Pumpkin Pickin'

We went to the U-Pick Red Barn pumpkin patch in Idaho Falls. I was just off of Rollandet, just across the street from the camels at Tautphaus Park. They had a family special where you could get 3 regularly sized pumpkins and 2 jumbo sized pumpkins for $20. They also had train rides for $2 each.
Yep, that's my finger in the way.

(The sun was glaring on my camera and I couldn't see this at all.)

On the mountain of pumpkins, front and center.

Summer 2010 --- Part 2

The first part of August, we went to Salt Lake for Dylan's annual visit to Primary Children's. (To read about, click here)

What I haven't blogged about yet, was all the fun stuff we tried to squeeze in while we were doing the yucky stuff.

We got out back to school shopping done at the outlet malls in Park City.

We found a water park called Cowabunga Bay. Its just off I-15 in Draper.

This place was a hit with the kids. It was (and is still) one of the most talked about events of the summer.

I am surprised that I got as many pictures as I did for all the fun (and keeping track of kids) I was having.

There were a ton of water slides. The vote were unanimous. The favorite was the one was the one that was pitch black until the very end.

Another favorite was the lazy river. You could just float on a tube and the water would just guide you around.

We also braved the TIDAL WAVE...

Cool...huh?

Drying out...

I'm sure we'll be back!!

And of course the kids spent some time with their dad. There is a great park not far from where he lives that I'm sure will be a big hit and become a tradition for us. We bought lunch at Burger King and ate it at the park before the kids began to play.

Its just like an Old West town.

Jared....pretending he is in jail.

Dylan making friends...

Taylor 'hangin' with her dad.

Summer 2010 --- Part 1

Just like we knew it would, the summer of 2010 flew by. We had a lot of great times and hopefully we made some great memories.

We went to the spray park several times...

Although we rarely stayed very long because the kids got cooled off rather quickly...

The 4th of July Parade with our favorites, the chocolate milk truck and the Ray's Car Wash drill team, which again had my brother, Matt, in it.
We DID NOT plan on seeing the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration fireworks show, but we ended up in the middle of a median (being so illegal) watching the best fireworks I think I've ever seen.

Jared trying to look anyway he could.

Awe...the fascination.

Then we went home. We slept out in our tent in the yard (a tradition we've started) for the 4th of July. We weathered it pretty well, until 2AM when the winds were threatening to carry us away to Montana.

Jared was the first one asleep, in record time.

We had out pillows and blankets and ate chips and watched movies on the laptop.

My brother Blake invited us to ride his horse a couple of times during the summer.
If any of my kids want to be cowboys, it would be Dylan. He's always telling us that the horse is his favorite animal. Although he was thrown from J-J (the horse) once, he got right back upon him and kept riding...

Riding the wave

This is the wallpaper picture that has been on my laptop since earlier this summer. Its a picture taken by a surfer in Hawaii (Clark Little), with a high speed camera. His wife wanted some unique pictures for a mural in their home. I put it up because I love the majesty of the water, the power of the wave, how blue the water and the sky are, and besides...who doesn't like a tropical picture. But a few days ago, (after getting my laptop from the factory, because it was under warranty and broke) I looked at it from an angle, I never had before. Notice the person who is about to be drowned in the magnificence of such power. Unless that person has the knowledge of how to swim, how to navigate around such conditions....its pretty much over for them. If they panic....its pretty much over for them. If they give up....its pretty much over for them. They need to know how to ride the wave. When something so big and overwhelming is coming our way, do we know how to ride it out???

What a parallel to life. The last time I checked, NOT ONE PERSON on this earth is immune from pain (physical or emotional), heartache, grief, disappointment, loss, confusion, despair or any other challenging mortal experience. Whether we see it coming or not, we each need to know how to 'swim'. We need to make sure that we do not panic, that we do not give up. I would hope that it would be alright to occasionally swallow that bitter-tasting pride we all collect and store from time to time, and yell for a life-jacket or have someone toss us a lifesaver, and reel us in.

I suppose it is no accident that the gospel of Jesus Christ is deemed as 'living water'....or that hope is like an anchor of the soul. The regal blue tang fish in 'Little Nemo' named Dory sang a simple song with a influential meaning...just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming, what do we do we swim swim swim...

My precious peeps...

These are my precious peeps. These were all taken earlier this month. A quick shout out to Amber Redd Photography. Amber, THANK YOU again, you did a great job!!!

Everyone probably thinks their kids should be models...huh?