July 4th 2017

We invited our neighbors, friends, and ward family to join us for the 4th of July fireworks festivities at our house.

 Sister Warren and Lamar (Brother Doman) sat on the side, away from us crazies.  But I wanted to get a picture of Hyrum and Sister Warren together.  She loves Hyrum very much.  She tells us a lot of cute stories of what she sees Ruger and Daddy doing in the back yard but she gets sentimental when it comes to Hyrum.  How he checks up on her and helps when ever he can.

 Sadly, this was the only picture that I got of Daddy and Ruger.  We have been blessed to not have any of our kids freak out about fireworks like some kids and animals do.  But it doesn't mean that if it is really loud that they don't whine to be in Daddy's arms!

I love that people celebrate the 4th but I have to admit that the nights leading up to the 4th and the nights after bug me.  People light up fireworks at all hours of the night and it scares little kids and animals.  I wish people were more considerate of that.  Then we get to deal with this all over again before, on and after the the 24th (Mormon Pioneer holiday).  Ruger only whines when he can see the fireworks but when he is in his dark bedroom and can only hear loud pops he starts crying like he's being attacked!  Needless to say, for almost a week now, he has been chillin with us in bed until the "pow pows" (as he calls it) stops.

 I didn't get any pictures of our aerials but all in all it was great!

We can't seem to get enough of that trampoline!

I don't know how old this trampoline is or how often the family before us used it but make no doubt, we are getting our $30.00 out of it!

 Last night Brigham had the idea to have our nightly family scripture reading out on the trampoline.

 It started out so peaceful...

 ...and then Ruger went into full, well, typical Ruger effect!

 It has been pretty hot lately.  And I avoid outside when its hot as much as possible.  So when it became super windy and almost chilly outside this morning, I was rushing to get Ruger outside before it started raining.

 Before we knew it, the Peer boys were over here.

These are Maddie's brothers and just like she is, they are so good to him.  They want to be doing their big boy jumps and stuff but they just run around in circles on the trampoline so that Ruger doesn't get thrown off.  And best of all, I didn't even have to ask them to be gentle.  They just know!

Now its after noon.  Ruger has had his nap, the boys are back on the trampoline, and he is at the window yelling at the boys to be out there with him.  It's hard for a 2 year old to understand, when Mommy pushes the shoes away that he has shoved in her face, that sometimes the big kids need some alone time on the trampoline.  These are times that his cute little whines are well, cute!  

Trampoline

David, Levi, and sometimes Hyrum go find garage sales almost every Saturday morning in the summer.  I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I love that David gets to spend this time with the 2 boys but I struggle with the stuff that they come home with.

I don't know if it is all our moves and over the years learning that the less you have, the less you have to move with you but I really don't like a lot of stuff in our house.  A lot of times David comes home with things that he can fix up and sell (like wood furniture) but a lot of times the boys are coming home with things that just clutter up the place.  Though I realize that what I consider "clutter" is not to them so I try to just smile and praise them on the good deals that they got.

But every once in a while David will find something that is fun for just about everyone!

 The boys have wanted a large trampoline for years but the safety issue always made me nervous.  And a part of me still had it when David said it didn't have a net around it but I let it go.

 2 days later, Hyrum had 4 of his friends come over.  We put the sprinkler under it and lots of giggles and showing off "moves" insued.

It wasn't before long before the older 2 boys couldn't handle it and were joining the younger ones!

 A few days later, Levi and Brigham invited their friends over.

 They were a little more rough with each other and didn't last as long as the little ones but they had fun.

Rainbow Trail

We went on a new trail this Saturday called Rainbow Trail.  It was 90 degrees out and I was really hoping it was more shaded but we made it!  

 Here Levi is going on a shortcut.  I don't do steep shortcuts.  I'll go the long way, thank you very much!

 On these hikes, you can often see little off shoots of trails people have made themselves.  David and I are pretty picky about sticking to the old trail just because its new to us.  We don't want to get lost; especially with children.  But sometimes these man made trails lead to something really cool.  So we will stay on the trail while David only goes as far as he can still hear us.   This gem was found!

 We told the boys that we would go as far as the Bonneville Shoreline and turn around but then we saw this waterfall in the distance.

 A few of them didn't really care to keep going but we got to see a better view of the waterfall and it really wasn't that much farther...and they have to stay with us so...

 (Part of the waterfall is by David's shoulder, in the background.)

 We saw this towards the top and David told the boys that he thought it was where some deer had been sleeping the night before.  Yeah....let's go with that.  

We usually take a lunch/dinner with us but I had just watched something on the news, while at the gym, about bears being out.  So I didn't feel it was safe to bring food anymore.  Just our water packs.  So we come across this patch of grass that had clearly been laid in by something and I couldn't help but think of bears!  I was about ready to say, "It's time to turn around!"  But when David said that it made since because it wasn't large enough to be a bear.  I'm so glad I didn't say anything because Hyrum would have freaked out.  (And Grandma, if you are reading this, no worries!  I've thought this through.  These boys are waaaaaay too loud for anything to come near us.  Which is actually something they say is a good thing when out on hikes.  Noise!)

 I wanted to take a selfie of Hyrum and I at these cool trees when he stuck a flower under my nose!

Memorial Day 2017

I know what Memorial Day is about.  And I hope I understand its importance.  We try, every year, to keep it in perspective for the boys.  To remind them.  But so many things ran through my mind this Memorial Day.

For the past week, I have been anxious.  War has been on my mind.  I know that wars, terrorism, and just a spirit of unkindness has been going on for a long time.  And I know that at times it can feel a little more "real" than at other times.  But for some reason, this last week really had my mind going and going.  I couldn't seem to turn it off.  I kept thinking of my boys.   How if something were to happen and we were to go to war, well, how it would change them.  I have read stories of young boys almost wanting to fight in World War 2.  Even though their fathers had fought in the terrible World War 1, they didn't get it.  I'm sure some did.  But some didn't.  They just got excited, for a lack of better word, about being a man.  Fighting for something.  Getting out of their little home town.  I don't know if they felt like they were going into a battle like the ones they played with their childhood friends in backyards and forests but from the accounts that I read, they didn't understand the seriousness of this war.  

So I think of my boys.  I have a boy in particular who is incredibly sensitive for a boy.  Thinking of sending him to war makes me sick.  I know people are more resilient than we give ourselves credit for but I would fear it would break him.  Then I have another son who I wonder would be like those boys who went into World War 2.  How do you get them to understand this isn't a video game or Nerf guns?  And then to top it all off, we haven't had a "World War" in years.  They don't even see the after effects of a serious war like those boys saw in their fathers.  How could they ever possibly understand how truly horrible war is.

Yuck, I'm starting to feel that feeling again.  So its time to change this to what I felt on Monday.

But Monday...it was wonderful.  And I didn't just see it in my family.  We did our tradition of putting flowers on graves of soldiers and children that had no flowers on them.  And we sat down by a tree, near one of those graves, with the pop that the volunteers at the cemetery were handing out.    We spoke of the importance of Memorial Day.  Later we hiked, David BBQ pork chops, and all the boys got wet in the back yard.  That is the beauty of Memorial Day in our family.  But what I noticed this year was other families.

The trail that we went on was by a park that was crowded with families being together.  We passed many people on the trails.  Later that night, when I got on Facebook to see if my family had posted pictures of their Memorial Day, I ended up seeing so many hiking pictures of friends!  Or just families being together.

So at the end of the day yesterday, I found myself smiling at the togetherness that Memorial Day can bring.  Who knew that a holiday that was started because of so much death, could actually be a day of such happiness.  I have no doubt that Memorial Day is a very hard day for a lot of people.  But I really want to see the good in things also.

And even though my week before Memorial Day was that of anxiousness, I see now that even though the world can be inflicted of wars, terrorism, and a spirit of unkindness, it can also be full of kindness if we choose to be a part of it.  It can be filled with time spent with family and friends.

  

 (Lindquist Washington Heights Memorial Park)

 Here is the beginning of the trail leading to Gib's Loop.

 We came around a corner on the trail and saw all these beautiful white flowers.  It almost hurt my eyes with how bright it was after being in such a shaded part of the trail.

                One thing that I love about these boys is their sense of adventure when we hike.  

 Who needs snow on a hill when you can just slide like a penguin on dirt!

 I just remembered where my anxiousness started last week.  I was in a check out line when this guy in a motorized cart got in line behind me.  He was using his right arm to lift up his left arm to put something on the checkout counter.  So I offered to get all his stuff on there.  With a smile on his face he said, "The man in me wants to say no but yes please."  He then told me about how he had served overseas twice and had been in 2 explosions.  The last one making it so where the left side of his body was very weak.  But he was so happy.  So positive.  He said a couple times, "I'm the luckiest guy alive!  I'm alive!"

The next day I watched another guy in a check out line ask for a military discount.  I then watched him limp out the door with his young son.

I don't even know what to write about these 2 situations other than that it woke me up.  I was awake all week, so to say.  Lots of thoughts and feelings.

Beus Canyon Trail

For the last 2 weekends we have been hiking on the Beus Canyon Trail.

 You can't see it in this picture but this huge rock is kind of jutting out over a small stream.  

 We stopped here for dinner...

 ...and a picture opportunity...

 ...and got the best one of all!

 This has to be my favorite trail we have found so far.  I love all the shade and water scenery.

 When we came back this weekend, we got a little farther. 

 Levi, Hyrum, and I went ahead, at one point, so that David could talk with Brigham.  We tried to hide across the stream so see if David and the other boys would walk right past us.  It didn't work but Daddy got a picture out of it.