Backdoor Neighbors

These critters have been entertaining us lately.

Manti Family Reunion

Saturday we (except Camille, who had to work at both of her jobs that day) made a quick trip to Manti for a family reunion. It was for all of Grandpa L's grandpa's decendents, so a lot of people. It was held at the Manti house, which was appropriate, because Great, Great Grandpa Peter was the one who built the original adobe portion of the house after he immigrated here from Denmark. Grandpa has been planning this event for months and a lot of people showed up. It was very successful, I think, and very hot.

Uncle Steve taking kids on a buggy ride on the 4-wheeler

All of John's siblings, except Rob, posing for a picture. The gap is so Rob can be photoshopped in. (He was on a cruise or he would have been there)

Grandpa explaining some OLD handmade tools to Dave and Kathy. The quilt was his mother's. The tools were his grandfather's and from the initials we think some might have been his great grandfather's.

Michelle J. and Matt S. feeding Rowe his first popsicle. Yum!!

Matt and Brad and Zack L. getting reacquainted. It didn't take too long.

Eric S, Scott and Kevin keeping cool in the shade. If they don't look too happy, it's because the USA vs. Guana World Cup game just ended. About 20 people were crowded into the bedroom of the granary watching it on the new TV John installed last time we were in Manti. (A bunch of people watched it in the house, too.) They had hope for a little while, but it didn't work out in the end. Oh, well, we'll get them in 4 years, right?
All in all, a successful reunion. We saw people we hadn't seen for years and met people we hadn't ever met before. I was particularly happy to meet Karen, John's "Indian Sister" who lived with them for years and years while he was growing up. I had never met her, but she and her new husband and three of their kids were there. Already plans are in the works for another reunion next year. Good job, Dad!

Watching the Sky

The other day Matt asked me what you call a scientist who studies space. I said "astrologist," then I realized my mistake and quickly corrected myself and told him that it was really an astronomer. He told me that that was what he wanted to be when he grows up. Then he wondered if he would change his mind before he was a grown up. He said hopes he doesn't. We'll see. Last year he wanted to be a school principal and a litter-picker-upper on his days off. But anyway, he's really interested in space right now, so when we learned that there would be a partial lunar eclipse early Saturday morning we asked him if he wanted us to wake him up. Of course he did, so at 4:50 am, John, Matt and I got up and saw the eclipse. It was pretty cool, and of course, John and Matt had to have a little astronomy lesson afterward. Then it was back to bed for a little while.

Last night we were watching the sky again for a different reason. It was South Ogden Days this week and last night was their fireworks show. We'd been in Manti all day for a family reunion and were tired, so watching them from our deck was just right for us. We got a pretty good show.

Working Stiffs

Along with her old job at the reception center, Camille is life guarding at the country club in town this summer. We're not members, but employees' families can come swim every Monday, so Matt and I decided to go check it out. Matt practiced the skills he's learning in swimming lessons and made a couple of new friends.

Camille and her "evil eye." She's managed not to get a sunburn yet this year and she hasn't had to rescue anyone. She says this job is pretty much the opposite of her other one. Here she mostly just sits, while she comes home from the reception center worn out from working at top speed all night.
Scott is also a working man, some of the time. He is working as a sub for a guy who has a lawn care company. Last week he worked for the first time on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It's pretty much sunup to sundown, so it's kind of a shock to his system, but he's been a good sport about it. The hardest thing for him is to miss football, but last week it was canceled on Friday so he only ended up missing one day. He hasn't worked this week so far -it'll kind of be a hit and miss kind of thing.
We're still being taskmasters in the yard, too. Our kids are getting really tired of it. Kevin has been a super big help, and we wouldn't have been able to do anything with out Scott's muscle. We keep unearthing the biggest boulders you've ever seen. Not even Matt escapes. We're determined to be finished with at least the front yard this week. I'll post some pictures when it looks presentable.

Vacation -The End

One more vacation post and that's all, I promise. The last two days of our cruise were "at sea" days. The weather was a little cold and windy, so we stayed indoors or in the hot tubs most of the time.

We went to a really fun ice show one night. It was very impressive, especially since the water was kind of rocky that night.

Matt liked the kid's club -he won this medal for coming in second place in the hula hoop contest. I wish I'd seen that!

The self-serve frozen yogurt machine was also popular, especially with Kevin and Matt! I got to show off my Purple Turtle skills.

Posing in front of some fancy glass flowers on our last night. Unlike our family picture in the last post I have legs in this one. Did anyone notice the poor photoshopping job in the last picture?

Photos in the cool "Grand Promenade"

I don't want to go home! Boarding our tiny plane at the tiny Long Beach airport. It was a fabulous vacation -now back to the real world!

Vacation -Part 4

***Puerto Vallarta***

In Puerto Vallarta we zip-lined -a fun adventure up in the mountains. We got there via a beautiful 40 minute bus ride mostly along the ocean. I kept wishing I could get out and take pictures of the little villages, gorgeous flowers, and beautiful views we saw.

14 zip lines in all -the longest was 400 yards long and 100 yards high if I remember right.

There were some cute and cuddly animals at the bottom to play with.

The river felt good to swim in because the day was warm and very humid.

Back to the ship for a late lunch.

After lunch we still had some time in port, so we decided to go check out the beach. Kevin, Matt and John still had their suits on so they ended up getting in the water and they said it was the warmest they'd felt. Camille, Scott, and I rested on the beach, fended off the beach merchants, and watched people and birds. Camille and Scott even got in touch with their inner Napoleon Dynamite and played a little tether ball, but Scott made me promise not to take pictures, so there's no proof. It was starting to get breezy and a little cooler so it felt nice. In fact we thought it might storm, but it never did.

Vacation -Part 3

***Mazatlan***

At Mazatlan, we decided to just go to the beach. We found a restaurant with beach chairs and umbrellas, ordered a few lemonades and camped out there for a few hours.

The water was nice and warm and stayed shallow for quite a ways. The waves were great for body surfing and boogy boarding.

There were beach vendors everywhere. This hombre made bracelets for the boys with their names woven into them. If you click the picture below you can see Matt's.

It was a fun-filled day in the sun.

Saying goodbye to Mazatlan from the cruise ship.

The kids liked the cool towel animals in our cabins at night.