June was a very fun and rather busy month. Here's a collection of miscellaneous pictures to show you some of the fun we had.
As time passes, Erik and Sharli are starting to enjoy each other more and more. They still aren't best buddies, but they're beginning to think maybe they do like each other after all. Sometimes.
Did you know June 5th is National Doughnut Day? I found out that little detail and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make my mom's spud-nut recipe and make ourselves sick with all this awesomeness!
Sharli forced me to put child locks on my cabinet doors several months before this, but sometimes things don't get closed tight and she still gets to have her fun.
Ethan got a new baby, do you think he's at all excited about it?
Erik got to go to the local Vacation Bible School with some of his friends. It was held at the park a short distance from out home, so each morning we went a few minutes early to enjoy the toys before Sharli and I left Erik there and went home for
us her to take a nap. This was the first time I'd left Erik alone for something like this, and it took him a day or two to be okay with the idea, but by the end of the week he was having a great time.
This particular morning the clouds on the mountain were just too pretty not to get a picture. I wasn't able to capture an image that really did them justice, but I got some cute ones of the kids, so we'll call it a success.
It was a bit cool that morning, standing still for a picture was kinda a long shot.
With everyone in my extended family attending or helping to run different youth camps, we got to see a fair amount of Grandma and Grandpa Richins whenever they'd pass through town on their way to/from camp. Erik even got to ride with Grandpa and my Great Uncle Roger to go hang out at the stake Girl's Camp for an evening. He had a ball, coming home sopping wet (thanks to the monsoon rains) and completely exhausted.
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| Grandma and Erik reading a tractor magazine Aunt Jossie gave him. It was MOST impressive! |
Sharli started to get interested in anything that makes pictures of her adorable self. The kids have an old camera they can play with and she started carrying that thing around taking "pictures" of us all. She would also find the real camera and beg to take (and then look at) pictures of herself.
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| "sheeeeeeze!" |
Here's what she was pretending to take pictures of...
And here's her saying "sheeeeze" for the camera...
Sharli also started trying to help out around the house. She observed me doing laundry one day, so she cheerfully ran down the hall to her dirty laundry hamper, grabbed everything she could get in her little arms, and carefully stuffed it all in her dresser with the clean clothes. At least she was trying, right?
She is also becoming something of a fashion diva. She loves digging through her clothes and creating outfits for herself. Here's one of her first creations.
Other favorite pastimes around here include watching TV (Erik) and watching deer (Sharli).
Sharli's view out the window:
After a week of Vacation Bible School, Erik got to go to two weeks of summer school. He LOVED it. Sharli and I are too cool for school though, so we stayed home.
The other BIG event for the month of June was when my brother Brigham came home from his mission. We got to go to my parent's house in Animas and spend some time with all the family. It was a ton of fun, although by the time we got around to getting pictures taken the babies were DONE! Thanks to Erin Richins of the Sunshine Picture Project for managing to capture some amazing pictures of our family despite the foul mood the kids were in.
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| All the grand-kids with Grandpa and Grandma Richins. |
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| A realistic view of what taking a family picture is like. |
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| The copy we show to the public, courtesy of the magic of Photoshop. |
The trail is only about a mile and a half, so we figured we'd let the kids walk as much as the were able and willing, and if we had to carry them some of the way we'd manage. The first mile or so is fairly easy. There's not much shade, but no big inclines to deal with. Erik walked the entire way down the river on his own, but Sharli needed a bit of help.
Things are starting to warm up around here in May, so we took advantage of the few shady spots we found to cool off and pick wildflowers (the flowers being Sharli's favorite part of the entire day).
The last part of the trail is pretty steep. I didn't get a picture that really showed the elevation change you're dealing with at that point, but it was a pretty good climb down into the canyon.
We made it to the river, and no time was lost shedding clothing and jumping in. There was a nice shallow sandy spot right where the trial meets the river, so Erik was able to really have some fun. We had to watch him though, because there was also a deep channel that might have been too much for him. In fact, we didn't even try to cross it to see the hot springs, we'll have to go back another day for that.
We enjoyed a picnic of PB&J's and played and explored along the river bottom for a while.
By the time we started hiking out things were getting pretty warm. We took lots of shade breaks and helped the kids out as much as they needed it. Erik ended up walking all the way to the river and half the way back before needing a piggy back ride. I was amazed to see him just about running back up the switch-backs out of the canyon.
By the time we hit the car at the trail head we were all wiped out. It didn't take too long before the kids were passed out, even though the ride home was only a few minutes.
Don't worry though, they both bounced right back again as soon as we got home! It's so fun to live in such a beautiful place!
