Cleer Creek

Ryan had the opportunity to go to Cleer Creek for 5 days.  It is a educational summer camp run by the Alpine School District up in the mountains.  He went with his friend Hunter, from school and met many other great kids.  They slept in cabins, built traps and caught animals, hiked, played games, performed skits, did rope courses and many other fun activities.  He had a marvelous time.

He caught 6 pot guts which was the second highest number out of all of the campers.   (Don't worry, it was a catch and release process)  Since then, he has really been into traps and snares and have built several around our yard.

Girls Week

Ryan was away for an entire week to Cleer Creek. So Brianna, Alyssa and decided to play.  We did various things throughout the week like tennis, movies, yummy bagel hunting and shopping for an entire day at the mall.  Brianna is a dedicated shopper and self proclaimed "girly girl" so we came home with cute hair accessories and outfits for all.  It was a successful day.

One of the days we had to go to Salt Lake to Primary Children's Hospital for a Doctor Appt. for Alyssa.  So we decided to make a day of it.  We went to lunch at Ruth's Diner which is located up Emigration Canyon.  It has been there since 1930 and it is a quaint place with good food.  We dined outside under a canopy of trees and it was perfect.  Later we searched out Banbury Cross, a donut place that makes a cinnamon-sugar donut that daddy loves.  Afterwards we explored the Daughters of the Pioneers Museum.  I remember this as a kid, especially the 2 headed lamb.  It was quite an extensive museum and we saw all kinds of pioneer artifacts.  We even found displays about our relative Rebecca Winters.  We saw the Golden Spike that marked the meeting of the two railroads here in Utah. We saw the wagon that Brigham Young rode in when he arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.  And yes, the 2 headed lamb was also still there.  It was a nice day to spend with the girls.

"If you fill it, they will come!"

Look at our impromptu swim party . . .

Brianna and I filled her pool.  When I came back outside a little while later it was full of energetic, sun-kissed, happy children.  I guess summer is officially here :)

1 week old

Well the babies are definitely getting bigger but not much prettier.  I am sure that soon they will start to look like hummingbirds!?

Birthday Miscellaneous

Brianna had the perfect day.  Our home teacher, Phil Thunborg, brought her a personal homemade pizza.  It was sausage and pepporoni, her favorite.  She was able to enjoy it all by herself.

 Uncle Dane and Aunt Amberly, took Brianna on a personal horse ride up to the mountains.  Lucky girl.

Mom and Dad gave Brianna a new bike for her birthday.  She loves to ride it all of the time.  She picked it our herself.

 Grammy sent some fun packages full of art supplies other cool art projects as well as a bell for her new bike.  She loved everything.

Grandma Felix took her to a book store where she picked out a giant encyclopedia of animals.  She loves to read.  They enjoyed an Artic Circle Shake afterwards.

Brianna got many calls from Cousins and Aunts and Uncles which made her day.  She certainly is loved.

7 Years Old . . Baby!!

My baby is growing up.  She turned 7 today.  She is such a joy and I love her tons.  Our life would be so dull without her.

Since Ryan was in Arizona and Alyssa was at BYU we decided to do a low key birthday party.  Brianna invited just a few of her close friends and we went to Pirate Island, a themed restaurant.  We practically had the place to ourselves and the girls enjoyed the pizza buffet.  We played on the pirate ship and spent lots of gold coins playing the arcade games and  winning prizes.  Brianna thought it was great.

 After our pirate adventure, we went to Yogurt Bliss.  Brianna loves loves loves this place.  Basically you can choose from 10 or more yogurt flavors and then put any kind of toppings that have ever been invented on top of it.  You pay according to the weight of your yogurt.  Brianna wanted to do this instead of having a birthday cake.  So I obliged.  The girls thought it was awesome and heavily loaded their yogurts.  We put a candle in Brianna's and all sang to her.  It was a unique and memorable event.

A Special Birthday Surprise

Last year we were fortunate enough to have a humming bird build her nest in a tree in our front yard.  We discovered it after the babies were hatched and halfway grown.  It was fun to watch them grown and eventually fly away.

Well this year, either the mother or one of the babies returned to build a nest in the same location.  This year we found it much earlier and were able to see the eggs and watch the mother sit on her nest.  We checked out books from the library and learned all about the birds.  We found at that hummingbirds build their nests using spiderwebs.  No wonder the nest has been able to withstand the winds in Saratoga Springs.

Anyway, on Brianna's birthday we checked on the eggs and found out they were hatching at that moment.  It was so exciting.  Brianna felt extra special to receive such a neat present on her birthday.  The birds are so tiny and not so cute at the moment.  It won't be long though until they are ready to leave the nest.

My kids have been like momma birds themselves protecting the nest from all the neighborhood children.  We hope that they can stay vigilant. 

The Week of Brianna

Alyssa has a BYU Soccer Camp this week.  Ryan is in Arizona with Grandma and Grandpa.  Dad has a National Optometric Conference.  It is a busy week for everyone but Brianna and me.  So we decided it would be the week of Brianna.  We did all kinds of fun things.  We had Cookies and Cream Chocolate Milk from BYU.  We went to Toys R Us to spend birthday money from Aunt Courtney and Family.  We went to the Mayan Restaurant because Brianna has never been there and seen the divers at dinner time.  We had breakfast at Ihop where she loved the Cinnastax Pancakes.  She went to Target to spend a gift card from Uncle Andy and family.  She played with friends, played Lego Pirates of the Caribbean on X-box, and swam in her pool.  We went shopping, made treats and stayed up late.  We had a super week together.  All this and we celebrated her birthday as well.  What more could a girl want?

BYU Soccer Camp

Alyssa's dream of attending a BYU Soccer Camp finally became realized.  She was able to spend a glorious 4 days with some good friends playing soccer all day long at the place she loves.       

Here she is in her dorm room with Blakely.  She stayed on campus in Helamen Halls.  She was able to experience a taste of college life with dorm food, coed activities, dances, the Creamery, independence, shared showers, roommates and so forth.  She loved being instructed by BYU players that she has watched and admired.  She hopes to someday play for BYU.

Makaela Smith, Stephanie Driggs, Alyssa and Blakely Byington