Timpanogos Cave

We hiked to Timpanogos Cave and took a tour of it this past Sunday. It was a mile and a half hike up to it. In spots it's really steep, but the nice part about it is that it is all paved!

There are some really cool sights along the hike, including these hand-made tunnels and this peculiar-shaped tree.
























It took us an hour to get to the cave entrance, another hour to tour the cave, and forty-five minutes to walk back to the visitor center. It was grueling on all the muscles in the legs!!

It was so neat to see all the different rock formations in the three adjoining caves. The boys thought it was so coooool!

This is a photo of a stalactite and a stalagmite that haven't quite yet formed together.

This is a photo of cave popcorn and helectites (formations that look like worms).

The weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a great time together. This is yet another cool rock on the hike, and the only photo of all of us together.

Tolman Reunion 2008

This past weekend we went to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, Utah for the annual Tolman Reunion.

Josh's Grandpa Rex had 10 brothers and sisters, and each year they alternate turns hosting the reunion and choosing a location for it. This year it was Uncle Gerald's family's turn to host. I always laugh at Josh because every year he sits by and visits with his own immediate family!

His parents came, and his sister Tiffany and three of her children, and his brother Gideon with good friend Alyssa, and his brother Malachi. There's always ample food at the Tolman Reunion! Some of the people set out their salads and desserts early and all the little children noticed and took several rounds of desserts before dinner even started!

One of the families who camped there brought bikes and a little four-wheeler, which was a magnet for Kanyon. He loves 4-wheelers and spent half the time on that battery-operated ATV. The other half the time, the little girl who owned it realized he was on it and she would come and push him off to declare her rightful spot!

The weather was a little blustery, but the warm pools at the vacation spot felt great!

Jonah and Micah spent most of the time on the pool's sidelines even though the pool was pretty shallow!

The water tasted salty and Kanyon had a sour face whenever he accidentally swallowed some. Kanyon loved to be in the inflatable mini-boat and enjoyed being pushed around by Ammon and Dad.

Ammon could touch the bottom just fine and played with his Dad and some of his cousins..

Four Generations

We are so lucky that our children have the opportunity to know their great-grandparents. Between Josh and I, we have six grandparents still on this earth. How great is that?! It is amazing to think of the link between each generation, and the different lives that each generation have lived--our grandparents, our parents, ourselves, and our children. We have been given a legacy: the heritage of our last names, the value of family history and the knowledge of our ancestors to appreciate and honor, the opportunity to continue many loved traditions, and the teachings of life and love and truth that we have received that we will teach to our children. I am so grateful for the lives that my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents (and so on) lived! We feel proud to be a part of our Perkins and Tolman families, which includes the great last names of Perkins, Rose, Tolman, Parsons, Sorensen, Rigby, Corbett, Stockham, and many others.

Kanyon, Mom Kala, Great Grandma Rose, and Grandma Perkins. June 2008


Grandpa Perkins, Mom Kala, Kanyon, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Perkins. July 2007


Great Grandma Tolman, Jonah, Dad Josh, Kanyon, Uncle Gideon, Ammon, Micah, Grandpa Tolman, and Uncle Malachi. April 2007


This photo was taken after Kanyon's baby blessing of Dad Josh and Great Grandma Parsons. May 2007

Happy Sons Day!

Happy Sons Day to my fantastic four: Ammon, Kanyon, Jonah, and Micah!

Last year on Mother's Day, Ammon asked when "Sons Day" was. I told him that Sons Day is Every Day, 365 days a year! Well, this year on Mother's Day, he asked again.

"When is Sons Day?" he asked me.
"There is no such day" I told him.
"Well, if Mothers have a day and Fathers have a day, then I think Sons should have a day."
Hmmmmm, I thought about it for a minute and replied "Okay, we'll have a Sons Day."

At the beginning of summer, I usually buy the boys their summer sandals. So I decided that this year, instead of "Let's go buy our summer sandals today Day", I would make it be the occasion of "Sons Day". So the day after school got out, and it was officially summer, I told them it was "Sons Day". Ammon thought that was perfect, since it was in between Mothers and Fathers Day. He got to go golfing with dad, Jonah and Micah got to play at a friend's house, and Kanyon got to spend some time alone with me. I purchased the 3 older boys a new set of Crocs in the color they wanted. They also got a candy bar of their choice. So there we have it: Sons Day 2008. Although, to me, it still sounds like every other day of the 365 days a year!!!

Another year bites the dust!

The end of the school year was this past week. Here's photos of Ammon, Micah, and Jonah by their school cubbies:


We went to Jonah and Micah's Preschool Graduation on Wednesday. They presented a very cute musical program. I knew Jonah wouldn't participate because he doesn't like to sing. But the night before the performance, Micah sang every song to me. He was so excited about graduation. He wanted me, dad, Ammon, Grandma and Grandpa T, Grandma and Grandpa P., and our friends Roberta & Tina to all come watch him. Me, dad, and Roberta went to the graduation, and Josh said it's probably a good thing nobody else did and I'll tell you why. There were 17 kids graduating. Jonah and Micah were in the center. They did not sing or do any actions the ENTIRE time. They are SOOO shy, especially Micah. When he saw all those parents and people he didn't know, he didn't want to sing anymore. And, like I said, Jonah doesn't like singing. So much for bragging about my kids at graduation! I was so embarrassed, but several parents came up after and told me how adorable my twins were. They were all probably thinking "at least it wasn't my kid"! In this photo, Micah and Jonah are the ones toward the middle in the green and blue shirts sitting quietly while everyone else is following their teacher doing the "Mean as a Shark" movement with their hands.

Ammon's second grade class ended their year on Thursday with a Readers' Theater. They performed four short plays in their classroom for their parents. He was the narrator in two of the plays. He doesn't like to be in front of people either, and chose the part of narrator so that he could just read without trying to act as well. He is an excellent reader and it was so fun to see their little productions! This is a photo of him when he was narrating "The Reluctant Dragon".

This past school year went by in a flash! It still doesn't even feel like school is out, although we are all very excited for the summer! (refer to the top ten list of summer activites on our blogsite) Congrats to Jonah and Micah for completing their second year of PreSchool! And Three Cheers to Ammon for completing the second grade, finishing at the top of his class, and also receiving 100% attendance for the entire year as well!!

Baby Magic?!

My littlest boy left a surprise for me in my nightstand drawer yesterday morning, a little bit of BABY MAGIC!!!


Kanyon is a little pack rat. He loves to pick up any item in the house that will fit in his hands, and transport it to a different part of the house. In particular, he places the objects in drawers or behind doors. This is a fork left in the bathroom drawer!


None of my other children have ever done this! It's good and it's bad. Good because it always makes me happy and smile and laugh when an object is surprisingly found in an unusual location. Like this photo: I couldn't figure out where all the forks were, and then I discovered them along with some bowls by the telephone stand. He had taken the opportunity to empty part of the dishwasher for me!


It's bad, because if you can't find something-you never know WHERE to look; the object could be anywhere in the house! I found some BINGO gamepieces we were searching for the other day in the bathroom closet. I found some fingernail polish in one of my shoes last week. We think maybe he threw one of our phones in the garbage, because we still can't find it! Not to mention his fascination with throwing things in the toilet. In this photo, it's his bathtoys. But it's also been garbage, his pacifier, and the toilet paper roll.


Yesterday morning, I was laying in bed, and I kept hearing the hamper lid open and shut, open and shut. This is what we found:


When I emptied the hamper, this is how many items he had thrown in!!! That's our baby boy! Always producing the "Baby Magic": he makes things disappear, and then they magically reappear!!!


He is SO happy when he is producing his "Baby Magic" and loves his new role as the Official Family Possessions Courrier!

The gift that keeps on bridging!

We live on the Tolman Ranch in Salmon right next door to Josh's parents. A large irrigation ditch designates the boundaries and separates the two yards. When we first moved into this house 6 years ago, the bridge across it was a broken narrow wooden plank. Josh and his dad replaced that with an old beam that was pulled from a torn-down old farm building. It was a lot more stable, but still only about 18 inches wide. Multiple times a year, kids would accidentally fall off of it into the water. Over the years, it began to rot. For Christmas this year, Josh surprised me with a new 3-foot-wide bridge that he built all by himself. It is so beautiful! It has a slight arch, and a hand rail, and he stained it to match the hand-built fence surrounding our yard. He made it during the winter at the shop at the golf course, so I had no knowledge about it. He even moved it into place across the ditch one day near Christmas when I wasn't home. When I drove up the driveway and saw it, I was so ecstatic! Josh has always been the best gift-giver and is extremely good at keeping secrets. Everyone who comes to the house comments on the beautiful new bridge, and now we even have plans for him to make another one identical to it on the opposite end of the yard where a narrow wooden plank still sits. We have all enjoyed it, especially Kanyon. We love to sit on the bridge in the summer and put our feet in the cool water on hot days, and because of its width it has already saved us from slipping off it and falling into the ice this winter! I LOVE it! It's the simple things in life that bring us joy, so I wanted to share my thoughts about this Bridge of Bliss with you!!!

This is just like the bridge we had before.

This is our bridge now! Isn't it beautiful?!! Our yard is on the right, and Grandma & Grandpa's is on the left.

Baseball...it was a HIT!!!

Spring is here! And that, for Ammon, means baseball! This year, Josh and I coached his team. Ammon is in the league between T-ball and minor league. For the 7-8 year olds, the coach pitches to the kids. Josh was a great pitcher and a super coach!

I was in charge of organizing the batting line-up and the out-field positions, which worked out perfect for me because I had to manage Jonah, Micah, and especially Kanyon as well! Interesting note: Ammon is right-handed when he writes, and left-handed for sports (baseball, golf).

Ammon is a great little player! It was a fun season and we had a great time seeing the kids on our team improve over the 6 weeks. But we are just as glad that the season has ended! Our life seemed to be scheduled around those twice-a-week games!

My Husband...the Politician?

Last October, we had some issues with the school board member that represented our area. She misrepresented us, and it really upset us. The school bus route that covered our area was completely removed, and nobody in the area knew. We fought with the school board for 2 months before we finally came to a compromise. That battle started a fire in my husband. Ever since the start of the school year, he has gone to every public school board meeting except for two. He decided last fall that he wanted to be on the school board. Our school board member representative's term is expiring. So, Josh is running against another fellow for the 3 year spot. It's quite a commitment and there's a lot of heated issues going on in the school district right now: new administration, teacher's jobs being cut, a new building being proposed, major bus concerns, as well as the regular disciplinary and personnel and budget issues. I'm so proud of him for taking a stand to better the schools for our children. I'm so glad that he is willing to make this sacrifice on his personal life (and, might I add, Monday night football in the fall--since the school board meetings are on Monday nights). I am so happy that instead of whining and complaining about things that are happening, he wants to be an active force. Because, if you want change, do something about it! And he's trying to do just that! The school board election is today, and I'm nervous and anxious for him! If he makes it, it will be a large commitment on ALL our part. Three years is a long time, and there will be lots of meetings and time away from home. It requires a lot of dedication, but he's proven that he's willing to go the distance, and we are too!!!

First Camping Trip 2008

We couldn't wait to go camping! All winter long, the children kept asking "when can we go camping?" or "is it time to go camping yet?" and the answer would always be "We will go camping after Easter AND after the snow has melted!" So, sure enough, the day after we returned from our Easter excursion to Utah, they all thought it was time to go! Apparently they forgot about the second part of "Before we go camping...." because the snow hadn't melted yet!! So we waited for two weeks, and on the first weekend in April, we took the kids camping at Challis Hot Springs. It's an hour's drive down the canyon, and a little more pricey than what we usually pay to go camping, but it was well worth it! It was so awesome! We went with some friends and had a great time chilling, visiting, and swimming together! As soon as we got home, the questions started all over again "When can we go camping again" and "How long before the next time we go camping?" Apparently not soon enough!

Micah, Kimi, Kanyon, Kala, and Ammon enjoying the heated pool. Jonah (not in picture) was sitting on the steps, afraid to come in all the way!

Kanyon after swimming in the warm pool for the first time. He didn't want to take off his swim shorts. He loved to be swimming!

Jonah and Micah playing with sticks and dirt at our campsite by the river.

Josh visiting with Kimi and Kerry next to our trailer and truck.

Ammon spent a lot of time in his cousin Ellie's trailer. He was part of their family for the weekend: he ate with them, played with them, swam with them, slept with them...

Kala and Amy. Kala-the unshowered one and Amy-the newly showered one.

WARNING! This is what unattended Camping Bed Head looks like! EWWW!!!