Happy Anniversary and Birthday!

To celebrate our anniversary  (33 years!) and Amanda's birthday (30 years!) which are a day apart, we all went to Red Robin!  It was very fun.  We enjoyed our meal and the kids wrapped and wrote on presents for Amanda.  It was really cute.  We got restaurant gift cards from them - always fun to have those!  That was on Friday, then Saturday Amanda rented a big movie screen and hosted an outdoor movie night!  The only screen they had available was the Mickey Mouse one.  Cute!  The screen comes with all the things it needs (sound system etc.) and a popcorn popper!  She had several friends come over.  Before the main event, she let the kids watch a movie on it first.  It was a very fun evening for her!  Can't believe we have been married 33 years!  We of course bought a Costco cake to celebrate both...Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday!

This and that...

Just some odds and ends of pictures I need to post.  Imagine our surprise one morning when we woke up and saw this tree through the fence!  It hadn't even been windy!  We went and bought some new fence pieces (which of course they don't make EXACTLY the same size anymore) that were close enough in look to fix it.  Then we borrowed Brother Mason's chainsaw and cut up the tree to add to our woodpile from the last tree that broke off.  Crazy!

 I told Dave one day that I had found us matching Ipads at a really good price at Wal Mart so I went ahead and got them!  He was mystified, and I actually had him going until he got home and found this on his bed:

 And just a few fun and crazy pics of Zander.  We love that kid.  He loves to walk around the house with his blanket over his head...cracks himself up!  He had fun on an outing to the wood park, and he loves his peanut butter, to fingerpaint with!! 

A crazy, out of the blue hailstorm!

 The boys love Zander and he loves them...they like to entertain him!  This was on a family photo shoot...Joel was taking the pictures and Zander and I came along for the outing.

 One day out working in the garden area, Leo our cat was on the ground just staring up at the birdhouse...like he was going to pounce.  We couldn't see anything but he was intense!  Then suddenly he DID pounce, right up there!  A tiny bird flew away, but Leo kept looking in there...anybody home?  Crazy cat.

 Another day, we went out the front door to take Jacob to kindergarten.  All these deer came bounding from the side of the house down to the front grass.  We must have startled them!  There were 6 of them.  Then they started meandering up the driveway and we followed them slowly in the car until they decided to get out of our way!  There were no bucks in this group...but it was fun to see them all. 

Joel's homecoming talk...

Joel spoke in church today.  He did a great job, not using any notes just spoke by the spirit.  It was wonderful.  We were disappointed that there weren't many people there that he knew to hear him speak.  His friend Devin came, and a Stake president and his wife from West Jordan.  That was really kind of them!  Stake president's are busy!  When we spoke with them afterwards they said they never get that chance to hear a returning missionary who served in their stake, so it was fun for them.  Also, Zander and his mom and dad came.  That was so nice to have that support.  Joel's face didn't look quite as red from his sunburn (benefits of aloe vera gel applied all night long!) but his legs were hurting pretty bad.  Wearing socks and pants were bothersome but he made it!

Nate brought his smoker over and cooked us some yummy chicken for dinner!  We made a lot as we were expecting family to come and a few friends.  Turned out no one came!  We had a LOT of food!  We called three different families in our ward to see if they wanted to come over and eat and two of them couldn't come and one never answered our message.  Anyway, it was really good!  Thanks Nate for taking care of all of us hobbling people and feeding us a really good meal!  We were pretty lazy for the whole day!  It was great to hear Joel speak of his mission and see how he has grown in his testimony of the Savior. Another wonderful day for our family!

Hiking Mt. Timpanogos...

We decided this week that Saturday was our only real chance to hike Mt. Timp if we were going to do it this year.  On a whim we decided to go for it!  We bought water bottles and protein bars, etc, packed our backpacks and got up early.  We knew it would be a LONG hike and a LONG day.  We THOUGHT we knew.  It was just getting light when we got to the trail head about 6:45.  We signed the roster and started UP.  I knew that I would have to stop a lot, but was sure I could keep on trudging and eventually get to the top.  My dad and brothers have all hiked this mountain and I had always wanted to do it with my dad.  Instead, I took his picture (on top of Mt. Timp) with me.  The day dragged on.  We stopped a LOT more than I imagined.  It is a HARD TRAIL!  Dangerous in some spots too.  Scary!  My legs and knees starting hurting (around 11 maybe?) and when we finally sat down to eat lunch, I wasn't sure I could get back up!  But after a nice rest, I thought I could make it for the next little while (feeling sure that we were nearing the summit).  But as we started hiking again, my legs and knees had just had it...and as we came around the corner by Emerald Lake and actually SAW the summit...it was WAY up there!  I knew I would not make it.  I thought we were so much closer than we were (in reality, it was probably less than 2 miles, but STRAIGHT up).  My body was done.  Dave too.  We came to the disappointing decision to stop.  Amanda and Joel went on.  They were tired too, but not in pain and they had more determination.  Dave and I rested awhile and then started our descent about 1 p.m.  THAT was tough. It was pretty cool most of the day.  I took my jacket off in some spots when we were in direct sun, but most of the time I kept it on.  On the way back down I sometimes wondered if I would make it off the mountain! We were moving very slow...and when we finally reached a point where we could see the parking lot WAY down at the bottom, we kept walking.  But somehow that parking lot did not get any closer!  It was crazy!  Again we were stopping a lot and kept wondering if we would really ever get to the bottom.  When we got to the water fall - we knew we were almost there.  And I put my feet in that ice cold water!  It felt so good!  And in a way, it numbed my poor feet so I could finish the walk.  We made it back to the car about 5 p.m. Amanda made it to the Saddle (which is almost to the summit).  She could see down both sides of the mountain so she called that the top for her.  Joel scaled the last little bit (practically rock climbing!) and made it to the summit.  He was not going to quit for anything!  He signed the book!  Took some pictures then went back down to the saddle where he and Amanda then started down the mountain.  They made good time.  We only waited at the car for maybe an hour and a half.  Amanda had taken a before picture and of course had to do an "after" picture.  We were so tired, sore, and some of us sunburnt!  I was so disappointed at not making it to the summit, but very proud of myself for how far I DID make it.  Not sure if I will attempt it again next year, but IF I do, I will train for it more in advance.  And maybe wear knee braces!  HA!  It stinks getting old!  We are hobbling around here like decrepit old people, even the young ones are!  Dave and Joel have pretty sunburnt legs and Joel's face too.  He will glow from the pulpit as he gives his talk in church!  I am useless.  Just sitting with my legs up and hoping to be ABLE to go to church!  (I will).  It was a beautiful hike anyway.  We even saw mountain sheep in our path!  And lots of friendly faces and smiles both coming and going.  Mt. Timp is beautiful and majestic and maybe, just maybe, one day I will reach the summit.  The jury is still out on that...

Sunrise at the beginning of our hike

Lunch break!  We saw lots of dogs on the trail...

Joel took this picture on his way up to the summit, overlooking Utah Lake

Yes, that is snow...

Amanda at the top of the saddle...

View from the top!  Joel's view...

Some Books of Mormon at the register...

Joel took this picture from up the trail, that tiny lake is where Dave and I stopped...

Joel at the summit!

This guy was right in the middle of the trail!  We shooed him away...

Almost down!

Awww, that feels so good!!

The before and after pictures...early morning at sunrise, and at the end where we managed a smile because we were grateful to be alive!

Red Ribbon Week..

Things are back to normal around here this week.  Joel is adjusting (I think) and the kids had red ribbon week at school.  Something different every day.  Pajama day, crazy hat day, crazy sock day, super hero day, and Friday was crazy hair day. Thankfully Lilly's mom did her hair.  I had to do the boys'...yikes! Their mom would do so much better, but she leaves to early in the morning to get it done.  We had pink and blue spray and did the best we could.  We saw some pretty crazy hair-dos at school!  Jacob doesn't go to school until after lunch, so he has been wearing the Captain America costume every day and having fun with it.  He keeps me entertained!  Love these crazy kids!!