The Cabin

Pleasant Valley Days 2017 

An extra beautiful weekend, the lake is full and the vegetation is gorgeous!

The weather was great too...in the low 80's all weekend with cool evenings.

We cheered our guts out for our favorite beauty queens

and high school band (GO CARBON!)

We celebrated Hazel's first birthday. This cutie is walking and starting to talk. Erik and Kelly brought up Hazel's aunt and brother and sister to the cabin to celebrate with us.  They were darling little kids, so fun to watch them experience cabin activities for the first time.

 The kiddos played their games in the cabin, we went on our hikes, we got in a few rounds of Werewolf.

Grandpa taught Miriam to ride the 4-wheeler 

and the younger cousins rode Tatum and Wyler's 4-wheeler for hours.

We cheered for the fireworks.

Darin Miriam and I went on a beautiful hike to the top of the mountain.

I got to treasure hunt for wild flowers to my hearts content, Darin found beautiful birds and wildlife, and Miriam enjoyed it all.

We made it back to go to church at the local branch. Fun to see friends from my childhood.

We ended our trip by helping Julia pull the decorations off the float.  This was a surprisingly fun endeavor. the kids pulled out staples while we chatted and spent time together on the deck.

So grateful for my parents and all the hard work they have done to give us this place in the mountains.

Summer Livin'

 Arts and Crafts has ended for Soren with not one photo taken.  It was a fun class where he ran into lots of neighborhood kids and classmates. It was something for him to look forward to while slugging through daily chores.  Tennis is going strong for boy boys and luckily it hasn't been too hot, but this week was SWIM WEEK! 

Soren is happy any time he gets to swim, but this class pushed Byron.  He hated it at first, but he ended up enjoying it.  Anytime you accomplish something hard you can't help to like it even if it was never "fun".

Because the boys were wet everyday by 12:00 we spent extra time at local pools.  Miriam and I even spent a morning lap swimming because I have bruised my heel and couldn't run or hike (or walk very well).  Going to the pool is finally FINALLY relaxing for me! The kids can carry their own stuff and I don't have to be in the water right there with them.  

Soren mastered the high dive!

Miriam has become my grocery shopping/ cooking helper.  She is becoming quite the healthy foodie girl and it is so fun for me!! Darin and I have for years been pushing the veggies and helping the kids make healthy food choices. Being prepared with healthy meals, and being constant encouragers and good examples is hard work...so nice to have another memeber on our team.

Strange Week

Miriam left for Brighton Beehive Camp early Monday morning.

One hour later I dropped Byron off to catch his bus for Science Camp.
Byron came back every day around 3 but Miriam was gone for 5 days....I don't think we have ever been away from her that long, not even when she has been visiting family.

Soren made it known that it would NOT be fair if he had to to chores when M & B didn't have to.  So I made sure Soren had lots of play dates all week.  We invited some new neighbors down for a water balloon party, played at the park twice, went swimming, and enjoyed hours of time with his bestie Owen. Byron LOVED his camp: rockets, dissecting starfish, coding, visiting honey, cheese, and bread making companies, the zoo, a trip to the movies...it was his heaven week.

Our decrepit air conditioner stopped working, and Darin got it back on it's feet....for now. He is brilliant that man...

Ladies Hikes are back on.  I missed photos of the first two, but last Friday three of us did the Farmington Car hike. Loves these ladies...so much wisdom shared with every footstep.

Then we waited anxiously for this girl to get back. She and I both burst into tears when she walked in the door.  She had a great time, but a week is a loooong time to be away from family! It was fun hearing about all her adventures. I am so proud of her bravery.  It was hard not to hear from her for so long but I was able to send her a letter. She came home singing camp fires songs, and telling stories about zip lines, repelling, hiking, and other fun activities.  I am so glad she had this experience.

At this point I made everyone take a family nap to get ready for the evenings events.  Miriam ended up sleeping for 2 1/2 hours.  That girl was exhausted!

The boys had karate testing and moved up to orange belt.

 We ended the day by watching Lego Batman in the park.  This is why a nap was necessary...the movie starts at dark (after 9:00 pm which is when the kids usually settle down in their rooms for the night) and went until 11:30. I read my book The Nightingale under the park street light, Darin stayed home alone...a wonderful time was had by all. 

And today is a gloriously empty Saturday!!!
The kids got chores done without pressure, Darin and I hung Miriam's curtains (from her birthday in February) and then they did a daddy daughter project.  We ordered GOOD pizza (as opposed to Little Sceezers, which we get in a pinch) and went on an evening hike.

Third car, where Soren slipped in poo on the rough way down.

 It was such a fun family outing....but lest you think it is rainbows and moonbeams here at the Ray home rest assured we are normal.  Darin didn't really want to go at all, but with the stipulation that I wouldn't make him go anywhere on Sunday he came. Soren cried and whined quite a bit during the hike, which drives me nuts but I have to remember he has the littlest legs.  In between the hesitant participators, and the on-site whining and the dog poo is where the magic happens....where we sit on a rock and make up funny songs, where we notice the wild flowers and the lizards and discover the 3rd crashed car.

But seriously dog owners pack your poo out. 

What We Did In Between the Beauty Queen Stuff

Last week was busy running from Provo to Salt Lake, but because we were running around anyway we decided to cross some things off our bucket list.

Battle Creek Falls hike with Cristin and Anna. Very fun hike on a cool and windy day. So good to get some exercise before we sat and watched the Shoe Parade.  So fun to have a bit of time with Cristin and Anna!

The kids and I grabbed dinner at Riverwoods, and camped out at a table with chairs right outside of the toy store to enjoyed the show.

The Fashion show was at Traverse Mountain the next evening. It rained all morning, but the afternoon was cool and sunny, perfect weather to visit the Ashton Gardens.  So even though Darin wasn't with us we used our Utah Pass to have a picnic dinner and stroll through the gardens.

There are no photos of the area we spent the bulk of our time at.  Monet's Garden with the massive gold fish a turtle and a frog kept us entertained for so long.  

And of course the kids took a roll down the grass hill.

Then across the street to the fashion show where we watched Madison strut her stuff.

I took the kiddos swimming at Little America.  Miriam said "I have swam here so many times but never actually stayed here"  True story.  Little America is my family's place in the city, but since my little family live only 15 min outside of the city it never makes sense for us to sleep there.

On Saturday we went to see Grandpa and his Riviera in the Bountiful Car show.

Byron and Soren are now "really into cars"....thats what Soren told me as they googled cars all evening.

We were all exhausted by Father's Day but the kids wrote Darin sweet notes and memories,

and Miriam made a special dinner inspired by my cousin Amanda.

Soren was concerned that there were no gifts to give (besides hershey kisses and marzipan chocolate) but I assured him that his father would MUCH prefer notes of love and good food than things. 

 I sure do love that father of mine, and I love my hubby too.  So grateful for the good men in my life. 

Miss Utah

My niece Madison was crowned Miss Carbon County last Fall, my other niece  Tatum was serving as Little Miss Carbon County.  So all year I have heard about "Miss Utah Week" with a sense of urgency as preparations were being made....but living 2 hours away I was somewhat removed from everything.  

Well now I know!

A full week of activities, classes, workshops, activities, and competitions that go waaaay past my bedtime! 

The kids LOVED having family stay with us all week. Especially having cousins to play with as soon as they woke up in the morning!

Show me your shoes parade.

Traverse Mountain fashion show.

Four nights of Capital Theatre competitions.
Both Tatum and Madison worked their tails off and did a fantastic job! I didn't get to see Madison's talent, but I was SO PROUD of her on stage questions answer and she looked gorgeous every night! Tatum just shines on stage. 

The week wasn't without it's drama and problems but all in all Madison had a great experience, and as always, we pulled through as a family and "got her done!"