Pioneer Day Hike

Today we jeeped up Green Canyon to where the road ended and the trail to Tony Grove (12 miles) began. We hiked about a mile up the trail. It was not too steep and the canyon was gorgeous. Autumn liked the wild flowers the best.

This is Mt Elmer (or the ridge leading to it).

There were great fossils incased in large rocks.

The Good Fairy - A story for Autumn

Once upon a time, in a quiet little kingdom, in a land too far away to ever go find, there lived a very good fairy. This fairy worked hard each day granting wishes and rescuing small, innocent animals. One day she was at her whits end. The neighborhood bully, Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo, was acting up again. She was tired of threatening to turn him into a goon. The field mice were tired of their frequent trips to the emergency room. The good fairy needed a vacation and she wished someone else would solve the problem for her. Just then an idea came to her. She would wish for someone else to solve the problem. After waving her wand and saying a few words that only fairies can understand, much less say, she left on vacation.

The good fairy had a fabulous time at an enchanted lake in another kingdom. She returned refreshed and excited to see how her spell had worked out. In the mean time, Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo had experienced a change of heart. He had no more desire to scoop up field mice or bop them on the head. He had set up an account to cover their medical expenses and even began lobbying for field mice in congress. Later when asked about his change of heart, Little-Bunny-Foo-Foo could only say, "I think it was fairy magic."

From this we learn that everyone can use their talents to solve problems. What is your special talent?

In a safe place

I chalk this story up to pregnancy brain and swollen fingers. I readily admit that my wedding ring is fitting a little too snuggely these days. That is why I didn't notice it was missing for the first couple of days. Yesterday I checked all the usual places that it could be, near sinks, on my dresser, near more drains ;)... and I know it couldn't have slipped off unexpectedly. Today I began a thorough search of the house. I started in the upstairs bathroom. I emptied every drawer and I EVEN took the part of the drain that loops down off to look in there -GROSS! Next stop, my bedroom. I'm glad to report that my drawers are now all cleaned out and that the giant black bug that was hiding in my shoe is now outside. Speaking of that bug, I checked out the whole closet with the shoes, and then, pulled down a bag of costume jewelry from the top shelf. I'd looked in it before because last week I gathered it up from my dresser and put it in that zip lock bag. (Autumn likes to go through jewelry.) In a glance, I found my wedding ring. I am so grateful to have found it. Can you spot the more expensive ring in all the plastic?

More Autumn Fun in the Summer

Autumn's favorite activities are swimming and eating Popsicles. She likes to rhyme non-sense words. She'll say things like "Autumn's tickle, Mommy's lickle, Daddy's brickle,..." Some funny things that she's been up to are
1. Hysterical crying when Grandma and Grandpa drove off in their Ford Fusion that looks just like ours. We showed her that our car was still in the garage. Even then she was only pacified when we explained that we had two cars, and Grandma and Grandpa were borrowing one of them.
2. Autumn can put away the utensils by herself. She gets out her step-stool. Then she takes the spoons and forks out of the dishwasher, climbs the step-stool, and puts them in the correct slot (most of the time) in the utensil drawer.
3. Autumn was looking at a book with a picture of bears camping up in the mountains. She pointed at the picture and said "Our jeep goes up there."
4. Autumn can now work wooden puzzles. She's learned to rotate the pieces into the correct position.
5. While watching a song about the letter X on Sesame Street, Autumn went to the fridge and brought back the X magnet. She can say the whole alphabet, only missing about 5 or 6 letters.