Virtual Planetoid

This kid has a HUGE head. Really HUGE!

Oh, I will preface this post by saying, Jack's actions are often naughty and so equally funny that my mothering brain is literally stuck at a moral crossroad. What to do?

For example, Sunday the "mousy" wants another piece of cheese. "Cinderella" says not until after your lunch. "Mousy" climbs out of his seat and says he is getting an orange-then fakes me out, running the other direction, grabs the loaf of cheese and takes the biggest bite right out of the bottom of the cheese! What?

Today I hear Jack (moments into his naptime). He's crying and saying, "I just can't do this!" I hurry into his room and I just can't understand what I'm seeing. He has a small toddler bed and somehow all I see is this floating mattress off the bed frame. Guess what was under the mattress? He snaked his little body under his bed (looking for monsters) and somehow his head fit up through the slats of his bed, but he couldn't get his head back down. We said a prayer and his hysterics melted away into a somewhat logical calm. He told me to get a hammer or use one of his swords to free his HUGE noggin.

Thanks to our neighbor-Jack was freed! Of course next time he gets himself stuck I should just let him relax for the remainder of naptime.

Pumpkin Patch Kids

I'm absolutely, positively sure that fall is the best time of year. I'm about as sure as a kid choosing their favorite candy...sure at the moment. Each new season makes me incredibly happy, excepting winter (which I'm sure I've mentioned).

We recently went to the Big, Red Santaquin Barn! I love their apple doughnuts, hayrides, yummy packaged treats and the general holiday giddiness. Jack surprised me and chose a smallish, bumpy-ish pumpkin, Steve didn't choose a pumpkin at all (he wasn't sad we missed the hayride either...) and I got a jolly ole pumpkin with a curling stem. It was a short visit, but satisfying to each of us and I highly recomend it to each of you!

God's Country

So my great grandpa was a cowboy, a real cowboy I think. He ran cattle in southern Utah the early part of the twentieth century in some of the most incredible country on earth. As most family histories (probably all history) goes, I'm sure that his legend has been unintentionally sensationalized by descendants as we try to understand his life and add a sense of credibility to our own. I wish I really knew what his life was like. I think I'd be most interested in knowing the minutiae and not the less common hair-raising or exciting moments that we generally use to try to characterize someone's life. As a family we have tried tracing his footsteps and getting a sense for what he may have experienced on the Colorado Plateau through a yearly pilgrimage to Comb Wash near Blanding. From there we begin our annual exploration of what I'm sure is God's Country.

Jack and I had an incredible time. I'm sure we broke some of Hailey's rules. Riding in the back of trucks, drinking more than one glass of chocolate milk a day, climbing (sometimes passing a 3 year old) up and down sandstone cliffs, and playing with sticks in the fire. I did keep some of the rules - he didn't get any treats after not eating hit peanut butter sandwich and here he is in time out for calling me an idiot






We hiked to a handful of ruins in some beautiful canyons. He was initially disappointing that we never ran into any Anasazi and kept asking where they had gone. Trust me we looked hard enough that if they were there we would have seen them





In the end I'm sure Jack loved his experience, although he had little idea that we were doing this as part of an unending quest to understand who we come from and who we are. Maybe his great great grandpa smiling down from from somewhere, glad that we are at least trying.

Vacation- All I Ever Wanted

Bryce Canyon
Paper Weight
Griffin's first 11,000 peak!
Seasoned hiker
Little pup
The Wild Things

one good thing about children growing up...

is that they actually develop some useful skills. I'm sure that since we have kids there isn't a single picture of Hailey and I together on our family trips. Well that has now changed. Although Jack generally likes taking pictures of his pants or the ground, we are occasionally able to convince him to take a picture of us (it usually involves some sort of bribery involving chocolate milk). Anyway, he does a pretty good job for a 3 year old.

Mom says a farm's the best place to call home...

Seven or eight years ago I lived on a farm near Utah Lake. It really was an incredible place to live. It was funny to be so close to everything here in Utah Valley but feel so far away. It seems that every evening's sunset surpassed the previous. We spent a little time down there last night and the farm has lost its magic. Here are a few shots to inspire everyone to find a farm they can call their own.