Girls Camp

During the week of July 6th Nat abandoned me and went to girls camp for 5 days. While she was gone I finished painting the basement as a surprise for Nat. I also bought a couple of new doors for our bedroom (and locking doorknob) and painted and hung them as well.
The rest of that week for Girls camp Nat will have to fill in.

Darci's T-ball

Darci loved her t-ball and as the season went on she got a whole lot better. She almost learned how to stop the ball from going between her legs, she got better at throwing....
We are going to have to work on her ready stance for next year so she doesn't look like a crab.
and she learned how to hit without a tee. She actually got pretty good at it as well.

The Swell and Beyond

The Swell Day #1
In the middle of June we took our family and went to the San Rafael Swell with my family. It was a lot of fun but surprisingly it wasn't especially warm. When hanging around camp most of us had jackets on and huddled around the fire.

This is a baby rattlesnake that Caiden found about 10 feet from our camp. It was a little unnerving considering we have two little inquisitive little girls. We took it and stashed it a little farther from camp and didn't see it again the rest of the trip. This is an old abandoned uranium mine that Nat and I found as we were riding the 4-wheelers around on some of the trails. It was kind of cool to see. It was blocked off so we were not able to go in but we were still able to see quite a ways back.
This is one of the old dump tracks that led to a ton of tailings. There were quite a few tailings dumps and abandoned mines. It was fun to go up the road and see some of them. Some were blocked up others just had some gates over the entrance. The biggest entrance we found was about 30' tall.
The girls were so excited to ride the 4-wheelers that they wouldn't wait for mom and dad. They just jumped on with whoever would take them as many time as they could go. They loved it.

This is on the car ride down. We had so much stuff crammed into our car that some of the pillows and blankets were put between the girld. Darci, trying to stay out of the sun, covered herself in as much stuff as she could.

The Swell Day #2


The second day we decided to hike up the swells crack. It is a slot canyon that is about 6 miles round trip. It was a lot of fun and took us most of the day to complete. If you haven't done it, you should. You do spend quite a bit of time scrambling over and under and around rocks. I think that was one of the most fun hikes that I have been on in a while.

Darci did awesome. She acted kind of wimpy at the beginning but once we hit that first drop down into the canyon she went wild and was running and climbing all over the place.

This is after we descended a particularly precarious spot. The camera, in the camera bag, hit a rock and happened to hit the lens cover and dented it so it wasn't opening quite right. This is one of the narrowest spots in the canyon.
This is one of those little crevices that we had to scramble through. We had the option of either going over or going under and we had the girls go under because we didn't want them to get hurt.
This is on one of the side walls of the canyon. What a cute family. Oh.
This is Maile and I working our way across a fun spot. Unfortunately this is how Maile hiked the crack, on the back of anybody who would carry her. She did great though and didn't cry much at all. I was so proud of both my girls.

This is just Nat and I playing around on the rocks. There were a ton of fun places to climb and hang on to.
Darci was loving trying to keep up with Caiden and had to try everything he did. Sometimes she had a little help but for the most part she was happy about her efforts.

Back at camp that night we had a weenie roast and just kind of hung out. This chair that Maile is in is way to small for Darci but Maile can just kick back and relax. She turns just about anything into a lounge chair.

The Swell Day #3

This is the last day of our trip. We had to head home early because I had to work on Father's day. It was actually quite cold down there for the middle of June. It was so cold that Darci and Maile had to create themselves a couple of hats to keep their heads warm. Can you guess what their hats are made of? They are made out of the camp chair bags.
After lunch we went to a dinosaur quarry just north of Hanksville. It was really cold, windy, and exposed. Just as we were finishing it started to rain on us so we had to hurry back to our car.
This was one of the huge bones that they were just finishing extracting and packing in plaster for the transportation back to the museum. These diggers didn't look like the ones you see in the movies, that's for sure.
As we were driving in we noticed this strange little building out in the middle of nowhere. When we got there someone said that it was used as a Mars space mission simulator. Apparently people go out there and pretend they are actually on Mars and they do simulated experiments and all kinds of interesting thing. Sounds a little weird to me but I just sayin'...
After the quarry we went to Goblin valley. It was a lot of fun to climb around all the formations and just explore.
While out there we had quite a game of tag that covered a huge area. I was surprised at how fast Tosh is. I tried to tell her she should run track. It was a lot of fun running in and around all the different formations even if I was being chased. The girls loved it as well.
Damn she is so cute! She thought it looked like a seal so she wanted to ride it.
So is she!! This is in a little cave that we found that you could climb into and then up a chimney, if you were skinny enough, which Nat was and I was not.
After that we just had to pack up and go home. It was to bad we had to leave so soon seeing how we were having so much fun. We would do that again in a heart beat. I just wish it was a little warmer so we sould play in some water or float the river.

More updating (Summer)

So I am sitting here at parent teacher conferences and am bored out of my mind so I am deciding to continue to update our blog. Maybe with all this free time I will get caught up. So here goes:

This summer we put Darci in T-ball. It was quite an experience and fairly hard for me to watch. It is amazing how little they pay attention and how they try to occupy themselves. I have never seen so many ball players picking flowers and twirling and trying to do headstands.
















Maile always liked to go to the games because then she could play wither her favorite person aside from grandpa, Scarlet.

Zoo
In the end of May we went to the zoo with our family and some friends. The girls absolutely loved every bit of t except when we went home




It was even nice for Erin to come and play with them as well. The merry-go-round was there favorite I think. While there we got caught in a torrential downpour. It was pretty bad. Maile loved it and kept trying to go out and play in it until the thunder crashed. Once that happened she didn't stay far from mom and dad.
I think all our running around is fun for the kids but between my work and Nat's work the kids get dragged around, usually early in the morning and we have just run Maile ragged. She is always so tired by about 6 that she could go to bed then, and sometimes she does, in her chair.

Kids say the darnedest things

So while I took a break from updating our blog the funniest thing happened. We had just finished dinner and were on our way to Nat's brothers house for dessert. As we were in the car Darci and Maile were singing Battlefield by Jordan Sparks. That is one of their favorite songs. Well Maile all of the sudden starts singing "Jesus wants me for a...battlefield, battlefield, battlefield." I know it is a little blasphemous but I couldn't help but laugh. I was hilarious!

Oregon

Day 1
They had some really cool gardens there that we walked through. It wasn't as colorful as it would be later in the spring and early summer but it was still really nice. There were also a lot of trails for the girls to play on with their cousins.
This is Darci and her cousin Rachel feeding an alpaca. She thought it was great having them eat right out of her hand.

Maile thought it was pretty cool but she was a little more hesitant to let them eat right out of her hand. She was also afraid that they would eat her hair. I have no idea where she got that idea ;)This is Natalie and her cousin Shannon talking while the girls were playng with the alpacas.

Day 2
The next day we went to the Oregon coast.

Maile and Nat wandered around the beach looking for treasures. You should have seen what they wanted to bring home with them, about 3 buckets full of rocks and broken shells.
They had all kinds of fun playing in the sand and mud digging for treasures. Even though it was sunny and it is the coast it was still cold. notice we are all wearing coats, hats and boots.
I took this picture from an overlook. It was just such a cool view. Nat's cousin said we were really lucky because it is rarely clear on the coast.
At the aquarium we went to they had one of those walk through shark tanks. That is what Maile is doing. She is trying to see the sharks swim beneath her. She thought that was pretty cool.Darci and Maile have no fear and are wiling to try just about anything. This was a tide pool inside the aquarium. Darci liked it the most and was touching everything she could get her hands on. She even went behind the display and just started asking the workers what everything is and how they ate and the worker thought that was great. She answered and explained everything that Darci was asking. I think Darci came away knowing more about those sea creatures than anybody else because she was not afraid to ask.

Day 3
On day three we went to Eugene and Saturday Market. If any of you have ever been there it is an experience. If you have not, you need to go. It is a total hippy fest. I like that kind of stuff but even then I could only stay there for a few hours. Part of that was the girls but the other part is I just felt out of place. After the market we went to a Rhododendron garden that Shannon really likes. It was nice and the there were plenty of places for the girls to run and play. The funniest thing is that as we came around a corner into a big clearing we caught Darci just finishing going to the bathroom in one of the flowerbeds. I guess she really had to go and just couldn't wait.

This is the girls at one of the swinging benches in the gardens. Darci and Maile are on the ends. It was fun for Darci because Sierra is the same age as Darci and one of the few kids her age that is the same size as her. She did't just tower over her.
This is the girls playing on a bunch of rocks. Darci is actually posing for this picture. When Maile got off the rocks we couldn't see her at first bcasue she is so small. She just disappeared behind them.
At the market they were doing face painting. Darci and Maile both had to get their faces painted. It was a little pricey but that was all they got there. They loved it. When we were getting ready for church the next day Darci threw a fit when we washed off her horse.
For dinner we went to a place called Papa's Soul Food Kitchen. It was pretty good food. THe lemonade was brought out in mason jars and the portions were huge. I just had to take a picture of their menu because it was a cool layout but also because of the dessert.

Day 5
Sunday was Easter and the girls had a jelly bean easter egg hunt. They thought it was great. They got all kinds of candy.
Maile had a little harder time because she isn't used to having to look for things becasue Darci usually does it for her. The problem with that is that when Darci found the candy she wanted to keep in and not give it to Maile. We jsut threw it all into a big pot and everybody shared it.


Eater was great and the kids really enjoyed it. Thanks to Scott and Shannon for helping get things for us and helping with the baskets and gifts.
This is all the girls in their Easter dresses. Don't they just look adorable?

Day 6
On the last day of our trip we went to Portland to bum around until our flight home. There was a lot of cool things but most of the museums and places we wanted to go were closed when we were there.
We wandered around a plaza and the girls explored for a while. The weather wasn't the best but what can yoiu do. that is Oregon for you. If you wait for it to stop raining you won't do anything most the time.
We were able to meet Nat's cousin Andy for lunch. I think this was only the 2nd time I had seen him in almost 8 years. It was nice to just sit and relax, as much as you can with two little girls like Darci and Maile in a nice restaurant.
After lunch we went to a Japanese garden. It was really cool but the guide went into a littl to much detail and the kids lost interest so we ended up just wandering around the garden looking and all the cool plants and architecture.
After the garden we took a drive up the Columbia River Gorge. There were a ton of waterfalls and I couldn't believe how green it was, of course most of it was moss, but it was still green. The road was really windy and so Nat was a little sick by the time we were done but she said it was worth it.
It was beautiful but I was starting to stress because we were gone for a long time and we had to get back to the airport for our flight and I was worried about that. Luckily we did make iton time and it all worked out. We want to thank Scott and Shannon for allowing us to stay with them and for taking us everywhere. They were the most gracious hosts. We owe ou great time to them.