Saturday, June 16, 2012

The Garden Grows

Today we had a BLT for lunch with tomatoes and lettuce from our garden, and over the last three days we have eaten freshly picked squash for dinner. Yum! There is nothing like food from your own organic garden. Too bad it takes so much water to keep things alive here in Arizona. Here are pictures of how things are growing:

The squash and their plants on the right.





















Lettuce and Tomatoes



The green beans are also growing, and I have harvested once already. 

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Family Hike

Last reunion post. We got some fun pictures while on a hike with Dee's family. It was a fun nature trail just down from our cabins. It went by 2 small ponds, and had good scenery.






Trekking through the forest and meadow. The camp hosts spent a great deal of time warning us about wildlife, especially ticks, and poison ivy. But have no fear, all of us returned without incident. We did see deer several times, both on the trail and on the edge of our campsite. We weren't quick enough to get a picture of them. 








Heading up the trail.













Dee boulder hopping. 









Joshua and Landon crawling over rocks, and only getting stuck once. 







Dee's parents enjoying the view. Thanks mom, for arranging the whole week! What a fun time. 








Saturday, June 9, 2012

Challenge Course

While at the reunion Dee went to a challenge course where he had to climb a cargo net, cross a staggered wooden bridge and take a zip-line. Some of the other siblings and cousins and even our niece and nephews participated.





Up the cargo net, and across the bridge














All hooked up...
















And away we go.






Landon steps across like a pro. "Don't look down? How can I see the next step if I don't look down?"






Brooklynn tackles the bridge, and although it is quite a stretch, with a few good leaps makes it to safety.












Joshua takes the zip-line with a smile the whole time.















Dee's mom, looking excited and a little worried while she watched with Joshua and Ethan.










Dee's Grandpa: Watching, without a bit of concern. Enjoy the show.




Friday, June 8, 2012

Family Reunion

Off to Heber Valley we went, for the reunion of Dee's mom's family. Most of the aunts and uncles and quite a few cousins were there, most of whom I have never met! This was a camping reunion in the mountains at the LDS Young Women's camp. It is the most amazing church campground I have ever seen. Fortunately we were in cabins because it was cold at night.





Here are our cabins, they can fit 16 people in each!!











Dee and his sister, Shauna, point out the one we stayed in.













Playing games, and entertaining the kids.













Craig plays referee during the golf ball throwing game. The kids loved it, and Brooklynn was pretty good at it. She liked showing the boys that she could beat them.










And as the evening grew dark, grandma decided that it was time to tell stories and jokes to the grand children.










It is a fun camp, multiple activities to do. We went paddle boating and canoeing, Dee did a challenge course, and there was plenty of hiking all around. (pictures later) The only problem with camping is the lack of sleep, well at least for me.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Pizza in Provo

We could have ordered pizza from a store, but that wouldn't be any fun. So we made pizza for 14 adults and kids. Dee's whole immediate family met in Provo at his grandparents condo prior to the larger reunion in Heber Valley (we'll get to that later.)




Stand back,  Kurt is making his attempt at tossing the dough. It didn't even hit the floor. But as we learned, this art is harder to do then they make it look on TV. 










So I went back to rolling it out. 













Then the kids went on and assembled the toppings under the supervision of grandma, and Chris.
Here are Brooklynn and Landon starting off with the pepperoni.






As you can see, the kids took turns... perhaps Joshua didn't want to be left out of the snacking. 
One for the pizza, one for me, one for the pizza, one for me.  Caught in the act. 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Biking Along The Provo River


After a few days in Idaho, we met up with Dee's family in Provo, UT.  We stole away one morning and headed out for a bike ride down the Provo river. It was a beautiful day for it, perfectly sunny and a little breeze. The path was shaded and surrounded by trees. What a great day!

Come with us on the trail.





Through the tunnel,














Down the pathway,












Past the field and the view,









To feeding the horses,

To the field of "snow" from the trees,




















To the picnic table where we could take a couple photo, 
And then the fun ride back, 


To where it all began:



Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Hanging out with the family

We made it to Idaho... Pocatello, where Dee's parents live. His brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Julia, are there while Craig interviews for Civil engineering jobs. It was great to hang out with them and their two kids Joshua and Ethan.



Here we are looking through old pictures on the back porch swing. In order from the left: Dee, Carrie, Julia, Craig (standing), Dee's Mom (KayLynn). Dee's dad took the pictures so he is not in the photo.











Craig and his kids in wheelbarrow rides. His parents yard was so green and pretty. They even have raspberry bushes growing in their garden.





Here is Joshua helping grandpa chop down a tree with the most efficient chisel. I would choose that tool, wouldn't you?








We also went biking at Ross park and played games, once Dee got over a 2 day illness. He was so bummed to get sick on the trip, fortunately it was raining one of the days, so we would have been indoors anyway. No pictures of the bike ride, we forgot the camera:(

Monday, June 4, 2012

Road Trip

Dee's mom's family planned a reunion in Utah the weekend after Memorial Day, so we decided to drive up to it and go early to spend a few days with his immediate family.

Here are a few of the places we stopped at on the way between Arizona and Idaho (where Dee's parents live.


On the way to Page, at the top of the mountain, there is this great scenic overlook. You can see the beginnings of the Grand Canyon in the distance.






It was also a good point to take a well needed leg stretch.  This was the point that the wind started to pick up.  Note Carrie's hair below:










We also decided to take a small detour up the Colorado plateau toward Brian Head. Neither of us realized that it was volcanic until we saw this outside our car window. Lava flows for miles. And this was at ~9500 feet.





Again, note the breeze.











Then came the lake. I don't know the name of it but it was pretty. 10000+ ft up.



And on to Cedar Breaks. If you have been to Bryce Canyon, it is like that but a little smaller and maybe prettier. The pictures don't do it justice.  Mostly because it was hard to keep hold of the camera. the wind was fierce 50+ mph. 10600 feet up.



Like the hair shows... again.
You had to hold your clothes down. Temps were cold too. Bring a windbreaker. Driving up from 100 degree heat, we weren't thinking that it could be this cold.

But the view was worth it.









Then finally we made it to Provo where we stayed the night at Dee's grandpa's house. 13 hours of driving and we were glad to be there.  After a good nights rest we were off again to make our way to Idaho to Dee's parents.