Where is the miner?

Since Tim is finally spending a little time at home, we decided to take the kids to the Kennecott Copper Mine today. You never know how an "educational" outing will go over, but the kids were thrilled! (Lady got on board once she realized there was not going to be a creepy mining guy running around like she has seen in Scooby Doo.) The dumptrucks looked like tiny little tonka trucks, and Jace could have watched them forever. Carter and Kenzie thought the display with microscopes and minerals was "amazing" (Kenzie's description). Of course, no trip is complete without inspecting every inch of the gift shop for the best and cheapest souvenir. We came away with a bag of rocks (everyone got to pick their four favorite stones), a very fake but very large gold coin (Carter was willing to spend his own money for that little trinket), and some crystal-ish key chains (the girls want to hang them in their windows and make rainbows with the sun). All in all, a great way to spend the morning!

Protecting the Young

While we were on campus, we came across some baby ducks. Much to the dismay of the mother ducks, Jace and Lady just couldn't resist getting as close as possible. And since I didn't have any stale bread handy (imagine that!), Jace decided to throw grass at them. Those poor mama ducks were quacking up a storm--Jace is probably lucky they didn't come after him. This duck pictured above finally took here babies and made a beeline for the pond. Jace chased them all the way!

Cougartown. . . at home

We finally finished the floors in the new office this weekend--Hooray! Now we need to add some fun stuff, so we took the kids down to BYU to take pictures for the walls. We are going all out with the BYU theme--I'm even working on painting a "Y" on the wall. Anyway, here are some of my favorites. Let me know which ones you think are good enough for framing. I'll post some pictures of the basement when the rest is finished (carpet comes in Saturday, and then we'll be done!! ---except for the bathroom, but who really needs one more toilet to clean?).

Cul-de-sac of FIRE!

The famous Stadium of Fire slipped just out of reach this year with the whole Miley Cyrus thing, so we had our own Cul-de-sac of Fire. Lindsey, Nicole, and Grandma came up and joined with all my neighbors for a little Independence Day Celebration. (Most the hubbies were down at Nicole's cabin putting wood on the ceiling.) As you can see, the kids loved it---except for Jace and Ryker. They kept their ears covered all night, and Ryker must have asked a dozen times if he could just go home. We made it home with all appendages in place and no one was bleeding or burned, so all in all, I'd have to say it was a success.

The kids got an early July 4th on Thursday. Mike, Di and their 5 oldest came down from Idaho. We had a BBQ and then Mike entertained us with some not-so-legal fireworks. When he purchased them in Idaho, he had to sign a waiver that he would not set them off in Idaho. I'm pretty sure that meant they weren't legal in Utah, but that was beside the point. The kids thought they were the coolest fireworks ever. Mike taught the kids a much needed lesson about reading the instructions and making sure the right end of the firework is pointing up (you know, the end where the label reads THIS END UP). When you launch the firework upsidedown, it breaks the launcher, sends the kids running, and gives the wives a near heart attack. Thanks for the entertainment Mike!

Callin' it a day

The fireworks were mesmerizing to the point of exhaustion--at least for Maddy. It is 11:30 p.m. right now, and Lady and Jace just came downstairs asking for granola bars--seriously?! Go to sleep!

. . . the ghost of Lady Jane. . .

I was attempting to take pictures of the kids doing fireworks. I have no idea how this picture happened, but I'm pretty sure if Lady was a ghost, she would look just like this!

Surprise!

You know those mornings when you just can't quite bring yourself to get out of bed? Today was one of those. My kids had been waking me up on and off since 7:00, and I managed to pull myself out of bed around 8:45. During my moments of consciousness, Jace had been showing me pictures he was coloring. When I was fully awake, I was surprised to find that he had carefully lined all the pictures up on my floor---and he was pretty darn proud of himself.

And by the way, the underwear only attire he is sporting, is his latest fashion discovery. He puts on pjs every night, but by the time he goes to sleep, he is down to just underwear. He thinks he is "so cool mom!". Lady refuses to be anywhere near him until he puts on clothes because "that is so gross mom!" Kids!!

Oh--I have also recently noticed that the time for my posting is off by an hour--but I haven't figured out how to solve that one.