Hiking Gals

August 29

Monica invited me to go hiking up at Snowbird. I don't know why I never thought about the fact that ski resorts would be the perfect place to hike in the summer. It was incredibly beautiful!

My camera was out of commission for the hike, but I remembered that I had a camera on the video camera and experimented with it. Not too bad!

I love this picture because it shows what awesome hiking Mom's we are!



Lucy loves to hike! She won't stay in the back pack for long anymore. She wants to do it all herself! What a little mountain girl.

I loved that for once she actually wanted to wear her hat (I think trying to let baby Issac borrow it had something to do with her wanting to wear it more than usual!)


Lucy insisted that I have 2 ponies, just like her (and it has gone on like this for many days now!)


Oh, I love my little hiking family!

We played around in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. Issac was sooooo cute. He was tired and had started to cry, but as soon as Monica put him in the pool he was very happy and smiley! (I didn't get any pictures because the camera ran out of battery).

After we left, Lucy kept asking "Monica, Baby Issac Back" Even a few days later she was still asking about them. She must have had as much fun as we did.

Thanks so much for inviting us Monica! What an awesome day!

Dryer

Lucy has finally discovered the wonders of the dryer!

2 year Temple Square Photo Shoot

Today I shot Lucy's 2 year old Photo Shoot at Temple Square. I had soooooo much fun! And she did too, for about the first 20 pictures. Dave even hung in their without complaining!Then I tortured her and bribed her and managed to squeeze a few more ridiculously cute shots! I put up my very favorites.









Ahhhhh, I just still can't believe my little baby is all grown up and 2 years old and everything!

Here's the slideshow for the die hard Lucy Fans, who just can't get enough:

Speaking at Girl's Camp with Lucy

July 14

I absolutely adored Girl's Camp while I was growing up. It always inspired me to become something great. I wanted to inspire girls like I had been at girls camp and sometime around the age of a Laurel, I made a goal to be a Girl's Camp Speaker...someday in the far away future. Well, I am happy to announce that "someday" came true. My Mom was called to be the Stake Girl's Camp Director this year, so after subtly mentioning that I could speak if she wanted me to, and then continuing to hint for months, my Mom finally asked me to speak at Girl's camp.

I was thrilled. The theme for their camp was "The Hero Within" and was all about Superhero's. My talk was entitled "The Faith to Fly." I dressed like a "Super Sister" and spoke about Faith and that it implies action, not just a belief and that all superhero's have it. I even ventured to say that anything extraordinary that has ever come to be, started with Faith; someone who believed in something and acted on those beliefs. I told the story about the Wright Brothers and their dream to make an airplane fly and how they achieved their dream with Faith. I told about Spiderman and his first attempts to climb up walls and swing from his web and how he used Faith.

To illustrate how important the action part of Faith is, I told the story of Nephi and explained that he didn't just say "The Lord will provide a way," and then sit around and wait for the plates to land in his lap. He moved his feet. He went to Jerusalem. He did all he could and then the Lord provided a way. The Lord will provide a way for us to use our individual talents and strengths to promote the Gospel, if we are taking action and striving to. Prayer and Scripture study, supported with courage to take action about what you know is right is how we exercise our Faith. With Faith in the Lord, He can make our weaknesses turn into strengths, and our Strengths turn into Superpowers. I even pulled out some of my pre-baby gymnastics moves to illustrate the Faith I demonstrated when learning to perform an Ariel. It left me very sore for days to come, but I have never been able to resist showing off (as you probably know if you regularly read my blog!).

Overall, what I learned in my heart was that it takes Faith to be a disciple of Christ. It is good to believe, but we must go beyond just believing or our beliefs will dwindle. Believing is just a step to gaining Faith. If you don't first have belief you will never gain Faith, but if you want a strong testimony and to be a tool in the Lord's hand, you have to take action, and by doing so, you will be blessed with more Faith. You can't just believe in Christ from afar. You must follow his example and do as he did. Remember to do those simple things that we learn in primary. Faith is not a noun, it's a verb! We don't just have faith, we exercise it! Faith is a muscle that grows when we use it. If you want more, use whatever amount you have to do something and you will be given more. I always thought that Faith was just believing in things we don't see. Now I realize it is precisely that, when we add "and acting according to those beliefs." Speakers always learn more than those being spoken to. I hope the spirit was able to touch a few hearts out there, even if it was only a fraction of the way the Lord touched me.

I stayed the night and brought Lucy with me. Dave was in Utah and we all know I have separation anxiety, so you do what you have to. We squished onto a small cot on the bottom of a bunk. I forgot to bring a sleeping bag or pillow. I guess I was thinking about my talk too much and just rushed out the door, plus we usually camped in tents and so I didn't think about needing bedding, knowing that we would be in cabins. Luckily, someone brought an extra sleeping bag (Melanie, bless your heart for following that prompting!), and my sweatshirt sufficed for a pillow. We endured to the end, and enjoyed the fruits of our labor the next day!

July 15

We spent the next day canoeing, feeding the ducks and swimming at the pool. Lucy had a ball!
I didn't think we would get to go canoeing, since it was for the girls, but Lucy kept asking the guy in charge "boat please," so he invited us to go after all the girls had a turn. We were both thrilled!

Here are some shots of Lucy's first canoe experience:





There was also a Mommy duck and her babies at the lake, and Lucy couldn't resist wading with them.



Someone offered Lucy some bread to feed them and I got a sweet picture of the bread in motion!


And Salute! Looks like a little gymnast after a great performance in this shot!

Yay for Girl's Camp! We had sooooo much fun and were so blessed to go embark in the spirit of the Lord and the spirit of young girls! Oh, and the Director couldn't have been any better!
(Good Job! I love you Mom!)

Becoming Childlike

While hiking at Arches National Park, Dave was worried about Lucy on a steep a slippery part. He asked Lucy to hold his hand and explained that it was dangerous and she might fall down.

Lucy replied to the warning: "Mommy Catch You. Mommy catch you" with a very "duh, daddy" sort of tone. I thought this was a little funny, because she fell down many times on the hikes we took and I only caught her about 50% of the time (I am trying really hard not to be a "hover mother" theses days). I wish I didn't ever have to watch her fall down, but I am grateful she still has such confidence in me.

I believe this is part of what is meant in the scriptures about becoming like a little child. We need to have unwavering, child like confidence in our Heavenly Father's ability to catch us. Although sometimes we may feel like we are falling down, he is always there to catch us if we will let him. We must trust him. Trust in him, and the atonement, just like a child trusts that Mommy and Daddy will be there to catch them. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father has a much better accuracy rate than I do!

Pioneer Day

July 24

So glad I could make it back to Utah just in time for Pioneer Day. It is just not the same in other states!

Ring Toss

Milk Jug toss


Petting Zoo
Indian Teepees. We got to dance with the Indians.

I wanted to get a shot in one of the old wagons, but Dave didn't think we should be climbing on the displays.

1930 Model A Convertible, Grandpa Dale's favorite mobile. Had to get a shot for him:


A classic firetruck

There's my cuties! We finished the day with a Showstoppers Concert... of course the real show was Lucy dancing in the audience. She brought the house down! Oh what fun!

Only 319 days until the next Pioneer Day! Start Preparing!

Happy Birthday Lucy

Happy Birthday (#2) Lucy. We love you!!

Summer Biking

July 3rd

We biked around Cour d' Alene Lake. One word: Breathtaking!

Lucy calls the bike carrier: Lucy's Bike! She is set to go here, books, water, snacks. She loved it!



Trying out Daddy's Bike


The whole bike riding crew (Lucy, Wendy, Lisa, Mark, Dave)


I love this picture because it captured the motion and you can almost feel how fast she is running. She is definitely a runner, and she didn't get it from me, but she is trying her hardest to convert me. ("Mama run! Mama Run fast" is a common household Lucy phrase)

A much better attempt to take a summery family picture for the blog.


Me, being artistic. See what I mean about Breathtaking!

Me, trying to take artistic pictures of my daughter, while she says cheese with snacks in her mouth and bats her wings like a chicken!


Another silly attempt at artistry.
This was the best i could do. I like the attitude hand on hip, although it was not really the specific emotion I was going for, it's cute! I was trying to do a non posed thing, but she just kept running off unless I told her to come smile for the camera.


Okay, I finally fulfilled my artistic craving. A feet picture will have to do.


I fell in love with bike riding this day, and have been going as much as possible since. We have even been bike riding to church most weeks. I'm excited to go for longer rides as the weather cools in Fall. We have been keeping it short, so as not to bake our baby! What a fun adventure! Thank you Nana and Papa for all the good times in Spokane! We miss you!

What color is orange juice?

Yesterday Dave made a wonderful breakfast before church, complete with pancakes, eggs and orange juice. What a wonderful treat! We learned something new while talking with Lucy about breakfast:

Dave: "Lucy, What color is the ORANGE juice?" really emphasizing the orange.

Lucy answered with confidence: "Yellow" (with that cute kid pronunciation "Lellow")


The truth has been spoken. Never argue with a 2 year old, (okay I still have 5 days until she is a real 2 year old) Orange juice is actually yellow. Has the world been lying to us all of these years? I know I sure felt betrayed and didn't know who to trust when I found out that the whole world lied to all the children about Santa Clause. If orange juice is really yellow, what can we believe in and how are we supposed to teach our children how complicated our world is?

Lucy Quotes of the Week

Every Day Lucy's vocabulary seems to take on a whole new dimension. Here are my favorites from this week:

"Big Some" when Lucy wants a lot of something! She says it very dramatically too.

"Hi Angel" While at the Salt Lake Temple grounds on Tuesday, I pointed out the Angel on top to Lucy. She enthusiastically looked up and waved, saying "Hi Angel!"

Here's an old favorite photo of the Salt Lake Temple. My camera is in the shop or I am sure I would have some new ones of our trip this week. This will have to do as far as jazzing the post up goes!


There's a huge water fountain in Temple Square which Lucy pointed out and exclaimed "Water Mountain." We have been talking a lot about mountains (since we have been hiking a lot) and waterfalls (which we have also visited). I thought calling it a "Water Mountain" was pretty creative, ingenious even. Why not call it a "Water Mountain?" Does that not look like a water mountain?



"Marry Daddy" Also while at the temple, while watching a Bride and Groom take pictures we started explaining about getting married in the temple. Dave told Lucy "someday you will get married in the temple." She responded "Marry Daddy." Dave answered her that he was married to Mommy, but that she could marry her own boy. Lucy responded "marry own boy." I love the funny conversations we are having now a days.

"Heby" for "Heavy" Lucy loves to pick up heavy things and carry them around struggling while repeating "heby" and then grunting, of course!

"Hiking Up in da mountain" We have been hiking a lot lately. Now Lucy repeats this phrase over and over.

Friday night at a wedding reception she saw one of the flower girls and while pointing said "Pretty Dress." This girl has an eye for style. She got really upset the other day because she wanted to wear a dress. I got her a dress and put it on her, but she tried spinning in it and it wouldn't puff out. She freaked out because it wasn't puffing out. We changed the dress to a food spinner and everything was fine. Whenever I wear a dress, she tells me "spin Mama" just so she can watch the dress puff out. She's funny!

"Where is it?" She has just started asking about missing things. We couldn't find her sippy cup today, which she has just recently gotten attached to (recent as of this week) and she went all around the house today say "Where is it?" just like I had done. Then she would call out "Sippy cup, are r you?" It was cute.

The other day we were looking for her Belle Phone and she told me it was in the car. Sure enough it was there. Wow! Her memory is really improving. In fact, it is already better than mine!

Lucy is also putting some little songs together. I will try to catch some footage and post. TTFN!