JUNE........ the rest of the story

In mid-June we went with the Young Women in our Ward to Manti to do baptisms for the dead, and to see the pageant. We had such a great time. The previous October we had challenged the girls to read the book of Mormon by June right before we were to go to the pageant. Jeff and I both were abe to do it, and it made the pageant so much more meaningful and special because we had just read about all those things. Here we all are in front of the Temple. (the one Jeff and I were married in, by the way.) Patty and Bob were gracious enough to let all the crew stay at their cute little "farm". I wish I would have taken some pictures of their cute place, but I didn't. They took all of us to lunch and bought pizza for everyone. Someday I hope to be as generous and kind as they are!

Jeff and I went back to the Temple the next day after the Young Women left to go home, and did a session, since we were staying up there with Mom and Dad and then heading to the Q. Reunion. We always love to do a session there in the summer and remember our wedding day........

Next came the annual Don and Phyllis Quarnberg Family Reunion Extravaganza! These are the two people who started it all: my parents, who I love dearly.

One of the highlights of the weekend together was the "Dutch Oven Cook Off." Some of us aren't that into dutch oven cooking, so it was stretch for us. Jeff and I were assigned to cook some kind of bread. Rod and Kim's kitchen began to resemble an episode of "Iron Chef" as we all started scurrying around yelling for stuff, or calling for the time.

These peeps were assigned to do a main course. They came up with the winner, actually. It was pulled pork sandwiches on scones, with a really yummy sauce Matt mysteriously called "gold sauce."

Me and my baby brother, Rod.

Jeff and the guys monitoring the dutch ovens. I'm thinking maybe we should dutch oven more often. Anything that gets the guys to do the cooking!

Here is mine and Jeff's finished product. Yummy rolls filled with garlic and cheese we dubbed "Pirate Rolls." Is anybody surprised at that name? They were a big hit and we won the bread division! Of course there were only two entries, but still.

The panel of judges tasting all the entries and rating them.

Everybody had plenty to eat, and then we sat around and talked and enjoyed each other's company.

Dal and Dad each read an original cowboy poem, and then Dad played his harmonica, which is always a treat. I think we all realize he won't always be around to play for us, and that makes it even more precious. I took some pictures of that, but they are on another camera and I can't get the pictures.

Lexi was the only one of our kids who could make it this year, which was a bummer, but we still had fun. We always enjoy being with her, and she still loves to be with us, which makes us happy. Here she is spending some special time with her Grandma.

Another highlight is always the day spent at the new K-Town pool. It really is one of the funnest pools I've seen.

Most of the adults didn't swim, so here they all are, huddled around a big umbrella trying to stay cool.

We found some shade with a back rest!

Well, all too soon the weekend came to a close. We always have so much fun together. Rod and Kim have been so good to host the thing every year for the last 10 years or so. It has always been a ton of work for them, so this is the last year we will hold it at their house. Hopefully we can find someplace as fun for next year! Thanks Rod and Kim for everything you  have done for us all!

A Visit From the Fallstroms Minus 1

Hillari had a class reunion June 12, so her and the kiddos came down for the weekend. Keith stayed home to work on the packing and preparing of their present home for a renter, since they have bought a new home and will be moving into it in July. It was nice to have some time with Sareny, Isaac and Finley, and HIllari of course. The kids love to come for visits, and they especially beg to go for "Wanger Wides." So Saturday morning we took them on the Wanger Wide to end all Wanger Wides! Seriously, it was so long that they even said they just wanted to go back to our house. They never do that! Jeff isn't known for short ranger rides, so they are used to some pretty good rides, but this one one super long. We took them out to Redrock, and by the time we hiked around a little and took some pictures, it was a pretty long time. And of course it didn't help the situation that Bampa was teasing them all the way home, pretending to take the wrong road at every turn and scaring them that we were lost, and were going to have to build a little rock house in the desert to live in. I think they mostly knew he was teasing, but weren't quite sure............

Sareny and Isaac posing by the hieroglyphics. The picture doesn't really do them justice. They are pretty cool. Isaac was totally scared. He doesn't like heights.

They were so cute sitting in this little cave.

Jeff and Finley. Redrock is so beautiful. And until we got the ranger, I had never seen it!

I love this picture, even though Finley doesn't look too happy. Isaac was trying to be a good brother, but I think Fin thought he was trying to hold her down, which he kind of was.

Finney is just so cute though. The spring flowers were still kind of blooming and it was quite pretty. At the end of this long ride we had three very tired kids. Sareny actually fell asleep on the couch later on.

Sareny finally got to open her birthday presents! She was very happy to get two Liv dolls, and some new Sunday shoes from Grammy and Bampa.

Liv dolls are Sareny's new favorite thing. They are pretty darn cute, and seem much funner than Barbie. They have different wigs you can put on them!

Finley found a "baby" to take care of, so she was happy.

Isaac got to open his presents a little early rather than late. His birthday isn't until the end of June, but we knew we wouldn't see him, so we let him open his too. I wish I could be there for every single Grandkid's birthday, but that is never going to happen as long as they are so scattered around the country. So we do the best we can!

Isaac spent most of the weekend begging (I'm not kidding!) to take a bath or shower. He loves my big jetted tub, and my big shower with a hand-held shower head that he can mess around with. Sadly, no one had time for him to have as many as he would have liked, (it's not like you can turn him loose. My bathroom would be flooded!) so I promised him next time he comes he can bathe and shower to his heart's content. We did manage to have a very nice weekend with them, and look forward to the next time they can visit!

They Did It!

I think we are home to stay for awhile now, so it's time to continue the blog-catching-up. Pathetically I am now caught up to June.......... So here is what happened early in June: Right after graduation on June 3 we headed to the Grand Canyon for Jeff's big Rim to Rim hike. He has been wanting to do a "Rim to Rim In One Day" hike for several years, so he finally made plans to do it. It's about a 24 mile hike, with some of it almost straight down, and some almost straight up. We stopped to pick up Lexi and our good friend, Paul Webb, who were also going to to make the hike, and drove all night (mistake number one) and got to the GC at 5:30 am. It was so cold! (35 degrees!) Here are the hikers right before they started off, with Lexi lookin' so good in her "Pollyanna hat" as Paul called it.

I had the not-so-fun job of driving around to the south side of the canyon to meet them when they came out, a five hour drive. It was a pretty drive, but I had to be careful and watch for deer because they were all over the place.

These are just some of the many pictures they took along the way (mistake number two). They took so many pictures that they were quite a bit later getting down to the bottom than they should have been. And it was 116 degrees on the bottom! Paul is a really good family friend we sort of adopted (he calls us Mama and Papa Keel), and he treats Lexi like a sister.

Here they are at the Supai Tunnel, which is cut through the rocks to make a trail.

They crossed several bridges on their trek.

Obviously it was very beautiful. It was Paul's first time to even see the Grand Canyon, so he really loved it.

I'm really glad Lexi got to do this with her Dad. It's a great memory they'll always treasure.

Don't they look like pioneers or something, trekking across the plains?

Lexi and Paul on one of the bridges they crossed.

Hot and tired by this point, they got in the river to cool off and help their poor burning feet.

Ever the good Samaritan, Paul not only helped Jeff when his legs started cramping up super bad, but he also helped many others who followed behind them, or were coming from the South side. Paul is awesome, and has some pretty good doctoring skills, as he is a sports trainer at a high school.

A cute picture of Lexi.

Jeff and Paul with the bridge over the mighty Colorado River in the background.

Mistake number three was when Jeff didn't realize he was starting up Devils Corkscrew, and therefore didn't get hydrated enough. He later said it was very aptly named! All of these little mistakes combined to make the hike even harder than it normally would have been, which is bad enough. But Jeff was already exhausted from driving all night, then they got to the bottom when it was so hot, and that drained them some more.

Jeff says he never would have made it out without the help of Paul.

They were supposed to contact me by radio at 2:30 or 3:00 pm, and when they didn't until 5:30 I was pretty worried. Their goal was to climb out at about 6:30 or 7:00 pm . Well, they finally climbed out at 12:30 am, or somewhere around there! I was a basket case. I was very worried by then, because I knew Jeff had been struggling with serious leg cramps. Plus everything closed up at about 10:00 pm, so there I was pretty much by myself waiting for them. Right before all the restaurants closed I bought them some food that I knew would be cold by the time they got to it, but I knew they would be famished so I figured anything was better than nothing. Then I locked myself in the car and tried (in vain) to sleep. I did get to observe some Elk and deer that wandered around right by my car! But boy was I glad to see the hikers when they finally made it out! Jeff could hardly walk, but he was basically okay. We went to our motel, and I was glad I had us a room on the bottom floor. I seriously think we would have had to carry Jeff up if we had had to climb any stairs!

We took Paul back the next day so he could see the GC looking out over the rim, since he had never seen it. They posed by this sign because it was the Bright angel Trail that they were on. All three of them were very tired and sore, but they were glad they did it. I'm glad that Jeff accomplished something that he has always wanted to do, but as far as I'm concerned I never want him to do it again!

Catching Up

If we could ever stay home long enough, maybe I could get caught up on posting. This summer has been crazy so far. So here I am finally updating, but it is from clear back in May! Jeff and I were chaperones for Prom on May 8th. It was kind of cool this year, because for the first time it was held at the Treasure Island in Las Vegas.

Here we are in our masks, since it was a masquerade.

Then on May 28th the Keel family reunion was held at Bryce Canyon. Everyone brought their four-wheelers and had fun riding them. In fact, that was all that Josh and Isaac wanted to do was go on "Wanger Wides".

Here are those two cuties  waiting for their next ride.

Dad caught this cute smile from Finley!

Everyone gathered on Saturday for a pot luck dinner together.

Lexi is such a good Tia to her neices and nephews. She loves them all so much, and they love her back!

Grandma and Frank relaxing after dinner. By the way, did I mention that it was FREEZING COLD there? Fortunately I came prepared with coats and sweat shirts! ( I wore both at once).

There was a really cool museum with stuffed animals of all kinds, and lots of butterflies and bugs too. The kids really liked it. This is Jake and Josh.

Lexi and her Dad.

Isaac and his favorite person.

Out in the back they had some deer the kids could feed. They had a blast, but of course one of them bit Isaac's finger and he boobed for awhile. But amazingly he got over it and fed them again.

Cute little Charlie and Finney sharing a chair.

The scenery was so beautiful. This is Keith, Finley and Jeff.

We did a little hiking, which was pretty fun. This is me, Hillari, Liz Isaac and Josh.

More hiking. This is the ones of our family that could come this year.

Me and my honey.

We really had a great time with some of the family. Gone are the days when every single person was at the reunion. Especially our kids, who are scattered far and wide. But it was a wonderful time with those who could make it!