Trip to Idaho

I had to set up for my craft show so we went to Idaho this last weekend. I set up for my show most of the day Saturday, (I hope to post some pictures soon). Then on Sunday I took pictures of Nancy's new baby, (I am still in the editing process but will be posting those pictures soon too.) We went to the Eastern Idaho State fair on Monday. We have never gone on Labor day before, now I know why, it was so crowded. You even had to wait in line to go to the bathroom, we managed to have fun anyway.

Before the fair, we went up to Grandma and Grandpa Huls house. The girls had a good time exploring on Grandpa's farm. Here is Kaylee with an egg she found in the hen house. Shaun scrambled them up later and I had a bite out of curiosity, people say fresh eggs taste so much better. My tongue couldn't taste the difference.

Grandpa's pig just had babies about a month ago. The piglet screamed so loud when Grandpa took it out of the pen that Sydnie was a little nervous to pet it. She finally came around.

I just thought this was kind of funny. Lu Lu is so used to being man handled by these girls that she doesn't even try to resist anymore. She just patiently held on to the trike while Kaylee wheeled her around for a good 5 min.

Here are the girls at the fair, one of the horse stalls also had dogs for sale, they were letting people hold them. John and Natalie and boys are in the background. We had fun following each other around the fair. The girls always like spending time with their cousins.

Shaun's Trip to Oregon

Shaun went with his Dad and Brother Josh to the Oregon coast this weekend. They had a great time. They had a great beach house with spectacular views of the ocean. It made me a little jealous I love Oregon too and haven't been for over 5 years, but mostly I was glad Shaun had a great time, and got to have some much deserved time off. He has been having to work way too many hours at work for the last few months and I think a little guy time was just what he needed.

They went salmon fishing at the mouth of the Columbia river. Shaun's dad managed to catch the biggest fish of the day: a Sardine.

Actually the fish he caught really looked a little more like this. I don't know which fish is which but I know they all got a good one.

The next day they went crabbing and had a great time. I don't love seafood but crabbing is so much fun. If you have never been it is really worth the money to rent a little boat and some crab pots and spent the day in a little bay catching crab. They tried a new spot this time and had great luck. Here is Shaun's dad holding up one of the unlucky ones. I guess they hauled in some fairly big ones.

First Day of School

Back at home we had an exciting week as well. I sent my Girls back to school on Wednesday. They were so excited to go they had their outfits picked out and laid out several days early, and the night before we made headbands to match their outfits. They both loved their teachers and had a great first day. It is a little weird to just have me and Sydnie around the house all day. She has had a little bit of a hard time with it. Luckily I organized a little playgroup for her with some really cute little 3 year olds from the neighborhood. We start that in a couple weeks and so she will at least have that to look forward to twice a week.

Kaylee is in 4th grade this year and feeling quite grown up all of a sudden. She really eats up any comments anyone gives her on how grown up she looks. I don't know if I am prepared for this yet.

Brianne is going to first grade this year. It is a little weird having her gone all day. But I know she was excited to be going with all the older kids in the morning to school.

Brianne and Kaylee looking cute with their matching skirts, one of the only things I let them get the same this year. P.S. sorry about the washed out pictures, I have been messing with the manual settings on my camera and I was in such a hurry when I took these pictures I forgot to check what setting I had it on.

As Summer Ends
Even though we start school on Wednesday, we managed to squeeze a few more fun things into our summer. The girls have been saving money from doing chores around the house since spring, so that they could go to Lagoon. They finally saved up enough, and we went last Thursday. I realized when we got home, I have not been for almost 20 years. Lagoon has changed a lot since I last went. We had a great time.


Kaylee and Brianne in the sky ride.


Kaylee loves roller coasters. There wasn't one she didn't want to try, even ones I wouldn't ride, like the Samurai. Shaun finally found one she wouldn't go on, but after some bribing she finally rode the Rocket (pictured above). After the ride she decided it wasn't very scary, but it wasn't very fun either. Her favorite rides were Wicked and Colossus.


Sydnie and Brianne had fun on the kiddie rides. We talked Brianne into riding the Colossus, she was just tall enough. She didn't cry and said it was fun, but that was the last roller coaster we got her to ride that day. She and Sydnie especially liked this car ride, they rode it several times. Brianne said her very favorite ride that day was the Turn of the Century swings. Sydnie was very daring and happily road any ride we put her on, even ones that most kids her age would have screamed their heads off on.

Sydnie's first Birthday Party

Sydnie had her very first Birthday party last Monday. She has watched her sister go to many parties, and she felt very grown up finally getting to go to one herself. I was a little worried that she wouldn't want to give up the toy I got for her to give. But when the time came, she put her present in a bag without any trouble, and seemed very excited to be giving it away to her friend Bailey.

Brianne learns to ride a bike (finally)

Brianne is so timid around bikes. It may be all the hills in our neighborhood, our street is particularly steep, and can be very intimidating. She has barely even wanted to ride her bike with training wheels. So I was surprised when she requested Shaun teach her how to ride without training wheels. She wants to ride her bike with the other kids to school, so she was bound and determined to learn.

Shaun followed behind her a few times, but it didn't take long for her to take off on her own.

Soon she was riding up and down the only level street in our neighborhood. She has a bit more practicing to do before she is ready to ride to school. She is still a little shaky on her turns and hasn't dared to try downhill yet (a must if she wants to ride to school) but I'm sure with a little more practice, she will be ready to ride to school with the rest of the kids.

Sydnie and Lu Lu

This is an old picture, I have been holding onto for awhile. Sydnie and Lu Lu have had a long road to becoming friends. Sydnie likes to treat Lu Lu like her little doll or stuffed animal, and Lu Lu has had a hard time figuring out how to deal with it. But as she has gotten older she has become much more patient with Sydnie, and almost puts up with anything Synie dishes out. Including being put in doll cribs, and packed around by Sydnie like a stuffed animal. We love our little dog Lu Lu, she has really become a part of the family. We haven't regretted for a minute getting her. I think the secret to our good experience is being prepared by other family members who had recently gotten dogs on what to expect, and just in general being at a stage in our family life where a dog was a fun addition to our family and not an extra burden.

A few more things we did this summer...

Here are a few pictures I have been meaning to post. Shaun has had to work just about every Saturday this summer, so it has been a pretty uneventful summer. We have managed to do a few fun things.

First the Moultons came for a visit from North Carolina. Audrey and her kids came to spend a couple nights at our house. The girls had so much fun playing with their friends again. Audrey and I had fun digital scrapbooking and catching up. We will miss them, Audrey is pregnant so it will probably be a whole year before we get to see them again.

Everyone taking a break from playing. From left to right, Brianne, Sydnie, Isabelle, Micheal, Maddy, Kaylee, and Lu Lu.

Sydnie and Micheal taking a much needed bath. I took this picture to embarrass them with someday.

A few weekends ago, Shaun finally had a Saturday off, so we went up to Strawberry Reservoir to go cray fishing. We had a lot of fun. Their were so many Cray fish you didn't even need a pole, you could just scoop them up in bags and nets. Shaun even managed to help each of the girls catch a fish.

Kaylee and Brianne holding a sample of our catch, the rest are in the cooler.

Sydnie reeling in her fish, she got it to shore but it got away before I could get a picture of it. It was just a little guy.

Brianne holding her catch.

Kaylee reeled in the biggest fish of the day, but not quite big enough to keep. Darn it! My girls love fish, but I hate them, especially trout.

Finally, this weekend Shaun had to work, so I took the girls on an outing to the Salt Lake Temple. I wanted to take some pictures for my craft show. The girls had fun playing in the water fountains while I took pictures. Then we went to the visitor centers. The old tabernacle was open too. I haven't been in there since they reopened it it was cool to see the old organ again.

This is my girls favorite part of the visitors center. Kaylee says its just like walking up to Heaven.

Here are the pictures I took for my next craft show. I am going to develop them and mount them on wood. I think they turned out pretty cool looking, I'm having trouble picking which one to use. Maybe I will do a few of each.

Thornton Family Reunion 2010 at Granite Hot Springs

We spent 4 days last week camping with my family in Wyoming. It was good to go back after a five year absence. It is so beautiful up there, one of Gods great masterpieces. I wont write a lot, I will let the pictures tell the story of what we did there. I apologize in advance, there are a lot of pictures, and I had a hard time editing down to just these ones.

We arrived Wednesday night just in time to put up tents and make dinner. Thursday was our first full day there. We went swimming in the morning and then a few of us went for a little nature hike. Here is the whole crew at the start of our hike, minus Shaun, he was taking the picture. From back left to right: Me, Abby, Alexis, Whitney. Bottom row left to right: Hayden, Brianne, Hannah, Kaylee, and Brad.

We found this cool water pump on our hike, Shaun decided to see if it worked. After a lot of pumping he finally got the water to flow.

The kids had a turn next. It took all of them to get the handle to pull down. With Abby's help they finally did it.

Along the trail on our hike.

This is a cool little water fall we saw along the way. Back row: Abby and Alexis. Front row: Hayden, Kaylee, Hannah, and Brianne.

The hike ended at the swimming pool. This is the bridge that goes over the creek to the pool. It is such a pretty view from the bridge. We were suppose to meet everyone there to go swimming again, but we got there early and ended up just walking back to camp.

On the way back we hiked around Granite Falls. Here is Kaylee and Shaun at the top of the falls, where it just starts to go down.

Then we hiked to a little spot, kind of in the middle of the falls. Here are Kaylee and Brianne getting at close as I would let them to the edge.

We finally made it back to camp and headed up with the rest of the group to go swimming. The water is so warm it is best to go in the morning then again at night, and that is just what we did. Here is Hayden and Kaylee jumping into the pool.

Friday morning we got up and got ready for rafting. It is such a high elevation there, that a fire is a must both in the morning and at night. From left to right: Izy, Nick, Sydnie, Hannah, Brianne and Kaylee.


We had a great time rafting the Hoback (Snake) river. The first part of the run is pretty calm, just a few small to medium sized rapids so all the baby's went along for the ride. It was a little cold that day, so when the first splash of water hit the babies, they all started a chorus of crying, that lasted the rest of the 20 min they were on the boat. All the kids from left to right: Brianne, Kaylee, Hayden, Izzy, Alexis, Trinity, Sydnie, and Hannah.

We were all glad to get the crying babies of the boat and get to the real rapids. I talked Kaylee into going on the big rapids. This is a picture I stole off of a Jackson Hole photographers web site. We are just heading into the second wave of Kahuna. Click on the picture to enlarge it and look at Kaylee's face to see how much she liked it. P.S. Nancy if you go on this website there are more pictures that show Hayden's face a little better. There is also a funny one of Heath losing his hat. I posted them on Facebook, too bad you are not a member.

On Saturday we had breakfast, broke camp, and went to Idaho Falls. We arrived just in time to clean up at Shaun's parents house, then head over to watch the Blue Angels at an airshow they were doing that day. Shaun's brother Josh and his family were there, and Grandma Huls and Katie and Jeremy showed up a little later. It was an amazing show. Shaun went fishing that night with his brothers. All in all we had a pretty fun weekend.

Granite
I thought this would be the perfect week to write about one of my favorite childhood memories: camping with my family at Granite Campground and Hot springs in Wyoming. We are going there again in a few days with my family, and I haven’t been in over four years. I am very excited, and I thought it would be fun to post some old Granite photo’s this week, and then do a post next week with new photos from granite.
Okay, get ready for a huge post sorry. I just love Granite so much I couldn’t limit myself. This is mostly done for the benefit of myself and my family members so feel free to skip this one and will do a regular post later this week of what we did this weekend.
Every summer my family would prepare for my favorite time of the year next to Christmas. Each year we got to spend five days camping at Granite Campground in Wyoming. People always ask me where it is, and the closest city to Granite is Jackson Hole, but even that is about an hour away. Granite isn’t one of those campgrounds you can see from a busy highway. It’s about twenty minutes up a lonely highway that runs along the Hoback river, then another six miles up a dirt road that runs along Granite creek. Once you get there, you are pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

I loved the weeks and days just before we went to Granite. My mom had a whole list of things that needed to be done. One of my favorites was cleaning out the camper. Nancy and I would help my mom wipe out drawers, and wash the utensils but mostly we would play and pretend we were already on our way. My mom would spend the whole week before making cookies and cakes that we would take to Granite for treats and deserts, and then a few days before, we would go grocery shopping for Granite. The cart would be piled higher that usual with food and treats for the trip, and the one thing I was always excited about, because we hardly ever got it, was: soda pop. My favorite was “Sprite” and I was so excited to know that I would get to drink pop anytime I wanted for the whole time I was at Granite! Soon the day arrived and my mom would keep us busy and entertained by loading the camper. I was just happy to be doing anything that would get us on the road sooner. Finally the camper was loaded on the truck and all the kids would get in the only space left in the camper, the bed above the cab of the truck. Then it was a waiting game sometimes up to an hour before we would finally get going, there always seemed to be something that would go wrong a break light on the camper wouldn’t work or someone forgot to fill up the water, or my mom forgot something on her list. But finally we would be on our way! The bed had a big window that faced the front of the truck and we would always fight who would get to be in front of it. It wasn’t until Nancy and I were older that we finally got our turn in front of it, instead we had to make do with our little side windows. Now a day people wouldn’t dream of letting their kids ride in a camper, I can’t imagine what would have happened to us if we had gotten in a wreck. But somehow we managed to all stay safe. Secretly I was terrified of the camper falling off the truck and tumbling down one of the many mountain roads we would drive on. Sometimes, I would get so scared I would have to close the curtain on my side so I couldn’t see and just try and fall asleep. Here is a picture of our camper. My brother Greg is the one farthest back, then Lisa Dinsdale, Me, Nancy, and Lisa's Friend:

Once we finally arrived at the campground there was always so much to do and see. First we had to set up tents and arrange sleeping bags. Once the camper was unloaded from the truck my dad would be off to find firewood for the week, and we would help my mom set up camp. Once we were finally settled it was off the visit the creek. The creek could be quite rough and deep in places but by the campground it widened out and had lots of shallow places to wade in. Almost everyday when it got to hot in the campground we would head off to the creek to cool off. There were always lots of fun things to do at the creek besides playing in the water. We would pick flowers, find snail shells, and if we were lucky we even would find a friendly water snake or bullfrog to take back to camp. The creek bottoms were full of willow trees, and we would always beg my dad to make us whistles. Finally, after a lot of begging he would walk down with us to find the perfect willow branch to carve into a whistle. It had to be just the right thickness, strait, and no knots. It seemed like forever before he would find the right one. Once he did, he would cut it off a little longer that whistle size, make notches for the air to come out, and then he would tap on it for a long time to get the bark to separate from the limb. The bark had to come off in one piece for the whistle to work. Once he got the bark off, he carved the inside of the whistle and slid the bark back on. And then we had our willow whistles. I am sure it was quite noisy after we all got our whistles, no wonder he would wait so long to go down and make them. I didn't have a picture of the creek but here is a picture of the campground area. I just love it because there are so many trees. In this picture Shaun is having a water fight with some of my nieces and nephews:

The next morning we would get up and go to the pool. It was about a mile away from the campground up a rough road that dead ended about a quarter of a mile before the pool. The pool is owned by the forest service and is a very rustic looking pool somewhat carved out of the side of the mountain and fed by a hot spring. There were no bathrooms and only a very roughly build log cabin to change in. Often moose would come to visit the salt lick just below the pool. And at least once a year we would have Mother Nature come to visit us in the pool in the form of a water snake or a bat. We loved the pool best of anything else at Granite; we would swim almost every day and sometimes twice a day. We loved to play on the painted boulders that jutted out into the pool and sit by the waterfall where the hot springs poured into the pool. At one time there was even a diving board to jump off of, until someone died from hitting their head on the bottom. Then we had to just have fun jumping off the sides. Moss also grew on the bottom of one section of the pool, it sounds gross but it actually was one of my favorite parts of the pool, you could dive down and carve pictures or your name in the moss. It was fun to see what other people had carved. One of my very favorite things to do was to just sit and look at the amazing view you had of the creek and the mountains from the pool. Here is a picture of the pool. Its just a random shot but it gives a good view of how the pool just kind of juts out of the side of the mountain:

As if all those things aren’t enough to make Granite the best place in the world to go camping. It also has some really magnificent falls. The falls are situated almost exactly halfway between the campground and the pool. And we would often stop on our way up to the pool to see the falls. The creek is really rough and rugged in that spot and the falls are no exception. You can walk right up to the base of the falls, and even walk out onto a log that has been there ever since I can remember, about half way into the stream. It makes for really cool pictures, but is a bit of an adrenaline rush. There is also a trail that leads to the top of the falls. It’s a beautiful view but not for the faint of heart. When we got older we would tube from the base of the falls down to the campground it was a fun ride but a little scary at times. Here is a picture of Granite Falls. You can see the big log I was talking about in the background. In the picture is my Niece April, my nephew Nick and next to him my Niece Joy:

My parents had Kayaks. The good old fiberglass kind, but not so sophisticated as the ones you see the professional kayakers in now. We usually would take one day to drive down to the Snake river to watch my oldest brother and his friends go down the river in them. One really memorable experience happened to me while watching them go down the river. We had all gone to a place where you can hike down the side of the mountain and watch the rafters and the kayakers go over the biggest rapid on the river called Lunch Counter. I was too little to walk down the trail by myself. It was a super steep trail that ended at some very rough water. My oldest sister Laura who was probably around 16 at the time volunteered to carry me down. We hadn’t gone very far when she lost her footing, and we both started tumbling down the mountain. I remember seeing the water below and thinking I was going to die. No matter how hard we tried Laura and I could not stop, we kept grabbing onto grass and weeds, but it was so steep and gravely that the weeds and grass would just pull out. I remember saying a little prayer that somehow we would be able to stop, and just then we saw a tree in front of us with a branch low enough for me to reach up and grab onto. Laura saw the tree too, and told me that when we passed under to reach up and hold on with all my might. We did and we were able to stop. I still remember clutching to that branch with one hand while my dad and a family friend came down to rescue us. We were both pretty scraped up. It may not have been as dramatic as my little 5 or 6 year old brain made it out to be. But I do remember feeling strongly that my Heavenly Father had been watching out for me and my sister that day.
When I was about 8 we traded our kayaks in for a raft. We spent many summer days going down the snake river in that raft. Usually one whole day of Granite was dedicated to rafting. While other families spent their Saturday afternoons on a lake behind a speedboat, I spent mine on a river. Here is a picture of us on the river in the early years. My dad is in the front in the yellow life jacket, my mom is right behind him and you can just see mine and my sisters heads in the front seat in the front:

And finally Granite would have never been Granite without the Dinsdales. They were my parents best friends, and when I was younger, and before everyone started getting married, and grandkids started coming, we all went to Granite together. We usually got two campsites right next to each other and shared everything from campfires to meals. The Dad, Darwin Dinsdale, was my favorite. He always seemed to be happy and joking. He knew lots of silly campfire songs (he must have been in the scouts a long time). At night we would all gather around the campfire to roast marshmallows and we would beg Darwin to sing us a song. I still find those songs popping into my head sometimes, and if my girls are really lucky I will sing one to them. I just wish I could remember all the words. I managed to find the lyrics to two of my favorites by googling them. Isn’t the internet an amazing thing!

The Thing
As I was walking on the beach one bright and sunny day,
I saw a great big wooden box a floating in the bay.
I pulled it in and opened it up and much to my surprise. . . .
Oh! I discovered a (clap, clap, clap) right before my eyes!
Oh! I discovered a (clap, clap, clap) right before my eyes!

I picked it up and ran to town as happy as a king.
I took it to a guy I knew who'd buy most anything.
But this is what he hollerd at me as I walked in his shop,
"Oh! Get out of here with that (clap, clap, clap) before I call the
cop!" "Oh! Get out of here with that (clap, clap, clap) before I call the cop!"
I turned around and got right out a running for my life.

And then I thought I'd take it home and give it to my wife.
But this is what she hollered at me as I walked through the door,
"Oh! Get out of here with that (clap, clap, clap) and don't come
back no more! "Oh! Get out of here with that (clap, clap, clap) and don't come back no more!

I wandered all around the town until I chanced to meet.
A hobo who was looking for a handout on the street.
He said he'd take most any old thing he was a desperate man.
But when I showed him the (clap, clap, clap) he turned around and
ran! But when I showed him the (clap, clap, clap) he turned around and
ran!

I wandered on for many years a victim of my fate
Until at last I came across St.Peter at the gate.
But as I tried to take it inside He told me where to go,
"Get out of here with that (clap,clap,clap) and take it down
below!" "Get out of here with that (clap,clap,clap) and take it down
below!"

The moral of this story is if you're out on the beach,
And you should see a great, big box and it's within your reach,
Don't ever stop and open it up. That's my advice to you,
For you'll never get rid of the (clap, clap, clap)
No matter what you do! For you'll never get rid of the (clap, clap, clap)
No matter what you do!

The Quartermaster's Song

There are snakes, snakes, snakes Big as garden rakes,At the store! At the store! There are snakes, snakes, snakes, Big as garden rakes, at the Quartermaster's store.
Chorus: My eyes are dim I can-not see. I have not got my specs with me. I have not got my specs with me.
There are mice, mice, miceRunning though the rice,At the store! At the store! There are mice, mice, mice, Running through the rice, at the Quartermaster's store.
Chorus
Continue with each of the following:

3. lice - living on the mice.

4. rats - big as alley cats.

5. roaches - big as football coaches

6. watches - big as sasquaches

7. snakes - big as garden rakes

8. bears - but no one really cares

9. beavers - with little meat cleavers

10. foxes - stuffed in little boxes

This is a picture of Darwin and Deanna Dinsdales. This was taken just a few years ago, my parents still try and go up to Granite with them every once and awhile:

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Or days, as it was in our case. I kind of like it when the 4th falls on a Sunday, it spreads the celebration out further. We had a fun one here is what we did:

We got up at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday to go watch the balloon fest in Provo. Only 3 of the 30 balloons got to launch because of the wind conditions, but it was fun watching them blow the balloons up.


After the balloon fest, we went to my brother Mikes house. Jenny made us a great breakfast, and afterward the girls had fun playing in their fountain.

We took it easy for the rest of the day. That night we had a little BBQ with just our family. Shaun grilled some awesome steaks we got from Costco, and I made french fries and strawberry pie. When it finally got late enough, we threw a bunch of blankets and cushions in the back of Shaun's truck, and headed to Thanksgiving Point to watch the fireworks. I'm sure it wasn't as impressive as the Stadium of fire, but we had fun watching them from our comfy seats in the back of the truck, instead of some hard bleachers.

While we waited for the fireworks to start, we enjoyed natures fireworks. What a beautiful sunset!

On Sunday we invited a few of our neighbors over, and lit our pack of fireworks we got from Costco.

This is how Sydnie watched most of the fireworks.

I had been promising the girls I would sleep out with them for the last few nights, but the weather would not cooperate. After the fireworks on Sunday, the weather looked good, so we set out our sleeping bags on some pads on the lawn. We had fun watching for shooting stars and satellites. We also had fun locating some planets and constellations. Quite different from when I was a kid, I brought my lap top out and found this cool website http://skyandtelescope.com/. You could type in your location and it would show you a map of the sky in your area. We were able to located several planets, stars, and constellations.