Making Money

 "Mom, I'm going to sell cake at my yard sale."

That's how I found out she was having a yard sale.  I normally would let her make a cake with my supervision so she gets experience, but not this time.  I volunteered to make the cake, the main reason being that I just cleaned the kitchen and I could make a cake with minimal mess.  So, she got the rest of her yard sale ready and I baked her a cake.  She put various things for sale, asking me first if it would be okay, but in the end she didn't make as much money as she had hoped she would.  I think she made 2 or 3 dollars.  But, that's more than she started out with, so I count it as a win.

 The cake was the best seller, but we still had plenty left over for us- chocolate cake with whip cream and crumbled homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Yummy yum.  Her friends bought some cake, but she gave them a deal, which ate into her profits.

I just love that she tried to earn money when she wanted it.  Go Amara!

One Last Day In Payson, A Hike To Grotto Falls

 April watched our kids in Payson while we were on our anniversary, and we spent one more day with her before we headed back to our home.  April took us on the coolest hike- tall shady trees, crossing lots of mini bridges, and quite possibly the shortest hike with the biggest pay off- Grotto Falls up Payson Canyon.  I love this hike!  It's so pretty.

Another thing I got pics of was my adorable nephew going to his t-ball practice.

 They held the practices on the tennis courts with the parents as helpers.  I've never seen it done like that before.  Kinda cool.  I just wish we could've stayed a little longer to actually see one of Devon's games.

Our 13th Anniversary - Day 6 (and my Dad's birthday gift)

 The Anniversary Inn in Logan is a fun stay.  Our breakfast was yummy.  We had berry yogurt parfaits, 2 drinks each, and an entree- Steve got the ham and cheese stuffed crossaint and I got the omelette with toast and jam.  Mine was good, but next time I'm getting the crossaint like Steve.  That looked GOOD!

Our room was a tree house with a bed on the platform, and the shower was a waterfall and there was a jetted tub, and the mini fridge in the wall had sparkling cider and 2 slices of cheesecake!  It was a cool room- plus there was a light switch that would turn on a bunch of fiber optic lights in the ceiling around the bed at night that made it twinkle like sleeping beneath the stars.  I got in on the deal of the month, so we got to stay here for $99!  Score!

I'm not sure how well the video below will work, but I tried to give a tour around our room before we left the place for good.

It was a perfect stay for a perfect 13th anniversary!  Many thanks goes to my sister and her family for caring for our children so we could take such a fun and exciting anniversary adventure.  It was blissful and we loved spending that time together!

This last day of our anniversary vacay also happened to be my dad's birthday, and I had purchased a hand-carved walking stick for him, since it spoke to me at the Farmer's Market in Logan, literally calling out my dad's name.  Well, almost literally.  It even has a hidden spike at the bottom, you know, in case you need a spike when you're hiking.  April thought he should pose with it as if he were climbing a mountain- which he did a fabulous job as you can see below.

Then, I just wanted a normal photo of him, which he also posed for very nicely.

Our 13th Anniversary - Day 5

It was Sunday, and after church, we took a scenic drive into Idaho, passing the hometown of Ezra Taft Benson (quaint and extraordinarily beautiful), and stopping off at a state park of some sort to go on a nature hike together.  We decided to take pictures of flowers and butterflies.  Nature never ceases to make me feel closer to God!

 Steve gave me one of his fancy cameras and taught me how to use it, and we went shooting together.  I tried to take a picture of each new wildflower I came across.

I love this flower.  I'm not sure if Steve or I took this photo, but who cares?  Look at those gorgeous colors!  

Here's Steve in his safari-like-keep-the-sun-off-my-mullet hat.  He wears it anytime he's out in the sun.  And in case you are wondering, no, he doesn't have a mullet, he just needs protection from the sun on his translucent skin or it would burn him as quick as a spark on dry grass.

Next, we went to Blackfoot, Idaho to look for gravestones of some of my ancestors, the Fackrells.  Even though we didn't find the ones I was looking for, we found many other relations there!  I used familysearch app called Family Tree to be sure they were my relations, and sure enough, they were!

We drove back down to Logan via I-15, and that drive was VERY PRETTY!  I thought we were driving through the green hills of Scotland!  We checked into our last over-night stay, the Anniversary Inn's Swiss Family Robinson room.  I'll show you around the place in the next blog post.

Our 13th Anniversary - Day 4

 The sunlight from the window brightened the room and cast a romantic glow on our morning meal that was placed atop an authentic, aged, pioneer-built table, the light fragrance of the lilac blooms adding to the ambiance. We had slept in a bit before we made our breakfast, and to our delightful surprise, our hosts brought us over a warm plate of cinnamon rolls.  Our omelettes that morning had sauteed mushrooms and onions, and we had some of the sweet, homemade raspberry jam on our toast.    This was our last few hours at this cabin on the Bear Lake beach, and it was wonderful.  It was time to pack up and head back down Logan canyon to stay a couple more nights.  We would have stayed longer in Bear Lake, but we only had so much money to spend, and the cabin was booked for the weekend.

On our way out of town, we stopped to take a picture of Zips, a memorable, yet casual eating experience that we really enjoyed the day before.

There were beautiful vistas as you crest the hill leading into Logan Canyon, overlooking the Bear Lake valley.  Everything was so green still, and the temperature was so pleasant.

When we got to Logan, we decided to visit some of the recommended sites.  First stop- Gossner's Factory for flavored milk.  We ended up buying a variety of flavored shelf-stable milks including cookies and creme, orange cream, strawberry, chocolate, and my favorite, root beer float milk.  We kept them in our car, since they don't need refrigeration until you break the seal, and brought them back as tasty souveniers to share with our kids.

We walked the grounds of the Logan temple.  It is very castle-like in it's appearance.

And we also visited a little local zoo that was shady and had plenty of neat animals to see.

Steve could jump as far as a kangaroo rat, which is to say, a little farther than a bullfrog, but not as far as a jackrabbit.

Dusting off my hat that fell off when I jumped.  I only made it as far as a bullfrog.

These painted rocks are really cool and I thought I'd use them as inspiration for an art activity with my kids sometime.

This duck liked Steve and let him get really close.

This turtle was quite active while we were there.

This one had a cool head design.

This peacock was SHOWING OFF!  It was so cool to watch it come and spread it's feathers and strut in circles.

This Emu wasn't afraid of us.

It's not everyday you see an Emu, a Pelican, and a Reindeer in the same field!

We bought some duck food pellets and fed some to these little ducklings, and gifted the rest to some kids to continue feeding the ducks.

All those activities made for a full, fun afternoon.  We ended up going out to eat and catching a movie before we finally made it back to our little basement room we rented earlier that week on airbnb.  Another great day together!