I started this entry last Monday and never quite finished it.  But I better post it so I can get the gala stuff up.  Here goes!

Recently, Katrina received her Joan of Arc award, culminating two years of work on her part.

The night of May 15th we attended our ward's Fathers and Sons campout at Snow Canyon.  I cooked dutch oven potatoes and Jacob and I went on a hike together. Pictured above (R) and below is Jacob at Pioneer Wall.  A spot where 19th century pioneers wrote their names and dates on the wall with axel grease.

Jacob roasts six marshmellows simultaneously.

In more recent news, in preparation for this summer's 50 mile hike, one Wednesday afternoon we took the scouts (Jacob tagged along) on the local "C" trail, from the valley floor to the C overlooking the valley.  A 4.2 mile hike, 2200 foot elevation gain.

The sun sets on the valley floor below.

Intrepid hikers rest at the top.

Good (and sore) times!

Liesl made her delicious strawberry crepes this past weekend.  Oh Yeah

Joseph has always enjoyed wild hair given his cowlicks and all.  Here is a recent example of his bed head.

A weekend or two ago we attended the annual Scout Expo.

Lots of fun activities and games.

Also recently, we attended Joseph's annual orchestra concert. This picture is of a piece where just the violas and cellos played.

Pam and daughters came up from Vegas recently to grab a portion of cow we bought locally.  Kids played together, adults visited.  Good food.  Good times.

Katrina making breakfast on Mother's Day (yes, I'm way behind on xanga posting).

Lizzy, ready for church on Mother's Day.

Liesl poses with kids and booty, including a hat knitted by Joseph and a handprints apron the kids and I made.

Happy Mother's Day!

Grandpa's Surprise 60th Birthday Party

Others have covered the events of last weekend in a much timelier fashion that I have.  Here's a few photos - and a video of the surprise welcome!

(L) Gathering down the street before 1pm on the 16th.  (R) Gathering in the kitchenliving room area waiting for Grandpa to come upstairs

(L) Good food!  (R) Good games!

Grandkids and gifts!

First Place!

Jacob placed first at this year's Pinewood Derby, taking us all, quite frankly, by surprise.  Jacob designed the body style, our friend Brian Bairett cut it out, Jacob sanded and painted it, I melted and placed the lead (learning some weight placement secrets in the process), Liesl installed the wheels and axels.  Quite the community effort!

Here's the playing field.

In other news, our good little friend Brandon Bairett sold over 140 scout-o-rama tickets - over 700 dollars in sales.  $2 from each $5 ticket go to the scout's unit, which is good because our budget is something like $2 per month for the entire unit!  Jacob and Joseph went out a sold tickets too bringing in $150.  They earned a camp sleeping pad and a camelback as prizes.

A week ago Joseph and I attended the annual scout camporee.  Our troop was in charge of the flag ceremony and did a great job.  The wind was horrible and I didn't sleep a wink.  Joseph however slept very well. Go figure.

The next day, Sunday, Joseph received his Life Scout rank.  He also conducted the Stake Court of Honor including the flag ceremony and did a fantastic job, if I say so myself.  Throughout the week I received compliments from other attendees at church, Rotary Club, etc. on how well he did.

The week before Easter we spent a week in Cache Valley for general conference and to witness Liesl's sister's family be sealed in the Bountiful temple.

Liesl's sister, Elise, asked Liesl to escort her when she took out her endowments.  A very special couple of days.

We also got to attend the Liesl's grandfather's 89th birthday party.  Harold Brower Chambers and his wife, Eva, have lived a wonderful, exemplary lives.

Also, we've FINALLY, after two and a half years, planted grass seed.  We didn't do any of the soil prep (aside from some nitrous humous) that we did at our last house, but this was all we could handle with the crazy life we've been living these past 4-6 months and a slightly strained budget.

We also, with the help of like, 15-18 neighboors, raised our greenhouse.

A week later we covered it with plastic.

A week later the wind had made quick work of our careful plastic placement.  We hope to try a different strategy this week.

In the process I got to run a skidloader.  The right tools make such a difference! 

SURPRISE SURPRISE!   THE OVEN IS LOADED AND DUE TO BREAK FORTH IN GLADNESS SOMETIME IN OCTOBER.  CONGRATS TO US ON OUR GRAND FINALE!!!! TAKE A PEEK.....

A Busy Weekend

Gary here. Friday I drove up to Salt Lake to participate in the seventh annual Thomas Jefferson Education Forum sponsored by TJEd Marketplace.  I thought the economy would impact attendance but it was packed. There were over three hundred kids in the youth forum (standing room only) and what must have been somewhere between 800 and 1000 in the adult forum.  The power of good people and volunteer organizations never cease to amaze me.  Joseph wasn't able to attend this year, unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict.  He had his first viola competition - where he performed with an accompanist before a panel of three judges who drove down from SLC.  He received a Superior rating, the highest possible.  If he were to do that nine years in a row he would get a scholarship to SUU.

Lizzy has the croupe again.  No fun.  I stayed home with her for the first two hours of church.  That was a blast.  We read books and watched family videos.  Including this new one from our trip to Cali last September.  She wanted to watch "silly mommy" over and over again.  Good times!

Wow! Nearly a month has passed since our last post. So much has been happening so fast and I haven't been able to keep up on our on-line "journal." Here's a quick attempt at a catch-up.

First of all, Jacob turned nine on Wednesday. Hooray!

Since I got a three layer chocolate cake for Valentine's Day, Jacob figured he should get a four layered cake for his b-day.

Jacob wanted to go to the Southern Utah University (SUU) climbing wall to celebrate. So we went as a family on Thursday night. You can see Joseph on the left in the green shirt.

Joseph nears the top of a very difficult climb.

Liesl took the kids to a fun museum this week. I'm not sure what Lizzy is doing.

G and her good friend Dallin Clarke.

Katrina during our morning scripture study one day this week.

Heading up Cedar Canyon for the BSA Klondike, Valentines Day weekend

Good times!

We ate very, very well. Delicious beef stew for dinner followed by an amazing peach cobbler topped off with vanilla ice cream. To die for!

This was my snow cave.

We got a foot of new snow during the night. This is a picture of one of the leader's cave's door with a shovel next to it. All our doors were completely covered in the morning.

Valentines Day was buuuuzzzyy. Joseph and I got home from the Klondike around 1pm, unpacked and then Liesl and I headed off for the evening session of Stake Conference which we attended with our good friends the Bairetts. Afterwards we invited them over to initiate the deluxe chocolate mousse, triple layered chocolate torte cake "frosted" with melted chocolate chips. Yummmm. This is a picture of "Dizzy" and her good friend Brian.

Sometime in the past couple of weeks we were doing household chores. Joseph found this to be a convenient way to carry around his cleaning rags.

The kids piled up the offall from a recent storm into a pile in the backyard and then made a little snow cave out of it. They could actually fit two inside!

Lizzy, all dressed up and ready for the snow.

After a year in the planning we finally skipped town Saturday with some friends (Bairetts, Goddards and Clarkes) and headed to Lehman Caves located in Nevada two hours to the northwest of Cedar.  Wow!  Here are some photos from the trip.  Liesl had to stay home at the last minute with Lizzy who spent the night developing a bad case of croup.

Heading into the man-made entrance to the cave.  The natural entrance is a little hole that you crawl into and let yourself down by a rope.   The original wooden staircase built by Abe Lehman is still there. 

Pictures don't do this place justice - at least not pictures using my flash.

The picture on the right is a tall, narrow passage that follows a fault line, much like the one in Timpanogas.  45+ years ago the cave guides wrote musical notes on some of the formations in this slot and would play a song for the folks going on the tour.  That is no longer kosher.

On the right is "cave bacon."  Brian is shining his light through it.  It really does look like bacon!

Bizarre, otherworldly formations

On the left, cave drapery.  On the right, the famous "thumbs up" formation.

The kids are sworn in as Great Basin National Park junior park rangers after completing a little booklet.

Ranger badges and certificatges getting handed out.

...

And what was the most fun part for the kids?

Playing parking lot line tag after all was said and done!

Good times!