Kite Eating Tree

We tried to fly my kite out on the White Rim,
but the winds kept changing direction,
and our kite blew into a kite-eating juniper tree.
Fortunately Benjamin was able to climb up and retrieve it...
but the gusts made it hard to keep the kite aloft
and eventually we gave up.

Everybody Loves Ice Cream

When visiting my sister in Oklahoma recently,
we went to Braum's-- great ice cream, great prices.
The boys liked their cones.
My sister enjoyed her cone.
But the best were the little girls--
in particular the baby,
who is eating what is probably her first-ever ice cream cone.

Center of Attention

My two-month old grand-niece is the center of attention
at every family gathering.
Naturally her parents dote on her,
and her great-grandmother thinks she is just great,
but what I find most entertaining is how all her teenage uncles
cannot seem to put her down.
They hold her when reading
and even when playing the piano...

Easter Photoshop Magic

So, I liked my nephew Edward and his younger cousin Lucy in this photo,
but Rachel looks a little startled.

And this one is cute of Rachel,
but Lucy is distracted and Edward solemn.

Solution: combine them in photoshop!
I LOVE the computer!!

Post Color Festival

So our original plan was to go hike in Arches
after the color festival,
all brightly hued.
However, the traffic going in and out of the festival was so crazy,
we didn't make it down to Moab until nightfall.
So our day in Arches was post-shower
(by then, it was Sunday morning
and we had to be presentable for church first.)
Then we had a picnic
and a nice stroll out to North Window arch
before we had to drive home.

Some More Colorful Views

Color clouds go poof!
and are our faces ever bright!

Color Madness

We went to the Springville India color festival this weekend...
along with 80,000 other people.
You can see the clean, non-color folks heading in...
and us powdery folks bright with spring color heading out.

The point is to throw color on one another.
Here my niece and nephew practice flinging:

Jolly color trio:

And one of me at the Krishna temple.

Saturday Hotcakes

Dad makes hotcakes every Saturday morning.
They are really great...
it is a wonderful tradition.

Ethan the Pasta Chef

"Santa" bought me a pasta maker for Christmas.
It is the same brand I used in Italy,
only a bit smaller.
Ethan and I tried it out tonight.
I used basic American unbleached flour
but it worked out pretty well.
We tried both a linguine cut and a spaghetti cut.
Here's Ethan with our spaghetti, ready to go in the pot.
It was delicious!

Utah's Summer Delicacies: The Crenshaw Melon

Utah is terrific for fruit growing.
One of the best regional specialties is melons,
especially in the Green River area.
Melons like sandy soil and lots of water,
and the town of Green River has both of these in abundance.
The melons are put in trucks and sold
all along the Wasatch front,
but on our recent road trip,
we stopped at Green River itself,
where my Dad cleverly picked out a really terrific
crenshaw melon.
I love crenshaws and they are not easy to find,
especially good ones,
so today's breakfast was a feast!

How to Wake Up Sleepy Teenagers

I wouldn't put my snake on just anyone.
It has to be someone special!

Local Parade

This year for the fourth of July we did not go to the Big Parade.
We went instead to a small local one.
Only one band, and only half a dozen (small) floats,
but it was cute and friendly.
AND I finally got to do something I've wanted to do for years--
run across the street with a camera to get a picture of our group
as the parade folks go by!

Not that I'm biased, but...

... aren't these kids adorable??!

Conflict and Cooperation: The Case of the Pool Noodle

Ethan's favorite thing to do with the pool noodle
is to blow a geyser of water through the center tube.
Sophie asked him to show her how,
and she learned pretty quickly.
She also loves it when he aims his noodle geyser at her.
Alas, the pool noodle is not always a cooperative toy.
At first, I only had one, and they would argue over it.
Emily thoughtfully went and bought a green noodle
so that we would have two.
But now they argue over who gets the orange one.
Sigh.

Big Brother

Last year Sophie was really too little to do more than splash,
and Ethan was doing his best to ignore her as much as possible.
But this year they play together pretty nicely.
And he can be a very good big brother.
I loved the piggyback pictures.