August 2007, so far

August has started out being a busy month. We recently got back from our first family camping trip. I don't have those pictures off the camera yet, so check back soon for an August update. The first 4 pictures were taken in Manti, Utah at the Manti LDS Temple. I watched my sister's girls while she was inside with my mom, who works in this temple. The grounds were beautiful as was the surrounding area. The first picture was taken right by the main entrance. The temple is up on a hill and it's pretty impressive to look at.

This is Claire (1), Shaylee (2), Shelby(5) & Sydney (4). The girls weren't hard to watch, but I can't imagine having 4 girls this close in age. My mom is a trooper. She had 4 girls within 4 years of each other. I was number 4 girl and when I was born, my oldest sister Andrea was 4, and they lived in Logandale, Nevada, which is even more of a barren place than Ferron. We haven't planned when our girls have come, but I'm thankful for the little space that they do have. It kind of gives me time to breathe and forget how demanding newborns are.



Sydney climbing once again. She could climb this rock wall pretty good. We had a HUGE rainstorm this day. We were in Castle Dale at the city lamb fry (they do this every year before the Castle Valley Pageant). We had to huddle under the pavilion; it has not rained this hard since I've lived here. Because the air was so wet, Sydney's hair really went curly; she had braids, but you can still see the curls around her face. It was very cute; her hair was the only hair that looked good after the rainstorm.
The following 3 pictures were from the Castle Valley Pageant. Sydney loved this shot of the girl with the braids. She is really into pioneers. I think Little House has something to do with that. After the pageant, she wanted to go meet a pioneer. It was a great pageant; one of the best I've seen.
Eli is in the woman's spot and my sister Anita is in the man's spot. It was pretty funny.



The following 8 pictures are from our day at Milsite Resevoir in Ferron, Utah. My brothers brought their boat down and we had a great time. The water was really cold, but Claire did not want to get out. Every time the boat would stop, she'd be trying to get over the side. She's a water baby.

This is Nicole, my brother Evan's wife. She was an excellent skier. She made it look really easy. I didn't try, especially after watching her. Maybe next time.
Here's Eli trying out the wake surf board. He had a pretty good time
Here's Eli on the wake board.

This is my dad attempting his "trick". He never was able to do it, but apparently he's able to ski with one foot.

This is a great picture of Sydney. It's her content look that's she's getting really good at.

Now this takes talent. Like I mentioned before, I don't know what we're going to do when we have one more child. Eli won't have any more legs to put them on.

Prior to the Castle Valley Pageant, they have a pioneer village. We went back on another night because we didn't get there soon enough when we went to the pageant. We just stayed for pioneer village. They had all kinds of pioneer activities. It was pretty fun. The best part was probably the hand cranked ice cream. Sydney wore one of her Little House dresses so she could be a pioneer too.
This is the view from the pageant site. It's really in a very beautiful setting.
Sydney had fun milking the goat. That night when she said her prayer, she asked for a goat. She's really wanting a pet. We'll wait until we have a bigger yard to set one loose in.
My mom did not want to milk the goat. When I told Sydney that grandma didn't want to milk the goat she got a shocked expression on her face and then said "I'll help you grandma". So, with Sydney's persuasion, my mom milked a goat.