Dinner & Camping (Probably My Longest Post Ever)

Father's Day Dinner
Ben & Anna hosted the Father's Day Dinner on Monday following the actual Father's Day. We had pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, etc., plus homemade ice cream as requested by my Dad. Afterwards, there was the usual Wii action. My mom got in on it and loved it. Here she is doing it while my Dad watches (rare photo since my Dad usually won't take pictures.)

For those who don't know my mom, she is quiet. Most people think it's because she's shy. She's not shy, just quiet and reserved. However, she knows how to have fun and jump right into a game.

Little Miss Tara trying her hand at tennis. Notice Brynne keeping a close watch on Katelynn.

Anna asked Brynne if she'd like to help bathe Katelynn and she was thrilled at the chance.

Katelynn all clean. She's such a cutie! She's her mother's spittin' image.

Red's Meadow

Kevin's parents camp at Red's Meadow every year. It's a small camping area just west of Mammoth mountain. We took the northern route thru Yosemite and over Tioga Pass this time and loved it. Much nicer of a drive (and shorter!) than the southern route. As you will soon see, we took a ton of pictures.

Half Dome in Yosemite

I couldn't get over how blue the sky was. Gorgeous!

Ellery Lake

This area reminded me of the land of desolation since there were so many huge logs laying all over like bones or something. But obviously much prettier.

Picture taken by Tara from the backseat. This valley we entered on the Tioga Pass made you feel about this big (imagine me holding my fingers up about 1 inch apart).

Each time you walked to the restroom, we walked over this little bridge. Brynne would run to the little ledge to watch the water fall out of the conduit. She loved looking at it.

The first day we were there, we got to visit with Cara (Kevin's sister) and her boyfriend Paul. This is the reader's group.

Brynne was upset that she had to do something I asked her to do. This is what she did. Normally, she would be in big trouble for sticking her tongue out at me. But I couldn't help laugh at the situation and couldn't keep a straight face, which made her even more mad. How can someone so cute be that upset?

Now that Tara & Brynne see their parents taking pictures so frequently, they want to join in the fun. This is Brynne making me laugh as she's taking my picture at the campfire.

Ben (Kevin's brother) gives us a demonstration of his craftiness as he makes his own flies for fly fishing.

Kevin's parents and Kevin, going on a mini hike to Sotcher Lake.

Ben took Tara & Brynne fly fishing with him to Sotcher Lake, their first time fishing. So cute!

Pretty water and blue sky at Sotcher Lake.

Ben & Kevin fly fishing.

Kevin with the girls hiking up the little hill by our campsite.

The lumberjacks chopping the wood.

Kris Duggan, Evaun, Kevin, & I helping complete a 1000-piece puzzle.

Brynne begged and pleaded for Kevin to take her training wheels off (this is the 3rd time in the last year she's asked and everytime Kevin does it, she ends up wanting them back on). So we had to make sure her interest in learning to ride without them on was real. She saw all the other kids riding around without them and I think it motivated her. With a 20-minute practice session with Daddy, SHE GOT IT!

High tens with Daddy to celebrate her accomplishment!

The committe in deliberation (Brynne in the middle with her cousins Raia & Evan on each side).

Bradon (another cousin) attempts to feed one of the chickarees a peanut.

Look at how stoked he is when it worked.

Mark & Brynne visiting the Duggans. Tim & Kris Duggan were so fun and comical to visit with.

Brynne just riding along as an official 2-wheeler. Kevin is more than pleased to see her take off on her own.

I can't get enough blue sky and clouds.

The group going on a hike to Rainbow Falls.

Me and my sweetie pie.

Can you imagine being so good as a photographer that an entire region of national forest is named after you? Wow, what an honor for good old, inspirational Ansel!

Finally made it! Aren't the falls beautiful?

See the two rainbows?

We're heading back to the trailhead. You can see Mammoth Mountain in the distant and the forest is still recovering from the fire it experienced 17 years ago.

The 1000-piece puzzle finished. It only took 3 straight days. Kris did most of the work and the rest of us helped here and there.

On the morning we left, it began to sprinkle. It was so wierd to think we were enjoying 50-60 degree weather when it was over 100 at home. The weather was pretty much perfect the entire time...just wish there were fewer mosquitos. I can dream, right???

Starkweather Lake (the fisherman really like this lake)

Look at all that snow that's still here and it's June! Things are so different at a 10,000 foot elevation.

This is Ben-ville (referring to my brother). This is also known as Mammoth Lakes or the city of Mammoth. I don't know anyone who like to ski, snowboard, mountain bike, and rock climb as much as my brother. He's pretty hard core. I told him he should be the mayor of this city. I just saw his name everywhere I looked, LOL!

Tara and Brynne loved the Mammoth sculpture.

Climbing wall

I cracked up to see they even had a "Sports School." If Ben wasn't elected mayor, he could at least be the principal here.

This is definitely Ben's playground.

An earthquake fault....scary and interesting all at the same time.

Tioga pass again where you feel an inch big.

Loved the contrasting colors of this one.

Loving my clouds and blue sky again.

Ellery Lake on the way back home.

Tuolumne Meadows

This was a huge rock mountain. I think it was "Pothole Dome." The little specks are people. Again, my brothers would love this mountain.

Ellery Lake again.

Half Dome in the distance.

Merced River on the Yosemite Valley floor.

Bridalveil Falls.

El Capitan (on the left) & Half Dome in the distance.

Alas, home sweet home! And if you made it this far, congratulations and thanks for reading! :-)

June Extravaganza

Roller Skating
The Young Women invited the rest of the ward to go roller skating with them a couple weeks ago. The girls have been begging me to go for a long time so this was the perfect opportunity. They were shakey at first but got better and better as the evening progressed. Kevin wasn't able to skate since he was still recovering from his wound. I hadn't been roller skating since I was in junior high (long time ago!) but it's definitely like riding a bike...you don't really forget how to do it.

Tara pretty much got it down, just needs a little more practice. :-)

Down Time
Kevin had been long overdue for a little down time with the girls. The weather was so nice on some days in June that the hammock was a perfect resting place.

Intruder

We found this little cotton-tail rabbit eating our carrots. He quickly scampered away when he saw us.

Bradon's Baptism

Tara and her cousin Bradon are exactly one month apart. He was baptized in early June and we were so thrilled to be there for his special day. (He's the one in the tan suit.)

(L-R) Me, Kevin, Mark & Evaun (Kevin's parents), Sandee & Darron (Kevin's sister and her husband), Dave & Kip (Darron's parents), Brynne, Raia, Bradon, Morgan, Evan, & Tara (all cousins to Tara & Brynne).

End of School

Tara successfully completed her entire year of 2nd grade with Principal's Honors each quarter and an accelerated reader's award. She was happy to finally receive her reader's medallion!

The Garden

Of all the seeds we planted, about half of the items sprouted. Among them are "Mammoth Sunflowers." And they aren't kidding when they say Mammoth. These things are flippin' HUGE, LOL! I'll have to post another picture of them having sprouted even more.

Corn

Carrots (a little on the bitter side if you ask me, maybe they need something more to be sweet?)

Flowering Cilantro (very pretty and very aromatic, not to mention tasty!)

Tomatoes (one of our favorites!)

The Swing

Kevin installed a swing at our other house on a tree limb and finally put it up at this house on another tree limb. The girls were so excited!

But the joy came to a quick end when we came home from our camping trip to see this.

The very limb the swing was on fell down. Boy, we are just not having much luck with tree limbs lately! On the bright side, we are sooo grateful it didn't break while someone was swinging on it or standing near it.

Tara's Birthday

My firstborn turned 8! She's grown so much and we are so pleased with how strong and passionate she is. This was one of her favorite gifts, given to her by Grandma Swann...a beach towel with horses on it.

We didn't do cake since Tara just wanted ice cream.

Tara's Favorite Thing To Do

Kevin makes excellent connections when working on other people's cars. One of his more recent clients owns a horse and offerred to treat the girls! They were so excited.

Cutest cowgirls in the west, if you ask me.

They even got to help wash the hair of another horse.

Father's Day

We were bummed to find out that the Father's Day Fly-In at the airport was not held this year. Attending that event was supposed to be Kevin's Father's Day gift so we decided to make it up to him in other ways. This was one of them:

We got up early (before his church meetings) to make waffles with strawberries & whip cream and treat him to breakfast in bed. The girls were sooo excited to do this. We love him so much and are grateful for him in our lives!

Preparations

We've been a little busy these days....end of school stuff, Enrichment night, ward activities, projects around the house, Tara's birthday, preparing for upcoming events, etc.

I received word a few weeks ago that my brother and his family, who I haven't seen for over 4 years, are coming to town soon. Kevin found a killer deal on a car for them so they are coming to pick up the car at the same time as my other brother's (Ben) and his wife's (Anna) baby's blessing and Tara's baptism, which we conveniently are planning to do at the same time. It all worked out so nicely and I'm very excited to see them again. It will be so awesome to have everyone together again. And you can bet there are gonna be pictures galore!

Here are the invitations I made for Tara's baptism.

I'm totally not an orange-ish/brownish/goldish person. But I wanted the background to match her hair so I used the color-picker in photoshop to match it up with one of the many highlights in her hair. I was happy with it and was surprised that Tara even liked it.

Attention Central Valley: Clear Your Schedule

....because I'm working on getting Nashville Tribute Band to perform in Fresno! I'm hoping to get a date set within the next few weeks for January or February 2010. I will keep you posted!



Here's a sampling of one of my favorite songs:

I Feel Better Now...

that I fixed my header and tags. I went a little crazy on the drop shadows and it was lookin' funky!

Funny!

Memorial Day

Just for Kevin
I changed my blog design in honor of my sweet hubby for Father's Day this month. Kevin loves to fly and I thought this blog set was just perfect (even he thought so!). We will also be attending the annual Father's Day fly-in at the Chandler airport in a week and a half so there will be more airplane pictures coming.

Flying to the Livermore Airshow
While the girls & I were doing a photo shoot with the Cluff Family, Kevin went to an airshow in Livermore with his Dad & Uncle Neal. And he was miserable the whole time ;-). Can you tell?

His Dad got to fly in this airplane, a P-51 Mustang wartime aircraft. (L-R) Uncle Neal, Dad, & Kevin.

Rod & Allison's House

Later on that afternoon, we went to our good neighbors' son's house, Rod Kellogg, for their annual BBQ fun. They live in the rural part of town and have lots of room to play. We always have a blast at their house. About 60 other friends and family members were there.

Pool fun

Pool area is right next to the ping pong tables.

Brynne is our little miss dare devil. She thinks she can swim. She jumped in and started paddling and couldn't keep her head above water. Hence the need for the lifejacket.

Some baseball fun on the grass area. Studio apartments, see saw, swing set, and trampoline in background.

Little waterslide near baseball area with putting green and kids playhouse in background.

Feeding frenzy

Basketball courts & playground behind baseball game and covered picnic area.

Brynne loves the trampoline. Dirt bike launch in background. So basically, if you get bored, it's your own fault, LOL!

Pretty sunset.

Tree trimming

This is how the tree branches should have been cut down to begin with.

Ben & our neighbors, Jim & Mr. Bill, came over a few days after the accident to help take care of the rest of the tree issues. I stayed outside to watch this time, just in case. Each time a big branch or log would hit the concrete, I felt my stomach sink, thinking about what could have been. Mr. Bill said that was what it sounded like when Kevin hit the ground. Still so thankful that everything ended up okay.

P.S. In light of the accident, one of Kevin's co-workers gave him a bumper sticker that read: "I Love Trees." :-)