AWWWW! My boys!

Alex got a b-day / Christmas gift from Daddy Ernie and fam and obviously he knows what his boy likes!  I took this video last night of Mike and Al having a duel.  It lasted about an hour!  They had a great time.  Thanks B family for all you do for Al!

 

 

 

And I finally got a picture of Quincy that I like - I wanted his footprints put next to something for a size comparison, and a baseball was perfect!  Thanks to TJ for tweaking it for me to make it just right!

And last, but not least, a bit more recent pic of CR.  He was officially made a member of our family when he was adopted the week before Christmas and the weekend before Christmas he was sealed to Cali and Josh for time and all eternity!!!  He's a sweet man and gives us the best smiles!

I love all my boys - the young and old - and am a grateful woman to be surrounded by such amazing men!



The Big 5-0 for George

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY GEORGE-EE...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

 

Mike celebrated his 50th birthday this past week!  And we celebrated with fun, family and flying.

You read that right...flying!

 

I saved up and hired Utah Paragliding to take Mike on a tandem paragliding ride.  They were awesome!  Jonathan kept in touch with me throughout the week about the weather, and even texted me at 7 am with an update, and Hal did all the flying with Mike.

 

No one told Mike what we were doing, and if you know him at all, you know that may not have been the best idea.  ~ANXIETY~!  He stewed and worried about it for 2 days before, up until we pulled into the parking lot and I showed him a sign of where we were.  I kept telling him I would tell him if he wanted me to, but he held tough and was relieved he was going paragliding and not having a surprise party for him.  (Someday this man will trust me!!)

 

When I showed him the sign, Oakland asked what we were doing there.  Cali said, "Papa's going to jump off that mountain."

 

"NOOOOO!  I don't want Papa to jump off a mountain!"

 

I woke him up early so we could get to the site by 8:30.

 

 It was REALLY windy up on top so he had to sign them in the van so they didn't blow away.

 

 And everyone else hung out in the van waiting for him and Hal to get ready.

(Brandon, Alex, and TJ)

 

 (Ash with a cold, red nose held by Kierra)

 

 (Kierra holding Ash, Mo, Colby, Oak, and Cali)

 

 

 Getting suited up

 

 

 Hal and Mike walked down the hill a ways...

 

 ...Hal took the 'wings' out of their container and hooked each of them up...

 

 ...the fam got out of the vans long enough to watch...

 

 ...they took a few running steps...

 ...and they were off!!

 I took this picture to show how far away they got at times.  And to show the guy with the red wings; he just flew there.  In that same spot.  The whole time...

We got to watch a few hang gliders take off...

Mike and Hal did some see-saw moves...

 



This is a tandem hag glider taking off.  Notice the dog...

That's the dog in the middle of the bottom of the picture.  If the pilot isn't doing a tandem flight, the dog jumps on his back as he's takin off and goes on a ride with him.  The lady in the blue coat had to yell, "NO!"  "STOP!" until the 2 had actually taken off so he wouldn't jump on the pilot's back.

 



Then Hal and Mike swirled down, down, down...

 



...took 2 or 3 steps when they reached land and that was it!  It was that easy!

 



After the 45 minute ride, he was all smiles.

 



I guess I did ok with his 50th birthday present!?!

 



And then the girls threw rocks!  What a day!

 

We went home and vegged for a few hours, then we all went to lunch, including both sets of parents. 

 

I love this man so much!  He is my best friend and he makes me happy.  I hope that at least for this day, he could feel some of the joy that he gives me!!!



A little more summer fun...

One of the last things we did before school started was go visit Josh at his job site; it's Alder construction and they are re-vamping the water towers there.  The old ones are old, old and so they are building new ones.  We really didn't care about the water tanks, but the tractors were soooo awesome!

 

 All Alex wanted to do was rub the dirt off of the tractors.  He could have been there for hours doing that!

 We took Reggie and her 2 boys - Mc and Ev.  Mc is a HUGE tractor fan!  He knew the proper name for all of the tractors.  To me they were just scoopers and dumpers.  Shows how much I know.

 More rubbing off the dirt...do you think he could get a job at your work site Josh?  You would have the cleanest tractors in town!!

 The 3 boys in one of the scoops; yes, Alex is rubbing the dirt off o it!

 Al posed for me in front of some of the tractors.  You can see he's thrilled to be walking instead of rubbing dirt off the tractors or throwing rocks.

One more shot in a scoop; this time with Oak, Mc and Ev.  Thanks Josh for the adventure!

And this pic was taken the day before Lou died; that's how things are rated now.  Before and after she died.  I know it kinda sounds morbid, especially since she's still alive, but that was a big chunk of time in all of our lives and it just seems fitting to have it be a timepiece.  Besides if you don't laugh about things, you will go crazy!!  Anyway, Mike and I went for a little bike ride to see the cabin where girl's camp was for the summer.  It was so nice to spend a few hours with him.  Besides, he looks so hot in his motorcycle gea!!