Jumped the Gun on September

I realized after I posted our Labor day post that I remembered I had some important pics to post from August.
On the 22nd I ran another 5K (the Helper Arts Festival) along with my sis in law, Joy.  She kicked my trash :) but I still improved my time from the last one by 1 min and 16 sec.  I ran faster and harder than the time before so it was a lot more difficult and by the time I reached the end I thought I had done terribly. I was happily surprised to find out my time.
That evening we went up on the mountain for a little picnic  where Grandpa Neil was working.  We took a little horse back ride and fried hamburgers on a tiny grill.  THEN we got to do what I had been dying to since I had driven to Manti weeks before.  The wet spring had created a sea of purple bluebells and I had really hoped to get the girls pictures taken in them.
Thanks for the patience and ability to humor me, Luke.  You made me very happy by letting us go really out of our way to do this!

and lastly, my personal favorite!

September Catch Up, Staring with Labor Day

Wow. How is it already the end of September?!  The months have been flying by and so has this entire year.
September has been full of surprises and joys and lots of birthday fun for our little family.
The first surprise, was, just an hour or two before we planned to leave for our Labor Day camping trip, we got the phone call we have waited for this entire summer.  Someone had put for an offer on our house!!!! 
(actually, we had received a first offer back in May but we turned it down. In hindsight we would have gotten about the same money as we are for this offer, but at the time it seemed extrememly low. We had no idea we would have to lower our price so much.  And furthermore, it just did not feel right.  But then we came to almost regret it as the months and months past without any action.)  Finally, we had an offer, and it was good enough for us!
This however postponed our camping departure until really late that night.  Which was fine. It was no sacrifice after our prayers had finally been answered.

We camped up on Ferron Mountain with us, our girls, and our brother-in-law Chris, and his little boy Aden.  However, getting up on the mtn at 11:30 pm didn't leave us time to find him that night. First thing in the morning we set out to find them. Which we did.  Unfortunately, we our truck locked its doors automatically--with the keys inside.
So we borrowed Chris' truck to go get cell service in hopes that James, our Realtor and my brother, who had stayed at my parent's house because of the lateness of the hour the night before was still there and could get us a spare  key.  Thankfully he was still there! And Luke's parents were heading up to join us for the day so we hoped they could coordinate to get us a key.
We started driving up to make the phone calls when we hear a hissing sound coming from the tire.  We had a huge rock lodged in it.  We eventually had to stop and fix the flat.
We made barely made it in time to catch Luke's parents before they lost cell service also.  They were able (and willing) to go all the way back from Ferron to Price to get us the key.

Eventually they made it up to join us and we spent the afternoon fishing and hanging out.
Tianna (I) was the only person to catch a fish that day.  And boy was she proud of her "Whopper."

My favorite part about this picture is the look on Aden's face.  Total fish envy : )  We love that kid! and we had so much fun with him and Chris on our outing!!

The girls bed in the trailer.

 Chris found this cool shelter (probably made by the sheep headers)

 Out on a walk just before a beautiful sunset

 

Sunday we went back up after we went to church in Castle Dale and stayed through Monday.  

We finally made it to Luke's favorite place in the whole world:  Horse Heaven.  It was a gorgeous hike, and although quite difficult with a 5 and 2 year old, it was completely worth it.  And we were so proud of how well the girls did, especially Tianna who walked pretty much the entire way.  We only carried her over the logs and pokey bushes.
*ignore the sideways pictures and the fact that they are in backwards order*

 Look for the tiny orange spot, that's Luke and Adelia coming down the mountain after the hike.

 Luke is such a sweet daddy. He gave all his girls a bouquet he picked along the way.

 AND carried this little monkey most of the way.

 At the top of Horse Heaven

 By the time we got home we found out that we were officially UNDER CONTRACT! woooo hoooooo! We were so happy and so very very thankful!

It was definitely a wonderful weekend, even with the keys getting locked in the truck, the flat, and oh, the other flat tire we got on our way home.  : )

Funnies

The girls have been saying the funniest things lately. I just have to document them because I don't want to forget how cute they are before they become teenagers : )

Situation: In Dillards with 4 little crazy wild girls.  Aunt Joy telling them if they don't behave she'll have to sell them to the zoo.  Walking out of the department store:

Tianna: "Mom, you can't sell me. Remember?  Families are Eternal?"

Me:  "I know. That's exactly why I can sell you then just get you back in the eternities."  

Tianna:  immediately starts bawling her eyes out.

It was so funny... after (through my giggling) I explained that I was in fact just kidding and I would never sell her.

Situation.  We went in DI and I saw a really cute denim jacket for Tianna.  She tried it on and walked around the store with it on.  We bought out stuff, walked outside and got half way to our car

Tianna: "Mom! We didn't buy this jacket. We just stole it!" 

Me: "uh... why yes we did! Thank you for reminding me Tianna!" 

One day, Adelia, who I'm trying NOT to potty train until we are settled into our own house, was trying NOT to take a nap.

Me:  "Adelia, go to sleep and when you wake up we can do something fun." 

Adelia: "Buy panties?" 

Me:  "uhhhh.. yeah I guess." 

So we bought panties but thankfully she has once again lost interest in potty training. 

This last situation is funny NOW but it was very much NOT funny when it happened. 

At 3 am I heard Adelia's door open.  I was so tired that I thought I'll just lay here and wait until she comes in to my room (which is what she always does when she wakes up early (early as in 6:30 or something).  Well, I started to doze off and realized she never came in.  I went out, expecting to find her sitting at the top of the stairs or something.  She wasn't there but her door was shut so I went to the bathroom and started to go back to bed. Then I decided I should check.  I went and felt around in her bed for her. I couldn't find her. 

So I went to Tianna's bed to see if she crawled in with her. No. So I figured she must have gone downstairs. On my way to my parent's room I looked in all the normal places she would go (I mean, it was very very dark after all). All was silent and dark in my parent's room and I figured if she was there they would tell me. Getting more concerned I walk back through the house, this time with lights on. I looked back in my parent's room and Tianna's room and went to tell Luke I couldn't find Adelia anywhere.  He was so incoherent that he doesn't even remember me telling him that.

Well I am completely freaked out by now. Frantically I look everywhere once again and this time I went back inside my parent's room to look around.  Seeing the light on, my mom woke up and said, "Are you missing someone?"  I start crying with relief, "YES!"  She was sound asleep, snuggled up with Grandpa.  

WHAT A STINKER!!! And my mom and dad had fallen back to sleep so they didn't notice me checking around their room before then.  Oh I was so relieved to find her.  Needless to say, I did not fall back asleep for a long time. 

  

August's Hard Days

August means many things... like end of summer activities and school starting, but for our family, it means anniversary and birthday time... for Vittoria.
On the 16th, two years ago, our beautiful and special niece returned to her Heavenly Father's arms after a very valiant battle at Primary Children's Medical Center... and also after nearly 8 years of physical trials.  She was born with a connective tissue disorder called Marfan's Syndrome.  Basically, all her soft tissues were weak-- including her heart.  In July 2009 she underwent her second open heart surgery to prevent her aorta from rupturing.  The first one happened when she was 2.  When she was 2 1/2 she had her first back surgery and continued to have back surgeries nearly every 6 months following.  She was so strong and always recovered far quicker than expected by the doctors.  It was inspiring! So, when she had this open heart surgery scheduled, none of us worried that she would do anything but sail right through it.  Unfortunately we were wrong.  There were complications after complications and an entire month of agony for her dear parents.  It was a very difficult time for our family.  On my mom's birthday, Sunday the 16th, while waiting on the heart transplant list, Vittoria passed away.
Now, the 16th of August is a hard day for us--especially for my brother and his wife.  But, it's also still my mom's birthday and although she'd rather we just forget it is, we still like to honor her AND remember Vittoria.

This year we met up at the cemetery at 5:46 (the time she was both born and passed away) and were there to show our respects and to support James and Val.

 Afterwards we came back for a special dinner planned by Tianna.  She insisted we give my mom a menu and have her circle her favorite choices for each course.  It all turned out delicious... especially the cupcakes!

The next hard day is 1 week following the 16th, on the 23rd.  That is Vittoria's birthday.  She would have turned 10.  We had a balloon release at the cemetery at 5:46 like we have the past 2 years and then came back to my parent's house for pizza.

Those days are such an emotional experience.We all know we get to see her again, and because of the temple sealing, her parents will get to have her forever, and that is honestly the only way we find peace.  We miss you and will love you forever Vittoria!

This is the Place Heritage Park

The 2nd Saturday of August, we went to This is the Place Heritage Center.  Yes... more Pioneer stuff!  From the sound of our blog posts lately it seems like we do a lot with Pioneer related things.. but ya know, with listening to "the Work and the Glory" books has really sparked a love of our pioneer forefathers.  And Tianna is very interested in them and their way of life as well.  So, back in May we bought a Groupon for discounted tickets to the park and mid August was our first chance to get up there.

And it was worth the wait! The kids had so much fun.  We happened to be there on a day when it was a Civil War reenactment day.   Our girls enlisted into the Union Army and went around the park getting their rations , their payment (bubble gum wrapped like coins) and more.  They also got to check out the cool pioneer buildings, ride ponies, do chores, ride the train, pan for gold (fools gold) and eat ICE CREAM! it was super super hot... but very fun!

 My BFF Janelle came with us for a bit (and let us stay at her house Friday night)

 Civil War band member

 Old school laundry time!

 Pannin' for gold

 One of Brigham Young's houses.  Tianna HAD to go inside because, hello, it's PINK!

 and the walk up was so pretty!

I'm so glad the Pioneers found Utah. We sure love living here!

The Great Ferron Mountain

The night of our temple trip we met up with our friends, Blake and Chantel and began our 4-wheeling campout.  To top off such a spiritual evening, we had a small miracle happen in our behalf.  See, we have never traveled that direction to Ferron Mountain (which is the opposite side of the mountain range than we are use to.)  We were trusting the gps and direction giver on Luke's cell phone and Blake was following us.  We headed up this windy dirt road and made lots of sharp turns.  By now it was really dark too... and we were out of cell phone range.  We made a quick turn and Blake missed it.  We had to travel quite a ways before we could find a spot safe enough to turn around, and we could not get ahold of Blake. We prayed we could all find our way and meet up once again.  To make matters worse, Blake didn't know how to even get to the intended camp spot Luke had in mind.
We turned around and immediately we came upon some people from the DWR. They told us we would never make it to Ferron Mountain the way we were going.  Great... So we headed back to the spot we lost the Merrells.  Shortly after that we were stopped by a truck from the Forest Service. They asked if we were with the other people from Castle Dale and that they had sent them back to town to go the right way.
It was such a miracle that we each found out about the same time we were going the wrong way.  Within minutes we were reunited and all headed in the right direction.  I have such a testimony of prayer!

At our camp spot we unloaded and sat under the great night sky watching a meteor shower and visiting with our friends.   In the morning we woke up to this gorgeous view:

 Then our ride began at Spinners Reservoir.. while we waited for one more friend, Jeff.

 The wild flowers were incredible and the grass was higher than any of us have ever seen up there.

We had an excited ride and covered more than 50 miles that day.  There were river crossings, a gigantic mud puddle Jeff got stuck in, and Blake trudged right in and lost his shoe, and view points that took our breath away! 

 The shoe was found! yay!

 My sweet hubby gave me a growing bouquet throughout the ride

 Then we found a snow drift... it looked more like ash from a volcano.  but that didn't stop boys from being boys! If you look closely you can see Luke's snowball launched right at his innocent wife!

It was such a fun day! And luckily our girls had some fun of their very own.  They got to spend Friday and Saturday with their grandparents at the Emery County Fair.  We got back in town just in time to catch the free concert.. unfortunately by the time Danny Gokey finally came out it was already well past their bedtime so we only heard 3 songs.  The opening act was okay.. but I really looked forward to hearing more Danny!

 Our girls have the best grandparents! all 4 living sets!

Notice the butterfly in Adelia's cheek. that thing would not come off easily like they usually and she wouldn't let us near it to get it off.  "Leafe my buff-eye awone!" (leave my butterfly alone!)  It stayed on for most of the week! It was cute!