Crawdading with the Youth

On Wednesday we took the youth to Clay Creek for a combined mutual activity. We played in the creek, caught crawdads and had a cookout. Most of the boys did the crawdad catching while some rode the waves down the creek and the girls walked around in the water.
I recall catching crawdads, frogs and other such animals at the creek behind our school when I was a kid. It was always so much fun so, Kristan and I decided we wanted to try to catch a crawdad too. We started turning over rocks and squinting through the roiling water. I found a really big rock I was sure had crawdads hiding under it, Kristan and I worked together to turn over the rock. A crawdad about the size of my middle finger came lurching out and headed straight for my toes. I booked it in the opposite direction while my friends laughed. Apparently I am not as courageous as I once was.
After we had many buckets full of crawdads, we started boiling water to cook them and the hot dogs we brought. Many of the youth ate the crawdads, even Kristan and I partook of the delicacy. They look like mini lobsters and you only eat their tails. We each took one and broke off the tail. I didn't like the way the shell felt, but I soldiered on. After you break off the tail, you clean out the stomach and other innards, then peel off the shell. Once free of its encasing, it looks kind of like shrimp and is only about an inch long. The flavor? Kind of like thawed and cooked shrimp. Not really much of a flavor but it was fun to try it. Guess if I am ever lost in the woods near a creek and need nourishment I can eat crawdads, provided I don't run away from found crawdad like a little sissy. Yeah, I should probably stick to berries.

Bishop Hansen and some boys looking for crawdads.

The boys riding the waves.

More of our crawdad hunters.

Looking for crawdads.

Nimbly running away from scary crawdad.

Haley, Lea, Natallie and Kaeley.

More youth getting crawdads.

Bishop, Kristy, and Brittany relaxing
while waiting for the water to boil.

Checking out all the buckets of crawdads.

So many crawdads.

See? Mini lobsters!

Here is mine.

Kristan and me eating our bite of crawdad.
After all that, all you have left is a little piece of meat.

Keeping Cool in the Pool

It has been pretty hot here lately. The girls have been staying cool by playing in the pool. When it is really sunny, we open the awning so they are under cover. They both love playing in the water and ask to get in every morning.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my birthday and I turned...well, let's just say I am another year older. My loving family bought me some wonderful gifts including: hiking boots, hiking socks, warm fuzzy socks, a cute shirt, and some very snazzy cowboy boots. After opening gifts, we took the girls to a friends house for a play date while we went out. M took me to Beppe and Gianni's for a delicious Italian dinner. I have heard a lot about this place, but this is the first time we were able to check it out. It was a cute little restaurant inside an old house near campus. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere relaxing. After dinner we had a slice of chocolate coconut cake, which was very good and oh so rich. We were unable to finish it. Sorry there are no pictures, I forgot my camera. But take my word for it, you should check it out.

Ready for my romantic dinner with M.

The girls with their gifts for me.

My fuzzy socks from K.

A new cartridge for my Slice from my Auntie.

My new hiking boots. Bring on those falls!

My hip new cowboy boots. Aren't they gorgeous?!!?

Beautiful flower basket from Cyndi.

All my gifts and cards, including the cute shirt M picked out for me.

Butte Creek Falls

We went to Butte Creek Falls while we were visiting our family up near Silverton. Grandma and Kendra came along for the hike. M and I had been to this fall about 8 years ago and I remembered it being pretty, yet treacherous to get to. The trail has been greatly improved since then, there are even some cute little bridges to cross sections safely. We went to the upper falls first, admiring and taking pictures of it. Then we hiked to the lower fall which is also beautiful, however the tail ends on a very high and narrow butte which could be quite detrimental if you fell off. Grandma, the girls and I stayed safely in the middle sitting on a rock. Kendra and my dare-devil husband sauntered off down the steep cliff of the butte trying to find a closer view of the falls. At one point, Kendra felt she couldn't continue down further so she headed back to us. M felt he could find a way if he tried hard enough, so he continued down to another fall and watering hole he found. Luckily, after getting to the very bottom, he was able to make it all the way back to us unscathed.

Upper Butte Falls

Here is a side view M took.
I thought it looked lovely.

Here is a view from behind the fall.

Our little family.

Lower Butte Falls

Kendra near the falls after climbing
down the butte.

Here is what they climbed down.
Do you see a trail? Neither do I.

Here are the two other falls they found after
climbing down the butte side. They wanted to
go further, but didn't see a way to get back up.

Grandma, the girls and I are at the very
top of this butte. We were sitting on the ground
near the tallest tree you see on the right hand side.

M after making it to the very bottom.
You can't tell from here, but this is a very
beautiful clean area that would be fun to swim in.

All of us waiting patiently at the top for
our brave adventurer to return.

On the way back we found this cute
little seat carved out of a stump.

A perfect place for a photo.

I Like to Ride my Tricycle

L has really gotten the hang of riding her tricycle in the past week. She was a riding machine this weekend at Grandma's and was able to steer around any obstacle. She even negotiated her way through Papa's legs. She spent most of her time riding her trike. Another great milestone reached.

She looks so proud of herself.

Church Water Fight

It has been very hot here lately, in the upper 80's to mid 90's. To help with the heat and get the kids out of the house, some of the mom's at church organized a water fight in the church's field. There were quite a few kids who came and there were tons of water balloons. At first it was total chaos, but then we got the kids to all sit in a circle and see how many balloons we could get passed around the circle without popping them. After a while we just let them go at it and have a huge water fight. All the balloons were gone in about 2 minutes flat, but they had fun. When they were all done, Margaret brought out the otter pops and those who picked up twenty pieces of balloon and brought them to her, got to have one. I thought that was an ingenious way to get the kids to pick up all the litter the fight had left behind.

All the kiddos in a circle.

L passing a balloon to her old Nursery leader.

K taking a balloon.

K in the middle of the balloon fight.
She didn't get a drop on her!

Chaos of a fight-L is in the bottom centerish.

What a great shot! The pictures not so bad either.

K eating her otter pop.

L really enjoyed her otter pop.