A Veritable Vegetable Kingdom

Behold The Beautiful Bounty of the Garden

Since it's harvest time and everyone is displaying their treasured
yield of vegetables, I thought I'd pick up the "harvest basket"
and reap the gleaning of Dave's cultivation. I toiled amongst the
handful of wee plants searching for my prized tomato.

Behold the perfection of the Roma! Yes, it is humble, maybe
even a bit runt-like but beautiful nonetheless.
Before I could make a lilliputian BLT, Tanner popped my
only gathering into his mouth.



The bell peppers are coming along nicely aren't they? This one
will go nicely in my thimble of salsa.


miniature jalapenos anyone?

A Little Elbow Room...Not!

CALIFORNIA 2011

Just a quick trip to Dana Point, California and I wonder: Does the
beauty of Southern CA outweigh the crowds? There are some nice
beaches and shiny cars and amazing houses and flowering plants
and superb weather and good food and gorgeous people .....

and toned lifeguards and prestigious schools and major league
baseball. But what if you have to fight to catch a wave, or fight
to merge into traffic or fight to park the car?


Who gets the pleasure of riding this next wave?


Dave had to fight off 14 tourist kids and 5 locals just to ride into
the sand with his daughter.


And then there is the Class Distinction. You are either a surfer
or a swimmer. You can't be in each others space. We swimmers
were surprised when Jared and Nanette (surfers) actually
associated with with us.


After visiting Grandma and Grandpa Holt we all realized that
even their couch is crowded!

Looking GOOD aren't they! These two are the most adventurous
couple I've ever known. Their stories are legendary, not to mention
their kindness and generosity. I was so glad that our whole family
of 21 were able to spend time with my lovely grandparents.

I've decided that if I had $25 million I could possibly live in one
of those beach mansions on Strand Beach and have my chauffeur
do the driving. Ya, I think I could.

Is It Worth It?

Every summer we load up and drive somewhere for a night in the
woods. We call it camping but it always ends up being so much more.
For instance, we like to stop at a McDonalds and fill the kids up with
chicken nuggets and double cheeseburgers and french fries before
driving around and around scouting for that perfect campsite.

This time I think we drove around to much because Tanner started
looking a bit green.... the sheer volume of vomit suggested that not
only was lunch involved, but also breakfast. Dave pulled the truck
over...too late. We cleaned him up and put outfit #2 on Tanner.

Once we settled on a campsite Dave and I set up the tents and the

camp stove while the kids played. It took Tanner exactly 5 minutes

to look like a coal miner.

Sparkling clean after a case of wipes and outfit #3


Of course no camping trip is complete without some good ol'
unsuccessful fishing.

Hyrum dam was completely full. We took lots of dam pictures and
asked some dam questions.

Tanner...outfit #4 became soaked with lake water so I had outfit #5
ready for the ride home.


After all the camp stuff is re-packed and the kids are cleaned up
and the bugs are brushed off, I remember that we actually had
some pretty funny moments. Yes, it's worth it.