Kalli Jane's baptism

Kalli was baptized in the North Bend Washington LDS church house. Three of my four children were baptized there, incidentally.

She was baptized on July 17, 2010. Both sets of grandparents and the families of Aunt Sommer, Uncle Judah, and Aunt Anna were all in attendance, as were many, many friends. Kalli is a light and joy to so many people.

We did her baptism announcement shots in Grand Junction at Grandma Gloria's. Kalli's sweet smile can warm any heart...

My favorite picture of her baptism. She's such a special spirit.

Mom, Dad and Kalli Jane.

The handsome brothers and cousins.

The day before her baptism we had spent time picking raspberries together. I love this picture of Grandpa Con with his Western Washington grandkids.

Grandma Glo's house

The day after school let out for summer, the kids and I skipped town and headed directly to Grandma Glo's in Grand Junction, Colorado.

This pic is better suited for Kalli's birthday post, but I forgot to include it. Question: How many 8-year-old girls want a Topsy Turvey tomato planter for their birthday? But look at Kalli's toothless grin: obviously this was a roof-raiser!!

Kate at dinosaur hill in Grand Junction... Look at those eyes.

Me and my crew.

Grandma and my crew.

Lizard sans crew.

Sometimes when I think I'm having a bad day, I visualize this poor guy's demise, and suddenly I feel much better.

Not ending well for this cowboy, either.

How can this possibly be fun? For horse or for rider???

This is the equivalent of a rodeo ambulance. The guy gets stepped on by a bull and this is how they extract him from the rodeo ring.

Tuck and Brodie.

Kalli with same dog.

Grandma's house has an indoor pool. The kids spent at least six hours a day in there!

Kalli in said pool

And Kate. All thumbs up.

Tuck, mitt, baseball hat and tree.

Still in the tree, he ripped off a branch and fantasized his way through batting warmups...

I love this kid's smile.

The property on which my parents live has a pond, equipped with a paddle boat. Good times.

My crew plus cousin Rachel.

Notice the thinning crowd...even boating on ponds loses its appeal in sweltering heat. :)

Southern Utah Trip

After spending several days at my parents' house in Grand Junction, Colorado, Sean and I took three of the kids (Kate stayed on to spend time with Grandma and her cousin Rachel) to Southern Utah for a peeksy. I'd never spent much time down that way, and my boys are fascinated with red rock and cacti.

I believe this one was taken at Arches National Park. But I wouldn't put money on it...

Balanced Rock, maybe?? I do know that's my fam at the base of it. Bad time for an earthquake.

Small people running toward rocks with holes.

More holes.

Tanner thoroughly enjoying himself.

One of those rare moments when I yelled, "Hey kids! Time to go!" and they all came running immediately and obediently. Come to find out, they were in search of water.

Tucker and arches.

Kalli at the Monticello temple in Southern Utah.

Monticello Temple

Kalli and Tuck atop a rock. They loved climbing around. Like little geckos.

The family at Natural Bridges. Minus Kate. :(

We spent approximately two hours at Lake Powell, which was enough in the intense heat. Kalli obviously loved it!

Tanner and Sean walking around at Powell.

Ah, our favorite spot. Goblin Valley. The climbing opportunities were endless.

Story time. The three kids disappeared for a little while behind a wall of...what? hoodoos? Anyway, I finally went to find them, and once found, Tucker insisted on dragging me up the backside of a large crop of...hoodoos? (See far left of picture). Needless to say, when we were almost to the top, Kalli and Tuck got freaked out and insisted on turning around. The problem was that the surface was little more than loose red gravel and we were all wearing flip flops: a lot easier to get up than to get down. Sean had to finally come to the rescue. It was only as we were leaving the park that I noticed the sign that read, "DO NOT CLIMB. Extreme falling hazard." I'm such a great mom. Oh well.

More illegal, dangerous climbing.

Obvious how much Tanner enjoyed this part of the trip, eh?

Tucker, freckles popping, pointing out a boo-boo.

We spent some time at Capitol Reef National Park. I got this really brilliant idea to hike the Grand Wash in 103 degree temperatures at high noon. Needless to say, it was fiercely exhausting, resulting in grumpy kids and too little water. Oh well.

Nature's bottle holder.

Chillin'

Tuck's always been good at finding life's little cubby holes.

See him there behind Kalli? And can you sense Kalli's duress?

I was the only one to completely dig the rock carvings. The kids were wholly unimpressed.

And, to top it all off, you know you're in Utah when...!!!