apAdventures

And last but certainly not least, my sister Holly and Joe’s beautiful Park City Utah wedding brings us to the end of our summer adventures. I promise cross my heart to be better about keeping you more up to date this fall. 🙂

The cozy little cabin my parents rented for a week, just up the street from Joe and Holly’s place. The whole fam stayed here – my parents, siblings, spouses, significant others and kids, with frequent visits by friends of the family! At first it seemed like a terribly horrible idea. But turned out to be really really fun. Fun enough to do again perhaps! 🙂

Setting up at the marriage/reception location.

Paul and the kids sightsee a bit while I help with setup and getting Holly’s hair done.

It’s game time. Silas and Ivan with their cousins.

My parent’s homemade maple syrup and jam for party favors.

Cousins!

Awaiting the bride

My father and Holly

Tying the knot

Ivan pre-gaming it a little too wildly with the appetizers and some indecent exposure

Cake cutting

Grandkids dancing with their grandma and papa

Pretty much the scene for the remainder of the night. Great party Holly and Joe!

And a swing by the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry on our way back home (i.e. the “shortcut” around the big Grand Canyon going to/from Utah)

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posted by arr

Too good not to share.

Ivan’s “whale with boogers all over his face”

Construction Worker

Superhero

Silas and his homemade shoes

He wants to sell them to make money. City Grandma has already placed her order, size 8’s.

Ivan helping out while shopping for dress clothes for Aunt Holly’s wedding. He was ecstatic about this hands-free invention.

No solo grocery shopping trip with dad happens without mischief. The two spontaneously sidetracked to a fountain park where Ivan ran like mad through the sprinklers until he was soaked to the bone with no change of clothes. No worries! Dad is a genius and can make a loin cloth out of a grocery shopping bag!

And perhaps my favorite quote of the summer happened while sitting at this coffee shop, while worrying about whether or not I had put enough coins in the parking meter. To which Silas replied “Don’t worry mama. We have lots of time. That meter is savoring our coins.”

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You’ve seen this shot many times as it is from one of my favorite trails to run, Douglas Springs. But have you seen it THIS green??!!! Yey for summer monsoons!

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Sister Katie and I threw a bachelorette party for sister Holly

Holly’s party destination choice: Vegas

On the agenda: drinking,

…jumping on trampolines at the indoor trampoline park,

…and gettin’ fancied up and dancing our cute tushes off. Whoa.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead the boys indulged in pancake eating,

…and rocket building. This one here is “Fat Boy”. They had several successful flights with this guy. It goes about 200 feet up.

And the large one shown here next to Fat Boy is the aptly named “Magician.” Can you guess why? The Magician’s launch ended up being a one-shot endeavor. It’s package claims it goes 2,000 feet up. We don’t actually know how far up it went because we lost visual after the parachute deployed. All we know is it was headed for Mt. Lemmon and……disappeared. We can only speculate that the pilot of The Magician (little astronaut lego man) is having the time of his life hotdoggin’ his big fancy rocket out there somewhere in the universe.

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a) I’ve decided that I’m NOT sharing my hard-earned veggies with the desert critters anymore.
b) We need to go bigger because we are veggie devouring machines.
c) I’ve since learned a thing or two about growing food in the desert, specifically in the realm of basin-planting and rainwater harvesting.

The photos should explain our modifications to date. It’s still a work-in-progress. We had hoped to finish before the fall planting season, but…uh, we’re also eager to get started at Hueco again too, so estimated completion should probably remain TBD at this time.

Meanwhile, double CSA share! Farmer Frank LOVES this family, haha.

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Silas is a kindergartener now! It’s official! Luckily my parents decided to come visit last minute to help ease the transition…for both Ivan and myself. 🙂 All went off without a hitch. Silas absolutely adores school. And Ivan is enjoying his solo time at home with me.

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posted by arr

posted by arr

No more toddler gymnastics – no mamas or dad’s allowed on the floor now.

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