i love it when other people take pictures of my kids...

I love that Maria always has her camera with her when she comes down. She's always catching the kids when i just don't feel like taking pictures... and then i steal the pictures from her LOL.

My absolulte favorite one she took of Rianne this weekend.

I just love that crinkled up nose when she smiles.

...and she's got the cutest belly laugh (when she's not faking it)

Sam finding a mud hole
...and taking advantage of it.

Love Love Love this close-up of him.
He's totally in his element.Wanting to give his dad some loves but dad not wanting to get muddy LOL

No pictures of Daylon but he's been kinda hormonal lately.
I guess he's just at that age right now... sigh

Capital Reef - Hickman Bridge Trail

Saterday we decided to get out of town and take a day off since DarRell has been working NON-STOP and is just plain burned out. I've been wanting to head out to Wayne County for some time now and everyone of the kids have made a trip out with DarRell to Torrey while he's been working there. He needed to go take a bill out there and do a bit of repairs so we decided to head out during a weekend and enjoy some time out there as a family. I spent some time online looking through websites looking for something fun that we could all do as a family. Since Capitol Reef is just barely outside of Torrey, i decided on a nice little trail hike that we could all do. I feel so guilty now knowing that Capitol Reef is only a hour away and super accesable and we've never been out there to enjoy it. After looking through all the many trails and hikes they have out there, i decided on the Hickman Bridge Trail.

It was absolutely beautiful! It's only a two mile round trip hike and even Sam was able to walk most of it (DarRell ended up carring him the last 1/4 mile because both Sam and Rianne had to go to the bathroom). There were SO many different awesome things to look at on the way up AND on the way down. We bought a trail guide at the trailhead which ended up being a really good addition to the hike and showed you points of interest you normally wouldn't see or pay attention to. Daylon passed off a lot of scout stuff on this trip which was a nice bonus to the trip. It was definetaly a trip we want to take over and over again. We've got the summer planned out for more trips out to Capitol Reef to do some of the other easier hikes/trails and we CAN'T wait!

Some of my favorite highlights:

The begining of the trail. It starts out just beautiful and has this rock wall against the drop off into the river and the first set of rock stairs just above it. It's just beautiful.

Daylon found the "Loch Ness Rockster". It's a formation that i had read about while looking on the internet. Totally didn't even realize we had gotten a picture of it until i uploaded the pictures onto my computer.

The Hickman Bridge itself. It's amazing! I wish i would have gotten a bit of a better picture from the back side. A repeat visit is definately in order.

Sam's hole. It was just big enough for him. This is one of my most favorite pictures from the trip.

This tree up against the rock stairs was too good to pass by without a picture with everyone. Just wishing i got a picture with all of us in it. I'd almost want to use it on Christmas cards or something.

Watching DarRell helping Sam down the steeper parts. Sam was so independant the whole way. Once he got to a spot he could handle. He didn't want help from anyone.













Two of my favorite pictures of me and the kids. The first one has all the great black volcanic rocks in the background and the second one has a great hiding spot that the kids liked to go play in.

Science is Magic

SUU puts on this really awesome Science Camp during the summer for kids 4th through 6th grade. We were lucky to get to go thanks to Heather asking if Daylon wanted to go with Kyle. I had never heard of this before but obviously its a HUGE thing, and spots fill up SUPER fast. I can totally see why after seeing all the awesome stuff these kids got to do.

Daylon's favorites were:

*Dr. McKay's chemistry lab magic show ~ apparently chemistry has never been so awesome! Lots of amazing stuff like starting things on fire, lots of dry ice, and even more fire. Ok... that that was the main idea i got out of it all. BUT... he learned tons from it. He's wanting to do all these experiments he learned from Dr. McKay.

*Fossil Mountain ~ find your own fossils, what's cooler than that?

*Making Volcanos ~ they never got pictures of his groups volcano. From what i understood, it took off fast and hard and there was nothing left of it LOL

*Playing with Electricity ~ they got zapped... and zapped good LOL.

*Dancing Flames ~ Daylon is determined to make a set-up of his own. "Mom, all you need is a long pipe with holes in it, a propane tank, rubber gloves covering the ends, speakers, and fire. It's REALLY awesome" His words exactly. LOL

*Mammoth Cave ~ pretty self explanatory. Boys loves caves (and the girls too!). Heck! I love caves too!

Other things they did there:

water testing

constellations

campfires stories

more science magic

He made great friends...

...and he's promicing to go back next year, he had THAT much fun!

...and what comes out of his mouth non-stop now:
Science Is Magic

and nothing melts my heart right now as much as knowing that my son is having so much fun learning about science.

randomness

so many things going on through my head...

*I'm kinda loving these days when hubby is gone out of town working and taking a kid with him. For some reason the stress level goes down with only two kids instead of three.

*i feel REALLY guilty for thinking the above.

*i REALLY miss having my friends around. I've gone too long without seeing any of them and decided that i didn't really need friends. After all, i have a family that takes up my time. Now that I've seen them and hung out a bit with them, i realize i miss them VERY much. I hate living so far away from them, especially my best-ies. Life doesn't seem complete without them.

*Sadly, I'm such a homebody. I'd much rather stay home then go out... that is, until i actually go out, then i don't want to come back home.

*As much as i love the summer, i don't really look forward to July much. There is so much going on and it never seems to slow down enough for me/us to enjoy it.

*I hate feeling jealous... especially when i have no absolute reason to be jealous. Even the opposite.

*Yes, i am quite selfish. I'm working on it. Or rather, working on not being so selfish.

*I feel like people give me more credit than what i deserve. I feel like i have a lot to live up to. However, i don't think that is necessarily a bad thing sometimes. It at least keeps me responsible.

*Responsibility keeps me from doing a lot of stuff in my life that i think i want to. By the time i feel like i will be able to do them, it may be too late or I'll be too old to enjoy them.

*I'm nowhere where i thought i would be. But, to a point, that's a good thing. Now if i could just have the best of both worlds...

And a few things on my to-do list:
~ watch Australia so i can send it back for another great movie. And re-watch a few favorites.
~ get off my behind and get on the elliptical. My body knows what it wants but my brain is fighting it... well, except for when it comes to food... darn body is winning out on that one.
~ catch up on the piles of laundry again... before hubby and daughter get home and it piles up again.
~ make out a new budget... it's time to change things up again.
~ stop chickening out and finally hang some pictures in my house. It's been almost 6 years? and I'm still scared to put a hole in the new walls
~ under no circumstances, let Sam's nap time be wasted away with stuff i have to do. I need to spend some time doing stuff i want to do... like enjoying scrapbooking again.
~ finish my library book before i have to take it back again.

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

Tagged...

Megan, my new friend and team mate (GO YELLOW!) over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans tagged me. It's been a while since i've been tagged. I forgot how much i like these.

8 things I am looking forward to:

1. finish losing 15-20 lbs

2. see some MAJOR progress on our guest house out back

3. the 24th of July 5 mile milk run. If not this year (most likely won't), definately next year (and I'm keeping you to your word Richard)
4. summer veggies from the garden
5. 24th of July vacation up at Fish Lake
6. relaxing summer evenings hanging out back at the firepit
7. Wednesdays all summer long
8. paying off debt

8 things I did yesterday:

1. talked with Richard
2. went to softball practice with Rianne and let the boys run and play at the playground
3. dyed my hair (supposively dark brown but ended up black looking)
4. cleaned the kitchen
5. took the kids to school lunch
6. texting with my big sis
7. read up on blogs
8. watched a repeat of House

8 things I wish I could do:

1. travel

2. repaint the interior of my house and like it

3. buy a old house in town and fix it up
4. have more ambition to do the things i want
5. loosen DH up a bit so he doesn't feel so obliged to everyone else in his life
6. as much as i love my children, i wish i could enjoy the time i spend with them as a SAHM (right now it's just stressing me out)
7. see more of my friends and family
8. go back to school. For what? i don't know. I'm just scared of what i'll do when the kids are older and moved out.

8 shows I watch:

1. House
2. Survivor

3. Gray's Anatomy
4. Ugly Betty
5. The Big Bang Theory
6. Lost
7. The Dr's
8. News

8 people tagged:

1.

Kim over at Nothing But Chatter

2. Richard over at The Dream
3. Brandy over at The Johnsons
4. Tirah over at Shepdogg
5. Jessica over at Many Days of the Week
6. Emilie over at The Peterson Press 5
7. Shallon over at Engle Family
8. Maria over at My So Called Life

True Confessions Monday

1. Today is the first day of Summer Vacation. After several (all ready?) meltdowns this morning, it's going to be a difficult 3 months.

2. Both Daylon and Rianne are a bit down and mopey. Oddly enough, they miss school terribly, especially Daylon.

3. Sam is having the hardest transition. I don't think he likes his brother and sister cutting in on HIS time.

4. I've been under a LOT of stress lately.

5. I've lost 3 pounds in the last 5 days.

6. I love that I've lost 3 pounds, I just hate the stress that caused the loss.

7. I think i have a whole new crop of grey hairs coming in because of it.

8. I haven't done any tracking points in WW for about a month. I started back up on Thursday. It feels good to know what i need to do again instead of just taking my chances. But i feel like I'm on the right track even when I'm not tracking.

9. I haven't done any deliberate exercising for over a month either. I've lost all motivation and it sucks.

10. I hit my 20 pound loss this last week (and the week before but i gained it back after the Memorial Day Weekend feasts)

11. I have 13 more pounds to loose before i hit the top of my weight goal. 18 more pounds to hit the bottom part of weight goal.

12. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

13. Even though i know i won't hit it by my 35th birthday in a month and a half, which was my plan, I know that I will be at least 20 pounds lighter than i was last year at that time.

14. I really need to start exercising again. I hope the summer will give me back some motivation.

15. I'm sure the new challenge starting up next week over at The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans is going to help with the motivation too. GO TEAM YELLOW!!!!