Labor Day

Labor Day was AWESOME!!! First we went boating with our wonderful friends Drew and Jessica and Wyatt and Lindsay Ann.

Whooo-ee!

Jethro and I went tubing--good times.

Hazel went with Uncle Wyatt, but Hazel wanted to go REALLLY slow, so....

They bottomed out. Ha ha.

But they weren't bothered. Good times.

Crazy Aunt Lindsay Ann.

A couple of my favorite shots of Wyatt skiing.

Playing in the mud. Good old Willard Bay.

Then we stopped at the Peach Pit in Brigham City where Drew and Jessica treated us to shakes. Here are the girls waiting for their cones.

Mmmm-mmm!

Wyatt and Lindsay's fam with their shakes.

Our fam with shakes.

Cute Drew and Jessica. Wyatt said to Jessica, "First you take us out on your boat, then you give us shakes. Can I give you my number so we can be better friends?" Hee hee.

And their cutie-pie Maggie. She knows how to work it for the camera. :)

Then we went to a park and had pizza. Because life is short, so you should eat dessert first.

The end.

Happy Grandparents' Day!

My dad was looking at the calendar and happened to notice that it is Granparents' Day today (something we've neither celebrated nor noticed before), and he mentioned it in Hazel's hearing, so OF COURSE she hopped around planning decorations, games, treats, etc. The girl loves a party. :) And party we did. We made fudge (mmmmmm!!!), cookies, and strawberries and cream. After we had that, my dad said, "Now what's for dessert?"

We also played a little game and Hazel begged Grandpa for a story about when he was a little boy. Which never fails to impress.

He said, "When I was a young'un, I was riding my horse in the Cardston parade. I saw a pretty girl, so I had her hop up behind me and then my horse got a fly under it's belly and went all crazy, and laid down and the girl got her leg caught under the horse and broke it. And do you think that girl went out with me ever again?" (She did, in high school by the way. It wasn't my mom.) It was funny.

Another one I started by saying, "Did you know Grandpa shot his own toe?" And he said, "I did. I was out hunting with my brother and I said, 'I'm going to shoot the next thing that moves,' and my toe moved so I shot it! I'll teach that toe to move when I tell it not to." And Hazel paused for a minute, and then let out this hilarious high-pitched giggle-shriek and thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. And she said, "But you're the one that made it move!"

Today in church Talmage was being out of control because he really needed a nap and my mom took him for me for a bit, and then she saw my dad come down the hall so she handed Tell to him, and when I saw him after church he had red stuff all over his shirt and vest and I said, "What did you feed him?" and Dad said, "Red licorice." What a surprise.

And he said that another guy saw him come in holding Tell and said, "It just goes to show, the uglier the bull, the handsomer the calf."

My dad cut a cartoon out of the paper today and hung it up with my mom and my dad's name in it. It's Hagar the Horrible and they're in bed at night and Hagar/Jack is yelling "No, No!! Please!! Anything but this!! AAAAAUUUUGGGH! Let me out!!"

And Hagar's wife/Lorie says "Wake up!" and he says, ">Gasp!<>

"You were having a nightmare!!"

">Whew!<>

"What was it about?"

"I was trapped in a dress store with you FOREVER...while you looked and

looked but NEVER bought anything!!!"

Basically that was written for my mom. :)

I talked to Brett today on the phone and I started getting mad at him for stealing the camera to take camping with him, but he actually hadn't taken it. My brother had used it and it was down in the downstairs garage. So all this time I was mad that I didn't have a camera, I really did. Not that I didn't have other pictures I could have posted--because I do. But you know.

Like these ones--they're from last weekend when we went out to a baseball game with my brother Wyatt and his wife Lindsay Ann. (I thought of you guys--Steve and Katrina, although it was only a AAA.)

Like this one? I took it myself. :)

(Oh, and first they fed us a sensational dinner of poutine. Mmmm-mmmm! If you aren't Canadian, look it up.) Anyway, we had a smashing time. We didn't stay for the whole game, but we had fun for awhile. We made up our own names for the players, well, actually only the black players. There was only one on each team so we could easily remember them. Good times.

Wyatt makes me laugh so hard. For example, he came over to my mom's house while my mom and dad happened to be gone, and Brett and I and Wyatt and Lindsay Ann were playing Rook, and my mom and dad got home, and he hid under the table --Lindsay Ann was in full view, their car was outside, mom and dad knew they were coming over that night--but he still hid under the table for a few minutes and made high pitched comments like, "You can't see me," for a second, and then he jumped out and said "SURPRISE!!!" And my mom kinda shook her head laughing AT him, and he laughed forever. You had to be there but it was so funny.

Then the same night, the phone rang and Wyatt picked it up and answered in this way way low voice, and he kept talking that way for a minute, but then I started laughing, so then he started laughing and couldn't keep talking, so he tried to hand the phone off to me, but of course I couldn't talk, so Lindsay Ann had to take it. Good thing she's a grown-up.

Anyway, I need to go to bed and go to sleep. Tschus!

Mountain Man Rendezvouz

The other day some of my fam and I went to a mountain man rendezvouz. We kinda missed most of the events, but we did get to go canoeing. And it was fun.

And the kids got to wear skunk hats for a minute. And it was fitting.

And we saw a fort.

And this is not at the rendezvouz, it's at the playground. Jethro, Miriam and Cowen were hanging out.

Talmage and Eli were sharing a swing and having a great time.

And I really like this picture taken at the zoo.

Brett is gone. And that is sad. He went backpacking with Tim (our bro-in-law) and then he is going to Vernal to fix the car and motorcycle and sell them. Cause we need to liquidate our assets at the moment. Here's hoping he fixes fast!

School

Can you believe my little Hazel bean is riding the school bus??!!

So, the picture below is Jethro and Hazel eating their traditional first-day-of-school crepes (Jethro's in the shape of a 2, Hazel's in the shape of a K) with icecream and chocolate sauce.

And they were all ready to go. Their clothes had been laid out the night before, their bags were packed, etc.

However, we got to the school and filled out papers and they were so excited....but then they had to go home again because they didn't have their Hep A shots which are required here. (But not required in Indiana obviously.) So Hazel was crying and disappointed and I tried to console her by saying that she just had to go get a shot and then she could go to Kindergarten, but saying that you have to get a shot just isn't that comforting somehow.

Anyway, we went and got the shots and the next day Grandma took them to school because Brett and I had appointments with the dentist--my sister Lindsay. Mom said that she went to pick up Hazel when school was over, but she wouldn't come. She said, "I go home on the bus." So Mom went home again and waited for her at the bus stop. :) She and Jethro are both enjoying their short stint at Lincoln Elementary.

On a not-so-related topic, when we were getting our shots at the health clinic, I asked if there were any shots that were recommended if you were going to Europe. The lady said no, they're the same as here and asked where we were going etc. She was from Portugal and she said that her mother and her decided if they were ever going to live in a different country they'd pick Switzerland. Thank you lady at the health clinic!! I love when people are excited and encouraging. She also said the kids would pick up German so fast I wouldn't believe it. She said her kids were in Portugal for three weeks and were already speaking Portuguese quite well. I hope so, cause I'm just a little nervous about them going to school--mainly because I know I would hate to be where I couldn't understand anybody.

Another topic--Lindsay cleaned our teeth and it was weird because when did my little sister get old enough to look all official-dental-personish and clean my teeth? Plus she made me bleed, but only a little, so mainly it was fun. :)

Vernal trip

When we were in Vernal we unpacked the trailer and put everything in a storage spot except for all the boxes we had to unpack and go through and repack into 7 duffle bags we bought. Good times. Not really, but we did have plenty of fun while we were there.

This is Brett's mom and dad. They are awesome. Hopefully they come visit in Switzerland because it would be awesome.

This is Brett and his grandma. Hazel hung out with her all day one of the days we were there. I am really kicking myself that I didn't get one of his Grandpa too. Jethro's cousin has a pocketknife, so Jethro was fixated on getting one of his own, and Great-Grandpa gave him a leatherman. He's so nice. I just love him.

I LOVE this picture of Brett and his sister Jan. I think it is just so comfortable-happy-sibling-ish. Jan is awesome. She's the eldest in Brett's family, and reminds me a little of my sister Megan sometimes.

These are Jan's kids, Sandy, Oscar and Sophie. We went to their house one afternoon and had a really good time. Jan has a worm farm in her kitchen to eat up her food scraps and stuff and they make good soil/compost stuff. Interesting, no?

So this kid cracks me up. We had just gotten out of the car and all the kids were excitedly running around trying to see and show everything at once, and Oscar runs over and picks up this bone and says, "And this is our deer bone." Ha ha!!

Ethne found her cousins' toy makeup and applied it with care.

I think it's a good look for her. (especially with all the dirt streaks on her face as well.)

This is my our sister-in-law Jessica and three of her kids. She made Jethro that awesome pie kinda for his birthday because we finally found his box of birthday presents.

Here he is with his new telescope, Star Wars Life game, and spiderman legos (thanks to one awesome garage sale).

Here's Harleigh and Conner and Jethro. Conner and Jethro really enjoyed those legos for a couple days.

And here's Ethne with Riata and Paisley. Cute girls. Cute indeed.

catch up

This picture is from when we were back in Indiana, loading up the trailer. Talmage looked so little in with all the stuff.

And this was a while back. We went on a little walk with my mom. Brett is too cool to look at the camera. :) So's Jethro.

We saw these weird marmot animals on the golf course. I think maybe I should be a wildlife photographer. Look at that great shot.

Cute.

Talmage and the Frog

got this really cool idea from my friend to take pictures each month with the same stuffed animal. I missed month 2 and when he was just born, but it's still pretty fun. (I meant to post this on his birthday, but due to circumstances couldn't post it until now. But the pictures were all taken on the correct days.) Rrrrrriiibbbiittt!