THE GREAT OUTDOORS

the last 5 exciting things we have done outside...

1. TRUCK REPAIRS - okay, not so fun, but has to be done! Ryan has been working like crazy on the truck, especially last week. When he fixes one thing he finds another part that needs something. Everyday after work this last week he's been trying to figure out the next thing. The job he's been doing for work right now requires him to do what's called "zoning" to Horse Mesa Dam (Apache Lake). He drives to a substation near there instead of to the SRP yard where he regularly goes. So he has needed the car and has been dropping me off at my parents house for my work early. I don't mind getting up at 3AM with him, but I hope he gets it running smooth again soon. I feel incredibly blessed that we have a good car that runs and has cold AC, especially since it's summer.

2. VEGGIE HARVESTING!!! - There have been 3 squash and 1 tiny carrot enjoyed from our little garden so far. The carrots aren't quite ripe yet and the cantaloupe and watermelon vines have a lot of flowering going on, and not so much fruit growing. We'll see what happens though. This is a picture of the first summer squash. I was quite excited.

3. BBQ-ing FOR THE YOUTH - This was the first Wednesday of June at the home of some ward members. The youth were busy swimming while Ryan was busy BBQ-ing, as usual.

4. FEEDING the DUCKS!!! - One morning a couple weeks ago Elizabeth, Bethany and Benjamin and I went to Riverview Park with some old chips from my pantry. At first most of the birds that were feasting on the crumbs were pigeons. Yuck! We moved down a little closer to the lake and woke up some sleeping ducks.

They didn't seem to mind once they spotted the food.



The kids also had some fun on the playground before it got too hot.





5. CAMPING!!! - This is what makes living here in the summer bearable. Well, having A.C. and going swimming help too. We went up to a camp ground not too far from Woods Canyon Lake, the day after Ryan's adventure of having a porch collapse under him and getting squished by the roof. It was a much needed get away. Ryan's family has a tradition of going camping there for a few days every summer. All of them came up at some point that weekend. Ryan enjoyed taking a nap in his parents tent trailer. I wish I'd snapped a photo of that. We slept, fished, slept, ate, slept, fished... you get the idea. It was cloudy most of the time and rained really good on Fri. night and some on Sat. morning. When we got home late Sat. night we set up our tent in the living room... after moving almost all of the furniture out of it. We set up some fans and it was dry by morning. Again, I wish I had a picture, but at the time I was tired enough to not care. Here are just a few photos from the weekend! We had tons of fun with the Stewart family!