Our New Family Member

Can we have a dog?

Mom, when do you think we could get a dog?

How much would it cost to get a dog?

I promise I would take care of it!!

I promise to scoop the poop!

This was a recurring subject of Logan and Dallin. When do you think we could get a dog? I think they knew it wasn't in the near future, but they never gave up hope. It wasn't until James called one night explaining that there was a family that was trying to find good homes for their three dogs. After much thought, viewing pictures, we decided to take the plunge. We told the kids we were going to "look" at a dog and have her come stay with us for a couple of days to see how she did. They were ecstatic!! We went to James' work to meet and pick up Belle. She definately was a cute dog and we were surprised to see how mellow she was. After about a half an hour, we loaded her up in our car and took her home.

We are now on day 4 and Belle has attached herself to Logan. She goes wherever he goes. Logan loves to read to Belle and takes her on 2 or 3 walks a day (since he is off track).

To the Emergency Room again

"What happened to your face?" was the common question Dallin had to try to answer with a fat lip and cut gums. I had just told him 5 more minutes and then it would be time to come in for the night. Shortly after I said that, Logan came running in the house saying that Dallin was bleeding all over. After we cleaned up the blood to see where it was coming from, we discovered he bit almost all the way through his lip. James came home from work and took Dallin to the emergency room since the Urgent Care Center was already closed. After a long night and a $150 bill, no stitches were needed - just some popsicles, rest, and time to heal.

Stroh Ranch Anthology Dolphins

Dallin decided he wanted to be a part of swim team this year. So, we signed him up despite the fear that he may not make it down to the other end on his own. After the first meet, he was a pro. No stopping him... he could make it down the pool both on his front and on his back.

Logan had a fantastic swim year as well. Being on the top end of his age group, he took home first and second places every meet. Logan's favorite stroke is fly.

Camping with our Pop Up Trailer

James decided that he was sick and tired of camping in a tent (we all know this already). His dream of camping in some sort of 5th wheel/RV was soon to become a reality. Shortly after camping at the father-son event in the rain (our tent didn't do a very good job of keeping the moisture - or even rain out) he started to look for campers. The deal was he needed to figure out a way to come up with the money and I would be more than happy to camp in a camper (hopefully a small one) of some sort. He decided he would sell his motorcycle so we could buy a camper.

After a few weeks, we finally found a buyer for the motorcycle. With cash in hand, James started the search for a used pop up trailer. Finally, we found the perfect one off of Craig's list. It sleeps 6-8 people with two king size beds and two smaller beds that convert from the kitchen table and couch. It has a sink, hot water heater, fridge, heat and outside shower. (James later installed a air conditioner unit as well).

We looked at our calendar to see when we could use the camper and realized we had to wait a month down the road. We booked our site at Jackson Lake over the Labor Day weekend. When Labor Day weekend arrived, we packed up and had a great time!!

I think James was in heaven to be able to take a nap in an air conditioned camper, play on his laptop and surf the web while camping. No, this isn't the camping I remember, but if this is what it takes for our family to go camping and be HAPPY doing it, I am in!!

The Munsey Reunion

For Shirley's 70th birthday, she wanted her entire family together to celebrate. So, Pat and Sally's family and Chris' family drove from Utah. Michelle and Spencer flew in from D.C. We had a weekend (really extended weekend) planned. The first day we spent at Chatfield playing in the water and having fun on the boats.

We gathered at Lance's house for an "italian" themed dinner with pizza, pasta and breadsticks. The cousins ran around and played games until the late hour of the night.

The next evening, we reserved the park area and pool that night for the big bash. We swam, slid down slides, jumped off diving boards, played games, and listened to the music of "DJ Dynamics".

Logan 's first day of 3rd Grade

Logan was excited to start third grade. He was assigned Miss Noyes on B track. We heard that Miss Noyes is the "fun" teacher. After meeting with her and attending the back to school night, I understand why she has that reputation. She wants to replace all of the chairs in the classroom with exercise balls and she assigns and practice yoga moves as part of homework. She really has a fun and carefree personality. How could an eight year old not have a good experience?

Camping in South Dakota

As I was reading through the Sunday paper sometime in the early part of the summer, I came across an article in the travel section about Custer State Park in South Dakota. The more I read the more excited I became to book a short camping trip. Our family has never been Mt Rushmore before and it is only about a 6 hour car ride.

So, I took it upon myself to book a site at Custer State Park. To please James, I booked a cute camper cabin in the state park that included heat, air conditioning and 4 beds - perfect!! I told the kids that we would be doing things like a garage sale and other things to try to save up enough money for our fun weekend in South Dakota. They were getting as excited as I was as the summer grew closer to our departure date.

Despite James' threats to turn around and go back home (Dallin decided to throw a major tantrum at the Burger King in Wheatland, WY), we made it by dinner time.

As we entered the park, we were amazed how beautiful it was. Our campsite had frequent wildlife visitors such as deer and wild turkey. On our trip around the wildlife loop, we saw the massive herd of bison. We also came across donkey and sheep.

We took the scenic route to Mt Rushmore by way of Needles Highway. It was a twisty-turny road through the trees with unique tunnels and bridges. It was absolutely beautiful. There were multiple places where we got a peek of the monument from afar.

Once we arrived at Mt Rushmore, we took the walking tour and learned a bit more about the monument. (Dallin decided to have a few more frustrating moments - too long of a walk for those skinny little legs. )

After our hike down and back up the mountain, we decided to have our lunch that I packed. Logan and James grudgingly ate the sandwiches and chips that I packed for the trip and then we decided to get in line for the famous ice cream cones. I think our eyes were a bit bigger than our stomachs. We really should have shared the gigantic cones... maybe next time.

After our day at Mt Rushmore, we headed a bit more north to go to a Chuckwagon dinner. The boys had a great time!! There were pony rides, panning for gold, pistol shooting, lasso practice, and a fun gun-down show before our dinner. For dinner we ate beef, corn bread, beans and applesauce in our tin plates and cups (I think it made the water and lemonade taste a bit like aluminum) It was a great day!

On our final morning, we (Logan, Dallin, and I) decided to take a short 2 mile hike around the lake. We didn't realize the hike was a steep incline the majority of the way. Dallin was quite the trooper and did the hike without complaints (I only had to carry him on my back maybe a third of the way). The hike finally ended at the beach of the lake. The boys didn't hesitate to jump in and cool off from our hike.