Blogging again.....

I haven't been able to post or look at anyone's blog in almost a month, but Joel loaded a new browser and that finally solved the problem.   So I'm back!

The month of August we've been enjoying ourselves in the great outdoors.

One afternoon we swam in the river near the Upper Salmon Falls dam,

Taylor and Torsten jumped from the Owsley Bridge,



Hailey and I kayaked to Blue Heart Springs,

  On the way to the springs we passed Box Canyon creek.  (below) The water is so cool and refreshing.  I forgot to take pictures at Blue Heart but it was amazing.  We peered over the side of our kayak with a snorkle mask to see about 12 feet below, springs bubbling up from the river bed floor in little pots.  
 

 

Late one night we found a huge scorpion on our driveway that we caught in a jar.  With it's tail unrolled it was almost 5 inches long.

I accidentally cooked it the next day when I left the jar in the afternoon sun. This picture is after it was cooked in the sun and then accidentally dropped in the garbage disposal.  Somewhere in that process it lost it's head.


We had our yearly homeschool picnic at Niagara Springs.  Here is Hailey with some of her best friends.
  
Leif playing with his friend Hyrum. It makes me laugh that Leif wouldn't touch the water at Roaring Springs this year because he thought it was too cold, but then he had fun playing in this water that is around 58 degrees.  Brrrr!

 My happy boy!

Taylor and his buddies having a moss fight.  This is part of our Niagara Springs tradition too.  Taylor is the one in the back with tons of moss on his head.

Oh, and here's another bug we found on our driveway late at night!  It was almost as big as my palm!  I really wanted one of the kids to hold it so I could get a picture showing the relative size but no one was willing.  I've come to the firm conclusion that I'll never sleep in our yard without being in a tent.  No way.



















Some of the kids jumped from the  40 foot cliffs at Acid Lake.   Hmm.....wonder if the lake got its name from that putrid green color?

 

Taylor's been working on his biking merit badge with his scout troop.  One day he missed a bike ride, so Taylor decided to ride to Bliss and back all by himself to make up for it (18 miles).  I was really worried because I know bike riders can be hard to see but I didn't want to hold back his ambition.  I told him to wear a bright shirt and ride on the wrong side so he could see if a car was going to hit him.  That way he'd have time to swerve off into the sage brush.  I was still worried, so I took this picture before he left, thinking I wanted a picture of the last day of his life.  Isn't that horrible?

















To wrap this post up, all of us but Joel had a wonderful afternoon floating Billingsley Creek,  Hailey, Torsten and Taylor started early morning training for cross country (they are running for Buhl), Reagan finished a session of swimming lessons, and Leif began skinny dipping lessons in the backyard.

It's been a great summer!!

Naptime mischief

Joel and I took a nice Sunday nap today. Before going to bed, I made sure all the doors were securely closed so that Leif couldn't escape to the great outdoors.

I should have made sure the craft closet door was securely closed too.Leif discovered the wonderful scents of Mr. Sketch markers. It looks like he particularly liked blueberry. Too bad they're not washable.

I find Leif's taste buds to be suprising. Sure, he loves popsicles, lollipops, and chips, sad-- but certainly not unexpected in our junk food society. Some of his other favorites though, make me laugh. For example: freshly ground wheat flour! Every time I grind some, he's up there on the counter sampling the batch.

"Hi there, I'm Mr. flour eater. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, excuse me...cough.....cough.....I think I inhaled this stuff! Cough."

Yes, he loves to eat flour.

He also LOVES mushrooms fried in butter. He can hardly wait as I'm cutting the mushrooms, and I have to keep telling him that they're almost done. He eats them so fast I can barely keep up! Another favorite of Leif's is baked kale. It's crunchy, garlicy goodness and simple to make. You stir kale leaves with olive oil and minced garlic and bake until they've started to crisp. I sprinkle a bit of salt on them before eating. Leif and I are the only ones on our family who find this really delicious, so maybe we're strange. You should try it and let me know what you think. :-)

Koosharem 2011

We just got back from our annual July trip to southern Utah! I'm very glad we went. But I have to share a funny experience. The morning we were packing to go, it ended up being a bit rough and I began to think we should call the whole trip off. First, I walked/crashed into the bike rack on the back of the suburban 4 different times with my face and the last crash was a doozy! It gave me a huge purple goose egg on my forehead and I actually cried. Seriously, do I have peripheral vision problems or something??? I've decided it was probably just a case of being completely oblivious to my surroundings, and it scares me that I could be that oblivious. :-) Luckily, Joel reminded me to put some arnica cream on it and that took the swelling down quickly so I only had a bit of bruising.

And then, when we finally got packed and left, about a minute after we were on the freeway we had the suburban blow a radiator hose! Thankfully, Joel noticed the temperature gauge before we ruined the engine. He had to do some improvising, which included rerouting, and clamping, and stuffing tools down hoses, etc. It worked well enough for us to limp into Wendell for parts and coolant. So, almost 2 hours after we started, we were finally on our way. Phew!

Now for some Koosharem photos:

We all enjoyed some amazing storms and rainbows during our stay. That part of Utah always seems to have afternoon thunderstorms and they are so refreshing. Look close-- it's a double rainbow.And this sunset. Stunning!
Everyone played a lot of volleyball this year. Good times.
And of course, Uncle Thad had the pasture golf course set up. That's always a hit. It can be quite an adventure because if you hit the ball out of the mowed area, you are searching in the tall grass for your ball.
Heidi decided to do a scene from Anne of Green Gables-- you know, the Lady of Shalott funeral scene. The grass was so deep and lush.

The girls had fun putting flowers in Leif's hair and carrying him around.
Heidi had so much fun with her cousin, Sophia, that she went back to Phoenix with her for a few weeks. I miss my Heidi so much! I hope she's not dying of heat stroke. The end of July is probably not the best time of year to visit Phoenix but she really wanted to go.
Now of course, everyone in the family knows the real reason for going to Koosharem is for the fishing. At least for the menfolk! Here's Reagan with his catch. One day they caught 40 trout.
Taylor took some great flower pictures at the reservoir..........
Hailey captured a good one too......
I brought my sewing machine this year and I was so glad I did. I am notreally a fisher woman, in fact, I've never caught a fish in my life. So while everyone was fishing, Leif and I stayed home and did projects. Well, I did projects and Leif amused himself playing with people's shoes. Oh, speaking of shoes,I have to share this photo real quick, so I'm going off topic for a second. One night, back in Idaho, Leif wanted me to put his shoes on so we could go for a walk, but I was doing the dishes so I ignored his request. Next thing I knew, he was outside, sluffing along in Torsten's shoes, planning to go who knows where. My little cutie loves shoes and loves to escape. He's given me quite a few scares. And no, that is not a busy road he's standing in. Thank goodness!

So back to the original topic. I set up my machine in the attic "pink room". I love the old wall paper up there, though the room has a funny smell that everyone says comes from the bats that live behind the walls. It's such a neat old house.
I pieced some quilt blocks for my quilt along, sewed this table topper for cousin Karen.......... and a made a "hot potato" or "potato sack"......?I can't remember what the heck it's called, but it's supposed to cook potatoes in the microwave better than the normal method. I'll buy some potatoes soon so I can try it out. I know, I live in Idaho and I don't have any potatoes in the house. For shame!

While we're talking about potatoes, here I am mixing up a batch of funeral potatoes for dinner. (proof that I really was there)
One of my favorite parts of the trip was visiting Capitol Reef. The colorful rock formations are so amazingly beautiful! It's nice to have the Fremont River flowing through the park to add some coolness and mud to the day. The water almost looks like chocolate milk to me.We're swimming in chocolate!Our annual mud tromp.....Leif had a go of it. I was surprised that he seemed to like it okay. Usually mud scares him. Normally even chocolate icing makes him nervous because it looks like mud.
The whole clan.
The Capitol Reef area was settled by Mormon pioneers and they planted orchards full of fruit trees. The park invites the public to pick fruit from the orchards when it's in season. After we ate a picnic, we crossed the bridge and picked apricots in the orchard area before the kids jumped back in the water. That water was a magnet! Not too cold and not too deep.
Aren't the cliffs fabulous?
The perfect shades of warm orange, corals and reds to pop in contrast against the blue sky and green trees.
After exploring a few caves, we headed home. We stopped in Torrey for ice cream. Delicious!Then back in Koosharem...............we had an impromptu barbershop on the porch as Karen cut everyone's hair and the guys told stories.
Okay, this is the end of what I think is my longest blog EVER. Better hit the sack.