I’ve lived in Utah almost nine years and have never been to Zion’s National Park. I’ve never hiked Mt. Timpanogos or the Narrows. Every year we say, “We should. . .” and we never do. It’s a tragedy, I know. We even skipped town when the Olympics were here (but we did get to hold the torch, so there).

Dave has had a little extra time on his hands lately, so we decided to get out and take advantage of all the outdoor activities this beautiful place has to offer. Finally. We started close and hiked into Rock Canyon, which is known worldwide for its rock climbing.

Everyone walks except for Juliet, of course. We take Bella, too. She seems to really enjoy all the new smells. Seth wilts the fastest, but they all enjoyed it. Joseph gave up at the very end and I had to carry him a bit, but all things considered it was a great hike.

The next week we went to Stewart’s Falls up past Sundance Resort. I hiked this once when I was in college, so I didn’t remember a whole lot. We didn’t plan on doing the whole hike (4 miles roundtrip), but I think we will someday. We went in about three quarters of a mile and then headed back. A lot of it was steep, so I held Joseph’s hand. He pretty much dragged me most of the time but kept saying, “I’m falling, I’m falling!” He never fell. But both Catherine and Seth took a pretty good spill at the very end.

The trail was pretty crowded and it was hot, so we decided to go early in the morning next time and take lunch to eat along the way. I think the kids will really enjoy seeing the waterfall at the end when we can make it that far.

So if we ever go missing, you’ll know where to find us.

Last week we had to go to Salt Lake to get my iPhone fixed (that’s where the Apple Store is). The Gateway is a huge outdoor mall that was built in preparation for the Olympics. I thought it was idiotic since 6 months of the year it is absolutely unbearable to be outside, but hey. It seems to be doing well. Right across from the Apple Store is a large outdoor fountain that plays music every half hour. I don’t think it was meant to be a swimming-type attraction, but we put swimsuits on the kids and let them go at it all white trash style. It is super hot out there, though, so I was lucky to get a shaded seat while Dave went to fix my phone. Joseph didn’t voluntarily get wet, but Catherine and Seth loved it. They really liked sitting right on the fountain holes thus giving themselves chlorine enemas. Good times.

I love Flickr. I have a great little program called ImageWell that makes it super easy to upload to it. Flickr gives me a safe place to store my photos just in case the worst happens. It is also a place to find inspiration (check out the Sew, Mama, Sew Flickr group or the U-Handbag Flickr group) and help with your newest hobby.

I recently applied to get into The Flickr Portrait Gallery which is a group you have to be invited to get into. I put a bunch of my portraits in my photostream and they let me into the group.

But sometimes all the *special* groups (like the one I just joined…hehe) and silly awards they give to each other (check this photo out–look at the comments) remind me of that book, You Are Special. You know the one, where the little wooden people give each other gold stars for being talented or beautiful, or gray dots if you’re clumsy or ugly. I mean, really. It’s all very silly. That photo I linked to is a great one. But there are other groups that give out silly awards like “Best Shot of a Person Eating Something Gross.” I’m totally not kidding. Someone has made an award for everything. And then they put these awards in the comments and I find it distracting. But hey, no one asks me.

P.S. I have another love letter. Here it goes:

Dear Landlords Who Own the House Behind Us Who Live in Another State and Could Care Less About People Who Actually Live Here:

You suck.

You cut down a perfectly good tree that gave us lots of shade. You also cut down trees that were holding our fence up. Pathetic, I know, but they were on the property line. They could very well be our trees. Try ASKING first. And pay someone to do it, don’t send the city in to do your dirty work for crying out loud.

I think I may just turn you into the city for not being up to code in your piece-of-crap sorry excuse for a house that is cut into tiny little apartments that should never be inhabited by real people. Hobbits, maybe.

I hope you’re losing lots and lots of money.

Love,

Me

I’ve been really terrible about blogging lately. Maybe it is my recent obsession with re-reading the Twilight saga, or the other time-consuming obsession with sewing. Although, I am quite pleased with myself because I haven’t needed to purchase any clothes for the kids yet this season. I bought a ton of cheapie knit fabric and along with my ever-growing stash of fabrics I’ve been able to make anything the kids have needed. I did have some clothes for the girls that I had bought at the end of the season last year for butt-cheap. That combined with the clothing that still fit them from last year we’ve done quite well.

On another sewing note, I finished my first clothing item for MYSELF this week. I made a lot of alterations, so I was nervous about the outcome. Looking at the picture it looks like I could have shortened the waist a little, but it looks better in person. I even wore it in public and everything:) I made it with a fantastic vintage pattern I bought on eBay and some random vintage curtain fabric I had in the basement (does anyone recognize it? I can’t remember where it came from…). I’m pretty sure it was curtain fabric b/c it is super wide considering its age. Most older fabrics came in very narrow sizes. Plus it looks like it should be on a window.

Anyhoo, this isn’t the most fantastic picture and our back yard looks like a jungle, but hey. What can you do? (Except, you know, get the weed whacker out).