Water Troughs and Hay Bales

 My friend Andrea and her family are visiting, and they had a special request to go down and see the equipment yard. The kids were in heaven as soon as they got there, quickly scampering over old equipment to test it out and drive to exotic locales. Then they found the old water troughs and started bouncing around.

 The sound was fun, as well as jumping from one to the next.

 Then it was into the back of an old truck for an impromptu dance. Desert Boy and Desert Girl were having a delightful time with their new friends.

 Desert Girl took time out to drive an old bathtub.

 Meanwhile, the older kids were looking for the next fun piece of equipment.

 Before long, they spotted some freshly stacked hay and couldn't resist scampering to the top of it.

 We made it!

 Even Desert Girl had to give it a try.

 Then back to a tractor.

The light was getting dim and it was time to head back. But before we made it to the vehicle, one more challenge remained:

 The stair step pile of hay. Who could resist?
(Okay, I could, but that's because I was wearing shorts and flip flops and knew the scratchy hay would make me itch!)

 Desert Boy saw his friends up on the hay and immediately thought that would be fun to do. The only problem was that he was a little too small to climb up by himself.

 So he enlisted some help. What great teamwork!

 Time to pose for a photo at the top.

 Then time to give a shout and head on down.

Ah, the simple pleasures of life!

Waterfalls

 High water has created waterfalls in lots of interesting places in the area. The one above is in a channel that is usually dry. In fact, we "canyoneered" it last summer during the Fourth of July weekend when one of my brothers was out visiting.

 This is a flood control structure on one of the creeks.

And a view of it from downstream. All this water is a little frightening, so we've been careful to keep the kids far away from the fast moving water.

A different flood control structure. These help prevent the creek from cutting the banks.

This roaring creek is in one of the nearby campgrounds. Some campsites are extra damp!

There's not much snow left to melt up top (although we went hiking over some five foot drifts at 10,000 feet today). Still, there's plenty to keep the water running high for a few more weeks.
Waterfalls in the desert seem like a special treat.

Clean and Dirty

 We've been spending a lot of time outside lately. I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

Lots Going On

There's been so much going on that I haven't been able to spend much time on this blog. Here's a little video to compensate until I have more time:

Snake Valley Festival-Ice Cream Social

We're gearing up for a busy weekend at the Snake Valley Festival! It started last night with they yummy ice cream social. They had my favorite ice cream--mint chocolate chip. Plus it was lots of fun to talk to people I haven't seen in awhile and meet some new folks. Here are a sampling of photos:

 Desert Boy just had to be in the photo.

 I love the look in Desert Girl's eyes.

 She's a real goof.

 Isaac was also enjoying his ice cream.

 There was a good turn out.

 The kids loved playing in the background. Tori challenged me to a chinup challenge. We tied.

 Even the big kids were liking the playground.

 The kids loved drawing with chalk on the old basketball/tennis court.

What a fun evening! We're looking forward to more fun today.

Graduation

 The last day of May we headed into town to go witness my nephew's high school graduation. The weather actually cooperated (a rarity for the end of May) and graduation was held outside. In this part of the world, it's common to have graduation on weeknights. (Where I grew up, graduation is held on the weekend and then graduates have open houses and well wishers spend their day traveling from one party to the next.)

We got there during the procession and the bleachers were packed and people were stacked a few deep at the top (you enter from the top due to the hilly terrain), so we couldn't really see anything. We decided to go down to the side and then spotted some front row seats empty. What great luck!

 Clay gave a short speech and got to sit up on the podium for the entire ceremony.

 This is what it looked like slightly zoomed from the bleachers. They were way out there! Because they were so far away, it didn't look like many graduates, but it turned out that there were 92. (There were 101 in my graduating class.)

 Being in the front row had the added advantage that the kids could roam, and Desert Girl took the opportunity to check out the neighbors.

 The football field area is quite scenic, with mountains on either side.

 Then it was time to get diplomas. It didn't take long to get to that point--being outside meant it was a little chilly and windy, so no one wasted any time.

 Seeing Clay graduate brought back lots of memories from high school. I am lucky to still stay in contact with some of my awesome high school friends. We had some really good times together, and still try to meet up periodically.

The school superintendent wore jeans! It's a little different culture out here in the West.

After the ceremony, the kids had a fun time chasing the cousins out on the astro-turf (is that what it's called?). It stays nice and green year-round.

Then it was time to go and for the graduates to start the next chapter of their lives.
Good luck, Clay, and congratulations! We wish you a wonderful future.

Rodeo Fun

Delta, Utah was having a rodeo this last weekend for three days, so we decided to go to it Friday night. Amazingly we made it on time for the Grand Entry. (I say amazingly because my husband ended up having to work late and then we had to take a potty break on the way there which is a little time consuming when the little ones that have to go are buckled into the very back of the van!)

I'm always so impressed with how easy the riders make riding a horse look!

Then it was time for the exciting riding to begin! They started with bareback riding, and many of the riders stayed on the eight seconds and more.

And here's Isaac! Jenny and her kids came with us, which made the night even more fun. Isaac loved running up and down the bleachers.

More bucking horses. Ouch. Just watching them makes me ache.

Desert Boy and Ava were keen spectators--sometimes! There was a good crowd, but still plenty of room for more rodeo fans. The weather was about perfect.

I don't know exactly what they were looking at when I snapped this photo, but it must have been good!

Then it was time for mutton bustin'. About a dozen little kids wanted to try their best to stay on the back of a sheep.

Most of them immediately fell off.

One little tyke was like a tic, though. I didn't even notice he was still hanging on for a bit, as he held on so well! (He's on the sheep second from the right.)

Then it was time for steer wrestling. In this round, the steer won.

When I asked Desert Boy what his favorite part of the rodeo was, he said the dessert. He was mightily impressed by the snowcones. You can see what color Ava had.

Back in the arena was a really bizarre show with monkeys riding border collies. I had never seen anything like it.

After running around the bleachers for awhile, Isaac finally got tired and was willing to sit still--in his mom's arms.

 

I didn't get photos of all the events, mainly because the fast action and low light were challenging conditions for my camera. Above is one of the barrel racers-they sure were fast!

I wanted to get a nice shot of all the kids, but probably waited a little too late into the night. They all stayed awake throughout the rodeo. Three fell asleep pretty fast on the way home, but Desert Boy persevered until the last half hour.

I'm really glad we went, it really brought out the spirit of the Wild West. Plus it was some downright good entertainment.