Summer: Memorial Day and Red Cliffs Hiking Day

I'm super happy when Shane's Day off coordinate with holidays!  It makes it especially fun for when we want to have people over, like the Harris'!

Memorial Day BBQ - 

We pulled out the water slide and let the boys have at it!  While they played in the sun and water the adults visited and grilled up some burgers and dogs.

The menu included Holly's orzo pasta (yum), veggie tray, watermelon, ice cream cones, soda, various assortment of chips, beans, a trio of black olives, and all sorts of delicious.




Then on the 31st, we had
Red Cliffs Hiking day!
Which we also LOVED!


I love Red Cliffs for many reason.  In college Shane introduced me to the fantastic place. (We may have done some kissing on the trail.)   Another time Jessica and I grilled hamburgers there, and in lieu of a spatula, we used my truck ice scraper to flip the burgers.  And another time we (Rob and Alex) took my dog, Corbet, with us and I had to wade out in the swimming hole and he had to swim out and I pushed him up the waterfall so he could keep hiking with us.  These are some of my favorite college memories. Red Cliffs has brought me lots of Happy times, and this one was no exception.

Hollow Tree

Above the Hollow Tree

The gnarly growth



The twisty branched Cottonwood

The place where I pushed Corbet up the falls



However, there is no running water today!

Today Holly and I took Kidlets and a Picnic!

The kids again just enjoyed being alive in the great outdoors.  It was sort of shocking to have NO WATER in the stream when we got down into the stream bed.


They adventured and did all the things boys love to do: play with sticks, throw rocks, chase lizards, play in the water, etc.

Victorious rock climbers

After the picnic we were in for an even bigger surprise: the boys found crawdads in the stream down by the picnic area!  So more sticks and water play commenced.  Another VICTORIOUS summer day for Team Petty and Team Harris!

Looking at Crawdads

Pine Valley: Summer Vacation Begins!

One day before the last day of school, Carter came over for a visit.  The little boys played squirt guns and ate otter pops together.  Holly went to Kade's kindergarten round up and Shane volunteered at the Dixie Sun Water Day.  He loved watching Nathan play and celebrate the joy of the end of school!

 On the first official day of Summer Vacation - the boys and I went to the park.  We stayed for two hours.  They played on the equipment.  Then we kicked off our shoes and socks and ran through the cool grass.  The boys rolled down the grass hill, we shaded under a large tree and we reveled in the beauty of the park in bloom.  Nathan's favorite part of the park was when he was laying on his belly, and a little blue dragonfly landed on his hand.  The kid beamed down at the little bug and studied him for minutes.  NQ didn't move or lose patience.  Once the insect departed Nathan was delighted with his luck at being able to study a little winged buddy.


Pine Valley Explorer League!

The next day, Friday, Ben had His first day of summer vacation - so Holly organized a day trip to Pine Valley.  It was SO fun watching the kids belong to the woods!  They picked up sticks, they threw rocks, they tossed things into the water!  It was joy to watch them!  Holly and I got to visit and Ben and Nathan (who haven't seen each other in a long time) rediscovered their awesome little friendship!

We had a picnic at the campground - which was clean and beautiful.


And we visited the Pine Valley Chapel built circa 1860.

The upside down 'boat roof' of the Pine Valley Chapel.

And we stopped by Veyo Pies before making it home.  Nathan spent the rest of the afternoon at the Harris house.

Loved our day trip out! It was, in a word, 'wonder'ful!

Last Day of School

 May 22, 2013

It came so fast!  It seems like YESTERDAY I was doing a blog about Nathanial's first day of kindergarten.  Now we're here at the last day!

 We were up at it early and had time for a little photo shoot before school!  Look at these handsome boys!!

The day was cloudless, summery and perfect!  Ashton and I enjoyed the program.  The kindergarten kids sang and danced and preformed SO sweetly! They were confidant and well practiced.  Ashton waved at his big brother and his big brother smiled down at us and waved and stood tall with pride.

When it was done, Ashton couldn't stop hugging and kissing his big brother.  He was in awe of his best friend.

After Shane got home we celebrated by hitting the Pirate Cove Pizza place.  They played at the arcade, on the play place, and enjoyed the pirate cave ambiance.  Ashton was scared of the cannon fire and fading lights at first, but after several rounds of pirate 'scenes' he calmed and enjoyed. Then the boys all came home and played Skylanders until about 10:00 pm.

Fabulous End of School Day!!

Grandpa's visit!

Grandpa came for a surprise visit right after Mother's Day!  It was super fun! One day we went to Beaver Dam to look at some horses.

We hit the Healthy Kids Expo at the Town Square while he was here.  The kids played games, enjoyed snow cones, popcorn, coloring books, pinwheels, face paints, mini beach balls,  punching balloons, and a fire truck tour.  The kids got outfitted with new cowboy boots and cowboy hats.  Ashton wears his daily.  He loves that he can get them on and off himself.

We went to see The Great Gatsby - which came with mixed reviews: costumes, music and scenery were great.  The story was sad, and not the favorite.

The kids loved having Grandpa around, and we hope he got some rest while he was here!

May Fun: hike, shelves, water slide, garden

May FUN for the Petty Clan:
It's starting to feel like St. George now.  First days in the 90's.  Yuck.  Luckily, it's waited this long to get that hot.  AND it's supposed to be back in the 80's again at the end of the week - HOORAY!

But Spring has sprung and I've LOVED seeing everything in bloom.  One forgets how colorful and floral this side of the desert can become.  Pretty much everything is in picture form.  Enjoy.

Nathan finished up Soccer season, he played goalie many times.

Springtime in St. George is Beautiful! I went for a hike in Snow Canyon and saw many wild flowers.

Purple ones

Red, Yellow and white ones.

And cute little orange ones.

Shane bought the boys a water slide.  They enjoy it - lots.

Water squirts down from inside the tube.

Even Shae can't resist its refreshing allure.

Ashton has Batman as his swim buddy.

Making a splash.

Peas in the pod.

Yellow apple growth.

Squash flowers.

Flowering pomegranate.

Tall Corn

Shane building shelves in the Shed!