the Cabin

the kids and i went to westcliffe 

with my friend sheryl and her son justin and another boy from our ward

 since our hubbies(and 2 of her sons) were hiking music pass which is near her cabin there.

it is about a 2 hour drive.

it was such a beautiful drive that i was in awe almost the entire time.

i kept telling the kids to look at how beautiful it was.

we drove past royal gorge and the arkansas river.

we followed several buses hauling river rafts and people down the river.

each time the kids spotted a raft of people in the river they would

call out, there's another one!

ayla added some of her own sights to the excitement by saying,

i saw a bear

to which sienna would reply,

where?

in the river, ayla would respond.

and then,

i see a dear!

where?

in the river!

as we drove i had an epiphany.

i realized that the reason, 

or perhaps one of the reasons brent loves hunting so much

is because it gives him a time and place 

that he is for sure supposed to be

in nature.

he always talks about how it makes him feel rejuvenated

and balanced ,

but i think this was the first time

i really got it.

i had to have a picture and since i was driving and following sheryl

i couldn't stop

so this is what i ended up with.

i am amazed at what God has created and that He

had the imagination to create

so many beautiful, awe inspiring places.

as one of the scouts said, 

He sure had an ON day when he created this.

we got to the cabin and again i was amazed.

we couldn't wait to explore.

we went behind the cabin and the girls immediately

started hunting for these...

and had a blast doing it.

sheryl was so great with the girls and i think she enjoyed them 

as much as they did her

since she has all boys.

the three boys were busy digging for...

WORMS!

to do what else but go fishing.

all the while elsie was hanging out 

watching everyone

while i played with my camera...

then sheryl, the girls and i walked up the road

and i found these.

i love them.

and we visited a nice old man named paul

that lives up the road.

this is the view from his home...

and we watched his hummingbirds come and go.

this picture is blurry because it is a reflection in the window.

i sure wish i had a telophoto lens.

then it was back to the cabin where

sheryl helped the girls make hummingbird syrup.

and elsie played with the movie cases.

then we drove into town and ate at a cute little pizza joint.

elsie helped herself to the salad bowl.

when we looked over she was taking a big bite our of this...

a big jalapeno pepper.

her eyes started watering

but she didn't cry.

the next day was just as much fun.

sienna had found a love for the hot wheels

four wheeler and had a hard time letting 

anyone else have a turn.

but she did.the girls made brownies

and played games.

and elsie and i went exploring again.

i am so curious about this old trailer i found.

what kind of story do you think it has to tell?

then later that day we went into town to get ice cream

and on our way there we found

a handsome man in search of us.elsie was so excited to see dada.

after a big spaghetti dinner and loading up 

it was off to home.

as we pulled into our driveway ayla said,

"it is like the rainbow is taking us home."

and we all laughed.

Music Pass

Brent went with the YM on their yearly backpacking trip to Music Pass.

Brad Shaw and his son Ty went along as well.

They may have wished they didn't after all the rain they ended up enduring.

But the scenery was gorgeous.

Brent woke up at 5 AM on the 2nd morning and explored.

He said there was nothing like the solitude as

he experienced the sunrise.

He got some gorgeous pictures now that the sky had finally cleared.

easy going...

when i went to get elsie one morning this is how i found her,

happy and stuck.

Twins?

do you think we look alike?

everywhere we go people tell me ayla looks just like me.

i see it sometimes, but i think she has a much cuter nose

and the oddest, deepest shade of green eyes i have ever seen.

her facial expressions are all her own.

i absolutely love this girl.

Uncle Wilbur

Last Monday we went to Uncle Wilbur. 

It is a water fountain that the kids(or anyone) can run through for free. 

Every 15 minutes or so Uncle Wilbur raises up out of the center and plays music.

We had a great time with the Beards and the Asays.

Activities like this are why I love summer.

Wider posts?

Okay, this post if for those of you(Kirsten and Alison) that have asked me how I made the body of my blog wider to allow for larger pictures, videos and side by side pictures.

So mostly I just played with it so you can play around and find the format that works for you.  I really like the white background because I like the way it makes the pictures stand out and do the talking but I thought I would try a cute background for once and I am not sure how I feel about it. I got mine off of  aquapoppydesigns and there is a link on the left top corner of my blog. I played around with the 3 column ones until I found one that looked good with my wider body(that sounds funny).  I love the one with the birds and the red and green and the white background but the birds cut too far into the main body to work for my layout.

So to make the body wider go to layout then edit html. From there scroll down to outer wrapper and you can change the #s to whatever you want. you can preview your changes with out saving them so you can get it perfect without a ton of hassle.  I had to make mine a bit narrower  and my sidebar and main body are very close to each other now since I added the background so this is the configuration I have now.

/* Outer-Wrapper ----------------------------------------------- */ #outer-wrapper { width: 875px; margin:0 auto; padding:10px; text-align:$startSide; font: $bodyfont; } #main-wrapper { width: 675px; float: $startSide; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ } #sidebar-wrapper { width: 190px; float: $endSide; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ }

You can change these numbers and therefore change the layout. Good luck!

The Ascent

Brent climbed Pikes Peak on Friday. He started at 5 in the morning so that it wouldn't take his whole day. I laughed inside when he told me he would be home around 11 because we have been married for 10 years and at this point I know better than to think he will be home when he expects to be. He hates being late. I don't use that word often but he honestly despises being late. However, when it comes to hunting or the outdoors I can almost always plan on him being late because something always happens. They run out of gas or they can't find the animal that is down and suffering or they don't have a watch, you name it I have heard it. Now you may think that I am writing this fuming but that is not the case. I am laughing. It is just a give in at this point that Brent will be late and so it really doesn't upset me anymore. I just have to know that this is his thing and his day and he is going to come home with stories, and pictures and even though he will be exhausted he will email everyone his pictures and then call everyone and tell them his stories. And then he will crash.

So you guessed it. He was late. He called me at 11:30 and told me that he and Brad and Brad's son, Ty, had just reached the summit. I laughed. No seriously. I laughed. It had taken them 6 and a half hours to reach the top and they still had to come down. I honestly can't tell you when he got home but I believe it was close to 4.

Thier excuse: they had trudged the 12 miles in snow and he had carried his pack filled with items he didn't intend to use just to give him some extra training for his sheep hunt in 2 months. It was much harder than they expected. Instead of 3 miles an hour like he planned they were able to go only one mile an hour. When they reached the top they were sunburned, wind chapped, and falling over as others ran to open the door for them as they asked, " did you WALK up here(they had taken the scenic cog railway up)?"

Now Brent understands why his marathoner friends like Brig and Monte say that they will never do it again.

I am proud of you Brent and I do love your stories. (he is one of the best storytellers I know, and the most frequent.) I just hope you can make it on your sheep hunt because 12 days of it is bound to do you in. I don't know if I have it in me to listen to you complain about your sun/wind burns so you better take sunscreen no matter how many ounces it will weigh.

I love you, my mountain climber, my "lobster".

Water World

Amber and Eric drove all night Friday the 5th so that we could go to
Water World on Saturday.
They said it was worth the drive and I would have to agree.
We had such a fun time with them.
We didn't love seeing them go on Wednesday
and can't wait until they can come again.

Drew Baby

I was so blessed to be able to go back to Utah and see Katie and her family and their new addition, Drew. He was on lights for a few days, but because Katie was so diligent about keeping him on them as much as possible he recovered from his jaundice more quickly than expected.
He is such a sweet bundle of love and it was hard to say goodbye.
Aren't they beautiful people?