Horses, Rocks, Turning Seven & Starting School

Last weekend we took a little trip down to Torrey, Utah. It's a very small town right outside of Capital Reef National Park. My Aunt JaNae and Uncle Ted live there and also help out at a ranch nearby where they board JaNae's horse. The ranch has an addition in the back of the barn that is a little apartment they rent out. So for three days we called the barn home. We left Friday, the five of us, plus my mom, Sherri. She was going to stay at JaNae's house since Ted was out of town and do some catching up. That night three more family members showed up, Tom's brother Kurtis, his sister Maren and her husband Tim. When we first arrived we went to dinner at Slacker's. A little burger joint and one of maybe five restaurants in the whole town. We did a little birthday party for Lily that night since the whole purpose of the trip was for her seventh birthday on Sunday.
After a quick nights sleep (of course the kids wouldn't go to bed good that night and then were up early the next day) we got up and while we waited for my mom and aunt to show up we played some card games. The kids were so excited to ride Old Oxbow, the sweetest grandpa horse you've ever seen. When it was time to ride the horse, we first brushed him, cleaned his feet, etc. The kids loved helping and Cedric couldn't get enough of the broom. Aunt JaNae gave Lily some quick pointers. The birthday girl got to ride first. Here's Cedric with his Uncles and Aunt looking on. Then Jeff took a turn and was the first to get the horse to lope. And even "stick-out-his-tongue" Cedric rode all by himself. While I was taking a turn on Oxbow, Tim was trying a turn on stubborn, bossy Nikki. She was not going take orders from him if her life depended on it! Tim, having been raised with horses, was trying to show her who was boss, when she lost her footing, slipped and rolled right onto Tim's leg. Long story short, Tim ended up having a broken ankle and was unable to do anything the rest of the day. Here he is before the accident trying his cowboy hat on Cedric.
Later that afternoon the rest of us headed off to Capital Reef. We went for a beautiful walk with sandstone powder that looked like sand that came from a tropical beach, petroglyphs, hundred year old signatures in the rocks and lots of little caves. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand, and climbing into the caves.



Cedric LOVED the rocks and kept pointing to them saying "oh... ooo... wow" in his excited toddler voice. The rocks were pretty spectacular. We also saw some big-horned sheep, including a baby. And later some deer.
That night we ate at a fun little pizza joint complete with darts and the owners dog running around looking for any scraps. The kids thought it was fun, but being after 9:00 at night they were getting tired. It had been a long day. After dinner and a bath they immediately fell asleep the second their heads hit the pillow.
The next day (Lily's real birthday) we went to church at the Torrey ward, then headed home. We did take a little detour to the Big Rock Candy Mountain. We had pre-bought some candy rocks which Tom hid while the kids were distracted. He told them he knew where the special rocks were that you could eat and led them to the pile of candy. He picked one up and ate it, then gave one to each of the kids. We quickly explained the joke as to avoid any real rock eating. Lily and Jeff took some candy rocks and hid them too, then "found" and ate them.
After a long drive home (Cedric only napped about 20 minutes and cried for the last hour) I headed off to choir practice and Tom unpacked and put some tired kids to bed. We had a lot of fun that weekend and were very grateful for Aunt JaNae and her hospitality.
The next day Lily started second grade. Do you think she's excited?
She loves her teacher and everyday this week has come home saying school is awesome! I hope it stays that way as I know she struggled enjoying first grade.
I had my annual preschool open house last night and got to see several of my 32 students I'll be teaching this year. I start my three classes next week. Summer is officially over, but our Torrey trip was a great way to end.
I can't believe my baby girl is seven now! Happy Birthday Lily!