Us

In the spring a friend told us that there were baby ducks at the duck pond at BYU, so we ventured out one Sunday evening to see some ducklings and take some pictures.  We must have been too late for the ducklings, though, because we didn't see any.  But the kids had a good time feeding the ducks and watching the turtles.  And, thankfully, we managed to get some pictures!

Our Little Garden Is a Little Bigger

We planted our garden late this year, but I suppose we made up for that by planting more than we did last year.  We planted sugar snap peas, bush beans, onions, carrots, spinach, two kinds of lettuce, zucchini, squash, several pepper plants, and a bunch of tomato plants.

April 11th

A neighbor gave us several pots, so we filled them up with more vegetable plants.  We used two of them for play gardens, though.  One is a fairy garden, and the other is a dinosaur garden.

So far, we've enjoyed lettuce, peas, carrots, and an onion from our garden.  We've gotten a few tomatoes (actually, Jack has eaten almost all of them) and there are lots more growing.  We had spinach for a few weeks too, but it flowered.  Yeah for a fun little garden in our little in our tiny little back yard!

Florida! Part 2

(originally published January 8th, 2016)

The beach isn't just for playing in the sand and water, of course, it's also for fishing.  In fact, there is at least one member of the family who would say that fishing is the very BEST thing about the beach.  I'll let you guess who that is.  The kids enjoyed fishing with their dads and Papa and the men were great sports about including the young'uns.  Jack was hoping someone would catch a shark for him, but instead of a shark, the unwanted fish that the kids got to see up close was a sting ray.  Still very cool though.

Sometimes Jack wasn't as lucky with fishing as he wanted to be.
That's the way it goes, my boy.

Cat fishing.

Cat taking a break from fishing.
(As seen from the balcony of our beach house)

Perhaps the most memorable thing that happened the whole week was that Shilom caughta starfish one evening.
It wrapped itself around the plastic (toy) lure on Shilom's little rod.

As has become customary, Tim brought his family to the beach for a day toward the end of the week.  We had fun with them that day and were happy to have them stay for the fish fry.  Of course the kids loved having more kids to play with too.

Jack and his Beloved

To make the trip to Florida complete, we tried to get plenty of pool time in.  (The outdoor pools in Utah are still too cold for us.)  Oh, we loved it.

We had one day designated as our Out day.  We drove to Apalachicola and did a little shopping, including a stop at this cool shop with fun souvenirs and trinkets. 

Then we went to the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve where we learned more about the wildlife in the area and saw plants and animals up close.

Then, after Mema and Papa took us to their favorite burger dive, which was quite yummy, we went back to the island and explored around the St. George Island Lighthouse. 

It's hard to sum up such a great week, even with the help of lots of pictures.  We loved being back in Florida, enjoying the sights and smells and feels of the beach.  But getting to share that with Ben's family made it truly special.  They all live in Florida and we just don't get to see them very much so it was lovely to have concentrated family time.  We are so so grateful for that opportunity.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!

We had a pretty eventful Memorial Day weekend.  Some friends invited us to their house for a cookout Saturday evening and we brought a veggie tray and dessert - we went with a sugar cookie pizza which was pretty darn delicious, ifidosaysomyself.  (Recipe here.)

Monday morning we helped a neighbor with some yard work.  Would you be surprised if I told you that the kids' favorite part about the task was getting to use the cart?

That afternoon the kids were playing at another neighbor's house when near-tragedy struck.  The kids were playing with a small BB gun (yes, that would be problem #1) and one of the kids playing there shot the gun, hitting Jack just under his eye.  (This picture was taken the next day.  See the mark just below his right eye?)  It is unclear whether she was shooting at Jack or shooting at the house's brick wall and the BB ricocheted, but the fact remains that it came very very close to going right into his eye.  We were all so very thankful that it didn't.  And also learned a valuable lesson in gun safety.

Jack was upset at first, but we figured it wasn't too serious when he calmed down and played like normal within 20 minutes.  We even met friends at a park in the canyon to grill out that night and he was running around, having a great time.  The sore healed up pretty quickly and there seem to have been no lasting effects.  Yeah!!

Florida! Part 1

(originally published January 6, 2016)

On the Fourth of July we drove from Atlanta to Tallahassee - about a 4.5 hour drive.  We first drove to the house of Ben's best friend, Tim, where we had dinner with his family and hung out for a little while.  Their kids are almost exactly the same ages as our kids and they all love being together.  Cat spent the night there to have more time with Lana (our rule is that sleepovers are only allowed with family or those-we've-known-as-long-as-family and Ben and Tim have been best friends long enough to qualify) and Jack and Madi decided that they are going to get married (Jack still acknowledges this eventuality and they've already exchanged love notes via snail mail).

We then headed to Mema and Papa's house and were so excited to be there and see them!  We had fun watching the fireworks show put on by the Baptist church across the street from Ben's parents' neighborhood.  It was a treat to visit with old friends in Mema and Papa's ward the next day, since it's the same ward Ben grew up in, the ward I was born into, and the same ward we lived in for the first year and a half we were married, and many of the same people are still there.  And to make the day even better, we had a HUGE downpour during church.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.  Oh, it was awesome.

That afternoon we all got together for Cat's final birthday celebration, with lovely presents and a cake courtesy of Mema.  Then it was time to drive to St. George Island so the reunion could officially begin.

First order of business: family pictures on the beach.  Our kids were SO anxious to get in the water after being beach deprived for 2 years that we couldn't keep them dry while we waited for the other families to get their pictures done, so we told them they could put their feet in.  Next thing we knew...

So they were pretty soaked (from the shoulders down) for the rest of the photo session, but we got some good ones anyway.  Here's my favorite of our little clan, and the entire group.

Over the next several days we had lots of fun on the beach and in the water.  Uncle John brought his kayak and Uncle Mike rented a jet ski and let everyone have turns.  Awesome!  We got a kick out of spotting dolpins, too.  That never gets old.

When we needed a break from the sun (imagine that!) we came in to the house for games or movie time.  And in the evenings, each family took a turn planning an activity for the group.  We celebrated Mema and Papa's anniversary one night with dinner and a family trivia game.  We sang silly songs and played group games led by John and Sarah's family.  We had an awesome treasure hunt that Mike and Keturah put together, culminating in finding a treasure chest with pirate booty buried on the beach.  And at the end of the week Mema and Papa put all of the fish everyone caught to good use by having a fish fry.  Mmmmm.

Stay tuned for more of our Florida Reunion Adventures.