Fishing, Hiking, and Potstickers

At the beginning of June there was a free fish day where you didn't have to worry about buying a license. We went fishing with Sheldon's parents at Strawberry Lake. No fish were caught, and it seemed like we didn't even get a nibble. Maybe it was because Tucker was throwing so many rocks and scaring the fish away.

Tucker and I had fun taking our inflatable canoe out. We were attached to a line so Sheldon could just pull us up and down along the shore.

For a family home evening in June we took a little hike up Dry Canyon in Lindon, it was a really pretty hike and I would like to go back since we didn't make it very far. Tucker refused to be carried in the backpack and his pace was extremely slow since every two feet he had to stop and throw rocks.

Since I was getting a little bored of cooking, I decided to have an Asian week. It was pretty fun to try lots of new recipes with different flavors. I made Ma Po Tofu, Tandoori Chicken, and homemade potstickers. They were quite of bit of work and I can totally see why people buy the frozen kind. They were tasty, but very time consuming. I only took a picture of the potstickers and my food photography could definitely use some work. I'm usually so hungry by the time I finish cooking all I want to do is eat!

Memorial Weekend at Mirror Lake

Yes, I am still playing catch up. I feel like we did so much this summer that I will be catching up for a while. Memorial Day weekend we went up with friends in our ward to a cabin by Mirror Lake. Surprisingly, there was still snow up there and it was a little chilly but we still had fun. We did some hiking, ate lots of great food, played some games, and just had fun hanging out. Unfortunately, Sheldon and I both got sick while we were up there so we came home a night early and even let the other couples go on a hike without us, but we still had a lot of fun.

We went on a hike the first morning we were there, Tucker and Avery of course always have lots of fun together.

Every boy needs a good walking stick!

This was the really pretty hike they went on without us and were nice enough to take Tucker so we could get some rest. So I don't have a lot of pictures.

Baby Sophie, she has always had tons of red hair that sticks straight up, it's my favorite!

There was no fire pit, so Emily and I carried some seriously heavy rocks to make our own. It turned out pretty good. These are our tough, manly faces.

Tucker of course got some TV time so he could relax. As usual he was completely glued to the screen.

Since we went over my birthday, Sheldon was pretty sneaky and packed dry ice so he could bring up an ice cream cake. Pure deliciousness! It was a big cake and between 8 people there was only one little slice leftover... yeah that shows how good it was. None of us had small pieces :)

unhungry ducks

I think it was a Sunday in May that these pictures were taken, I know it was in May and I am just too lazy to look up the exact date. We met up with Sheldon's sister and her family at the duck park by BYU. We tried to feed the ducks but they were most definitely not hungry at all. I really need to find a park where the ducks will actually eat your bread. Tucker and Claytin still had tons of fun running down the hills and chasing each other around. These kids are too cute!

the Kiddie Pool

Our neighbors bought a little inflatable kiddie pool this summer and the kids have absolutely loved it. These pictures were taken back in May and it has been used many times since then. I love that Tucker is such a water baby. He's never afraid to put his face in and blow bubbles. I had many years of swim lessons growing up and now I'm a pretty good swimmer. So I plan on putting Tuck in swim lessons as soon as he is old enough. Maybe next summer, is 3 old enough?

Avery is such a cute little girl, but she also makes the funniest faces sometimes.

I guess Tucker can make some funny faces too. On a side note, Tucker and Avery sometimes love to scream together when they play outside. We've noticed that Tucker's screams and his voice are higher than Avery's. Avery kind of growls and Tucker does a high pitched squeal, it's pretty funny.

Thank goodness for lots of fun summer days spent outside! I don't know what we are going to do once winter hits and we are stuck inside again. I guess we'll just have to move to Cali! Someday...

Terrell's Graduation

Way back at the beginning of May we went to my brother's graduation. He was graduating with his Masters in Accounting, crazy I know! He actually is finishing up a few classes, but he will be completely done and venturing into the real world in August. We had lots of fun just hanging out with the family for the weekend.

This is definitely my favorite picture of the day, Tucker unfortunately was tired and not in the best mood. He did not want to be held by anyone but Sheldon. I love his face, so funny.

His face is still kind of grumpy in this, like he hasn't completely forgiven us for what we tried to do.

One of Tucker's favorite things to do, run down a big hill. He now says, "Big Ill." It was a pretty steep hill, even though you can't really tell in this picture.

We went to Terrell's apartment after to party and make some homemade pizza. Tucker enjoyed hanging out with the big kids and Sheldon enjoyed relaxing in the lazy boy. Congratulations (very late) to Terrell!

rEwInD!

I'm so sad to say it has really been almost 2 months since I have posted anything! It's really not my fault though since we have had endless computer problems, which have yet to be solved and so we are still using our 10 year old hand-me-down computer. I look forward to the day when we can buy a nice, new, and fresh computer! So hopefully I will have a short stretch without computer problems and I can go back and update on our fun summer!

Tucker still can't get enough of playing outside.

He's even had a popsicle or two.

Sheldon and I went to a rodeo, yeehaw!

There's definitely been some of this after playing hard.

Update on the Fam

Things have been crazy around here and I haven't always had a lot of access to a computer so it has definitely been a while since I have posted. Just a quick update on what we have been up to in the last few weeks and then in later posts I will go back and detail more stuff with pictures

Sheldon:

We'll start with bad news first and then the good news! Sheldon's whole department got laid off at Symantec about a month ago. It was totally a shock, but I guess they just didn't have the budget to keep his department. Which is kind of funny because I think they were just doing some hiring a few months ago. Anyway, Sheldon got some great experience and contacts from this job so he has been able to find a new job really fast. His new job will get him started in the marketing field which is where he wants to go and it is actually a better paying job, woohoo! The only downside is that the job is in West Valley, so for now that means he will be commuting. Boohoo for me :( He starts his new job on June 1, so we have 1 week left to party it up!

Elaine:

Things are pretty much the same for me, hanging out with family that visits, cleaning, laundry, tucker, etc. A few weeks ago I was called into Young Women's as the Beehive Advisor. I have never been in YW's before, so I am a little nervous, but I think it will be fun. There are a lot of fun leaders that I am excited to get to know better, and the beehives are pretty cute and fun.

Tucker:

Learning so many new words all the time and tries to copy everything we say. Loves LOVES being outside and running down hills. He's also such a water baby, he loves the kiddie pool our neighbors just bought and would stay in there forever if we let him.

Check back soon for more pictures and updates! The pictures below are from one of Sheldon's soccer games, which of course he won. I can't get any good action shots of him with our camera, but he is the one in the green.