Dinner with friends

After the Tour of Utah, Ken and Judy invited us over to their house for dinner the next evening. As soon as Paton stepped out of the car, he shouted, "Fire!" and headed straight for the fire container. Instead of a fire pit, they had a neat contraption that contains the fire and has a lid to put over the top so little ones didn't fall in! Anyway, we let the kiddos roast hotdogs for dinner, and we adults had brawts from the grill. For dessert, we made smores!

Daddy was amusing Izzy and Paton with wagon rides. I wish I had taken a picture of when Izzy got out of the wagon and pulled Paton around. It was adorable! We found it funny that the girl in this friendship was doing the labor! If she stopped, Paton would shout, "Pull!" and if Paton got out of the wagon, Izzy would command, "Sit, En" (her way of saying Paton's name).

I wish Izzy lived closer b/c the two of them got along so well! They have much in common, including throwing handfuls of rocks in the driveway and laughing hysterically at themselves.

Tour of Utah

It's been officially one year since we moved to Utah. It's easy to remember this because one of the first things we did last year was attend the annual Tour of Utah. The Tour is a highly-prized six-day sporting event and festival with international significance. Some of the best professional cyclists in the world battle across the most beautiful terrain along the western Rocky Mountains in Utah. Stage 1 of the five stages is hosted in Ogden and the Ogden Valley. With three complete ascents of the infamous North Ogden Pass Road, racers will most certainly not gently ease in to the 2011 race. Included in the 116 mile, three-lap road race will be a clockwise tour of the lovely Eden Valley and Pineview Reservoir. After a gentle descent through Ogden Canyon the course will take in a quick circuit of downtown Ogden affording spectators multiple viewing opportunities before the race once again heads north to confront the nearly 3,000 foot climb out of the valley.

This first picture is of the police and other blocking off the road for the cyclists. We're situated right at a T in the road and had a great view!

The Ken and Judy (Oma and Opa) were the ones who invited Paton and I to join them for this play date with their grandchildren (Owen and Izzy). So when the racers passed, we went to the park right across the street and had lunch.

Izzy is exactly one day older than Paton, and the two of them got along great!

Here she's feeding Paton his milk.

Who needs a playground when you have bleachers?

"Mommy, colors?"

We've entered into the world of bring a sack full of things whenever we go to a restaurant (which isn't too often). The favorite item recently is giving Paton paper on which to "color." This particular time I brought only a pen b/c I didn't want to be chasing crayons from under the table all evening. He doesn't enjoying coloring alone though. Often Paton will give you the pen or crayon insisting that you "color balloons." Drawing balloons is one of his favorite things for you to do. He loves to count them and then scribble all over them.

Just the other day, I found him here on the auto-man coloring on his own.

Kayaking

Greg and I had a very busy July, so Greg decided to take me on a date at Causey Reservoir to go kayaking! Apparently no motorized boats are allowed on this reservoir, so it's really peaceful. According to www.waterquality.utah.gov, "Causey is one of the most scenic and beautiful reservoirs in Utah. It is nestled in steep valley terrain, and travel into these areas is inspiring with shear vertical walls and heavily forested areas. Most of the area has the appearance of remote wilderness." We borrowed Pioneer Bible Camp's kayaking materials and headed out!

I Cut His Hair!

 Paton's first official haircut was back in May, and we had a professional cut it. But this time, I wanted to cut it, so it was my first time cutting his hair. I've cut Greg's hair before as well as other men's hair, but this was my first time for Paton. Overall, he was a very good boy. I put Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on, and he only protested when I turned the razor on right at the very beginning.

 I have to admit that I really miss his curls. But I'm glad for the cut since his hair was getting really long.

Pioneer Bible Camp

This past week Greg was the speaker at Pioneer Bible Camp. It was the camp's largest group yet this summer and consisted of junior high campers. He spoke twice a day, once during the morning chapel and once in the evening chapel. His morning chapels covered the characteristics of a good soldier in the book of Joshua, and the evening chapels covered Matthew 5's "Blessed are the..."

Since we live just down the street from the camp, we didn't have to stay overnight each night but that didn't mean that we weren't there much. Paton and I spent each meal at the camp plus a little play time before and after. At the end of each day, he was so filthy from playing with rocks and dirt and whatever else he could find. Paton made several friends amongst the staff and loved going to camp to see them. I was sad to see the week end since I too made several new friends. The staff is wonderful and friendly and I felt so at home among them.

Below is a pic of all of the campers with Greg in the center. Greg got to know the campers pretty well since he ate all of his meals with different cabins. He also went on a hike with them, and usually stayed and fellowshipped with them after each evening service. We found out at the end of the week that there were 13 salvation decisions! Praise the Lord for His working in their lives!

This Weekend

On Friday, I wanted to take Paton to one of our reservoir's beaches to play in the water. This would have been a wonderful idea had I remembered that the beach-ish areas that I knew of were flooded due to the mountain snowmelt, so we had to content ourselves with a few minutes in a grove of trees. There wasn't a place for me to sit, so this amusement didn't last long.

On Saturday, we found Paton a babysitter, and Greg and I took Ed to see Snowbasin Ski Resort. Ed is our missionary friend from Korea who's in the states for a few weeks. He took a week out of his vacation to come see us, so we rolled out the red carpet for him. As you can see, the top of Basin still has snow! While our area of Utah doesn't have mosquitoes or chiggers, we do have bitting flies...and they were out in abundance!

Looking away from the mountain gives you a view of our valley.

Later Saturday evening, our friends came over with their one year old son, Jonathan. Paton and Jonathan are buddies. Paton definitely needs a sibling so he can learn to share! But as you can see below, he had no problem sharing his easel. I wish I took a video of this since both boys were squealing and shouting as they colored.

Today was our annual church picnic. Greg and I installed a new tradition of a pie baking contest. And can you believe it, we had 14 pie entries! Our three judges were quite "pied-out" at the end of it all. A strawberry rhubarb pie took first, a chocolate pecan pie won second, and a caramel banana creme pie won third, and a cranberry apple won honorable mention. We're definitely doing this again next year.