Then and Now

I got a birthday card today from our insurance agent. On it was a list of statistics then (1979) and now.

New domestic car  $6,474         $20,690
Average Income    $22,178       $49,800
1st class stamp       $0.15           $0.44
Bread                        $0.50           $3.19
Gas(1 gal)                 $0.86           $2.69

And I had an epiphany: No wonder everyone is in debt. The cost of living has tripled but the average income has only doubled.
Why is that?

24th Fireworks

We went to the Mapleton fireworks. Since we are pretty anti-social we sat in the back of our car parked along the side of the road until they started. Then we pulled out our blanket and sat on someone's front lawn.

We were close enough to hear the music playing at the park so the girls did some dancing. I think we ended up closer to the fireworks than the crowd at the park. They were pretty impressive, considering.

Yuba

Here are some cute pics from our day at Yuba.

Anna loved it. The mud, the sand, the water. She ate quite a bit of sand. Once she got used to the water she wanted to be out in it. She walked out (with me) until she was chest deep and I wouldn't let her go any farther. Then I pulled her back a little ways and she plopped down in the water and started playing. It was chest deep again.

Anna enjoyed the boat too. While we pulled the kids on the tube she took a nice little nap. This picture of the kids is pretty telling. Kaylee is holding on tight but having fun. Andrew is holding on for dear life and looks terrified. Kara is at least holding on. She kept wanting to go faster and go out of the wake, etc. So Andrew and I traded places and we took a "wild" ride that was mild compared to the older boys.

St George

We went to St George for vacation last week. Our first stop was the temple. The kids loved all the interactive displays at the visitor center. Kaylee took a lot of pictures, I'll have to have her put them on her blog.

We went to a mexican restaurant for dinner. The salsa was a little spicy.

If you look behind the girls in this picture you will see the tail feathers of a bird. I called it a tucan. Oops. Kaylee quicly informed me that it was not a tucan but a macaw. Then Kara added, "yeah, a toucan has a bigger bill". How smart are my girls?

She ran away in the process of getting her swimsuit on. The kids swam in the pool for like, 3 hours each day. They loved it.

We went to the dinosaur place that now I can't remember the name of. Anyway, about 10 years ago a doctor was working on his land and after scraping away 20 ft of topsoil he found big chunks of rock. One fell over while he was moving it and he saw dinosaur tracks. So they uncovered, and are still uncovering one of the largest trakways in the world. It was pretty cool.

We saw Tarzan at the Tuacahn. It was fun but really hot. And the kids were really tired by the time it ended.

We pushed the bed against the wall and put all three kids on it sideways.

Like I said before, Kaylee took a lot more pictures than me so I'll have her put them up.

Anna

So I sat down on the floor one day to take pictures of Anna. She wanted the camera so I leaned back, and leaned some more, until we ended up laying on the floor with her on top of me.

"Working " in the yard

One day Wes went out to work in the yard and these guys were there. So he watched them instead. These are just a few of the deer that come to our yard. They are not at all afraid of us. One evening Wes, Anna, and I sat outside with a couple of bucks for quite a while.

And here's Wes trimming some branches of our really big, mostly dead tree that's gone now.

Too Cute

We made these tutus for the 4th of July. Then the girls spent all afternoon dancing around in them.

The Grand Tour

Ok, so here are (finally) some pics of our house. I know some of you have been here but some have not.
This is Andrew and Anna's room.

Kaylee & Kara's room

The Master- you can always tell when it's getting close to hunting season.

the master bath- you are seeing reflection in the mirror.

the kitchen

The family room

the family room, entry, and the girls are in the living room.

I know, I really need to get some decoration up. I'm too chicken.

I'm Back!

Today the Comcast guy came and installed my internet. Now I can use my new computer and internet with no frustration. I can check my email in less than 30 minutes. I can actually post pictures and videos. I'm so happy!

More

Ok Mom, here's more info. I won't be posting a pic because of time and frustration. It's brown, upright, and we got it last Friday. They also came and picked up my old piano, which saves me like $250. They had to turn it on it's side and remove a door to get it out. Since it isn't worth anything they will donate it to a school for the blind where a lady is learning to tune pianos- good luck to her!

Did I Mention...

I got a new piano? Well, I did. It's a Cable Nelson, made by Yamaha. Brand new. Yea!

Our Yard

So this is our backyard- or part of it anyway. All those big dead trees are down. The tree guys came this morning. One guy climbed the tree, or rather, climbed the rope up the tree, then he started cutting off limbs. The bigger, higher ones the tied a rope to and wrapped it around the trunk so they wouldn't fall. Some of the first branches were do dead that they shattered when they hit the ground.  The trees you see we will be keeping. Oh, and please enjoy the picture because it took 11 minutes to upload. 

Oops! x 2

1. Stan came over last night with his come-along to help Wes cut down the big trees. It was really pretty impressive. The first five ended up lined up on the ground in a nice, neat row. The sixth- not so much. It went sideways and landed on the neighbor's fence. Oops. Now 7 of the 8 big dead trees are down. A tree company is coming this afternoon to give us a bid for the last one.

2. Last week at the ward party the Executive Secretary set up an appointment for the bishopric to come visit us. Last night at 9:15. At 7:15 the doorbell rang. Oops! He said 1915. As in military time. Good thing we were here.

12

The number of trailer loads of branches that Wes has chopped down, I have pulled over rugged terrain, and Wes has loaded and taken to Springville's green waste dump. And by the way, he loads a ton on the trailer. Our yard is alost clear of plant life. We are leaving 3 or 4 trees and maybe sume brush. The huge, nearly dead trees have yet to come out. We are waiting for help and equipment so they don't fall on our house. The yard is really really uneven.  There are little gulleys all over the place. Lots more work ahead.
After wandering around the yard yesterday I sat down and drew up a plan that I'm pretty excited about. Hopefully it will work out. I was going to put a picture of my plan but my internet is so slow it would probably take all day to upload.

AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Now I remember why we got a new computer.

The Grand Quest for the Internet

Once upon a time there was a lovely young family. They had just moved into a new house and needed to find a way to access the internet. You see, many things must be done on the internet. Paying bills, keeping track of finances, staying in touch with family. But most importantly, Steadfast Breadwinner had to be able to learn where and when his services were required. Loving Mother did some research and decided that Digis had the best prices but was not completely reliable, and steadfast breadwinner didn't want holes in his roof. Qwest broadband was not available. Comcast was the next best thing. She called to set up service, but, alas, it wasn't available yet. What were they to do? After some deep soul-searching they decided they could live with net zero dial up until Comcast became available in a month.
Loving Mother called Qwest to get a phone line to the house. A week later it was installed. Loving Mother dug out the long phone cord (the phone jack was across the room) and strung it over the cupboards to the computer. She excitedly plugged it in and waited for the computer to help her access Internet Service Providers.  Finally, they would gain access to the internet. The children were going through withdrawls! Nothing happened. NOOO! She called Net Zero to get a CD sent. It would take a week! Another week without access!
Finally the disc came in the mail. Loving mother rushed to the computer to install the program. She was relieved to have contact with the outside world again. It installed and tried to access the internet. But, no, there was a problem with the modem... there was no modem. Devastated, Loving Mother called her father for help. Is it possible she bought a computer without a modem? Where would she get one? Would it cost a fortune? Then, she had an epiphany. "I have a modem in my old computer!", she thought. Could she put the old modem int he new computer??? Yes, it was possible!
Alas, she was afraid to try. It involved taking apart and putting back together two computers. She did not have the skills required. But, wait! She could use the old computer instead! She dragged the dinosaur up from the basement and plugged it in. She had to use the keyboard and monitor from the new computer to make it work. Install the program, wait, wait, wait... yes! It worked! Loving Mother gained access to the internet! Unfortunately, now there are computers all over the kitchen. Ah, the price we pay.
Now the next question is, can they stand to use the unbelievably slow dial-up for the next month? We shall see. It only took Loving Mother an hour and a half to check email, the bank, and read a few blogs.