Bubble Photo Shoot

Weirdly, I feel like I blogged about this already. But I can't find it, so it's going on the blog 'again.' We got a bubble machine for Prom, but the younger girls wanted to play with it as well. So Robyn took them out and they did a photo shoot. They were pretty adorable. Here are a few of my favorites.

That's all. Gotta love sisters and bubbles.

October Chatbook 2021

Let's get October in the books. I only have a few tidbits that don't have a home this time around. 

In October, June was doing college, dating Isaac, getting ready for a mission, and working. (She finally quit her second job at the end of September.) She was a tired chica. I often would find her sleeping on the couch or with her homework nearby. Such is the life of a young adult. In general, she does a good job balancing all the chaos.

Daisy has a lot of hair and it often ends up on top of her head in some kind of bun. On this particular day, it looked like an angry octopus sitting on her noggin. Can you see it?

Ivory and I went to see Mousetrap. It was so fun. They make you promise not to give away the ending, so people can go and enjoy the plot for themselves. So I won't tell you what happened, but I will tell you that I guessed part of it. ;)

Probably because we've watched some GLOW UP, but Pearl has been experimenting with makeup. It is fun to see her try new things. She'll play with eyeliner and eye shadow, but her favorite by far is the bright red lipstick.

Tyler taught the kids poker. Well, just Pearl and Ivory. I think Pearl cleaned up. I'm impressed since I'm still not sure how the rules work. I only know Blackjack.

Tyler has the most epic hair. I especially like when it looks like a surfer wave. It's hard to find a ripcurl like that one.

Ah Nova. Some days I love her and others I can barely tolerate her. But Pearl always adores her. Someone should.

Tyler went bowling with friends. He hasn't been in years and he straight up bowled a 142. Very nice. The only thing that could make it sweeter would be to get a turkey.

Nova likes to hang out under the beds. She looks rather sinister.

This is Nauvoo. Ivory is taking a Child Development class and she took care of Nauvoo for two days. I sleep really well and didn't wake up at all to her crying, but I think Ivory has more respect for the sacrifice of mothers.

We'll leave you with this lovely selfie of Robyn. She's such a beauty.

Bert

In the spring, we sometimes will spy a nest in the trees. In 2018, it was fun to watch a nest of baby birds get fed and grow up. It is important that the birds stay in the trees because Nova will clean them up if they reach the ground. 

So this year, when Pearl found a baby bird outside, she was so afraid for it. We had patrols that would take Nova outside and make sure she didn't go near the bird. Pearl named him Bert. He was just a baby. He had some fluffy cute feathers, but they weren't good for flying yet. His mom stayed near and kept bringing him food.

Every day we would check on Bert and make sure he was doing okay. He'd hop around the yard and we'd find him in different places, but he never went too far.

He got on the trampoline for awhile. He had trouble finding his way out of there.

 

Then we found him in the branches of a low bush. This was progress. He was able to flutter up there and you could tell his wings were getting stronger. 

Then one day, he was gone. We don't really know what became of Bert, but I like to think he flew away and became a strong Robin that will come back in the spring and make a nest of his own...maybe in the neighbors yard, away from our dog. 

A trip to Park Citay

* Guest blogger Robyn Cazier

As an art student, the teachers like to expose us to different types of art as frequently as they can. So when the photo kids decided they wanted to see some galleries in park city and practice photographing art, the AP art class hopped right aboard that boat. (Yes I am in AP art, I am literally that fancy and fabulous) So we drove down to park city and there was a surprising amount of galleries there. I didn't think that there would be as many as there were, but there was like 6 or 7 of them. The things that impressed me the most about the galleries is that all the pieces meshed together. One of the artists worked with transparent canvases and paint smears. Another artist used antique photos and then painted their own stuff on top with interesting backgrounds. One of them painted only on floppy disks ;)

The other thing that impressed me a lot was the scale. Every single piece was bigger than 3' x 3'. And many were much longer than 7 ft. I love big scale canvases, but I can't really work on any with justification from the school because big canvases are expensive. I really want to try painting a 7 x 7 canvas, but that probably wont happen until I'm in college.

And so I continue my journey through art by taking ideas from others and living by this quote "Good artist's borrow. Great artists steal." -Picasso

Enjoy some of the art I photographed!

Moab Expedition

Guest blogger, Tyler, here. I make the rare appearance on this blog, but from time to time, something interesting happens in my life. Maleen likes me to put those interesting things to words so they don't get forgotten. Bless her wisdom.

When I was growing up in the badlands of southeastern Idaho (also known as Idaho Falls), I would go on campouts. I was close in age to my brothers: Kolby (older by 14 months) and JR (younger by 17 months). Incidental to our age, we often participated in campouts for boy scouts. Kolby preoccupied himself with keeping me alive, and JR worried himself with keeping me safe. I was less "outdoorsy" than...like...everyone. So, my dutiful brothers were often busied with staunching bleeding wounds, defending against anaphylaxis-inducing insect bites, and keeping up on first aid to insure their dear brother didn't adventure into the great beyond without their expressed permission. On occasion, they would express permission, but the looming, impending wrath of my mother kept them at bay. 

But, that's been years.

Years have come and gone between camping with Kolby and JR. In the intervening years, I learned I could defend myself against bleeding by not cutting myself. Bug spray keep the anaphylaxis at bay. And I've learned a bit of first aid myself...on account now of the wrath of various mothers who had entrusted their beloved, inexperienced young man to my care. 

Despite the long passage of time, Kolby came to me earlier this year and said, "Ty," (only my brothers call me "Ty"), "I've got to get back to the wild. I'm going camping. You in?"

Without thinking, of course, my response was, "Yeah."

As it turns out, there was much less bleeding. While the views were breathtaking, no one was in shortness of breath. :)

It was a great trip, which is why you're reading about it. 

We took our trip at the right time — middle October — when Moab wasn't blazing. On advice from some really smart guides, we decided to camp outside Moab, near Tusher Tunnel. We found that there were quite a few recreational trailers parked out along the road. We ventured pretty far out, and tried to get away from neighbors. And there, we set camp. 

We had a pretty good view of nobody...just the way we like it. 

That afternoon it was raining a bit, but we wanted to explore some rock formations nearby. So, we took off for a fun, relaxing afternoon hike. Naturally, we took a "in-case-they-find-our-bodies-later-here's-what-we-used-to-look-like" photo: 

We look pretty good for a bunch of old dudes. 

Even stormy, the Moab landscape is picturesque. 

After our refreshing 5-ish mile hike, we withdrew to the tent before the real storm began. The boys were a little camera shy in the tent though. 

The morning broke, and the storm was gone. So beautiful. 

We started our morning searching for fossils. There's a guided fossil tour. I must say, it was a little slow. it turns out fossils are kind of old, and they just don't move that fast. But, cleverly utilizing the signs, we managed to find a few. 

After the dinos, we made for Fischer Tower, on recommendation from one of the best Moab guides in the world, Keith Hillman. 

There we found an amazing out-and-back hike that treated the eyes the entire time. 

From way up here, you all look like ants! What grandeur.

From beneath the rock, a shadow figure emerges... Oh, it's Kolby, rugged as usual.

This shot is from the end of the trail in, looking back across the towers at whose feet we had hiked. It's tough to get perspective from right under the towers, but this photo manages to give some scale. 

And, there's no way I'd waste the sponsorship product placement moment at the overlook. So, Dr. Pepper, call me to get the address to send your endorsement checks. 

Got a selfie of the boys at the overlook at Fischer. 

On the way back, we took a shot of the Fischer hair pin, it looks awesome here. Imagine how amazing it is in person. 

We escaped Fischer Tower trail just as a notorious Moab desert storm was rolling in. We looked back over the trail from which we'd just come...and soon to be enveloped in desert rain.

It was early afternoon by the time we were back and fed from Fischer. And since we're no pansy crew, we decided there was yet another hike in us, so we headed to Delicate.

Here's a couple of shots that we snagged along the way: 

It was a great trip. I haven't been camping with my brethren in years, and it was never self directed. Now, we went as long as we wanted, hiked as far as we wished, and took in as much as we could. By the end, heads clear and hearts open, we headed for home, inspired.