House Invader

Varmint

1. Jack let Shorty (our dog) out to potty and went to bed. Shorty let himself back in and the backdoor stood open until 2:30am when I shut it after getting Sloan a drink of water.
2. The next night, Jack woke me by accidentally smacking me in the face. He said he heard a sound in the kitchen. I led the way into the kitchen and it sounded like scratching coming from near the stove. We couldn't locate the varmint, so we left the light on hoping it would stop scratching until morning. Neither of us slept well.
3. The next morning I found a snack size bag of Doritos shredded in the pantry. The varmint also ate through some Otter Pops that were not yet frozen in a box in the bottom of the pantry. Apparently it likes junk food.
4. I bought 4 mouse traps that swivel shut and kill/capture the mouse without seeing it. I placed these in the pantry and under the stove before going to bed.
5. I woke up at 4am to a munching sound in the kitchen. I turned on the light and opened the pantry to find a huge kangaroo rat sitting on a shelf eating from a bag of cheesy popcorn. I closed the door and ran to wake up Jack.
6. We created blanket barriers and armed ourselves with brooms. We hoped flush it out of the pantry and through the back door. Instead, the critter decided to hide in a box of diet shakes (Jack drinks them for extra calories).
7. I held the box shut and put it out onto the back patio. I am glad Jack thought of taking pictures.
   
   

Gross!

Summer Camp

Guy participated in Busy Bee Summer Camp during the day for a week at the Tonaquint Nature Center. He had a great time learning about nocturnal animals, making crafts, and learning a hula dance. I was so excited for the camp graduation, but Guy had to pee during the ceremony and missed the hula dance. Then Sloan had to go potty and I missed everything else. I ran out of the bathroom to take this picture of Guy receiving his award. Sloan followed me out with her pants around her ankles.  

 Sloan enjoyed feeding the ducks every day when we dropped off Guy.

 Guy loves playing with magnets. Sloan loves to cut with scissors, so I put her to work cutting coupons.

 Below is a family of quail that was walking along the wall in our backyard. The babies are so cute!

Summer Begins

1st Day of Summer

The kids and I went to Zion National Park.

 Our first hike was "Weeping Rock." It was short and steep and the kids wanted to keep going.

 So we rode the shuttle to the top where the "River Walk" hike is. Before we hiked we played in the water.

Don't worry. She didn't fall.

Soggy pants become very heavy.

Guy took this picture of a blue heron.

 We saw lizards, a water snake, squirrels, several deer, and a blue heron. I wanted to see the condors, but they weren't visible while were were there.

The picture above was taken at the turn around point of the "River Walk" hike. The kids are still in good spirits. They were very tired by the end of the 2 mile hike. We ate pizza in Springdale and headed home. The following day we just wanted to stay home and relax. I sprayed some shaving cream on the counter and the kids drew with their fingers. They went straight to the tub afterwards.

Yeah for summer!

All About Jack

June 9, 2011 = Jack's 37th Birthday!

For Jack's birthday we asked our friend Cheryl to watch our munchkins so we could ride mountain bikes with some friends. We went to the Guacamole trail in Virgin, UT. Jack received a truing stand and other bike related presents for his birthday.

Funny story: While the kids were at Cheryl's house, Guy pointed to the cougar and elk Cheryl and her husband Bob have decorating their living room. He asked if Bob killed them. Cheryl said that Bob killed everything you see in their house. Guy then asked if Bob killed the people on the wall and pointed to two Native American masks. 

Bob wanted to be in the following picture with us.

Jack is training for some long distance, endurance mountain bike races like the Leadville 100 in Leadville, Colorado and 25 Hours in Frog Hollow here in southern Utah. He has a new Felt road bike and he went on a high altitude ride with a friend a couple weeks ago. Cold compared to St. George, UT.

For Father's Day I made him a bike shirt and the kids rang cow bells while we brought him breakfast in bed. We have had a wonderful 4th of July weekend even though the tent trailer is in the shop being worked on. We went to Pine Valley so Jack could ride up the canyon and then fish with the kids.

We enjoyed going to the Hurricane parade and the kids played games. Guy used the tickets he eared to buy a pop gun. Sloan chose a pony with a comb. The kids adore their father!