Summer 2010

This summer was full of fun memories.  Here are some of the best.

The men in my life.

Me and my boys.

Jerrett and Luke playing with Thomas.

Luke got his first bike.

Aunt Cheri put Cam's pants on his head so he could strut in his jean diaper.

Mommy and Cam at the Pioneer Day Rodeo in Ogden.

My new toy, a double jogger.

We loved the drive in.  Pizza, sleeping bags, toys for the boys, and a warm summer night.

Hanging with the cows in the back yard.

Cam in his dad's hat at a ward BBQ.

Putting up the corn at Grandpa Heslops

Lee, Jason, Jeff, and Alex at the Bow Hunt.  I haven't figured out why Lee and Jeff think those are cool poses.

Riker, Jerrett, Luke and Austin playing on a log seesaw.

Cam exploring camp.

Our washer died and we ended up just buying a new one.  It was funny to see how excited the boys were.  They just sat and watched the clothes spin around.

Chilling by the pool at the Roy Aquatic Center.

Luke's first day of preschool.

Five Years

July 30 was our 5th wedding anniversary. Mom and Dad watched our kids for us while we headed up to Park City for the weekend. I found a great deal at the Westgate resort and spa at the Canyons. We had a blast.

I am lucky to have a hubby who is into history as much as I am. We went to the Park City museum on old Main St. and didn'

t finish seeing everything before they had to close. So we went back the next afternoon and spent a long time in there. The old museum workers were pretty surprised to see two young-uns spend so much time in there. I know it's weird, but hey, we were happy in there!!!

Back in the 60's or 70's, the ski resort (there was only one at the time in Park City) only had one lift and there was always a huge line to get on it. So they built these rail cars that took people up to the top of the mountain through one of the mine drainage tunnels. It was dark and slow and cold with water dripping on your head the whole way. Not to mention you were in a mine drainage tunnel underground. It wasn't very popular and only ran for about four years.

This is us in the old Jail in the cold basement of the museum. Quite a few people died in here from being in drunken brawls and never getting any medical care. There were some cool symbols that some of the miners stained onto the walls of their cells with candle smoke. One was a huge symbol of a miners union the guy belonged to. I didn't take a pick though:(

I tried to get Alex to sit on this old jail toilet for a pic, but he didn't think it was as cool of an idea as I did.

We went for a nice drive up to Deer Valley so Alex could show me this resort he was working on last summer. It is huge, this is only one part of it. It is going to be Utah's only 6 or 7 star resort (I can't remember how many). Anyway, while they were digging to put in the foundations, the constructions workers stumbled upon a big cache of dynamite from the old mining days that had been buried for who knows how long. Work had to stop while specialist came and carefully took out the dynamite.

View from Deer Valley

We spent Saturday hiking at the Canyons. We just walked from our room to the gondola and headed up the mountain. We did the Tombstone Trail. The trial map said to was difficult and it wasn't lying. Of course, Al didn't seem to even be out of breath, but I sure felt it. This is looking down at a big valley from our gondola. This part was pretty scary, we were a long way up.

At the top of our hike. The views were worth every step.

It's been a great five years full of adventures. Love you babe!!!

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of.........Pack Rats?!!!

We have had the most interesting 4th of July weekend ever. This one will go down in the history books for us. We started planning for a great weekend in the Uintahs with some friends, but at the last minute, our truck decided to start making funny noises. Long story short, we fixed it, but decided by Saturday afternoon that there really wasn't enough weekend left to head that far. I was bummed, but getting stranded with two kids would have gotten me really bummed, so I opted for just bummed. We ended up going to Kory's (Al's brother) for a bbq and had a great time with everyone on Saturday night. Luke loved the sparklers they shared with us. Well, we thought it would be fun it head to the cabin for an over-night adventure. Grandpa Shurtleff, my mil and Alex's aunts and uncles all own a cabin together up in Scare canyon at Monte Cristo. I really love it up there. I love it for being a real mountain experience and I feel like a pioneer when I'm there.

Cam and Al by the fire pit

The cabin is a small A-frame with one room and a small upstairs loft. No electricity, no plumbing, plank floorboards. It has this awesome stone fireplace that is huge, the term "hearth" probably fits it better. Its got a big hanger so you can boil water in a big pot over the fire if you want. Can you tell I love this hearth? Anyway, we went on Sunday after church and being the first one's up this year, the cabin needed to be cleaned. No one has been up there all winter and spring. So we open to door to find a very dusty room. There is poop on the floor, but that is expected of mice when they can get in and no one has been there to make them move out. So we start cleaning and sweeping and getting our beds up. There is no beds there, we just sleep on the floor. We opted to sleep right in front of the hearth to keep the kids warm and left the loft alone. We had a roaring fire and made smores before bed. I had gotten the kiddies ready for bed so everyone was asleep when I went to make my smores. I was enjoying my smores and watching the fire pop when I heard a bump. A BIG Bump. Next, some running. Bump. Bump. Thud. Scratch. Running. Well, I pride myself on not being much of a squeamish person. We live in the country and mouse traps are just a part of life out here. We knew there were mice in the cabin because we had been sweeping up their poop. But mice are harmless and leave when you come. You won't see them. This BUMP I was hearing was either the new world record holder for biggest mouse ever, or something much bigger. I know what mice sound like, I've heard them in the house before. These sounds are coming from the floor boards right above my head in the loft. The only place we had yet to explore this trip. Every horror movie I have ever seen, and some I have not seen, start flashing through my mind. Should I go investigate? I only have a teeny weeny flash light that is dim and needs new batteries bad. There are no lights. Just the fire. I can't go up there. That's what all the stupid people do in those movies and they die. Well all through this thought process of my next move I am still hear sounds from all over. Downstairs, upstairs, the woodpile, under the couch. This isn't just one something, it's multiple somethings. What to do. What to do. Got to pee. Should I wake up Al. No, cowgirl up, don't be a wuss. Just a mouse. Than I hear something running down the stairs. I am standing frozen in the middle of the room and I hear a noise to my right. I look up..................And scream a scream I didn't even know I was capable of. Alex jumped about ten feet in the air from a prone position on the floor, which I didn't know was possible.

I learned later that this little beauty is termed a Pack Rat. A huge, giant rat a little bigger than a squirrel. And yes, this is an actual photo that I snapped of it. Well, of one of them. I had seen it running at first. Here is one on the mantle. They would leave the room through a hole, climb the outside wall to the top and enter through a vent. Then we could here them running around upstairs and then run down the stairs and come back to the fire and stare at us some more. We then spent some time getting photos just in case no one believed us.

I knew that I was not going to be able to sleep. Then we had the added horror of realizing that they weren't afraid of us at all. They kept coming closer and closer. I kept adding wood to the fire. Remember, we had no lights. These pics are courtesy of the flash on our camera. The cabin was very dark. Then I see one run into the fire. Ya, into the fire. It ran across to coals like it didn't have a care in the world.

See the eyes glowing from the right corner of the hearth. Well, Alex admits to me that he had seen something run up the stairs when we first got there. But just figured it was a squirrel and that it would leave with us there. These rats were coming closer and closer. We had already decided that there was no way in heck we were staying there, sleeping on the floor. We set a record packing up camp. We pulled out at two in the morning and got home two hours later. We are returning later this week with reinforcements and a rat a-bomb that will vaporize them. This just may turn out to be our most memorable fourth of July ever. Pretty sad that we have better pics of a bunch of man-eating rats than of our kids!!!

Day Out With Thomas

Thomas the tank engine came to Heber Valley Railroad over Memorial Day weekend. Luke is, or coarse, Thomas's biggest fan, so off to Heber we went. Luke was so funny. He was so star-struck by seeing Thomas that we couldn't get any pics of him smiling. He just had these huge eyes with his mouth hanging open, it was really funny.

Here's Luke in playing in one of the activity tents

I just had to snap this pic of cute Camden. He rode in the front pack and it was a little chilly so he has his suit on. He's just waiting to be loading up in his pack:)

This lady was so nice. This was in the tattoo tent and she had Luke pick which tat he wanted. Here she is putting a James engine tattoo on his arm. Luke then realised what she was doing and decided he needed every tattoo they offered. Each kid only got one so Luke was, therefore, escorted out of the tent by his mother. Any by escorted, I mean dragged.

Here we are on the train waiting to leave the station. Luke and Daddy both wanted to ride in the open air car. See what I mean by star-struck. Poor cam was cut out of the pic.

Mr. Conductor helping Luke off the train.

Saying goodbye to Thomas as he leaves the station for the next run.

Bye Thomas!!!

Adding a Blog

I have decided to start an additional blog. I have found that I need to hear some inspirational words and it really helps me have a better day. Just gives me something to ponder. So it's just a blog of quotes, poems, scriptures that I find and like and want to share. Check it out here if you want.

Cam's Blessing

We blessed Camden on the second Sunday in April. We ended up doing it in my in-laws ward with Al's brother Joel. Joel and his wife, Liz had their baby the day before us. Then we had a big lunch at the Plain City seniors center. I guess I didn't realize I had a weird hair hanging down in my face all day. Oh well. Alex is such a great dad, he gave an amazing blessing. I'm so blessed to have the priesthood in my little family.

Cam and his cousin Jesse after their blessings

Cam the stud in his sweater vest and slacks

Cam with his Great-grandparents

Four generations

Easter in Moab

We got to spend Easter in Moab again this year. A bunch of people from our stake go every year and camp it out in the desert. It's one of our favorite trips of the year. We had a blast and the weather was awesome. I didn't got a pic of camp, I'll have to remember to do that next year.

This is us on the "big wash" trail. It's about a four hour ride so we pack our lunches. Here we are at the lunch stop.

Our group stopped for lunch.

Some friends had an empty back seat on their Razor. Their grandkids couldn't make the trip and they said they needed a little grandson to ride with them. So here is Luke riding in luxury. He even had a seat belt. Everything turned out great except I forgot to put sunscreen on Luke, he got so burned that his face was all swollen and puffy the next day and he had blisters on his cheeks. I felt like the biggest gerk in the whole world. Luke didn't seem to mind of coarse, but I felt horrible. He didn't even look like himself. He got to bathe in aloe vera several times a day after that.

Alex and I rode a four wheeler and we took turns carrying the baby. This is how Cam rode, strapped to us in his little pack. (He looks like the kid from Christmas Story, in the little brown marshmallow suit. He did great, just slept the whole way.

We usually leave camp for a day and do some other sight-seeing in the area. This year we wanted to take Luke to Goblin Valley. It was a new experience for me too. I have seen pics of the valley before, but I never knew you could hike down there. If you look real close you can see tiny people way down there in the middle of the pic on the left. We just ran around and explored and played lots of hide-and-go-seek in the goblins.

Mom and Luke posing with a goblin

Alex has Cam strapped to him under his coat. We forgot to take him out and get some pics with him too. Oh well.

Luke loved climbing around on everything.

Luke, Cam and Daddy


We usually do a egg hunt at the camp with everyone, but they were waiting until later on Sunday to do it and we wanted to start for home because Alex had to work on Monday. So we did our own little one in the back yard when we got home. We made it home just before dark but the pics still turned out ok.


Luke finding a surprise on top of the slide.

We can't wait until next year. Easter is great in Moab. Its nice to get away for a weekend and experience some T-shirt weather (with sunscreen, of coarse)!!!!!