Cabin Time with the girls

We had the best three weeks when Heather and the girls came out for a visit. We were lucky and able to spend every weekend up at the cabin. The girls loved fixing pretend meals in the sheep camp. They were able to spend some time with Grandma Moon.

Greg and Lauren and Taryn came up to visit the first weekend so the girls got to sack out in the loft on the bean bag mattress. They look pretty comfortable.

Getting ready for a four-wheeler ride. This was their pirate imitation.

Berkley loves our puppet monkeys and this one kept her entertained for hours.

Greg was playing hide and seek with them. We told them that if they stood by the bear and were really still Greg would not be able to see them. I love the look on both of their faces as they watch Greg come find them.

It doesn't matter how old my children get they still will not be serious and take a good picture. Heather should know better since she has to try and get her girls to take good pictures.

Kellee brought her girls up on Saturday and we went up to Tom's pond to fish. Braelyn tried for about 20 minutes to catch a fish but we had no luck this time.

Me and Kellee were in the ranger with all four of them and Kiley turned to Braelyn and said "Why do you have to talk all the time?" Braelyn didn't seem offended and replied back "because I like to talk".
And she continued to talk the whole ride with papa on the four-wheeler. She turned to him and said "We both like to talk".
I don't know how but Taryn spotted this rope hung from the tree on the road and had to give it a try. Luckily it was sturdy enough.

The next weekend Kevin was flying in so we took the two girls out to the cabin with us so Heather and Kevin could spend the weekend alone. The first night we went for a ride and saw a couple of deer out in the field. We got out and tried to sneak up on them, but of course they ran away. That night we put the girls in the blue room. We have two double beds in that room and it was the first time at the cabin that they got their own room and their own bed. They were so excited and the next morning Braelyn told me that it was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in.

We sat the pool up out on the deck and spent many hours out there playing. By afternoon the water was bathtub warm.

Steve had rented a trencher this weekend to put the sprinkler system in. Braelyn helped him for about an hour shoveling rocks.
Too cute, papa taught her how to lean on her shovel like a real farm girl. He taught her that last year and she remembered.

Berkley put in her time and helped me mow the lawn. We went out on Thursday and Saturday afternoon came too fast for me. I could have stayed another couple of days with them.
The next weekend we spent the day at Starvation and then to finish off supper we built a fire and made smores.

Berkley loves her food and the smore was no exception. I think she ate two of them.

I think these three liked their smores too.

Boating

This has been a crazy summer. I can't believe it is August already. The sad thing is thinking soon we will be putting the boat away. Usually we pull the boat out in May and go a couple of times. By the end of June we had only gone boating one time and that was on Utah Lake.

So when Steve's birthday rolled around and we had Heather and the girls we ventured out to Deer Creek. It was stormy that morning and we thought about not going a few times, but it turned into an awesome day on the lake. It was my first time skiing this year and I wish I could explain how fun it is to be out there on a ski. Nothing like it and I hope to be doing it for years to come. We let Braelyn drive the boat and she was so serious about it. She would look at the compass and ask us what way she should go.

The old man still looks pretty good.

Braelyn just loved being pulled behind the boat on the skim skate. Next year we need to buy some little ski's and get her up on them.

Finally we got out to Starvation. It is my favorite lake. This year it is so full that there are tons of cliffs to jump. I talked Braelyn into swimming over to these little rocks and jumping off them.

The big sandy beach isn't so big this year. Most of it is under water, but we had to stop and play in the sand for awhile. I had Braelyn and Berkley over at Indian Bay for awhile and we had the sand toys. Berkley does not like to get dirty and told me that the wet sand was the ugly sand and the dry sand was the pretty sand. I also had to rinse out her bucket numerous times because it was dirty. Berkley stayed on the boat when we stopped here.

With two kids out of state we have had to go boating a couple of times by ourselves. With the exception of nobody to spot while we are skiing we totally love just hanging out alone. Too bad after one ski we are tired and just want to lay around, because that water looks pretty nice. I'm hoping for a calm Fall and being able to boat until October.

Days of 47 Rodeo

My sister Amy barrel races and I'm ashamed to admit that I've only seen her do it once. She has been doing really well this year and with Heather and the girls out we decided to finally support her and go to the days of 47 rodeo. I remember the rodeo from growing up and it was hot sitting out on the bleachers, it lasted forever. So I was never excited to attend another one. But Amy is so sweet to Heather and the girls that we wanted to go. She was the first one out for the barrel races and did awesome. She said Doughby tripped by the first barrel but I didn't notice. Braelyn was so excited and screamed so loud for Amy. She missed first place by a 1/4 of a second. Braelyn was so sad that she didn't take first place, but kept saying that Amy was still a winner. I agree with Braelyn.

I was surprised that the girls liked the rodeo as much as they did. They were so good and watched each event.

I love the look on her face. It was priceless.

It was a super fun night and I will definitely go again.

Birthdays

My birthday this year fell on a Sunday, and being the Primary Secretary I got to go up twice to have the birthday song sung to me. Braelyn thought that was awesome that I was getting sung to. She gave me the thumbs up song and sang the loudest. Taryn got up early that morning and made me a birthday cake. Which I really appreciated. Greg and Lauren came up for dinner also.

It was really sad when a couple of months ago I realized that I was 46. Most of last year I thought I was 45. Hopefully I will be able to remember that I'm 47 this year.

Taylor often did this pose so I made the other three children pose like this so I could send Elder T, the picture. In case your wondering Heather is not putting on weight but I will get another beautiful grandchild in December.

We bought this ball last year at Costco and it has been a huge hit. Braelyn would roll it up the hill, climb in and roll down it. We thought Berkley would be brave this year and try it, but no amount of coaching would make her do it. At least this year she climbed into it.

Steve's birthday fell on a Tuesday. The weather that morning was stormy and cloudy and we about cancelled going boating. Luckily we didn't and had an awesome time. We went up to Deer Creek.

We love to go up Snow's Canyon and just play around in the water. It was nice this year because the girls didn't mind wearing the life jackets.

I asked Braelyn if she wanted to ride on the skim skate and she said yes. I laid behind her and steadied the board. She was kneeling on top of it and Steve took off. She loved it. After she was done I decided to give the skim skate a try. I can get up, but could not get myself out of the wake.

Braelyn took the job of steering the boat very seriously. She would look at the compass and ask which way she should go. Every time we got in the car she would tell us what way the car was headed.

Berkley also needed a turn.

The old man looked pretty good.

I was so excited that night to go home and give Steve his pumpkin pie. I got up early at 6:00 to make it, and I hate making pumpkin pies. It looked amazing but after a couple of bites I realized that I had forgotten the sugar. It tasted horrible. I am getting old so I'll blame it on my age. Happy Birthday to us.

Love my cabin

Steve left for Florida on Monday and then flew into Cincinnati to spend the weekend with Heather and Kevin and the girls and will fly home with Heather and the girls on Tuesday morning. I knew that I would rather be alone up at the cabin then here in Cedar Hills. My week got busy and I could see no way for me to leave before Thursday morning. Because of trek and being so busy with that I had not been to the temple for two weeks so I knew that I couldn't go out until I had attended the temple, also since I'm the only one home I needed to get the lawn mowed. I also had to cleaning jobs scheduled for Wednesday. I had bought a new king mattress for the cabin and had to pick it up and do some bed shuffling here. We decided that we would bring the king mattress from the cabin back here and move the queen mattress that we had here up to the cabin and get rid of one of the double beds. Wednesday morning I woke up at 4:30 am. I was still tired and tried to sleep but gave up at 5:30 and got ready for the temple. Got right in and was done with the temple at 7:00. Waited until 7:30 to mow the lawn and finished about 8:30. Went in to get ready for work and found a message that one of my cleaning jobs was cancelled. Went and cleaned the one house, picked up the new mattress and had Greg and Lauren help me haul out the queen mattress's and tie them all up and I headed out to the cabin Wednesday afternoon. I was so happy that I had been able to attend the temple and get the lawn mowed that morning so that I could leave. While driving up there I knew that I would have to get the mattress in the cabin before the rain hit. I don't know how I did it, but I hauled all three mattress's into the cabin by myself and 10 minutes later the heavens opened up.

I love when it rains up there and spent the evening watching the rain. Luckily my mom was up there and she helped carry the king mattress up the stairs. I tried and tried but could not get it up the stairs by myself. The next morning was stormy and rainy and the perfect morning to stay inside. That afternoon the clouds disappeared and I was able to get some yard work done. I love my new riding mower and mowing the lawn is a blast. My sweet husband said that I work too hard so he will mow the cabin lawn for me. I think I'll pass on that offer.

Friday I was sitting outside eating lunch and looking over at the mountains and realized how blessed I am to have this cabin. I love watching the clouds come over the mountains. Everyone should be able to enjoy lunch with this view. My Dad showed us this spot for our cabin and I thank him every time we go out. That afternoon Greg, Lauren and her parents and younger sister came out for the night.

It was great, they brought all the food and cooked it and I got to enjoy their company. Saturday we went up to Tom's to go fishing. Sidney loves to fish and caught a couple of them.
One of Tom's grandson's hooked onto Greg. He reminds me of Carsen when he was little.

Me, Lauren and her Mom just chilled out reading and visiting while they fished. It was a fun few days for me, but next weekend will be even better when everyone is out there except for Elder Taylor.