THE MUDDY

I have discovered that it is possible to be disappointed and still have a blast! This past Thursday I went with a group of friends and tried to do the Muddy River/Creek (a body of water in the San Rafael). It was a nice warm day and we were so excited- I have to say that this is probably my favorite river in Utah. Anyway, we headed out and caught the bottoms of our boats on the first 'rapid' we came to. Not a good sign. The next rapid was even worse and we had to get out of our boats and hike them through the area. This was the scenario throughout the next 20 minutes and it made us start to ponder on whether or not it would be a good idea to continue.

Guess what, we ended up turning around. We had to hike back up the river, hauling our boats the whole way. It was tiring and took us more than an hour to hike up what we had floated in 20 minutes. One of the more interesting trips I have been on. We really had a good time. We laughed and enjoyed the outdoors, but were sad we could go down the river. So it is possible to be disappointed and have a blast at the same time.

RUNNING THE GREEN

My kids love to go to Green River. It is not the town which attracts them, it is Swayze's Beach. Since we live hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean, this is the closest to a beach-experience that they ever get. They could dig holes and build sand castles all day, never mind that we go to Green River to run the river.

The weather for the Memorial Day weekend, in case no one noticed, was not great. There were people trapped by flash floods and washed out roads in Gray's Canyon (where we run the Green) on Saturday. But of course, we went anyway. The river was big and fun and we were able to get in a run before the huge downpour. I don't think we have ever packed up so fast in our lives. They had rivers for streets in Green River by the time we were driving home.

The most memorable part for our boys, however, took place in Salina on the drive home. They saw a Lamborghini at a gas station and just had to take photos. It was a pretty cool car.

MORE TRADITIONS

For those of you who don't know, school is out and summer is in full swing. The first sign of summer is always the Scandinavian Festival or Memorial Day weekend. We have lots of family that come and so we always have a great time visiting and catching up with relatives, watching the parade, putting flowers on the graves, eating Sanpete turkey and greasy picadilly chips, browsing the booths (most of which have nothing to do with Scandinavian heritage), and having a BBQ at our house.

This year my princess was on a float in the parade.

Here are some of the kids gathering candy. We have it on good authority that there is no place like Sanpete county for generous amounts of candy throwing.

My kiddies love the 'rides' and blow up jumping paraphernalia.

Cousins are the best!

Our last tradition is rather sad. Some of you may remember that this unfortunate haircut takes place every summer too. My poor, poor boy. Those of you that are locals, try not to look at him with too much pity in your eyes. At least it is only for a week...

SAN PITCH FLOAT

Anyone who knows our family knows we run rivers all summer. The first run of the season for my husband and I took place yesterday evening. We floated a class 1 river called the San Pitch. It was a peaceful and relaxing river. I am not into running big, scary rivers and this was right up my alley. My husband (who does love the big, scary rivers) had a fun time too. Great company, great weather, great way to get a quick outdoor fix. Two thumbs ups up on the Sanpitch!

Here is our group posing for the San Pitch Gothic (our boating version of the American Gothic painting). And, yes, we do think we're funny.

MAY DAY TRADITION

Tradition is big in our little town and one of them is the May Day Festival at the end of the year. Our elementary has been having the 5th graders do the May Pole for over 70 years (that I know of). My mom and dad did it, my in-laws did it, my husband did it and my older kids have done it. There are actually very few people alive that still know these dances. I know a lot of people think it is a pain and a waste of time, but I LOVE it!

Some traditions should be thrown in the trash, but I really think this is a keeper. The other grades do dances too, so my 2nd grader did a western line dance. I only got video, so I won't make you sit through it, but I just have to say, what a sweetheart!

BALLERINA GIRL

My little princess is such a sweetheart. She really has loved dancing ballet this year. I am so proud of her. She has learned a lot, and one of the most important lessons was how to stick with it. One of the best things about dance for any young girl (and maybe old too), is the costumes! This one was a bit hit!

I could not resist adding the video. LOVE IT! Watch out Ballet West, here she comes! ; )

NOTCH PEAK

This was a great hike. We had such a fun time. I am a little sore, but that is to be expected. We chose a great day for weather. Couldn't have been more beautiful.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

DOUBLE

My 2nd grader has never played baseball before and wanted to try it out. This is the 'coach pitch' league. He really has a talent for hitting, throwing and is a fast runner. We just need to work on the catching part now.

We are not really an organized/team sport type of family. It is a challenge for me to even want to sign my kids up and pay for baseball. I gave in because C really has some natural talent and also because his older brothers got to try, so I felt he should get the opportunity as well. There goes our summer ...

13 YEARS AGO

On this day, 13 years ago, I had an interesting and scary experience bringing my third child into the world. I had gone into labor and my husband drove me to the hospital, but while the doctor was trying to break my water I passed out. When I came to I wasn't feeling so hot, and pretty soon I was in shock. They rushed me into surgery and did an emergency c-section and my son was born, happy and healthy (with his mommy knocked out cold on the table and minus 5 units of blood). I am still a bit resentful about missing his entry into my world, but so thankful I am around to take care of him. He has been such a great blessing to our family and it didn't take long to realize he was his own, unique little person. Here are some of my favorite things about him:

1. He is extremely smart and has an amazing memory.
   
2. He is very creative at problem solving.
   
3. He loves to run and is great at it.
   
4. He shares a love of reading with me.
   
5. He is very musical and plays both the piano and guitar very well.
   

Happy Birthday, A! I love you very much!

MOM GOSSIP & CHICKEN BRYAN

On Saturday I was able to have a MOM'S DAY OUT with one of my friends. We went to Provo/Orem by ourselves (without kids!) where we shopped, ate out (at Carrabba's), and even went to a dollar movie. What a blast we had with no children to take potty, no whining and/or fighting to have to deal with, and lots of MOM GOSSIP to talk about. By the way- "Mom Gossip" is not a bad thing. All mom's need this. We need to be able to vent our frustrations with other moms that can appreciate our pain and suffering (I truly believe this should be in the mission statement of the Relief Society). Husbands are great, don't get me wrong, but they just can't appreciate/empathize/mourn with to the degree another MOM can. But, I digress.... our MOM'S DAY OUT was a truly wonderful and needed experience and one I will not forget soon! (THANKS LORNA).

PS- If you have never had the opportunity of going to Carrabba's Italian Grill, I highly recommend that you rectify the situation quickly- especially if you enjoy Italian food. It is my favorite restaurant and mainly for the dish they call CHICKEN BRYAN. It is so yummy that I dream about it. For those of you who are too cheap to pay the $16.00 here is a knock-off recipe.

FAMILY NIGHT LESSON

My sister-in-law did a great family home evening lesson a few weeks ago and I really liked it. It was a great parallel between the way the Nephites constructed defenses around their cities and the way we need to be spiritually prepared in our families. She said she got the lesson from LDSsplash.com. I was doubly thrilled because I thought it would work great for Primary too. So, guess what I am going to use for my Sharing Time tomorrow? Here is the link if you are interested in checking it out. It has the printouts for you set up in a very clever way. Happy Family Home Evening!

MOM

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to do an Ode to My Mother. Here are 5 wonderful & fun things about my mother.

1. She could wiggle her ears.
   
2. She was an artist and was the one who encouraged me to be an artist as well.
   
3. She used to say funny things like "slicker than snot on a stick."
   
4. When she was at Snow College she had the lead in musicals like 'Brigadoon' and 'Oklahoma.'
5. She taught us to sing fun songs like "Bill Grogan's Goat" :

Bill Grogan's goat was feelin' fine

Ate three red shirts from off the line.

Bill took a stick, gave him a whack,

And tied him to the railroad track.

The whistle blew, the train grew nigh,

Bill Grogan's goat was doomed to die.

He gave three groans of awful pain,

Coughed up those shirts and flagged the train.

Is that the funniest song ever? I am so glad I remember it!

My mom died 3 years ago this week. It was actually a release for her. She had been ill for a very long time and my dad had passed away 20 years before. I really miss her lots, but I know she is so much happier where she is.

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

BOOKS

I was just reading a friend's blog where she shared some great information with everyone and I felt the need to share it as well. It is a site called LibriVox that you can go to and download books to your ipod for free . Because it is free, you may get different voices reading different chapters and you may not find every single book you are interested in, but it is worth trying out. Good luck & happy reading!

I am in a recently formed Book Club. We just read:

And for the month of May we are reading:

I HIGHLY recommend both.

If you are a local and are interested in joining, let me know! The more the merrier!