Officially Old

Thanks to my young women's class at church for clarifying this, but it is now official: I am old. Yes, that is right. I am now 30-years-old and have passed the point where I can be considered young. Technically, I am leaving young adulthood behind and officially entering adulthood. Who could have imagined?

Anyway, I had an absolutely marvelous birthday, with the exception of missing so many loved ones. Steve took Friday and Monday off so we could have a weekend full of fun and productivity. It ended up being the best weekend of the summer!

You've gotta love the birthday morning shots...I was heading out to Home Depot to grab some supplies to paint our bedroom and didn't feel like getting showered yet. Thus, the hat and glasses made the ensemble very appealing. I'm pretty sure some young twenty-something checked me out, but I can't be sure...we were looking at fertilizer at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised, though 'cause I was smokin'.
Anyway, after getting things together, we were off for York beach (Short Sands is my favorite!) and we stayed there all day long. The waves from hurricane Bill really made the time fun. We finally had to convince the kids that it was time to head for the taffy at Goldenrod Kisses and then home just in time for bed. Lauren and Dallin fell asleep in the car on the way home and went to bed, sand and all. Heavenly.

The reason I have a lot more pictures of Dallin on here is that he and I were inseparable buddies that day. Steve and the girls hardly stood still and Steve wouldn't let me post any svelte photos of his greased and tanned body. He doesn't like to brag.

Ahh, she did stop for a photo-op. Such a performer!

Lauren goes to the beach for the spa-like experience. She gave me a nice seaweed wrap.

I didn't get any photos of the taffy, but we watched the taffy pulling for a long time before watching the machine stretch, cut, and wrap each piece. The man inside saw the kids and retrieved a special sign, walked sneakily over to the window, and held up the sign reading "Eat more candy." Emma laughed and he mouthed the words, "Don't tell your mom." I laughed and mouthed back, "Too late." Sensing that I was in need of a compliment (given my old age), he replied with raised eyebrows, "You're her mom?!" Yeah, he must have thought I was the teenage babysitter. I get that a lot.

Okay, moving on. Saturday was also a magnificent day. After prepping and loading the van, we headed off to Lake Onway in Raymond, NH. This is the location of Zion's Camp, the girl's camp purchased by our church for young women camps for several surrounding states (10 stakes). We have some great friends that run the camp so I had emailed them to find out if we could go kayaking. Fortunately, nobody else had reserved the camp for that day--the only weekend of the summer! So, we began our travel to Raymond...only an hour away. But then it began---sprinkling then pouring rain. But, we trekked on, which turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to view nature from the safety of a cabin before the weather became absolutely gorgeous!







Okay, can it get any more beautiful than this? Wow!

When the sun finally came out, it was swimming time and Dallin scared us to death with his bravery. He had to keep his lifejacket on the whole entire time because he was just randomly jumping into the lake!

Finally, Dallin and I headed out in the kayak, though not far because his bravery was enough to keep me within 1-2 minutes of shore. I was constantly afraid he was going to stand up and jump! Crazy kid....

Luckily, Uncle Michael was there to take him out for a second ride. Michael was pretty much attached to this kayak....well, for most of the time...you'll see what I mean....

Emma was my next kayaking buddy. Unfortunately, this kayak was a little bit tippy and we couldn't get a great deal of speed. Still, it was so fun!

The swimming was fantastic!

Umm, who fell out of the kayak?

Wow, swimming back to shore takes a lot out of you.

Time for dinner! Dallin's on his way!

The perfect ending to a perfect day!

Temple Trip and Cyrus Dallin Museum visit

Saturday we had the chance to go on our annual trip to the Boston Temple for our primary temple day. It was great to go down, walk around the temple grounds, take some pictures and have a picnic lunch. Everyone looked fantastic!

Emma and Lauren with their good friends Cambree and Caleigh.

After lunch, Michael joined us to go to the Cyrus E. Dallin museum, located in Arlington, Massachussetts. Check out the website online at http://www.dallin.org/.

Cyrus Dallin is related to us as the half-brother of our great, great, great grandfather, Tobias Dallin. Cyrus was a sculptor who is famous for sculpting many pieces that include the Paul Revere statue in Boston, the angel Moroni on top of the SLC Temple (and the mold was used for many others, including the Boston Temple), many native american sculptures including "Appeal to the Great Spirit" and Massasoit (which stands in front of the Utah State capitol building). As with most artists, he was greatly underappreciated and underpaid for some of his greatest work. Paul Revere in Boston cost him $75,000 to create and they only paid him $25,000...plus it took him 7 tries, which he did end up selling for undisclosed amounts of money. Still, he has many highly respected works and it was great to learn more about him during our brief visit. The host, James, was so excited that we were related to Cyrus that he wanted our addresses to send us the names of all the Dallins on the east coast, which is very exciting. He also invited us to the October celebration of the 10th anniversary of the museum...well, technically it is the 11th anniversary but they have been celebrating all year long and this is the final celebration. It should be really cool! Michael is also going to try to attend a September 10 lecture on preserving art, which will take place in the basement of the Cutter House.

This upcoming weekend is my birthday (the BIG 30!) and we are celebrating all weekend long. Friday, we are headed to York, Maine for a gorgous day at the beach (we hope). Saturday, it is off to Lake Onway for canoeing, kayaking, and the camp atmosphere minus the camping. Michael is going to join us on Friday night and on Saturday and it is so fun to share the celebration with some family! Don't be jealous......

As for the rest of this summer, we have been working on a lot of home projects (finally finishing the crown molding, which looks great.

Next, I have been filling nail holes in our bedroom trim and hope to have it painted within a week! Of course, then it is time to paint the bedroom and upstairs hallway....My goal was to have all this done by the end of August. We'll see.....I also want to stain the porches and the deck, which should be done before the rain starts this fall.

Sunny, Summery June......NOT

So, the "NOT" might be so '90s, but the weather has been more like Armageddon. I only remember a few days that the sun was shining and it was incredibly disappointing! It rained nearly every day, or at least threatened. I hear that July is going to be just as cheerful. Big bummer. Those beach days are not going to be as often as we had hoped. The day that we dropped everything and went to the beach, I forgot my camera! Another bummer.

But, the month of June wasn't a total loss! Our family enjoyed a visit from Frank, the turtle. Frank was taunting death one evening when Steve was driving home. Steve rescued Frank from the middle of the road and brought him to visit fair Farmington. The kids loved Frank but, alas, Frank did not love the kids. Frank has obviously lived a treacherous existence, as he is missing his front left leg. Frank toddled around the deck, fell of the side, and hid in some tall grass where he did not move for more than 24 hours. When we were finally convinced that he had met his demise, I blew on Frank's face and he moved. The next day he was gone....I mean, literally, he wasn't there anymore. I'm pretty sure he wandered down to the stream behind our house. That or he was eaten by a large creature (a liger, perhaps?). Anyway, Frank will always be remembered.

Then, of course, it was bike week in Laconia, NH. Each year we see hundreds of bikers headed up north to Weir's beach and Laconia to celebrate in their wild, drunken way. I have been encouraged to never attend this festivity by some good sources. So, naturally, Steve celebrated bike week by riding "the hogs".

Anyway, you will never guess what else happened! Amazingly, we had a visit from two extra super superheroes. I wish Emma and Lauren had been here to see them, I think they would have gotten along really well.

Another really really fabulous thing that happened this month is that my brother Michael put some crown molding up on the main floor! Steve and I helped a little, too. It looks great and it hasn't even been painted yet! It was fun to see Michael work his magic and teach Steve and I some tricks of the trade. He used to work for a company that installed molding in luxury homes and he also worked in the millwork section of Home Depot. So basically, he has seen both sides and knew what would be a good value and what would work. Of course, I didn't follow all of his advice, which was to use the larger molding....but I just thought that the smaller molding was a better scale for our small home. I am hoping to get our bedroom done next week :) I don't know if Michael knows this yet, but I am sure he likes surprises, hehe....

Emma finished up her first grade year and was able to have a fun field trip where she was able to feel starfish and other marine wildlife, wade in some water in her new water shoes, enjoy times with her class and her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Merriman, and make wonderful memories. It was really too bad that it was so cloudy but the rain held off until they made it back to the bus!

Tonight, Steve is in Utah for his brother Gary's engagement party so we are celebrating the 4th without him. Still, we will try to have some fun by heading to Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth to celebrate like the NH colonists. Then, tomorrow night we are having a BBQ with a bike parade and some fireworks. Should be a great day!