Buddies

Most of the time all of my kids get along with each other. But lately Laura has loved hanging out with Andrew. They are really cute together. Laura likes to sleep on Andrew's floor, but one night she was upset and he let her sleep on his bed. When Lee checked on them as we were getting ready for bed that night, he found them like this...

A Biking First: Night Ride

Lee went on his first ever Night Ride with our neighbor. Lee has been finishing up a trail as it started getting darkish before, I guess that could be called a Dusk Ride. But for this ride, they didn't even leave until 9:30pm. Zac told him to make sure he brought a light. Lee attached lights to his bike with zip ties.

  They went to Green Canyon, which is a ride they are familiar with, but they could still quickly out ride their lights. They had to cross a creek, but it was hard to tell how deep it was. They threw in some rocks before deciding to just ride through it. I'm glad they made it, even if they got their feet and legs wet.

About a mile and a half from the truck on the way back down, Lee hit a large unseen rock and popped his tire. They decided it was faster to walk the bike down rather than patching the tube in the dark.

They made it home about 11:30pm. They had enough fun that they have gone again, but I only took pictures that first time.

Gem Jar Date

Emma has a gem jar. When she makes good choices, she gets to put in a gem. When she makes bad choices, she has to take a gem out. (Time outs were not working for her, she needs to SEE consequences, good and bad.) She has to/gets to tell us what the gem is for (ie: washing off the table, getting jammies on fast, or yelling at dad, throwing her shoes, etc.) and puts in or takes out the gem herself. It is amazing to see how much a little glass rock can make her understand her own behavior.

Emma worked really hard and filled up her jar. So, as a reward, she got to pick something to do as a date with mom or dad. She is a smart girl and picked "both!" She also got to pick what she wanted to do. She went back and forth a lot about this. She finally decided, and feeding the ducks just barely won over going to the fun center.

 Not  a single duck ate any of the bread she tossed. Luckily, she didn't mind, and then we played at the park.

The key (besides remembering to use the gems) is lots of praise. (The three positives to one negative rule!) Andrew and Tyler have both wondered about also earning gems. This was a little bit hard to figure out. I finally came to the conclusion that the gems are like a treat or sticker type of reward for potty training. They are only used for a little bit to establish the correct behavior. I did tell Andrew and Tyler they will have individual chances to go on special activities (they don't want them called dates) with mom and dad, but they don't need the gems.

Package in the Mail

A package came in the mail with Lee's name on it. It was a shirt from his brother Bryan. Doesn't it suit him perfectly? "Where there's a hill, there's a way."

Lloyd Elliot Rich (1919-2011)

Lloyd Elliot Rich was born in Brigham City, Utah, on May 27, 1919, the fifth child and fourth son of Alice Redd and Abel Sargent Rich. He died May 28, 2011.

He served a mission in England, finishing it among the Assiniboine Indians in America after World War II broke out in Europe. He served in the Navy teaching radar, retiring from the reserves as lieutenant commander.
Elliot taught civil engineering at USU for 30 years, retiring to the golf course and ski hill. He served as bishop twice and in a stake presidency.
He married Fay Chadwick while in Massachusetts during the war and she preceded him in death. Elliot is survived by his brother, Wayne, and their six children, Jacque (Duane) Evans of Salt Lake, Pat (Kent) Crookston of Ogden, Alison (Dennie) Christensen of Riverside, Calif., Scott of North Salt Lake, David (Heather) of Henderson, Nev., and Curtis of North Salt Lake. There are 16 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held Saturday, June 4, 2011.

 

 

Grandpa was still skiing in March. The cancer was really aggressive. He had only been diagnosed for six weeks. He died at 1am the day (or really, an hour) after his 92nd birthday.

 

I remembered to take the camera to the church and cemetery, but didn't remember to get it out of the van. (Family members: If you have a picture of the pallbearers or other pictures from that day can you please send me a copy?)

 

We spent a good week and a half cleaning out grandpa's house. The kids thought it was the perfect place to find awesome treasures to bring home. They even packed a box for Father's Day presents! Lee's mom is one of six children. All six siblings were there for almost a week!! (This made the process of getting rid of stuff slower...everyone had to agree that each particular item could go to the DI, or trash, or to someone's house, etc.) It was fun to spend so much time with relatives we don't normally see too often, both the ones that live out-of-state and the ones that live in state too.

Memorial Day Hike

We had a BBQ with Lee's family at his mom and dad's house for Memorial day. They have lived there for about a year, so the exploring still feels like an adventure. Actually, I don't think it will ever get old. Tyler often comes down from the hillside with his pockets so full of rocks that his pants are only staying up because he is holding them up. We actually got to the house a bit early that day, so we could try to hike to the waterfall.

 This is not the waterfall. It is just the river at the first bridge.

 This is taken from the same spot as the one above, but of the other direction. The house you can see is mom and dad's.

 Following a trail. It was the end of May, but still quite chilly, hence, the jackets.

 Rocks! That must mean we should sit down and take a picture. Actually, Lee, Andrew, and Laura were ahead enough that this is where they waited for us to catch up.

 We took a picture of the kids, so the kids took a picture of us.

 Emma wanted to go back to grandma and grandpa's house. They weren't there when we started our hike, but we could see that they were back now. When we were almost down Emma said that she could smell dinner. Oh, now I know why she wanted to go back. Dinner wasn't really ready, but she was good at helping get everything ready for it.

 The view of Ogden from part way up.

 The trail turned into big boulders.

 The waterfall is seasonal, winter run off. It is in the top right of the picture.

 Camera on self timer perched on a rock.

On the way back down.

The camera got put away during the dinner. Why do we do that?