Mud, Ducks, & Popsicles

After the reunion we dropped Todd off at the airport and headed down to Orem to Grandpa and Grandma Davis' house. We arrived with no set plans and no departure date.

We started off the week right. Irrigation came early Monday morning and it was time to get down to having fun!
It all starts with putting your feet in the water and goes downhill from there....
You lose your balance and sit in mud.....

And then you just get plain old MUDDY!!!!

There was so much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth when I told them to get clean they'd have to be sprayed off with the hose that Great Aunt Trina took pity on them and went inside and brought out warm water in her watering can to wash them off. Pansies!!!! I never would have been spoiled like that!!!

On their morning walks Grandpa and Grandma had seen a bunch of baby ducks at the park. They bought some duck bread and off we went!

Momma duck had crazy wings.

Cute little fluff balls!

After the bread was finished, and not all by the ducks I might add, we went to play. It is a fabulous park.
This makes me think of a little girl dancing in a European fountain.

Swinging on the gigantic swing!!!

It was soooo hot that day we had to head home for the patio and Popsicles!!!

I wanted to take the kids hiking and picked Stewart Falls. It is the perfect hike; not too far, some shade, water at the end.....

But first a picnic lunch.
Scratch the water at the end to play in! I've never seen it like this. There had been so much snow this last winter that in the second week of July it still hadn't melted and the run off made the falls huge!!! So instead of water they got snow to play in.

Grandpa had to reign in Jonah. He decided on the way back that it would be a good idea for him to hike. But not on the trail mind you, everywhere but the trail. Crazy kid.

Tractor rides, or rather driving the tractor. Lauren quickly learned to turn the wheel and get that thing steered away from the trees she was headed toward. Luckily Grandpa drove when Jonah was on or who knows where they would have ended up. Grandma would not be happy about a smashed garden.

In between all those things we did a plethora of other things as well. I shopped at Walmart. Luckily there isn't a decent and clean one near us or I would drop a fortune. I think they pump something into the air in that store. Either that or California sticker shock has eaten away my brain so that when I see cheap items I pounce!!

Grandpa, Dallin, Lauren and I also went to Seven Peaks. I thought they were old enough to enjoy the place now and seeing as how it was a part of so many of my summers, I thought a little waterpark time was in order. Grandma happily volunteered to stay home with Jonah, although stay home they did not. He was taken to the mall for a little spoiling! The kids had a blast on the waterslides and loved the wave pool. We'll have to go back again because Lauren was too short for some of the more exciting rides and was a little peeved that they wouldn't let her on.

GREENBEZERKLEYWELL REUNION

What do you get when you put 9 Greenwells, 6 Merkleys, & 6 Beazers together in one house in Erda, Utah? The Greenbezerkleywell Reunion of course! Mix in activities, games, food, limited sleep, warm weather and you get a whole lotta crazy goin' on!

July 1st and we hit the road bound for the reunion. We didn't get very far very fast though. It took us about 7 1/2 hours to drive the 3 1/2 hours to Reno. Everyone had the same idea we did, get outta town. Therefore we stopped to rest and gear up for the remainder of the drive.

The week was full of adventure! Sunday night we got to go next door to visit the neighbor boy's 4H animals!

Funny thing was, you couldn't distinguish between the baby goat's cry for his mama and Jonah's!!! Maaaaaaa! Maaaaaaa! Jonah was not a fan of the goats that night. After the goats we went on a walk through the neighborhood to see the animals. We saw chickens, turkeys, peacocks, horses, goats, lambs, llamas, dogs, a cat or two and a few of the locals!

This is a small amount of the loot from the Tooele 4th of July parade. I'm not sure who had more fun the kids, or the adults. We were a noisy bunch to say the least.

Then we rented out the cousin's gymnastics studio for a few hours one afternoon. Hey, Hey, we're the Monkey's, people say we monkey around.........

Dallin got dizzy, Jonah was very Zen and they all had a BLAST!!!

See, the craziness is taking effect!!!

Lauren was preparing herself for one of the times we went swimming. When we went to the indoor pool Todd, Jennifer and Alexis went over to do the diving boards. When the rest of us saw, we headed right over. I said to Lauren, let's go off the highest one (she's never even been off a diving board before) and up and off she went in a flash. She was the first one off the high dive that day and didn't bat an eyelash!

A hike up to Timp Cave was in order.......

Dallin and Lauren love all their cousins, but they have a very special place in their hearts for cousin Derek. He is an amazing and patient :-) cousin.

Dallin also has a special bond with his Uncle Brad.
We made it up and down Timp and to the end of the week!!! What a great reunion!

Gone in a flash!

June was one of those months where you are planning for and looking forward to things and then you look back and realize that the whole month flew by in a flash. Girls Camp was the huge event that month but along the way we fit in many fun things.

The first event for June was the end of the school year for Dallin!! His class had a fun little graduation ceremony which they did early for him because we were headed out for another fun event on the actual last day of school. Congratulations on completing the first grade Dallin!


Next we headed out for a fun beach getaway with friends. Summer forgot to show up so it was a little chilly and rainy but not enough to dampen anyone's spirits.


Then there was more fun and silly times with some friends.

Lauren always has time to fit in a few crafts in her busy life.

Jonah decided to try walking in someone elses shoes for a day. He thought it might be fun to see how Dallin and Lauren's shoes would feel.

Then one day he must have been really hungry so he got himself a snack. That is a determined baby. You can put things far out of reach, but he seems to have go-go Gadget arms, and a chair always helps. He was so pleased with himself.

The Johnstons invited us along on trip to Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville to pick Ollalieberries. I have heard all the folklore surrounding the amazing taste of these berries and the stories are true. These berries met their reputation head on. The little pickers got busy picking and eating and saving some to store up for winter. Dallin and Lauren love the book "Blueberries for Sal." They kept talking about how they were picking berries like her so that we could store them for winter. We were just planning to make jam. We did make one batch but with Girls Camp looming days away we smashed the rest and froze them where they sit today (August 14th) waiting to be made into jam. Hmmmm, something for me to do when school starts.

Jonah was trying to escape his stroller prison. It wasn't working out so well. Nor was having him grab the thorny berry bushes while we tried to get enough for a few batches of jam.

Then off I went to Camp. Leaving Todd with work to do and three monkeys to tend to. I don't think they really missed me all that much, they were having fun with Daddy. I'm glad. Things were wet and wild in the backyard sprinklers.

Here is a photo of the 4th year hikers coming back from their 3 day trip. I sadly don't have very many photos of camp. The one I really wish I would have had taken was a photo of our camp presidency. I loved working with those ladies.

I love girls camp. I love being up at camp for a week with the girls and feeling the Spirit along with them. It is selfishly a boost to my own testimony. Besides that it is a lot of hard work getting it ready for an entire stake but a whole heck of a lot of fun too. We had a fabulous week filled with many small miracles and lots of good times.

After camp it was on to getting ready for the next adventure in Utah..........