary and Alvie were able to meet (even though they don't know that they've met, haha, cause they slept through most of it)

Joseph and Ethan showing off their bundles of joy to each other, then they passed the babies to their mothers while J and Eth talked cars, er... carseats. Checking out each other's set of wheels...

Ethan and Bella have a Doona, Joseph and Eliza have an Evenflow. Kudos to the people who invented these carseat stroller transformers, what a great idea! As the boys talked about their baby's modes of transportation, Eliza and Bella shared birth and delivery experiences.

In some ways they had completely opposite experiences. Eliza was preterm, labor was quick, baby is small, hospital stay long (3.5 weeks in NICU). Bella was overdue, labor pretty long, big boy, and short hospital stay. The babies got a change of clothes with a change of diapers, and we all gathered around and giggled at the two of them.

Little squirmy babies. Soon Wayne came over to join our family gathering, along with Seth and Isaac.  Seth was going to catch a ride to Provo with Ethan and Bella, cause he is starting as a counselor for FSY tomorrow. We had a feast of potato salad, veggie tray, greek salad, and some korean stir fry with rice. Mel and Christian came up too and they made pasta and vegan alfredo. 

So it was a feast. Corey was at his dad's doing some church stuff, but came home around 5 to join us. We got a four generation photo with the boys, their babies, and Corey and Wayne.

And got Wayne to hold the babies (kinda) for this photo. 

Wayne says he doesn't hold babies, but we got him! Then at one point during the night, Corey and Christian started trying to replace the worm gear in our kitchen aid. The kitchen aid has been broken for several years, hiding in the basement, and I don't know how it came up a few weeks ago, but Christian said it was probably the worm gear. Corey ordered a worm gear, but didn't get to replacing it. With Christian here today, they went at it. 

When people came passing by the kitchen, we stopped with great interest in this project going on... a household appliance repair!?!? We've never seen something like this!! Corey teased "Oh come on, I'm working in my shop all the time.... don't pretend like this is new!" haha.

We were amazed at the amount of grease in the motor. Weird, gross, and messy. The gear was replaced, the kitchen aid put back together. Time to plug it in for the moment of truth...

And it worked! A cheer erupted from the kitchen. People in the front room, who did not know what was going on in the kitchen shop, came to see what the fuss was about. Corey with his first catch! Taking a photo like it was the biggest fish he's ever caught. 

Or perhaps the first fish? It was a proud moment. Thanks Christian! We told Mel she should keep this guy around, he's a good one. I didn't use the kitchen aid much when it was working (I should try to enjoy cooking more), so I haven't missed it while it's been broken, but Abi will be glad to have it back to make her mashed potatoes. We'll be ready to show her when she's back from Brazil. While Corey and Christian were doing that, there was some brotherly rivalry going in via spikeball in the back yard.

Joseph, Ethan, Owen and Daniel playing with Peter and Katharine jumped on the trampoline. 

The kids moved the trampoline into the southeast corner of the yard so they can jump onto it from the  roof of the shed. Peter took it down a level and jumps off the play house.

Video of their game. Near the end of the night, Corey had a moment to hold Alvin while we finished visiting before everyone headed out. 

Corey's worm gear is being cleaned of the grease in that pink bowls on the counter, for Corey to keep as a token of his big catch. It was wonderful to have everyone here!