Getting ready for Salem Days

I've been helping with the Salem Days pageant. They've had me paint a few of the props and part of the background panels. It's been a lot of fun. I did it last year and I really enjoy it, though sometimes it does get a bit hectic trying to fit it in our schedule. Here's some pics of the doll house they had me paint. I thought it turned out fun, the kids liked it.

our july 24th

Well, we had a memorable pioneer day this year. Unfortunately, it wasn't because we had fun. We actually all got sick. Yes, the whole family (except for Fiona). The night before we had taken dinner to Grandma & Grandpa Swenson. When we got home, Ian threw up everything. Early morning (around 2:30 a.m.) Wesley threw up. I felt nauseous all night. The next morning I threw up several times and found out that Austin had also. Our stomachs ached, I couldn't even stand up because of the queasiness. By midday, fortunately, the boys were doing great, almost back to normal. But I had to have my mom come and get dinner for us, because I couldn't even get off the couch.
I think we got hit by something we ate and I was really worried about Grandpa and Grandma. They never got sick, though. Such a blessing, because they've had enough health problems and didn't need this to deal with as well. By Friday we all felt almost 100%. And Saturday when we left to Enterprise we were fine.
We did get one great photo from the whole ordeal. The kids were running around in their underwear (Fiona of course in a diaper) because Austin and I were too busy being sick. Ian found a great way to carry around his guns and we had to get a picture.

more summer fun

enterprise dam







Wesley & Oliver making "liver flavor", ??I have know idea where Wesley came up with that.


We've had a very full summer thus far. We just got back from another little vacation; this time we went to Enterprise, Utah. If you're like me, you have no idea where this quaint little town is. It's 40 miles west of Cedar City. We went out there to visit Ben & Jodi (Austin's brother and his family). We had a great time with them. The first night we went to their rodeo which featured a chicken chase and a burro watermelon run. I really think we need to incorporate both of those events into our annual Salem Days. The kids went out into the area and chased chickens, even a turkey, to catch them and take them home. Wesley thought everyone got a chicken and was quite upset that he didn't catch one (a little different than the Easter egg hunts he's used to). The boy that caught the turkey wasn't much bigger than his prize, but seemed to be an old pro. For the burro watermelon run two contestants had to ride their burro down to the opposite end of the arena, pick up their watermelon and ride the burro back. The results of their efforts were hilarious. Those burros definitely have a mind of their own. I doubt any skill but a sure grip and pure luck would win you this contest (you just have to pick the burro that WANTS to go down and back before the others).
Sunday we went to church and their ward was very friendly. It was nice to go to Relief Society for a change (I've been the Primary Secretary for 8 months now, but I still love it). After church, we drove up to the Enterprise reservoir. The dam was cool. It was very photogenic and I really wanted to climb down to the little river underneath, but there was a large cliff in the way, besides 3 small children and a 5 month pregnant belly (oh, well maybe next time).
Monday, We drove to Cedar City to drop Austin off for his classes. He has a week long class and will staying there till Friday. We found a very fun discovery park and had a great time. Tuesday, We went to the Enterprise park with the ward mothers' group and fed the FFA goats that graze behind Ben & Jodi's house (we hope that they weren't on some special diet as part of a experiment or anything).
All in all it was a great little vacation and the children loved playing with their cousins. Here's the pics

Getting a picture with all three of the kids, is still quite a challenge. Here's my most recent attempts.

I love this picture. Ian is so proud of himself. He had taken the laces out of Austin's boot so I told him to hand the laces and the boot to Daddy to put it back together. After a few minutes he still hadn't given it to Austin so I asked again and Ian responded, "but Mom, I did it myself." Good job, little man.

our froggy friend

we've had a great year for visitors this summer. Austin and I have gotten used to the wild animals that seem to wander into our yard, but this year we seem to have become the 'place to be' if you happen to be a reptile or amphibian. Which in my opinion is great and much better than the year of the spiders (one summer we found 2 tarantulas, on separate occasions. and a huge wolf spider that I had almost stepped on barefoot. The image of that still makes me shake in disgust and fear). But as I was saying before the arachnids of my nightmares reared their awful eight-eyed heads, we've had many fun visitors this year. We have found a rattlesnake (okay this one was a little anxiety provoking with small children running around, but our dog is a great snake alarm), 3 grass snakes (one that bit me as I tried to catch it and left a little bit of it's tooth in my finger), a sun scorpion in the kitchen (okay we did have one arachnid, yuck!), but by far the favorite has been the bullfrog that hopped a little too far from his pond and found himself in our yard. He slept over a couple of nights before we found him a new home. The kids really loved to pet him and were very impressed with his jumping skills. Even Fiona liked to pet him (a girl after my own heart), she just got really nervous whenever he jumped out of my hands. So here are some of the pics we got with our new friend.