Dinner Conversation

Me: Girls please don't fill up Buddy Boys bed with blankets.
Lil: We didn't. We put blankets on the water bed.
MJ: You can jump on water beds.
RB: No, you can't because they will pop.
Lil and MJ: No, it won't.
RB: Yes it will. Just go ask grandma and grandpa. They had one that popped.
Lil: Daddy your right.
RB (to me): Can I record her saying that and then play it back every time they disagree with me?
Lil: Your right daddy. Only mommies and daddies can pop water beds.
RB: Well I almost had her.

Moab Sept. 2011

For Labor Day Weekend we headed to Moab. Moab is such a beautiful place and we love going there. We always have fun adventures and good memories while there too. We went on two trails: Moab Rim and Cliffhanger.

Moab Rim




The kids hiked half of it. They had a blast. MJ prefers to walk.


Overlooking Moab.




On the way down we hit one little scary part. We sadly didn't get any pictures of it but we are all safe. We were at a bad angle and if RB turned the wheels the wrong way we would have rolled the jeep onto it's side. "Moose" (the guy in the gray shirt below) started yelling, "Get the kids out." I jumped out with the kids and Moose, the one in white, and the one in red all jumped onto the back of our jeep to counter the balance. RB drove the rest of the way safely and that was the closest we've ever come to rolling our jeep. A little later on our friend got a little tipsy and so they jumped on his jeep too. I'm glad I got a pic. of at least that. This is also why we will never jeep alone.


We did have to fix one part. Inside the "u joint" are pins held in place by grease. Our pins had zero grease left and so the joint was not rotating like it should. So here is RB and our friend at camp fixing it.


For dinner that night we went out to eat. Poor Lil was so tired she slept from about 5pm till we got back to the tent. Thankfully I brought left overs so she could eat something. Then she passed out again for the night. I guess walking in the hot sun will tucker you out. :)


MJ was completely exhausted.


Cliffhanger
The next day started with a two hour delay. We had just hit the first technical part of the trail and one of the jeeps broke an axle shaft. We all have Cherokees and this guy had a Wrangler. Sadly none of our spare axle shafts fit his. So three jeeps turned around and two of us kept going. The kids had plenty of time to build a rock castle.


This is where the Wrangler broke down.


Lil loves jeeping. She is almost sideways when I took this pic. She had to grab the door and pull herself straight so I could get the pic.


This was also the only place we had to be pulled up.


After lunch RB let me drive. I really like driving. It's a whole new experience to jeeping. I drove over one of the hardest obstacles Cliffhanger has. The scariest part is when you drop head first down this incline. It almost felt like we were on a roller coaster. RB said seeing my face was the best part of the trail. It had many obstacles and it wasn't till the way down that we really started to enjoy the trail (well except that part I drove of course).

The kids playing at the top of Cliffhanger.


I love the beautiful views on top of the trails!!


The last obstacle we had to go up to end Cliffhanger. While RB was trying to get up it 4 mountain bikers went past us. One girl stopped to take a pic. of our jeep. I had to laugh. You will often see people stopping and watching other jeeps drive obstacles.


Back at camp we had a lady come up and ask if we drove Cliffhanger. We said yes and she explained they had been watching us go down in and took pics. too. They were scoping out trails for their ATV's. Very nice lady. Then later that night we went to the camp next to ours and that man and his son had also gone on Cliffhanger. I guess it was a pretty popular trail that day.

We decided we needed hats to help protect us from the sun. Too bad we got these at the end of our trip. Oh well, that just means we need to go back again so we can use them. :)


My parents took Buddy Boy for us. I'm glad they did. It was hot and I didn't want to worry about him on the trials. He loved seeing his sisters again and playing with their new hats.


Can't wait to go back!

First Day of School and More

I know I am way late on blogging all of this. I promise to blog our trip to Moab sometime, hopefully soon. For now this will have to do.

School has started again and we are slowly getting into the swing of things. MJ is loving first grade. RB and I have good classes and are off to a good start. Lil loves playing at the babysitters and Buddy Boy has adjusted well to being there as well! We have been very blessed in many ways with both of us having to work! A great babysitter is probably the biggest blessing of all. No fights in the morning and no worrying during the day about the kids.


Buddy Boy does the funniest things. I've forgotten how expressive and humorous babies can be. He is so tolerant of us too. Big sisters get right in his face and he just smiles. He gets dressed up too with lots of funny things. He is growing so fast and is doing very well!


I love this sleeping pic. of him!


I had to post this. You don't get to drive through a snow storm in the middle of August very often and when you do this is how your car turns out.


Because we don't have enough to do in the mornings, we decided to shoot this. Not his best rocking but still dang cute!


Well that is a very short update for now. More to follow soon. Have a great day! :)

Fair Week

Fair week in our county is huge. At least in my town it is. Everyone goes multiple times and some live there all week long. Sadly their have been years where RB and I haven't even gone. We are trying to get into the spirit more and we actually went twice this year. The first day we rode the rides. We opted to skip the parade so we wouldn't die from the miserable heat and go straight for the rides. That was a perfect idea! The lines were short and we were just finishing up when it started to get crowded. We eat some good fair food for dinner and headed home.

RB and I both rode this ride. We agreed the funnest part about the ride was not going all the way around the circle but when you hung upside down when the ride was gaining momentum.


Buddy Boy hanging out. He did so good even though he was hot and miserable. He HATES being hot!








The next day we went back to look at the animals and the booths. Once again it was HOT and miserable. We walked around everything once and called it good. We had fun and even though the fair is still going on we probably won't make it back. Maybe next year we'll make it more. We'll see. :)

August (Some of it Anyways)

Summer is sadly coming to an end. Like my sister said, "Now Friday's will have meaning again." We are trying to fill the rest of our summer with fun family times. RB watched the kids one day so I could go to the temple with my sister, mom, and some friends. It was so much fun to see them again and go to lunch. It was a good day. Thanks RB, I love you!


MJ loves rolly-pollies. That is what we call them anyways. She dislikes every other creepy crawler around, but will cover herself in rolly-pollies and have the biggest smile on her face because of it.

MJ is excited for first grade. Her teacher was a kindergarten teacher last year who moved up, so she is excited to see her again.

I love watching my girls eat watermelon. It is like candy to them! We have really tired hard as a family to eat more healthy and be more active. So far we are doing pretty good and the watermelon is only helping.


Buddy Boy (aka Little Rat) is getting so big. He doesn't show it on the charts though being below 5% on weight, height, and head size. But to us he needs to stop growing!!! He cracks us up every day with new things. He still likes mush which is new because my girls hated the stuff, and he sadly is already learning to fight sleep. Here he is in the high-chair. Yep, one pacifier just isn't enough any more. :)


He also loves his jumperoo. He bounces like crazy in that thing.


Okay, so maybe this next part isn't a fun family memory but it needed to get done. We finished the bathroom in the laundry room. We put in a shower, and finished the last wall needed for that shower. Yea! It is done!



Church today was really good. The high council man and the RM talked about making righteous decisions in our lives. How we can be blessed when we do make good decisions, and how we should not pass judgment on those around us. I was able to really feel the spirit today as wonderful ward members took Buddy Boy. Thank you! It feels like it has been awhile since I've gotten anything out of church, so today was great. Well, I have really enjoyed my summer and even though I do look forward to my class it will be sad to say goodbye to warm weather, and lazy days! Good luck everyone with the beginning of a new school year!