August 2011

In August we had to run some parts to Rus in Minnersville. He needed them to finish up fixing a disc. I had never been there before and was available so the kids and I got a work truck and headed on over. It was quite the drive. Very pretty country to pass through. But I should have grabbed the portable DVD player for the kids. On the way back we stopped at Parowan gap to get see these petroglyphs. They were cool. Kind of hard to see, but now I can say that we have been there.

On a Sunday afternoon we decided to take a drive to Cedar Mountain. Rustin was looking into the possibility of clearing a lot of fallen trees. It was a fun Sunday afternoon. Annalynn loves flowers and here she is with them in her braids.

While up there we decided to go to the ice caves. Here we are down in the cave.

The kids at the top of the ice cave.

At Navajo Lake on the top of Cedar Mountain.

August started a new school year. Here Annalynn is on her first day of first grade. She was so excited. She wanted to start about 2 weeks before school actually started. Every day she would ask if it was school today. She was up at about 6 wanting to get ready for school. Unfortunately the camera was lot for Ryan's first day of Pre-School. I will take one this week now that the camera is found. It is a few months late, but at least he will have one for remembrance purposes.

July 2011

Well it has been awhile since I lasted posted. This a summary of what happened in July in our family. Sorry the photos are not in order, but oh well. Hope you enjoy!!!

In July we met my mom and brother Loren for a picnic in Pine Valley. It was fun. We stopped at the Pine Valley Chapel before and went through the tour. The kids' great grandfather Cannon was the Summer Branch President in Pine Valley for quite a few years. It was fun for the kids to see his picture in the chapel. We played games and had a great picnic time.

Great Grandma Barlow waiting for the 24th parade to start. This is the last picture I have of her while she was alive to bad I didn't think to get the kids in the picture.

Tonia, Victoria, Elizabeth, Ryan, Allie, and Steven waiting for the 24th parade to start. Annalynn was on the primary float.

We did fireworks in our backyard on Sunday night. Grandpa Barlow came over along with Kirby, Nicki, Jaycee, Brylee,and our neighbors the Brackens. It was a cheap package and there were not very many in the package, but the kids had fun and loved them.

At the Pine Valley Chapel.

In July Ryan turned 4. It was a fun birthday. Here Rus is showing him how to use his brand new dart gun. Tonia was visiting and they were able to be here for the fun. Steven wanted to join in the fun of the gun to.

Jaycee and Ryan watching fireworks in the backyard.

Ryan and mom and dad with his cake.

Ryan's cake he wanted a Thomas the Train cake. This is what I came up with.

He also wanted a Thomas the Train set. He loves this train track set. Grandma and Grandpa Barlow gave him some extensions and a Percy. It kept them entertained for hours and hours. Rus is helping them figure out the sawmill and the zip line.

Annalynn on the primary float for the 24th parade. She is on the back row 2nd one from the end of the trailer. She was so happy she got to dress up as a scripture hero and she was wearing a purple dress. She thought she was so beautiful and she was.

Pine Valley Chapel sign and my handsome little man.

Ralph, Nicki, and Brylee watching fireworks. Rustin get another one ready to light.

We turned the water trough over to fill it up for a horse that we had on our lot for a couple of months and this is what we found. Rus and I couldn't figure out why it was so hard to turn over. This is all from stinking gophers. Totally crazy.

A broken window

So the other night Rus noticed that this had happened to our window. Needless to say we were not very happy. We have no idea how it happned. Neither of the kids admit to doing it. So we are stuck. Deductible is $500 on home owners and were quoted around $450 to get it fixed. I am over it now, but was very stressed at the moment.

4th of july weekend

Thursday night we went to St. George to go to Great Uncle Boyd's viewing. He is Rustin's great uncle. Annalynn was very curious about the body and why it looked so different. We explained about the spirit leaving the body when we die and going to heaven. I am not sure that she understood.

Friday while checking a story on KSL.com my computer crashed. Luckily we were able to get the virus removed and everything saved within a week. I was very stressed cause all of my pictures are saved on our computer. We will be investing in a external hard drive very soon.

Well it is another July. This 4th found us camping. It was hotter than hot. Very miserable. Rustin's siter Tonia was here and went camping with us. We left on Friday, Rustin had to work late, but grandma Barlow and Tonia took the kids with them. I just waited for Rus to get home. He heard from a co-worker that he had won the monthly prize at Brackens from a facebook contest, but had to verify. Since the computer was not working he had to check it via the Wii. After the sun went down our trailer finally cooled off. All the windows were open. I had to get up in the night to shut them, but so greatful that it cooled off. I don't sleep well with heat.

Saturday was spent in the shade, to hot otherwise. Much moving of the chairs was seen. Rus and I did some target practice. We have purchased some life size deer targets. We borrowed our brothers range finder. I practiced at 200 yards for the deer hunt. It was pretty windy and I couldn't kneel down since it was very rocky. I did get one really good shot though. Our intention is to continue to practice. We also went to the creek and let the kids play in the sand. They had a blast. Just enough water for them to have fun, but not be very deep.

On Sunday night the kids started a game of riding the dump truck down the hill. Boy were they laughing like crazy. It was so fun watching them ride down the hill. Only a couple of spills occured.

Monday morning we packed up and came home. Here are a few pics. I forgot the camera when we went to the creek. To bad, there were some good times had by all there.

Ryan at the bottom of the hill.

Annalynn at the bottom of the hill.

Taking an afternoon nap.

Monday afternoon we went to St. George did some shopping. Priced out our new bay window. Lowes had 18 months same as cash. We decided to go with them. Then we had a BBQ with my parents. We watched the firework show on TV not the same as the real thing, but St. George's show didn't start until 10 PM. We would have been home really late.

Another reunion

Last weekend we went to my Aunties wedding reception and it was a pretty much like a reunion. It was tons of fun. Really relaxing. Here are some pic from the trip.

Boy that was a hard night.

We even found a John Deere. Ryan was about to boot some other kids off cause he wanted to drive it so bad. It took much convincing to get him to wait.

We even got to see a mama with her baby ducks. I love spring when all the babies are born.

We also got to go to Wheeler Farm and feed the ducks. The kids loved it.


Got to see lots of family, I have not seen for awhile. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and grandpa. Love visiting with family.

My husband loves to hid from the camera. At least I got part of his face.

The kids absolutely loved the creek. I was grateful that it was not one of the raging high water ones. It was perfect for them to have a great time in and not get hurt.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day found us camping. It was the Cannon family reunion. Lost of fun. We were going to leave early Friday afternoon, but my mother-in-law was pretty sick so we waited to find out about her. She decided to wait until Sat morning so we left later. We got all set up cooked some dinner. Built a fire roasted marshmallows and made smores. Yummy!!! Saturday was lots of fun full of 4-wheeler rides and visiting. The kids got to see their cousins so that was great fun. It started to rain Sat night. Not fun as it really didn't stop. The trailer started to leak. Rustin finally decided to leave Sun. That was a crazy stressful drive out. A few times I thought we were going off the edge of the road and going to be stuck. We made it out our truck and trailer were not white anymore but we made it out.

A visitor!

A few weeks ago we drove up and saw this wonderful visitor in our driveway. The kids were so fascinated by it. I was petrified by it. It was pretty cold that day and it was not moving very fast. I thought it was dead at first, but upon closer look, I realized that it's tongue was flicking. I threw some rocks at it trying to get it to move, but it took it's own sweet time. I guess that snake season is here. Beware!!! Since we have moved here, we have found quite a few snakes in our yard. One slithered past me in the garden last year. I almost stepped on one in the garage a few years back. Rustin found a few babies a couple of years ago that he caught and let go in the hills. Good thing that they have only been gopher snakes. Too bad they are not catching more gophers.