Playing in the Neighborhood

Emily and Rachel LOVED playing in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard. It is an ideal setting with trees that surround the yard, two different play houses, a basketball court, a water fountain, and lots of space to play. All of the boys loved playing badminton and Allan loved challenging others to play him. He is getting good and won many matches against others. It was great to sit in the backyard in the evenings. I miss Utah summer evenings!

The kids also loved playing with some of the neighbor kids and riding bikes down the hill at the end of stadium lane.

My Cougars

Earth Science Museum and Bean Museum

While on vacation, Jacob had to spend a lot of time working so the kids and I spent some time at BYU. The kids loved visiting the Bean museum and seeing the wide variety of mounted animals. Rachel and Emily were so excited to get close to the huge elephant. This is Emily and Nathan in front of an amazing display of butterflies and moths.

The BYU Museum of Paleontology had many fossils from the Jurassic Period.

The sheer size of the monsters is enough to both frighten and excite.

The T-Rex skull was amazing as well as the paleontologists working in the lab.

Hiking Rock Canyon

Perhaps some of the best hiking to be found in Utah is hiking up Rock Canyon. It is a 6-mile trail that begins at the end of North Temple Drive in Provo. This trail travels up Rock Canyon to the Rock Canyon Campground on Squaw Peak Road.

I went on this hike as a little girl and love that I can take my kids here when we visit Utah. I absolutely love the river, the rock formations, and the beauty of the trees.

All of the kids loved the hike. We made it up a little past the first water fountain. It was a slow pace but what can you expect with kids.

Andrea brought Odyssey and it was good company to have her along. She surprised us by coming to Provo. When we arrived Sunday night, it was a great to see her at home again. It has been far too long since we have seen her. We miss her and hate that she lives so far away. My kids love Odyssey and often wanted turns to hold her lease. All of our vacation the kids were playing with her.

Rachel absolutely refused to sit in the child backpack even with the bribery of tic tacs. My arms were tired from carrying her even though she is a small, petite child. She is a cutie!

Happy Father's Day

Everyone knows that Jacob LOVES chocolate. Usually after dinner, he will snack on a few chocolate chips. Rachel always runs to the cupboard and gets her bowl so she can indulge too. Well the pantry has been bare for about a week and Jacob made a comment about wanting chocolate. The kids wanted to get him a year supply of chocolate. We bought five different kinds of chocolate chips and wrapped them in various wrapping paper with gifts of all sizes. The kids were so excited about this and told dad that we got you "five different gifts." The kids were SO excited as he opened their gifts. Happy Father's Day!

Water Gardens in Fort Worth

We visited the Water Gardens in Fort Worth after some shopping.

There are three pools of water and a terraced knoll. The quiet meditation pool is encircled with trees and features a flat, still plane of water that cascades almost 90 degrees down to a sunken walkway.

There are huge trees surrounding it with some of the roots poking through the concrete.

Allan definitely was not in the mood to get his picture taken. I think he was feeling like a "teenager" but I have found that adventures and food always change his mood.

The main attraction of the Water Gardens is the active pool which has water cascading 38 feet (11 m) down terraces and steps into a small pool at the bottom.
When you are at the bottom of the active pool, it is like water is tumbling around you.

It is refreshing to hear the water rushing around you.

Emily was scared to go down but eventually went down holding my hand tightly. She was extremely careful and never let go of me.
Yes, Joshua did get in trouble for running. Although this place is scenic, they had four deaths here about five years ago. A child accidently fell in and so three kids and one adult drowned. The water at the time was 9 feet deep and now has been changed to be two feet deep.

The mountain was designed to give people the sense of the real thing. Its twenty inch steps cascade into one other, creating the sensation of a mountainqous topography. The mountain's steps, as well as walls of the whole park are twenty inches high and the mountain rises twenty feet high off the ground.

Photo Session

So I wanted to get just one good picture of Allan and Joshua together. I got a lot of pictures of Joshua trying to be funny...

or Allan wrestling with his brother...

or Joshua going cross eyed. Next time, I'll let Nathan take the picture.

Lake Texoma - Sun, Water, and Fun!

Jacob taught the boys the art of skipping rocks from what rocks are best to the proper way to throw it.

Allan quickly learned the techniques.

It soon turned into a competition between all of the boys to see who could throw it the longest distance to who could get the most skips.

We had so much fun exploring the lake but Rachel was hesitant about getting wet.

Nathan found a fish. Lunch. Yum!

Joshua found an even bigger fish.

Nathan and Joshua, with out swim suits, had no problem getting in the water.

Emily loved picking the wildflowers but she also loved exploring with the boys.

She collected sea shells along the lake shore.