During a service project for the Youth in our ward, I found a very beautiful Black Widow and brought it home for our pet. She became our Vanessa.

It was a large one and during the course of her stay in our home, she produced 3 egg sacks, holding 300 to 500 spiders in each one.

Vanessa was an awesome sight to watch in her stalking and catching insects. Her fights against preying mantis's were so neat to watch.

However, having something like this in our home was pretty stupid. She could wreak major havoc on my sweet children. We only had her for a few weeks and the kids came to love Vanessa.

We did talk about the dangers of these types of spiders and they came to respect her powers as well. We had many talks about Great Grandpa McArthur and his Rattlesnake episodes.

Finally, we did get rid of Vanessa in the kindest way possible. Here in the first picture, Matthew is extremely sad once we decided to "do Vanessa in". He would have kept her forever.

The Sunday before we lost our Vanessa, Christijan taught a lesson in Priesthood. He related this danger in our home to other, spiritual dangers we allow in our homes or in our lives. It was a great correlation to think about. We have loved not having t.v. or bad music in our home. It's helped tremendously in keeping the spirit in our lives. We still make mistakes and seem to have more bickering than we'd like, but we sure know that "there is One Who smiles on High, when there's love at home".

Matthew by the Provo Temple, preparing for his baptism. He's a great boy.

We spent a short night at Aunt Wendy's home. We were able to see Grandpa and Grandma Woodbury there.

Our family preparing our tents to hear the words of the prophets. We tried turning the door towards the "tower" but the "tower" wasn't getting good reception so they had to listen through the tent sides. Even so, the kids loved the tent and Mom and Dad got to focus solely on the words of the prophets for most of the 4 sessions. It was amazing and very, very inspiring to hear the words of the prophets. We love general conference.

Some summer stuff

Here's a few random shots from this summer. Our 9 1/2 mile bike ride to the Osprey nest. Kids were amazingly tough, even after being chased by mean dogs. Milk shakes mixed with a power drill are the best ever. Thanks Dad's crew for the ideas and the good strawberry banana mix. The kids and I love to hike the Y trail. Their favorite parts are the look-outs at the end of each switch back and the sliding down the pea-gravel on the way down. Thomas and Daniel are great friends and love the challenge scooters provide. Helmets come in very handy with my youngsters.

2010 Fatman's Misery Hike

Matthew passed his first Fatman's with flying colors! This is a fun video my cousins husband made up for us to enjoy. I'll be adding a few more photos from mom's waterproof camera, once they are developed.
This year was very dry and hot so the water in the last slot canyon was a welcomed sight, even though it had dead lizards and mice in it.

In the Beginning

I dedicate this attempt at blogging to my 2 good friends who have stayed my friends even though I am the worst at keeping in touch. Thanks for being the truest of pals, gals. I truly love going to your blogs and keeping up with your cute families even though we are worlds apart. Now, hopefully you may catch a glimpse into my life too, if it's not too arduous.
Hopefully we can add a lot more great adventures into our lives once our kids grow a little older (i.e.:can wipe their own noses and bottoms and can carry their own sleeping bags and food).