Wice Nguh-nguhs Kees

Miles is a very cute little talker. His speech is pretty hard to understand sometimes, but he really is getting better every day. I love how expressive he is with his inflections on words; it's very fun to listen to him. This morning I just had to record him saying "wice nguh-nguhs kees."

And that's how Miles got to have Rice Krispy treats for breakfast!

Blacksmith Fork Canyon 2010

This weekend was our annual trip up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. We LOVE camping there! There are lots of really good spots, where you're close to the river but not too close to the road or to other campers. Bryan & I used to camp there in our tent several times a summer when we lived in Cache Valley and we continue to go at least once a year now. Here's a summary of our weekend in photos:

 Our beautiful spot by the river.

Miles spent his time doing, what else?  Oh yeah, throwing rocks in the river! 

 He only wanted BIG rocks (about the size of our fists), so we actually waded in 2 or 3 times and pulled out the rocks so that he could throw them back in again...

Here's a photo of the river right before we came home, with the addition of several hundred rocks.  Remember that he threw in this many 2 or 3 times over! 

Tess spent her time playing with worms.  This one is Jack.  He met his untimely demise when she left him in the sun while we took a 4-wheeler ride.  It was pretty hilarious (but sad too) when we came back and she picked up poor Jack and he was stiff as a board.  She held him up and it looked just like she was holding up a stick.  She was very bummed, but she found 2 more worms to play with, Jack & Jill, and we were sure to put them under a rock in the shade when we left.

Bryan spent his time trying to get this P.O.S. chain saw to work.  (I spent that time laughing at him.  I mean "with" him.  Heh.) 

Here we are where Left Hand Fork in Blacksmith Fork Canyon meets Right Hand Fork in Logan Canyon.  Ahhh......Cache Valley, how I love you!  (Bryan & I have decided that we are going to retire up there someday.  We'll be the old farts that the college students can't stand to drive behind.) 

Gray Cliff Spring 

(These next photos are just kind of funny...On the first day we put Miles' long pants on him and I mentioned that they were getting too short for him, just at the same time that Bryan mentioned that they were kind of riding low on him....  Hmmm, I wonder if it's time to put these pants in the "too small" bin?)

 

We had a perfect weekend.

Fishy, Fishy

Tess and Miles just finished their 2-week swimming lessons.  I wish we could've had them earlier in the summer because they both enjoyed swimming so much, and they learned so much too!  Tess was fearless to begin with, but Miles was pretty hesitant at first (he & I were in a "Mommy & Me" course, so I was there with him the whole time.)  By the end of the 2 weeks, he was jumping right in and getting his whole head wet; I was really proud of them both.  On the last day of the lessons, Bryan had the day off, so he swam with Miles and I got to watch everyone and take pictures.

Lagoon

Bryan's office had their company day at Lagoon yesterday.  We had so much fun!  The last time we went to Lagoon was when we were newly dating, in 2002, and Bryan ended up puking in the parking lot by the car...but that's another story.  Anyway, since then we've just been too cheap or had kids that we thought were too young, to go back to Lagoon.  But yesterday we went, spent the whole day riding rides, and it was a blast.  We spent most of our day on the kiddie rides, but that's OK--no puking for Bryan that way! 

Here's a self-portrait from the Tidal Wave.  (Our sweet boy Miles has issues with photo-taking.  He'll smile but NOT look at the camera, or he'll look at the camera but NOT smile.  He just can't seem to figure out how to do both at the same time.  Oh well...he's still cute.)

Here we are in line, ready to get WET on Rattlesnake Rapids!

Here's Tess riding her bumper car.  Miles couldn't quite get the hang of steering, as you can see from the video below...

Tess was a big dare-devil and would go on anything that she was tall enough for.  She was so bummed that she couldn't ride the Roller Coaster or the Rocket yet.  (Someday!)  Here she is grinning from ear to ear on the Paratrooper ride (I've always just called it "the umbrellas.")

Another shot of the kids, this time waiting for our ride on the train.  Miles actually got the looking AND the smiling in this picture (sort of, if you count the scrunchy-nosed grimace as a smile, and I do!)

At the very end of the night we went to see the special performance by Cirque Innosta called "L'orage."  It was so cool!  They had a magician, acrobats, and contortionists.  It was so unbelievable what these people could do with their bodies.  Here's a picture and video of one guy who could balance on anything...he would put his balance board on top of rolling cylinders, which were on top of a pretty tall platform.  As the show went on he would add more and more cylinders, stacked on top of one another.  It was so cool!  I took the video with my camera turned, forgetting that I can't rotate the orientation for a video; so you'll just have to turn your head to the side to see it!  (Also, I noticed that the whole performance is on YouTube, if you're interested.  It really was pretty awesome.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dylGx875jB0)

I Love Summer!!!

Last Monday we went water-skiing with Papa at Willard Bay and had a wonderful time, as usual.  Then we sent the kids home with Papa, because I had Young Women "Girls' Camp" from Tuesday-Friday.  It was such a blast.  We did silly skits, played crazy games, ate tons of yummy food, made crafts, stayed up late every night, strengthened friendships, went on a beautiful hike, enjoyed terrific speakers, learned a lot about first-aid, and just generally had a fantastic week together.  The girls in our ward were super--they helped out without complaining and got along really well--I am so lucky to be able to spend time with these amazing young women.

Then, Friday afternoon, after a quick shower and re-packing, we headed out for our Jensen family reunion at Wasatch State Park.  It was lots of fun as well.  Swimming, motorcycle/4-wheeler rides, campfires, star-gazing, card games, and more yummy food made a great weekend.

I had about 10 loads of laundry to do when I got home, and I probably gained 10 pounds, but it's all worth it!  I love summer!

Inspiring...

We got a new (to us, of course) 4-wheeler a few weeks ago.  We took it out for our maiden voyage as a family last night.  Bryan took Miles on the motorcycle and I took Tess on the 4-wheeler.  We had such a great time!  We drove up to Mantua and then rode the trail up to Inspiration Point.  On the way up, we stopped to enjoy the view looking southeast, over the Liberty/Eden/Huntsville area.

From the very top, you can look northeast into Cache Valley, northwest into Tremonton and Brigham City, directly west down on Willard Bay and the Great Salt Lake, and then southwest into all of Weber and Davis Counties.  It was just beautiful!  We were over 9300 feet in elevation and it was really cool. 

After we drove back to Mantua we roasted hot dogs and S'mores, and then it started to rain pretty hard.  Just as we got all packed up, the rain stopped and the most incredible rainbow showed up in the east.  I have never seen a rainbow as big, with colors so intense as this.  Bryan even said it was probably the prettiest rainbow he had ever seen, and he lived in Hawaii--the land of daily rainbows-- for two years!  I said that it was gorgeous, and Miles quickly picked up on that word; he kept repeating, "that the gorgeous rainbow I seen!"  I tried to take a picture of the whole thing, but it was so big that I couldn't back up far enough to get all of it!  As usual, it was much brighter and more intense in real life than the picture, but you get the idea.

I love living in Utah! 

(Also, if you'd like a laugh and you haven't already seen it, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI.  "What does it mean??!")