My Dad is da Bomb!

My Dad is da Bomb--posted by Jacob Down while in NYC this week!

Happy Birthday Steve!!

Looking through my IPhoto, I realize how few and far between pictures of Steve have been, mainly because few and far between have been sightings of Steve this past year. Here and there, off in the distance, we caught a few glimpses. Wishing him a Happy Birthday the past two years has been something we do by cell phone and FaceBook. If I was more on top of things, like Grandma Carol, I would send him a card. Anyway, I guess this little post will have to do to let him know how much we are thinking of him and how very much he is loved from far away and how much he is loved when he is home and up close and personal. Everyone is our family knows what a hard worker he is and how every day and every moment his family is at the center of everything he does. We are the recipients of far more than his frequent flyer miles. So whereever you are today, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, catching a taxi or burning incense to that bull on Wall Street and praying the guys in D.C. get their #$%^ together, know that we are thinking of you this entire weekend.

Love,

The Whole D%^n Fam

Recent Sightings

Only leave a comment if you read my other post this weekend--on Peace, Love and Rock'nRoll--you know how sensitive we all are around here!

For Heather

It has been a weekend filled with water fights, fireworks, Pokemon, The Incredible Hulk, bumper cars, sugar coated cereal, late nights, farting dogs and a couple of bandaides....poor Vivienne, now she has to tame them for Sunday!

(Zac found the picture album of when he was three--they were twinners)

Draper Days!!

This post is for Jessica and Trevor because we missed you....

The chairs have been out for a record two weeks--the anticipation has been building. The new thing on the block is the number of motorhomes staking out spots. My neighbor tried to keep a sense of humor when two families parked their motor homes on her lawn, but we all felt that building a campfire the night before was crossing the line!

Heather and the boys came the night before and we all headed to the park-thank goodness for the new extension of the Porter Rockwell Trail, it is a perfectly straight shot!

Little boys--frogs and snails and puppy dog tails!

And girls are still sugar and spice and everything nice!

The full moon could not be captured on film but it was certainly spectacular!

As Dad likes to point out.. the parade is Groundhog day--same spot, same treats, same floats, same Alta Cheerleaders, same neighbors, same politicians....I just love having something constant in my life!

Look at this picture with the little boy right above Katelyn's head. Katelyn said when the parade was over and everyone was gathering their things, the mother was instructing her children on what they should do if they ever got lost. She asked the little boy, "What do you say when someone asks you where you are from?" "Africa?" he replied. "No" she said, "Riverton!"

Swimming

Napping

And a couple oldie, goldie bands at the park, fireworks and a very late party with Zac and his Draper Dragon friends and another Draper Days has come and gone. I wonder if we need to put the chairs out for next year?

I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree...

I will always remember this summer as the summer of the pine tree! Last March, when the snow had begun to melt I was walking around the yard and discovered to my dismay that many of my pine trees appeared to have died over the winter. In the spring, an arborist came over and analyzed the situation. My trees had been plagued with scale, often called the white blight, a deadly conifer insect invasion. I often tell people that we bought the property on New Hope for the trees and were lucky to have the house come with it. I love my trees and this news was devastating. Mr. Tree Man, though, gave me hope that for a measley $6,000 dollars he may be able to save them. Knowing that it would cost that much to remove them, we took the risk and put all summer plans on hold. Needless to say, I have intertwined my life with the health of my trees the past few months. I have prayed for my trees, sung to my trees, watered my trees, talked to my trees and learned several lessons from my trees. Maybe it was not a coincidence that during the same period, I have had to begin again and recover from a few of my own "blights."

An interesting thing about struggling plants is that during stressful times such as a drought, they put forth an over abundance of seed, insuring that should they die new life will still spring forth. This spring saw a proliferation of pine cones. As I watched my trees, giving it their all, I was reminded rather that give up it was time to give it my all too. We had to fertilize regularly this year and try to replace many of the lost nutrients that the bugs had sucked from the trees needles. Fertilize regularly I remind myself--a more in depth discussion of this is on my blog colleendown.com. I have spent a great deal of my vacation time this summer sitting under a tree with gratitude for the shade and beauty they provide--I hope they feel my vibes. Things are looking up around here. I see life every time I circle the yard and as I have become more mindful, I have also seen life in the branches. Our large risky investment seems to be paying off, both for my trees and myself. It will be a vacation to remember!