new arrivals

They finally hatched.  Actually I think they hatched while we were gone but we just noticed them today.  William and Brennen were opening the blinds and started shouting.  I came to see what all the commotion was about, and here it is.  I told the boys to NOT open the door before I got my camera, of course they didn't listen.  As they opened the door the mama hummingbird was hovering right in front of the door just daring us the get close to here babies.  Of course my boys were not phased by her daring request so she flew away to watch from afar.
I put the pictures on the computer and some of us commented on how ugly baby birds are.  All except for William.  He responded with and ohhh their so cute.  Such a baby man.  We will continue to watch them grow

cattle drive

Here in old town Lehi they keep up with tradition.  Being rodeo week they had a cattle drive down main street. It started out with the flag of course.  It was so cute to see William do his first official scout salute at a parade.  I could see that he knew the importance of it.  Too many people don't respect the flag as they should.  After the flag was the local high school marching band.  I love marching bands, I really do.  They feel the air with excitement. Maybe I'm old school but I love the  brass and the drums everything.  This local high school has an exceptional marching band.
Then there were the usual faces.  The grand Marshall, the mayor, the rodeo queens (their chaps were so pretty). After all the fan fare came the cattle.  They had a lot of Texas longhorns and of course cowboys. (there's just something about a cowboy mmmmm)
I'm not sure how well my kids appreciated it but it brought back fun memories for me.
I used to go do roundup with my best friend.  Their family raised cattle and in the spring they would round them up and bring in the calves to brand and neuter them. (Rocky mountain oysters anyone?  they are actually good).  We would also take that time to mend fences and scout the grounds for anything that needed attention.  I remember one time I was helping drive the cattle on a 4 wheeler.  The dog kept pestering this particular bull until he got so fed up he decided to charge the dog who then headed straight for me.  I knew I couldn't let this bull go because then we would have to roundup the herd again. I was a little more than scared as this huge bull comes right at me.  My training kicked in and I spread my arms as wide as they would go as I stood up on the ATV to make myself appear as big as possible.  The trick worked and the bull nearly doubled over himself trying to stop. I stood there heart racing eyes closed tight holding my breath covered in dust.  We looked each other in the eye.  I was frozen in fear until he decided I wasn't worth it and turned around back to the fold.  This round up was nothing like that but it was nice to stir up those fond memories

my cute nephew

 

growing

This time of year always amazes me with how things grow.  I love to watch day after day all the fruits veggies and flowers awaken and blossom into what they truly should be.  Its neat to watch them transform form seed to sprout to beauty.  Here is the first "fruits of our labor"

Tuacahn

To finish off our vacation the girls went to Tuacahn. Tuacahn is an outdoor theater nestled in between towering red rocks.  The whole thing is enough to take your breath away. The Monday group went to see Aladdin.  I felt really bad about not taking Ellie to see the Little Mermaid when I went last year that I let her go see Aladdin this year.  I didn't have enough to go with her so she went with my parents and some of my sisters.  Being the drama geek that she is loved the whole thing.  A small part of me wished I splurged the extra dough to see  her reaction throughout the play but the responsible side of me let it go.  I went with the Tuesday group to go see Hairspray. Of course we snuck in some shopping and dinner as well.  The show was fabulous.  I love those cheesy singing and dancing numbers.  The set design was nice too. I was impressed that they had 3 full size cars drive onstage for the 3 seconds they were on there but its the details that make it great right?

  
The Aladdin crowd said it was uncomfortably hot watching the show but I thought it wasn't too bad for Hairspray. The special effects were not as good as the Little Mermaid but then there wasn't that many special effects.  The singing and dancing however was divine.  Can I just say those black boys can dance. I wanted to get up and dance with them.

St. George splash pad

Peter's mute friend

         

To break up the monotony of the pool we took one day and found the local watering hole.  A nice little town square with a natural elements splash pad feel.  There happen to be this geeky band there singing kids songs and making crafts.  The highlight of their very short concert was the chicken dance.  Some of the kids had and absolute blast (Brennen and Liz) where other would have been much happier elsewhere (Jenni) I had fun watching my kids splash and play.  Peter kept talking to this bronze statue of a boy holding a hose.  He was getting so frustrated with the bronze boy for not talking back to him. I'm not sure if he just has a very vivid imagination or he really thought he was going to get and answer out a statue. Either way it was a funny scene to watch.

This park was really neat.  It had a stage area for outdoor concerts and things, a kind of grassy amphitheater, and a beautiful carousal.  I didn't show my kids the carousal for fear they would beg me to let them ride it.  It is nestled in between the arts building and one more architecturally pleasing building that I can't recall the name of.  So it was equally pleasing for me just to walk around the grounds.

Sand Hollow

Sand Hollow.  Can I just say I love going to the lake.  It's that extra sand quotient that makes for perfect relaxation.  Remember I said all I need is Sun Sand and Water.  well this lake has beautiful red sand. It was really nice, not too hot but hot enough, the water was relatively warm (huge plus) not a lot of wind just fun.

We brought a picnic, set up the shade, tossed out the sand toys and of course launched the wave runners.

Of all the things we did on our trip I would have to say playing on the wave runners was my favorite.

check out the "concentration tongue"

I absolutely LOVE the speed the spray the heat the thrill that comes with riding the wave runners.

To be honest its my favorite when I am a little selfish and take one out all by myself.  I can go as fast or crazy as I want, jumping any wave I come across. Shear bliss for me.

The little ones were so happy to just play in the sand and wade in the water.  Having mostly boys in the cousin department they built themselves a potty.  They dug a hole and put sand walls around it and told Peter it was a potty so he did the only logical thing, whipped it out and filled it up.  I turned just in time to see the incident. Whatcha gonna do?

We took the kids out to the jumping rock to test their bravery.  They started out small then went a little higher as they got more determined.  While we were there a group of young adults were trying to get up their nerve to jump off the highest point.  The kids tried to cheer them on, or taunt them I'm not really sure but they chanted JUMP,JUMP,JUMP,JUMP,  J-U-M-P,  J-U-M-P until the peer pressure was too much and they jumped.  One was reluctant.  He was the last to jump and when he did it ended up being a belly flop.  I felt bad for the poor guy as he floated then crawled to shore with a groan.  All I can say is he was lucky he had wet suit on.