A day at the zoo

This one's for you Sis, I thought the whole time how fun it would be to have you there.
We went to see the new polar bear exhibit, which of course we failed to get a picture of. Enjoy the many cute wild and 4 domesticated animals

4 lake road day trip with Uncle Cam

My big triathlon for the year was coming up.  A swim, bike, run x 4.  4 different reservoirs I had to get to and swim and run at via my bike.  It was pretty awesome.  Anyway, wanted to drive the course before the race so I recruited Uncle Cam to come with all the kids and I and off we went.

Second lake of the race but first on our stop was East Canyon, super muddy in a spot.  I sunk in to my knees with some lady onlooking who clearly could have warned me......thanks lady.  We got cleaned up and had a good time though.  This would actually be the only lake we would get in.  We also went geocaching for a few minutes.

Next lake was Echo which was SO low.  Literally 2/3 of the lake was missing.  Crazy.  We just drove by this one.

After that we headed to the Rockcliff side of Jordanelle.  It was getting stormy so I didn't want to get in the water, but we headed off on a little hike.  Neat views of the cliffside and lake.  Katie, Ella, and I got back to the van just as it was raining with Cam and the kids behind us a few minutes.

Cam also felt the need to climb up this cliff side.  Rockcliff park named appropriately.

And what trip near Heber is complete without a trip to the Dairy King.  Yummy burgers, shakes, and a fancy new automated soda machine.  Thanks for coming Cam!

Opperation: Save the Chickens - a Success!

We've had our girls now for a little over a year - the feathery ones - and they are our pets and we love them.  A 'dear' neighbor and her adult children are generally looking for things to complain about and chose our yard and chickens so thus we became probably the first in our neighborhood to have to get a permit.

I went through the same process someone wanting to have 'dangerous or exotic animals' has to.  For 3 chickens.  Paid my $35 application fee, sent our rooster off to Grandma and Grandpa's house, had 3 men come over to move our coop to the middle of the yard, and went through a load of paperwork.  Paperwork which included a siteplan with all measurements of our property and the coop and where it sits in our yard.  It also included printing self adhesive address labels for 60 of our closest friends houses (note the sarcasm, I knew maybe 1/4 of those households), and sent in those, 60 envelopes, and 60 stamps.  The city then sent those 60 households notices of our chicken's hearing so they could come and object if they wish.
Which brings us to tonight.  Our thug chicken's hearing.  I was nervous going in even though we have met all the code, but even more nervous when our 'classy' neighbors showed up.  I gave a good speech telling how these chickens are our pets, our friends, and how they teach the kids responsibility.  I also mentioned how we maintain them regularly.
Well, our friendly neighbors went up and get this, her complaint was that her dogs bark at the chickens.  That they're a bird killing breed and they bark a lot.  SHE complained about that!  You'd think that would have been our complaint.  Then her adult scary looking trailer park son came up with his SLR camera that had pictures of our backyard!  This thug took pictures of our backyard!  What an invasion of privacy!

Anyway, the city council took it to a vote and they all quickly approved it.  I was very pleased with some of their comments and acceptance too.  Things like we have as much right to chickens as someone does to a dog, and my favorite, 'where are the other 4 neighbors around your property?' (meaning why aren't they complaining). 
We still have to have an inspector come and see our coop but it's regulation, and won't be a problem.  So nice to have that over.   Things I'm sure will be more awkward than ever with those neighbors, and I still hate how regulated the ordinances are regarding backyard chickens, but at least we're legal and the city is on our side.

Happy 4th!

We had a nice day. After our morning hike Jer and I took the kiddos to his extended family BBQ. It was nice, lots of good food including homemade root beer and ice cream and lots of friends for the kids to play with.
I sure miss the 4th I grew up with in Springville with my grandparents, but hopefully they had a nice time together up there with the best firework view this year. I can just hear my Grandma clapping and singing her patriotic songs while watching fireworks :)

4th of July hike

Jer and I went on a great run/hike up a trail in Little Cottonwood. We went 3 miles up to Red Pine Lake and then the real hike began up to Pfifferhorn. We wanted to summit this peak but we went the wrong route, needed to get back to the kids, and frankly, I was just a wuss about the serious climbing at the top with big but loose boulders you had to hold into in order not to fall. Anyway, I felt bad not letting Jer get to the top but we did have a great time together! Thanks Grandma Marla for watching the kids!

Some quick pics

Wow it's been too long since I've updated and a lot has happened!  Until I get to catching up though here are some quick pics of the family.

Not bad for 'throw the camera on timer mode and set it on a rock AND get Ella to look towards it'  :)

Our Monkeys

I was interviewed yesterday about being an active mom and had to find a bunch of pictures relating to that to send to her and loved looking back at them, so threw together a little slideshow.  Yes some are of me but my most important people are the stars!  Enjoy!

Happy 4th Birthday Katie-bug!

My how we love this child!  She is so spunky with her leader make sure the kids do what mom asks personality.  She makes sure we stick to routines and what we say we're going to do.  She's so loving and cuddly.  She's a GREAT big sister and loving every minute of it!  And man she's beautiful.  I just adore her blonde hair and blue eyes and everything about her (about all the kids of course).  I love that she cares for the chickens and puts on her 'chicken boots' to go out and check for eggs and visit with them and carry them around (and send them down the hill in toy dump trucks occasionally).  She always comes with me to go anywhere, even just picking up or taking the kids to school and she doesn't particularly like it when I go to work 2 hours a week.  She's my little side kick for sure.  

We love you sweet Kaity-bug!  Happy 4th Birthday!!!!