Gotta love mother nature

We have wanted a patio set since we moved into our house four years ago. I have had many day dreams of picnic lunch's with the boys, late dinner under the stars with Dew and of course Sunday morning relaxing with my coffee and paper.

So we were thrilled to buy a "new to us" set last week.

This is a heavy large round table with a beautiful glass top inlaid with a leaf design. (It took both Dew and I to move it from the truck to our back deck) And six matching chairs.

We set it up on Thursday, but unfortunately the temps have dropped so we had not made it out to try it out yet.

Then came Sunday... and the wind

Not just a few breezes here and there but 60 a mile wind gusts. We looked out the windows to solid dust clouds and our trees bent sideways.


About halfway through the day Dewey asked me to come look out the patio door. "See anything missing?" He asked. I'm counting tree's the barn and hay pile and didn't notice anything. (to be fair the table had only been there three days I was not used to seeing it ) "Stand back and look to the left"..............

Wow
Who knew a glass table top could shatter into a zillion pieces? And who would guess that a wind storm could pick up a table and send it flying 10 feet to the North to land upside down.
So lesson learned, I'm not sure if its that we are not meant to have a patio set. Or maybe its, if we choose to live in a wind tunnel we should not have anything on our deck.
And my patio daydreams can wait a little longer :)

Oktoberfest!

Its that time of year again

Oktoberfest!!

I know its still September and that our Oktoberfest may be the smallest festival ever to be called Oktoberfest but we still love it!

They hold it every year at Brian Head a small ski resort about a half hour away from us.

They had a Polka band.... who doesn't love Polka music ;) Dewey and the boys got to have their brats and apple strudel. We (along with the 5 other people watching) clapped and danced to the band. It was such a fun lunch.

It was perfect weather so we took a walk to show the boys the ski lift and runs. (hoping to get Luke skiing the year)

This was our "practice" lift ride. I can just imagine these three in a few years all in their ski gear tearing it up coming down the mountain.


Brian head was so pretty with the tree's just starting to change colors.


On the way home we took a side route and found that lower down the mountain the leaves have already changed. Gorgeous colors, bright fire red and orange, sunshine yellow. We stopped and gathered leaves, the boys loved finding all the different colors.

Another perfect Sunday!!!

I love the fall, but it seems like every part of it is so fleeting, I hope we can go up and see the leaves again before its to late.

Ghost towns and Wildfires

We love to find and explore new things. Since we have lived in Southern Utah we have heard about the many mining Ghost towns in the area. We also bought a rock hounding book that lists all the gems and stones that can be found in the state.

A few weeks ago we decided to go exploring. About an hour to the NW of us is the remains of the mining town Frisco. We did some research before we left to learn the towns history. At its peak a little over a hundred years ago this town was populated by 6000 people.

We were able to find some amazing remains, these are the furnaces used to make charcoal for the mining equipment.

These are in remarkably good shape for being neglected and left to the elements.

With Kolby running by you get an idea of just how large these structures are.

And is it just me or isn't the brick work amazing?

We took a bunch of dirt roads looking for the rest of the town but were not able to find much. We did come across the old town cemetery. Very very strange to walk through a desert ghost town cemetery, with markers over 100 years old.

Our rock hounding adventure although fun for the boys to dig with shovels and buckets led to no huge discoveries. Mainly because I saw no polished gems lying on the ground so other then that I didn't know what I was looking for. Apparently we need to do a tad more research on rocks and what they look like in there natural state, before we find some good ones.


On our way back into town this was our view

A lightning strike fire started about 20 minutes to the South of us. It was left as a "controlled" burn but as soon as the winds picked up it quickly become out of control. Thankfully the fire is now out but we lived for a solid week in a smoke haze smelling like campfire.

Luke's first day of Preschool

Luke's first day of preschool was Monday, to say he has been excited is a huge understatement. This morning he was up at 5 am (as a side note we are never up at 5am for any reason, we are happy if we make it out of bed at 6) He fully dressed himself, shoes and all and was sitting on the couch waiting for us to take him to school.

This is one little by who LOVES school, he loves everything about it, the kids the projects, the teachers. He asks every night what he is doing the next day, he is none to pleased on the weekend when its mommy daddy time :)

As I'm dropping him off and seeing kids crying begging not to go I feel so lucky to have found the right choice for Luke.

This is his first day outfit picked out by Luke himself.

With Luke in School it leaves more Mommy and Kolby time. So far I seem to be fun enough for Kolby he doesn't seem to mind not going to school with Luke, but we will see how long I can stay entertaining and hold the little guys attention :)

Warner Family Reunion

A few weeks ago was the Warner family reunion in Spanish Fork.

It was such a fun day!!

The boys had a blast, they loved meeting a lot of their second cousins for the first time. And they really loved having so many kids their own age to play with.

The Warner clan went all out and rented a HUGE water slide for the kids.

See Luke and Kolby, one on each side...... not going down the slide?

Dad came to the rescue and clothes and all showed the boys how it was done. What a hero Dewey is.

Cassidi was able to come over for part of the day. She was in huge demand for the face/arm painting crafts. She is so creative, as soon as she would walk away from the table the kids would go looking for her.

Kolby and Luke were both more interested in the Pirate crafts, Kolby showing off his eye batch and pirate face. Luke was hard to pin down to take pictures he was literally running the whole time.
It was WONDERFUL getting to spend time with the whole family. The day just flew by with great conversation, great food and fun activities. ( I took tons of pics but don't like to post to many of others without asking permission)



Grandma Warner lives in a beautiful farm with stunning views in Spanish Fork.

Kolby was fascinated by Uncles Randal's cows. Dewey finally took him out so he could get up close and see them.

I love this next pic, Kolby likes cows much better from a distance. I told Kolby he was safe with me, the cows know I don't eat them they would leave us alone :)


They didn't seem to mind Dewey to much.

It was a long ride back to Cedar after such an action packed day. The boys both fell asleep before we were even out of Spanish Fork. And to be honest I was not to far behind them.

Thank you so much to everyone who worked on the reunion, I know it was a lot of work and took a lot of time and effort to pull off such a fun day.

We really appreciated being able to attend. And look foward to more to come.

Mountain Biking

Our first mountain bike ride of the summer. ( I know its mid August and some might say the summer is nearly over but I'm being "half is glass full" and looking at it as a first of many rides)

We found a BEAUTIFUL trail around a lake. A friend told us about it and how its the perfect ride. They just failed to mention that its a VERY narrow trail. Not the perfect trail for pulling a trailer with two boys. Dewey had a workout and a half trying to pull them up hills through shrub.

We stopped about half way around the lake to cool off and enjoy the scenery.

The boys ended up stripping down to "birthday suits" to enjoy the water. The water was nice and cool and almost crystal clear. So fun to play and slash around in.

Dewey and I are thinking we might try to have a date day and try the ride ourselves. But then if we don't make it the whole way we won't have an excuse ;)

Have a great week all!!!!

Splish Splashing Fun

Wow its August already and we have not posted swimming pics yet, where has the summer gone?

This is the boys pool in our backyard. Its just a couple inches of water but tons of fun. I can't believe how pools have changed since I was a kid.

The boy's love it, the hard part is getting them out.

A few weeks ago the Allreds invited everybody to their St. George house for the weekend. It was 115 degrees in the shade and a blast. The swimming pool felt more like a bathtub with its 98 degree water. It didn't stop any of us from jumping in.

Liz and Gary came down for the fun, this is Liz and Kolby.

Kolby and I splashing in the water after going down the slide.
Luke and Kolby started to get really good at holding their breathe and going under water, they both practiced in the low end. As long as they had their goggles on they were good to go.

You just can't have summer without swimming.