The beginning of a lazy summer!

Lucy's beautiful flower. She watered it every day and put it in the sun. Finally the flower popped open!

This is our half apple tree. Half of it died so we chopped that part off. It looks so funny now. I hope the other half doesn't die too.

The garden has a good start. The kids like to help for about 10 mins. then they go jump on the trampoline. We are having a weed problem.

It is like we are growing the a crop of morning glory on purpose.


The sheep project is still going. Peter went to scout camp this week and so I had to fill in for him. It was fun walking the sheep and trying to keep the girls from fighting with each other or getting discouraged. Sometimes those lambs are stubborn. Sometimes the girls are. We are learning perseverance this year!



Lucy is feeding her lamb Freckles separate so that the other two don't hog all his food. He is the smallest and needs his fair share.


It has been really wet lately and now the mosquitoes are out in a vengeance. Sometimes it is all you can do to swat the bugs and hang on to the sheep.

Magpies have been stealing our chicken eggs. They usually get three a day. We have been setting traps but so far the only thing we have caught has been a cat and yesterday two silly chickens.

We borrowed our neighbors trap made special for magpies and hopefully we will be successful this weekend.


Surprise for the week, Grandma Arlene came to visit Utah all the way from California! We really missed her so we drove all the way down to Orem to visit her one evening at a park with lots of other fun cousins we haven't seen in a while!


Susan had her dad cut her hair. I was so thick and long but always pulled back behind her.

Now it is cute and short.

4-H Art - T-shirts

How did the kids do this? Find a picture or clipart on the web, print it out from the computer, trace it onto baking paper (looks like wax paper)I MEAN FREEZER PAPER, cut it out with an exact-o knife, iron it to a shirt, paint or spray the first layer, remove parts and re-iron and paint, let dry and you have a cool shirt!



Susan's shirt.

Peter's shirt.

Happy Father's Day!

Using the tiles was my friends Rachelle's idea. She can really make a picture into Art!
Her blog is here.


Don't forget Grandpa too!





It wouldn't be complete without watermelon! They aren't sitting there spitting seeds, it was seedless. What are they doing?

Sitting in the sun and letting the juices drip on the ground is the best way to eat watermelon with your dad!

We ate breakfast burritos for breakfast, egg salad sandwiches for lunch, and hamburgers for dinner. Dessert was this super pineapple pudding cake with coconut!

Utah Salt Lake City Summer Field-trip

Here is the Utah State Capital Building.




"Everyone needs a water-buffalo!" or at least a buffalo to climb on.




We met up with Danna and kids for a fun day. First we had to eat lunch. This was the perfect spot. Lots of places to climb and run around.




The kids climbed all the way up the steps and waved till we looked.



We went inside for a tour. This is an amazing building. We played the bingo game they have with little pictures of different parts of the building. We had to look everywhere to find them all. Here is the link for the game.

The kids took a Utah State History class this last year so they actually hung on every word the Docent shared with us about this building. Many things were familiar and some were new.

This is the view from the fourth floor looking out toward the SLC Airport.

This is where the House of Representatives meet. They weren't in session but we can come back when they are and sit in the balcony to listen. That would be cool.

My favorite part of capitals are the dome murals and the huge chandlers. When I was 12 years old my Grandpa Ivon and Grandma Evelyn took my sister and I on a cross country trip. We covered about 30 states and saw about 25 state capital buildings. The dome was the best part. For my sister it was the squirrels.




The Gold Room, literally.

Every good capital building needs a good safe.



Baby Edmund is a little confused. He calls the capital building a temple. They are very different in purpose but both are large and made of stone so this makes them the same to him.





All of the kids touched the temple. Some of them found little places to snuggle into.




We went to the Family History library and asked of they could find someone for us. Our old bishop and his wife from Castro Valley ward are there. It took a while to find them but they were safely on the 3rd floor right where they were called to serve. It was fun to give them a big hug and catch up on their mission. They have only been out 3 months.

In a few weeks Mike and I are going to go back to the SL Temple for our 15 year anniversary. I hope to spend a bit more time at the visitor center looking at the miniature model of the temple they have on display. We only had about 2 minutes to see it before we had to get going.

We ended up at a baseball game. Mike's business trip for work is actually what brought us to the city in the first place. They invited families to join them in the evening after the conference for a BBQ dinner and to watch the Salt Lake Bees vs. Sacramento's team.


We didn't last till the end of the game it was going too late. Some of the kids were bored so we played at a small park they have at the stadium and we road a little train for free. That was Edmund's favorite part. "Choo Choo!" The drive home was long and finally all the kids fell asleep. What an adventure!