byufan.net » The Daily Grind

Spring Flower pictures

Nancy — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 19:28:31 +0000

I like to go around my yard in the spring taking pictures of the pretty flowers in my yard. Here are a few for you to look at:

Daffodils

‘Tis the Season

Brian — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 01:30:07 +0000

My kids have been asking me since before Thanksgiving when we were going to put up Christmas lights. The problem with Christmas lights is that I’m completely afraid of heights and can’t bear to get up on our roof again after the first time I put lights up several years ago. Last year I bought new lights but couldn’t bring myself to put them up. This year I found a great neighbor who isn’t afraid of heights and volunteered to climb up to the highest part of the roof (thanks Aaron!). While he was on the peak of the roof, I used the ladder to put the lights up around the lower portion of the roofs. In about a half hour we had the job done.

Thank goodness for good neighbors

We also decided to take a Christmas picture today. After about 10 different takes this was the best one we could come up with. Not sure what Diana is grumping about but everyone else is smiling…

Christmas 2010

Goodbye to Gardening

Nancy — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:13:04 +0000

Since it is supposed to get to the freezing point tonight I decided it was time to get rid of all of the tomato plants. It was hard work especially because we had at least ten plants. Most of the tomatoes were still green, but I heard that they will ripen okay inside so I decided to pick them all and get rid of all the vines. As you can tell by the picture I could not fit all of them into our garbage can. Instead I have to leave them in the middle of the garden until little by little they will get to the landfill. Here are the pictures of my labors……….

It doesn’t look like much, but it took me all morning to get it done!

Now I just have to wait for them to turn red!

We also had a very good crop of raspberries this year. I tried to tie the raspberry bush up using twine, but I didn’t buy very strong stuff so here is the result.

We did get lots of yummy raspberries which we turned into yummy raspberry muffins!

Fathers and Sons

Brian — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:48:09 +0000

This year our ward did a Fathers and Sons campout in the mountains outside Fairview, Utah. Given that camping isn’t my favorite thing, and given the fact that we had recently been camping, I wasn’t really thrilled about going; however, Sam was looking forward to it and I certainly have fond memories of going to Fathers and Sons campout with my dad when I was a boy so I wanted him to have those same memories. It’s odd how something that seemed so much fun when I was a kid doesn’t seem all that much fun anymore when I’m an adult. In our family we call those type of things “corner window” experiences – in honor of Grandpa Kent.

The plan was for each family to cook their own dinner while the ward would supply breakfast. I kind of enjoyed cooking with the dutch oven when we were camping so I thought I would give it another try. This time I planned to cook up some hot dogs and baked beans. When we got to the campground, I noticed all the other dads had brought KFC, Chick-Fil-A, Subway sandwiches and potato chips. I felt like a dork as I spent an hour cooking dinner while everyone else ate their pre-made dinners and ran off to play on the zip-line. In the end, my dutch oven pork and beans were a total flop. They took forever to cook so we ended up eating in the dark, they had no taste – very bland, and Sam ate his fill of everyone’s left over potato chips before dinner was even ready. Oh well, lesson learned. Next time it’s Chick-Fil-A and potato chips for us.

Sam’s favorite thing on the campout was riding the zip-line. All the boys lined up and took turns. They zipped over and over again until it was too dark to see and the missionary couple that runs the campground shut down the zipline for the night.

Sam on the zip line

My favorite thing about the campout was teasing Sam about the bears. There were signs all over warning that it was bear country and to be careful about leaving food out. Sam took this to heart and was very concerned about bears in the night. I had brought a tent in case Sam wanted to sleep in it but he was too concerned about bears ripping up the tent so we slept in the back of the minivan (which I prefer anyway). He was also concerned that bears would break into the car to eat us. He thought that maybe after dark we should just head home instead of risking the possibility of encountering a bear at the campground. I told him a bear wouldn’t attack us in the car when there were so many other guys in tents that were easier pickings. That seemed to satisfy him.

In the end we didn’t see a bear but we did see a deer walk right through the middle of our camp:

Not a bear

Summer day at Sugarhouse Park

Nancy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:08:28 +0000

I noticed that I haven’t posted these pictures yet. When the kids were still out of school we decided to go to downtown Salt Lake City. We wanted to go to the DUP(Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) museum, but it was closed for construction. I did not want to pay for parking so we decided to go to Sugarhouse park, have a picnic and play. It was a pretty windy day, so as soon as we were done with lunch the bigger girls decided it was more fun to read a book in the car than to go play. So I took the other three kids and we had fun on the playground and at the stream.

2010 Spring Recital

Brian — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:42:15 +0000

The girls did a good job on their Spring Recital this year. Our only wish is that they would memorize their pieces.

Caroline played Sky Blue and New Orleans Celebration by Faber

Caroline

Emily played the first movement (allegro) of Concerto No. 3 in F major (Autumn) from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Cherished Moments by Jon Schmidt

Emily

Anne played the second movement of Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven and Fantasia in D Minor by Mozart

Anne

Spring time in Utah

Brian — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:05:37 +0000

Snow on May 24? You gotta be kidding me

All I can say is, I’m glad I haven’t put out my tomato plants yet.

Diana’s Kindergarten Mother’s Day Program

Nancy — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:30:56 +0000

For mother’s day this year all the kindergarten classes got together to do a program for their mothers. We were off track at the time so I had to drive Diana to school instead of sending her on the bus. Diana has been excited the past month or so because they have been practicing the songs they were going to sing. Some of the songs she would sing at home while she watched TV or played with her barbies. She did a very good job singing although one of the songs she didn’t sing. I asked her when we go home why she didn’t sing the one song and she told me, “I didn’t like that song mom!” Boy was I not smart to know that!

2010 Spring Kindergarten Program

Brian — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:22:12 +0000

Diana’s Kindergarten class put on a Spring Program. Nancy went to this and was the videographer so she’ll have to comment on it.

UPDATE: 07/03/2010 – Turns out is was a Mother’s Day Program and Nancy already wrote about it here:

Anne’s Spring Band Concert 2010

Brian — Sat, 15 May 2010 22:09:27 +0000

Anne has been bugging me to put up the video of her Spring Band Concert. She has really enjoyed playing percussion this year and is one of only 2 girls in 7th grade percussion. She is looking forward to Symphonic Band next year and marching band when she gets into High School.

Part 1

They really are pretty good for a 7th grade band and her band teacher must be a saint to put up with a whole room full of knuckleheads. I happen to know that the band teacher is single and as I was watching the concert I had the brilliant idea that maybe we should line up Miss Band Teacher with a certain single uncle of Anne’s. I asked Anne what she thought of the idea and she wasn’t keen on it. I sent single uncle an email asking him what he thought of the idea and got no response back. Come to think of it, I have no idea how I would broach the topic to Miss Band Teacher even if single uncle was amenable. So much for my match making skills.

Part 2