Fun with the Opfars

On our whirlwind trip to Utah we spent a few days with our Opfar cousins.

We had a fun-filled evening at Boondocks...

We went bowling...

(Christian and Tyler bowl just like Maris, they just huck the ball down the lane and hope it hits a few pins...)

We hung out and BBQ'd and visited and goofed off...

Oma and I took the kids to the open house at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

What a beautiful, sacred building.

The tent where the refreshments were had some beautiful paintings.

Here are a few photos from inside the temple (taken and released to the public, as you aren't allowed to take photos inside.)

This is the stairway. It was magnificent.

Here is a sealing room, where couples are married and families are sealed for eternity.

The temple baptismal font.

And here is the Celestial Room.

It was awesome to be able to take the kids inside to see and feel the spirit of the temple.

We had so much fun with our cousins!!

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I wanna be a cowboy

Before Tyler and I arrived in Idaho, Parker and Aliza got to go on a couple of trail rides with Papa, Uncle Max and some friends...

(sorry for the poor quality, I saved it in a low resolution...)

And then Tyler and Parker got to ride up Moose Creek and have some fun in the snow (yes, snow)...


Liza got all ready to with them, then decided to stay down with me and grandma. On the last ride she went on, her saddle hadn't been cinched up tight and it started falling off half way up the mountain...freaked her out a little. She fell and the horse stepped on her... Then on that same ride, her horse decided to lay down in the middle of the trail. So she decided to sit this ride out.

When they got back home, Papa got her back on and had her ride around. He didn't want her to be like her mommy and refuse to ride anymore cuz she was scared. (Last time I rode I got bucked off. I decided that I was pretty much done with riding!!) So he and Parker sat on the fence and talked while Aliza rode around the pasture for a while.

Parker earned his horsemanship merit badge while we were there.

Good job, Parker!

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Adventures in Lawn-mowing

Since there is a 5 minute break in the rain today, Maris decided to mow down the jungle that is quickly forming in our yard because of all the rain. I pulled the 5 million teeny weeds that have sprouted up in the last few days, while he weed-eated. I am a little skittish while weeding, cuz you never know what is gonna jump out at you from under the bushes. Today it was just an itsy-bitsy frog, but a couple weeks ago a baby bunny jumped out of my lantana and I about peed my pants.

Maris always has this kind of luck:

This was the second one he saw in the back yard today. The first was a little bigger and took off when it saw the weed-eater approaching.
This one was not so smart, as he appears to be a little young. He was a brave one, though, hissing and striking at Maris' finger.
However, it was his aggressiveness that ultimately cost him his life. Not wanting to let a potential baby copperhead go free to grow and become a big copperhead...he got the whacker.

Poor little worm-sized baby snake.

And it turns out he was probably harmless anyway....

Let that be a warning to all snakes who choose unwisely to wander into my yard.

**UPDATE...he saw two more after this. I hope they don't think they are living at my house.

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