Update from the Gibby family

In this edition, we have updates on Halloween, reseeding the lawn, resetting the light spectrum, and scouting.

First some pictures from our costumes that we wore to trunk or treat last night. We were a motley group to be sure, but there was an underlying theme, which was, um .. . I'm not sure.

Peace

A real cat and mouse battle?
They are a SWAT officer, a cat, Boba Fett, Minnie Mouse, and Unknown (Tatooine Sand Person?, Possessed monk about to be executed?)

If you've ever wanted your kids to roll on the floor laughing at the funniest thing that life has to offer, take their picture in reverse colors. I was laughing hard, but only because they were.

 We reseeded our yard like most years, and it was a great family work project as always. We always finish too late at night for good pictures, so we were just glad to get one with them working. The winter grass is now beautiful and inviting for any visitors (ahem) who want to escape the cold of  northern climes.

 I recently took a Leave No Trace Training Class at the Heard Scout Pueblo overlooking Phoenix. Here's the panoramic view at 7:00 am.
The city is too far away to see clearly, but I think it is a lovely view. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints (or prayers).

We love all of you and hope you have a safe Halloween!

Enjoying summer in the pines of Arizona

As most of you know, Arizona gets hot.  Really hot.  So every once in a while we decide to get away out of the Valley of the Sun to the pines a couple of hours north. This month, we did a day trip to the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, which I learned is the largest travertine natural bridge in the world. I also learned that the difference between an arch and a natural bridge is that arches are primarily eroded by wind and bridges are primarily eroded by water. It was truly incredible.  It was big enough that it was hard to get a good picture to show its scope. It was essentially a 180 foot tall (my estimate) cavern with two entrances. To get there, we hiked down into the canyon and past some pools. Under the bridge, the temperatures dropped 20 or so degrees and it was raining from the ceiling. There was a waterfall on one side of the bridge. After bouldering until we couldn't go any more, we went back and played in the pools. What an awesome trip!

2013 family trip

Hello family and friends,

We have to document some of the highlights of our trip and are happy to share with you. The two weeks consisted of reunions with 3 families, Em's immediate family, Em's extended family, and my family. For those of you we saw, thanks for making it lots of fun. If we missed you this time, hopefully we can visit you next year.  Let us know!  :)

Since having little E, we have been less able to do the long 10-12 hour drives we used to do on vacations, so we started by going to Bluff, Utah first. We stayed at the Frederick Adams pioneer house there. It is an 1890's stone home built by pioneers trying to carve a town out of the harsh desert south-east of the Colorado River. If you are familiar with the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers, these were those pioneers. It was very cool to be in the old, though refurbished home and read the history of the area.

We also were right down the street from the Bluff Fort church site, which we visited. they had one authentic and ~15 replica cabins from the original fort, as well as the church, Relief Society building, and other historical buildings complete with furnishings. We weren't expecting much, but it was all very impressive. 

While in Bluff, we also attended church in the small branch there. Other than our families and the missionaries, there were probably 10 members. It had been several months since they had conducted Primary, so they were delighted to have us. In small branches, everyone helps out. :)

Bluff Fort

Wow, inside a Ute teepee

Realistic reenactment for sure

A beautiful town for a picture!

 

After the rest in Bluff, we continued on to Moab, where we met with Em's siblings and parents. Unfortunately, we took the Arizona temperatures with us. When C went with his uncles on the Sovereign mountain biking trail, it was 104 degrees. We enjoyed several hikes in Arches National Park, including Double Arch, Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch, and everyone's favorite, Sand Dune Arch.

Landscape Arch

A perfect kid cave

Navajo Arch

We played in the shade under the walls and arches

Enjoying the sand under the arch

Little E found a fitting niche :)

Everyone chilling under the Double Arches

Mashup of the musical park with A playing drums

Helping a Chinese lady and child stuck on a ledge with flip flops under Double Arch

The boys in front of the cliffs

The girls enjoying the beauty

 

Em and A with Delicate Arch in background

The next stop was in idyllic Upalco, Utah, in the Uintah basin, where the extended family gathered at the Burton farm. There were lots of fun crafts, a zipline, 4 wheelers, and lots of cousins. We had a great time camping on the farm.

D loves farming!

Homemade sling shots

Look, the line for the zipline's pretty short!

N on the zipline

 

Wearing reunion shirts

From Upalco, we next headed to Brigham City where we met up with my family. We played lots of games with cousins, attended the Brigham City Temple, took a drive to Utah State University in Logan, visited Lagoon, and saw the Brigham City 4th of July fireworks.  It was an exhausting and rewarding trip.

First time at the Brigham City Temple

Riding the boats at Lagoon

The train is a favorite for everyone

N, C, and A exploring Box Elder Canyon

The boys peering out of the port-hole windows at Scott and Heather's house.

Mother's Day

Happy Mothers' Day for all you moms!

This entry is about the silly things that happen around here on Moms' Day.
C has always liked gardening and helping Mom with the composting and watering. This year he decided he wanted to help her longtime dream to have a shade screen over the garden come true.  We tried it about 3 years ago by attaching some screen fabric to poles buried in the groud, but the summer storms easily shredded it and pulled it off the poles. C has always liked building things, especially with PVC pipe, so he came up with a simple design for a frame to go over the garden. We went to Lowes and got some pipes, fabric, and zip ties. It was pretty easy for him, and he was happy with the finished product. I admit, it should be much more durable than the one I built and should withstand more wind.

N has recently been practicing cooking more, which makes us happy. She has never shown much natural inclination to cook up a storm (mainly because her twin gets hungry faster so cooks more). Her gift for Mom was a delicious looking plate of scrambled eggs with peppers, toast, and fruit. I was proud of N. She's getting so grown up. She also made a beautiful pastoral scene on a card for Mom.

A likes to give homemade pictures and cards, so this morning, he bounced in to Mom's room with a foldout 3 dimensional flower card that he made. He is always so expressive, even when giving a gift. He was positively beaming with love and pride because she liked it.

D gave Mom a very nice hug and I love you this morning, but his real gift was during sacrament meeting. In between talks, they have the children come up and sing songs for their moms and grandmothers. When D couldn't remember the words, he still apparently wanted to share the message, because mid-song, he suddently started gesturing high and to his left with both arms and his eyes looking distant (happy hands club style).  Then he began swaying and waving both arms, while rolling his eyes and grinning. He completed the show, by turning serious and leading the music for the audience. Considering that only 21 kids were there, he sticks out quite a bit. I was cracking up so much that I had to lower my head. It was the best laugh I've had in a while.

Little E didn't really give a gift, but she did come up to me while I was reading about Noah's Ark tonight and tapped my arm.  Then with the most adorable, dreamy eyes, she confided, "Daddy, I just went to Fred and Sarah's house. We had dinner and everyone ate their green. I love you Daddy!"  I wish I could just film her adequately to capture the incredible cuteness for all time. A couple of days ago, she said, "Mom, I want to invite Autumn to my birthday, but not her mom and dad." She's only two, but thinks she's sixteen. Raising her should be interesting.

For my part, I bought Em some earrings and took her to dinner on Friday. It was just a gesture really, because it is hard to say how grateful I am to have her in my life. She is so unselfish and such a strong influence for me to do what is right.  I can't say enough of my love for her!

The boy who cried Bear!

Some of the youth in our ward have given me nicknames from time to time, one of which was Bro G. They extended this nickname so my 3 boys were referred to by the youth as Big G, Middle G, and Little G. So I've got a story about Little G.

Each day, I try to be helpful in putting the kids to bed, which almost always involves telling a bedtime story. Sometimes we use books, but often our story time involves freelancing or telling a variation of a well known occurance or fairy tale. I'm not that good of a story teller, but it does my ego great good that my sons who can tune me out so often will hang on my every word when a bedtime story stands between them and "time for sleep guys." Little G, in particular, gives me directions with the stories, like saying, "Dad, it's not supposed to go like that. Make it happy."  He also has a frequent request that the story must be about a bear.  We've done Rapunzel, a mission to Wales, Pecos Bill, and even Dr. Seuss where major parts were carved out for bears. It adds humor and fun to see where the bear will show up.

So tonight, I was telling the story of the boy who cried bear. After telling about how the boy's reputation for lying about attacking bears led to the slaughter of the innocent sheep, I asked Little G what the point of the story was. He took a second to understand what I was asking, then said something like, "If that bear started eating my sheep, I'd , uh, kick him with my boot.  But then he'd cry and go tell his family and they'd come eat me.  'Cuz he's a bear." Well put.  There's a chance he understood.

I like bedtime stories.

Priorities

 I love the beautiful cards, pictures and love that get sent this time of year and wish that I had been able to send some love also. But right now, I'm just grateful we actually made it through 2012!