Summer break begins

 Today was my last day watching Asher while Maddox went to gymnastics.  Mostly we read books and play outside.  It's been so much fun watching him.  And I love getting hugs from Maddox when he gets back.....and he shows me some of the things he's learned.  Great kids!

I also had to put this picture of Darci up. What an adorable picture!!  I cannot, cannot, cannot wait til we can go back to California and see her and Kingston.....next month!!  I miss them so much!

And today is Emily's last day of school.....and she had to spend it at Lagoon.  Poor girl.....she suffers!  :)  Off to high school for her next year.  Done with junior high.  I'm so proud of you Em!!  BTW.....she got all A's and one B+.  Wahoo!!

Bird!!

I went outside to check our apricot tree and there was a bird in it eating them. So I shook one of the branches and the bird flew out of and into the house. I yelled at Jaron and Nathan that a bird flew into the house.

Jaron found it in the front room by the window. It was one of the baby birds that was living in the apple trees. I felt a little guilty for shaking the branch and scaring the bird half to death. I got Jaron some rubber gloves and he picked it up to let it fly outside.

We opened the storm door to let it fly out and it flew into the door. Fortunately it was ok and flew away.

Our "stroll" up to Stewart Falls

Last year when Brody came to visit we took him on a hike up to Stewart Falls. It was a pretty tough hike uphill but while we were hiking I noticed people hiking along the river to the falls. It looked so much easier than what we were doing so I thought the next time we hike this we should take that trail to the bottom of the falls. After we finally found a place to park and the trail head......it was uphill.

We talked to some people when we got started and they said it was 1.5 miles round trip.  but it wasn't 1.5 miles round trip.  It was 1.5 miles each way.....and uphill.  Lets just say I wasn't too happy about it.  It wasn't my stroll.  I found out when we were about half way there that the "strolling" part was on private property.

This is just a really weird picture of all of us.

When we got there Jaron wanted to go higher up.

Emily, Steve and Nathan.  I have no idea who the guy in the orange shirt is but he's in a lot of our pictures.  Steve carried that camera the whole time so not a lot of pictures of him.  :(

Cute, cute picture of the kiddos.

I like this one of Emily, Steve took.  :)

Then we headed back.  Going downhill was a lot easier.  Glad we did it but if I knew it would be as hard as it was I think I would have suggested something different.  Golden Corral afterwards from all the calories we burned off.

Don't tell T

We bought a new computer. Our old one died. But we didn't want to put it on the desk we had in the living room. The doors and drawers fell apart years ago so we brought the desk that was in Jaron's room upstairs.

Nathan wanted to axe it and to be the first one to give it a whack.

Jaron gave the 2nd swing then me and Steve.

There was something satisfying about destroying an old desk.

Right now it is burning in the fire pit. But don't tell T that we replaced our old computer with a Mac. :)

Maddox's parent show

 Today was Maddox's last day of gymnastics class and parent show.  I see why he comes home tired from this.  I was tired just watching him.  Asher wanted to get involved too.

Maddox is really good and a natural!

And a picture of the whole class.  I'm so glad I went.  It was so fun watching him!!

The Eclipse

Spontaneity sometimes pays off. Saturday Emily and I decided to blast down to see the total annular eclipse. I was somewhat ready for the eclipse in general. Monday, I had to my horror, discovered that all the eclipse glasses at Amazon were sold out and it took some crazy searching to find some. But I ordered five pair, so we were actually bettered prepared for this bit of spontinatiy than might be expected. To see the moon pass entirely in front of the sun we had to get below this line:

   It was a spontaneous decision but I called Steve Waters and he was on board, but it was his birthday so his family had to release him from the days plans, but all was done. Adventure called. We decided to target Beaver, Utah--far enough down that we would be about half way between the limit of visibility and the center line. I left two pairs of glasses for the boys and Lori. Emily's friend Izzy joined us and we took off for adventure.

It was so worth it! We thought there was a KFC in Beaver, but a DQ replaced it and after a feast of fast food we found a spot on a hill overlooking a pleasant valley.

We had all the right equipment.

Watching the progression of the moon over the sun was amazing. The excitement was palpable!

T
hen it happened! Full eclipse! I can't describe the mood of our little group. We began to cheer.

Through the glasses the dark moon in front of the sun was so cool. It was exactly in the center from what I could tell and the 'ring of fire was centered over the moon. I know it could not have been because we were still 50 miles from the center line in the above diagram, but I could not see it as anything but in the center.

It was strange because the landscape was dim and dusk like. But what was so amazing was how happy we were to be there doing this. We cheered! And suddenly Emily gave me a big hug and said, I'm so glad we did this. That was the best part and made me glad to be a dad to share this moment with my daughter. It's a day we will never forget. 

From PG

This evening was the eclipse of the sun.  You can see the moon starting to cover the sun in the bottom right.  Christopher and his family, Jaron, Nathan and I watched it through some special glasses.  Steve, Steve Waters, Emily and Izzy went to Beaver, UT to watch it where it was peak.  I'll put their pictures up tomorrow.

Maddox was pretending to watch it through some foil. It was really cute. :)

When the sun was almost fully covered by the moon the clouds came in.....bummer. The clouds stayed for at least a half hour and it was quite a bit darker out. Then the clouds left and we were able to see it again as the moon was leaving. It was so cool to see!!!

Girls can mow lawns :)

Emily wanted to earn some money this summer......mainly for buying clothes.  Sounds like a teenager doesn't it?  She wanted to get a job but she's too young still but I told her if she wanted to mow and weed whip I'd pay her.  She started right up.  At first she couldn't start the lawn mower by pulling the cord but she's got that down now.  She's a good little mower!!!