Usery Park

The day after Thanksgiving, Rochelle and Derrick and their kids joined us for an afternoon of hiking and bonfire enjoyment.


Jeff is fastening Kate onto his back. Let's go daddy! She's not very patient.



The cute little cousins Ava and Ella.



Talen, Maya and Aubree on the trail.



Jeff, Kate & Talen



Derrick and wee little Lyla... she's only two months old!



Rochelle helping Ava on a rough part of the trail.

The view on the way back.

This is not the first time that we have hiked this trail, AND it is also not the first time that we have run into the "Crazy Lady". This time, she was coming up from behind us. I had recognized her from before (how could I forget?), and so I beckoned out a cheerful "Hello!". She made a funny, yet quite unpleasant face, without even looking up, and quickly walked passed. She did the same to Derrick. Still grumpy.

After a bit, I could faintly see her figure through the dessert landscape up ahead. She appeared to be moving up and down and carrying along very quickly. When we progressed to that spot, this is what we found.....

Yes your reading it correctly...... "STOP BREEDING!" And so we reaffirmed our suspicions, the crazy lady is still indeed CRAZY! Children are what bring so much joy into the world! They are so sweet and precious! Oh, well. I don't think we'll be changing her mind! It was actually quite funny to see a 50 yr old woman behaving in that manner. We will have to remember her in our prayers.

After the hike, we got the fire ready for tin-foil-dinners, hot dogs, roasted butternut squash, and ofcourse, smores.

Ava, Ella, Maya, Aubree, and Talen around the bon fire.

Jeff carried the girls in while I unloaded the stuff. When I came inside ALL the girls were asleep! Good hiking will always tire out the little ones!

Piano Recital

Aubree and Maya had their piano recital this morning. Aubree played "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Maya played "Hot Cross Buns", which she sometimes mistakenly calls "Hot Dog Buns".

This is Aubree's second recital and she played her song beautifully.

Maya did great too. It was her first recital, so beforehand, I told her that most the kids would bow afterwards, but she could curtsy like this (and I demonstrated). She quickly told me that I did it wrong and showed me the correct way to curtsy. That's my little princess!

Afterwards the girls took a peek into the grand piano.

Aubree and her cousin Abbey received awards for passing off their books, and they all recieved a king-sized symphony chocolate bar and a pencil. They have a great teacher!

Maya and her Rain Boots

I peeked outside and Maya was wearing her rain boots watering the trees and plants in the backyard. How cute she is! She was very responsible with the water hose, and turned it on and off inbetween trees/plants.... A great improvement from past episodes.

Harvest's bounty. We decided to harvest all of our leafy greens. It's early enough that we should get a second crop! Below is the swiss chard.

Practically perfect in every way... Halloween 2009

Bert- the Chimney Sweep, and Mary Poppins



My 4 little penguins... and my first ever sewing project! You can definately tell a difference between the first one I made and the last!

Some of the boy cousins... Talen, Flash, Tate, and Garren.

Carving Pumpkins

Maya's pumpkin is a "nice girl pumpkin".

Aubree's pumpkin has wings. Hold on tight Aubree or it might fly away!

Week in Sedona

Fishing on Oak Creek

Ella Jane

Kate Lela

Trouble....

Dancing on the creek.... and Kate trys to go swimming...

Week in Sedona

Hiking the West Fork of Oak Creek

The canyon was picturesque with leafs of red, yellow, orange, pink, brown and green. Color was everywhere. It was beneath our feet, dangling from the trees above our heads and spotting the canyon walls on either side. Even the adults on the trail couldn't resist gathering the leafs.... one lady even carried off a whole branch.

Maya and Ella wanted to show me how they could balance on top of these rocks in the wind. Good work girls!

Chicks still in the coop?

Kate was tired, but didn't want to miss out.

Where do I go from here?

The girls were very selective in their leaf collection.

I think Kate sensed all the excitement about the leafs, and figured they must be good eatin'.

Some of the trees were so brightly colored it looked like they were on fire.

On the way back down the trail, we played a game of hide and seek. We split into two groups; the first group would go ahead and hide along side the trail somewhere; and the second group would search for them as they hiked.

Maya was so cute. She sat down in a bunch of ferns, and held one up above her head as if she was a fern too. When I found her, she started (attackingly) waving her fern at me, and she was so uncontrollably giggly, that I couldn't even get her to sit still for a picture. What a fun little cutie.

Jeff, Aubree, Ella, and Kate had hid in this old structure near the apple orchards, along the trail side. When Maya and I arrived at it, we peeked inside to search for them. There was Jeff, stuck in the back door! He was trying to sneak out, but the doorway was so narrow that Kate (well actually the backpack) got stuck. We had a good laugh!