June Misc

Kevin thinks this is a cicada larva.

He found it while digging in dirt.

Dallin, getting back to nature, in his all-natural form

(or more accurately: streaking outside following a bath)

Bubble Bath at Grandma's House!

Because we were in the mood for chocolate cake...

At a playground in Provo

Action shot of D-boy

He LOVES slides.

Finding shade beneath a giant ponderosa

Megan learned to make bread for a PP goal.

Now we can delegate!

Meet Samantha

We got this cute hamster for our friend Sam for his 5th birthday.

(We did have his parents' permission first.)

Their first hamster died and we thought they needed a replacement.

The Shed Saga

Our lawnmower shed was built overlapping the neighbor's property line for some reason, years before we ever moved to Logan. Nobody cared about it until a new couple bought the triplex whose garage is pictured here next to our aberrant shed. Husband wanted to fix up the garage and didn't have room to do so with our shed in the way. So, would we please move it 3 feet to the north? All we needed to do was extend the cement pad a few feet and scoot it out of the way.

So Kevin dug lots of dirt, set up forms (with the help of the neighbor), poured gravel, purchased the cement, rented a small cement mixer, and poured and leveled it. It was just the project Kevin was hoping to do this summer with all his free time.

Ian's Concussion Adventure

Flashback to 17 June 2010

• 5:30 p.m. Ian's friend, Luke, comes inside and asks us to come out to the back yard because "Ian got a bit hurt." April finds Ian lying motionless on his right side on the ground next to the pond. He has blood all over the side of his head, but only one small cut about an inch from his eye. He can move his limbs and doesn't appear to have any broken bones. Luke relates how they were playing tug-of-war with a piece of bamboo and Ian fell from the tree above the pond. (Later we learn that Ian grabbed onto an apparently dead limb stump that broke off, causing him to lose balance and fall.)
• 5:40 p.m. April and Luke help Ian get into the house. Kevin and April clean up and super glue Ian's cut and further assess his condition. He shows all signs of having a concussion, but he is able to correctly answer any questions we ask (birthdate, address, phone number, how to calculate the area of a tetrahedron, etc.). We decide to wait and watch him for a while rather than immediately take him to the ER.    
• 6:00 p.m. A friend stops by and helps Kevin give Ian a Priesthood Blessing. Ian feels nauseous, so he rests on the couch while the rest of us eat dinner. Then he dozes while he and Luke watch a movie on the laptop. 
• 7:20 p.m. Ian throws up when we try to get him to walk. He can solve his Rubik's cube and still correctly answer all questions.
• 9:20 p.m. Ian throws up a second time when we try to get him to walk. He is annoyed with his parents still asking him silly questions.
• 9:45 p.m. Ian throws up a third time, so we decide that Kevin should take him to the ER to get things checked out, "just in case."
• 10:00 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Kevin and Ian spend a father/son outing at Logan Regional Hospital's ER, during which time the nurses and doctors ask him more questions to assess cognition (he checks out fine there), take a CAT scan (no apparent damage), give him anti-nausea medicine (which works like magic), conclude he has a concussion (just like his parents' assessment), and send him home with instructions to limit physical activity for several weeks.

Morning of 18 June

Ian awakens after sleeping soundly the remainder of the night. He is hungry for breakfast and feels almost 90% better. He is not happy that April won't let him jump on trampolines, go to his karate class, wrestle,  run or jump for the following 2 weeks. He is a bit a proud of the black eye that he got from the impact, and asks us to document it with a photo journal taken over the following couple of weeks.

June 17

 June 18

 

June 19

 

 June 20

 

 June 22

 

 June 23

 June 27

 

 June 29

Mike's 40th

Kevin's childhood friend, Mike, will turn 40 on July 4th of this year.

Mike's wife, Rhonda, planned and pulled off a surprise party for him

at Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City a week before.

The Cake

Mike's mom is a caterer and made this great frog cake for the occasion.

Mike is an avid herpetologist, which is one reason why he and

Kevin were great childhood friends.

The Birthday Boy and His Wife

The Band

Yes, Grandpa Young's band was recruited to play for the occasion.

It might have had something to do with the fact that Mike's older brother

manages the sound system for them.

Childhood Mischief-Makers

Chad, Mike, Kevin, Donald

Rhett and Dennis appeared with the group later.

Dallin exploring the park and looking too cute for his own good.

Hogle Zoo Trip

While in Salt Lake City, we decided to visit the Hogle Zoo.

Dallin is the perfect age for a zoo trip--he gets very excited over animals.

Grandma Tsukamoto came along too.

We met Zuri, the baby elephant.

She was extremely cute!

We watched Zuri and her mom perform some tricks during the elephant show.

Dallin got excited over Zuri's big ball too.

Group Photo on Rhinoceros Statue

It was feeding time for the giant tortoises.

Our favorite entertainment was the amazing Bird Show.

This was a European owl.

Kevin waxes artistic with photographic composition.

We didn't agree with the name of the indoor exhibit that featured these 
adorable fruit bats: Nature's Nightmares. What is nightmarish about these cuties?

Erin had fun riding the new carousel--at least new since our last visit a few years ago.

Dallin had fallen asleep by this time, so he missed getting a ride.

Dallin continued to sleep through the giraffes...

...and made the tigers sleepy...

...along with the sloth.

They have added more gorilla sizes to the measuring chart.

Ian is as large as a female gorilla (height-wise, not weight-wise)!

Erin preferred posing by this handsome primate.

And then Kevin had a late afternoon appointment 

so we all had to leave before exploring the children's Discovery Zone. 

We'll have to go back soon.

Artistic Miniature Golf

Kevin took the family to a Social Media Club miniature golfing activity at the Salt Lake Art Center. The Contemporary Masters exhibit was a real golf course, with 18 individual artistically designed holes.

 

We did have to wear plastic shoe covers to help preserve the art.

Some were more challenging than others.

This hole was impossible....we think.

Bird's eye view

Afterwards we browsed through another art gallery.

Erin liked this wooden sculptured cat.

And on the walk back to our Suburban, we passed Symphony Hall with its fountains.

April saw that Robert Stephenson is still the principal oboist of the Utah Symphony. 

She admits to having a crush on him during her high school years. 

Why we included that tidbit of info is a mystery.

Father's Day

We took a relaxing stroll along the river trail and golf course for Father's Day.

Ian started off by finding a shed garter snake skin.

Then he caught a live garter snake that he found later on!

 

Proud Father With Offspring

The story behind Ian's black eye will be recounted in a later post.

Stay tuned!