THE HILLS ARE ALIVE... LITERALLY

(Could also be entitled: "CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN... LITERALLY.") I went to the play up at Sundance again. It is quite a hike to get there. My brother-in-law was in the musical again this year. If you couldn't guess by the titles of my post, it was The Sound of Music which was (is) a HUGE favorite in my family growing up. Both my parents loved musicals (and performed in musicals) and passed that love onto us.

Here I am with my sisters. I love them so much! We had a blast together!

My aunt and uncle came too. We were glad, they are fun people to be with.

Here is M as Franz, the butler. He was awesome! So dignified. He looks GREAT in a tux, huh!

Here is the family Von Trapp. Notice how the stage is wet? It rained off and on throughout the whole thing and they just kept right on going. An amazing cast, especially those kids.

M changed into lederhosen for the 'singing contest' at the end of the play . He looked so great! We are so glad he's part of our family (and not just because he looks good in lederhosen ;).

DAY 14- EYES

PHOTO CHALLENGE

I love Princess P's eyes. They are a bluish green with a brown spot in the right one that keeps getting bigger. Very unique.

PIONEER DAY ON THE RIVER

We haven't been on the river much this year as a family and that is very strange for us. I guess a combination of lots of work, scout camp, youth conference, etc... has really thrown off our river groove. I decided we needed to change that and got Big C to take us to the Sevier yesterday.

This photo cracks me up. Little C and A look very serious with their squirt guns (there's plenty of 'ammo' on the river). We met friends there and had a couple of good runs. D and I swam (came out of our boats), but still had a good time!

On the second run it started to get cloudy and pretty soon it was thundering and lightning and pouring on us. The rain didn't matter so much, but the lighting gave us a scare once or twice. It was just FUN though. We REALLY had a good time! We sure miss S when do family things though.

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

We were invited by some friends to go up on the mountain and star gaze Sunday night. On the way up we saw a snow bank that had cracked and broken up into chunks just like a glacier. We couldn't resist checking it out.

Here they are looking at the crevasse- such as it is. It was solid ice and very slick. We were surprised at how deep they were.

Here are the chunks of ice. It was very interesting to see. Made us feel like we were in Alaska instead of Sanpete.

We made it up to hang with our fun friends around the campfire and watched the sunset and the stars come out. My cheapo cell phone doesn't do it justice, but it was VERY beautiful! We had a good time!

REUNION TIME

It was my family reunion yesterday. We went up the canyon and had a yummy breakfast, took photos, took turns in the Rhino, played in the mud, caught bugs, etc...

Here is my cute family (without S, who is still in Idaho). I had to photoshop the mud off some of those shirts.

Some of my extended family (my older sister's family and one of my brothers' family). The other siblings joined us later in the day.

D on the slack line. He's getting pretty good.

Princess P and Big C in the hammock. I LOVE this photo!

Later in the afternoon we came down and ate lunch at my house. Then the kids played water games and got into a massive water fight. D was the only casualty. He ripped off two of his toenails. It was nasty!

That night we went to Roy's Pizza for dinner. YUM! It was a fun, quick reunion. Just how we like it! Maybe next year we'll get everyone there...., but I'm not holding my breath.

GOTTA KEEP ROCKIN' & DAY 13

I got to go relive my 80's teenage years last night. My sister and her husband had tickets to see Journey, Foreigner and Night Ranger and her husband couldn't go, SO I GOT TO!

We had so much fun! I am sure I was entertainment for those around me, but I was cheering and clapping and fist pumping with the best of 'em!

Night Ranger was even good. I hadn't realized how many of their songs I knew. BTW, I am counting this photo as my DAY 13- YOURSELF WITH 13 THINGS photo. Definitely 13 things in there.

These last 3 photos were taken by a friend sitting up above us. She took this photo of my sister and I. She got some awesome pictures!!

Foreigner was to die for! I LOVE this band! They have been a favorite since I was 12. They ROCKED!!

But there is no one like Journey. Their lead singer is amazing!! I was blown away again and again! Talk about memories... *sigh* We had SUCH a great time! I want to go to another concert!!

DAY 12- SUNSET

PHOTO CHALLENGE

I like my 'clouds' (Day 3) photo better for a sunset, but since I already used it, this is going to have to do. I took it out at the lake on Monday night.

FAMILY NIGHT AT THE LAKE

We went to Palisade State Park for Family Home Evening last night with friends. It was very fun! It sprinkled on us, but it was still warm and the kids swam and boated. We took picnic dinners and ate there too.

Little C (left) and his buddy, B, in the trees. The lake is high!


D paddling the stand up board.


Princess P in her kayak. She goes with Big C all the time out to the pond to practice and you can tell. She is a fabulous paddler!


Here is J pushing all the kids into the water. He's so tough!


We had lots of boats and lots of fun!


'Da plane, da plane!' A and his buddies, K and B.

IT'S OVER

I went to see the last Harry Potter movie last night. *sniff* I'm sad it is all over and it was SO good! I loved them all though. I'm not picky. I will always be a Harry Potter fan. The crowd was GREAT! They cheered and booed and applauded through the whole thing. I loved it! It was VERY fun! I went with my two older boys. They are so nice to let me tag along. Is it just me or does his scar look like an N in that photo?

SKYLINE ALLSTARS

My boys are home from their scout camp. It was strange to have only two kids at home. Way too quiet without them!

I went to pick them up this morning. They arrived from a hike (where they signaled each other with mirrors from different peaks) and did a flag ceremony.

They both had a great time. This is D (on the right) holding up the youth leaders' flag he helped draw (he did the words) with his friend, S.

These are the Youth Leaders. D is 3rd from the left. He's been to this camp 4 years now. It has been a great leadership experience for him.

Here is A (right) with his group's flag. He drew the antelope skull. They both made lots of new friends that they want to hang out with from lots of other places. It was a GREAT experience for them! May I just say again that I highly recommend it. They rode mountain bikes, rappelled, rock climbed, hiked, built their own shelters, earned most of their wilderness survival merit badge, and learned leadership skills.

BOREDOM BUSTER BACKFIRE

I am hearing, 'What can I do?' way too much this summer. So I saw this cute idea to make garden markers out of rocks and thought it would be a perfect way to fix the boredom blues.

Princess P helped me paint the base coat of 3, but then she got bored of painting and left me to it. I had all the stuff out, so I thought I'd just finish.

They turned out cute, but I ended up doing them all but one and that wasn't the purpose of the activity. Princess P did come back out to do the green beans. I need to clear coat them and then they'll go in the garden. So much for my bright idea of keeping kids busy
.

DAY 11- SOMETHING BLUE

PHOTO CHALLENGE

Love those popsicle tongues! Little C (left) with the neighbor boys.

DAY 10- CHILDHOOD MEMORY

PHOTO CHALLENGE

I loved Barbies growing up. I used to play for hours with them clear into my Junior High years. Now I have passed on the passion to my daughter. She doesn't have the level of interest I did, but she has a good time with them.

SCOUTS

We have turned into a Scouting family. It has taken a little while, but my husband is fan. I am too. I have watched my sons have wonderful opportunities for leadership and learning. It is a wonderful program. D and A are off this week on a Varsity All Stars camp. D is a youth leader and A is a participant. I highly recommend this experience. Big C is an adult leader as well. You can check it out for yourselves (click). My boys are on the Skyline one. It is well worth the time and money.

FLOOD

We were supposed to flood this year. The snowpack in the mountains broke all sorts of records and we had sandbagged many areas in town. Alas, Mother Nature took care of us and gave us very mild weather so that the snow melted very slowly and we have been just fine.

Today, however, we had a little flash flood going on in front of our house. The rain came down in buckets for about 15 or 20 minutes.

As you can see, our ditches overflowed and Princess P and Little C had a great time splashing through all all the water.

DAY 9- SOMEONE YOU LOVE

PHOTO CHALLENGE

Princess P. What a cutie! La quiero mucho!

FAMILY ON THE FOURTH

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DAY 8- A BAD HABIT

PHOTO CHALLENGE

Blowing bubbles and popping my gum has been a bad habit for me for years. I do it subconsciously. I used to get into trouble in school and now even Big C gets mad at me. We'll be sitting there in church and I'll be popping away without even realizing it. He'll elbow me and whisper fiercely at me to stop. Oops!

DAY 7- FRUIT

PHOTO CHALLENGE

My fruit bowl. Fruit is a little boring... thus my fun with Photoshop again. Couldn't decided which, so I used both.