The great duck hunter

Back in November-

While Carly was getting her Senior pictures taken at the BYU arboretum, Mason and I had a little fun taking pictures of our own.

Carly usually doesn't like taking pictures. She doesn't feel very photogenic, she gets a little stiff and then the pictures don't turn out very good. It's kind of like self-fulfilling prophecy I think.

We had a very good experience on this day however and although I haven't seen the pictures yet I heard they looked great and I believe it.

She was comfortable with the photographer, whom she knows well and likes so much, and I saw some of that usual tension slip away and she looked natural and happy.

Mason and I tried to give them room and found some fun of our own with the ducks. He was enthralled with following them around. The ducks, however, did not seem so enthralled.

The ducks seemed ambivalent at first-

then wary,

then downright annoyed

and stand-offish

as the boy in blue just WOULDN'T leave them alone!

Mason, on the other hand,

was having

the time of his life!

Tiptoe through the tulips

We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point a week ago when Mark's Mom and Dad came to visit. We love the gardens. They are so peaceful and beautiful in every season. It was lovely to be there with Mom/Donna who loves flowers and nature and beauty. She makes every life she touches more beautiful. We love you mom!

We loved seeing this tiny little grape hyacinth growing under the protection of the daffodils and tulips

We needed a golf cart for Mark and his gimpy foot. There was no way he was up to walking the paths for 2 hours. The kids took turns riding with him.

I had the first turn which was nice until my children whom I was sure had been here enough times to know how to behave started running around like crazy people

Right after they ran through these trees they came upon a little stream in a rocky bed bordered by tulips and pansies. I don't mind letting them run through the grassy areas. Kids need to run right? Well... they ran over the grass, through the trees and then right through a flower bed, jumped the stream and Mason didn't land well which led, of course, to lots of screaming and yelling "ooowwww!!! My kneee! My knee!! AAAGGGHHH there's blood mom! AAAHHH

b-b--b-buuuuhhhllloooodddddd!!!"

I was so proud. Yes- multiple, gawking, spectators, these are my children- My well-trained children who ran through the flowerbeds and jumped the stream and now lie screaming as if they had a toe amputated.

Showing off his sliding skills

There were angels perched around ever corner...

gorgeous color

and even a few surprises. I'd never seen an owl this close before. He/she was nesting on the waterfalls.

(Why do owls always seem male? Is it just me???)

It was cool to watch the robotic looking way he moved his neck almost completely around.

It was a beautiful day. It is so soul inspiring to witness the beauty of the earth and I'm so grateful for the creators of Thanksgiving point. We have loved having a family membership the last couple of years.

I consider Stop signs completely optional....

Friday was a busy day. It started out at 6:00am as I held Mason in my arms and he cried about a bad dream he'd had. It involved being left behind as his family all left 2 or 3 at a time to return home from a vacation location until he was left all alone and he couldn't get home. This is not a farfetched dream. My youngest brother almost got left behind in a Las Vegas parking lot once. It was quite tragic. I can still see his little crying face running behind the van and the rest of us yelling to my dad "Stop! we forgot David!!!"

After we talked about the dream, he felt better. As he got ready for school he remembered about his field trip to the Apple Farm that day and all was right with our world.

When I got home from work, Grandma Donna/Gpa Mike were at our house for a visit. Our cousin Ava was getting baptized Saturday so they had come out from California for that special occasion. Our UVU college cousin Kei was on her way from Provo so we decided to check all the kids out a little early from school so we could get out to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens before it got too chilly. Happiness and love abounded with Hello hugs and kisses all around. Grandma passed out presents which raised the euphoria to en even higher level. Life was good. We got assigned to our respective cars and we were on our way.

When we go to the gardens I always get a little worried I'm going to miss a turn because they are situated a ways away from the other parts of Thanksgiving Point. I was carefully looking for signs to make sure I was headed in the right direction when I missed a rather important sign... A stop sign. I didn't even know I'd missed it when I saw the red/blue lights in my rear-view mirror. I asked Kei, who was in the passenger seat, "was I speeding?" she gave me an apologetic smile and said "I think it was that stop sign you missed." I was still trying to figure out what stop sign she was talking about when the police officer arrived at my window and confirmed that I had indeed missed a stop sign. He asked for the requisite driver's licensee, proof of insurance and registration. I was fishing around in the glove box when I realize there were tears and sobbing coming from the back seat. "are we all going to jail?" Mason asked tearfully. From her seat in the midle, Carly comforted and explained the Policeman was just reminding us we had to follow ALL the rules and Mommy had just made a little mistake. Oops.

You can imagine the Goldmine this is for Mark. He's so giddy to have something new to tease me about. Even Kei got in on the teasing calling me a wild woman on my afternoon prowl.

Well, I signed my ticket which in no way admitted my guilt and we proceeded to the gardens where we had a lovely time. Grandma/Gpa didn't think they had it in them to walk the whole way so they rented a golf cart.

The kids had fun taking turns riding with Mark on the back.

Or chasing after it....

There weren't a lot of flowers this late in the year

but there were lots of beautiful leaves changing colors, shrubs, interesting grasses

we saw frogs and lillypads

and waterfalls

and so much more. It's a place I can go to over and over and never tire of.

We had a lot of fun taking pictures of the girls

in the secret garden

For some reason....

It always takes us a couple of tries to figure out which path leads us to the entrance to the secret garden...

Hmmm... go figure.

But it's always worth it

In the end.....

UEA Saturday A.K.A. Watching out for Dick Cheney...

Okay, Okay... I know technically it's probably not UEA saturday, it's just  saturday but I'm kind of running with a vacation theme here so humor me....

Saturday was to be a continuation of  funFUNfun  for me and the kids. (Mark was due home midafternoon)  We slept in (so nice) and watched cartoons and lazily got ready for our big plans which weren't til after lunch.  We were supposed to get together with our friends, The Leach family, to hike the Grotto Trail in Payson Canyon.  It's supposed to be a family friendly hike with a waterfall cascading into a little cave at the end.  Here's a picture I stole off some random blog. 

Wouldn't you like to go there?  and the leaves in the canyon would be beautiful.  A great plan!

That is until Adam said, "umm... there's one thing we may want to consider before heading up the canyon... It's opening weekend for deer season and there are kids as young as 10 or 12 with tags... "  That means kids with guns and I'm fresh out of bright orange hats and vests.  If our illustrious VP can have an accident with his years of experience hunting I didn't feel like taking a chance with my little family knowing there could be Deacons with guns on the mountain.  

So we went here instead.  Bridal Veil Falls.  Just a little ways up Provo Canyon, includes a waterfall and changing leaves.  AND the really big point in it's favor?  It's out of the way of deer hunters.   We played along the riverbank.  We took lots of pictures. We had a great time until.....

we decided to try the hike up to the base of the falls like we did last year.......  

We couldn't remember where the trail started and Carly and Rachel saw 2 steep looking paths and said we'll check these out and tell you if they connect to the trail.  I looked away for one moment and the boys are both scrambling up behind them and didn't come back when I yelled.  So Samantha and I started up after them. I figured I had better climb the treacherous slope with them so we could all fall together.  It was a little frightening at times because it was steep and there was a lot of loose rock that would slip under your feet.  We hit a dead end and had to climb down.  Samantha was very frightened although she held it together better than she did last year and that was on the right trail. By the time we got down none of us were in any mood to find the right trail and give it another go so no triumphant "we did it" pictures at the base of the falls this year.  Next year I am pretty sure we'll remember to walk a little further to find the REAL beginning of the trail.  

When we got home Mark was home.  Yea! I gave the boys haircuts.  We all took a shower and got cleaned up.  That night we watched "It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown".  It was the first time for the kids and the first time in many years for Mark and I.  We told the kids how we would watch for the commercial telling us when it would be on and mark the calendar so we wouldn't miss it.  There was one chance a year and if you missed it, you missed it! They thought it was funny.  

Vacation day #3:     beautiful.  wet. colorful. scary.  fun.  Over.