Halloween

It's hard to get anyone together to do any activity but K and I carved our Jack-O-Lanterns together and CJ came home late and did a quick and easy one on the big pumkin we had saved. Use your imagination for what the N might mean. It is for the school that he goes to but who knows that and who cares. Grrr. Kids.

We had our own "black" cat that liked the excitement of visitors and so stayed crouched on the front steps where people were walking up to the door. She's lucky she didn't get stepped on, it was close. The little neighbor boy was more excited about Kiesha than the candy. He stomped around excitedly and repeated "Mow, Mow" (sounds like cow). So funny

K was little dead riding hood and expected people to know that. Ahh, lost brain cells. Who knew they were so important? She and CJ both went trick or treating even though I've told them both they are now too old. It was a nice night so we did a quick run around the block and were done.

Fridays together

Now that the kids are back in school and Daren and I both have Fridays off we are taking little outings together. Since he got his new motorcycle we have been on a couple of rides. Most recently to Antelope Island.

This is the bike right after he got it. Since then he has changed the seat and put on a back rest.
This is the causeway we drive accross to get to the island.
It gets kinda stinky on the Syracuse side.

Just proof that's where we went. haha

There is an old ranch on the island that they keep up for tours, sight-seers and school field trips. This is the old farm house.This is the ice house or spring house. It's built over a spring so it stays cool inside.

They even have one of Utah's famous steel buffalos on the island.

And a visitors center with lots of information and a bathroom!

And lots of buffalo!

This last friday we spent the morning at the Insta-Care for Daren's week long Sinus infection to get checked and medicated and the one before that began our adventure to the Bay area for Daren's nephews wedding. It was a 3 day trip with his parents.

Our camera wasn't working so we have no pictures of that very fun event.

We love spending our Fridays together.

Quilts, Crafts or Clutter

I heard that my favorite craft/fabric store had lost their lease and is closing and everything is 40% off. I had been looking at some of the fabric that I liked but am certainly not ready to use but I bought a quilt pattern so I ran in to look at fabric. Any sewer or crafter know this is dangerous. I couldn't leave.
Most of my relatives who have had a baby have been given a little blanket with crocheted edges. I usually have a few on hand and have one in progress almost always so I checked out the flannel and found these cute little prints.
Then I looked at the fabric I had seen and a few other and proceeded to the cutting table.
Because it's a going out of business sale they will not cut fabric smaller than a yard so I ended up with full yards of all of these.

I did find some fat quarters at Ben Franklin (I sure will miss them) and Joannes that I thought were wonderful. For those of you who aren't quilters. Fat quarters are used in quilting. Instead of buying your fabric in 1/4 yard pieces they are cut in 1/2 yard and then cut the other way so you don't have one long skinny peice but a "fat quarter". (I have a friend that quilts)
The pattern that I bought a few months ago requires 9 fat quarters so 9 different prints.

Aren't these wonderful?
And these too?
Look how great these prints go together!

And how pretty this fabric is.

The problem I'm having is I like 4 or 5 of them together but not any 9 of the 14 together.

I do have some at home I can sort through but...

It looks like another trip to the fabric store.

Guessing game

So... this is the game:

Can you guess what this is?

Here's a hint:

Do you all remember our very cool, trendy (in the 90's) mailbox?

Remember the tilt?

Daren couldn't stand it so he tore it down, reset the paver stones and now

is setting a foundation for his new project.

Now you know what this is, a made from scratch steel mailbox!

Very strong and contemporary.

The funny thing is that several people need our temporary mail-box.

Summer Fun!

I've been trying to spend any available time with my family so we got together twice this week!

These are the favorite cousins M&E with CJ. M is only a month younger than CJ but has always been tiny and CJ has always been big!

At birth CJ was 24" long and 10 lb 9 oz and M was 18" 5 lb 15 oz
They have always been close although opposites in almost every way.

We went to a park that had a splash pad and let the "little" kids play.

I think 5'10" CJ enjoyed it more than any.

HEY! How did this get in here? That's not mine. That is Daren's new toy that he has saved for for years. He found it for sale in Las Vegas
and flew down Thursday, bought it and drove it home.

Now here is Rad!
He is the funniest kid on the planet.

My sister S and her Youngest daughter El

I love hanging out with my sisters but one has self esteem issues. If she's not dolled up for pictures she would rather make ugly faces so here are my sisters, J and S at the park.

These cousins are also close they are J and S daughters.

After an afternoon of boating and swimming the girls were happy to sit in the shade

and just eat and play. This is K, E and M.

We celebrated Rad's fourth birthday at the lake and we had spiderman cupcakes

This is J's husband and baby. He is the most hands on Dad.

After working long long days he still spent all day playing with kids

near the water and taking care of baby E.

(I managed to get in some baby time myself)

My guys, D and B were there but D was driving the boat all day so we all

could ski and tube and play. He was tired when we left but went all day.

He is the greatest!

B had a few good runs on the wake board and CJ is getting good too!

Lots of fun in the sun and no bad sunburns! A really good day!

Beal Family

July 3 was my family reunion.The reunion was for extended family but we started with family pictures of just my parents family. This is Mom and Dad with all 7 kids.

The next one is all the grandkids. Our L was working on the river Shirleys J is a newlywed and had to work and nephew M is serving a mission in Japan. All others present including one great grand child.
Here is the big group

Here is just our family group without L of course.

This is my nephew Logan, he's so quiet but freakin' smart. He got a 34 on his ACT. Can any of you say that? Unfortunately if you waste your time reading this you probably didn't. He doesn't say much but when he talks it's worth listening to. He has a great sense of humor.

OK so this genius boy didn't find plans to build a water balloon/candy cannon on the internet he came up with his own with the help of his "genius" friend, he says.The kids had a blast running for candy that was shot 50 feet in the air.

The funniest thing was the volley ball game going on the other direction. They decided to shoot candy right into the game and the adults all scrambled in the sand for the candy. It was great!

Awwwwww My little sister has the sweetest kids. This is the youngest grandchild of my parents and there is no shortage of attention. My brother loves babies and this one was never neglected. He held her most of the weekend. Precious!

I have the coolest brothers. The younger one has an unusual hobby. He makes ropes. Yeah, really, ropes. He made his own rope making machine and brings it to family gatherings. It always draws a crowd and most of the kids leave with their own custom made rope. They even choose the colors. Here is my Mom and nephew, L on the controlling end.

Now here is little R on the crank. Sooo Cute!

To top it off one cousin brought horses and the kids and adults went on little rides. We had huge meals and everyone wore color coded shirts. Blue for my Dads family. I feel bad that I didn't get more of the extended family members. It was interesting to see these cousins after not being a regular reunion attender. I enjoy getting together with my siblings and their families so much that we spend most of our time with each other. Since we are spread over 4 states we don't get together all that often.

My creative (nerdy) brothers even came up with a code to figure out who each of us was. The first number designates which family you came from. There were 10 children all together and My Dad is number 10 so his number was 10 and Mom is 10.s (s for spouse) They had 7 children so being the third child I became 10.3. I have 5 children so they became 10.3.1 & 10.3.2 etc. It was fun to see who could figure out the code and who adopted it. It's kind of a "cerebrial" (brainy) thing to do.

Great reunion! Great family!

More Beal Family

This is a picture of my niece L who is a lot like my daughter L who loves being outside, dirty and playing with critters. She took to this snake with no hesitation. She's da woman!
The guys were all very patient while waiting for pictures to happen at the womens request, of course. They had a good time and didn't go hungry so all was well.
R made a lovely cake for her grandparents second celebration of their 50th anniversary. She helped me with Friday night deli sandwiches and was fun to hang out with. It's fun to see her interact with her cousins now that they are adults and to get to know their spouses. She sure loves her Dad too!

My sister Ronda and her husband Dan were here from Southern California with all their kids (4) and each with a "significant other" (a child is significant too). Fun to see all of them!
The Freedom run began right at our campground and my brother has run this before so he signed up and beat his goal time. Way to go! This is him at the beginning of the race. 9.3 miles.

These are my two boys who ended up getting matching shirts without knowing it. My sister said we all looked like oatmeal. My shirt was about the same color. We looked good. These boys are 7 years apart and the younger one overtook the older one this past year. This is actually their height difference. I love these boys!