Endofschoolsummerfunstartofschool, part 1

I guess it is time to post on the blog again. The bunny buns post has been mocking me for months and I was in denial that months had past since Easter. It still seemed like last month even though it was not. So I guess I now have almost 6 months to catch up on. I guess it is better to start now than to have a year to catch up. Here we go:

Sometime in the spring, John's step-niece got married. All the kids got new clothes (and I got a dress) and here is one picture I took out of many where everyone is basically looking at the camera with a normal expression.


This spring, we entered the world of swim teams. The small picture is Jacob doing the back stroke and then there is superman Ryan. It is amazing how quickly the children learn to swim well doing the swim team. It is a lot of time once the meets start, but the boys really enjoyed it. They want to do it again next year but they also want to do baseball and this mother is not doing both. Coach French is the swim team coach and he mentioned that he was Facebook friends with Arnold. He says he has 2 more years at Washington and then he'll have been there 40!!! years and will retire.
Summer in Canada. We took an awesome quick road trip up to Vancouver, Canada. We decided to visit the ski resort, Grouse Mountain, on June 30. Here is a picture of us although this could have been taken when we went to the Grand Canyon last year, about July 30. Same vistas. Needless to say, it was a little cold and difficult to see the bears on exhibit, the view of Vancouver, and the birds of prey show.

Ryan finishes kindergarten! He had an awesome year and couldn't wait to start first grade (which he already has so I will post the first day of school picture soon). Ryan scored the most points of any kindergartner on the school reading program and received a special certificate for this. He had about 50 points while most of the other kindergartners had 5 or less.

Stay tuned for part 2....

Bunny Buns! Now, it's really Easter!

I know, I know, I don't post for months and then three in a row but I had to get this up before Easter. My kids flipped out this month when they got their Friend magazine and saw BUNNY BUNS on the cover and the recipe for them inside the magazine. Bunny buns of the Stovall's youth. Am I the only one who remembers them? Apparently the original recipe was published in 1980(really, does time really go that fast?!) I am sure some of my siblings must remember them as well. Anyway, two years ago, I had a craving for the Bunny buns and I searched lds.org and found the recipe. I think I asked mom first but she couldn't find it. So, Jacob, Ryan, and I made them and had sticky fun glazing them and decorating them. We did not make them last year but they still remembered the experience (who can forget the bunny bun?) and so they were super excited to see the buns in the Friend again and have been asking for weeks to make them. So, we did it tonight and here are the bunnies of our labors. Sticky, orangey goodness.

The children and their lovely bunnies. It was a bit of a challenge to get this picture: Ryan was devasted because I chose his beloved bunny to be the one we "tested out", Alison was so tired she could barely sit there, and Jacob kept wanted to go lick the glaze bowl and throw more sprinkles in his mouth.

Glow Dome Love

Ryan received some money from grandparents for his birthday back in March so he decided that he needed to have a Crayola Glow Dome. His friend brought one over about a year ago and Ryan has coveted them ever since. So, we drove down to the "Mall" (yes, Newpark is still there and still as great as ever) and got Ryan a glow dome.

So, it is a toy that you can write on and then in the dark, your art glows and it will even spin if you like. Kinda like your own disco ball but it is on the ground and you can write or draw on it. Anyway, one night the boys were being sneaky and they told John and I that they had a surprise for us that we would discover later. They left the glow dome in our room with a note to turn it on when we went to bed. So, being obedient parents, we did exactly what our children told us. Here is a picture of the glow dome with their secret message in the light and then in GLOW mode. It does say "We love you" with all their names. It was very sweet and helped us forget anything that may have gone wrong in the course of the shower-pjs-brush teeth-read-pray-potty- mania that is bedtime.

Glow dome in the light - less effective

Full glow effect with the love note

Ryan at the school talent show

Ryan decided that he wanted to be in the school talent show. Jacob did not want to do it because there was a cub scout pack meeting the night of the talent show and Jacob LOVES cub scouts and could not miss it. But Ryan decided it was his turn to be in the spotlight. He decided that he either wanted to tell jokes or poems so we looked in our Shel Silverstein poem book and found two that he liked. He performed "Boa Constrictor" and "Smart" and did a great job. He memorized them and recited them without flaw. I will have John post the video since I don't know how to do it so stay tuned to see Ryan in action.

Ryan on the night of the talent show with his snake prop. Ryan does not like the camera lately.

Jacob's baptism

I thought I should put some pictures up from Jacob's baptism. It was a very nice day. We were lucky to have both sets of grandparents there as well as all of his aunts & uncles that live in California. I will have to write more about that day but the best part was after Jacob was baptized and was alone with his dad in the dressing room. Jacob turned to John, gave him a hug and said "I love you".

Clarification & other items

I have been meaning to write and explain that the last post was not the entire truth. Everything in it was truthful, but many things were left out. I was tired when writing that post and did not have the stamina to bring up all the stresses that come with a family road trip. Needless to say, if the last post made the family road trip seem like nothing but sunshine and butterflies, it was misrepresented. Overall, I do feel it was fun and a good experience but in order to get that you have to endure the stinky hotel rooms, the ill-timed bathroom trips, the constant "how much longer", the many bad food choices, e. coli-tainted water at the campground, children who think playing with deer skat is fun, family members who over plan or back-seat drive. Writing about the good things is easier on my stomach lining.

ANYWAY, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Ryan started kindergarten at the beginning of September. He loves it and is doing very well. Pick-up time comes very early for us. Alison and I are wondering what we used to do together last school year when Ryan was in preschool 3x/week. She has decided that she should be able to watch TV the entire time Ryan is at school. Some mornings, that is very tempting.

On Labor day, we decided to go to Angel Island. We got up early (for a holiday) and took the ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island. I had never been there before. It was a gorgeous day in the Bay. Blue skies all around with no fog. We did not take bicycles (we should probably do that next time) but walked all the way around the island (5 miles!) The boys wanted to go to a beach and it was basically half-way around so we were committed for the whole trip. I had to give Ryan a piggy back for about 3/4 mile and Jacob for ~1/4 but other than that, we made it with little fuss. The first mile was the hardest. "I don't want to walk. I am hot. I am tired. Why are we doing this? Why can't we just go swimming at home? Why did you decide that we had to do this? This is no fun". Amazingly, after we walked the 5 miles and the boys got to swim at the our lunch spot and again at the bay where the ferry came, they both agreed it was super fun. I think they were really proud of themselves for making it all the way around.

Family Reunion and family road trip FUN!

Here are a few more pictures from the Young family road which included an extended family reunion as well as a mini-road trip/reunion with some Stovall families. Overall, we made some fun memories and saw some beautiful places. It was nice to be together. The kids at 12-mile flat in the Manti-LaSal national forest where we had our family reunion. It was beautiful and the only thing I have to complain about was that it rained basically for part of the day, every day. Other than that, we had a good time and enjoyed seeing lots of family. We are glad so many came and braved the primitive camping to be with family.

Singing with some second cousins around the campfire. It was always dry and clear when it came time for campfire. That was nice.

Alison at 12-mile. She was kind enough to remove her binkie from her mouth for the picture (you will see it in her hand). Before we left, I started "leave the binkie in the bed" to transition binkie-usuage to the bed only. That was not a smart thing to do before vacation because I basically relied on the binkie to make my life easier as we traveled around and slept in strange places. So, now that we are home it is back to "binkie in the bed" although I don't think she takes me serious. I've lost some credibility.

A great picture from our trip. Seriously, this is the view from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Fog. We were in a cloud and clouds filled the canyon. It was a long 6 hours (3 there and 3 back) for fog which we could have seen on a trip to SF. I guess it gives us a reason to go back sometime.

The Young and the Bardsley kids and dads in front of Bryce Canyon. This was before our awesome hike down into the rocks. It was less than a mile and a half but there was lots of elevation change. Luckily, we decided not to take the stroller and John volunteered to stay back with Alison. That was one of the best decisions of our trip. About half way into the hike the kids were done so we had to motivate them by finding "magic" trees and rocks that they needed to touch to get energy. Good thing there are lots of rocks in Bryce canyon!

This is near the Narrows in Zion National park. We rode the shuttle bus into the valley to the last stop, got off, walked 3 minutes to the river, touched the water and threw some stones, and got back on the shuttle, got in our car, and drove home. Needless to say we will also need to return to Zions to actually get off the bus and see more of the park. The drive home was not bad except for the small issue of traffic out of vegas headed to LA on a Sunday afternoon. Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic in the middle of the dessert in the middle of the day in August is not fun. Ever.

A gaggle of cousins with Grandma and Grandpa at the cool Zions River resort where we stayed for just one night. The kids got to go swimming and loved it. They had been waiting to go swimming the whole vacation and finally, the last night, they got their wish. We thought the rain might come but someone had mercy on these little kids and the rain stayed to the east.