4TH of JULY

July 4th fell on a Sunday this year. We celebrated by going to church singing patriotic songs and listening to members of the congregation bear testimony of Jesus Christ and how he inspired men and women to build up this free nation. They also bore testimony of the sacrifice that has gone into preserving this nation. We all left feeling awed by how blessed we are. I asked my Dad what more can I do for my country. My father replied, "Be good. Raise a good family."
We were going to do fireworks on Monday to celebrate but Nate wanted to get in on the action. He works on Monday. He convinced the boys to build a few bombs.

My brother slowed the footage down on this film so it reminds me of a horror films with whales calling in the background but I thought it was pretty hilarious. Nate sent the other guys out to lite of the bombs saying, "At this point I can't risk injuring my hands." (And they don't need their hands... hmmm.)
Madison's favorite person Derrick. We broke some glow braclets left over from our journey. (Notice MJ's arms.) The girls loved them. Sierra spent all night playing with them.
Dad hooked the porch swing to the swing set chains. Everyone piled on. Ingenious.

MOTHERHOOD

Oh, what a gift to be a mother. I love my two beautiful children and feel so blessed to have them. Tonight, Sierra and I cuddled under a blanket, on the swing in my parents backyard, as we watches the sunset and the rest of family play volleyball. We cheered on Daddy as he served, and spiked the ball. We sang our favorite songs at a whisper in each others ears. She wanted me to carry her up to bed like I was carrying a sleeping child. I tucked her in. She said she was scared of monsters. I said not to be, mothers have magical powers and I can see in the dark and there are no monsters in this room. She said, "Can I have some of your power?" I said, "Yes, you can. When you become a mom."

TEMPLE DAY

I and my parents and my little sister went to the temple this morning. It is so beautiful and peaceful inside those walls. I feel so blessed to have a place to go to meditate and think about nothing but my Father-in-Heaven and his Son. I love spending days like this with my family.

Nate got his license. He starts work on Monday. Horray!

SWIMMING AT SCERA PARK POOL

VOLLEY BALL IN THE BACKYARD

I, my sister, and MJ just watched. I didn't want to play. I am not athletic at all but they never let me off that easy, so good thing I hurt my wrist really bad in the river.
However, the rest of the family joined in. They had a great game.
Tamara and Kimberly both played on the Volley Ball team their sophomore years.
My mom was allowed several do-overs. I am sure they would have let me have some too. Too bad about my wrist.

PROVO RIVER, WE ALMOST DIED

Well, my brother was suppose to take my sister's out boating. Things didn't work out. He got sick. I volunteered to take them rafting down the Provo River. Nate owns a raft. It may have a few holes but they have been patched, definitely river worthy. We headed out on the river and Emily, my sister, insisted on being in the steering position. We hit rocks and tree branches until finally I had enough.

Then I took over. I organized each person, made assignments and took over steering. We were getting close to a tricky part of the river where you have to go under a bridge and then the river turns a sharp right. Then it flows under several consecutive arches that hold up a railroad bridge. I readied my team and said, "Everyone row forward and watch this extreme maneuvering." I underestimated the pull of the river. I didn't turn the boat in time. The raft sandwiched one of the archways and we all went flying. I think my last thought before I hit the water was, "It is going to be cold." And it was.

The water was freezing it took my breathe away. I looked ahead and saw Kimberly on top of the upside down raft. I counted heads. Once my sisters and my cousin were accounted for I started heading toward the raft. I saw my little sister Emily slip under the water and I grabbed her and shoved her toward the raft. (Later she said I saved her life. I told her since I took it in the first place, I deserved to have to save it.) The rocks were all covered in slime. We couldn't stand against the pull of the river, so we continued sliding and bumping against rocks and tree branches. We all finally got hold of the raft; however, no one was in control of the raft. Emily ordered Kimberly off the top of the raft and then directed everyone to flip it. Then we all started to dive into the raft one at time. I was the last one in.

The raft has four chambers the bottom chamber had popped so we were sagging into the river. The raft had at least four inches of freezing water in the bottom. It felt like we were slowly sinking. We had to find a safe spot to get out. Ironically, we all wore flip flops and we could only find one of each pair. No one had a complete pair of shoes to help carry the raft out of the canyon so we didn't want to get out too soon. Slowly we made our way down the river. We were all trebling some from cold some from fear. We found a flip flops in the water and completed all pairs but one, a miracle. Then we found an easy part to beach the boat and get out.

We were all relieved to be on solid ground. My legs were shaking partly from the extreme cold but mostly because my overconfidence almost killed me and four of my family members. We pulled on to someones backyard the lady from the window yelled, "Private property." None of us were willing to get back into the boat and float down further to public property, so we just avoided her yard. We hiked the boat to the road.

I and Kimberly sat on the raft as the others went to get the car. I looked at Kimberly and said, "It seems like I am always trying to kill you." She said, "Are you kidding me? This is the greatest story ever I am so glad it happened." Well, it is a great story but it is only great because we all survived. (I will post pictures later if the camera, that filled with water, still works. We are going to check it in a few more days.)

SUNDAY MORNING

I love Sunday mornings. I love these two little girls. I even kind of like that they wake me up at 6:00am every day, because I love being awake in the early hours of the morning. Sierra put the stools all in a row and they were facing eachother and MJ was eating over her shoulders. I just thought it was cute.

NEW FRIENDS

Sierra said, "I met a stranger and made her my friend." This little girl lives across the street from my parents. She is so cute and Sierra has had a fun time playing with her in my mother's backyard.

GRANDMA's HOUSE, IT IS OH SO GOOD

Madison likes my family now. She did not like them the last time we visted and refused to be held by any of them. This trip she has made lots of friends. She loves her grandma, but her favorite person is her Uncle Derrick. She saw him from the top of the stairs and screamed his name over and over again. Then clung to him for at least fifteen minutes. She loves him.
Sierra loves my grandparents, (my mom's parents) and has a special bond with them. She asks all the time, "Can I go play at Grandma's house?" I love that she loves them like I love them. They gave her a rock polisher that they had and some rocks to polish because they know of her obsession with them. She is in heaven.
My mother loves roses and has several growing up and around her home and they all smell divine. I had to take a picture of how beautiful they are.

ON OUR WAY

It was a crazy trip. I am glad it is behind us. It was scary and exciting. The trailer and the car both made it and to me it was a blessing from my Heavenly-Father. Miracles still happen and happen frequently in my life. I can't tell you how blessed we felt to make the journey safely and without complications. And how we breathed a huge sigh of relief as we pulled into my parents driveway. (We took I-80 because there were less mountains and Orem was an easy stopping point on the way to Grand Junction.)
The girls had so much fun playing with their traveling gifts. I told them they could have one present a day and it was like Christmas. (Thank you to my sweet angel friends, you know who you are.) My favorite line of the trip was CC and MJ fighting. MJ stole CC coloring book and was ripping the pictures. CC screamed, "Madison, you are a meany." MJ said, "O meany." CC started laughing her head off and said it again. MJ said it again and they both started laughing. She is really starting to talk and repeat everything.
My second favorite line was when we got close to my parents house Sierra said, "Look Dad, look at the tall mountains with snow on the top. Those are the mountains by my grandma's house. We are almost there. We are almost there."

GOODBYE PITTSBURGH

Nate decided after calling Colorado that we needed to leave Monday. I had been packing, selling things off, and giving things away at a snails pass but on Monday morning that all changed we went into turbo drive. We packed, loaded the trailer and clean the house all day. I had dear friends stop by through out the day and offer help and drop off things for our trip. I felt so blessed. We finished at 12:00pm. Nate layed down for a nap, I finished cleaning.
We left at 2:00am. (This is a bad picture of the city I snapped the Friday before, but it will do.) I felt a little nostalgic as I said goodbye to Pittsburgh. I will miss this city. I will miss my friends. I never thought, at the beginning of my journey it would be hard to leave. I am so glad it was because it meant that I feel in love with Pittsburgh. Even with all its one way streets, and no right turns on red, and no really great grocery stores. However, somewhere admid all the things I hated I loved it. Also and most importantly, I was so blessed to find really amazing women who blessed my life in countless ways.

ANOTHER LAST

A Mayhle tradition is to go up the Inclines to Mt. Washington to celebrate Father's Day. The girls were excited and we were tired, but I am so glad we all went. It was our last real outing together. We we will miss them dearly. We hope they will come and see us soon.
They are beautiful girls and so full of personality.

A CUTE BOY (Catching Up)

We went to the park to play in the sprinklers one last time. There was a handsome boy there. Sierra loved playing with him. We got one final picture of them together. Now they can just be pen pals. They will have to start writing when we finally settle.
There was also a cute little girl there. I had to snap a picture because she is so beautiful and I love her little looks.

MJ our LAUGHTER

Where is MJ? Where is she?
Peek-a-boo!
I think we will take her with us.

CATCHIN' FIREFLIES IN THE DARK

CC had an eventful day. She went and played with her favorite person, Chase. She jumped fully clothed into his kiddie pool. She swam full clothed for at least two hours. Her Dad picked her up to help at a church service project. They built a fence for a horse coral. (The coral is in the city and allows underpriviledge kids to ride horses in the the local parks, which aren't like Western parks. They are actually acres and acres of land.) When I asked her what she did while her Dad was building a fence she said, "I collected worms. And. Oh! I saw this beautiful white horse that was like a dream come true. I want one of those horses someday. Can I please have one? Please." She came home filthy. I mean filthy, stringy wet hair turned to dirt dreadlocks. What could I do with her in that condition but take her out to catch fireflies?
Yes, that is a firefly by her hand. What a perfect picture. Yes, that is my lens cap in the picture. She is using to cover the top of her bottle containing her fireflies. Fireflies are, to me, the most magical creatures on earth. I love watching them light up and skitter around. Another thing I am going to miss... fireflies.

Good Things to Come

This has been one of my favorite talks all my life and seems to be the story of my life. I love it. I feel it is one of God's tender mercies that it is the video for this month. Oh, how I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, how I love our latter-day apostals. Oh, how I love my life. May you watch it and allow it to bouy your spirits too.

PACKING

Well, we pack a few boxes and then sit and laugh at how lazy we are and then pack a few more.

I was packing the kitchen this morning and the man pointed to the pile of stuff and said, "Hope you are planning on pulling a hand cart?" I chuckled at his wit. He didn't chuckle.

UPDATE

Well here is in update of sorts....

We are down to our pennies.
We didn't want to pay a lot of money to move.
We took our moving money and bought a trailer to hook to the back of the 4-runner and head back across the country.
Buying the used trailer was more economical.
Yes, we are red necks, mostly my husband but hey I am along for the ride.
Now we are the proud owners of a trailer and we like to stare out the window at how rad it is, every few hours.
I hope it fits all my sewing stuff.
He hopes it fits all the rad fishing stuff.
We are going to have a war.
We have a lot of stuff that won't fit. It is in the living room and ready to have a new home. Maybe we will have a party and invite all our friends and beg them to carry some of it away.
Nate called Colorado. They said he should have his license in a week.
We are so happy.
He can start working in a week.
We don't have a place to live. However, my mom lives three hours away. We may hang there until all the pieces come together.
Nate may hang out by the river, work during the day and be a fishing bum at night. I am fearful the locals will see him bathing in the river and say, "Yep, that's our new dentist.
Never thought at the end of this journey we would have less pennies than at the beggining. Hopefully, that will change soon enough.
We are going to miss our friends.
Should pull away beginning of next week.
We are excited and we are sad.

SPLISH SPLASH

Can I take a picture of your cute hair Sierra to put it on my blog? Sure.
I love this sad face.
My sister called. She wanted me to do MJ's hair in piggytails. I did MJ's hair in pigtails.
We went to the splash park again. We had fun. We went with friends. They had fun too. We will do it again soon.
Sierra had to show all her friends her favorite spots. The rainbow tunnel.
And this spray hole.
And follow the leader is always a fun game around the ring of water. We will miss this splash park and these friends.

SPLASH PARK IS OPEN

The girls and I went to the splash park today. It was so much fun. It was actually warm outside and the sun was shining. The water was freezing but it was still loads of fun.
I love MJ's faces they make me laugh. She wouldn't go near the water again this year. I did get her to splash in the spill over water with her feet. She did dangle a toe under one of the sprayers but that was it. She just wanted me to go and fill her bucket with water and then she wanted to carry it around. That's all.
Sierra of course ran over to the on button if the water even slightly diminished in strength and ran through the water over and over and over. She was chilled to the bones and shaking but didn't want to leave.
She insisted at least that we had to stay until our friends left.
This was her favorite spot.
And this. The warm cement. Ahhh, all snugly.