looking for some help

Hey there Mesa-ites, I'm looking for some help here. It is time (OK, past time) for me to stop being the family piano teacher, but by golly I am striking out in the piano teacher search. I am looking for reasonable rates and a teacher who is confident in his or her abilities to take a student through several levels of piano instruction. Any suggestions (I've already tried the Seamans and Hannah Petersen).

Who wouldn't want to teach Nora the piano - I ask you????

feeling sad

Ryan called yesterday after lunch to tell me our friend Brian Layton (age 37) passed away from a heart attack. It was a total shock and one of those things that makes you sad for you, really sad for his wife Paula and 2 little boys and forces you to think about your own mortality (never fun).

I have known Brian since elementary school (his family lived down the street) and Ryan and he became friends and climbing buddies when Ryan moved to AZ in 1999. I was surprised when I started dating Ryan that we already shared a friend. Brian was even so kind as to sing in the ward choir I directed (a true friend, if ever there was one to sing in a ward choir just because your friend/director asked you to).

Ryan will miss having a friend who is always up for an adventure (Mt., Whitney anyone? Rim to rim Grand Canyon anyone?, Our wives are so mean they won't let us climb Denali, but it sounds like fun anyway). Ryan will miss him.

I was reading the conference issue yesterday and came across Elder Maxwell "We cannot do all the sums or make it all add up because we do not have all the numbers." It is times like this when I am so grateful to have at least a testimony that Heavenly Father is in charge and even though it stinks I know the numbers all add up somewhere (I never liked math anyway) and in the end it will all make sense.

views from our house

School is in full swing, we get to go swimming almost every day (if the girls practice the piano on the morning), and Diana got her braces removed and has only misplaced her retainer once (she left it on the piano this morning).

Hey Grandma - I'm 10 months old now.

discoveries

This Summer marks 22 years for my parents in Sandpoint and yet we still discover new places every year. This year Mel and Michael "discovered" Pack River. We have driven over the bridge a bazillion times and knew people jumped off and played at the river, but we never had, so we we did and it was fantastic. The sand was soft (not full of rocks like city beach) there was a section of slow shallow water and a section of faster deeper water and the water temp was divine. We made a whole afternoon of it (complete with treat as you will see).

Aunt Mel insists we have fun every day even when we are feeling lazy and would rather veg and stay home doing laundry.

Diana, Nora and Katie floating the current.

Nelson and I hung out on a tube anchored to a log and tried to keep Nelson from getting burned. I am excited for years to come when Nelson can walk and won't be so inclined to eat sand, rocks and sticks.

Aunt Mel also insists on treats - choc peanut butter rice crispy treats - they were a MESS but so very tasty.

More floating.

See you next Summer Pack River - stay sweet!

for aunt rosie

Aunt Rosie collects cute swimming suits so we had to share our end of season purchases.

cousin friends

There is nothing in the world quite like a cousin friend. The end.

big kid backpacking trip

A few weeks ago we took the "big kids" 5 years old and up, on their backpacking trip. We hiked 8 miles total and had a great time (except for the insanely rabid mosquitoes)

Here we are at the summit before descending to the lake.

The kids spent HOURS looking for and catching frogs - literally hours. Then they would transfer them to a smaller pool for safe keeping so they could catch them again and again. By the end of the 2 days they had captured 30 frogs and named them all.

Snuggles around the fire after dinner.

Uncle Brian is the most popular guy to snuggle with.

Exploring the outlet the next morning before we left.

This was Nora, Clara, and Katie's first backpacking trip and they did fantastic!

az baby

Whoa - we made it in just over 23 hours of driving (with a sleep stop at Aunt Sherrie's - thanks Sherrie). I am so grateful I am able to make the drive every year without falling asleep. I really feel Heavenly Father's help. I know it's divine intervention because as soon as I got home I come off the hyper alert state and crash - zero energy, splitting headache etc.

We have pretty much unpacked and found homes for new treasures. Now we need to drop by the schools and maybe get really brave and do wal-mart. eek.