Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere.

I know, I know. I post just way to many pictures of flowers. The problem as I see it is that I just love flowers way to much. My eyes are drawn to the colors and the simple beauty that God has given us.

I mean seriously, think about it, if we had never known the simple pleasure of taking in the beauty of a simple, tiny flower would we be as able to enjoy the many other wonders of this world?

They are so easily destroyed, but when put in the right context, they can help build relationships that will endure through eternity. They can bring a smile...........a tear............and a heartfelt, 'Please feel better.'

I just love flowers.

Love to All,

midRae

Sunset Sensations!

Significant, Smashing, Sunsational.....

Spiritual, Silent, Serene......

Sighing, Soothing, Sublime.

SUNSET!!!

All SOCC shots.

Munk Family Fishing

Aside from braving the 60 mile an hour winds and running from the rain, fishing this past weekend was a very serene and relaxing experience, as you can see in this picture of midMan at sunset. Oh we also caught tons of fish, to bad you can't eat them because of lead poisoning. But overall the time spent fishing at Enterprise Reservoir was so worth it.

Here's Grandma Munk with one of her many many catches. I am pretty sure she caught over 8 fish.

Here's PaPa Munk with one of his many catches. I really believe he was up there in the 2 digit count.

Here's midMan and his mom both with catches at the same time. It was like that all day. MidMan caught a total of 14 fish, and I promise this is no fish story. The second I threw out for the first time I had a fish on the line and I even almost got it to the bank. These fish were not huge, about 10 to 12 inches long, but they loved to fight. It was so awesome.

It hooked me into fishing again. I gave it up when the kids were little because it is definitely too, too hard to fish and keep the kids from getting tangled up in your line, going swimming, and getting pinched by crawdads all at the same time. I mean seriously, why do the men folk run off and leave it to us girls to keep the kids from drowning and eating the night crawlers?

Here's tailEnd with the first real catch of the day. He caught over 9 fish, when he wasn't getting mad at the reel. He really enjoyed himself. I think he got hooked too. We'll have to get him a better reel and pole so that he can enjoy himself the whole time.

Here's another one of PaPa trying to yank the guts out of the fish. We keep waiting, and I am sure that one day he will reel in only the guts, which he will have completely yanked out of the fish. Or go over backwards and split his head open on the rocks. Who can tell with PaPa. I have to tell you it is a blast to fish with the in-laws, they make it so much fun.

As you can tell we all had a great time and are looking forward to a lot more fishing.

Love To All,

midRae

Things to remember..................This first fish I ever caught was a pretty little thing. I thought, "Wow this could be fun." But then my dad decided to chase me up the hill with it. Since then I have had a love/hate relationship with fishing. It looks like we are now moving into another love phase of that relationship. Take you kids fishing. You will definitely have a blast and make millions of memories.

I Got My Fix!

Yeah!!!! I finally got my camping fix. To bad it wasn't long enough or quite as warm as we would have liked. Don't get me wrong it wasn't to cold but we did have to run the heater in the trailer and the tent at night. The one thing I have to say about camping is that it is so peaceful. I love to get away from all the noise of everyday life and sit back and enjoy what God has given us. I would spend my life sitting up in the mountains just taking in the beauty and peace of this world. Nothing can top that. Except for maybe my midMan.

Now on to a different point of view when it comes to camping.

ZOE!!!

Miss Zoe is the worlds sweetest little puppy. We have had her for about 12 years and I just can't get enough of her cute little face with it's big brown eyes that will plead with you for that last bite of your food. She is adorable. This camping trip she reminded us that she hates to be left behind by walking way in front of us when we would go for a walk. Every once in a while she would look back to make sure we were following her, especially when we would hit a road, then off she would go on her merry little way. She also decided on this trip to not listen to us. We think she was just paying us back for bringing Bella, midMan's little blind baby, into the picture.

Now the bad. Zoe likes to eat stuff. Any stuff she finds on the ground while camping is open for tasting. Even while taking walks or gathering wood, anything, and I mean anything, she finds looks good to her and is fair game for tasting and eating. This past weekend we will just say she found something so very disgusting that I almost made her sleep in the truck all alone. Eeeeeewwwwwwww!!! I did make her sit through a really good face washing which she definitely did not like but this was so gross. This girl needs some serious modification to her attitude when it comes to food and what tastes good. I just cringe at the thought of what she did even while I look into her big brown eyes and love her still. See, even midMan found it cringe inducing (holding Bella).

The whole family was able to join us which was wonderful. Here's Dayton and Shannel just before they had to leave. As you can tell by the picture Dayton had been up for 24 hours straight and decided he needed to go home and sleep in his own bed. He was beat. But I was so excited and happy to have them both join us.


Dion and Ada also came up for the experience, although Dion has determined that he would much rather camp over by Enterprise, in the heat, than on top of Cedar Mountain, in the cool. In this picture Dion is going for his best James Dean look, to bad tailEnd found his way into the picture.

Ada had a blast with Emery, as you can see. She would have danced with her all night if Emery's mom and dad would have let her.

And here is Emery's mom and dad, Amanda and Johnny. They are Dion and Ada's friends who came to join us on our camping trip. They brought S'More's!, which we were all thankful for, even Ada, who had never had one before and decided that they were just a little bit to sweet. Fun was had by all burning the marshmallows and eating the crispy remains.



I could have gotten some better pictures but I was always busy cooking or just sitting enjoying the peace and quiet or just taking a walk or just riding the 4wheelers and forgetting that yes Rae you do have a camera now. TailEnd also had a blast. And was so excited because he can now ride the 4wheelers by himself without getting into trouble after he took his OHV training course. Let's all join in his little celebration and dance a jig with him. Emery and Ada thought it was fun and exciting, too.

Over all we had a blast and midMan and I would love to go again this weekend, but alas, life interrupts us and makes us take care of all that other mundane stuff like the yard, and the house, and the bills, and the garden, and the kids, and everything else that life likes to throw in our way.

Love To All,

midRae

Snow in June

As promised, snow in June.

I can hardly believe it!

And to top that, it snowed again this Saturday, June 13th.

The big question is.......

Is it global warming or what?

My vote........global warming & your guess is as good as mine.

Love to all,

midRae

CAMPING!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!! I have been waiting, like forever, to go camping this year. We are busting a gut to get going and enjoy the peace and quiet. We have actually been so busy with preparations I have failed in my responsibilities to post a blog. So do not despair, I will have lots of photos and such to post when I get back. I hope every one has a great and wonderful weekend. We love you all and hope to get no snow. And yes it did snow on the mountain last Saturday evening, June 6th. I will post the pictures next week.


Love To All,


midRae

Haygen

After my last post I decided you all might like a little more of cute Haygen. This little boy will be 3 years old in one week and is the light of his mom and dad's life. He may be a total terror but he can turn around and be the sweetest little boy in the world. He has his Grandma and Grandpa Munk wrapped around his little finger and he will never let them go. He has also been able to gain control of his older brothers and sisters.

Here are a few stories of this little boys exploits.

The biggest one that comes to mind, that I witnessed, happened when we went to visit at Easter. We hadn't been able to visit since the previous Easter so we had a lot to catch up on. We were all sitting in the living room visiting, having a great time. Haygen had his sippy cup full of orange soda and he threw it on the floor. His dad grabbed it before it could shoot orange soda all over the tan carpet. Haygen ran up to his dad, grabbed for the cup and said, "I need that you A$$." A big gasp from everyone in the room and then we all started to laugh. I know, we totally shouldn't have laughed, but in our defense what else could we do. It was totally hysterical. Well Haygen was so mortified he stopped, looked around, and then ran to his mom crying his eyes out. All while we still laughed.

Next we come to Resign and every mothers dream, fits in stores. Now the resign thing we are all still trying to figure out. It all started with a nightmare in the middle of the night, when he woke up crying and totally hysterical. When his mom tried to find out what he was so upset about he just kept repeating that daddy had resigned his pants. He really does not like things to be resigned. The next time he cried about something being resigned we were in the store and we told him that we needed to pay for his water. We handed it to the cashier and off he went into his crying. We asked him what was wrong and he said that his water had been resigned and he didn't want it anymore. If anyone has an idea let us know. We sure can't figure this one out.

This leads us into the fit throwing. My mother-in-law shared the latest one with us last weekend. They were in the store and yes, like any other child Haygen wanted a toy. When he was told no it started. Five minutes later he is still throwing away when they decide it's time to take him to the car. My mother-in-law proceeds to take him to the car only to realize she doesn't have any keys to the car. So there she stands in the parking lot, for ten minutes, with a screaming child and no keys. Haygen's mom comes out with the keys and they finally get him into the car. Now this took both of the adults. Meanwhile they figure out that Grandpa is still in the store. So grandma goes to find grandpa while mom is left in the car with Haygen, another 10 minutes. Now Haygen is a really smart kid. He managed to get himself out of the car seat 5 times. Here's mom wrestling him back in each time with some guy watching and taking pictures with his phone as he was talking. They were sure the cops were going to show up to arrest them for child abuse. Luckily they finally made it out of the parking lot and Haygen finally calmed down after having thrown a fit for 45 minutes.

I know that so far he sounds like a little monster but he isn't. I think he is the sweetest kid in the world. He has such a big heart and is so smart. He learned to open the fridge by the time he was 1. He is really an amazing kid. He also knows the 'Cars' movie by heart, simple loves it.

A couple of weeks ago his dad and grandpa were going camping. Not one to be left out he took off outside, climbed in the truck, and buckled himself into his car seat by himself. No way was he getting left at home with the girls when there where mountains to be conquered. Mom was a little upset that he didn't kiss her but she went and got her lovin'. He is his mama's little boy. He loves her so much and will grab her by the cheeks and ask her if she is OK. Like I said he is really a sweet little boy. But he is a little boy and like all little boys he loves to be adventurous.

You know how everyone says that children are really close to God. Well this little boy will make you so believe that. He woke up from a nap a few months ago and when his mom asked him what he dreamed about he told her he dreamed about the Shinny Moon. What is the Shinny Moon you ask? Well, that is what he call Heaven. He told his mom he was playing with his girl cousins on the Shinny Moon. When his mom asked him what his cousins names were he said I don't know they don't have names yet. Well his aunt is pregnant right now and we all truly believe that he was having a great visit with his soon to be born cousin. Who knows? It really can make you wonder.

Look at that smile. It could melt any one's heart. He has kept us all young as our own kids have grown into adulthood and teenageness(is that a word?). Even though we don't get to see him all the time he knows who we are and is never shy about coming to give us a hug and a kiss, his great mom made sure of that. She let him carry our family picture around as much as he wanted. What angel's, Haygen and his mom Lesty.

Cousins

A couple of weeks ago we went to Salina, Utah to visit midMan's brother and his family. This is his brother Jeff, on his back is his son Kenyan. For years midMan and Jeff lived to spend each and every weekend together, in the mountains, doing the things that they love. They would plan their vacations together, which were always which deer hunt will it be this year. They didn't really need to have anyone else along as long as they had each other.



Life soon injected itself into their world and things had to change. MidMan and I moved to Cedar City, Utah and Jeff moved to Salina, Utah with his wife Lesty. The move for each of our families was a good move, for us it was having midMan home more and for Jeff it meant being closer to his kids from his first marriage. It was a sad day for all but has turned out for the best. MidMan and I are now each others best friends and Jeff gets to see his kids a whole lot more. When all of the changes and moves happened it was a sad day for our kids. They have all grown up together and would spend every weekend together, doing any number of outrageous things, including coming home completely covered in mud. I can remember tailEnd asking for a picture with his cousins because he was afraid he would forget what they looked like. I know.......Heartbreaking.

So joy is had by all when they get to spend time together. All of our youngest ones still enjoy playing together, even tailEnd at the ripe old age of 14. His cousins Mandi, who will be 14 in July, and Kenyan, who will be 12 this month also had a blast. As you can see the most fun was had while digging in the sand box. I guess our kids could care less what others think when they are together, away from all of the pressure put on them by friends.

Even more joy has been added when Haygen, Mandi and Kenyan's little brother, is added to the mix. Haygen is Jeff's 3 year old son from his current marriage. We all spoil him rotten and he is so mean but we all love him so much. He is one of the cutest kids in the world. But he is a total terror in the store if he doesn't get a toy. And we are all still trying to figure out what resign means. He cried and cried for hours, after his nightmare, that daddy resigned his pants. Any ideas? But as you can see he can hold his own.

Now we have even more fun when we can add Waydon to the mix. Waydon is Jeff's oldest son from his first marriage and Haygen thinks he is the BOMB!!! Life is so much funner when you have a 6'3" big brother to tote you around.

Fun is definitely always had when you put the cousins together. They can find wonderful things to do. It can range from digging in the sandbox to finding old bottles to start their collections. It's even more fun when it rains all weekend and all the parents are hollering because they drug mud into the house. All weekend sleep overs, rain, sand, bottles, and love. It's all you need for the perfect time to get to know each other again. Although it's seems like they haven't been apart at all, they just picked up where they left off.



Love To All,



midRae



Things To Remember.......................I can remember going bow hunting with the guys when tailEnd and Mandi were two years old. Here we are in the mountains with little kids, 7 to be exact, for a week. The older kids did pretty good about staying relatively clean while the 2 two year old's decided to play in the mud. Oh my gosh, they were so dirty. So we did the only thing we could....we stripped them down, stood them of the tailgate of the truck, and bathed them. For sure they did not like this but there was no way I was going to sleep with a muddy two year old. The next day we went down to town and payed $5 to take a shower. Oh what heavenly bliss. Now we are smarter and have a trailer with a shower. It's even better.