Page Arizona... The new Sodom and Gomorrah?

We went to Page for Zach's baby blessing in June.  As we approached town, I was trying to find Charlotte and Jeremy's church building on our GPS.  I couldn't find it.  I tried every thing I could think of.  Finally, I searched for all "places of worship".   There is not a single church, mosque, synagogue, or temple listed in Page.  We had to rely on Kenneth's memory (which is good when it comes to finding places) and we arrived on time for the meeting.  I was relieved to see (when we drove past 10 "places of worship) Page is not without righteous people.

Hello Laurel

I'm Back!
Sometimes I wonder who my audience is (or if there is one).
Last week I got a phone call.  "Hi Megan, How are you? Um, you haven't posted on your blog for a while." Thanks, for the reminder. :)  I am glad to know you care!

Entrada

Christian and Truman spent a week at a scout camp in Moab, called Entrada.  The rode the river, mountain biked, rappelled, hiked the Fiery Furnace (with Grandpa Welling as their "guide"), and did all manner of manly activities.

Paul and Julie and Kids visit and I take no photos?

"Last week Paul and his family came to visit - they made really good time, faster than they expected, and got here a day early.  That made me feel justified in Sydney’s decision to stay home from her church youth activity, and I was anything but unhappy to have an excuse to stay home from work for another day. We went swimming with them at least once a day, and on Saturday we went to a city pool that had waterslides. We generally flocked to the waterslides, probably because the Dobson pools we frequent don’t have waterslides. At one point I realized that I was the ninth person in line for the slide, and that all of the people in front of me were very closely related. One of the slides was a short drop, shaped like a tilde (~) at a 45 degree angle. It made the suggestion of starting a spin, so I worked at doing a back flip as I exited. I got the boys into the act as well, and I don’t think we ever got better than going into the water upside down, but it made some glorious splashes.

We played games, exposed them to Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution, went to the Riparian habitat, drove all over south Scottsdale looking for the Arizona History museum, and had a couple of huge lego-fests. I think that legos were the only activity that could successfully take on video games.  We had a great time with the cousins, and it was nice to see them playing together. Friday we had Pirate day. I was happy to be able to be a part of it. We made captain’s hats from newspaper, balloon swords, had a pirate dinner with (root) beer in bottles and drumsticks. Paul and I made up a fabulous treasure hunt that took the kids all over the yard, and included 4 activities as well. We had the kids dance a jig to the fife (Abby’s flute), eat a piece of hard tack (a giant cracker, aka Nutrition biscuit from LeeLee’s) and whistle, and play a few rounds of hot potato with an electronic cannonball that made an exploding noise. I liked the cannonball because although the total time from Power On to Termination varied, I quickly figured out a pattern so that I could predict the detonation with sufficiently high accuracy. "

Snug Leaves Us

Yesterday we said goodbye to our puppy.  She left for San Rafael in the famous puppy truck.  Here are the kids beside the truck.

Here is Snug feeling humiliated by the graduation cape.

One last goodbye with Nate.

Abby and Snug and no cape, but you can see our trademark ribbons.  When we send our puppies back to Guide Dogs for the Blind, the kids tie a piece of ribbon on her collar.  A little token of our love!

Dolls in the Kitchen

 Not having had sisters, sometimes I just have to laugh at the goings on. American Girl doll cooking class.  The dolls made doll size sugar cookies.  The only problem was that none of the dolls heard the timer and all the cookies were a little overdone.  Frosting covers a multitude of sins.

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Horseback Babe

About a year ago, Abby started saving money for a horse camp at the zoo.  I told her I would pay half if she saved up for her half.  She started saving but it was discouragingly slow. Then, I found a deal and she had more than enough for her half.  She started her five 1/2 hour horseback riding lessons last week.  She did great!

Labs are good swimmers

Our Wendy House

My Mom came for Nate's Baptism and we had a fun project to work on.  We sewed the girls' Easter dresses.  I think that doing projects together is the best way to visit.  You talk and cooperate and solve problems.   It was so much fun to have a project that we planned a project fro my dad's visit.  We built a playhouse (I read a book that was based in Ireland and they called it a wendy house.  We liked the imagery and so it is called our wendy house.)  Nate wins the prize for enthusiasm!  He just wouldn't get tired.  All the kids helped as much as they were able, and even learned some new skills.  Next time I need my roof redone I can just send Christian and Truman up to do it!  The girls did all the painting.  It is done except for a few finishing touches.

My contribution to the Great Purge

We have/had a eucalyptus tree and it has never looked very far from death.  Kenneth and I agree that it needed cutting down.  So I solicited some help from some "guys" from church and they came over and cut it down (mostly).  It took us 6 barrels to bet it all cleaned up!

 This branch collided with one of the swing set posts.  The pole cut a cute little bark cookie out of it. (above with the cookie out and below with the cookie replaced)

 We were nervous that the garbage truck would not be happy about how much wood was in these barrels.  She did write something down...

The Great Purge

Thursday was the last day of school.  Friday was The Great Purge.

We talked about how Deseret Industries (the DI) is a great charity, and the value of helping others.  So with that said, each room had a garbage bag, a basket for things that did not belong in that room and a big box for the DI.  The Great Purge lasted all day, we did take a break late in the afternoon to go buy ourselves a candybar (for energy), and to drop off our stuff at the DI.  We loaded the back of the van, and when we ran out of room we put two big boxes in the side.  We also donated (inadvertently) a HUGE Black Widow spider, which the guy unloading the stuff promptly squashed (ingrate).  We also wheeled our Blue (recycle) barrel into the hall, and managed to fill it to the top.  I believe we all slept better, knowing our closets were clean!

 This is the super cool fiberoptic fairy wand that the girls donated.

 Here is the screen shot: Truman caught in the act of not purging...

 Hazel in the midst of the mess.

 Christian and Truman and the closet of doom.

 Sydney sorting music.

 Truman refueling on M&Ms.

 Christian caught not working!

 Cousin It came for a brief visit.

 The purge even included emptying the backpacks.  It is good to be sure that no lunches are left over the summer.

Is Abby recyclable?