"The Grotto" trail up Payson Canyon- Utah

ok. I'll just say straight off the top, that there are ALOT of pictures to this post. I guess, I love all of the green, and water, and mountains, so I couldn't slim it down to just a few. I miss this kind of stuff, living in Texas.

So, anyway, on July 4th, we took a quick hike on the "Grotto" trail up in Payson Canyon. It was perfect for the family (not too hard, not too long) and had lots of fun river crossings and a big "reward" at the end of the hike. So here we go . . .

At first, I had the camera and started taking pictures. See Matt and Kimball starting out on the trail.

But soon after, I handed the camera over to Matt, so I could actually BE in some photos for once.

THe kids had a blast on all of the river crossings!

We had to keep a tight grip on Kimball the whole time though.

Here's the whole fam at the "reward" at the end. A cool waterfall.

Matt twirled the kids around in the freezing water.

Everyone threw rocks in to make a splash.

And of course, Kimball insisted on getting all wet.

Matt took Allison and Sarah the extra distance to hike to the top of the Falls. You can barely see them peeking around the top of the waterfall!

Kimball and I walked most of the way back together.

He found a stick and insisted on hitting EVERY tree, weed and rock he could see - the whole way down. It was taking us FOREVER to get down the trail, and the rest of the family was WAY ahead.

Finally, I got smart & just picked him up, walked much faster, & "helped" him use his stick to "hit" the trees we passed on the way. Boys. That's all I have to say.

Just give them a stick, some rocks and some water, and they're in Heaven

Kimball, age 22 months, and his stick! (left)

Some pictures of Sarah, age 4

Allison, age 6 1/2 in front of the waterfall

Miner Family Reunion in Utah - June '09

Most of the Saturday during our weekend "Miner Family" reunion was spent at Wallsburg. Here are some pictures of the fun . . .

The pond, zipline and paddle boats

Relaxing in the shaded Tree swing with Grandma Kay

Sliding down the giant Slip-N-Slide with the cousins, Aunts and Uncles

Riding the 4-wheelers with anyone old enough to drive them!

Thank you Ashtons!

New House

Hey all. Here's a peek at my new house. It looks WAAAAYYYY different now than from 2 months ago. This is the new improved version after I pulled out tons of over grown plants, tamed the ones that I left in, and replanted new flowers and shrubs.

Check out the front porch. (it's hard to see) but it's big! Well, big compared to any house I've had before. It's so fun, and I love it.

More pictures of the inside to come!

Bluey

Well -  We got a new fish.  Our good friends from church, the Millers, gave us this beta fish last week.  (it was her preschool's classroom pet).  Since we have no other pets, and haven't set up our large fish aquarium yet, this fish has been an exciting addition to our family.  

Kimball especially enjoys looking at, talking to it, and poking the fishbowl.  

He's awfully curious about it, and I wonder how long it will take him to knock the bowl off the counter or drop things into the bowl.   Or just reach right in and grab it!  I wouldn't put it past him.  I tried to put it up as high as I could to protect it, but I'm afraid it makes no difference.  I'm sure one of those things will happen.  So stay tuned.  

But for now, the kids are enjoying their new pet fish, which they so appropriately named "Bluey" (because he's blue).

Wowsers. It's HOT!!!

Ok.  I went outside this morning at 8AM to mow the lawn, before it got too hot.  (I think I woke up all of my neighbors -- but I don't care.  Most of them hire Mexicans to mow their lawns. So I have no sympathy.)

So, after being out there for an hour and sweating to death, I came back inside & showered.

Fast Forward to 3 o'clock in the afternoon.  I get the myself and the girls in the car to run to the Dollar Store for something.  The car says it's 110 degrees.  It's literally so hot in the car we are suffocating.  The car wasn't even cooled off yet by the time we reached our destination.  And the drive took us easily 10+ minutes.  So for 10+ minutes, we are dripping with sweat in the car.  I reluctantly turned off the car when I went inside the store -- knowing that it was just going to RE-bake the inside by the time we got out again.  

Now, let's think about this for a second.  It's only, what ?  June 12th?!  Weather.com says there's only 40% humidity at this exact moment.  So, it's actually relatively LOW humidity, if you can believe it.  So basically , this leaves me with:  1) a large desire to go away somewhere much cooler for the entire summer, and 2) wanting to figure out a way to build a pool in my own backyard.  Yep. I think Matt was right on that one . . .   we need a pool.  BAD.

WOWSERS!!!!  It's HOT!!!

Reinspired

Today was a good day.

After reading "NieNie's" blog for the past couple of days, I have been inspired to have more fun with my family and appreciate (more) all that I have. Her blog sure puts things into perspective . . . and quickly helps me get over the "my-kids-are-driving-me-crazy" or "pitty-party" moods.

Anyway, today we beat the heat by setting up the slip & slide. My 3 kiddos had a good time and several neighbor kids enjoyed themselves too. Here are several pictures from the day . . .

Action shots. . .

Kimball kept trying to drink the water from the slide sprays . . . nice.

Ahhhhh . . . Rehydrated!

After lunch and naps, Allison and Sarah had a little face

painting session on their own. No supervision. It wasn't a problem, (thankfully, since Kimball wasn't involved) and I was able to capture their "creativity" before we took baths and washed it all off. (man, Crayola watercolor pencils are AWESOME. If you don't have them, you should get them. The color washes RIGHT OFF with water. Sooo fun for the kids, & nice for the parents! And great for Halloween!!)

After that, we made a nice big bowl of chex muddy buddies. Mmmmm. One of our favorites. And it's already gone!

Summer Fun begins

Last week we did a few fun things to kick off summer vacation. 

Thanks to Aunt Melissa who remembered to bring her camera on our trip to the Downtown Houston Aquarium.  It was a lot of fun.  We tagged along with the "other Craners" (Matt's brother's family).  Here are a few pictures from the day . . .

Me & the girls

                                                        

                                               

Sarah touching the baby rays

Spencer, Jonathon, Sarah & Allison

We also went to the drive-in movie last weekend, to see the new

Pixar movie, "UP."  It was pretty good, but not at all what I was expecting.  In my opinion, "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo" were WAAAYYY better.   Sorry Pixar.  UP just didn't have a story line that kids could relate to. Cute, but besides being animated, it was basically a movie only adults could really appreciate.  Kinda too bad. We all still enjoyed ourselves though.  Above is a picture of Allison (front right) with a bunch of friends before the movie began . . . fun memories in the making!

We've also been to the neighborhood pool a few times by now.  Kimball, our 20 month old is bound and determined to drown himself.  He has absolutely NO fear of the water and LOVES to jump right into the pool, whether there is anyone there to catch him or not. He doesn't care! We even let him sort of flounder in the water for a second, hoping it will scare him into not doing it anymore.  Nope.  It doesn't work.  Augh, This kid!  He's going to be the death of ME! or Himself! or BOTH!