Camping with the Dinosaurs

     One thing I've been thrilled about since coming to Utah is that we've started camping as a family. I've always loved camping, and Clint is an expert camper, but he did not want to camp in any of the hot and humid locals where we have lived (plus he spent 12 months living in a tent in Iraq and that burned him out a bit).
     The weekend after the 4th of July we headed out to Vernal. We're still new to figuring out which places are good to camp. I picked out Red Fleet Reservoir because of the gorgeous sandstone scenery. It's known as Little Lake Powell to the locals and there are five distinct dinosaur trackways and over 300 dinosaur footprints.
     We arrived after dark and in the first rainstormUtah had seen for three months! We quickly set up the boy's tent and there were only a couple of puddles in their tent :(. But was mostly dry and it was plenty warm. The surprise was how close we were to our neighbors--like four feet! 
     I was hoping this was the picnic area. Nope! Each of those tables is a separate campsite. We really had to get after the boys to not make a peep, which was no fun. They did finally fall to sleep and Clint and I hung out under our picnic table awning till the rain stopped at about 1 a.m. Then we put up our own tent. 
     In the morning we had a breakfast of sausage, eggs and--most important to the harmony of the campsite-- S'Mores, since we weren't able to make S'mores the night before. 
     Then we broke camp. The boys are really turning into good workers. Whenever we have to load or unload, they are getting used to doing a task and coming back and asking what they need to do next. And the whining is even starting to decrease. 

     Jack was begging to go swimming, so we walked down to this little beach near the campsite. You can see the beginning of the zig-zag path that led down to it in this photo. The boys and Clint played and swam by the shore and I took the opportunity for some swim practice. The inlet was about 75 yards across so I did nine laps. After the first 10 yards I stood up and declared, "I'm not doing this!" It really freaks me out to put my face in dark water. Clint said, "Come on..." And eventually I got it together and did it. I found that once I adjusted my goggles correctly so they didn't leak I felt much more comfortable.

     The sandstone ledge you see descending into the lake is where the dinosaur tracks were located. To get there you needed to boat in or take a two-mile hike, which we didn't have time for. So headed on to Dinosaur National Monument.

     We've been waiting for the Carnegie Quarry building to reopen since it closed in 2006 because it was sinking in the clay. The quarry is the largest of its kind in the world and has 1500 dinosaur fossils and that doesn't include the dozens of complete skeletons that were taken to Carnegie's museum in Pittsburg. The site was originally 50 feet higher and about 80 feet wider. This is Jurassic country so there are lots of Allosaurus and Stegasaurus here.

It's easy to see the sauropod head here.

     Jack and Trace earned their Jr. Paleontologists Badges! Jack is such a careful artist, it bothered him that the pencils didn't have erasers and his drawings weren't as good as he wanted them to be! But they were really good!

Cole's First Movie

Hometown 4th of July

Here's a less controversial entry in this years 4th of July Parade in Huntsville.  :)

    The boys enjoyed snow cones at their cousin McKay's booth and jumping on the inflatables. But the real highlight, I thought, was this truckload of snow that Snow Basin brought in for snow ball fights in July! I dug my toes in that snow and boy did it feel good!

 Then we swam a bit in the McKay pool, hung out with family all day at the rock house and then enjoyed the fireworks from atop of the rock diving platform above the McKay's pool. It's the only 4th of July traditions that we've actually repeated 2 years in a row since our boys were old enough to remember.

Trace Can Fall Asleep Anywhere

The remarkable part of this doorstep nap is that he'd been doing laps around the house five minutes before. It is also funny that Talmage stepped over him twice and didn't think it was unusual enough to mention it to anyone :).

A Little Bird Told Jack that Jake and Tiffany are Well Wed

Jack showing his usual finesse with wild life. Clint had it on his shoulder and hopping up onto his head. This was at Jake and Tiffany's reception, which was so lovely and wonderful, once we were there we were having too good of a time to remember to take any more pictures.

Sam in Les Mis

Tuesday afternoon I took the boys to see Sam in the South Jordan Community Theater's production of Les Miserables, Student Edition. Wow. I was astounded at the quality of the voices. The cast walked the aisles a lot and even the extras all had these perfect ringing voices as they walked by. And the voices of the leads were phenomenal. I had a hard time believing the Eponine was really a teenager and the Javere (no idea how to spell that) looked like the perfect physical time for the part. He was very tall with a very angular Spock-like face (only angry) he was very strong. Sam had several speaking and singing parts and he was solid and right on. I told the boys the story before we got there and so they were just riveted. The director used a red scarf which passed from character to character showing the giving of mercy and compassion or forgiveness. It was a very moving experience. And the orchestra was large and, again, amazing for teenagers. I don't think that the arts are more developed in any city in the world.

Summer Soccer

    Trace is in his first soccer league. The only problem is it's indoors and often 104 in that field house. This is how Trace defended the deep field. Do you think the view of his abs is enough to scare the other team away?

This season Jack's team is flourescent orange. We haven't decided whether to call them Cheetos, Tigers, Orange Crush, Traffic Pylons...

Jack totally lucked out on his parent coach. His name is Edson, named after Edson Pele! He's from Bolivia from a professional soccer family. You wouldn't believe how in 8-minutes before the first game he tuned up this brand new team to crush the other team. And each week he teaches them more. His wife is fantastic about spelling the kids every 3-minutes and spraying them down with water to cool them off.

Summer Swim Lessons

     We started the summer off with two sessions of swim lessons. The first two weeks were outdoor, and honestly they weren't that great. Mostly they were being babysat, rather than taught and corrected. Here is Cole--oops on the goggles!

     The exception was Jack's teacher, a 60-year-old Grandma drill seargent. If they didn't do it right she sent them back to do it with the proper stroke. Jack progressed big time. She taught her entire level 3 class the side stroke, back stroke, elementary back stroke, breast stroke and freestyle. Lucky kids.

Trace had fun learning "Alligator, alligator, what time is it?"

Talmage thought his teacher was so cool and fun, but really they learned zip. Sorry.

     Luckily for all the boys, their second session was an an indoor pool where all the teachers were top-notch. Jack learned the butterfly stroke and kick-turns. I don't even know that stuff! 

     Tal and Cole got a lot of fine tuning on their strokes. I was so impressed on the first day the instructor got Tal to take off his mask and use goggles. For a boy with sensory issues that was a bold move. I fought him on that last summer and lost. Tal was ticked the first day, but by the second day he was o.k. with it and even swam laps for 30 minutes after his class every day. Cole improved 300% on his side-to-side breathing and went from doggy paddling to legitimate strokes.

     I didn't watch Trace's class much because it was in out-of-view part of the pool, but I was thrilled to see on the last day he could glide and kick underwater on command! Wow, they taught him to swim! The boys worked so hard those 4 weeks, I told them the rest of the summer we could just swim for fun, although it's hard to find a cool pool to do so and it costs $25 every time I take them. The boys say they miss our Memphis pool! I knew one day they'd appreciate it! I miss it too.

Happy Birthday, Jack! You're 7!

     This year Jack's birthday fell on the last day of First Grade! We started out with his requested breakfast in bed. Waffles, strawberries and whip cream with OJ and a side of bacon.

     This pack rat hand puppet came from the Capitol Reef Visitor's Center gift shop. Jack had his eye on it when we went there for Conference Weekend. Luckily we made it back Memorial Day weekend in time to pick it up for his birthday.

     He also got roller skates, a skate board and an art set. Jack showed his determination to learn new things by wearing his roller skates every waking minute for 3 days until he taught himself how to roller skate. It really worried me when he was clanking up and down the wooden staircase. He even wore them on a 2-mile walk to the library, tricking over every bump and crack. Cole said, "I think Jack is the daredevil of the family, Mom." Me, "Hey you're not off the hook that easily, Cole!"

It was a non-party year for Jack, but we still invited the nearby kids from the neighborhood to come over and enjoy some ice-cream cake. He had Greely, Spencer and Carter to share the sugar!

Jack is a very social, very enthusiastic, artistic and tenderhearted boy. We love our Jack.

Goodbye, Sniffy

     Sniffy had been growing  a tumor for a good six months and it was getting out of hand. She'd already lived 2 1/2 years, which is an average lifespan for a ran and I (Sarah) didn't think it was fair to her to put her through a massive, dangerous and expensive ($400) surgery. So I found a good vet in Salt Lake who would put her down for us.

     When Jack came home from school I explained  this and he decided it was for the best and he said his goodbyes. Jack came with me to the vet, but we both left the room during the procedure.
     We buried sniffy in our side yard and had a little ceremony where we all said what we loved about sniffy. There were tears shed by most. Jack still includes his thanks for Sniffy in every prayer. She was an extraordinarily good pet. The best we've had. We thought he'd want to get another rat or pet, but so far he doesn't seem ready for one.

Back When the Fire Trucks Weren't So Busy...

It was the last week of school and the 6th graders were having games in Laird Park. The firemen came to cool them off and invited Trace over. So he put on his swim trunks and joined the frey.

The firemen kept trying to hit Trace, but that boy can move!

Phantom, Finally!

Annie was so thrilled to go to Vegas and see cousin Ben Hale in the role of Raoul, she could hardly contain herself. We met Herman for dinner here at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant on Saint Mark's square.

What a lovely ballerina is Rebecca Hale! And she can act and sing too! And she's a mom of cute 1-year old Scarlet. And she's in school to be a nurse. If you're good, you're good.

It was fun to see Cody and Linda there. Thanks Linda for the Facebook heads up!

     We took a 100-degree midnight walk through the streets of Vegas down to the Bellagio to see the fountain show, synchronized to "Lucky be a Lady," sung by Frank Sinatra. Stunning and refreshing. 

     The logistics: I rode directly from the ranch with the Malmborgs, while Clint took the Cresap and Malmborg kids back to SLC while suffering a 102 degree fever! He thought he'd rather suffer that than suffer through my bemoaning missing cousin Ben sing. I'm such a wench. The Pulsiphers had spent the previous night in Saint George in the Brown's condo. I drove back with them to St. George after the play then we drove back to SLC at the crack of dawn.