Rabbit Trap

Mark is obsessed with getting rid of the bunnies in our yard. I think they're cute, but I agree they are eating our plants and killing our grass and wreaking havoc out there! Jayce wanted to get in on the action and devised a plan.

So, he would lure the bunnies down by having them follow a trail of carrots...

Still following...

 And then, when they got to the jackpot, he would turn on the hose full blast and get em!!

Okay, so there are some minor flaws in his plan, but he was very excited about it so we didn't have the heart to point them out. 

Mark wants a paint ball gun or an air soft gun to shoot them. We have been spending an inordinate amount of money on various "rabbit scram" products and we don't think they're working. The inhumane gun might be our only option. That, or give up on our fruit trees and yard. Nope. I'm considering the guns.

Wacky Wednesday - Whale of an Adventure

The Varsity scouts in our ward have been preparing for their high adventure activity for many months. The plan was three boats would sail from San Diego to Catalina with about 20 people. They would camp on Catalina island and snorkel and kayak and then return by sailboat on Friday night. And so all three boats took off - the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.


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Brother Holland and Cutler up front.

The sun setting around Point Loma.

Beautiful sunset pics.

Derek and Cody on the boat. They both still look happy. But before long, Cody got seriously sea sick. Derek was mildly sea sick. Mark was fine because he had the patch thingy.

 Kevin Young, Derek Hunsaker, Brent Haws, Michael and Mikael were on this boat until...

...One of the boats broke down, so six people had to bail from the sailing portion. Four boys (including Derek and Cody) volunteered to go home. I picked them all up early in the morning hours (1 a.m.) on Wednesday. In the morning (well, the afternoon) I drove the four boys up to Long Beach to catch a ferry over to the island so they could still have their adventure, just without sailing there.

It was quite an adventure getting to Long Beach! It was a long drive, and I had to go over two HUGE bridges that totally freaked me out! It is a shipyard the size I have never seen before! Finally we arrived at the ferry dock.

 The boys didn't seem to be stressed at all. I was.

 They are ready to start having fun! We were hoping no one got sick, and luckily, they didn't.

 All thumbs up from Derek. It's all good!

 And they were off!!

They arrived home late Friday night (after being picked up in Long Beach from the Peterson's). They were tired and sunburnt. And, being boys, they are very short on the details, but I'm still pumping them with questions :).

Lake Elsinore Storm Game!!

The Padres have a feeder team in Lake Elsinore. I can't remember if they are a Single A team or a Triple A team. But it was a very nice stadium and we were sitting on the front row. Derek said the seats were "Awesome!" which is a lot coming from Derek.

 And the cutest engaged couple I know!! Travis and Cami joined us! They are so fun!

They had this ridiculous green guy as a mascot. I think he has a name...oh, I think it was Thunder. It was just strange, actually. But fun at the same time :).

I love summer for lots of reasons, not the least of which is being able to go to or watch lots of baseball games. This minor league game was actually more fun to watch than the Padres.

Water Fun!

Summer time is so fun. Jayce loves playing with all things water. 

He had a friend over one day and they did the slip n slide, until it broke. But it was only $9.99 and we've used it for two summers, so I'd say we got our money's worth.

 Cami, Travis' fiance is teaching Jayce swim lessons. Here he is learning to dive. 

 She's a great teacher!

 After swim lessons, Tyler was kind enough to play in the pool with Jayce. (Sorry, blurry picture.)

For one lesson, Derek and Cody came with us. Jayce wasn't as interested in listening to Cami as he was in playing with his brothers. 

And, finally, one day Brother Haws let us and the Hansen's come over to swim. Oh, we had the Taylor-Jensen kids, too. We gave that pool so much action! It was such a fun day!

Birthday!

Birthday's are funny things. I wonder if other people feel the way I do. In the morning on my birthday, I started making my bed and I thought, "A person shouldn't have to make her bed on her birthday." A few minutes later, I was downstairs and noticed how dusty the floor was so I got a broom to sweep it up and thought, "A person shouldn't have to sweep on her birthday." Then I thought I needed to snap out of it because it was just another day where food needed to be prepared and the house needed to be picked up (those are daily duties around here, never changes).

I actually got my birthday present a few days before my birthday. Mark was so excited he made me open it. And, of course, Pennie had to help.

 What is it?

 The sweetest gift ever! He made my blog into a book!!

This was the first page...okay, Mark is awesome. Enough said.

On my birthday day, it was pretty business as usual. Mark is out of town. I had high hopes the boys would whisk me off and take charge of the birthday, but they are boys and need to be reminded or taught. (Felt like a Mom failure, but Mark said, "They have been taught, but they have their agency." Love that man.)

So, I went to Trader Joes, bought some pretty flowers which make me happy and bought a small thing of delicious chocolate covered caramels (that also make me happy)!

Dinner was...well let's just say it didn't work out after the Eagle Project meeting. The boys didn't want Panera Bread, so I got Panera Break take-out for me and went through the drive thru at In-N-Out for them.

Then, I made the hardest cake of my life. It was a recipe I was dying to try and it was yummy enough (hard cake recipe, super hard frosting recipe), but kind of a disappointment because it wasn't as good as it was hard (Did that make sense?). I want a chocolate cake like I had at "The Chocolate" in Orem with Billy and Caitlin. 

We didn't even eat it on my birthday (and no song and candles) because I didn't get it finished until 10 p.m., which is past my bedtime. So we had it the next day when we had the missionaries over for dinner. 

It really was a fine day, and in the end I realize how many blessings I have. Birthdays are always reflective for me...I always ask myself where am I in my life?...how do I think I'm doing and what more do I need to be doing? Every birthday before this one (in my recent memory) I have run a ton of miles, just to prove I can. But this one I didn't run at all, and I think that's progress in a weird way. I don't feel like I have as much to prove or something.


As I reflect, I remind myself that I need to do more to develop Christ-like attributes. That is a daily effort. I am grateful I am able to continue to pursue my education because that is also an important life goal. Mostly, I am filled with gratitude for my family. All of my effort as a mother is worth it.

Treehouse!!

What little boy doesn't dream about having a treehouse?? I played in lots of treehouses when I was little...we used our imaginations and pretended it was our fort and we had to protect it. Sometimes we pretended it was our house and we each played a part in the family - mother, father, baby. Fun times!  Well, we've been looking at this tree on our hill for some time. Now, trees don't grow very big here. As a matter of fact, someone gave me a card once that read "Enjoy San Diego, where they call a bush a tree." And that's true. After living in WA, where they grow real trees, I realize we don't really grow trees here. So, this "tree" on our hill is not much, but it worked to begin a treehouse!

First, we had to clear a trail up to the tree.

We still need to add some kind of steps up there because I nearly die every time I try to traverse it. It could be because I have bad knees though :).

Scott Peterson came over and gave Mark his opinion. He told him to get Cedar so it would be more resistant to bugs.

 And then they started whacking away!

And then out came the power tools! Something about my man with power tools with his little boy...just does it for me!

Right now it's only a platform, but we have big plans to add railings or walls. And it needs a ladder of some sort.

 The end of a very good, fun day. A happy boy...

 ...and a happy dad!

Really doesn't get much better.

4th of July, Etc.

I'm really sorry I've had so many pictures lately...I have trouble paring them down so tons end up on here. But, it will make for great memories someday.

The Fourth of July started early as we ran the Provo Freedom Run. It is an easy 5K (well, not so easy on the hill at the end) and we had a blast!

After the parade we met John and Barbara on University Avenue to watch the parade.

It such a fun, small town kind of parade!

 Star Wars Float, seriously?!

 I had to include this.

After an amazingly delicious bar-be-que (and John's hamburgers are PERFECT in every way, like he weighs the meat so they will all be the same size), the kids started a ridiculously difficult puzzle. They were trying to pass the time because waiting for dark to do fireworks was so hard.

 Thankfully, darkness set in and we began with the smoke bombs.

 And the snappers.

 And, of course, sparklers.

We got to eat dinner with the Hoopes family! I love them so much! I wish they'd move back to San Diego!

 I loved catching up with everyone...and Dan even offered to take Mark to the airport in the morning....

We went to Cabela's, which was quite an experience on a hunt for the perfect winter coat for Derek. And we met friends there...

 They had like an arcade type shooting range which the boys loved! Oh, this was right after we got six different types of fudge...oh, so good!!

 And, THE coat! We think this will keep him warm enough. It says it works for below 0 temperatures!

And, we had to end our trip with bowling at BYU. Jayce loves this!

These are a few shots from Cody's pole vaulting camp. He did really well! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of his best jumps. Isn't that always the case?!

That ends the journaling of the Utah trip. It was really so much fun and we'd do it all over again! But it is nice to be home and doing summer stuff here.