Layton City Park

Vinca Minor

Using the leather effect

Sydney hanging 10 on a wobbily rock.

Who doesn't love a gosling?

I just love watching ducklings.

Sydney feeding more ducks.

I have been wanting to take my kids to this park for a while now, and I finally had the opportunity on Friday. Tyler was still in school so he missed out. Ryan had the day off but needed to clean cages in order to go with us on Saturday to Lagoon. Saturdays usually are full for Ryan as he tries to get the mice and snake cages clean. He even has a worker that helps out on Saturdays. The park was very full of kids and adults playing on the fun play equipment. We, on the otherhand stayed on the path near the creek to feed the ducks, geese, swans, gulls, etc. It was cooler near the creek and calming. Dallin loved watching the birds and wanted to eat the bread, not throw it! Maybe next time he will get the knack.

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You...

Don't you hate it when you forget the camera?

I do! I forgot it when we left for Lagoon on Saturday. We were trying to get there by 10 am and I had got up early and did most of my grocery shopping before we left. Needless to say, we were in a hurry by the time the groceries were unpacked. Atleast we didn't forget the sunscreen! I would have been hospitalized if I forgot that! JK - No, seriously I am so fairskinned and I have developed an allergy to the sun called "solar urticaria" (sp?) where my arms develop little fluid filled blisters if I spend too much time in the sun. Freaky huh! I hate it but life goes on! Luckily my husband has passed his great tanning genes on to our kids and the recessive trait I have will end with me. Lagoon was great as usual and this year we brought a neighbor that is Sydney's friend. Ryan's work was having their summer family activity which traditionally is to go to Lagoon and have a catered bar-b-que about 2 pm. The morning begins with my family riding the "White Rollercoaster" and then hitting other rides. This year since I had Dallin in the stroller, I let Ryan take the kids on most of the rides. I really wanted to try "Wicked" which is the newest rollercoaster ride at Lagoon. Unfortunatly, the lines were way too long. Tyler and Sydney tackled the Colossus together which is a super fast loop-de-loop coaster ride. I think it hits 2 G's of force. After the late lunch with Ryan's co-workers, we stuck around for a few more rides before Dallin was totally wore out. By then it was around 96 degrees outside. I am so glad they have many big shade trees around the park. We had a great time and even signed up to "bounce back" in the next couple of weeks for only $8 a ticket! It is usually over $30 a ticket! I will definatly NOT forget the camera the next time!

Redneck Seafood Dinner

I received this in an email and had to post it! Someone called this "Octodog".

Tetherball

Our neighbors have a tetherball that sits in our cul-de-sac for anyone to use. Dallin likes to play with it. I just happened to catch this next pic at the right/wrong moment (depending on which way you look at it). He was just fine and smiled afterwards!

A rose for you! Hope your day goes well!

Sights and Sounds of Freedom

Living under the flight path of the nearby Air Force Base has its positives and negatives. The positives are that we know our skies are protected and that with each flight, someones skills improve. We have seen some neat jets and we are close enough that we could see the USAF Thunderbirds practicing for an air show. We later watched it on the base since it was free and open to the public. That was a couple of years ago. Once in a while we get a jet flying overhead at night or in the middle of the night. It doesn't happen often and I think I have learned to sleep through it. I am greatful for all of the time and effort these people put into defending our country. The local pilots are some of the coolest people and we have had a couple live in our ward. Their families are always bracing in case they need to go to war. Thanks be to God for these people willing to risk their lives for our freedom!

Keep Smiling

True to Myself

I have been dreading revealing to my blog readers about a part of my household that not everyone sees. In our basement my husband keeps his business/hobby of raising/breeding snakes. People ask me many questions about this and here are some of the most popular questions: 1. Do you like snakes? Yes, but they are not my favorite animal. I prefer furry animals. 2. Do they ever get loose? Yes, doesn't any pet sometimes get loose? Being in the basement has it's advantages namely, the snakes stay down there! They are actively searched for if one gets loose because they are a source of money and part of a business. We have lived in this house for six years and have never had a snake come upstairs that was lost in the basement. 3. Do you have nightmares of snakes? Once in a while, but they aren't bad. 4. Do you let your kids handle them? Yes, they love snakes and the older two are able to help out with cleaning the cages and giving them water. They are paid for their work and know it is much easier than getting a paper-route. They keep track of their time and are paid by the hour. They only work when they want too. 5. Do you have any poisonous snakes? No, it is illegal to have them in Utah without a special permit. 6. Do you hold them? Yes, occasionally I do if I am showing them to someone. 7. How big is your largest snake? About 8-9 feet long. 8. What types do you have? Many different types. Rubber Boas, Rosy Boas, Arizona Mountain King snakes, Dumeral boas, Brazilian Rainbow boas (my personal favorite), Corn snakes, Gopher snakes, garter snakes, Red-tailed boas and many subspecies. Many have special color patterns and are bred for their potential color patterns. 9. What do you feed them? Mice, rats, guinea pigs, mostly frozen, but a few are fed live mice. Ryan breeds our mice in a shed in our backyard. Otherwise, it would cost about a thousand dollars a month to feed the snakes if we didn't breed our own mice. The frozen rats and guinea pigs are ordered in from a huge rodent breeding company called Rodent Pro. So, now that all of this is off my chest, I hope I didn't scare away all of my friends that are just now reconnecting with me. I went 9 months without saying much on this topic. I don't intend to post a bunch of snake pictures since I'm not really that interested in it and I don't think people who read this blog are either! But, to be on the safe side, I am posting a picture of some missionaries that came to dinner last Sunday and got a personalized tour of the basement. They are holding a baby dumeral boa. They think we are a pretty cool family and want to come back and see more. I just had an air conditioner service guy come and he wanted to see more of the snakes but I said we need to wait until Ryan is home.

This next photo is of a Leopard Gecko. They are the coolest little things. Very pretty for a non-furry animal! We do have more of these little guys and will be selling some at our Utah Reptile Expo in October.

Now, to leave on a more pleasant note- here are a couple of photos of the roses on my rose bush. They are taken from the same photo.

Clematis Fun

Below is the original.

Clematis Beauty

Endurance

Hang on until it becomes a part of you......

The Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

I lied again! I wasn't done with the pictures from Memorial Day Weekend! I forgot this batch that I took on Monday when we all went to the museum after having the cousins pictures taken and then eating lunch and taking naps. We had a couple of hours before I needed to take my Dad to the airport and so we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point! It was very well done but the lighting was low. I had my first chance to tinker with the low light exposure on my camera which I had never used before and had not read anything on it. I thought I was taking great photos but when it came time to edit them, many were blurry. I now realize that in low light, it's best to use a tripod since the exposure time is increased. Trial and error! I still was able to get a few shots to work out despite the blurriness.

Can you see Micah in the lower right-hand corner? This was a huge head!

Morgan is in the middle (Randy's second child) with Sydney, Micah (Randy's third), and Dallin.

There is two great big sand pits at the end of the museum where the kids can pretend to find fossles. My kids loved this part.

We had a great time at this museum and highly recomend it!

Final post of Memorial Day Weekend!

Finally, I have reached the end of Memorial Day Weekend pictures that I wanted to post! This set of pictures were taken Sunday and the last picture was taken on Monday. Sunday's activities included going to church with Randy and Katie. They were asked to speak during sacrament meeting and so the rest of us kept their four kids busy while Randy and Katie spoke. After church, we went to their apartment for lunch and to visit. Randy grilled up some awesome tasting steaks and we played a board game that was really fun called "Ticket to Ride". It was the first time Tyler and I had played this game, but we caught on quickly. The rest of the cousins played "Apples to Apples- Junior Edition" that Kristi had given to Sydney for her birthday. Anybody too young to play that game ended up doing whatever toddlers do- begging mommy for attention while she is playing a game, or getting into things in a new household that they shouldn't get into!

Will (Katie's brother) and his fiance Alina joined us for lunch!

Kendra and Alyssa! Kendra had her hands full chasing Alyssa and being approx. 6 months pregnant (and sick). Doesn't she look great!

Alyssa decided that having a boy around was great! She loved hugging Micah- and he was glad to oblige!

The three youngest cousins (for at least three more months) Dallin, Malia and Alyssa.

Sydney and Mc Kenzie know how to take care of their younger cousins.

This last picture was taken Monday morning at JC Penny Studio in Provo. We had a 10:30 appointment and they graciously had three helpers there to coax some smiles out of this wiggly group. Alyssa and Malia were being held by their moms to be put in at the last second. After about an hour of trying to get everyone happy and in place, we gave up and settled with the pictures we had. Then a half hour later- some of the little ones were happier and the studio let us try again. It still wasn't that successful- but at least we tried! They let me take this photo in between shots!

The rest of Monday was spent eating Little Caesars' Pizza and playing board games again together. I then brought my Dad to the airport so that he could go back to Oregon to work for the week. Mom and Kristi stayed to look for an apartment for Kristi, and homes and a job for Mom and Dad! You read it correctly- Mom and Dad are looking seriously into moving to Utah! They would love to live nearer to the grand kids and they know that us kids are not able to make a decent living in Corvallis. There are many other reasons namely the rumors of HP shutting down the Corvallis plant in the next five years which will destroy the market for selling houses. It seems to be a good time to exit and move on now.

They have spent the last 28 years in their current house. All of us kids will miss the house we grew up in, but we have great memories and hope to make even new memories wherever they choose to move too. A big plus for them is that by moving to Utah, they can upgrade their standard of living because the housing market is better here- at least in the Top of Utah- past Bountiful. Rob and Kendra are moving to Texas for his job soon after he graduates, and Randy and Katie will be moving even farther south to St. George to pursue a Masters Degree. Kristi is wanting to live closer to the "Meat Market" of young men in the Provo area. Corvallis did not hold her future husband.... So, changes are ahead for all of our family. I am excited to have Mom and Dad move closer to us so we can work on our genealogy together. Mom has been entrusted with her side of the families genealogy and it is extensive. There are many duplications and mistakes and it needs to be gone through thoroughly. Having the largest genealogical research facility nearby is a huge plus! Luckily, we will still have roots in Corvallis. Ryan's Dad and his Wife still live there. It may be a while till my parents can sell the house and move. It will be an exciting year though for us!

M.D.W. part 4

My parents finally got to eat dinner after traveling all day. They hurried because we still needed to have our gift giving party celebrating Dad's birthday, Sydney's 9th birthday, Kristi's birthday, Mother's Day and Father's Day! They needed to hurry because by nine o'clock that night, Randy and Katie had set up a blind date for Kristi to go to a movie with someone Katie knows'. It was going to be a triple date.

The family gathered together to open gifts!

Mom and Dad's gifts were given by all of us kids to them. They were personalized aprons- with all the grandkids handprints on them as well as their names and ages and room to add more!

Dad's apron is a family joke since he tends to burn the hamburgers. But he's getting better at it! He just got a new grill for his birthday! Soon after this, Mom, Dad and Kristi left to stay at Randy and Katie's place in Orem. Rob, Kendra and Alyssa tried out our new-to-us hide-a-bed at our house.

M.D.W. part 3

The last of my family arrived late in the evening. Mom, Dad, and my Sister Kristi drove all the way from Corvallis, Oregon with this boat in tow. I received it sort-of-as an inheritance gift. My Uncle Bob had passed away in October and my parents received his nice fishing boat since he had no children. My parents passed their older boat down to me. When Ryan and I were first married, Ryan spent a lot of hours repairing the old mercury motor. Guess what? It needs a few repairs again! We figure it's a "classic" boat since it was probably built in the 1960's. Since it's a "classic", doesn't it need to be remodeled? I think some red paint across the top and a new coat of black paint on the trailer would really spiff it up, don't you think so? It should be good for some trips to the lake knee-boarding. Perhaps you've heard the old saying about boats- A hull in the water you sink your money into......

Memorial Day Weekend part 2

Sorry everyone for the back and forth posting, but I'm sure you can understand why I wanted to post about our wedding anniversary! Now, back to memorial day weekend- Saturday evening Rob (my brother), Kendra (his wife) and Alyssa (their daughter) arrived. They had a bite to eat and then played around with the kids outside. Kendra in this photo is approx. 6 months pregnant with their 2nd child- a boy! Alyssa was being bounced on the tramp and I just happened to catch this photo of her hair!

A trip down memory lane....

Ryan and I had our 13th Wedding anniversary in May. We were married in the Portland Oregon Temple on May 13th 1995. It was a beautiful spring day! We had our wedding in the Temple and then had a Ring Ceremony and Reception that afternoon in Corvallis, OR- our hometown. For our honeymoon we stayed in the Marriot hotel in Portland, OR for a couple of days and then drove up through Washington State and camped another couple of days. Yes- we camped a couple of days on our honeymoon!

We continued North and took a ferry to Whidby Island (sp?) and drove to Vancouver, BC. I remember that when we got there it was really hard to find a hotel room, but we finally found one. We stayed in their "suite" which had a european flair but the walls were very thin- we could hear our neighbors, and in the morning there were three or four cockroaches in the bathroom! I missed the US then and their standards for hotels! Vancouver was fun as always to visit but I was glad when we crossed back onto US soil.

The trip back to Corvallis, OR and our new apartment was quicker than usual since we had our wedding gifts waiting for us that we hadn't opened yet. If I remember right, we made that trip from Vancouver to Corvallis in just over 9 hours- yeah I was speeding! I drove most of that way and I know I hit 90 mph a few times! Good thing I didn't get us killed! Like I said, I knew we had gifts waiting for us. I would like to think we're a little more responsible now!

Memorial Day Weekend part 1

Due to this past Memorial Day weekend being filled with activities and family, I will try to document it in a few posts over a couple of days. Translation: I don't have time to sit and play with photos since I just began watching an 18 month old girl today. She gets along great with Dallin! Here is the begining of our weekend. After Sydney's slumber party ended at 10 am on Saturday, I quickly prepared for Rob and Kendra and their daughter to spend the night with us. Randy and Katie came up from Orem to eat a big meal together with us and Mom and Dad and Kristi were driving from Oregon to bring us our boat that was being passed down. As it turned out, Rob and family were arriving late as well as Mom and Dad. Since the food was getting cold, we were instructed to go ahead and eat! Dallin ate his first corn on the cob and loved it! Tyler and Sydney loved playing with their cousins. And the weekend was just begining!

Katherine and Rutger

Many of my family members have never met my sister-in-law Katherine. She stayed with us this past winter until she felt ready to find her own place nearby. She recently purchased a beautiful and very smart German Rotweiler (spelling?) and named him Rutger (pronounced root-ger). She has felt very safe having him around and sleeps much better knowing he is nearby. She brings him over to play in our backyard. Our dog loves having another one around to play with. They romp around and tumble over each other as big friendly male dogs do. They can't spend any time together inside our house because they are like a bull in a china shop. They are very likely to push over Dallin or step on him.

Rutger

Rutger and Katherine Sorry boys, but only one at a time- and stop licking my window! Look how big Rutger's head is compared to Sampson's! Sampson is almost 80 pounds!