Pioneer Day Weekend

I haven't done much in the way of writing about our experiences of late - I've been mostly focusing on pictures. But that's understandable right? However, don't expect much improvement with this post. It's late and my creativity is not up to par.

And with that out of the way, this weekend was so much fun!! There were 22 people in the Mt. Pleasant house, doing such activities as weeding the garden, riding 4-wheelers, dirt bikes, playing cards, joking with cousins, swinging in the backyard, petting the horses/sheep, sliding down the slip-n'-slide, etc.


The horse whisperer.


Is it time to go home yet?


Maddie and Maddie :)


Crowded?


Maddie high in a tree.


A mammoth skeleton in the Fairview Museum.


Aubrey enjoys the horses.

Water Park and Fishing Ponds

For Family Home Evening we met Grandma D. and Nathan at the water park in Boulder City. We walked around the fishing ponds and then went down to the water park. It was so hot outside and so humid (30%, haha) so the water felt really nice and we had such a fun time.

Funny Faces

I know - another video, but I haven't posted in a while and I thought this was a little funny I was trying to get a video of Aubrey singing and waving to me but I got something else instead (No child was hurt in the making of this film).

The Claw

Our new cat Charlie enjoyed this box very much. He enjoyed getting in it and then attacking people as they got too close. We had to take this video because from our point of view it looked like just his paw lashing out.

Arrr...a Pirate

Mom and I were cooking dinner when Madison and Julie called for me to come see what they were doing. I finished what I was doing and went up stairs to Madison's room. As I walked through the door both girls burst in to laughter. Julie looked up and me and it was suddenly clear why. After I got over the shock, I laughed pretty hard (I hope she doesn't mind that I put this picture on here).

Don't worry - it was washable marker.

Poor friendless Maddie...

I was sitting on the couch reading when Maddie ran over and asked me if I wanted to play a board game with her. Like the mean big sister that I am I told her that I just started reading and maybe we could play later. She begged and pleaded for a while but I was at a really exciting part in my book and I cruelly brushed her aside (can I be blamed? Book lovers, help me out!) Maddie, the sweet thing that she is, jokingly said, "Fine. I'll play with Charlie then." (the new cat).

When I looked up from my book a few minutes later, this is what I saw:







A nice rousing game of cat mancala, anyone? It was so funny I had to get my camera. And don't worry - I did play mancala with her after I took the pictures!

Kayaking

This morning we decided to go kayaking and it turned out to be more of an ordeal than we expected. We drove all the way down to the lake only to discover that we forgot a life jacket. Since we didn't want to risk getting caught by the rangers we turned around and drove back to get one. When we finally made it down to the lake it was so windy that we could hardly launch ourselves out into the water. Mom and Dad were on the tandem kayak and Madison and I shared the one-man kayak.

That was an adventure - with every slight movement we made the kayak threatened to tip and we were riding so low that water was spilling in over the sides. And on top of it all we were paddling directly in to the wind. Maddie and I were laughing so hard and making such a complainey ruckus that I was sure someone was going to run us over just to get us to shut up. Eventually, Maddie transferred to the tandem and we paddled to shore.


Once Maddie was on with the other guys it was WAY easier for me to maneuver. Poor Mad. She was smiling but she didn't want me to put that picture on because she thought she looked dumb.


I was trying to get people to smile and look like they were having fun (which they were) but for some reason they all look somewhat distracted...


Mom told Dad and Maddie to just let her get out and she would swim to shore. Here she is trying to fight the wind and Dad and Maddie going back to rescue her.

Independence Day

Another Fourth of July come and gone and we had such a good time! In the morning we went to the parade (which Maddie and I were in, marching for Joe Hardy) and then we had a barbecue and swim party at Grandma D's.


A very patriotic cake dessert.


Syd wondering why I'm photographing her.


Aubrey looking at the blanket with disgust...and a messy face.


Is it just me or are none of the kids smiling for me today?


Flowers.


Sydney and the flowers.


Finally, someone who will smile for the camera. Even if it is a pretty fake smile.


This picture is a little blurry but I love it! Maddie is so good with the little kids.


Syd the Giant.


Well, those smiles were short-lived and Tyler proceeded to give me a series of "funny face" photos.

Sequoias, a Wedding, and the Beach

This last weekend Dad, Mom, and I went to California for Kelly Sargeant’s wedding (I guess she is Kelly Beruman now). Mom and I drove to Exeter where Dad is currently working and then we all drove a few hours away to the Sequoia National Park. The trees there were amazing! In pictures they are impressive but in person they are breath-taking. Then we drove back to the hotel and Dad and I went swimming, where we were both impressed with ourselves for treading water for fifteen minutes. The only bad thing was that Mom got sick that day and couldn't enjoy much of the sequoias, although she was determined to see the General Sherman - the largest living organism in the world! Poor Mom stayed in the car most of the day while Dad and I traipsed around. However, we did go to the store that night and get her some soup and we all ate dinner while watching part of Anaconda - the most excellently lame movie ever made.

The next day (Saturday) we drove another 3 hours to Morro Bay. The drive there was really pretty because there were lots of green trees and beautiful hills. The beach was fabulous as well – the weather was nice and even though it was a hazy day (due to the fires) we still had fun. We saw a family digging for clams, several fat chipmunks, some sea stars, a life guard running to rescue someone, and we found out that Morro Rock cannot be climbed by the public. From the beach we raced across California, through some desert in the middle of nowhere on the windiest road in the world, so that we could make it to Kelly’s wedding on time. We made it on time even though the wedding didn’t as it started one hour late (we blamed the combination of Mormon standard and Hispanic time frames). Here are some pictures that I took:


Rocks at Morro Bay.


Morro Rock (in the Sequoias, not to be confused with Morro Bay)


Dad and two Sequoias. These were the only two that we could get close enough to touch, and these were just little guys!