July 24th Celebration

We took a trip up Big Cottonwood Canyon for the 24th to have a day up the Canyon. We went up in time for Breakfast just Grandma and Grandpa with Carolee and her kids. We had one site and were cooking up breakfast when the people across from us left . It was a better site by the river so we packed up our things including breakfast and the charcoal that we had started and moved. Grandma and the grandkids were on the internet and noticed that you could cook a boiled egg in a paper cup with water in it so they wanted to try it.
So we took what we needed up the canyon and decided to give it a try. So Grandpa got some charcol ready in the fire pit and got some water in the cups and put the eggs in and let it go to see if it would work. After about 5 minutes we looked to see what was happening and the water was boiling but the cups were not burning. About ten minutes later the kids had boiled eggs for breakfast. "IT WORKED". Mike and Kris and the kids, and Todd and Nicole and Andrew came up later.

When Todd and Nicole and little A.J. came up he likes to play with his pail and shovel and so he and Hailey decided to play in the dirt together.

When we go "to the canyon" we have a "family rock" that we like to hike to and this is where we are. We enjoy taking pictures at this favorite spot in the Ledgemere Picnic Site.

The Grandkids enjoy playing in the water. They could spend hours throwing rocks and getting wet. They all really like the water.

Grandma and Grandpa with all the Grandchildren.

Identification Please?

Calling all entomologists. Colin found this bug (or technically it found his shirt) and after he got over his initial shock (he screamed bloody murder) he put it in his bug catcher. The next morning it is "napping" peacefully, probably for eternity, but Colin says," if you wake him up he will bite you." It might be some kind of a caterpiller. His name is Stick.

Oh, guess what! Colin was right. He was only sleeping and now that he is alive again we need to find out what he is and what to feed it. We're pretty sure it is some kind of caterpiller.

Our Adorable Grandchildren

Malerie Dawn Courter--9

Kaitlynn Yvonne Courter (Kaity)--7

Colin Edward Ball--5


Michayla Jo Porter--5
Hailey Spring Porter--2 1/2

Andrew James Gardiner (AJ)--11 months

Colin's Squash

When we planted the garden I let each of the kids choose something to plant. Colin chose yellow squash and has been not so patiently watching them grow. As soon as they had blossoms he would go out and give them encouraging pep talks to speed them along. Yesterday we picked the first 4 squash and he wouldn't even wait until dinner time. I cooked the biggest one for a snack and we ate the rest for dinner tonight.

Our Mini Vacation

Last weekend we took a little vacation. The kids have wanted to go to a cave so we decided to stay with Spencer and Katie in Logan and go to Minnetonka Cave up by Bear Lake. We arrived Saturday afternoon after I got off work and toured Spencer and Katie's new apartment, played at the park, bought Ice cream and cheese at Gossners, visited the animals in Willow Park Zoo, went out to dinner at El Toro Viejo, attended church, took pictures at the temple, had a picnic at 2nd Dam, went to the cave and swam in Bear Lake all in less than 3 days!

This is the view of the Logan River from the park by S and K's new apartment.

Here we are at Willow Park Zoo looking at the animals or is it the other way around?

We watched this peacock and the tortise for a long time. The peacock kept fanning his tail, but every time I ran around the fence to get a picture of it he either turned around or lowered it.

The beautiful Logan Temple is Magestic day or night. You can see it's spires glowing as you drive up Canyon Road to S and K's house.

We had a fun afternoon at 2nd Dam. I went hiking with Colin and Kaity, took pictures with Malerie (I "rented" her my old camera), and just enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and the day. This is Kim's idea of a relaxing day. We made a camp fire to roast hot dogs and smores but it was too hot to get near it.

We drove to Bear Lake and Minnetonka Cave on Monday. We stopped at the scenic overlook to get our "first view of Bear Lake. Then went up to the cave. Malerie had done a report on Crystals last year and wanted to go to a cave ever since. She said it was cool but not quite what she expected. Anyway we all had fun in spite of all the stairs (over 800). But the best part of the day was Bear Lake. We thought it would be too cold for swimming so Carolee didn't bring swimsuits for the kids so they just swam in their clothes. Malerie and Kaity, Spencer and Katie didn't want to get out of the water, but Colin got cold and enjoyed feeding the seagulls. They put on a good show and I had fun taking pictures of them.

Our First Blog

We have decided to join the blogging world so we can enjoy sharing our lives as much as we have enjoyed seeing our kids and neice's blogs. So here is Grandma and Grandpa's World.