Oak City Days

Every August here in Oak City, they have what they call "Oak City Days". It is a celebration that lasts all weekend. People come from all over. There are people who were raised here, some that have family that live here now, people from Delta, and many others. They have a parade on Friday night which kicks things off, then they have all kinds of activites for all different ages. They have a rook tournament, ice cream social, movie in the park (all the teenagers take couches up to the park and watch a movie.) On Saturday they have a 5K race in the morning, a choir concert, a turkey shoot, basketball tournament, mud volleyball, horseshoes, and lots of other things. Thay have a big pit barbeque dinner. They cook the food all night in a huge cement pit up at the park. Then all day Saturday the entire park is filled with booths with all kind of stuff. There is all different kinds of things to buy, lots of games to play, a trout catch, and tons of fun for everyone. This year there were a bunch of the blow up jumping houses for the kids. Our kids had a lot of fun that day. Railey started the day with being dunked in the dunk tank. She wanted to sit and be dunked. They had cotton candy, and snow cones. They jumped in the bounce houses for a long time. They had one with a huge slide on it. Except for Robby, they all loved it. We couldn't get him to go. Ryder and Ranger went over and over. Ryder always look scared coming down, but would laugh at the bottom and then head back to the top. Ranger looked like he was loving it. We did finally talk Robby into going up but once at the top we couldn't get him to come down. So he was up there for a while. Then he finally decided to climb back down the ladder. After lots of coaxing and bribing we got him to go back up with Ryder and Ranger. We told Ryder and Ranger not to let go of him, and pull him down the slide when they went so he wouldn't be stuck at the top again. We weren't sure if they would but they held on to him and pulled him down with them. Once he got to the bottom he wanted to go again but he didn't get to because it was time for the trout catch. For the trout catch, they go by age groups, and it is timed, so you have to hurry and try to catch the fish or you won't get one. Last year, Railey tried but didn't end up with one. For the kids ages 3 and under they let an adult in with the child. They let you kneel at the edge of the pool and try to help them catch a fish. Rob, me and a friend each helped one of the boys. We were lucky and each of the boys ended up with a fish. They aren't very easy to catch bare handed, but each of us caught one for the boys. They were so excited. I was just so worried that now because all of the boys got one, that Railey wouldn't get one, because we couldn't help her, but wouldn't you know, she got right in and instead of catching one in the pool, she would flip the water out of the pool when the fish would swim by, and she flipped a fish right out of the pool. Then she hopped out and got the fish off the grass. I was so happy for her, especially after not getting one last year. We took all the fish home and grilled them for dinner, after each kid watched dad gut and clean their fish.

Railey going down the slide

Ranger (Mr. Fearless) Ryder(looking scared but really loving it)
I love this picture. The little boys telling Robby its not scary.
He says it is but is going up with them anyway.

Now at the top, Robby's not so sure but they aren't letting go.

We are at the bottom yelling up to them, "Don't let go, just pull him down"And away they go, and Ranger still isn't letting goEverybody waiting for them to fill the pool with fishRefilling with fish for the next group.

Railey's age group is next.And the 7 year olds are off
Railey with her big catch

Robby with his fish

He got very sad after this because he found out his fish was now deadRanger the happy man

Ryder was happy to have the fish but wasn't sure he wanted to hold

it much with his bare hands. He wanted it in the sack to carry it around.

Our fishermen with our dinner

Railey's 7th Birthday

Railey celebrated her 7th Birthday on August 4th. We can't believe she is already 7. She had a fun birthday. She loves bugs and animals so we did her a lady bug cake with 2 smaller lady bugs. She really liked the cakes. She got a lot of fun things including a game, a new pair of pajamas, a puzzle, some play make-up. She got a card with money from grandma and grandpa. She was so excited about that because she loves to get mail. She also got a card with $7 from Aunt Jeneal in Washington. She loves animals so much and has been wanting more for a long time, so she ended up getting some bunnies. She was so happy to get them. She went with Rob up north on her birthday to get them. We now have 8 Rabbits. She loves them. She knew if she were to get them that it would be her responsibility to take care of them, along with some help from dad. She has really done a good job caring for them. She spends a lot of time out with them. She packs them around like babies. Hopefully she will continue to like them and like caring for them. They are really cute and fun to see.

Holding "Flopsy"

So far he is the only one with an official name

Railey Sleeps Outside

A few weeks ago, Railey kept telling us that she wanted to sleep out all by herself. She wanted to sleep on the swing on the deck, so we decided to let her. She got her little sleeping bag and pillow and a few other things and spent the whole day getting ready for her sleep out. I kind of thought by the time night came she would change her mind, especially with it being dark, but I was wrong. When it was time for bed, she went right out. We got her tucked in and left a little light on in the kitchen so she could see if she got up during the night and she went right to sleep. We kept checking on her and finally went to bed. She came in about 3:30 but only because she said she was hot. We told her she could get in her bed, and she did, but then about 10 minutes later she came back in and said she was going back out. So she headed back out and stayed out until morning. I was a little surprised she actually did it. She was pretty proud of herself.

Getting her all tucked in

Ready for sleep

Summer Happenings

We have been having a great summer so far, although I am not very happy about how fast it seems to be going by. It seems like just yesterday when we were waiting for it too quit snowing and warm up so we could finally get outside. The winter was so long and I was more than ready to see the warm weather. I can't believe we are nearing the end of July already. Where does the time go? Before we know it, the kids will be back in school. I guess we just need to try and enjoy the rest. We have kept busy this summer. We had our trip to Lagoon. The kids are still talking about it. My mom came to our house on June 30th and spent a couple of days with us, then she took the kids home with her for a few days. They had a great time(the kids anyway)...you'll have to ask my mom and dad how it was for them. My kids love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. We had bounce-back tickets from Lagoon for only $9 which we hadn't planned on using but decided to go again with just the 2 of us. It was a lot of fun. We were able to jump from ride to ride pretty fast so we did all we wanted to do in about 4 hours. We did some others errands while we were in Salt Lake, made a Costco run and then we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. We had a fun day. It's amazing to me how fast I can do things when I'm not toting a handful of kids. I spent the other couple of days getting caught up on a lot of things. I spent one entire day outside in the yard and garden. There is always something that needs to be done in the yard. One night we took our bikes up the mountain about 9 miles and then we rode them home. We missed the kids, but enjoyed the peace and quiet. Thanks mom and dad. It was a nice break. We went to Blanding to pick up the kids and spend the 4th of July. I don't think I had spent the 4th in Blanding in over 10 years. It was fun.
Our yard and garden are now what I'm spending a lot of time on. Our garden has done pretty good. We are now starting to get a lot of stuff from it. We have cucumbers coming out our ears. We have picked a lot of Zuchinni. I have started picking tomatoes, and it doesn't look like it will be long before I have a lot that are ready. All of the peppers have grown really nice. I saw a few ears of corn starting to come out from the stalks so that is exciting. We can't wait to have fresh corn on the cob. The kids ask all the time when it will be ready. The onions, green beans, and melons are growing good too. We picked a bunch of green beans and bottled our first batch the other day. I haven't tried them yet. Hopefully they will be good.
The kids love to go into the garden when its time to pick the vegetables. The boys drive their big dump trucks out there and they think they need to "haul" the stuff back to the house. It's really cute. Railey loves seeing things grow, and she is constantly out there "checking" the garden for me. Ranger asks me almost daily if those "matoes" are for his "mato juice". He loves tomato juice and is intrigued with the idea of me making it for him.
Last friday night we went to Salt Lake to attend the wedding reception of Rob's cousin Jordan Jacobs. It was a quick drive up and back that evening but it was great to be able to visit with a lot of Rob's family. We don't get to see them very often.

For family home evening this week we spent time in the garden

The kids with some of the things we picked
Its always been my dream to have a family picture in front of a corn patch

(yes, I'm joking)

LET THE CANNING BEGIN!!!

The first bottled green beans of the year

This is what I picked tonight but it was getting dark

so I didn't get to a lot of the garden to check everthing.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more tomorrow.

Lagoon

LAGOON 6/24/2009
We went to Lagoon this last week. Rob's sister Valoree and her fiance Jason came up from Nevada for a few days to visit. We all went to Lagoon together. We had a great time. We drove up to Salt Lake early Wednesday morning so we got there just as it opened. We went in for a few hours and when everyone got hot and hungry we headed out to the parking lot for lunch. We had packed a cooler. Then we headed back in for the rest of the day. The kids had tons of fun. They loved all of the kiddie rides and most of the bigger rides. There were a couple they were not fans of. They especially did not like the "Title Wave." They loved all of the rides with water. They thought it was cool that we were getting wet. They were giggling and having fun in the water. They really thought it was funny when mom got absolutely soaked on "Rattle Snake Rapids." And they liked the "Log Ride" and getting splashed. Railey was the perfect size. She was just big enough to ride most of the adult rides as long as one of us was with her but she was still small enough to go on all the kid rides too. She was quite the little dare devil. She loved the roller coasters and the scary rides. She would scream like crazy while on the rides but as soon as they ended she would ask if we could go again. She even went on the one called "Wicked" with me. I was pretty proud of her. She has been talking nonstop about it since we got home. We went and had our pictures done in Pioneer Village. Rob has wanted an old fashion picture like that for a long time. So we now have one in black and white to hang up. He says that it will be our Christmas card. So I guess time will tell. It was a long day, but it went too fast. By the time we got home it was nearly 1 a.m. But all in all we had a great day spending it with family. It was really nice to spend time with Val and Jason, and it was great to get the kids out and do something extra fun with them.

The whole crew at the end of the day

Old Fashion (serious)

Old Fashion (happy)

All the kids

Ranger and Robby

Railey and Ryder

Ryder couldn't have been happier driving a yellow boat

RAILEY

RYDER

RANGER
ROBBY

New Bikes and Time Out

NEW BIKES
The boys got new bikes this last week. We have been going for little rides in the evenings with the kids and the boys have been riding their little trikes. They think it is so much fun. They pedal their little legs as fast as they can go. We decided they needed some bikes with rubber tires instead of the little plastic ones they have on the trikes. There are not too many sidewalks where we live so it was kind of hard for them with the trikes to go on the roads not to mention it was very loud. You could hear us coming from a mile away. So Rob went to Walmart while he was up north and picked some up, along with some helmets. They were so excited to get "big boy" bikes. We didn't tell them that we got them at first. We told them that Dad brought a surprise back for them and we gave them the helmets. So we put their helmets on and they wanted to go for a ride. We had set the bikes up side by side in the driveway so they would see them when they headed outside, but they went straight to the garage to get their trikes so we had to redirect them to the bikes. They went nuts over the new bikes. They have had a lot of fun on them already. They love them. And they actually still like the trikes too.

They thought they were just getting a picture taken with their new helmet.

They didn't know about the bikes yet.

Just figuring out how to ride them. They couldn't figure out the brakes for a

while. They kept asking what happened and why they kept stopping.

TIME OUT

I had to post a few pictures that show one of the ways I use the corners in my kitchen. There are 3 corners that are fairly close but far enough away from each other that they work perfectly for naughty little boys. Close enough together that I can keep an eye on all of them at the same time. My camera couldn't really get all of them at the same time, but in the bottom picture you can see the head of the 3rd. They don't usually all end up in the corner at the same time but they have their days when all of them help each other get into trouble. They were actually in trouble when I took these pictures. This particular day was one I do not want to repeat. But I did tell myself I needed some pictures for later on. Someday the boys will look at these and think they are funny. (I hope)

A Little Bit of Everything

GARDEN
I finally got my garden planted a couple of weeks ago. I worked like crazy to get this space cleared in hopes of having a garden this year. But I got it done and was able to plant. I planted a lot of corn on the cob, purple onions, yellow onions, carrots, cherry tomatoes, about 75 tomato plants, lots of jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, broccoli, all different kinds of squash, a lot of green beans, cucumbers, some watermelon, and some cantaloupe. I don't know if it will all grow good but so far it seems to be doing well. The corn is up and getting taller everyday. The tomato plants are looking much stronger since they were planted as are the peppers. All of the cucumbers, squash, green beans, onions and carrots are up and growing. The tomato plants are starting to flower and I even have 3 little tiny tomatoes on one plant already. I am so excited. Watching the plants grow and flowers bloom is one of my favorite things. I planted a ton of flowers this year all over the yard. I love to go out and look at them. And the smell is even better. So if everything continues to do well, hopefully I will be very busy in a couple of months. I want to bottle salsa, tomato juice, green beans, and who knows what else. Rob said he thinks it will be cool to open up a bottle of salsa and know that we grew everything it took to make it. We have kind of been on a food storage kick lately. It is a great feeling to know that we now have a year supply for our family. And now we are working to add to it which hopefully this garden will let us do. It was also nice to have the kids see it and get excited to grow it. They helped clear out all the rocks while we were tilling and I let them help me plant a few of the things. Now I just need to teach them to weed it. These pictures are not the greatest but you can kind of get the idea.

GRANDPA PALMER

On May 23, 2009 my grandpa Palmer (my mom's father) passed away at the age of 97. What a wonderful man he was and what a great life he lived. His funeral was on May 28, 2009 in Blanding, Utah. He was such a great example to all of us and he will be missed. But we are also very happy for him. My Grandma passed away in July of 2007. Grandpa had been very lonely for her. They had their 77th wedding anniversay just a couple of weeks before she died. Not very many people get that many years together. What a reunion they must have had. They also lost a son at the age of 8 to polio and never stopped missing him, so how wonderful it must be for them to be with him again. We have many wonderful memories of Grandpa and Grandma that will never be forgotten. They were the best grandparents anyone could ask for.

Grandma and Grandpa with my boys shortly after they were born.

Grandma was so excited and Grandpa couldn't believe what miracles they were.

Grandpa giving hugs and kisses to the kids.

Check out Robby's face and what Grandpa is doing. Typical.
Grandpa always played with and teased the kids.

My boys having their last cookie with Pockee

Grandma and Grandpa's headstone

My Grandparents children L to R Shirley(tobe) Ileene,

Margaret, Lyman, Karma, Kaye(my mom)

OVERDUE VISIT

Over memorial weekend I had the oppurtunity to see an old roommate from school in Cedar City back in 1997. We hadn't seen each other since my wedding more than 9 years ago. We have tried to keep in touch over the years somewhat but hadn't actually seen each other. It was so great to see her. She was coming up to to Hurricane and Cedar for other stuff and drove up early and an extra 2 1/2 hours to my house just so we could spend some time together. We had a really nice visit although it was way too short. We will definately have to do it more often. You're the best Janelle. Thanks for coming to see me.

RAILEY TEETH UPDATE

We have been back to see the dentist again for Railey's teeth. The took some more x-rays and they looked good. He didn't see a fracture like they thought there might be before. He said he thought she had healed nicely and that everything looked normal. He said we just need to watch as the teeth come in and make sure they are not discolored. Hopefully they will be good. Her new teeth have already come in quite a bit. So now we start the jack o lantern teeth phase, and hope for the best. I just know she will end up in braces eventually. I will be shocked if she doesn't. I had them and so did Rob. So for now we will enjoy how cute she looks with missing teeth.