Hiking in the Mountains

On Saturday we went "hiking in the mountains." On our drive through the Alpine Loop we stopped at Mutual Dell and hiked around some of the trails, finding sticks, fighting weeds/bad guys, and tracking bears. As Matthew said, it was "the most fun ever!" You can tell he was having a good time in this first picture. I had just told a really super funny joke about why the chicken crossed the road.

Here's Nicole with a really cool stick (aka sword).

A little smoochin' at our picnic. We dined on apples, Ritz crackers, graham crackers, raisins and a dessert of M&M's. All of the important food groups!

It's so nice when they love each other!

Un guard! (is that even remotely close to how you spell it?)

The trails were beautiful! But not as beautiful as US! (Woodson is supposed to say!)

SOOOO excited!

Daddy and Nicole climbing on rocks.

Tagged!

I got tagged by my friend Natalie for this one so here goes! I can't believe I am actually doing this tag! I am very proud of myself for doing it - hopefully none of you will think less of me for my grungy house! You're supposed to drop whatever you're doing when you read that you're tagged (thankfully, the kids were in bed at the time so this was doable) and take pictures of the following things WITHOUT cleaning up first: my kitchen sink (I only cheated SLIGHTLY here because I really could NOT take a picture of the soggy pancake chunks that were at the bottom of the sink so I washed them down the drain. There! I've come clean! You all know they were there now so I figure that should be good enough without you all having to see them! My favorite room in the house: my bedroom. I LOVE this room! Particularly the bed! I dream of staying here all day long! Of course, in my dream there are usually no children with me in the room. Sorry, for some reason this picture is on here twice and I have no idea how to get rid of it.

The refrigerator: now, I know all of you whose blogs I've already seen who have done this tag have shown the inside of your fridge but the tag did not specifically say that so I chose the safe route and went with the outside. Not cheating: semantics. That's Matthew's obedience chart on the top - full of stickers. We have not yet printed out a new one. I guess we want to remember that he ever got one full!
My closet - complete with laundry rack and everything. Luckily there is no longer a child sleeping in this "room!"
The laundry room (more appropriately the laundry "hallway"). Yes, those are dinosaurs on top of the dryer.
Self Portrait: Woodson took this one for me. Apparently I was exhausted from the strain of doing this tag!
So now to pass it along! Ha HA! I tag Aimee, Julie, and Ashley!

Traditions

When we were little I remember pulling off our shirts but leaving them on our heads and then strutting around pretending we had long, beautiful hair. I think I even said that: "Look at my long, beautiful hair!" in my most sophisticated voice. I was not home when Woodson took this picture but was pleased when I found it to know that somehow, without consciously doing it, the tradition had been passed on! Now to work on "Magic Toybox!"

The State Fair: Pumpkins

I LOVE the state fair! I love the rides. I love the stinky animals. I love the greasy food (that I don't eat because we're too cheap but you get almost as much grease just from the smell). I love the "Little Hands on the Farm." But mostly, I love the pumpkins. I can't help it. No matter how much time we have, if we go to the fair, we MUST visit the pumpkins. I think it began a few years ago when Woodson and I visited the Alaska state fair and saw "Thunderhorse." That was its name. And it was big enough for a name like that. And I've never forgotten it. The sign said it weighed like 496 lbs (. . .or something.) Ever since then I've been fascinated with the big pumpkins. I mean, who grows these things? And do they sit there all summer long thinking, "Oh, I hope it keeps growing! I hope! I hope! Maybe we'll win 1st prize at the state fair this year if it . . .just. . . keeps. . . GROWING!" Or, as Woodson says, are they just injected full of farm steroids? I don't know! But as intriguing a picture as that second theory conjures up, I think I prefer the first one. I like to picture some lucky kid coming outside one day and walking by his garden - doo, da-doo - just walking along - and then "What the?!" and seeing a Thunderhorse and saying, "Holy Cow! Mom, come look! We're DEFINITELY going to win THIS year!" Anyway, I've started taking pictures of us with the pumpkins each year. These first ones are from last year and I have to say - they were no Thunderhorse - but still, pretty impressive. This last picture is from this year and man, all I have to say about these is: No surprised lucky kids this year.

Fallin' for Fall

Well, it's taken me 30 (er. . . give or take 3 or 4) years to decide but, yep, I've finally decided that fall is officially my favorite season! We went up to a cabin near Aspen Grove Friday night and the colors were so GORGEOUS that I had to take a picture of us with them. This doesn't nearly do it justice, though! I should have taken a picture of the hillside! Seeing things that beautiful and being out in nature always makes me realize how great Heavenly Father and Jesus are. Our world is truly breathtaking and Heavenly Father knows every tiny bit of it and every star in the heaven. It makes me realize how incredible it is that He created and knows every single one of us and that there are so many people out there not aware of who they are and how I need to help everyone I can to realize it. Sometimes when I see something as beautiful as the mountains were that day I think Heavenly Father put it there just for me. That suddenly sounds quite self-absorbed but I think sometimes He really does put something there just for each of us to see.

A little Genealogy

Well, I was doing a little genealogy lately - you know, like I do all the time - and came across some pictures I'd never noticed before of some little known relatives. I guess these were their graduation pictures or something. Attractive looking bunch. That one from 1966 is HOT.
Sharon, graduated 1968

Michelle, graduated 1974
Karen, graduated 1966
Tiffani, graduated 1994 (Talk about a good hair day! You don't get that kind of height just any day. She must have known it was picture day.)
Susan, graduated 1962

Who does Nicole REALLY look like?

I got this off Jen Davis' blog and even though she didn't believe it's very accurate (and neither do I after seeing Breken's results!) I still thought I would try it out - with a little experiment of my own. I have always thought Nicole looks more like Woodson but apparently that's not completely true! She only looks more like Woodson SOME of the time! Check out when!

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