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!

May 2013 Garden update!

Keeping a garden/fruit trees is hard work.  I mean, I knew that it would be - but sometimes the realization is sort of astounding.

When we moved into the house, our 'side yard' was a dirt heap with nothing - I REPEAT, NOTHING in it.  We had some gravel, where the grass now is, and some gravel along the dirt, where it remains.  And we had dirt.

Within a few weeks, we saw some sprawling green stuff shooting up and just sort of let it.  We didn't know what any of it was.  Months later we learned we had grape vines and pomegranates growing.  Cool, I thought, let 'em grow!!  And, as you will see, they have!!

With those little examples - I thought, HECK, stuff just WANTS to grow here! So we started planting stuff, because, let's face it, dirt is sort of boring to look at.

This year we added the raised 'beds' for our vegetable garden area.  In it, right now, we have corn, peas, and tomatoes.  In outlaying areas, which have not been labeled, we have some squash, watermelon and cantaloupe plants. 

Corn from Shane's seedlings

And we've added ever so many more trees!  And I love them!  And the ants love them, and grubs love them and other assorted bugs and creatures love them!  So I've ground poisoned, I've spray poisoned, I've powder poisoned, I've painted trunks and I continue to look over my little plants.  And still, there are some that just are not flourishing.  But I continue to do my best to get these things growing!

squash from Shane's seedlings

Apricot

Peaches

Just wanted to show some of the things that take our attention righty now.  The whole family enjoys seeing the garden grow and all take turn in watering and caring for the plants!

Yellow Apple