Pete the Cat day

It was Pete the Cat day at school today for Beck.  His teacher Mrs. Hernandez always does fun things with her class and I love these cute cat faces they made!

Rhen's art

Rhen is always so cute and creative with her art projects.  I love her imagination and she has turned out to be quite the artist!

Family Pictures

Baby puppies

Grammie's dog Taya just had baby puppies today!  The kids are so excited and also convinced that we are going to get one of the puppies.  I assured them that we can play with the puppies as much as we want, but we will not be asking one of them to join our family.  For now we are excited to have them around!

Settlers apology

Two things happened today.

1- I gave the FHE lesson about asking for forgiveness and forgiving others.  

2 - Rease, Rhen and Josh all got mad at me and pouted because I won settlers for the 5th time in a row.

So naturally I said that I wouldn't play with them anymore.  I got up the next morning and found that they had used my FHE props to try and win me back.  Of course I forgave them...mostly because I thought their apology was so cute!

Desh's milk

What did I tell you about Desh and his milk?  I'm not kidding.  He's a drunk.

Hiking the Narrows

We had the chance to very last minute take a trip down to Zions and hike The Narrows.  My uncle Craig and cousin Ciana were there for a week and got some spur of the moment permits.  So I called up my friend Shelley and we hurriedly got some details with kids, crossguarding, carpools and piano lessons figured out and we left that afternoon to drive down with my dad!  When I say last minute, I mean literally that morning we didn't know we were going then we left by 4:00 that afternoon.  We felt very proud of ourselves that we could get that all coordinated! We got to camp that night around 8:30 and met up with Craig and Ciana who had a hot dinner waiting for us - bless them.  We were scheduled to get up and be at the shuttle by 6:00 am the next morning so we scooted off to bed and planned to get up early and pack the next morning.  We all got up and made it to the shuttle in time, ready with our packs, lunches, trekking poles, water bottles and maps.  It was going to be a long and fun day of hiking!  

We took the shuttle for about an hour and a half and got dropped off at Chamberlain Ranch at the top of the canyon.  The hike down the narrows is a 16 mile hike that many do in two days.  There are camp sites half way through and lots of people opt to do it that way.  We were going for it all in one day and were going to make it!  

It was a GORGEOUS hike through the canyon and in and out of the river.  We were wet from the very beginning but it was a beautiful day and we didn't mind being in the water at all.  The scenery was incredible and in some parts the walls of the canyon were taller than you could believe.  We loved seeing all the cool niches in the canyon walls, lone trees growing up out of the rocks, the narrow walls something just wide enough for us the fit between and overall just the magnificence of it all.  We told stories and laughed and joked and had the best time together.  

About half way through Craig's knee really started to bother him and he was slowing down significantly.  We were all "in a pickle" about what to do, knowing that we had to make it out of the canyon by dark and had another shuttle to catch to make it back down to our truck that was 10 miles farther down the canyon.  We finally decided that Shelley and I would go ahead of the group and make it out of the canyon in time to catch the last shuttle.  Then we could bring the truck back up and pick up the rest of the crew when they were done.  We were all anticipating a long night ahead of all of us because Craig was struggling so much with his knee.  Shelley and I hurried ahead and finished the last 6 or 7 miles pretty quickly.  It was actually the most beautiful part of the hike and we took time to enjoy it along the way.  There were some parts where the water was about chest high as we were wading through and it was cold water, but such a unique place!  We made it out of the canyon just as it was getting dark and jumped on the shuttle.  Surprisingly only about an hour later we got a call from Dad and Ciana who were also out of the canyon and on the last shuttle back to camp.  I was shocked to hear that they made it out.  Turns out that Craig couldn't make it out of the canyon and ended up camping overnight with another group of hikers at one of the camp sites.  I think the night in the canyon was a cold one, but he was grateful that he could rest his leg and then finish the hike out the next morning.  They had a team of people that hiked up and helped him out the next day and all was well.  I think it all worked out for everyone that he stayed and the rest of us finished up the hike.  Dad, Shelley and I left early the next morning to drive home and Ciana and Craig had a couple more days at Zion before they headed back home to California.  

We had the best time! I am so glad that we got to do that.  It's always a hike that I've wanted to do, but never had the chance.  It is absolutely gorgeous and such a fun way to see the canyon and national park!

Visiting Dad

We stopped in to see Josh at work today and couldn't find him in his office... 

We had to send him a bunch of pictures to let him know that we were looking for him!

Beck's cavities

Well I felt like a terrible hygienist/mom when I heard that Beck has 4 cavities! Yikes.  Today we went to get some of them worked on and he was a champ.  Not a flinch or a whimper from that kid!  Papa said he was a star patient and I agree - he did great and we'll be back for more in a couple weeks!

Sunrise

We caught another fantastic sunrise this morning from our window and the kids and I agreed that it looks like the sky is on fire.  Beautiful!

Sardines

Today we played a mean game of sardines in the house.  Once in a while we sent out clues to those that couldn't find us to help them figure out where the group was hiding...Liev was the master at this game and always found the hiding place super fast!

Scones and Pickleball 2019

It's our 6th annual Scone and Pickleball tournament!  We love this day that we can get together with friends and neighbors and eat good food and have fun!  We always get a big crowd and I think everyone has a great time.  This year Andy and Camie Doyle (The CrockoDoyles) took home the Pickle Platter!  Congrats you two and we'll see you all next year!

Pack and Play

Desh has definitely outgrown this pack and play, but still sleeps in it all curled up.  To be fair, I do give him the choice every time I put him to bed whether he wants to sleep in the "big bed" or the "small bed"  Most of the time he opts for the small bed.  Someday he'll want to grow up but for now, I'm totally ok with it!

Steph's birthday hike

Stephanie said that all she wanted for her birthday is to go on an adventure - so adventure we went!  We took a really beautiful, fun hike up Little Cottonwood canyon to   .  We had such a fun time and I agree that going on an adventure is the best way to celebrate!

Baby Ladd

Welcome to the world Baby Ladd!  Andy and Kristi had their baby today and we couldn't be more excited to have this little one join the family!

1st Day of School

Well this year we have a 7th grader who is no longer attending the elementary school.  That's right, Rease is officially a middle schooler as of today!  She was super excited/nervous for her first day but I have not doubt that she is going to do amazing things.  She looks so grown up and beautiful I almost didn't want to let her go...

 The other kids are holding down the fort at Butterfield Canyon Elementary and they are excited to be headed back to their friends!  Beck is joining the ranks as a kindergartner this year and I'm going to miss having that one around all day.  He's ready for it though so off you go bud! Desh could not be left out of the school photos so he got his backpack and took a picture just like the others!

These kids are going to have a great year with lots of brain expanding!  Can't wait to see what they do!

Dad and Mom Robbins

We were in Logan this weekend for a wedding and we stopped in to say hello to Greg's parents while we were there.  We haven't seen them in a really long time so it was great to catch up with these old friends of ours!