Sidewalk Chalk

This summer has been full of

swimming

bike rides

playing

picnics in the park

trips up the mountain

fishing

camp-outs (at home)

painting the sidewalk

water fights

shoeless adventures

evening walks

mischief

messes

having fun with family

playdates with friends

and

LOTS AND LOTS OF SIDEWALK CHALK!

It's true,

I'm pretty much OVER the moon rainbow

For these two!

The Calming Affect

I'm not sure what it is

If it's the cooler weather

The fresh air

Just being outside

Or

Just being up in the mountains

But

Whenever we head up the mountains

Hunter seems to calm right down

He sits in the truck

His nose right up to the window

And looks at EVERYTHING

He. Loves. It. Up. There.

On this day, all we did was go for a ride

We got out of the car several times 

Once to throw rocks into the lake

Which is a MUST for Hunter and Paizlei

We also stopped in several locations

To pick some pretty leaves

Of course

Paizlei had to search for every pink leaf she could find

 Hunter on the other hand

Didn't care much what color he picked

And chose to have Daddy cut his leaves

Right from the tree.

We also stopped to carve our initials in a tree

Zane and I have been doing this

Ever since we were dating

We have LOTS of trees up 12 Mile

With our initials

And the year

This trip up on the mountains

We got to add the initial "C"

For our sweet Cooper

And last

But definitely not least

We stopped to take several pictures

Of our cute family

In the first two

Cooper was peacefully asleep

And I didn't want to disturb him

So we waited to until he woke up

To get some pictures with him included

My Favorite Season

Fall is my FAVORITE time of year.

The cool temperatures.

The crisp air.

The smell.

The GORGEOUS colors.

Cutting branches of leaves of the quakies and oak trees to bring home.

ALL of it reminds me of my Grandma Young.

How I miss her.

Some days I wonder what she thinks looking down from Heaven.

Especially now that it is fall.

Every year when fall rolls around, I think of my Grandma daily.

I hear her talking on the phone to her sweet lady friends.

Telling them, "we went on a ride up through Thistle and Spanish Fork canyon and looked at all the purty leaves."

That was my Grandma.

Sunday, we went on a little drive up 12 Mile.

It definitely wasn't Thistle.

Or Spanish Fork Canyon.

But the colors were so VIBRANT and "purty".

I kept saying how beautiful the colors were.

Thinking of my Grandma every time I said something about the colors.

I love you Grandma!

I wish you were still with us!

Thank you for sharing you love of fall with me when I was younger.

You are the reason why I LOVE fall so much now as an adult.

Lunchtime Creativity

Yes, I am addicted to Pinterest.  Well, not to the point that I sit on it day after day, going through pins.  I have a set time each week that I can visit Pinterest and get some creative ideas.  This "lunchtime creativity" I found a while back was perfect for a cold day.  It gave Hunter and Paizlei something fun to do, and got them involved in preparing meals.

 I sliced the hot dogs and the kids helped me thread uncooked spaghetti noodles through each hot dog.  I discovered through much trial and error (if there is such a thing in a meal like this!), 6 spaghetti noodles is the perfect amount for each hot dog slice.  The kids did get frustrated a couple times because the spaghetti would break, but we would just thread them through like it was nothing.

 An close-up shot of the hot dogs with the spaghetti noodles threaded all the way through.  Once they were all threaded, I dumped them in a pot of boiling,  unsalted water.  I didn't salt it, because hot dogs have enough sodium in them.  I let them boil for about 12 minutes...it takes longer because of the hot dogs.

Once the spaghetti noodles were soft enough, I drained them, put them back in the pan and but a little spray butter on them, mainly for a little flavor.  I also cute up some grape tomatoes and topped with Parmesan cheese.

My kids LOVED it!  They wanted seconds.  Definitely something we will be making for lunch again.  HUGE recommendation for anyone with kids!  They will LOVE it.

A Little Girl and a BIG Blow Flower

Last Sunday, we took a little ride up the mountain...my favorite canyon, Willow Creek (NOT the one up Ephraim canyon).  It was so beautiful up there!  There were so many fields FULL of wild flowers.  There was one field that had so many blow flowers.  And, Paizlei, just like any other little kid, LOVES blow flowers.  Plus, it made for a perfect photo op.

Awe, isn't she so cute?  I pretty much LOVE this little lady and her BIG brother!!!

PS...Big Brother wasn't feeling well, still trying to get over an infection in his throat (not strep).  So these are the only photos we were able to get with Hunter.

 My 3 FAVORITE PEOPLE!!!!

Zane's getting better at focusing with my camera.  You can totally tell Hunter doesn't feel good.  Poor little guy.

Wild Flowers with a 50mm f1.4

Did you know you can rent lenses for your SLR cameras?  There are TONS of places around the country that rents them for fairly cheap.  I rented a 50mm f1.4 lens that would mount on my DSLR camera.  LOVE IT!!!  Now, I want to save and buy my own 50mm f1.4 lens.  I LOVE how it blurs pretty much everything NOT in focus...something I have been trying to accomplish with the kit lens that came with my SLR camera body.


I LOVE spring/summer time up in the mountains!  The colors are always so gorgeous and vibrant.  I especially love all the different colors and different kind of wild flowers that bloom in the mountains.  I wish you could find flowers down in the valley's as beautiful as these!  They definitely make me me happy!


What do you think, do you like the results as much as I do?

12 Mile

I LOVE that the weather has finally been nice, we are loving that we are able to be out and enjoying it.  Hunter and Paizlei are just like their Dad, and LOVE to be outside.  Last Tuesday, June 21st, Zane promised Hunter we would go up 12 Mile Canyon and go fishing.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL up there!  So green.  All the different colors in the wild flowers.  The vibrant blue sky.  It was such a fun, quiet, peaceful trip.


We stopped at Spring Hill beaver ponds to let the kids and Zane fish for a while.  I didn't know how good Hunter could cast his pole.  That boy has such a great cast for only being 4.  He is such a lucky little boy to have such a super fun Daddy, who will take him fishing.  Whether its ice fishing in the winter, or regular fishing in the summer, Hunter always tags along with Zane to go fishing.  Hence the reason for the great casting skills he has.


We also decided to drive up the canyon as far as we could.  We were surprised we could get up as high as we could, given the amount of snow we had during the winter.  At the same time, we thought we could get up quite a bit higher than what we did.  For those who are familiar with 12 Mile, we didn't quite make it to the 6 Mile turn-off.


Here are some fun photos from our short little day trip up 12 Mile Canyon.

 Don't you LOVE his cute little fishing stance?  He had to go potty, but didn't want to put his pole down, so he was trying to hold it in.  

 Such a funny little boy!  He was reeling in his pole like he just caught a fish.  When I asked what he was doing, he held his hand out to show me "me fishy I caught, Mommy!  It's a BIG one, yes?"!

 This is what he looks like when he is reeling in his fish.  Too funny!  Not sure what he caught, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a fish, fishing in that yucky swampy mess he was in.

 This shot is so stinkin' cute!  Hunter was teaching Paizlei how to reel in her pole after she casts it out.  He was going into detail too.  I wish I would have had my flip camera with me to record it.

 Daddy caught the one and only fish on the trip.  Hunter was so excited!  Paizlei was so curious about the fish.

 Paizlei was all over the fish!  She wanted to pet it, kiss it, stick her finger in its mouth.  She was so curious about it.

After watching his sister pet the fish, Hunter decided, very timidly, he would pet the fish. It was so fun to watch both of them.

 "Bye bye fishy!  Oh, I lobe them, Daddy!"  Those were Paizlei's exact words as she waved bye to the fish.  Another thing I wish I would have had my flip for.  Dang it!!!

 I think Hunter's lessons in reeling in the pole, really worked!  She was just a reeling!  It was so cute.  There is no line on her pole.  It's just an old broken pole that Hunter had.  Zane saved it for her to play with when we go fishing.  Thoughtful Daddy!

 This shot was taken right after we go to the lake.  Paizlei was so curious about it.  She is SO not afraid of water, which completely scares me.  She was so cute and so good about listening when I told her that she was close enough to the lake.

 This shot was taken just below the snow line.  Hunter wanted to get out and play in it.  He wanted to make snow balls and throw them.  He was so cute.  Paizlei kept telling me her "hannawands cohd".  

 We saw a LOT of deer.  TONS!!!  We even saw a couple small bucks.  Made Zane excited for the bow hunt in August.  He is already planning where he is going to go and where he is going to camp.  Silly boy!

 Just a quick shot of some of the beautiful flowers we saw.  Not sure if you can really notice it (I can, because I know its there), but the flowers have a tiny hint of lavender in the petals.  They were so pretty!

My favorite nature shot of the whole trip!  I LOVE quakies (if I misspelled that, I apologize, my spell checker wouldn't work).

Here's to more day trips to the mountains, lots of summer camping trips and lots more fishing, throwing rocks and exploring.  HURRAY for summer!!!