Kevin Turns 40 Years Old!!!

Kevin entered this world on 14 December 1970--four decades ago.

This milestone birthday gave us an excuse to throw him a SURPRISE PARTY!

The trick was keeping it a secret, but amazingly we were able to pull it off on a Friday night.

Many thanks go to the Whitings for help with the planning and for providing a hide-out for the cakes and decorations.

Thank you to all who came and brought food and good wishes for Kevin.

We had a potluck dinner with soups, rolls, salad, chips and cake.

 

 

 Guests were treated to this great party game:

 ...and a black pinata, which Erin was very excited about.

There was much eating and socializing.

Friends from work came...

Former neighbors came...

 

Even our famous friend, Dale, who climbed Mount Everest came!

And more friends!

We missed all the family members who weren't able to make it from SLC area

due to the unpredictable weather.

Kevin was embarrassed to have such a big fuss made over HIM,

but he had a fun evening with everyone.

We Interrupt Our Blogging Hiatus to Bring You This Important Announcement

Kevin has accepted a full-time teaching position as a Professor of Biology here:

Which means we will be a few minutes from where we can catch these critters...

...and these critters.

We'll be 3 hours from this cute family...

...a Grandpa...

 

 

...and this great beach.

Kevin reports to work January 5, 2011.

Wish us luck finding housing, packing up, and relocating within about a month's time.

Stargazing and Horse Adventures

Annual Perseid Meteor Shower

We made a spur-of-the-moment trip up Logan Canyon with the Whitings 

(some of our friends who are adventurous enough to join us in our crazy outings);

Sadly, the show wasn't as spectacular as in previous years.

We must have missed the peak night or perhaps the shower

peaked later than we stayed.

 29th Ward Annual Horse Riding Party

A very kind sister in the ward who owns horses hosts an annual ward party

where the children are able to ride her horses around the corral.

Since we are now in the 29th Ward, we were invited.

Needless to say, there were some excited family members.

Megan got to help lead the horses around. She had a great time!

 All the children had to wait patiently in line for a turn.

Dallin rode with Ian for his first ride.

Then he got to ride again with Dad.

We ate a potluck dinner too.

 

Then we came home and finished packing for our upcoming desert adventure.

County Fair

One of our family traditions is to visit the Cache County Fair each August.

The cows said, "Moo!"

The sheep said, "Baa!"

We watched a sheep get its wool shaved off.

The chickens said, "Cluck, cluck!"

(Dallin has loved chickens ever since we helped feed 

the Crook's chickens during the Pioneer Trek.)

Unique Pigeon Variety

Erin begged to go on one of the rides, and she chose the carousel.

Megan entered 2 drawings in the art competition,

and her white charcoal jaguar cub won Best of Show for the Middle School Division!

Her other entry was the colored pencil horse drawing in the lower corner.

The children always like to sit on the farm equipment on display.

Dallin wasn't quite big enough for this one!

Posing in the giant tires!

Apricot Adventures

Aunt Nancy's apricot tree had a bountiful crop this year.

We picked enough to replenish our syrup, jam, and leather supplies

as well as share some with friends.

 Yes, Ian's mother gave him repeated requests to be careful

and not fall off the ladder and hit his head again.

 Nancy and Tanya pitched in too.

Luscious crop!

 Self-portrait of Ian

Dallin's job was to sit on large rocks and look cute.

Ian practiced taking close-up photos of some of Nancy's beautiful flowers.

Don't ask us the names of these--we're lacking in our botanical education.

Adventures with Raspberries

This year the Crooks' raspberries were overly abundant, and they generously shared with us.

Ian helped April pick them.

 

It took a long time to get enough for a batch of jam.

But it was definitely worth the effort.