Abundant Recompense Copy

From Bryn: Current loves include the kitty and Addison's sunglasses. Learning to talk better and better everyday. We've been potty training for what seems like 2 years, but we're slowly starting to see some progress. She surprises me with all the things she knows, like the other day I sat down to teach her a few letters, and discovered that she already knows about half the alphabet. Thanks, SuperWhy! She's also quite a little counter and can get past ten.   From Addison:  Somehow, out of the blue, he's learned to draw. No idea where. But here's some artwork that I stumbled upon after a recent quiet time. L-R: Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised. He's also big into building things with rocks in the backyard right now. Below you'll see his tow truck. From the neighbors:  Nothing new, just still haven't cut their grass. The kids and the cat don't mind, though. From Michelle:  Just canning. And canning some more. And then finding that the counter is cleare...

In addition to our hike, we did some pretty sweet stuff over Labor Day weekend with the kids and grandfolks/aunties and uncle in St. George. We celebrated Nate's birthday and he got spoiled rotten - shoot, I even got spoiled rotten! Who gets presents on their spouse's birthday? Not that I'm complaining . . . St. George recently got a beautiful carousel and we took the kids and rode it over and over. They loved it. Nate and I mainly tried to focus on a fixed point in the distance to keep from throwing up, but it was magical, especially as it got dark outside. Then we let the kids splash in the water that they have close by.  Bryn was in heaven. She would've ridden it all night long if we'd let her. Addison couldn't quite decide what to make of this statue. Bryn made up a little routine that she did over and over and over. Part of it was sticking her hands in this water for about .89 seconds every time she passed it. On Labor Day proper, we headed to the sand dun...

Getting some trek action going on last month. (p.s. Does this picture seem a little strange to anyone else?) Grandma will play!

Note: If you are a fat man and this title offends you, I apologize. I didn't name the canyon, and I assure it was also "Skinny Man's Misery" at times. So I told Michelle the only thing I wanted for my birthday was to go do a canyon, and she was adventurous/naive enough to go along with it. I picked Fat Man's Misery, mostly because it  ends up in Parunuweap Canyon. I've been reading a lot about Zion National Park's history and wanted to see the canyon John Wesley Powell descended in 1870. As preparations continued and we decided to go just the two of us, Michelle's list of things to worry about grew. It ultimately included falling to our deaths, getting bitten by a rattlesnake, dying of dehydration, drowning in a "keeper" pothole - every scenario ending with our children wondering why we never came back and then being put up for adoption. She told me the night before she thought it was crazy and how had she ever agreed, etc., but I chalked tha...