Diamond Fork Canyon

We're planning a trip up Diamond Fork Canyon with the Byers clan! It's going to be a lot of fun but since none of us have ever been up there we made a quick trip this weekend to see what we were getting ourselves into. I really want to try this hike...

http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/fifthwater.html

And I want to take a quick trip here...

http://www.utahoutdooractivities.com/redledgespicnic.html

All in all I like the campground, it's pretty nice and right by the river so hopefully Darrell will catch some yummy fish! Here are some pics I took while we were on our drive!

Shawna by the river

Annie by the river

Darrell walking by the stream on the roadside

Fresh Garden Veggies Anyone?

Early Spring arrives and I'm all excited! I can't wait to till the garden and plant our pea seeds! I start planning what else we'll plant and I watch, anxiously waiting for those little baby plants to peek up through the dirt so I can welcome them to the world!

A few weeks later it's warm enough to shop for tomato plants, pepper plants, zuchinni, watermelon, and the many other fabulous things I think we'll plant. I go crazy weeding and planting for a whole day and I watch for the buds that will indicate fruits and veggies soon on the way!

Early Summer arrives, I carefully glance at the garden and try to see past the weeds. I search for the baby watermelon and count how many we have, I rush in to tell Annie (since these are hers) and we celebrate a little. I occasionally water, harvest the zuchinni and tomatoes and a few peppers, but mostly I wonder "WHY WHY WHY didn't I insist on a pool this year instead of the damn garden!?!?"

It's the same every year! At this time I absolutely loath the garden, I hate harvesting, I hate watering, I hate weeding, AND I especially hate that I go through this phase every stinking year!

On a brighter note... If anyone wants tomatoes, I've planted 6 plants, some cherry, some cute yellow bell looking things, some early girls and some beef eaters (we don't even like tomatoes, but I make a mean fresh salsa!) If anyone wants peppers I have anaheim chilles, jalepenos, banana peppers, serrano peppers and bell peppers. If anyone wants zuchinni I have it! And in a few weeks we'll have watermelon too! Just let me know when you'll be stopping by to pick them up!

And here's some fun pics...

Swimming... Maybe not...

I drove the girls to the Kearns Rec Pool. They wanted to swim outside and since I didn't have cash and thought they could use their County Rec Pass at the Kearns pool I drove all the way out there, should've just went to the bank. When we got there I dropped them off and started on my way home when my cell phone chirped, I answered and Annie informed me that the pools at the Kearns Rec Center are NOT county pools so their pass is no good there. I picked them up and told them swimming today would have to be indoors so I drove them to Gene Fulmer where we always go (so I know their passes are good there!) I pulled up to the doors, dropped them off and headed home again, and again my phone chirped at me and this time Annie informed me that the indoor pool is closed for 2 weeks due to maintenance. WHAT!?!?! So again I headed back to get my girls and this time on the way home I stopped at the SnoShack because I had just enough cash to get 2 Snow Cones and a punch card for a freebie! We ate snowcones on the way home which made the last hour not so bad. We got home and I worked for a bit then the girls pulled out their old blow up pool and this is what happened...

Crazy girls! At least they made a fun day out it!

18 and going strong!

August 2nd was our 18th Wedding Anniversary! 18!!!! It's unbelievable that we've been married for 18 years and have they memorable! I've been so blessed to have found my hubby at such a young age, we practically grew up together! (Which is probably why we're both trained to the other's quirks and will make this marriage last!)

We don't usually do a big celebration but this year we thought it'd be fun to go out of town and just enjoy being with eachother. We picked Vegas! It was great! We got a fountain side room at Bellagio but unfortunately we didn't spend as much time as we would have liked hanging by the window and watching the fountains! Instead we did a little gambling, a little shopping, and saw Rodney Carrington! We had so much fun for the short time we were there! We missed our girls but thankfully we knew they were in good hands with GG! Thanks so much for taking them so we could have our little getaway!

Here's some pics...

The view from our room...

The fountain show from our room...

My charming hubby in front of the Paris hotel.

And if you wanna see more go to my facebook page! It's a lot easier and faster to get pics on there!

I HATE GRASSHOPPERS!

I hate grasshoppers! I hate how ugly they are with their grotesque eyes and long back legs! I hate how they kinda stick to you if they land on you and I hate that black stuff they sometimes spit on you. Truth be told I don't like them at all, they scare me!!


Today I wandered upstairs to take some mail to the mailbox before the postman came, I didn't want to drive to the post office again (it's almost a daily occurence for work) so I was in a hurry, but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this...


So, since I was the only one home, I had a major dilemma! How do I get this monstorous beast out of my house?!?!? Solution?



That's right, I quietly snuck up on the fiend, put the cup over him and scooped him up into the cup while blocking the opening with the bowl, I then ran like a madwoman outside where I proceeded to huck the cup and bowl as far from my person as I could get them! And it worked!!! I thought for sure I'd have to leave the cup and bowl on the lawn all day but nope, the hopper finally left and I was able to throw the bowl and cup away! Hooray for me! I was my own brave hero today!

Pioneer Day? Heck no! Pioneer Weekend!!!

I love Pioneer Day! Outside of Utah, mention July 24th as if it were a holiday, and people think you've gone bonkers, but where I come from it's a day to CELEBRATE! I like to celebrate that God put me in the day and time he did, the guy knew what he was doing by NOT making me a pilgrim! I would never have made it! Imagine no real running water! No toliets and who knows what those people did for toliet paper! Not to mention no regular showers and probably no deodorant. The wind, dirt, smelly animals, sometimes freezing tempatures and sometimes blazing heat, etc, etc as you tried to cross the plains in a dress! Not for me! I am happy though to celebrate that those people did what they did so we could live in this fabulous state and celebrate!
Our celebration started on Thursday night when we went to the Quidditch field (Rio Tinto Stadium) to watch Kenny Chesney! I was totally bumed that Sugarland didn't make the expected appearance but we enjoyed Lady A, Miranda Lambert and especially Kenny (mostly because the sun was down at that point and we were no longer melting!)
Friday morning we woke up early, hitched the trailer to the truck and drove to breakfast to meet our friends the Silcoxs! We then had a fabulous breakfast and drove to Bear Lake for the weekend! Friday afternoon we just lazed around, the kids played a little on the beach, and then we had a wonderful fire and smores! YUM!
Saturday we spent all day at the beach! Playing in the water, riding on boats and wave runners, tubing and having tube wars, just hanging out and having fun! Darrell's mom came up and rode 1 of the wave runners and we had a wonderful dinner before sitting around the fire and relaxing!
Usually on camping trips the last day consists of cleaning the trailer and our campsite then heading home but this time we woke up and had breakfast then headed back to the beach for a couple more hours of fun in the sun! I didn't want it to end! We didn't get home until 10pm and even though Annie sprained her ankle pretty bad, I have bruises on my back from falling out of the trailer, Shawna's little face is swollen from being in the sun so much, and we're all burnt to a crisp on various body parts, WE HAD A BLAST!! Can't wait until next time! We are so thankful those pioneers went through what they did so we could have something fabulous to celebrate!
Here's a few pics...

Grandma Gladys on the wave runner

Shawna waiting at Merlins for a shake!

Lana, Shannon and Randi on the tube

Little Riley sitting at the campfire looking thru his

star brochure trying to find constellations

Annie and Pooski sitting by the fire

The man is back in the house...

Last week/weekend Darrell went on a guys trip to Island Park. They took their motorcycles and met some friends from Spokane. Luckily Darrell's uncle owns a cabin up there and let them use it for their trip. Here's some pics...

The cabin, my truck and the trailer used to get the bikes up there.

Darrell's bike, the green and silver one.

Above: a bald eagle.

Below: all the bikes lined up at the Yellowstone Park entrance.

A HUGE SCARY BUG ON KEN'S BACK! Leave it to Darrell, he grabbed the camera before saving Ken!

It looks like the boys had a really good time, and Darrell got some needed away time from work! I'm just glad he's home now!

WE MISSED YOU HONEY!