Grandpa's playground

We love to go to Idaho and visit Grandma and Grandpa Beutlers farm.  My kids look forward to our family reunion every year and this year is no exception.  We got an extra treat this year and was able to go up early to Doug's class reunion, so the kids were able to visit and play in "Grandpa's playground" before the big reunion!  Grandpa owns a farm in Dayton where he and Grandma used to milk dairy cattle and grow an assortment of crops.  He has sold off a portion of the acreage, but has kept what my kids view as the most important part, the gully.  Grandpa has a dozer and has made a circular trail through the trees next to the stream in the bottom of the gully and up along the edge of the fields, then back down to Grandpa's fish pond, which the kids love to take their motorcycles and four wheelers on.  He has made a pond where he has planted trout for the grand kids to fish.  It is a child's dream and the kids love it.  In addition to having the trails, he also has motorcycles, a four wheeler, a "put-put"  (old time) tractor (which he uses to pull 1/2 water barrels with grand kids in them) and has recently added a jeep to his collection of toys that he lets us go down to the pond in.  It is quite an adventure for us all. 

In the beginning, on the trip up it is tradition to stop at Smith and Edwards south of
Brigham City.  They have a little bit of everything, and they have some of the best treasures for the kids to
find, and the best prices on canning supplies and western wear around.
It is a must stop every trip!!!

Happiness is. . . . Cody and Mady getting along.  Cami and  Dalyon
are riding in the back of the truck on a mattress and watching movies,
and this trip I get to ride shotgun with Doug driving.   Austin usually takes this spot,
but he had to stay home thistime to take the ACT
and Eric had to stay home to work on his Eagle project. 

This is part of the trail that Grandpa has made with his dozer.  It goes in
a circle so you can get some good riding in.  There are lots of hills and
trees and dips.  It give the kids good experience on their bikes.

Dalyon standing by Grandpa's fish pond.

Dalyon climbing on his dozer, parked by the fishpond.  Grandpa and
Uncle Brett and Uncle Mike and their kids were cleaning out the pond and cutting
down old trees in preparation for the up and coming reunion.  They work very hard
so that we can all have fun.  While we were there Cody, Doug and
Dalyon helped out too!  We really appreciate all the hard work! 

More of the trail that goes around.  It is so cool and beautiful.  The
tempreture was quite cold this trip, but by July it should be just
right.  Sometimes you can see deer or other animals down here, and
always you can see their tracks. 

There must be several hard working beavers in the gully because every spring
there are various beaver dams in the stream.  Grandpa tries to get rid of them
so the water can flow better.

Cody, Dalyon, Kyle near the fish pond. 

Doug and I went down in Grandpa's jeep.  I'm not a skilled
four wheeler yet so Doug drove us through the trail, but I
jumped in the drivers seat as soon as we were up on pavement. 
I have wanted a jeep Wrangler since I went to Rick College but it never
seemed practical.  I'm grateful to Grandpa for letting me drive his. 

Here we all are in the living room watching Sunday morning cartoons before
we came home.  There is Grandma, Doug and Cami, Katie and Whitley, Cody and
Logan (new best friends), Mady on the couch in the back, and Grandpa and Lilly on
the side couch.  What a relaxing time.

Here is Grandma and cute little Whitley.  She wouldn't
come to me so I taught her to say "Hi Aunt Tonya" and blow me a
kiss instead.   I should be her favorite Aunt soon.    Hahaha

Dougs 25th Class Reunion

The West Side High School class of 1986  held their class reunion on Saturday June 11, 2011 in the Dayton Park, Dayton Idaho.  Doug and I took the four younger kids and went up to attend, leaving the kids at Grandma and Grandpa Beutlers for the day.  It had been raining a lot in southern Idaho, but the weather cleared up the the day and they had a good time.  Dougs class graduated only 33, and ten came, so that is 1/3!  When they have reunions I get to see some of my family because my brother Troy married Berni, a classmate of Dougs, and my cousin Jody married Mike, another classmate.  I'm directly related to 10% of his class!   That is funny, only in a small town! 

From top to bottom:  Kristin Matthews Oak, Nancy Green Love (Dougs cousin)
Loraine Lutz, Janet Bingham, Bernie Purser Winn (my sister-in-law), Allen Westover,
Zan Nash,
Across the bottom:  Doug Beutler, Mike Balls (my cousin-in-law), Steve Powell,

This is the view from the park over Oxford Peak.  Cache Valley is so
green and beautiful this year! 

A surprise in the flowers

As I was watering the hanging flowers on my back deck last week I got a big surprise!  A bird had made a nest in the hanging geranium and the babies were chirping for their mother.  I'm sure glad they were chirping because I may have watered them without knowing!  Mady took the pictures for me.  Soon they will be flying away, but for now we get to check on them often and enjoy them.

Tonight while I was typing this the kids were checking on them and said they have their adult feathers now.  One tried to fly out of the nest and the cat nearly got it, but we saved it and it is safe back in its nest.  That was a close one.  Whew!

Swimming in the River. . . Redneck style

Last Wednesday Austins friend McCarty invited the kids to go hiking from her house in Anderson Junction into Toquerville by way of the river.  Cody and Mady were way excited to be included in the venture, and they invited Kris Wilson along for the fun, who invited his not-girlfriend Kimber Hawkins.  I tried to take a picture of Austin before they left and ended up chasing him around the house before I got some.  It all looks pretty fun.

Austin is running away from me, but his dad
is coming around the front of the house with a different camera.
Gotcha!!

Austin and Kris are ready to go swimming
Redneck style.

Cody is ready to go too, only in hiking boots instead
of cowboy boots.

Loading up. . .

Crossing the river, trying to stay dry.

  Austin and McCarty did not succeed in staying dry
but did have a lot of fun. 

Drying out on a rock.

After they arrived in Toquerville Dixie (McCarty's mom) came and gave them all a ride back to McCarty's house.  They all came home with tall tales to tell. 

Life's a Beach! Disneyland day 5

Friday morning of our trip we all slept in.  It had been a full and exciting week and we were all exhausted.  I couldn't sleep past 7 California time, so I got up and started packing for our trip home.  The night before we stayed at the park until it closed, and usually when Disneyland closes its rides, they leave main street open for shopping for an hour after the park closes.  However, Thursday night was Grad Night for southern California and they closed everything at nine o'clock, and hurried us out of the park.  Dalyon wanted to shop for a souvenir that night and we weren't able to, so I promised him I would take him to Downtown Disney in the morning to do his shopping, so that is what we did.  While everyone slept in, Dalyon and I snuck away and went and to Downtown and had breakfast together then went shopping.  We had a great time together and he was able to get exactly what he wanted, and I was able to finish getting what I wanted to take home too. 

With our purchases in hand, we hurried back to the hotel to load up the car and head to the beach for a few hours.  We decided to go to Newport Beach because it is a straight shot from Disneyland.  It was a beautiful day and I laid out my towel on the warm sand and fell asleep.  The kids played in the water and dug holes in the sand.  The weather was perfect, a cool gentle breeze came off the ocean, and in spite of the sunscreen, we all got a little sunburned. 

Heading up to the beach. 

Cami and Chet in the water getting their feet wet.

Mady and Grandma catching some rays.

Chet, Tagert, Kora and Cami.

Dalyon showing off his sword skills he learned
at Disneyland.  I would love to rent bikes and ride up
and down this walk.  It looks so relaxing.

Cody, Cami, Tagert and Chet.

Cody and Chet got all the way in the water.  Too cold for me!

Eric pretty much sums up how we all felt on the way home.
It was a quiet ride home, for the most part.

Eric had left his laptop at the hotel when we had checked out, so after the beach we went back to get it and used the showers at the pool to clean up from the beach.  The drive home was slow because of all the CA traffic, and I got lost a time or two, but we found I-15 and stayed on that until we hit the Hurricane exit at about 1 o'clock in the morning. 

Overall we had a great time.  Here are some of the favorites:
Mady: rides- California Screemin', Splash Mountain, Grizzly Rapids, and Space Mountain.  (all roller coasters)   characters- Goofy and Pluto
Cody:  rides-  Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, California Screemin',   characters-  Brier Fox and Tigger
Dalyon-  rides-  all of them.  He went on all the rides, scary or not, but his favorite California Screemin', the Bugs Life 3-D movie,  the Matterhorn and Space Mountain.  Character-  Goofy
Cami:  rides-  A Bugs Life rides, the Disney Train, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo Submarine   Character-  Minnie Mouse, Pooh Bear and Tigger and of course the Princesses.
Eric-  rides:  California Screemin', Tower of Terror,  character- Pooh Bear
Grandma:  rides-  Splash Mountain,  The parade, Fireworks,  Character:  Princesses
Me:   rides-  Finding Nemo submarine ride, Peter Pan, Fireworks, Tower of Terror, California Screamin',
characters- Sully, Pooh Bear and Tigger and Rabbit, and I saw Peter Pan, which is a very uncommon sighting at Disneyland.  He climbs on the railings and hides behind poles and is hard to get a picture of in a crowd.

Look closely or you may miss him.  He likes to stay hidden. 

 
Some of the most memorable things from our trip: 
My nephew Tagert when he was with Rapunzel, he was all shy and she kissed him and he blushed (he is 5).  Cami going on the rides and screaming/crying after.
 Losing Cami, and finding her OK. 
Seeing the excitement on the kids' eyes when a character came out. 
Eric yelling "Grandma!" at my mom to keep track of her.
Cody always being hungry. 
Me walking like a drunk woman after going on California Screemin' with Vickie.
Driving all over the place looking for a good place to eat and having to settle on DENNY'S again.
Cami with Cinderella who told her that they could be sisters. 
Bishop Dave making good his offer to buy Eric a Churro. 
Tagert asking the Ferry God Mother where her wand was, helping her try to find it, and asking her how to use one, then buying himself one because hers appeared to be broken. 
Tigger teaching Kora how to bounce.
Kisses from Goofy.
Wyat and Dalyon being inseparable, you would think they were twins, the same hat, sword, giggling like girls.
Bubble blowing contest on the trip down, Cody telling us he will never chew gum again in his life.
Bumper to bumper traffic and missing my exits.
Eating dinner at the Outback Steakhouse and all of the kids falling asleep with their heads on the table before the food could come.  We ended up taking a lot back to the hotel for the next day. 


What a fun way to start our summer!   I can't wait to go again because I love Disneyland!!
   

   

The day of the performance Disneyland day 4

Today we took the opportunity to sleep in a little bit and get the girls ready for their performance.  The whole reason we came to Disneyland this year was for the girls to perform there.  The past few days we went over to the park as it opened, but today we slept in and went over about 10:30 instead.  We were to meet the group at the entrance to Toon Town at 11:00 am and they had to have their hair and faces done when we got there.  Cindy Metcalf, our dance instructor, had everything else packed in her truck so we didn't have to bring any costumes, shoes, tights, or anything else into the park.  We only had to bring the girls in with their hair and faces done.  Disneyland officials met us at the entrance and took the girls back single file to get ready for their performances.  My mom went with me to get the girls there, and after they were gone we took a minute to relax and enjoy ourselves without the kids with us.  Cody and Eric went off to ride space mountain, and Dalyon stayed with Wyat at the hotel.  Mom and I enjoyed a presentation by the princesses of Disneyland before heading off to find the rest of our group.  The Princesses performance made me feel like a little girl again.

The Princesses Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White showing the
little princesses on the floor how to walk and move like princesses.

An up close picture. It was really nice to sit and relax and enjoy
a performance.

We met back up with the rest of our group and went on a few rides while
waiting for the performance which was at 12:30.  This is Dalyon and I in front of the Matterhorn.

Dalyon trying to pull out the Sword in the Stone. 

I have a lot of pictures to share of the girls' performances and the rest of the day but half way through their second dance my camera died, so I had my niece take pictures for me the rest of the day.  When I get them from her, I will finish day four of our trip.

The All American Cloggers.
 Cami and Mady are together towards the left side.

Cami dancing to Anchors Away, and the finale, The Grand 'Ole Flag. 
Mady is standing behind her.

California Adventure Disneyland day 3

Today we decided to go over to California Adventure for day number three.  This park has a lot of things for the big kids so we let them loose to run from ride to ride while the adults and little kids went in search of fun.  Here are the pictures of our very fun day.

Here we are will Sully from Monsters Inc.  We just got off the
ride that took us through the movie in taxi cabs.

Here is one of the taxi cabs we rode on the Monsters Inc. ride.  The
kids loved climbing on it after we saw Sully.

This is a vending machine just outside the "scare floor" of Monsters Inc. 
Click the picture to read what is available .  funny!

The Tower of Terror.  An elevator ride that falls.  We got there at a good
time of the morning and went on 3 times (the older kids went 5).  Cami went on it once,
but said it was nothing like the hotels' elevator. 

Our picture at the top of the tower before we fell again.  It was so fun!
In the back is Chet, Wyat, Tagert and Vicki from our group.  The
front row is me, Cami, Cody, Dalyon, Eric, Kora and Mady.  Mady is
such a joker.

Next we went into a Bugs Life and rode some calmer rides.  This is Heimlich and his
train. He loves to eat, and burp on this ride.  When we got off he said he missed us already. 

The kids and Chet on the Lady Bug ride.  He (the ladybug) said
over and over that he is NOT a lady.

Tagert and Cami on a used Popsicle stick bench.  I love how Disneyland thinks
of everything!

Dalyon, me, Cami and Grandma in the Bugs Life 3-D movie,
with our bug eyes on. 

A character shot with Chip and Dale.

Here we are with the Cars characters Mater and Lightening McQueen.  They
will be opening up a whole new section dedicated to them in 2012 and it looks like it
is going to be amazingly fun!  They are some of our favorite characters.

Eric, Mady, Dalyon, Cami, MICKEY MOUSE, me, Cody and Grandma Ellen.
Mickey was on the Paradise Peer on our way to California Screamin'. 

Cami, Mady, Dalyon, Eric, Wyat, and Cody in front of the Paradise
Peer Ferris wheel and California Screemin'.  We rode the roller coaster as much as we could.
It is one of the best rides in the park.  We discovered that if we used every ones fast passes,
and only a few of us went, then we could go twice, so we did.  Vickie and I got off the last time
and walked like drunk women because we had had enough of the circles and upside down motions. 

Another great ride was Grizzly Mountain.  It is a water rapid ride that
gets you wet!  Everyone was drenched except me, until I got to the old
Faithful Geyser which went off as I went under it.  I ended up being the wettest
of us all.

Here we are in front of the Grizzly Rapids store with my new
towel.  I was so cold! 



Across from the rapids is a serene place that you can sit
and listen to guitar music while the kids do obstacle courses
and climb on rocks.  This is Eric taking a minute here.



Uncle Chet taking advantage of the bench,
the serene music, and the time. 

Later we went over to the Muppet's 3-D movie, then rode the Monsters Inc. ride again because we were there and liked it before.  Along the Hollywood backstage there are stores and places to learn about how they make the films for Disney.   There are a lot of Characters there and we got to explore through some of the rooms made up to appear like the different movies.  All of the rooms were interactive.  We even got to sing for Ursula the sea witch from The Little Mermaid.  She told us our voices were "interesting" and that she wouldn't be taking them from us. 

Here is the library from Beauty and the Beast.  The picture of
the prince/beast changes.  Cody is answering some questions
to see what Disney character he is most like.  He was Aladdin, I was
Cinderella

The final ride we enjoyed was Soaring Over California, which was a really good ending to our day.  We were all sunburned this time, probably a combination of not any sunscreen and the water ride, and we were exhausted.   Cami and Tagert fell asleep while we were eating our dinner at Denny's.  It was good to go to bed because tomorrow the girls perform!