Posts Tagged hiking

More Gridley Fun

April found us back in Gridley for my Grandma’s 90th birthday party, it was a huge, fun event, and deserves it’s own post. But we had tons of other fun while we were there as well!

We got to read books with Grandma and Ava.

Helaman made this hopscotch all by himself on Grandma’s front sidewalk. He did a great job, even writing all the numbers without any help.

Meanwhile Isaiah was having a lot of fun filling up the wagon in Grandma’s drinking fountain and taking it around to water her yard.

We went to visit Bompa Luis at work out on the farm, and Isaiah was insistent that he needed gear just like Grandpa’s (hat and gloves). He looked so hilarious.

And then we got to check out the pigs

And drive the tractors

And go for a trailer ride.

I think Helaman really misses being a country boy when he’s there. Although he seems to be a pretty happy desert rat, too, so maybe he’s just happy wherever he is. :)

Whenever we go to Grandma Ruth’s house these two have a lot of dangerous looking fun on her exercise machine. They are so crazy.

And they always love playing with Ava. I really miss that little munchkin. I wish we were a lot closer to our 2 little cousins.


Helaman’s three favorite things are VW Bugs, PT Cruisers, and, randomly, turtles and tortoises. So when we were home Grandma arranged a special treat with a friend in her ward. After Church on Sunday our friend Merna, who owns a PT Cruiser came over and let Grandma give Helaman a ride in the PT Cruiser. He was so excited, he could hardly believe it was real. What a funny guy!

Isaiah had a lot of fun at Grandma Elsa’s one afternoon with everyone’s cameras. He was so funny taking pictures so seriously. Some of them actually turned out pretty good. He thinks he’s so big, and is completely convinced there is nothing he can’t do. I’m always impressed by his stubborn determination.

And his guns he loves so much he sleeps with them clutched in his hands like a lovey. Omar says he gets it from his Uncle Joe. Thanks Joe.

And my favorite part of the trip was hiking to the waterfall on table mountain. We used to go every year, and the wildflowers are so beautiful. I have so much fun spending time with my family. I was sad Omar didn’t get to go with us, he waited and came later that week with his brother. We’ve been going up there every year since before we even had monkeys.

Yesterday I was trying to explain to Isaiah that Grandpa Steve was my dad. He got VERY angry because it was his Grandpa Steve and he didn’t want to share.








We had so much fun with everyone. Thanks for letting us come play with you!

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Spring Break

It’s been so long since Spring Break, I’m having a hard time remembering all the fun stuff we did. It was a whirlwind of crazy fun every day that week. Now that I finally get around to writing it down a month later, I only remember what I took pictures of! How did I get this terrible memory?!?

On Tuesday we went with to the fish hatchery above Kernville with a bunch of friends. The hatchery was broken, there were no fish, and the gates were locked tight. But the kids had fun for a little bit in the parking lot, before we went to the next part of the adventure. (Notice Isaiah with his girlfriend Danielle in this picture–she’s 10, but her mom says if he was a little older the would date for sure.)

Since the fish hatchery didn’t work out we headed down the road to have lunch at a cool park in Kernville right on the river. The kids had a ton of fun playing on the equipment, and throwing things into the water. Some of the older girls were great organizing games for all of them to play. I think they would have stayed there happily all day. We had never been to Kernville before, and really enjoyed it. It was a perfect afternoon and we all had a lot of fun.

I know we did fun things the rest of the week, but at this point I have no idea what they were because I didn’t take any pictures until Friday. If the fun we had was with you, and you’re reading this, please don’t feel unloved, I just have the world’s worst memory!

Friday morning we went to a presentation at the museum about tortoises and other desert dwelling amphibians. We took some friends with us, and met a bunch more there. The kids loved the presentation and will tell you all they know about poisoness snakes and tortoises any time you’re interested.

Then we headed up to hike Short Canyon and see the wild flowers. It was a harder hike than some of the little kids really wanted to do, but we still had a lot of fun enjoying the hot desert sun. They all really love climbing on rocks, every where we go. And of course being together. After this rock climbing picture the littler kids went back down to the cars while the more adventurous went on. Helaman decided to be a hiker at the last minute, and worked really hard to keep up with everyone. He loves exploring, and I was really proud of him for working so hard at it when it was difficult for him. I sure love my kids!

Saturday we got to go on another train ride with our friend Cole. We were supposed to meet them there, but we are always slow to get going on Saturday, so they had already ridden quite a bit by the time we got there, but they went around with us again. My kids love the trains, and Isaiah asks to go ride a train almost every day. I’m grateful for friends who invite to come share the joy of their hobbies. It really is amazing what people do with the model trains.

And as the culmination of our Spring Break we went to hear a Mexican band in the park at the college. Isaiah and Helaman had a lot of fun dancing to the music and climbing a little hit next to the band. Isaiah would climb to the top of the hill and do his funny marching dance for all the world to see. He was cracking us up.

I loved spending so much fun time with my kids during spring break. It’s silly that we have it so early here, but I’m glad it was still cool enough for us to have so much outdoor fun. I can’t wait to have all summer to spend playing with them. Hooray for family time!

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Mt. Whitney

I’m way behind blogging about our adventures this summer. We’ve been doing and going and having a lot of fun I don’t want to forget. So for the sake of posterity (and avoiding cleaning the bathrooms) I’m going back to May and catching up, starting with our trip to Mt. Whitney on May 15th.

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Hiking Feather Falls

Michael, Tara, & Ava had so much fun hiking Feather Falls last weekend, my mom and I and our friend Cynthia decided to give it a go. Omar volunteered to watch the boys, but because we were going to be gone so long I decided it was probably better to take Isaiah with me. Tara let me borrow her backpack, and we were on our way.

The hike was beautiful! I didn’t realize how lush the foothills really are. It reminded me a lot of Washington. There was even moss growing on the trees. There were lots of beautiful wildflowers (My mom had to stop and take pictures of each one) as well.

It felt good to go so much exercise and enjoy the nature. Some of the views are very awe-inspiring, and God is definitely in the mountains. I had a religion teacher at BYU say that God uses mountains when there is no temple available, and I believe it.

Isaiah was a really good boy for almost the whole hike. He slept a lot of the way in to the falls, and part of the way out. For the last 2.5 miles he was done being in the backpack, though. So grandma and I took turns carrying him the rest of the way out.

Cynthia, Mom, and I finally at the falls.

Isaiah being carried out the last few miles.

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