SUMMER

Summer is here. We have started the summer camp craze. The weather here is really nice.
The first week Ben went Mountain Biking and Joe went backpacking, so I had the first week with my two youngest. Josh really thought that he was going on the backpacking trip. He was devestated when he realized that he couldn't go. He wore that backpack around all day with a waterbottle inside of it. He was so sad. We will have to go on a hike later on.
We did get to go to the park in Capitol Reef. We saw a ton of deer and this tree is a favorite to climb on with its roots exposed. It's nice to have a little time with the two youngest.

End of the school year

I can't believe how quickly this school year went by. Some of my favorite things are the end of the year activities. Talent shows, carnivals, parties etc. One thing that was new this year was the "4th grade recorder program". This was the first time I had heard of this. Boy, I didn't know that Ben had such talent. It was beautiful to say the least, ALMOST brought a tear to my eye. Way to go Ben!
Another thing that we did was to see "Kung Fu Panda" . Super cute show. My boys loved it. Now, the only problem is is that they all think that Karate is great to practice on each other (not so fun when they think they know all of the moves and end up hurting themselves and others).
We also had a suprise visit from a friend of ours that just had a baby boy. ALMOST makes me want another one, but way more fun to hold and look at and then know that I don't have to breast feed, get up every 3 hours, diaper etc. They named him Lucas- he is so cute!!!
We also fit in a party for my brother Steve. It was his birthday and we celebrated at our house for a barbeque. He is really amazing and we all love him.
We are now at the ranch and enjoying this first week here. It is beautiful weather and the campers will come on Sunday. I absolutely love coming down here and experiencing the different kind of beauty here. I am one lucky girl to be with my 5 boys here for the summer. We'll see everyone in August!!!

Dentist

I wish that I had this much fun when I went to the dentist. I don't ever remember being happy or excited when I saw my dentist. I always knew that I was there for some painful reason. I would end up trying to be brave and focus on the cheap toy that I would get to pick out of the toy box after my mouth was numb as I was unknowingly biting my tongue and cheek. I have to say that I love our pediadentist (sp?). My kids are actually excited when I tell them that we are going to the dentist. What's up with that? His whole office is set up for kids. All of the assistants are cute with my boys and are so nice all of the time. (Maybe they suck on the nitrus gas on their breaks- I would actually like a tank hooked up in my closet at home so that I could take small breaks during the day:). Anyway, my kids love to go because it is one time that they get to play video games (x-box orPS2?? I don't know the difference). Then, they get cool sword balloons that they can hit each other with. I wish that I could get this much enthusiasm to get them to do chores etc. Anyway, they all passed with flying colors not one cavity in 4 sugar hungry mouths! Way to go boys.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is one that I look forward to every year. My whole side of the family usually comes to the ranch and we EAT, play games, fish, ride 4-wheelers, ride horses, and hang out, oh, and did I mention EAT??? This year nobody from my family was able to come except for my loyal and favorite (just in case anyone from my family is reading this, they will know how is on top of my list:)), brother Steve. He invited a few of his friends and Dans sister and her husband came along with Dan's brother and his friend. We ended up with quite a crew there. The weather was suppose to be bad, but it ended up being really nice. One of the big hits of the weekend was the "ranger" that my brother brought down. My boys were more content being all together than they ever have been. They drove around and around for hours, it was an amazing babysitter. Ben drove and notice that my two youngest have helmets on and holding on for dear life?
So, needless to say that after driving around and around in the dusty dirt 24-7, they all had a layer of dust that covered their entire bodies. I love getting them all clean after a long day of play, becaues after all, isn't that what the ranch is for?
On our way home, we ran into a man who went hunting for bear and mountain lion, he showed us the pelts of the bear and mountain lion. They weren't too excited about touching them, but they thought they were pretty cool. All I can say is that people can get all of the bear and mountain lions near our ranch that they want. :) We had a really great weekend thanks to everyone that came. I love getting together with family and friends at the ranch, it makes it a lot of fun.

Shout Out

Those of you that know us know that we have a ranch in southern Utah. We run a summer camp for kids. We love it and spend our whole summer down in Bicknell. Well, a couple of months ago, we received a phone call from a group out of BYU Idaho that does a service project during their school spring break. They happened to choose our place this year to come down for 5 days and WORK!!! (I thought they were crazy to spend their whole spring break and do hard labor-but who am I to question.) Anywho.... as a result, they reconstructed our whole front fence, raked all the leaves.......
redid our bell-tower so that everytime it rings, it doesn't feel that it will fall on top of the person ringing it, re-did the inside of some cabins, etc. It looks really great, and we were soooo appreciative.
One other thing they did was rip out the carpet that was in our front room of the main house. No, this is not tile that they replaced it with, but this is the linoleum that was under it, pretty, huh? (we are thinking about leaving it:). Anyway things are looking great there.

If anyone knows of any kids (nieces, nephews, friends, cousins, etc.) between ages 9-16 that would love a great experience at a summer camp, we are giving great deals right now for tuition because we are a little behind in enrollment. Check out our website at www.navajotrails.com. Just a thought.

Rock Star

My son is in the car WAY too much, which means, so am I. He is picking up on many lyrics and the rythmns of many popular songs. One day we were driving and I looked back and this is what I saw. Each time I stopped to take a video, he stopped doing his air guitar performance. So, I had to take the picture while I was driving. (I have to make this disclaimer: Please DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, I am a licenced driving professional.) I love this video, he is a rock star.... I will save this for our American Idol try-out in 13 years.

Easter

I love Easter, although this year it happened to sneak up on us rather quickly. We enjoyed dyeing eggs with some of the neighborhood kids. Although Jessica looks a little bit sad, I really think that she was having just as much fun as the children. (or was it the refelection of the "tinfoil" that we had lining the table so it wouldn't get stained) who knows???
The Easter bunny came to our house and gave us WAY too much candy. But I think that my boys didn't seem to mind all of the sugar that was in their baskets.
It was a bit cold the day we dyed the eggs, notice the winter coat and the forced smile. He is trying to to say that he really was having SO much fun. Look at that cute girl next to him, she is yummy.