Hike to Donut Falls

Friday night, instead of going to the stake father/son campout, Tim took the boys to Evanston, camped in his sister's yard, and spent Saturday building her a cedar fence. They came home happy, dirty, and tired, which is always good. Since it was just girls at home, we decided to have some fun, too! Friday, we visited the library, went out to eat, and rented a Hannah Montana movie. Saturday, we took a trip to Big Cottonwood Canyon to hike "Donut Falls" with my parents.

Beautiful girls... and the scenery is pretty nice, too!

Rebekah in the aspens.

Hiking with Grandpa and Grandma

That water is COLD!

"Bedrock"

When we got to the waterfall, people were climbing up the rocks all the way to the top- one look, and I knew that I wasn't taking the little girls up there. Rebekah really wanted to go, though, so Grandma and Grandpa volunteered. They got this far before deciding it was time to turn around- the way up wasn't so bad, but coming back down was going to be scary. They stopped. Rebekah kept going.

I sat and watched Rebekah get higher and higher- that's her 2/3 of the way up, with a green shirt and jeans on. I was really hoping this wasn't going to end in disaster.

She made it to the top! And then came the bad part- coming back down. It was not fun watching- especially after another girl, coming back down before Rebekah, slipped and didn't catch herself until she had slid about 20 feet- I'm thinking she had some bruises on her backside. Fortunately, Rebekah had no mishaps, and got down safely.


She was pretty proud of herself afterwards.


The mishap came when we were crossing the stream to hike back: Rebekah made it across fine, and then started back to help me with the little girls. She slipped on a log, caught herself, slipped again, and kind of cartwheeled backwards into the water. I didn't see it until she was sitting in the water saying, "I'm fine- I'm fine." I think it's good I didn't see the whole thing- my nerves were already strung pretty tight from watching her come down the waterfall.

There is some kind of analogy here- something about raising teenagers, watching but not being able to do much, hoping and praying that they don't fall... but I'm too tired to flesh it out tonight.

The next Miley?

Well, I certainly hope not, but they are very cute anyway.

Emma and Annie have been holding several "concerts" each day this week, where they drag me downstairs, crank the cd player, and rock out on the bed.

This is Emma's air guitar. I should have taken video instead. She's pretty intense.

Also, Emma is pretty sure she likes kindergarten now. Hallelujah! I may have discovered a clue to her reluctance the second day- I found out that another little boy in the class cried (actually the teacher used the word "howled,") for the entire two and a half hours. Poor kid. I'm thinking that didn't do much for Emma's already jaded view of school.

Kindergarten drop-off today was a little hard. Emma really, really didn't want to leave me- she had a good grip on my leg. I ended up walking her all the way to the door of her classroom, when the rest of the kids had left their parents outside. When we got there, she still wasn't wanting to leave, and she was crying, but a very nice teacher's aide intervened. She gave Emma a little stuffed monkey with velcro paws, to put around her wrist and hug when she felt sad. Then she took her hand and led her into class.

I was a little worried about her all morning.

Everything turned out fine, though- Emma came home with a book from the library, a worksheet about the letter "M", and a much better attitude. She even told me she would go to school tomorrow (as opposed to yesterday, when she told me repeatedly and often that she didn't want to go back. Hopefully it won't be quite so traumatic next time.

An Electrifying Experience!

Emma

Today I got to walk Emma to her first day of kindergarten! I am having a hard time believing that I have 5 children in school. I can't possibly be that old, can I? She was very cute- a few minutes after I woke her up this morning, she suddenly looked a little startled and said, "I just remembered! Today is my first day of school!" She has been looking forward to today with a mixture of excitement and nervousness, and so have I. In the end, she needed a kiss on the cheek and a promise that we would visit the dollar store after school, and she walked right in. The dollar store bribe works for anything, by the way. Yes, my child is a shopping queen. She is also adorable- we are missing her a little this morning.

Why I sit down slowly.

Tim decided a couple of months ago that he was going to take after his brother, Ken, and start biking to school/work. Ken bikes some insane number of miles every day, and is therefore in really good shape. He also lives in California, which tends to be a tad more bike-friendly than Utah in the winter. Tim bought a bike, helmet, and other assorted gear, and started to work up to the 12+ miles each way that it will take to get to BYU. He has been doing great- is already up past 12 miles a day, which means he can at least get there, if not back!

So today, Tim finally got me on a bike, as well. Being bikeless myself, I borrowed Rebekah's, and we set off on his usual route. Amazingly, I managed to go 9 miles, and I'm not even dead... quite. I am having a hard time sitting down today, however. I may stand in the back at church tomorrow.

Back to School? Already?

My kids got out of school for the summer on June 12th. They started school again this last Monday, August 18th. That really doesn't seem like a lot of summer for a kid... although to be honest it was plenty for this parent. Emma hasn't started kindergarten yet- that will happen this Monday. Everyone else, though, is settling into the routine. I am very happy so far with the teachers and new schools. I feel kind of bad that the kids have had to start new schools two years in a row. That seems a bit excessive, especially when this isn't a permanent move. I keep telling them that they have 3 whole years here! Whoopee.

Rebekah is not going to be a happy camper when we tell her it's time to move, right before her sophomore year of high school. I remember my family's move from Washington to Colorado when I was 16. It wasn't pretty. I pretty much threw a big, long temper tantrum the whole way there. It's amazing how self-centered I was as a teenager. It wasn't like my family even had a choice- Dad had lost his job in Washington. Hopefully, my experience will make me empathetic when it is Rebekah's turn.

With the four older kids in school, Tim and I took advantage of our suddenly smaller family to take a trip to the Thanksgiving Point children's garden with the little girls. Having two kids is pretty easy when six is the norm!

Yes, that's a badger Emma's holding hands with. Obviously, since her face wasn't ripped off, it wasn't real.

$2 Tuesday

Yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of my brother's death. To commemorate the day, Mom and I took his son (with a friend) and my kids to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum. It was "$2 Tuesday", which meant we could get into any T.P. attraction for $2 each. Unfortunately, it also meant that everyone else in Utah County (and possibly large portions of Salt Lake County) could get in cheap, too. We arrived early, so we managed to beat most of the crowds, but it was still packed. The kids had a great time, though, so I won't complain. That dinosaur museum is the best!

Mom, taking a picture of us taking a picture of her!

Build-your-own dinosaur

The twins, doing what they do best.

Braving the crowd at the erosion table.

A close-up of Emma's "elbow technique"- defending her space at the table!

SHARK!

Rebekah as Vanna White.

Digging for Dinosaurs.

Summer

Wow- I basically took a break from documenting our summer these last few weeks. I thought I was just neglecting the blogging aspect- but when I went to download pictures from my camera, there were only 45 since the middle of July. Pathetic. So I'll post what I have, and try to remember what we've done.

Our Steele family reunion this year was in Island Park, Idaho. We rented a house all together, and everyone was there this year! Especially appreciated were the two new babies since last year. There was a 3 year break in new babies, so they were a hot commodity. We had a great time together. Our first day we went to Mesa Falls, which was absolutely gorgeous- so of course I forgot my camera. I'll include one photo here that my Mom took of us.

The next day we went to Yellowstone, which was less than fun. I think that was mostly due to a certain 5 year old who whined and complained the ENTIRE time.

We did see lots of bison (you can't see them, but they're there- I promise)

and elk,

and got to stop and throw rocks into Yellowstone Lake.


We took one short hike to see a mud volcano, mud pots and various geysers.


While we were standing looking at one area of bubbling mud, Emma grouched (clearly loud enough for at least 15 other people to hear), "I HATE THIS STUPID SMELLY PLACE!" She was such a joy that day.

Our last full day at the reunion was the most fun, I thought. We went on a rafting trip down whatever fork of the Snake River is up there. It was very shallow in some places (we had to get out and push just to get through- well okay, Peter and Mary got out. I just sat comfortably in the raft), but everything was gorgeous and cool, and everyone (even Emma) had a great time. Unfortunately, not one of the almost 30 of us there remembered to bring a camera along. Or maybe it was that none of us was willing to sacrifice our own camera to the river. Memories will have to suffice for this one.

Our life since the reunion has been pretty hectic:
Rebekah went to music camp (sorry for the blurry picture- it was the best I got)



The rest of us toured BYU (nothing like a little early indoctrination),



we saw a fun puppet show put on by the library (Kai got to be the pirate),


I registered all the kids for school (no pictures here),

and... drumroll...

Tim flew to California, picked up our car from the port, and drove it back here. I have my van back! I love my van. And now we can go places with all 8 of us... and everyone gets their own seatbelt!
And now, summer is almost over. One more week- and then it's back to the grind. Hopefully, we'll still find a few more opportunities to just sit and enjoy before it's over for good.