Your Brain on TREK

This is your brain.

This is your brain on TREK.

Any questions?

hence, the non-posting. hence, the acidic state of my stomach, etc. etc...

we leave tomorrow morning - 4:00 am.

until Zion...we shall meet again.

Welcome, Monsoon 2007!

Four days behind schedule, and after much stake-wide prayer and fasting on behalf of our upcoming TREK, the monsoon produced more than dust storms and clouds today.

All in the form of some SERIOUS RAIN.
Of course, my kids found pleasure in trudging through the riverlet in the backyard. I took pictures of it last year, and thought I posted it, but upon checking, I guess not. It looks pretty much the same as it did then.

Kids are bigger, etc.. That's all.

Oh, and they didn't get yelled at by the next-door neighbor for trespassing last year. That was new this year.

THREE (plus NINE)'s a Crowd!

This afternoon, while helping out TWO of my dearest friends,

I ended up with TWELVE kids for dinner.

Twelve's a (noisy) Crowd!

Look carefully, and count. It's like "Where's Waldo."

They're all there.

Burch's IRON Chef

On our trip to the library last week, Bret decided on a Cookbook instead of Harry Potter.

Upon checking it out, the impending 'Mom, can I cook this..., and this..., and this...?" rattled through my brain giving me an instant headache.

Amidst the varying levels of commotion around the house,

I gave him the go-ahead on Sunday night and (with limited parental assistance, per the guidelines in the cookbook)

he contrived this delactable number.

Raspberry Ripple Cheesecake

and - - "He didn't even have to cook it!"

Upon the family sampling of it the following night for FHE,

we all decided he could go ahead and cook whatever he wanted to from the rest of the book.

It was AWESOME. He's been quite helpful this summer serving up all kinds of

fun for his siblings for lunch and dinner. I don't know what I'll do without him when he goes back to school next month.

the FIVE days of the FOURTH

Here in PRESKIT...

the 4th of July is taken MOST seriously.

You could almost say - it ain't their first rodeo. (tee hee hee)

Saturday morning 9:00 am

Prescott Frontier Days Parade

shortened from last year to ONLY 2 hours.

We met up with friends, endured the heat

and watched for flying taffy.

There were (obviously) some REALLY intriguing entries.
After we rested up from the parade, we went to the RODEO that night.

Doug's brothers and their families came with us.

Gary and Kim too, with their kids. We had something of a crowd.

Whitney's favorite babysitters both rode in the Grand Entry.

She longs to one day be a rodeo queen herself, so she was delighted to get to see them.

Skip forward to Wednesday...

Last night (on the REAL 4th of July) we headed to the church for

the 4-ward BBQ and events before fireworks and then watched the fireworks.

I decided most of the children there are evidence of the fact that our children are becoming less easily entertained. After about 15 minutes of fireworks, almost all the kids were running around again, in the dark...oblivious to the fact that millions (okay, thousands but still...) of dollars in pyrotechnics were being fired into the air for their viewing pleasure.

Until next year, 4th of July, we'll be gearing up for another week-long adventure.

p.s. Note, if you will, that for the holiday, Abby decided to take some creative license with her bangs. We're now confiscating shears of all kinds throughout the house.

Let Freedom Ring...

Happy 4th of July

Here's what's on tap for our day:

I'm working on these:

Doug's working on this:

And the kids are working on this color-appropriate snack:

I think the kids got the best deal.

Happy Holiday!