Simpson-IZED...

Jesse had this on his blog and I thought it was pretty funny so....I'll let you guess who is who.

More goings on....

What a bummer when Teeny told me that Sunday was officially the first day of Fall. We had a great summer, but we could keep on keepin' on having a great summer too. But Fall has its perks. We took the munchkins up Provo Canyon a couple weekends ago. It was when they were looking for the Cleverly girl and we saw searchers everywhere. Sad ending. But the boys had a good time getting hauled in the bike trailers and Teeny and I got our workouts for the day. Lugging those guys around isn't as easy as it use to be. The boys all really loved the 'tree tunnels' and would let us know whenever we were remotely close to, or in one.










I guess the biggest news as of late is that A has started Preschool! We thought it would be a good thing for him to get into a school type setting and get him used to that before Kindergarten. So far he's loved it. We were a little concerned when his teacher told us that he was so shy, but the next week she told us nevermind, he was quite the character that same week. we kind of expected him to be a little shy and were hoping he'd come out of his shell like he has. He can be so funny and fun to be around. He brings home his lessons and has a new song for us every week.




We also took the annual haul up to Cascade Springs. We usually wait to go around General Conference, but it was a nice Saturday and we didn't have much on the agenda, so up we went. The fall colors were amazing. I had to drive really slow to enjoy it all. I love to see the one lone bright red tree amongst a bunch of really green ones. Cascade Springs is such a neat area and they have done a great job with all the boardwalks so you can get right up in the springs and check things out. A loved the fish, of course. N and T did too, especially when they actually did see one. They loved reading the signs and playing 'train' all the way up the trail. It's so funny to watch them! We finished the Alpine Loop coming down Provo Canyon and headed home.

Poor N was just getting through a blink on this one....

'Bout friggin' time!!

We've had a great time this last couple of months. N, T, and A have kept us busy and we love it. Here's a run-down list of what we've been up to:

July 24th:

We went up hiking by Brighton Ski resort with Jesse and Neil. Nate and Jodi were there too, but just at a different lake. A hiked the whole time by himself and did so good. N and T had fun too getting a lift by mom and dad. Lucky little buggers. One day they'll be hauling me around just to make things even. Even if I don't need a wheelchair (which I don't aim to ever need) I making those guys do a little make up work for all the times we hauled them around. It's only fair, right? Anyway, we had a great time and the weather couldn't have been nicer. We got out of the blistering heat for a day...nice.

July 26th:

Off to Lagoon!! Bob and Shirley took the family to again and we loved it. We still can't believe how fast that day went by! It was 5pm before we even thought about the time. We got to do a few 'big-kid' rides. Wicked really was awesome. Nothing like shooting straight up @ 40mph! Shooooot dang!! The kids loved it too. We got A to go on the Tidal Wave and he loved it. I was hoping to get him on some other rides, but he is still just a little to short. He kept telling us that he'll go on bigger rides, "when I'm five". Soon enough. Thanks Bob and Shirley!!

August:

We finally got together with Kristy and Miles and their family!! We had a great time and love hanging out with them. Our kids all got along really well and we got to go see Ryan Shupe for free. What a great time!

We love going on walks. It's great to get out with the family, and usually the dog, and mozy along. It's great because it gives us time to talk and chat with everyone. We'll end up at the park usually too, and the kids love that. This is one of the walks we went on down by the Jordan River. It was a super nice evening. A kept pointing out all the sunflowers. We hurried back though as soon as we saw those pesky mosquitos.

The Jensen family also had the annual get together at the Chevron Pool. It was a lot nicer than last year when we got rained out. The kids love that pool. It was a great time. I still wasn't able to convince A to go down the slide by himself.....maybe when he's five.

The kids and I finally went sailing with Neil whilest the ladies went parade of homing. It was a nice sail, but the Tooele Twisters picked up and started throwing us around a little. We got out of there as soon as we noticed what was going on. The lake was pretty low too. Low enought that we hit bottom coming into the marina. Oops.

P-Town was a success!! Between the golf and all the meat Doug purchased it was really hard not to have a great time. It was so fun staying at their place and getting a better feel for Poky. We loved their house and are excited to see the after pics when they get the paint on it. Super nice! Thanks Rach and Doug (Ava too!!).

Orem Owlz Baseball...

We love going to the ballpark to see the games. One nice thing about working for the city is that every now and then a few tickets make it my way. They're not expensive to get in, but I'll take free anyday. So, this is when Finn was in town with his parents and we headed to Orem. They lost that night, but we had a nice piece of America sitting there at the game. We're still trying to get the kids interested in the whole game and get them use to the Orem Owl...scary.

A and Finn and Lindy

Lovin' it...

This last pic has nothing to do with the Owlz, but we can't believe it's almost time that all of our kids sit at the counter to eat now! This was one of the first times and we are still in shock, but they are so funny!!

Utah Diggity-Gone County Fair!!

So, this was a while ago too, but it takes us longer to post things lately. We took the three monkeys to the fair. It was super nice because it was free that day and we like free. It was also not very busy because it was the first night. A loved it, so did N and T. A's favorite thing was seeing the peacocks and their huge feathers. He also loved the tractors and took a ride on a pony! Yee-Haw! He actually yee-hawed a couple of times while he was riding the pony. It was really funny. N and T liked the tractors and getting inside the fire engine and seeing all the animals. N was a little scared by the huge horses that were there. It was a perfect night for that too. We're glad that we live in such a fun place!

NOTE: Kids are happier than they may appear....stinkers

YEE-HAW!!!

A loved petting the animals too!

Fish Lake and 75 degrees...

So, it's been a really busy summer for us, or so we feel. Becky, being the crazy spontaneous person she is, went out on a limb and just booked the family vacation at Fish Lake, without being able to cancel and without checking around to see if anybody could actually make those dates. Luckily, three of her four kids were mostly available. Jesse and Lindy are off school for a month, so I'd say there schedule was pretty open, and they were planning on being in town for those days too, which is partly why Beck did what she did, bless her heart. Unfortunately Doug, Rachy, and little miss Ava couldn't escape Idaho for the trip and were missed. Fortunately they have planned the first annual, that's right annual, "P-Town Extraveganza". We're stoked. So, back to Fish Lake...we left on Saturday just in time to catch all the ash from the Millford Flat Fire. We hit Nephi and could see something brewing and by the time we got to Gunnison, it was smoke and ashes all over! We stopped in at the Henlines and when we left about 30 minutes later, there was a healthy layer of ash on the monkey wagon. We stayed that night in Richfield. We swam a little that night and then hit the hay. Teeny and I stayed up after the kids went down and played cards for a bit though, which we love doing. We did some swimming the next morning and A loved his new Spiderman life jacket. He'd even doggy paddle by himself all over the pool. N and T were a little more reluctant, especially T. It was fun just to be on vacation as a family though. We met Jesse and Lindy later that day and headed for the cabin. I didn't expect much from the cabin, but when we got there it was sure a lot nicer than what I'd thought it would be.

Teeny hangin' out on the deck...

The little monkeys in the morning

From the loft...

Jess and Linny entertaining the troops...
Nate and the Sunday comics....unseperable.

I can't remember ever going to Fish Lake, but it was incredible. We watched our temp gauge go from 95 in Richfield to 79 at Fish Lake. This was just what we needed. We saw a moose the very first day there just out grazing on trees by the cabin. At first Teeny thought it was a horse (for about 0.001 of a second). We biked, boated, and fished mostly. Fishing was fun. We took the whole family out on a party barge type boat and had about 5-6 lines out at any given time. A was the first to get a bite, but no fish. The kids had fun driving the boat with Grandpa Neil and we had fun watching them and trying to get them to turn the wheel the right way.

Neil's asleep at the wheel and look who's driving...

N and T loved 'driving'

We tried a couple of spots and Neil and Jesse were the first two to land fish. Then Nate's clan landed a few too. Cole caught a fish that was a surprise. He kept telling us he had a fish, but none of us believed him til he pulled it in!

Mr. Fisherman Cole....brining in the big ones.

Jesse's first fish of the day...

The fishing crew

We had a great time out fishing that evening and the kids loved being on the boat too. We played games and just enjoyed being together. Jess, Neil and I went on a bike ride one morning to Johnson Reservior. It was a great ride staring at Jesse's backside the entire time. We thought we'd see more wildlife than we did (maybe a few deer), but we did see tons of cows. Stupid things wouldn't get out of the road. Neil and Jesse and the cows

The lodge there was pretty neat. Nate was sure it was going to come down on all of us, but we still chanced going in anyways. It was a lot like Yellowstone on a smaller scale. It was pretty slow business wise too, which I think made it even better. No yuppie types up there in their ultra short khaki shorts and golf shirts. We treid to get a reservation for dinner one night, but apparently the cook decided to take it off, so we had to wait til the next night.

Cole and A at the lodge

If you're happy and you know it....

We fished the Fremont River one morning as well. While that was fun going to the river, the fishing sure did stink. As soon as we got out of the cars the kids were yelling about dead fish. Sure enough someone had thrown what looked like a carp on the shore and let it die. We saw a bunch more like that, which isn't a real great sight when you're fishing for trout. Snagging was the theme of the day. Surprisingly I never lost a hook, but never really got into river fishing. The kids and ladies hung out in a pretty little meadow and chatted and chased kids. N and T have such different ideas of what they want to do, and A and Cole were everywhere too. Nate and Fisher

Keeping the customers satisfied

The Mighty Fisherman

That night we hit the lodge for our dinner reservation and although we might have waited a while for service the food was amazing! Teeny and Lindy got this soup that was to die for and everything else was really great. I had to get the trout filet and am glad to this day that I did. Our server was this girl from Russia somewhere and was super nice. Dinner at the lodge

Maggie's massive salad....yumm

Teeny and I had the kids all ready in their PJ's because we had to head out right after dinner. We had such a great time we want to do it again sometime soon! When we left Fish Lake we watched the temp guage again go from 75 back on up to 92 when we hit Salina. Bummer. The ride home was perfect and we want to thank Becky and Neil again for such a great time!!