Pinewood Adventure

Eggs on Toast turned eight just in time to be in the Pinewood Derby. He was so thrilled.

They had a high-tech set-up this year with a joke-telling emcee and everything.

Shall we have just one more "round of applause"?

Eight is Enough

Someone turned eight years old a couple of weeks ago. Someone who once looked like this:

And who now looks like this:

He wanted an "arachnid" birthday party. We ended up focusing on the spider aspect of arachnids.

The Silly Grandma made this fabulous cake, of course.

The party-goers hunted down a giant egg sac which was hid in our house by a giant spider.

We then hung it from the basketball hoop,

and bashed it to shreds.

Because that is what one does with giant egg sacs which have been extricated from one's house.

And once the egg sac was bashed to bits, the party-goers scrambled to gather the innards which had been spilt upon the ground and put them into little bags to feast upon later.

How frightfully delightful.

Happy Birthday, Eggs on Toast!

Run, Run, As Fast As You Can!

A couple of weeks ago, Eggs on Toast and Junior ran a mile at BYU's Triple Crown Elementary School Races.

This is the same run that Onion Ring ran when he was in second grade.

They had never run a mile before (that we know of) and so they were a little nervous.

Afterward they told us that they wished they hadn't done it because it was really hard, but they were glad they did it because they felt good afterward.

What an accomplishment!

Soccer 2011

Eggs on Toast and Junior got to be on the same soccer team this Fall. I love it when that happens.

They played hard and had a lot of fun.

Watson Lake

This picture was taken about twelve years ago when we went backpacking up to Watson Lake with the Silly Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Stephanie, and Aunt Holli (aren't they so cute?). Watson Lake, one of thousands of lakes in the High Uintas, is a favorite spot for Brandon's family, and they went backpacking there many times.

Brandon and I hadn't been back until several weeks ago when we hiked up with several aunts, an uncle, and a bunch of cousins.

This isn't Watson Lake. This is Lily Pad Pond. I don't think that's the official name, but that's what I named it.

It is not a long or difficult hike but there are some steep spots.

Nothing that the two year old couldn't do, though.

This is not Watson Lake, either, but one of the many other lakes.

I love the shape of the rocks in this area--they are all kind of cube-ish. I also love the shapes on this boy's face--they are all kind of smile-ish.

Does Baby Luke have a "Precious Moments" face, or what?

Notice the totem pole featured in the photo below (circa 1999). Brandon carved it with the help of others.

As we were hiking in this time, we talked about our past visits and wondered if that totem pole was still there. I thought there was no way it would be, but lo and behold, it was! I was all astonishment.

You can see the freshly carved totem pole in this photo (below, in the right-hand corner) as well. Also notice the table/pavilion that we (we being used loosely, here) lashed together.

And observe the raft.

Wow, what industrious, resourceful campers! (Thanks to the Silly Grandpa and Grandma.)

Onion Ring was a sweet little one-year-old at the time of this long-ago backpacking trip.

Awwww.

Too bad I didn't try to recreate the above photo with our present day Onion Ring. This would have been a perfect spot for it.

There was an abundance of flowers blooming this late in the season because the snows had been so heavy this past winter that they had just recently melted.

This is Watson Lake.

My favorite part of the hike was this little waterfall. It was so beautiful. I took a lot of pictures of it.

This is my favorite shot of the day: