Zac, the Archer

New Camo, a 2-day hunting trip with dad, and shooting a bow.

This is happiness for my boy, Zac.

Does life get any better for a boy?

Happy 6th Birthday today!

Bow Hunt- Cedar Mountain

Zac earning on Jackson's bow. That is Jacskon and Trevor in the background.

Jackson has been hunting since he was a little thing! He is 10 now.

Look at Zac's "man" stance.

In the blind. I was told this was awesome for the boys. Zac may have ruined it's effectiveness with his flatulence.

Zac's grouping

This deer needs antlers!

This is the way to camp!

Steve hasn't been hunting in a long time, esp with his best friend on his favorite mountain (maybe Blue mountain is his favorite, either way...). This last weekend he went down to Cedar. He took Zac along for the first time. They met Trevor and Jackson there and set up camp. They spent Friday and Saturday night. From what I gather, they had a great time hunting, tooling around in the hills in the pick up, getting rained on, hiking, good eating, and shooting the bows and BB gun. Even though they didn't get a deer, they said it was a great time. I am glad that Steve has a hobby and a friend that "feels like home".

Wrapping up Summer 2011

It was a good summer.

We went to different parks to climb and swing through the summer. Jenna did an art class on Thursdays in Lindon at a great place. We would play to kill time while Jenna was in class on this grassy knoll. Here is Trevor cheesing it. I love this picture!

Our babysitter, Kristi, has been with us since February. She is very creative and the kids love her. Truly! This is a pic of the treasure map she created for the kids to find treasure by following riddle-type clues. They did lots of these creative type adventures this summer including hunting in the rainforest to rain and thunder music with bamboo spears!

 This picture is just a day at lunch this summer. Disheveled and enjoying no "have-to's".

The big kids did swim lessons. We went to the Lindon pool this year for lessons. I thought that last year's lessons in PG were better, but the kids had fun and did well. Zac is not quite deep-end bound, but they are very comfortable in the water!

 We like Geocaching, but this day was a busted trip. We were in Blanding in the mountains, and I entered the coordinates in wrong on the GPS and well, it was a wild chase. We ended up finding jumping cactus and no treasure. We thought we would bomb the GPS unit in the Reservoir, but come to find out it was operator error, that and a jiggly battery.

Jenna and Thomas feeding the ducks

TR and the Goose

Zac, the Farmer

Jenna, forever the animal lover

Nathan, Tommy and Zac- fun boys

Zac feeding the pygmy goats

My good friend from NV came up to visit family (and for Jenna's baptism), and we were able to hang out for an afternoon at Wheeler Farm. I had never been there. It was a good trip. Of course, it was good to see my friend and her kids! It was a great place for the kids to see animals and enjoy the outdoors and enjoy their fast friends. They had fun.
A couple of weekends ago we went up to Strawberry Reservoir to play in the rocks and water on a Saturday afternoon. The kids threw rocks and the dog swam.  Zac swam too because he couldn't resist despite the freezing water. Trev stripped down and lost his balance and went under, so I went in too. Later he said, "Mommy you rescue me? Thanks!" It was a wet ride home.

Crawdad- dead on the bank, still cool to see up close.

Nearly Naked

 

 

"It's freezing!"

It was a good summer. I think we sprinkled in a lot of fun in with work. There is so much to do!
Now on to Fall. I love fall. Farmers Markets, Pumpkin Patches, jeans and T shirts, changing leaves, carving pumpkins and more birthdays!

The Grotto

Last Saturday we went for a hike to this beautiful waterfall. The kids were kids and love to explore and disobey explore some more. I am glad that they love the outdoors and water and rocks and dirt. It was a great shaded hike with this beautiful waterfall at the end. (only 0.3 miles). This is truly a beautiful place to live.
 The water was snow melt and putting your feet in for too long would make your legs ache. It was cold! No wonder the kids wouldn't get under the falls.

 This was an ideal hike, and we are happy to have our second hand kid pack for Gage. It makes it so we can do this stuff.

Park

Playing at the park sounded like a good idea. The sun was shining, and it was above freezing after all.
 Actually, if I was honest I would say that Jenna and Zac had a good time playing pirates and running on the play ground, and the fresh air did us all some good. It wouldn't be lying to say that Trev sat in a wet, cold, puddle, had difficulty traversing the crunchy snow, and had to be carried football style while kicking and screaming when we left. Gage was strapped to me and seemed snug, but for some reason couldn't settle-in with the sun shining in his face, his hat in his eyes and the freezing temperates in January.

 So for now, we will stick to indoor swings. The bigger kids can bundle up and play pirates in the yard without an emotional mom brother or a restless baby.

Uintas

More pics of a geocache adventure this week. (near Heber Valley again, in the Uinta Mountains) This is probably my favorite one so far. Open spaces, a stream, no leash for Sunny, and cooler temps. It was awesome. Plus we found the cache. We also found one off a trail by Utah Lake but were without the camera.

Geocache

We haven't been geocaching really in years. We have good memories of packing it up with We haven't been geocaching really in years. We have good memories of packing it up with GPS in hand and heading out in the hills to find a cache. The title of this one was "Dogs Mandatory" in Heber Valley along the Provo river. It was a fun adventure. I didn't catch Sunny swimming on video like I wanted, but she had a blast too. There was almost a 20 degree temp decrease in Heber Valley. That was a nice break from the near 100 degree weather in Orem. We actually didn't find the geocache. We came to a river that, according to the GPS, looked like needed crossing, and we weren't equipped for that type of adventure! Steve said that the treasure was spending time with family, the kids looked at him confused and dejected. Nonetheless, they did have fun throwing rocks, walking through a stream, and chasing Sunny.