Go Hop On Pop

I really hate it when I get behind on my blog. I’ve become a blog junkie, and find it almost impossible to catch up on lost time, and then I have to wonder what have I not recorded from years past.
I’m going to play some catchup here, and try and summarize the trip after Danny got here, he must be my distraction…
The day before Danny came which was Thursday July 17, I went with my Mom up to Sundance. I instantly fell in love with Sundance, almost as much as my obsession over Yosemite. The kids and I took a ski lift ride up the mountain, I’m not sure which mountain, but it was Ray’s lift. It went on forever, and well this will sound corney, but I understand the statement of a “natural high”. I called Danny from the lift, I was so wishing that he was with me. I knew that I’d have to bring him up there.

I took this picture from the seat in front of Emma and Tanner, it’s little off because I was trying to keep Alyssa from jumping…

Alyssa loved the flowers, and the fact that I let her pick as many as she wanted.

Grandma bought the kids suckers, they were delicious, they all wanted to try each others flavors there was a lot of spit swapping that day.

Danny flew to SLC on Friday night. I took the kids to the zoo on Friday morning, it was so stinking hot. How come when I was kid the heat didn’t bother me and neither did the stench. The zoo was always delightful when I was young, but I’ve lost my innocence, maybe I can’t hear bells ring at Christmas either. Why do lizards and snakes smell so horrid? And the birds… I’ve never been a bird fan, maybe it has something to do with my first job at a pet store changing the bird cages… NASTY. I was really just killing time until we could pick up Danny. Alyssa wouldn’t look at Danny for probably 15 minutes, it was pretty funny, she just avoided him, but then warmed up and forgave him for his absence. We went out to eat and then went and vistited with Mom and Dad before heading back to the apartment.

Aubrey comparing herself with the gorillas!

When we got up on Saturday morning we headed straight to Sundance. Danny agreed with me on the beauty of Sundance, now if we could only afford a home up there. He says it reminds him of Hatchers Pass in Alaska. Yes it is that beautiful. When I took the kids up there on Thursday we road the lift up and down, but with Danny there to help with the little kids we decided to take the hike down. It was 3.5 miles down the trail was small, and over grown with plants, but so worth the scrapes and scratches. We crossed multiple rivers, went across the middle of a waterfall and finally came to Stewart Falls. It was uncrowded because the hike to get there is a little brutal. You wont find that in Yosemite, the crowds just don’t go away there. Tanner and Emma both enjoyed standing in the waterfall, I was worried about the force of the water, but they faired well. Alyssa and Aubrey played at the base of the falls in the water. I should have taken more pictures, but a lot of the hike was cliff on one side and I didn’t feel like I could stop and take pictures. The wild flowers were abundant and the butterflies were everywhere, I tried my hand at some close up pictures of bugs, but they aren’t very photogenic and they kept flying away, the nerve. After a rest at Stewart Falls, we continued down the mountain. I lost Alyssa’s hat somewhere along the way…sigh, I loved that hat, it’s been a summer staple through multiple children, and I’m not sure if I will beable to find another one.

The last picture I’ll have of my favorite hat. The trail went through a nice meadow so we let Alyssa get out of the back pack and walk a little ways. She couldn’t wait to pick more flowers.

Well this brings me to the end, we spent the last week with Emma at Gymnastics camp. The camp met and exceeded all expectations, Emma is starting to out grow the camp though and will need to move on to the all day camp for higher level kids.
Tanner spent the first week of our trip at Soccer camp. He also had a great time I’ll post some pictures from
That also.

My future gymnast!

Tanner giving his coach a high five after scoring a goal!

This is a good one…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/11/AR2008071100813.html

We are all missing you. I don’t realize how much you do, not just the big things like diapers and dishes, but the little things too. Alyssa comes up and puts her little head on your pillow every morning and says Daddy’s pillow, I think she just wants to confirm that there is still a Daddy. Two weeks when planning doesn’t seem like too long, but in reality for someone I love so much it’s an eternity. Your family is missing you and we are counting the minutes until your plane lands on Friday.

This is the same picture from the othere day. I’ve been wanting to try and make the colors a little more radiant, but I might have gone a little over the top… I’ll keep playing.

The kids are missing Danny today. Aubrey really seems to be struggling. I’m so glad that they love their father so much, I’ve tried to explain to them that even if we are home that he wouldn’t be there because he is out of town for work. We worked it out so that he would take his work trips while we were gone. I must admit I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all of the kids and all the activities that we are doing, I could use a few hours to myself, but I do so love them and they are being fabulous.
Aubrey has been saying some funny things lately. She asked me if teasing is lying, we’ve been talking a lot about lying lately, around three all of my kids have gone through a little experimental phase with lying, so I’m happy to see that she is thinking about it. Is teasing lying? I guess from a three year old perspective I could see how some teasing could be lying… I’ll have to give it some thought. Today she picked up a rock and asked me why Jesus wants rocks on the earth… I told her that it gives us something neat to look at and study, I asked her why does Jesus want mosquitoes on the earth, she didn’t have an answer for me. I love that little troll.
Today we went swimming at a local pool in Orem, it had slides and a large very warm shallow pool and the kids had too much fun. There was something for everyone at a very reasonable price, why can’t Nevada have somthing like that? I know the grass is always greener, I’ll try and find something green about Nevada.
After swimming we went down to the lake to go fishing. A sail boat caught our lines and ripped all of our line out of the poles, we were all frustrated, big booger, couldn’t he see we were fishing there? There was plenty of space to go around us… Frustrating. Since fishing came to an early end I couldn’t resist the breath taking sunset, the wind was blowing which kept the mosquitoes at bay, and so we ran over to the rocks and I saw picture opportunities. So I’ll share a few of my hand at photography, which really isn’t that great, but I’m trying.
Lets hope tomorrow isn’t such an emotional exhausting day. Danny will be here in 6 days, I think we can all make that. I’m thinking that I’ll go to the zoo on Friday morning and then head over to the airport to pick him up.

Oh I don’t have any photo editing software with me, so therse are unedited photos.This is how Tanner fishes… at one point I caught him looking at the world through gum drops over his eyes. At least he can keep himself amused.

Grandpa Titcomb showing us how it is done!

Alyssa’s cookie face. Grandma was bribing her with cookies to keep her out of the lake the kid is going to have to detox when we get home.

Practicing with my camera. There are lots of shots, I tried to just pick a couple.

One more, when I look at this picture I can see how tired her little eyes are. I got a lot of great shots and if I had more time and well energy I’d play around with some of them, but I know when I’m beat, and I’m beat!

Our traditional trip to Temple Square. The kids love the church museum, and they have changed it this year, then we played on the lawns, looked at flowers and fountains and ate at the Lion House.

We left for Provo last week, and spent the week here with Danny. It’s been a great week full of family, fishing and fun. Really, I have decided that I hate fishing, but I’m still trying to have fun. Tanner has completed his soccer camp at BYU, and now we are just hanging out waiting for Emma’s camp to begin in two weeks. Danny flew back home today, and we miss him terribly already. Alyssa keeps saying “Daddy, bye, bye”. We’re looking forward to talking with him tonight on OooVoo.
The 4th of July was fun, we went to the parade here in Provo, luckily our apartment is just a block from the parade route, so we walked to a local bakery for some breakfast and grabbed ourselves a place to watch the parade from. People spend the night camping out for a parade site, but we found a lovely spot behind some portable potties, I guess no one else wanted it, but the potties provided nice shade and we tried not to listen when people went potty. The kids loved the jets that flew over head, and we all loved the the fire engines, and sirens. We walked up to BYU campus for Stadium of Fire and watched the fireworks, they were wonderful. Aubrey stayed awake for the first 10 minutes of the fireworks, but was sound asleep by the end, who can sleep through fireworks?
Today we got up and did laundry, it has been so long since I’ve used a laundry mat, but it was actually pleasant, the place was empty the older kids helpful and it was all done in an hour and a half. Then we went to a local park, and then back to the apartment for quiet time. We’ve been on the go for the last week, and I’m feeling the need for a schedule at least for the next two weeks while Danny is gone.
Emma caught the first fish on the 5th and it was huge, it broke the line when we tried to lift it up and had to get a net to pull it in, luckily there was a kid walking the lake shore just looking for someone to help, and he jumped right into the lake and pulled it in. Danny and Monte tied it up but when we went to get it at the end of the day it was gone, Darn (no sarcasm there). I guess we didn’t have to gut it and eat it… I should have taken the kids to Red Lobster that night, that is how I enjoy my fish with out eyeballs.
I have pictures of this monster fish, but I have to figure out how to get pictures off my camera on the laptop and not my computer at home, there is no card reader, and I’m not familiar with this computer so you’ll just have to believe my fish story until I can get pictures on…

I just took Grandma and Grandpa O’Barr to the airport. Aubrey took it the hardest and cried most of the way home, she was truly sad that they were gone. I have a theory on Grandparents, I believe that they are a privilege, a treat, and because they have raised their children they have a greater vision then those of raising our children, and have much to offer their grandchildren. I try really hard not to have Grandma or Grandpa’s on either side babysit much because I don’t want them to have to discipline, they should just be able to enjoy the relationship on both sides. Anyway, the kids love their grandparents, and I hope that just because they only physically see them once a year, with my parents a little more often since they live closer, but that they are able to develop a sweet bond with them. I see how quickly they re bond with them though, and I feel a sense of relief when they climb on their laps and tell them about their lives.
We took Grandma and Grandpa to Lake Tahoe. Coming from Alaska the sun was a little intense, we tried to time it for evening, so that the sun would be setting, that is the best time to be on the beach anyway, but we finished with our errands a little early and hit the beach about 4ish. The sun was still intense, but the kids had a great time and I hope Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed themselves.
I wish that I had gotten more pictures, but we did get a few cute ones up at Tahoe.
Thanks Mom and Dad O’Barr for all you do, for the example that you are to my children, for your kindness and love. We love having you here, and you are welcome anytime.

I’m on the look out for inexpensive fun. We have a State Park here in Dayton, and they occasionally have events for families. This summer they are having a Nature Buddies series for the kids. The cost into the park-$4, but cost me next to nothing in gas because it’s so close to our home. We arrived early and the park ranger, who was really good with kids, found us a frog to play with. Emma was the only one who actually caught the frog, and it pooped on her and then jumped into her hair. She was enjoying the frog until it got in her hair, and then she started screaming. Look closely at the picture and you can see the frog actually jumping at her.

The ranger took us for a hike, we collected rocks to paint, and cat tails to make the cutest floating ducks.
There were a couple of real nature enthusiast boys there. They were excellent lizard catchers, and had about 7 lizards in a matter of 5 minutes. The one boy walked around with the lizard in his hair. Aubrey enjoyed the lizard, she loved that if you put the lizard on its back and rub it’s tummy it will go to sleep in your hand. I’m not sure if that is why it really mellows, and acts asleep or not, but that is how it appeared to be.

Well, my Dad says that I go on too long, so I wont tell you about the other things we did there, but we enjoyed ourselves.