MUD

The world is mud-luscious and puddle wonderful! ee cummingsYou gotta love new construction homes- We are surrounded by a sea of mud thanks to all the beautiful rain.
The landscapers left their bobcat in the backyard. Leave it to Seth to figure out how to turn it on. It has a key pad with a code. That didn't stop him. He broke the code in a flash. Fortunately, he only figured out how to move the crane and not the whole thing.

boy: a noise with dirt on it.

Our waterfall is complete and we hope to have the sprinkling system and some sod in before the week is out. I am not holding my breath though- we hoped to have this done three weeks ago. The rain has really slowed things down. But we are looking forward to greener pastures in the near future. We have really missed playing family soccer every night. Bring it on!

High Adventure in the High Uintahs!

Friday morning Brigham, Brig, Katry and Seth departed with several of the Whites for a hike in the Uintahs. They hiked about five miles each way. Amazingly enough the weather was perfect. It was pouring rain everywhere else- but up there it only rained Saturday morning while they were still in their tents. I am amazed Katry and Seth carried backpacks all that way.
They had to fish for their dinner Friday night.

Luckily, everybody caught one- so there were no hungry bellies.

You've probably heard of cow tipping. Well its more benign relative is dead tree tipping.

They were pretty successful at it.

Seth tackled a tree all by himself.

Timber!

He's looking pretty confident in his tree tipping abilities.

Perhaps you think you have seen a lot of arm flexing? Just wait- there's more!

Nice guns!

Fire Power!

A big thanks to the Whites for hosting this fun adventure. Everybody had a great time.

While they were playing in the mountains, Kaleb, Kai and I were playing in Alpine. We had a great time. I even got to play softball with Micah, Stave, Kaleb & Lynds. Their team was short a female player- so I stepped up to the batter's box-literally. It was a blast!

The rest of my family returned Sunday morning. We had a yummy Father's Day Feast with most of the family. We got to meet baby Gabe for the first time- he is adorable!

A big thanks to all the Fabulous Father's in my life. My own father is so generous and kind. My Father-in-law helped to raise an incredible man. My husband is the perfect father for our children. I have been and am very blessed.

Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys.
Fanny Fern

Happy Father's Day

House Guests

We are so lucky. It is great living so close to Utah. We have had a lot of visitors and it is so much fun. The Whites ( Brigham's sister's family) came to stay with us the end of May. They arrived on a Friday and then the boys all headed up to our ward's Father's and Son's Camp out. They had a good time exploring and getting stinky.

They spent all day Saturday with us. We rode the four wheeler, went swimming and watched a movie. The Whites left Sunday morning and we were sad to see them go. Thanks for bringing so much FUN!

That same night the Nephi Redd's arrived and they stayed for four days. Nephi was shadowing Brigham at work. He is in medical school right now. I think he liked getting a taste of Orthopaedics. They brought their new little baby Anderson. He is adorable. It was so fun to have a little baby in the house again.

We got to help celebrate Nephi's birthday while he was here. As you can see there is a foot in this picture. But don't worry- no Nephi's were injured in the taking of it. :) Thanks for coming, we loved having you here!

Three Wise Guys

The boys wanted scones for lunch. We made up the dough and as we were rolling it out, Seth and Kaleb decided they wanted shaped scones. Seth found a "person" shaped cookie cutter, and Kaleb chose a camel.

After cutting out a bazillion little people and 20 camels, Seth realized we had all the components for the three wise men.

So here are my three wise guys with their three wise men.

Add a little butter and a little honey and you're in heaven. Delicious!

Then after you have made all the scones your heart desires, put the rest of the dough in a bread pan. Bake. The results will make your house smell amazing and your taste buds cheer.

Whole Wheat Bread

2 Tbl yeast and 1/2 tsp sugar

Proof yeast and sugar in 1 cup of warm water

In mixing bowl:
2 cups warm water
1 Tbl salt
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup honey or brown sugar

4 Tbl applesauce
2 Tbl dough enhancer/ vital wheat gluten
Mix all ingredients then add one cup at a time-

10 cups whole wheat flour
Continue kneading 8-10 minutes to give the gluten a chance to form.

Place dough in bread pans and let rise until doubled in size.

Bake 350 for 33 minutes

Makes 3 loaves

To make scones- just roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. Fry or bake in oven until golden.

The Last Days

Of school that is! Katry's elementary school must be on some over- achiever list- cause instead of doing the usual fun run (mile) for field day, they put on a whopping 5k. That's 3.1 miles! Yowza! Katry has a great competitive soul and she could not let the opportunity pass her by. She entered the race and completed it in 28.56 minutes. Way to go Chach! She was the first fifth grader to finish it and thus took home the first place medal. Seth decided to join her about half way through the race. I thought he could be a good help to her and keep her going, but with his fresh legs he left her behind and waltzed through the finish line. Good job Seth This is Mrs Cook. She was a great teacher and made Katry's first year in public school delightful. The boys made some paper boats. Kaleb was the winner in the contest. He blew his little heart out. It was nice for him to finally beat Seth in something.

Seth had his final soccer game this week. One of the parents commented to me that whenever Seth got the ball- he just felt relief as in- Oh good, Seth has the ball- he knows what to do with it. Seth is so much fun to watch- he is amazing.

Katry also had her final soccer game last week. I didn't get a team picture though, cause I was expecting her team to have their last game this week. It was cancelled. She is also amazing to watch. She is half the size of most of the girls she plays with and she just runs circles around them. Brig finished up his season as well. They won four of the five tournaments that they attended. It was fun to watch him play with other good players. Our little soccer fanatic family will be taking the summer off from soccer- well except for Seth who was asked to play on a team. I love soccer season- but it will be nice to take a little break from all the practice. Actually, Dad still has games all summer as well. Fun for us!

We invited Katry's class to our pool to swim for a field trip. That was a lot of fun.

These are the little girls that came up to Katry on the playground the first day of school and asked her if she would like to play. I get a little choked up every time I think about it. My mother's heart felt such relief that she had found friends on the first day.

Welcome Summer!

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time. ~John Lubbock