Panguitch Spanguitch

July 13, 2011
Dear Children,
     We just had a glorious few days with our friends, the Gunns.  They kindly invited us to stay with them in Panguitch, UT and we had a splendid time in this beautiful setting:

See what I mean?  Beauty! :)

The first day we were there we took the kids on a four-wheeler ride and they loved every minute.  Our youngest littles kept yelling, "faster, faster!" and they squeeled with delight the entire time.

I LOVE this picture:

It's so nice doing things with the Gunns because the ages of our kids match up so well.  Trey and I were able to sneak off for a mini date on the Razor and it was so much fun!

The terrain was constantly changing and Trey was really enjoying covering us with mud and water.

One evening we gave Jonas and Abe $1.00 each and they rode to the store to pick out candy from the .10 bin after dinner.  Oh, the joy!  They thought they were so cool and all the children crowded around anxiously as they came back with their loot.

Jonas is trying to figure out how he can divide 10 pieces of candy among four children.  "Mom, what's 10 divided by 4?"  He ended up with four pieces of candy and his siblings got two. Fairsy squarsey?

I love that I only have to cook half the time and Danika and I help eachother with all meals and clean-up.    Whenever Trey is really excited about dinner he likes to take a picture of it.  Behold, stacked enchiladas with fried eggs on top:

Another day we went on a small hike to a waterfall and it was a little drizzly at first, but it soon warmed up.  

Nora and Hazel are about six months apart, but they weren't really interested in playing together.  This picture is the extent of their interaction.  When we were at the house Nora spent most of her time outside with Atticus and Sparky, the dog.

Here's the waterfall we hiked to and the source of our woes later in the day.  It's a lot bigger in person, I was really far away when I took this picture and had to zoom in.

Atticus loves being outside and Adores his Papa.

The younger kids enjoyed playing in a little creek.

Atticus and Olive.  Her face cracks me up!

Absolutely amazing!

Hmm, I'm not sure what Clara is doing here.  Wanna fight??

I mean, seriously, how can people not love the outdoors??

Our little fam damily.

Clara and Lia holding hands.  Those two were inseperable.

Oh me, oh my!

The boys let Danika and I go on a bike ride that was soooo fun + beautiful + exhilarting.

We were cruising on a trail that was all down hill along a river.  It made us giddy and we were saying we felt so young and free and... kidless.  I'm sorry to say, but it felt good.  It felt real good.  Now you know I love you all to pieces, but you'll know what I mean when you're a parent.  Sometimes you just gotta get away, take a break, breathe.  And when you do... aah!.. and then you come back and you love your kids even more than you did before. 

(Totally unrelated and vain- my body is a weird shape in this photo.  Is it the shirt? It's gotta be the shirt.)

The boys also went on a bike ride, but theirs was a little more challenging + difficult + punishing.  

Apparently they enjoyed that though?  Both of them came back wounded but happy.  The following pictures are ones Trey took from the trail.  They started at the very top of the mountain and made their way down to a lake.    

While the boys were riding and Danika was driving to pick them up I took these Hooligans on a hike.

I whipped em' into shape real fast like.

How cool are these stairs in the woods?

They were a bit of a challenge for Atticus.

I think I may have left my heart in Panguitch so I'll need to go back soon to retrieve it.  I mean, look at this!!  How could one not love it?  I'm in constant awe at God's creations.

Love you all, Mama

P.S.  Waterfall story coming soon.