Hiking and an accidental experiment with mosquitoes!

On Friday our family decided to take a hike near Kanaraville. Apparently, there is a hike up one of those canyons that has ropes and ladders, and no, that's not the hike we took. Well, if it was, we didn't get far enough in the canyon to find the ropes and ladders.

The kids were troopers. They were tired on and off on the way in and Ben and I took turns giving them occasional piggy-back rides. The next day my back told me Melanie is a little too big to get piggy-back rides anymore!

Melanie loves to draw things from nature - flowers, trees, animals, rocks. So this trip we brought along the camera and she had a blast and went overboard with pictures. There were a lot of beautiful flowers along the way. There was one section that had a bush similar to a rosebush, but the flowers were little pink five-petal flowers. They smelled absolutely amazing. I wish I could have transplanted some to a bucket, but alas, my black thumb would have just killed it. Here are some of my favorites.
I don't know if I took this picture or if it was Melanie who took it. Either way, both of us need to work on focus. I love orange, and these little orange flowers stood out beautifully among the foliage. Besides that great smelling flower that I neglected to get a picture of, this was my favorite. It reminded me of a starfish. The color was this great pinkish reddish. Maybe Tearese can tell me what color that would be? :)


Here's a picture of the kids before they got tired - we're right at the beginning of the hike here. I should have taken pictures of us coming out of the hike because it would have been a totally different picture - literally.

This little guy was one of our favorite finds. He was in a hurry to cross the trail, I'll tell you that much. He didn't want to stop for a photo shoot, but the paparazzi got him anyway.

We actually saw a lot of interesting wildlife out there. We saw a couple of lizards, but they really weren't about to sit still for some camera time. We saw some huge spiders, one of which had these orange and brown stripes. He blended in really well with the red sand. The cicadas were out in droves and we could hear them clicking and buzzing. Did you know cicadas live underground for most of their lives? We found all these little holes on the trail, and a cicada was sticking it's head out. They had also been molting and their skins were everywhere near those holes. Interesting bug.

This little stream was running back and forth throughout the trail. Both Melanie and I loved this picture, where the stream sneaks into the protection of the trees. She said she wanted to take the picture to President Eastmond, our Stake President who is an artist, and ask him to paint it.

We finally made it into the canyon, and turned right back around. This picture of Carter should illustrate why. You know the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Well we had some very hungry mosquitoes. I'm not an outdoorsy type of girl, so you can't blame me, but you can blame Ben because he knew the mosquitoes would be having a "frat party" as he put it. And let me tell you, they were! But, Ben is the only one who paid for it.

You see, I'm not allergic to mosquito bites. They suck my blood just as much as anyone else, but I don't swell up and itch - at all. My dad is the same way. I told Ben even though I inherited his stubbornness, it's a small price to pay for not being allergic to mosquitoes. Anyway, we always wondered whether our kids would be lucky enough to pick that trait up from me. No more wondering. They have. Ben got eaten alive out there. He was still itchy Saturday evening. But not I nor any of our kids had any kind of reaction to the mosquitoes. I can see several places on my arms and legs where I was bitten by the nasty little things, but I never itched or swelled up.

I don't think they like the way I smell because they weren't swarming me like they were Ben and Carter. And it's funny because Carter has the same skin texture as Ben, but Melanie and Riley unfortunately inherited my excema skin. It's rough and bumpy and burns easily. But even though they liked the way Carter tasted, he didn't have a reaction to their bites.

The hike was great, and the funniest part was Melanie at the end. Once we got to the canyon, where there was more water and significantly more mosquitoes, Melanie was so ready to go home. When we turned around she led the way without any complaints. She just started walking and didn't check to see if we were following. Ben said she reminded him of a horse that has smelled home. She smelled the van, and there was nothing we could do to stop her from getting there as soon as possible!

This is about as crafty as I get.

I made some magnets like these a few months ago for my ward's super crafty Saturday Enrichment thingy. Craft-challenged people like me do not usually enjoy those activities, but these magnets are easy to make and inexpensive. I already had the Mod Podge and the hot glue gun. The paper, magnets, and clear stones only cost me about $6.00. Melanie and I made about 18 magnets with our supplies. It was fun and relaxing to sit down with her today and make magnets.


These are the magnets Melanie made. She had fun and did them all by herself, except for the hot glue. I'm too much of a control freak to let her do that.




I made some for Carter and Riley, too. They had this really cute monster paper at the craft store and the boys now have their very own magnets to hang their things on the fridge. I'm not a great photographer so I had trouble getting a good shot of the little monsters (the kind on the magnets, not my little monsters).

I really like making my own because I like to be able to stick six or seven sheets of paper with the magnet. Most store-bought magnets can't handle that. But when I make my own I can use the big magnets and they are heavy duty. So heavy duty that when Carter was playing with his today he tried pulling them apart and ripped one of the magnets off.

Big Surprise? Not Really.

Did the last post tip you off? What is an Elementary Education major doing posting poetry on her blog? Well, first of all, that girl is no longer an Elementary Education major, and second, she likes English and poetry, so of course she's going to post stuff like that on her blog!

That crazy girl went through mental torture the past few weeks. She just couldn't figure out what she wanted to do with her life, but that's because she was fighting against what she knew she should be doing (English) and what she went to school for in the first place - to enjoy what she was doing (English)! She kept getting overwhelmed thinking about being the breadwinner while her husband goes to graduate school when she's done with college. She thought that teaching was the way for her to secure some finances in her family's life.

But she does not want to teach! She doesn't want to fill her life with teaching, because she's afraid that the constant busyness of teaching will take her away from the most important thing in her life - her family. She doesn't want to become consumed with other people's children. She wants to focus on her own. There is no passion in her for teaching.

She loves creative writing. During Spring Semester that girl went with her class to the Braithwaite Art Gallery during their Zion Exhibit. There were beautiful pictures capturing the majesty and strength of Zion National Park, but there was also poetry about Zion - about heritage and nature, about wisdom and youth - written by some of the Intermediate Poetry students. Their poetry enveloped her and she dreamed of having her words on those walls one day.

She wants to keep that dream. She doesn't know if she'll ever get published, but that's not why she's going to school in the first place. She's going because she loves learning for herself. She loves the challenge school brings to her plate, and she loves meeting those challenges and raising the bar for herself.

At the beginning of Spring semester, my friend Julie M. (I have to specify because there are two Julies), mentioned she thought I should post some of my creative writing. I really wasn't sure if I was confident enough in my writing to do so, but I figured why not.

This poem was one of the hardest for me to write and become engaged with. The triggering subject was not the best for me and so I had to get, well, creative. As you read and comment, please remember I'm a novice and before this semester I had not written anything in YEARS!

Buena Vista

My bare arms and legs
stick and squeak
against the blue-and-white-striped
vinyl beach chair.

The noon-day sun
presses heavily
upon my feverish skin
as I lay here
with my eyes closed.
A sun bath.
Instead of like water
underneath me
the heats sits on top of me.

A breeze swirls
my strawberry hair
for a moment
pushing aside
the weight of the fiery sun
in the lazy afternoon.

Small waves
lap at the beach
each orchestrating
the red and brown sand
into a new arrangement.

Desert heat
wind in motion
rhythm of the waves.
A compass to my world.

My Big Water.

What Happens at Our House When the Missionaries Come to Dinner

We had the missionaries over for dinner Friday night. They were very nice, albeit shy, Elders. We ended up feeding them our version of Carl's Jr.'s guacamole burger. They cleaned their plates, but I don't know if that's because the food was good or because they were missionaries. :)

Anyway, the rest of the fun happened after I left. I had a baby shower that night and so I had to skip out when they were still here. When I got home from the shower that night Ben had some great stories for me.

Our friendly little guy, Carter, was chatting with Elder Funbanana. No, of course his name wasn't really Elder Funbanana, but his last name was Polynesian, and I couldn't pronounce it, let alone spell it.

"How old are you," asked Carter of Elder Funbanana.

"I'm 19," Elder Funbanana replied.

"Do you think you'd like to go on a mission when you're 19," Ben questioned Carter.

"Yeah, I think I would," said Carter. They continued to talk while the boys played in and out of the conversation. Later on Carter came back in the kitchen and exclaimed to the Elders, "Well, at least you're not gone for two years!"

"Actually," replied Elder Funbanana, "we are gone for two years."

At this point Carter walked up to Ben, and with tear-filled, milk-chocolate brown eyes and a very sad face he said, "I think I've changed my mind."

Seeing Carter's teary face Ben swallowed a chuckle and said, "Don't worry about it now. You don't need to stress."

"I'm OK," Carter said, wiping his face. "My eyes are just sweating."

After Carter left the room, Elder Funbanana said, "Apparently, I'm not doing a very good job as a missionary if I've only been out for four months and I've already convinced somebody NOT to go on a mission."

I tell you, I don't know what I would do without Carter and Riley and Melanie and their comic relief.

Carter wasn't the only one up to antics last night. Riley had his own little play going on. He was so tired yesterday when they were here. He wasn't doing his usual get-all-hyped-up-when-I'm-tired routine. He was more on the everything-makes-me-cry path. He would start crying about anything and then would look at the missionaries and say, "They keep staring at me!" start crying even harder, and then duck his head under the table. He'd stop for a few seconds, peek up over the table, then proclaim, "They're still starting at me!" start crying again, and duck back under the table.

At least we gave them some good stories for laughs when they report on their missions when they get home, right?

Posted Grades and Patio Cleaning

Well, my grades are posted, which gives a final feeling to the semester. Ahhhh.... it feels nice to really be done with this semester. I am so looking forward to summer break and spending leisure time with my family. We're planning on getting a swim pass for the summer, so it should be fun. Even though it will make it hard to meet my goal of not letting my kids get sunburned!

I sprayed down my patio today. It was so dirty from all the construction they have been doing around us for the past year. They've finally finished landscaping the complexes next to us and so hopefully the dirt will be down to a minimum now. Hopefully. The kids had fun getting their feet wet. Melanie was the smart one and went inside before too long, but the boys stayed out and I ended up soaking them by "making it rain." They thought that was great.

I didn't sit down much today - on the go with shopping and such. It will be nice to sit and get LOST. Hopefully I won't fall asleep while I'm watching!

Last Day of School! Last Day of School!

You know, like on Finding Nemo. Except I'm excited because it's the last day of school, not the first. Come August, I'll be excited because it'll be the first day of school again, and I'm always excited for the first day of school.

Was that me, or was that a mouthful?

I'm lucky enough to only have two finals this semester. One is math and the other one is really not a final. It's just a 25-point quiz for my education class. I love that teacher. His philosophy is that teachers give too much homework - both in grade school and higher education. Bless him.

My goals for the summer? Take a nap every day. I'm not kidding about that. Don't let my kids get sunburned. Does it count that Riley already got sunburned at Grandma Jeanne's today? Oh, well. I can't win them all!