So much to catch up on

I have been thinking about and wanting to blog for-e-ver but it just seems so overwhelming because I have SO much to catch up on.  I just have to keep reminding myself of what my dad always says.  You eat an elephant one bite at a time.  This is a big elephant so I better start eating ;-)
I write this post knowing full well that by the time I am done I will be so homesick but we had such a wonderful summer and I HAVE to document it.  This is my journal and scrapbook put together so I apologize if this is just a lot of pictures but it is mostly for my benefit in documenting our life.
Okay, where to begin?  After Ammon finished his rotation in Spanish Fork, we went to Parowan for him to do a rotation at Bulloch Drug in Cedar and lived with my parents in Parowan.

We really wanted to take advantage of the time we had with family and near the mountains and I think we stored our memory banks full.  My parents had some old bikes that just so happened to fit each of the kids (except Jarom of course) and Ammon and I had left our bikes there so we went on lots of family bike rides.  We rode down to the duck pond to feed the ducks.

         

We rode up to Maverick to get frozen yogert

We rode to the library to check out books...wow that brought back a lot of memories.

Avonlea and I would go on bike rides while the older kids were in school.  We went up to the drug store to get some candy and while we were riding, Avonlea saw this picture below of a box of chocolates that has been painted on the side of the building as long as I can remember.  Avonlea said "mom, look at that dead person!"  It took me a minute to realize that she thought the box of chocolates looked like a coffin.  I thought it was funny.

but the kids favorite place to ride was in the new church parking lot.  They could swerve all over and not worry about getting hit or run off the sidewalk.  We played chase and follow the leader on our bikes.  It was so much fun.  We wanted to have as much time in the mountains as we could so we went for hikes,

and went up to the Yankee and roasted hot dogs and played by the stream.  Watched the sunset from my favorite rock (side note, now that I am a parent and I see the dangers of my kids falling off of said rock into the canyon below...it may not be my favorite rock anymore.  My kids like to give me heart attacks)  It seems like so often, right at the most picturesque moment is when my camera battery died.  which is why there are no pictures of said sunset.

After watching the sunset, we found a semi-flat spot and laid out a blanket and watched the stars and saw the milky way.  I think that may have been one of my very favorite memories of the whole summer.  Star gazing up Parowan Canyon is a must.

We took time to play A LOT

We went with our great friends to see the Shakespeare Festival Green Show (which sadly has gone down hill quite I lot, I think) 

The Swing out front of Grandma and Grandpa's house got put to great use.

 I looked outside one day and the kids had set up their own picnic under the apple tree.

 I wish I had thought to get a picture of all the times the kids picked raspberries and tomatoes out of Grandpa's garden.  Yum Yum fresh fruits and veggies.  We picked the right time of year to be in Parowan.

(they ate cucumbers fresh from the garden anytime they could find them.)

 We helped juice tomatoes for canning using the same juicer I used when I was a little girl, and the same juicer my mom used when she was a little girl.  That juicer has seen better days but it still works like a charm.

My mom was freezing corn and my kids LOVED loved LOVED to eat the corn cobs after the corn had been cut off.  Watching them eat, you would have thought they had not been fed for a week.

While there, my mom ordered peaches from a company for several people around town and when they came to the house to pick it up, Kimball decided that would be a great time to put his hand at being an entrepreneur and set up his own business of selling the apples and plums he had picked from the trees in my parents yard.  Now, it was not quite time to pick apples but sometimes we like them tart.  They were very green but Kimball set up shop anyway.  Apples 1 cent and plums free.  You wouldn't think he would have made much money but he did.  Let's just say people were very generous with their tips.  

After the girls saw what Kimball was up to, they wanted in on it and Addie helped design his store sign.  "Kimballs Fruit Basket"  Very cute

We went to a Parowan football game...not for long but we had to at least watch the Rammettes.  I love watching the sun go down and the lights on around the football field.  The kids just like rolling around on the grass.

We did a lot of digging, in the garden, and re-doing my parents front flower bed.  

Jarom didn't think it was fair that only they got to play in the dirt and get muddy so he found the only puddle in the yard and made it his seat.

Right before we left Cedar 4 years ago, they put in a lake on a hill by our house.  This summer we went while we were killing time waiting for Ammon to get off work.  Unfortunately I forgot the kids swim suits.  We were going to be going to the Green Show that night and I didn't want them soaking wet so I told them to just roll up their pants and they could go in up to their knees.  Yeah Right!  We may or may not have driven around for awhile with a pair of pants and panties hanging out of our window trying to air-dry.  

We went to Zion National Park and had such  a wonderful day!  Man I love that place.  The kids were excellent little hikers and didn't complain.  We did Weeping Rock and walked up the Narrows a while.  So fun 

 After walking the Narrows, the trail walk back was pretty long, especially with wet shoes and clothes but they kept on going.

 Of course once we got back on the tram to take us to our car, they crashed.

We saw some of our wonderful friends and it was SO good to catch up with them.  We have been very blessed with the people in our lives. 

 We were sad that we didn't get to see more people while in Southern UT.  All of us ended up getting pretty sick with bad colds and respiratory stuff.  I swear I was going to cough out one of my lungs and poor Ammon got Shingles.  SO RANDOM right?  That took him out of work for over a week and we had to cancel several plans of seeing people.  Dang!  Well hopefully next time we get to UT.
Well I better stop for tonight but I still have Kimball's birthday, the kids starting school in Parowan and a family reunion to get through just as part of our Utah trip and then I need to try to catch up with everything that has been going on since we got back.  Like I said, 1 bite at a time.