See You In September

September started with a whimper, or maybe a sigh.  We lost a Grandpa in May, and then another in September.  It was expected, but sad nonetheless, especially with the previous funeral so fresh in our minds. 

At least Adia had another chance to play her harp, even if it was a sad occasion.  The hardest part was finding a way to fit everything in the trunk for the drive to St. George.

We decided to make the drive down fun, and stopped at Sunstone Knoll to gather the beautiful, gem-quality stones just laying all over the ground.  Adia has gotten us all into rock hounding and we jumped at the chance to gather some of our first specimens.

Utah has some really amazing rocks and minerals all just laying around.  Next on our list are Topaz Mtn, and Dugway for geodes.  Most places don't even require hardly any digging.  We find cool rocks just hiking the mountains for that matter...

One of the larger stones we found.  This is Brynn's 9-year-old hand for reference.

On our drive home, we saw some glorious rainbows and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  The weather was nothing short of amazing, all blue skies and puffy clouds with the occasional shower.

What?  You think this stuff looks gross?  Well, according to Sedona & her cousin, it's quite delicious.  They went through a stage of culinary science where they were melting down candies and remaking them into new forms.  Personally, I didn't really go for the Laffy Taffy/Tootsie Roll/Nerds combo, but the kids did fight over who got to eat what..

 We have a couple birthdays in September.  First my baby!

He wore the crown her got at preschool till it was in tatters.  He's showing you how old he is here.  Not 8 in case you were counting both hands...  ;)

Somehow we ended up singing to him a couple times.  Nobody was complaining, especially since it meant double treats...

Unwanted kisses from the mama.  Note the reflexive arm coming up to push me away.  I may or may not be a kiss enforcer....

My kids get a big party on their even birthdays.  For Dade, we did a pirate theme complete with bandanas, eye patches, mustaches, and handkerchief caps.  They were quite the little swabbies.

We rented a bounce house through Groupon and it was an abysmal failure.  So many things went wrong that it became a terrible safety hazard and I had to call and rant to the company.  I won't tell you their name yet since they have offered another free rental to compensate.  Will get back to you on that one...  Still the kids had fun until the thing totally deflated and Dade was only nearly suffocated twice.  :(

Our good friends from Maryland gave Dade the best gift.  When we were in Sedona, AZ this summer, he was caught staring at the pink jeeps parked around town, then whispered, "I want one of those."  It was a fated moment and lucky for him, they actually sell the Sedona Pink Jeeps.  Pretty much his favorite toy--you can tell because it barely drives any more from his repeated love.

Since we had the bounce house for 4 hours, we had Dade's party first, and then Adia's the last half.  Sadly, the bounce house was totally out of commission by then, so the girls made due  with what they had and it became a hiding spot for a nerf gun battle from the deck.

Future blackmail picture when she is rich and famous...  Now you have a copy too.

Adia has some really wonderful friends.  They've made her transition to Utah nearly seamless and we enjoy having them all over as often as we can steal them away.

I know she's only 14, but I bought her a car anyway.  She really wanted a green bug.  I tell you it was hard to come by.  I had to search on eBay for a couple of days.  I told her it's the only car I'll ever be able to afford for her...
 

Having a sister who is a photographer is one of the best things ever.  Especially one that is actually talented.  (Actually, I have a couple sisters that are cool like that.  Aren't you jealous??)

These two girls are the glue in the family in some ways.  They are both generally easy-going and peacemakers.  I learn a lot from them.

 Sol pretty much was in heaven and peed on almost every blade of grass on Timpanogos.  Sorry, hikers.

At the trailhead to Stewart Falls is a fun amphitheater with a stage.  My kids are hams.  I don't know where it comes from.

 

And here are the actual family pictures.  Some year I should deviate from the fall colors theme we always pick.  I do love autumn so much.

The kids in order of age, including the stinky, hairy one.  Aren't they adorable?

This was also a chance to get some nice harp pictures of Adia for her business.  Didn't my sister do an amazing job?  And isn't Adia the cutest teenage girl?

Cute girl, annoying dog.  He looks especially silly when he's just shaven and is all skinny-like.  At least we don't get a ridiculous poodle or teddy bear cut. 

Look at those gorgeous aspen trunks with all the fern and underbrush?  I tell you, we live in paradise (except in the winter when it's hell frozen over).

Poor little Ash had been crying for some reason and was trying valiantly to blink back the tears and puffy eyes.  Incidentally, she was given that dress for her birthday last year and she has worn it every week since.  It'd be every day except that I have cleanliness standards.

And my blue-eyed angel.  Can't help but smile around this perky little girl.  Unless she turns into the girl with the curl on her forehead...

We didn't get an individual pictures of the little man because he fell and opened up his knee.  It was pretty gory and he was very sad.  Brynn tried to cheer him up, but it took a couple days to get over that stiff leg.

Check out this freaky anvil cloud!  It was one of the most violent storms we've seen here.  The wind was so strong that it was pushing my BBQ across the deck as I was tying things down!  It also ripped off a lot of shingles and convinced us that is was time to get the roof overlay done.  50mph winds were later reported.

Derek had the misfortune of trying to get some of the panorama shots done of the BYU stadium when it hit.  Needless to say, they had to put it off for another game.  The rain from the storm dumped a record .8" in FIFTEEN MINUTES!  Some areas probably had more.  They recorded that the lower Provo river went from 20 cubic feet per second to 600cfs.  That's an increase of 2900%.  Out East, that sort of thing was routine.  Not so much here.

Later that night we pulled into a strip mall and found the parking lot completely flooded.  And that was 5 hours later.  It was a foot deep in some areas.  The gross thing were the kids that were swimming in it...  :\

In other news, Sedona & Brynn started x-country again.  Sedona is a veteran who just keeps getting better and better.

This was Brynn's first year, though, and it was a good experience for her.  It was hard and she really had to push herself.  We were all so proud of her for running 2.4 miles, the furthest she's ever gone!  I'm not sure she'll ever love running, but she loves the social aspect of team sports, that's for sure.

While the two girls practices, Dade & I would often walk the pup around the park.  Dade would yank on Sol to come back if he got more than 2" away, and Sol tried to pee on anything vertical.

 

Go Brynny!  This was running during one of their longer races.  In college I lived right next to this park when I met Derek & we got engaged.  I had no idea that one day my kids would be running in it.  Or that I would be pooper-scooping in it for that matter...

 

When I think of Sedona running, I picture her like this, with a big smile on her face.  Even as a 4-year-old, she would zip around smiling as she ran with the elementary kids in Michigan.  I offered to push her around in a stroller then but she just wanted to be out running with everyone else.  Maybe as a late walker, she still enjoys the gains she worked to hard to achieve...
 

Shooting each other with nerf guns never, ever gets old.  Especially when a cute 4 year old with rather deadly aim is aiming at you.  :)

This is the side of the yard the kids usually start on.  Isn't my BIL such a great dad to use his son as a human shield?...  :)

I am constantly paging through my pictures on my iPhone and finding half of the memory used to take pictures of the dog.  Seriously, how has my lens not cracked yet??

 

 He is really weird.  And he is asleep.  With his eyes half-open.  He looks like a demon.

He's also a cow-dog.  He likes to follow behind me as I mow and eat the grass clods.  When we get the lawn aerated, he chews on the plugs.  Seriously, it's kind of amazing he's not dead after all the weird stuff he's eaten.  Like the time he was eating horse droppings while we were hiking Rock Canyon. 

 We dog-sat cousin dogs for a week or so and Sol (and only child) finally got used to sharing his bed.

 Of course, he also used the other dogs as pillows, so it looks like there was some reciprocation there.

We took all the dogs to the park with us, but only had two leashes (that's now been remedied).  We eventually leashed the two older dogs and let Sol run around.  So when he ran straight at a pitbull, he was nearly eaten alive.  Apparently the pit was a rescue dog and still getting used to not being so aggressive.  Scary, I know.  Meanwhile, Derek was passed out on the grass, happily oblivious.

My baby really isn't a baby anymore.  He started preschool this month and love, love, loves it.  He has two wonderful teachers and is enjoying being around other kids.  Poor kid had an extra year at home and can get bored.

He's looking forward to BYU preschool in the fall (if we get in).  He'll get to go 4 days a week.  And then kindergarten.  Time just sails away from us...

 Just a quick action shot from the Bishop's ice cream social.  They always have the best inflatables.

So we chopped down this huge, mostly-dead aspen in the front yard when we first moved in.  (Rather, Grandpa Bert chopped it down.)  We took out all the weeds and lavender and landscaping rocks and put in grass and just worked around the stump.  The goal was to eventually burn it out with some charcoal.  One fateful day, Derek ran over my fire bowl, and we had the brilliant idea that we should temporarily build a fire ring around that stump.  It's been such an amazing success that I think we'll probably keep it forever.  Maybe I'm a pyro, but sitting around a nice fire and roasting Peeps is my idea of heaven on earth.  And it's fun to talk to people as they wander by at dusk on family walks.

This is the view from my house.  From my front yard!  I cannot believe how amazing these mountains are.

My sister is having a baby boy!!  I gave her a shower with a lot of help from friends and sort of went crazy decorating for it.  She got tons of great gifts from all of her friends--she is so loved because she is so friendly and loving.

Her mom came out to help and it was so good she did.  I don't think I'm very good at the hostessing stuff and she helped it all run smoothly.

 

Poor dog finally died after all the commotion of the shower.  It's hard being a puppy and needing naps but also needing to guard the house from dangerous middle-aged women bearing gifts...

He sure puts up with a lot from his brother.  I'm talking about the dog, not the kid.  The kid gets away with brutalizing the dog because he's so cute and also uses his puppy-dog eyes on me when he insists that "he didn't mean to..."

He rediscovered the photo effects on the iPad.  I'm sure this imagine will haunt your nightmares for the next few weeks.

Dade & Derek went on a date to the BYU Art Museum.  They especially enjoyed the exhibit with the pink marshmallows.  The only sad part was that they did not get to consume any marshmallows.

Filming the panorama shots of the football game, take two.  You can check the virtual tour Derek & his team made for BYU campus on BYU's homepage.

 Remember Ed, our tarantula?  We decided to release him so he could find a nice little nest to hole up in for the winter.  This is our emotional parting shot as he crawled off into the smog sunset...
 

Sedona decided to dress up as a gangster and wear her pants low.  Not sure why, but then I often don't really understand what is going through that quirky head of hers.  

And here's a parting shot that's guaranteed to give you nightmares.  I may have had a slight hand in the development of my children's senses of humor.  Slight.