Ward Fun Run

For years and years, our ward has held an annual fun run.  It's been a tradition since long before we moved here.  Traditionally, the elders' quorum ran the entire event.  This year, the bishop broke it up into pieces and had all the auxiliaries help.  That was nice for David, of course.  But he still had to be in charge of the race itself.  And this time, he had a lot more people to coordinate with, so in some ways it was a bit trickier.

He went out early in the morning and marked the course for the runners.  Here he is giving last minute directions.  

He recruited Alison to work the check-in table and to record times.  (sitting next to Ali is V'oa Keul and Mark Striker is checking in).   

Getting ready for the race to begin.  Josh is right there in the center.  Both he and Nicole ran the race.  

Ready? Set? Go!

The relief society and the high priest group worked together on the breakfast.  This meant that the RS decorated and planned the menu and the HPG did all the cooking.  It was a good set up.

Nancy Maughan (our children's piano teacher) Geri Memmott, and Gary Beech.

We had a great turn out.  The ward really loves this activity.  Who's that cute baby in the front there?  Oh yeah - he's mine.  

More pictures of our ward members.  

Oh how I love these people!

The primary was in charge of activities for the children.  Sidewalk chalk is always a hit!  Bron's hair....what can I say?

Nate Harris won the race.  He was given the coveted pink winner's jacket, where he will sign his name along with all the other winners.  I will never win that jacket.  He was dang fast!  

Woo hoo!  

Fathers' Day 2017

Fathers' Day this year was pretty much a repeat of last year:  Presents in the morning, Church (stake conference for us), Grandpa, Grandma and Scott for hamburgers in the evening, and treats at Katie's house aferwards.  Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

Our back yard is perfectly shady and wonderful in the evenings.  It was nice.

The kids helped me decorate again this year.

And made a cute banner again.

What can I say about my favorite dad?  He is the best part of my life.  Handsome, smart, funny, hard working, giving, and talented.  Basically, he IS my home.  And he makes a mean burger too!

And here's the best dad anyone could ever ask for.  My hero in many ways, for many reasons, and over many years.  Without fail, the happiest, most encouraging, positive person I've known - and I've seen him in some pretty challenging circumstances over the years. Oh how I love this man! 

Camping

We really wanted David to take the older kids camping on the first weekend of summer, but I forgot to make campsite reservations until it was too late.  So he had to take them a few weeks later.  Quinton and I stayed home.  He's still a little young.

The kids and I went up earlier in the day and found a gorgeous campsite up Farmington Canyon. Thr road was narrow, and right on the edge of a steep decline.  The boys were terrified!  I mean, TERRIFIED!!  At one point, Josh said he was so worried, his vision was getting blurry.  I assured him that he was perfectly safe (little did I know that there were several cars at the bottom of the cliff...).  After surviving the road once, they weren't nearly as frightened when David took them up later.

That afternoon, a forest fire was started right at the mouth of Farmington Canyon.  For a while, we weren't sure if the family would (or SHOULD) be allowed to go up there.  But everything was under control by the evening, and they had no trouble at all.  

The campsite was lovely!  It was heavily wooded and kind of broken up into three separate areas - the sleeping area, the fire pit area, and the breakfast nook.  

The breakfast nook looked over a large drop off, leading to a river.  So you could hear the water, but you didn't have to worry about the boys throwing stuff into it (like each other).  

I promise Bronson didn't graffiti this rock with his initials, but he DID stop to get a picture on it!

By the time David got home from work, bought  the kids dinner at Burger King (I had made tin foil dinners, but David was worried that there might be fire restrictions, so we left them in the fridge and ate them the next day), and drove to the site, it was getting dark.  They quickly set up camp and enjoyed  a few minutes of exploring.  

Then, they lit a campfire (no restrictions after all) and had some fun.  Josh needed to do a few things for cubscouts - skits, songs, fire safety demonstrations, etc.  And of course, they ate plenty of s'mores.  

I think the fire got a little big at one point...

Then they went to sleep.  The girls slept in the van while the boys slept in a tent.  I don't think either group was particularly comfortable, but hey - that's camping, right?

The next morning,David got up and started a fire.  They had hot chocolate, oatmeal....

and apparently s'mores for breakfast.  

Then they got to work breaking camp.  It was just a quick, one night stay.  

Once camp was all packed up, they went for a beautiful hike.  

Look what they found!  Several cars that had fallen off the road and smooshed themselves into the canyon floor.  Wowza!

Sure, Bronson's hair was painfully red, but it sure cames in handy sometimes!  It's like he has perpetual hunter's colors on!  You can 't lose him with hair like that!  We should dye all our kids' hair Ronald McDonald Red!

There are some pretty amazing campers, right there!  

And here's a final view of the lovely Farmington Canyon.

Summer Fun

Some Early Summer Fun:
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The girls talked me into dying the tips of their hair bright colors.  We bought hair dye and did it ourselves.  Bronson decided to use the left-overs of Nicole's red dye.

The first step in the dyeing process is to bleach your hair.  I kind of wish we would have left it like this - I think he's super handsome!  

The red hair certainly brought him a lot of attention. And it was easy to spot him in a crowd!

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Katrina (Alison's friend), Ali, Nicki, and I at a movie-at-the-park night.  We love going to these things!  Notice the colorful tips of the girls' hair.

I think the movie this time was Lego Batman.  

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A family in our neighborhood was moving and needed to sell their turtles.  In a moment of supreme stupidity, I talked David in to buying them.  We really got a steal of a deal, but they are a lot of work, kind of gross, and too big for the tank we have for them.  I hope to sell at least two of them, and perhaps all... but the kids think they're cool.  I'm tired of learning life lessons this way.

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I took the kids to the Tracy Aviary one morning.  It was awesome!

Bron and Josh.

Pretty flamingos.

Ali, Josh, and Nicki.

Emu.

After the aviary, we spent a couple of minutes at Liberty Park.  Here's all five of my kiddos on the swings.

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Josh had his first ever Scout Day Camp in June.  He had a blast!  I only have this picture of him getting ready to leave, though.  Male scout leaders don't take a lot of pictures, do they?

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Our neighbor friends took Josh on a hike  with their family one evening.  

He volunteered to wear the backpack for the group.  

Best friends, Walker and Joshua.  

Afterwards, they went to 7-11 for a Slurpee!