Summer Solstice

To the north of us is a place called Parowan Gap. It is much as the name implies a V shaped rock gap opening from a canyon into a valley. Only it is much much more, you knew it would be right :) Ancient petroglyphs abound and it is considered sacred ground by the Native Americans. Once a year on summer soltice the sun sets exactly right down the middle of the gap. To mark this occasion on Saturday evening there was a gathering with experts to explain what was happening. Fasinating stuff!! As it turns out these petroglyphs date back to 3000BC. They were used as a calendar and map, the gap was the super highway of its day. Who knew, well the experts did but I did'nt.

See the V with the ball at the end thats the gap with the valley. There are 180 small marks you can't see in the picture that represent days.

This one is the lunar calendar with days and weeks marked off.

After a very interesting lecture we walked about a half mile to have the best view of the sun setting.

Look shadow family.

I know you are not supposed to take pictures into the sun. And when you do this is what happens, but I still like them.

This is my face when I am trying to process the words coming out of an Astrophysicist's (you better believe I had to look up the spelling on that word) mouth. Can't you just picture those little squirrels working up a sweat on a treadmill trying to get my brain to keep up :)

Random cute pic of Kolby. He was hopping around when I was taking pictures trying to get in the shot, he cracks me up.

Beautiful right?

So happy we did not miss this opportunity to learn and experince the wonder of nature.

Fathers Day.. a little late

Happy Fathers Day to all you wonderful fathers out there.

We spent the afternoon at Dad & Winnies having a very nice BBQ. I made sure they even had steaks. The real kind not the veggie meat I'm always trying to pass off to them as real. I did have to ask a fellow shopper which ones to buy, I picked someone wearing wranglers. I figure a cowboy knows a little something about beef. Nothing but the best for my two favorite dads.

I know I don't say or write enough about what an amazing father Dewey is. I have known Dewey for 26 years and he has always had a way with kids, they simply love being around him. With Luke and Kolby he is the super fun roll around on the floor wrestling kind of dad. The soccar, chess, battleship, starwars playing kind of dad. Almost every night after I have tucked the boys in bed they ask Dewey to stay and talk to them. The three of them have boy talk from 3 minutes to a half hour. Dewey stays and talks and listens until they are done saying whatever is on their minds.

Something happened this week that only added to the million things I adore about this man. Dewey has an incredably stressful and demanding job. From the moment he wakes up there are phone calls and emails waiting. This past week we noticed that Lukes Guine pig seemed to be breathing wierd. Dewey called me at work to say he was going to be late they were taking Tennison in to the vet. He had two upset and worried boys on his hands. They headed into town, got to the vets office and were waiting for the doctor to come in when Tennison took his last little breath. Now he had to explain to two upset boys that Tennison didnt make it and went to heaven. He then drove the half hour back home so the boys could bury him. That morning Dewey took the few hours that it took to make sure Luke and Kolby knew that their feelings were important. And believe me when I say Dewey does not have any spare time, he had a stack of calls waiting for him. Even when things are stressful and seem overwhelming Dewey puts the boys needs first.

Happy fathers day Dewey, we love you.

Cowboy swimming pool

So lets just say you live in the country where tumbleweeds abound and the wind always blows. You can imagine how a cute little blow up pool would not last long in such conditions. So what happens when its a very hot day and two little boys are jumping up and down to get out their swimming pool to play with. Do you explain that their pool is residing in the local dump since last fall? Leading to a surefire meltdown of epic proportions. Here's another option... If you have a very clever hubby like mine you get a "Cowboy" Swimming pool.

When you have horses you always have water troughs hanging around just waiting to be used.

I have to hand it to Dewey he played it up like this was by far the coolest and best swimming pool available. And not everybody was lucky enough to have their very own "Cowboy" swimming pool.

As you can see the boys had a blast, jumping, splishing and splashing. I have heard them telling people about their "Cowboy" swimming pool and then wathcing peoples faces go blank, makes me smile every time :)

In contrast to my sad flowerless yard is my baby sisters PERFECTLY landscaped yard. I'm not kidding not one weed in her whole stinkin yard. (you can't go more then a few feet in mine without spotting 1 or 500) I tell her the weeds are scared of her and wouldn't dare grow in her yard. (its probably true)

She has a beautiful pond that her and her husband made their very own selves.

They have all kinds of exotic fish that proved to be simply irresistible to the boys.

Since none of the fish let my little darlings pet them (weird I know) Auntie Liz showed how she hand feeds them treats. Both Luke and Kolby were suitably impressed with this.

Pretty sure that unless we win the lottery and I can pay someone to landscape and then maintain our yard it will never look as good as Liz's. But I do have standards, I occasionally ride around looking at our little neighborhood which is made up of 5-6 acre lots to check out the other yards. As long as ours is not the worst I'm happy. There is only so much time in the day, Pick your battles people :)

Lifes little adventures

Two weeks ago as I was leaving work I noticed a strange smell in the air.... Hum that smells like smoke. I turned around to see smoke billowing over our building. This picture was after, once the fire was under control but it looks much the same. That would have been cool if I was level headed enough to whip out my camera before hand.

I ran back in, grabbed Dewey and said I was pretty sure something was on fire possibly our building. He ran out and sure enough to the West side of our building there was a fire coming up the hill......fast. There happened to be a hose attached to a faucet so Dewey grabbed it and started spraying down our building. Apparently the fire department were aware that the fire was moving up hill towards business and homes, they were there within minutes. This was when my camera came out.

They had the fire under control and then out in no time at all. Which was a good thing since when the other business's in the building were running out with their servers and important equipment. I ran back in totally not prepared as to what I should grab. I mean I heard everyone talking about servers and thought yea that sounds important, huh I wonder where ours is. (ok and I really don't even know what one looks like shush don't tell)

I took these the next day, the fire was literally feet from our building.

The boys thought it was super cool their dad was a firefighter for a day, spraying the building down.

And the smoke....gag... my car stunk inside and out. Our office is just now losing the campfire smell. The other day I was standing in line at the bank and thought "gross whats that smell" Didn't take long to figure out is was me, well actually my purse. Even my cell phone smelled like smoke. 

Just another adventure....... 

Grandpa Adolf

On Saturday May 26th Winnie's father Adolf Kopp passed away.

Dewey had the honor and privilege of being with him when he slipped away. Adolf dedicated a career serving our country in the Air Force. Winnie grew up literally all over the world moving wherever Adolf was stationed. Dewey, I and the boys were lucky to be able to get to know him when he moved from Arizona a few years ago. While he was still able we would spend every Sunday at Dad and Winnie's with him. He loved to watch westerns, Luke was quickly hooked and would sit with him to watch whatever western happened to be on. Adolf's nickname for Luke and Kolby was "The Outlaws". (sharp man) The boys loved to draw him pictures to hang in his room. Kids just have a way of making people smile, I know Adolf enjoyed seeing them once he could no longer leave the care center.

Adlof suffered with Alzheimer's, a terrible disease. Winnie and Randy cared for him with such respect, a wonderful lesson in love. Winnie showed endless love, devotion and patience. A lesson for all of us that I am truly grateful to witnessed. We are thankful to grandpa Adolf for so many things but top on the list is being father of Winnie whom we are blessed to have in our lives.

He was laid to rest in North Dakota given full military honors.

Hello Summer

It goes without saying that I'm way behind in posting, so I'm going to do a bunch a small posts to try and catch up.

Luke graduated from FIRST grade!!!

Kolby and I were waiting as he got off the bus for the last time as a first grader. We had signs, balloons and who can resist a party hat for any ol reason.

He received an award in his class for "Best smile" of which I wholeheartedly agree with, I mean just look at that cute little grin.

He received an award from his principal for Math excellence. Can I just say I'm THRILLED that he is great at math and seems to love it. I my own self have only the very basic math skills, the minimum required to survive. I firmly believe that if you are good at math you can do or be anything you want. Seeing him excel at math makes me nothing but hippity hoppity happy.

Congratulations Luke!!!

Bring it second grade!