Bridal Veil Falls

It's amazing how many things there are to do that are FREE! We went with Grandma Kaiserman and James and Alli Robinson to Bridal Veil Falls for the first time today. We cooled our feet, the kids explored, and I did my best to keep Annie from jumping in; the girl is part fish.

Excuse me, does my watch look big?

FINALLY purchased a Garmin Forerunner 305 to help me train better. Now I can check my distance, pace, heart rate, time and calories all at a glance.

Christmas has come early, folks.

Grandma Great

My Grandma Jewel had to move into an assisted living home. She lived with my parents for over 5 years, so it's very different to go to my parents and not see my sweet grandma rocking in her glider by the window. She moved to the home just before my Mom and I went to Florida, but we were finally able to go visit her for the first time this weekend.

The kids LOVED it! There were birds in all the hallways, gold fish, and turtles. We even got to buy snacks at the front counter. We took Grandma Great on a walk and colored some pictures for her closet door. We miss seeing her every time we go to my Mom's, but we look forward to seeing her again at her new house.

We love you Grandma Great!

All for the sake of a Peach Rainbow.

We had no plans for the 24th of July. I was brainstorming about what to do, and all I wanted was a Peach Rainbow from Pace's Dairyann. So, off to Syracuse we went!

While we were there we decided we'd go mini-golfing at Swan Lakes for the first time with Will. Suffice it to say, I'm not the next Tiger Woods... and neither is Will. Dallas managed a hole in one though. (I'll pretend I didn't mention hole #17 when it took him 9 strokes to get it in the hole on a par 2 :)).

Before fireworks I got my Peach Rainbow. It was well worth the 150 miles round trip to enjoy that bad boy.

We have piggies!!!!

Not only can she look like a pig, but she will make a little piggy noise- it's the funniest snort we've ever heard.

Here's Your Sign

Last week was really stressful.

Dallas got his school schedule squared away for his first semester at the University of Utah, and we realized he would only be able to work 5 hours A WEEK. That makes it difficult to provide for a family.

Hence all the stress.

For some reason I have been feeling pretty peaceful about the whole situation. This is not normal as I am the one who frets in our relationship. Over the last few years we have been so blessed by our Heavenly Father. Every time we start to get a little stressed about money, something ends up coming our way to bridge the gap and I knew that somehow He would provide for us once again.

I was right. In the last week since we've learned about the new schedule, we were recipients of extra financial aid for school that we didn't realize was coming, Dallas bought and sold a truck making a great profit, and the county just called him today asking him to install 6 monuments in Center Street. These things are the tender mercies our family really needed right now and we are so grateful.

On Tuesday, after a very fun and long day swimming and picnicking with our friends the Perkins', we saw the most glorious rainbow- the one in the picture. It was so brilliant that each color segment was easy to see, even the violet. As I downloaded the pictures today I thought of Noah. After dealing with all that rain for all those days I'm sure he was wondering, "Wow, is this ever going to stop? Are we ever going to get out of this mess?" Then the rain did stop, and the Lord sent him the rainbow so he would know that he was watched over. He was heard. He was loved.

Heavenly Father loves us. Pay attention, the signs are everywhere.

Who needs a big bad pool?

Above: Grace and Will

Biased

Aren't they the cutest? Definitely the best things I've ever made.

PS- Annie never smiled for the photographer- not even once. This was in spite of Laura's best efforts. She's such a somber little lady.

Throw Back

I love holidays. I'm content to do the same thing every year.
Dallas isn't. He gets bored.
So this year we had a throw back Fourth of July. I ran 3 miles with Abby (it's note worthy because of my personal best- 8'20" mile pace), made white chocolate covered Oreo suckers (which make the world go round, by the way), played kick ball, kick the can and ghost in the graveyard. IT WAS SO SWEET. (It brought me back to my childhood- asking if I could have a "late night" to play "night games" with the Wilson's, Paget's and Heath's). We also went to the Afton City parade where we had more candy chucked at us than we do at Halloween and we spent lots of time playing with Grandpa Mark's chickens and baby chicks. As it would turn out, Scooter has a future in chicken herding. Good to know. Annie loved playing Grandma Kristie's piano and Will was thoroughly entertained playing with Beau's hotwheels cars.

Mark, Kallie, Sierra, Abby, Seth, Kristie and baby Thomas, Dallas, Will
Don't you wish this were your back yard? I know I do.
Did I mention that we jumped on the tramp? A lot? I'm talking for at least 6 hours? Because we did. Dallas has the sore legs to prove it.

I hope we get to visit our summer home again soon.

***On the way home Will kept talking about Heavenly Father. The quote I remember most was when he said, "Heavenly Father has a TON of houses." He also mentioned the Nephites and Jesus visiting them. I guess he is paying attention during family scripture study.