Cecret Lake

One of our many hikes this summer. This one happened to be in August. We hiked up to Cecret Lake, ate peaches by the lake side and hiked down. Our kiddos are quite the hikers, both insisted on hiking the whole way themselves. We were there right at the peak of wildflower season. Great time to be in the mountains.

The Lodge

Every summer, usually in July, Justin's Mom's side of the family takes a trip to 'The Lodge.' It's a quaint cabin in Victor Idaho. Trips to the lodge usually include too many little kids to count, late nights playing phase ten with Grandpa Boothe, fishing trips for the guys and shopping outings (to the dollar store or super market) for the girls.

Here are a few of the highlights from this years trip.

Grandpa Boothe taking Justin out fishing

Now that so many of Justin's cousins are grown and have their own families, several of us take tents and sleep out. Good morning Grace! Yes, she wakes up smiling every morning :)

The lodge has a field right behind it with horses. The kids ALWAYS have to take Grandma Boothe out to feed the horses.

We usually take a jont out to the Mike Harris campground. This year at Mike Harris there was...

...A candy river from Grandma Boothe. The kids were playing in the water so Grandma decided to go up stream and toss in some taffy. The kids loved catching it!

Grass whistling lessons given by yours truly.

Wildflower picking.

And, I think racing with Grandma Boothe probably comes in neck and neck with the candy river as far as the kids favorites go. Really, how many eighty year old women have races with their great grandchildren?

It's great to have a place to go and escape. There's nothing like family and the mountain air to rejuvinate a person.

Summer Swimming

One day at Wal-Mart I ran across a Buzz Lightyear Slip-N-Slide for $5! Between it and a cheap plastic swimming pool we had tons of fun playing outside this summer.

I promised Justin I wouldn't post these pictures on the blog. But, look at the expressions on Grace and Isaac's faces. Just too cute to not post. It's a great day for the kids when Dad sneaks home early from work to play in the pool with them!

Finger Paints

This is how finger painting usually goes around our house. Isaac digs in and LOVES it. Grace just stares and won't even get her pinky finger dirty.

I like to use this homemade recipe because I know what's in the paints and I don't care how much of it they use. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/264049/kid_crafts_make_your_own_finger_paint.html?cat=24

Fairy Gardens

One day during the summer Engh Gardens was putting on a 'class' to help kids create fairy gardens. What is a fairy garden? Well...it's basically a home for a fairy. We used plants, shells, sticks and all kinds of minis to make our fairies comfy in their homes.

Our next door neighbor was taking her kids to Engh to the class and asked if I wanted to go. I didn't think my kids would like something like that, so I kindly declined.

A few days later, my kids were over playing at their house. When I went to bring them home they were all excited about fairy gardens and were begging to make their own. I guess you never know what your kids will be interested in.

Thanks to Kerri for letting us take all her extra mini stuff, and to a creative minded Isaac, this is what we came up with. A fairy garden for Grace and a cowboy garden for Isaac.

I think they are wonderful. The kids can play in their own garden and not mess up mine!

IJ and His 2 Wheeler

What do we do at our house at 7:30 am? Go on bike 'adventures,' of course.
Look at that face! Can you tell he REALLY likes to ride his new 2 wheel bicycle (yes, it has training wheels. But, according to Isaac, those don't count.)

Bee Update

For all of you who think my husband is cool OR crazy for keeping bees with small children around, here's an update.

The first time Justin got in the beehive to do some checking things looked like they were going great. Here are a few pics of what the bees had accomplished in two weeks.

But, the next time he opened the hive he found A LOT of dead bees. This is very unusual. Bees are very clean animals and usually take the dead bees out of the hive. Justin cleaned out the dead bees and left them alone for a couple more weeks. Checking them again, he found the same thing, TONS of dead bees.

Every beekeeper in the Salt Lake valley has a different opinion about why our bees were dying. Some think the queen had died or left or just wasn't doing her job. Others think our bees got into some major pesticide. Bottom line is, Justin pretty much lost his hive. Which means we probably won't be able to harvest honey this year. The bees will need everything they make to survive the winter.

So, if you loose your hive you can just go buy more bees and start over. Or, you can get on a swarm list at the bee keepers store. Did you know if you see a swarm of bees or have a swarm at your house you can call one of the local bee keeping stores and they will send someone from the swarm list out to get/remove them? Well, you can, and bee keepers like Justin will be very happy to come take the bees off your hands.

That is what our Monday morning consisted of this week. Justin received a call from the bee store with a swarm reporting. They gave us the address and we were off to catch a swarm to replenish our hive.

This swarm was about 15 feet up in a pine tree. Justin looked like a pro catching this swarm. Before we left to get the bees he took a few empty frames and drizzled honey on them. He put those inside a trusty Costco diaper box and there we had a very nice be transport system. He climbed up into the tree, gave the branch a really good tap on the box and most of the bees fell in the box. He then used his ever so soft bee brush to help the others in the box.

That's it really. Justin took the bees back to our place and introduced them to their new home. Hopefully things will go a little better this time around. We'll keep you updated.

Lagoon

It looks like our kids will get to enjoy Lagoon more than once this summer. Thanks to Uncle Brian who got a summer job there. We took our first trip last weekend. We started out at Lagoona Beach. Both Isaac and Grace had a ton of fun. I didn't think we'd get them out of there. But, after we reminded Isaac about the rides, he was ready to go. Grace thought she was ready, until she found of what a ride really is.

This was the look on her face most of the time. She didn't even really like the carousel. She did enjoy a lazy car ride with her brother, but that's about it.


Isaac on the other hand, had this look on his face the whole time.

Keeping up with him at Lagoon is hard work. He runs from ride to ride and won't take a break. He even got to go on some 'big kid' rides with Dad this time. He wasn't scared at all and talks about it all the time. Every morning when Isaac wakes up, he askes me if Uncle Brian has given us another special paper so we can go back to the roller coaster place. Sounds like he kind of likes Lagoon, huh?


Thanks Uncle Brian! You've made Isaac's summer.

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day we had planned a camping trip with some of our friends to Capitol Reef National Park. We've camped there before and were really excited to go. But, as Mother nature would have it, the overnight lows were supposed to be 38 and there were supposed to be 60 mile an hour winds. I ended up with a cold and our friends daughter got strep. Needless to say, the camping trip was cancelled.

Instead, we decided to take our kids out for the first fishing trip of the season. Sandy has a fish pond on 9800 S and 1000 W. It's also got a great little playground. We took a lunch and had a great time. Isaac didn't really understand that you have to leave your hook/lure in the water for a while and be patient before a fish will bite. But, I think he still had a pretty good time.

Such a girl

Grace is such a girl! And, she should be, right? It's just amazing to me the difference between boys and girls.
Lately Grace has to have her hair done almost immediately after breakfast.


She loves to do her makeup and has confiscated my makeup brushes to do so.

And, her purse goes with her everywhere. Even out to dig in the dirt and play trucks with her brother.

Am I Mean?

Some days I think Isaac is out of the terrible twos, but other days...not so much. This day in particular.

Isaac was in time out. When time out was over I opened his door and told him he could come out if he was ready to be nice. I didn't peak in his room, just opened his door. I really should have peaked in because a couple hours later I discovered black crayon all over his tan wall and white door.

Am I mean that I made him clean it all off?

I guess it's one of those what goes around comes around kind of things because I have a very distinct memory of scrubbing a farm scene off of my bedroom wall when I was little.

And, it starts...

We have the best next door neighbors. It's also very convenient that our children are around the same ages. Isaac LOVES playing with the little neighbor boy. This particular morning, I'm not sure what was going on, but we wouldn't let them play together. They really, really wanted to play with each other. They were at the fence scheming for almost an hour tyring to come up with a plan so they could play. After several failed attempts of asking each Mom and using several different reasoning tactics, they devised another plan. It went like this.

Said neighbor boy hands Isaac wood from their wood pile to make a ladder on our side of the fence.
That darn ladder keeps falling over. Back to the drawing board.
Stack the wood on a bucket. Not so stable...
Neighbor boy thinks hey, I've got more buckets, let's just stack them.
Ahhh....success! The buckets gave Isaac the height he needed to crawl on top of the cinder block fence and JUMP onto the inflatable ice fishing chair and an overturned tupperware waiting on the other side.

I have to applaud them for their perseverance, but if they're scheming like this at 3 and 4, what is it going to be like when they are teenagers?

More Ducks

More ducks, but this time it was in our own back yard. We woke up one morning to seven Mallards waddeling around it. We kept the kids out of the yard for probably a good hour while the ducks had a nap.

Then, we decided to let the kids have a little fun. We took some bread out and fed the ducks. Isaac the duck chaser was let loose and Grace played peek-a-boo with them.

Surprising enough, the ducks came back later that day. We hoped it would be a continued thing throughout the summer, but we haven't seen them since.

Catch Up

Justin is out of town tonight. I thought I'd use this time to catch the blog up. We've been huge blog slackers lately. So, ready or not, here comes A LOT of what the Rammells have been up to.

Clear back at the beginning of April it looked like Spring was peaking at us (boy, weren't we fooled). We took the kids to Wheeler Farm. We LOVE having it so close to us.

It was the first time Grace was really old enough to appreciate something like this and I think she enjoyed herself.

Isaac is quite the duck chaser. I'm sure that is his favorite part of Wheeler Farm.

Grace probably needs to work on her bread throwing arm...but, we'll get there.

Water Fountain

Diana was out doing yard work the other day when she hit a sprinkler line. When we turned on the water, a small pond started to form. The line is actually culinary water that goes to a hose hook-up by the garden. We figured that while we were out there digging around to repair it that we might as well install a water fountain. As you can see, the kids love it. It also makes Mom happy because now she isn't running back and forth for water for them.

And since we are posting, we threw in a few pictures from last Sunday taken in the creek.

Homemade?

One reason I LOVE having a little girl is all the cute little girly things you can make for them. One of those things being clothes. I really enjoy creating new things for Grace to wear.

The other day a dear friend and I were talking about this subject and she mentioned she was a little hesitant when it came to making her little girl clothes. She was remembering back to her childhood when her Mom made her clothes and she was the 'girl with the homemade clothes.'

So, my questions for you all...am I just fooling myself by thinking that Graces homemade clothes really are cute and don't look all that homemade? Or, does she look a little 'little house on the prairie' and I need to stop making her clothes?

Here are a few examples.

(This pic is old, from her first birthday)

Be honest, you won't hurt my feelings. I just don't want Grace wondering around looking foolish because I like to sew.

Bees

Isaac and I made a trip down to Jone's Bee this morning to pick up our 2.5 lbs of bees (and a queen). We have both been anxiously awaiting their arrival. The old beekeepers were getting a kick out of Isaac wandering around with his bee brush and asking tons of questions. He insisted the bees sit next to him on the way home.

We got the cage home and installed the bees in their hive. We were a little nervous about getting them into the hive but it went off without a hitch. Surprisingly, the kids have no fear of them. I scooped up a couple of male bees (they don't have stingers) and the kids let those bees crawl all over their arms. I've been reading alot about these creatures lately. I am stunned at how they live and communicate with each other (google: waggle dance).

We are looking forward to large honey harvest in the fall. Save your supermarket honey bears and come over to refill them! Word on the street is that an established hive can produce up to 120 lbs. of honey per year.

If anyone is interested in reading a book about bees, I recommend Book of Bees by Sue Hubbell (not just for keepers, a great all around read). For the in's and out's of beekeeping, there is nothing better than Bee Keeping for Dummies.

This makes me happy!!

Fax Machines

The past few days Justin has needed me to send faxes for him from home while he's at work. The kids are enamored with our fax machine. When they ask what I'm doing, I usually respond saying something to the effect that I'm sending papers for Dad.

Wednesday's are kind of hard around the Rammell house. Justin has class at the U until 8:30. So the kids don't see him all day long and we all miss him. Today about 4:30 Justin called us while he was on his way to class. He said he was starving and needed some food. He was meaning he needed to stop somewhere and grab a bite to eat before class, but Isaac came up with his own solution.

Yes, that is our play food from our kitchen shoved in our printers. Isaac thought they were both fax machines and he was trying to send some chicken nuggets, an apple turnover, a roll, a knife, a plate and a blender to Dad for dinner. Isaac just kept repeating, Mom help, they're not sending.

I LOVE the way kids minds work.

p.s pardon the messy hair. Wednesday is our lazy day...

East Fork Yurt

Do you know what a Yurt is? I'd heard of them before and heard of people staying in them on backpacking and camping trips, but I'd never seen one.

After months of hoping and waiting, we finally got a night at the East Fork Yurt in the Uinta mountains. After searching the internet for a good way to get the kids up there, we decided to improvise. Justin had been reading a few blogs and such about pulling sleds while cross country skiing and decided he'd convert our jogging stroller into a sled. Canyon Sports gave us some old skies that he attached to our stroller. We put a big tub on the back for supplies and we were off. (yes, the Momma was VERY nervous about this whole trip!)

The Yurt was a mile and a half from the trail head. The snow on the way in was terrible -- wet and sticky, and the trail was all up hill. It took about 3 hours to get into the Yurt and the kids slept in the 'sled' most of the way. Thank heavens Justin was pulling the sled and kids, not me. We would have turned around and headed back at the first hill if I had my way :)

After getting unloaded, Isaac put on his snowshoes and searched for "winter animals." He found a set of tracks and followed them for about an hour. Grace was content to throw snow at Dad eat chips. Justin kept the fire blazing day and night and we stayed pretty warm considering the overnight low was 9 degrees!!

We left for home around lunch. When we started packing up, both kids bawled. Isaac just kept chanting 'I want to stay another night at the yurt.' I think our kids would live outdoors if I'd let them. The trail was hard packed and slick on the way out. We got back to the car in about 45 minutes! If you're up for winter camping, may I suggest a Yurt? It was the perfect little family vacation. Can't wait for next year!

Giggers!

We have spent our week curled up on the couch (now facing the living room window) watching an endless procession of Giggers, as Grace calls them. The kids sit and stare ALL.DAY.LONG. Sandy City decided to install storm drains up our road. The major bummer is that the water from our backyard creek will now be going through a pipe under the road. It'll be nice to expand our yard but sad not to hear that rushing water in Spring. I hope our raspberries survive!

Our mailbox will also be upgraded after a gigger got a little too close.

Our laugh of the week came when Isaac told me that "when mom and I grow up to be mans, we are going to drive those diggers!"

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Isaac is 3!

A few weeks ago I asked him what he wanted for this birthday. All he would say is green. Then it was a green cake. Then it was a green alligator cake. Then is was a green alligator cake and a superhero cape. Alligators and superheros go together, right?

Isaac is one spoiled little monster. We started out celebrating with a family party on Saturday. He had tons of family show up to wish him a happy birthday. Justin and I decided we'd play some superhero games to help keep the kids entertained, we had 12 kids at our house and 11 of the 12 are under 7 years old. I made them all superhero capes and Justin came up with a superhero training camp they had to go through in order to earn their cape. They had to walk a balance beam, hop on stones across a 'lava' river, climb a tree to rescue a kitten and karate chop some boards (sheet rock pieces with the back sides scored) to prove their strength. I think they all had fun and they look pretty cute in their capes!

Tuesday was Isaac's real birthday, so we thought we'd have some neighborhood friends over to play. Again, Isaac was spoiled and had tons of fun playing with his friends.

Right now Isaac is totally into ANYTHING green, dinosaurs and twizlers. He is starting to discover that a sister can actually be fun and he really enjoys coloring. He will color for hours! He is VERY shy, but once you get him out of his shell, there's no stopping him. We're so lucky to have our little 'monster.'

Potty Training

That's right, those are 'big boy underwearz' on Isaac.

I think when your little boy wakes up at 2:30 in the morning and tells you he needs to 'pee in the potty' he's officially POTTY TRAINED!

It's so nice not changing the diapers of two children everyday, not to mention the boost it gives our budget.

Potty training was really kind of uneventful. He was just ready and did it. We started out with a star chart and prizes but he quickly lost interest in it. I think we shelled out for a few hot wheel cars and a DVD.

The most exciting part didn't even involve the trainee, it was between Grace and Daddy. One morning while eating breakfast, Justin got up from the table and said he had to go potty. To which Grace replied, "GOOD BOY!" and started clapping her hands.

We're Back

Sorry for the interruption, we're back online. To say that we've had a crazy month would be a gross understatement. But life seems to have calmed down, for now.

Just thought we'd share some of the fun we had today. It was basically an Isaac day. We took him down to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point (no pictures, lo siento). Both he and Grace ooh'd and ah'd their way through. Although we went a few months back, they both were a lot more interested this time around. Justin was helping a group set up a non-profit next door but even after he was done we still stayed another hour so he didn't miss much.

When we got home, Justin cut out a pine wood derby car for some friends and also made one for Isaac. When Justin mentioned it, Isaac said "I don't need any more toy cars, I just need a REAL car!" Well, that one will have to wait awhile. He insisted on green, his current favorite color. We've had a ton of fun with it today!