numbers tonight

3 - babies sleeping

1 - lost voice

4 - loads of laundry washed

4 - loads of laundry dried

2 - loads of laundry folded

1 - violin getting a little dusty

2 - hands on his handle bars as he rode off to help the neighbors

1 - half gallon of dark chocolate almond milk waiting to be consumed

4 - squares of sidewalk covered in rainbows of chalk

1 - new blow up swimming pool

2 - new batteries in my apple magic mouse

1 - Moby Dick almost finished

5 - months I've been reading said novel

4 - minutes a day I get to read said novel

30 - chubby little toes washed clean

2 - verses of 2nd Book of Nephi chapter 4 read

3 - prayers said

8 - lullabies sung

1 - blog post

Flowers, Rain, and Pretzels

Remeber when I told you that I was struggling with patience in my garden? Waiting for my Day Lilies to bloom? 

Well. 

After sitting near them daily and coaxing and encouraging and begging and threatening they finally did it!

They really socked it to me. I honestly thought that they would all be that orangey yellow color. You know, Day Lily color!

They're not. 

They're even better.

 I mean, look at these girls! They're showing off.

 Call me crazy, but when ever I look at this one I have a strange and strong urging in my soul to eat it.

This one is my favorite. It's the most delicately colored, don't you think? The pale pinkish lavender with the ruffles of yellow? I'm smitten. I want to wear this flower. I want a dress that looks like this flower. 

The peas gave a great showing this year, as you can always count on them to do. Peas and radishes. If you want to grow a garden that will make you feel successful in your efforts, grow peas and radishes. They won't fail you.

 We have another fresh peas fan at our house.

 She successfully downed somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,216 peas last night.

 This is a cosmo. They grow really easily too, and they'll come back in swarms the next spring. Isn't this photo kinda strange? Looks like the flower's just floating there. Huh.

*wake up*

 The marigolds were a little disappointing, I'm not gonna lie. These are a few of the only pretty ones. Maybe because they lived in tiny little pots in my front entry way for two months while I was waiting for the weather to stop freezing. I think I'll skip them next year.
Maybe.
Maybe I'll try again. You never can tell with me!

And this is an onion. I planted it 3 years ago, and I like the tall shoots with the little fluffy flower at the top so much that I never pick it, I just let it grow back each year. 

I never said I was normal.

An enormous wall of black clouds rolled over the mountains in the afternoon, and although they did their best to look ominous and menacing, they really only looked cool and refreshing and lovely. 

 They sent out a wonderful shower which greatly added to the loveliness of our outdoor playings.
Emmy had a piece of chalk in her hand, and when it started sprinkling she exclaimed
"Mom! The clouds are making me a giant dot to dot!"

 I'm going to tell you that this is Cookie Monster, although I'm sure you knew that just by looking at it.

The rain was also nice enough to make her a Big Bird dot-to-dot, which she was very grateful for. I even stopped taking pictures of my flowers long enough to document it! Wasn't that thoughtful of me?
"Oh, what? Huh? Kids? Oh yes. I'm growing some of those too. Ok."

Then, once we were sufficiently soaked, we went inside for a pretzel snack.
And Emmy made this.

Because she's brilliant.

Wah wah whine whine

I'm really not trying to be morbid here, but I can totally relate with this guy:

I have a sinus infection. In the summer. Who gets a cold in the summer? I have been receiving countless texts from my JoJo describing all of the natural remedies I should be doing, and I've done most of them, and I think I'm getting better.

*Insert positive attitude*

But I still feel AWFUL. That was me complaining. Forgive.

Despite feeling awful, we took the kids to see the new Pooh movie yesterday.

 It was so fantastic! Tess, Katie, Karla and I all went (and some kids too), and we were laughing so hard so many times. The cleverness was impressive.

Oh, and uh, the kids liked it too:) 

I am going to suggest this movie to every person I know who has a bit of wit and joy in their heart, because it was really really good. I don't buy many movies (like... uhmmm... ever) but I think I'll buy this one. 

Unfortunately, and obviously, going to the movies didn't do much to help my head. It may have made it worse. My family went churching without me this morning, and good friends are filling in for my duties there. *sigh of guilt and gratitude*  I'm not really sure I can sit up much longer and I think I'm going to go lay down in the direction of a hot bath, so we're gonna cut this post short. 

The jist of this post is this: 

• If you haven't seen the new Pooh, go do it (but not today, because, you know, Sabbath)
• If you get a head cold, Call 1-800-JoJo

The end.

A camping we will go

Yes, there have been an abnormal number of bear sightings in these Uintah mountains lately. 

Luckily, we didn't see any. We did see many little babies and toddlers in the woods, but we survived them. 

Our survival was partially due to the amazing food that we ate; provided by the Dads.

It was also due to the fact that the toddlers and babies were stinkin' cute and non life threatening.
You know, mostly. Unless you consider parenting as life threatening. Consider that.

JoJo's tent became kid central (surprise surprise).

Look at my Aunt Bethanie. Isn't she so SoCal? That's because she lives there. And because she's naturally glamorous, even after sleeping in the woods. Her little mini-me is equally lovely, and get this: They're Lovely on the inside too! What a combo!

She's the Aunt that we've all spilled our guts to multiple times, and received loving wisdom in return. It's really a gift - one I wish I had.

Anywho, back to breakfast.

The first course was Pancakes with real maple syrup, just to get things started.

Doesn't JoJo look freakishly tiny in this photo? I mean, like, as in, smaller than normal?

Hello. Hello. Do you like my hat?
Don't laugh. On second thought, go right ahead. I do every time I put it on.

Mmmmm.... can't you smell it? The pine trees, the freshness of everything? The tint of smokiness in your food? Love it.

Then Chuck busted out the second course.

I love this photo. This man takes his food very seriously, and we are all the beneficiaries. Eggs, Sausage, Sauteed Onion, Cheese, all on an English Muffin. Yes please. 

Hello again. Hello. And now do you like my hat?
I do! What a hat! I like it! I like that party hat!

name that book.

There was a little rambling brook nearby, and of course the kiddos found it. They can sniff out water anywhere. They would be very handy to have along if you ever found yourself stranded in the sahara. Keep that in mind.

And of course, Claire being Claire, she got right in. There was no hesitation at all.

When the other kids saw her in there, they all plunged in too.

I made them wash their faces. I'm fancy like that.

Peek a boo.

We packed up and headed to Provo River Falls, which is another fantastic place for water play.
Well, not so much this time due to the fact that the river is at flood stage, but usually it's great for water play.

And one of these days we're going to get a great family picture taken. But that was not this day.
Great family? Yes. Great photo? Not so much:)

there's got to be a better way to do this

I apologize for the post title. Allow me to explain.

My dear sister Tess took all of these gorgeous photos over the fourth of july weekend, and I called her late one evening and Begged her to sign on to my blog here in my name and upload them, because the only other options were to email the photos to me, which would take way too long, and the other option was for me to get them from her next time I was up there, but when would I ever in this life remember to take a flash drive with me to her house? Never, that's when. 

So she did, because she's great like that. And she graciously titled the post for me too:) 

I believe I've said this before, so forgive me for repeating: When we were little, the fourth of july was as anxiously anticipated as Christmas.

Back then it was all about 'Liberty Days' at the park, with the parade and the fireworks and the greased pig contest and the cow plop.
These days, it's still about that. But it's also about all of us coming back to Eden to be together again, and to show our kids what we did when we were their age.

And since it really hasn't changed at all, they get a first hand look at what it was like. For me, it was also about being able to gaze into these beautiful blue's for a little while.

Hi Mac, my dear long lost brother who moved to california and has babies that I don't get to meet until they are four months old but I guess I forgive you. How are you today? 

Jonah is usually pretty surrounded by girls. When this other little man comes to play - life is bliss for my little man. 

Nothing beats boy cousins.

Even if you're a girl. 

Calvin and Claire have an interesting love-like relationship. It's usually happiness with them, but only usually. The usually moments make up for the sketchy ones.

Oh... poor girl cousin. Don't worry, Jonah still loves you, even when his boy cousin is here.

Sheesh Tess, you really put a lot of photos on here. I'm running out of things to say. Good thing they're so awesome, because I could probably just stop trying to say something and let the poor folks enjoy the pics. 

Ahhg! Who put this in here?!

So much for enjoying the pics. Jokes!
This is Garret showing us how happy he is to finally meet our family (after Months of courting my best buddy forever. What's up with that?)

Don't you think that these two should just buckle down and get hitched? Don't they practically looked married as it is? We like him; isn't that enough, Cami?

ahem. Back to the babies.

Oh Hi, Emmy! Where were you? Wait... where's Luke... 

Oh there he is. But now we're missing my girlie again. 

This photo might be my favorite one of all. Love Luke's face. 

I promise I do wash Jonah's face. Really, I do. He just has a knack for not getting all of his food into his mouth, and I have a knack for having too many babies to keep clean at once. Here endeth my justification.

My Mom's yard is bursting with flowers (wild and cultivated) this spring, due (maybe?) to the abundance of watery weather. The picking of flowers for Mommies was endless.

Oh Hi my friend! Yes, your eyes are just as blue as ever. Why did you go home? Don't you want to come back and visit me again? Oh you do?! Great. I'm available.

The men gathered on the hill for... you know... man stuff.
If I knew what man stuff was exactly, I'd probably be a man. This is why I do not know what man stuff is, only that they're probably doing it.

And the cousin party carried on.

And on.

And on. With little or no interruption.

Which is how it should be. 

Am I over-doing it on the photos? Blame Tess. Maybe she expected me to keep my favorites and delete the rest... and maybe she didn't count on them all being my favorites.

Do you remember being three years old? I do, a little. Bits and pieces.

Watching them makes me remember. I remember that I loved being three. 

And what is a family gathering without a venture to Frog Pond? My Dad even came. I know! Epic.

I know that change is inevitable, and this beautiful place may some day be someones yard - but I like to pretend that it will look exactly like this forever, and that I'll be able to take my grandkids and great grandkids here.

See that little guy on that big guy? That big guy used to look exactly like that little guy. I remember.

JoJo is happily bringing her grandkids here. This was her special place before it was mine. 

We just can't get enough of you two, did you notice? 

So families are forever, right? I get to do this forever, right? 

Call me corny, but sometimes I feel like I don't have to look forward to heaven, because I'm already there.