The Grotto

Yesterday, Mike and I went with our friends, the Peacocks, to The Grotto. We had been planning this for awhile, but had to keep putting it off because of the rain (seriously, is it supposed to rain this much in June?) On a side note, I didn't realize how welcome the cooler temperatures the rain brought were until it got really hot last week.

The Grotto is located up Payson canyon and before all of the runoff is gone, is beautiful. It isn't a bad hike (rather short actually) and when you get there, it has it's own little air conditioning unit. Quite handy I might say. :)

Here are some pictures:

Ella had fun splashing in the water and
was just a little sad that she wasn't the
one in charge of Jake. Wyatt was dang cute on the hike (although he may
not appreciate being called cute when he is older.)
He had to lead the way and was extremely adventurous
in all things.
Here are some of the red rocks for Amy.Jake had a blast, and Emary loved being in charge of him!

Even though he almost pulled her off a couple of logs in his
haste to smell even more of the canyon.

Don't you wish you had been with us to enjoy this beauty?

This is the old trail. It doesn't seem to do justice

to how beautiful it was up Payson Canyon.

This is Mike on the hike. Somebody kindly put logs over most of

the stream crossings. You just had to make sure not to fall off! :)

This is The Grotto. From what I understand,

the waterfall isn't nearly as big later in the year.

After the hike, we were invited to Jamie's parents for family dinner. It was fun. We had fun talking to Jamie's family and getting to know more Peacocks. Mike and I felt very welcomed and were put right to ease. It was definitely an enjoyable afternoon/evening!

On another note, we created the Proctor Drive-In in our backyard the other night. We set up the TV and brought out some camping chairs. It was fun (if only the mosquitoes had left us alone.) We got Inkheart from Redbox (something we totally love, cheap entertainment) and quite enjoyed it. Makes me want to read the book that the movie is based on. We will have to do it again and let people know. Come one, come all!

Air Show

I have been extremely lax about updating my blog lately. This is probably because I feel that nothing is going on in the Proctor lives right now that is extremely exciting. I graduated, Mike is working, I am job searching (trust me, anything and everything and it gets extremely discouraging at times.) I hope to be able to blog about a new job soon. Trust me, I would be extremely excited to do that.

On Saturday, Mike and I took Tait and Blake to the Hill Air Force Air Show. I am almost convinced that Mike may never want to go with me again, as I ended up directing us on the longest walk/hike in the history of any 4 and 7 year old.

The last time I went to the air show was in 2006. I went with our friend Kevin, who happens to be in the reserve and works up at Hill. When we went, we parked at the high school about 1 1/2 miles down the road, walked up the hill to the base and then caught a shuttle to where the air show took place. Well, I convinced Mike that we didn't need to drive onto the base, that we could just walk on up and catch a shuttle. The climb up the hill is a lot of work for a 4 and 7 year old and Mike ended up doing this walk with one of them on his shoulders the whole entire time.

The best part was when we got to the base. Unlike last time, there were NO SHUTTLES!!! Well, there were shuttles, which we discovered when we go to where the air show was, but where they were picking up, we have no idea, not in the same place that we caught them before. We ended up walked for over an hour (honestly, I don't know how many miles, but it felt like 4 or 5 total) just to get to where the air show was. I know that Tait and Blake did not expect this, neither did Mike or I and I would NOT recommend doing this at 6 months pregnant. I was extremely sore/tired/worn out by the end of the day. The best part? We met Mike's parents there and guess where they parked? Right in the parking lot, next to the tarmac where the air show took place! Walking distance? Less than a mile. Trust me, if I get Mike to go again, that is where we will plan on parking.

Once we got to the air show, it was fun. There were things to look at in the sky, planes to go into, crowds of people to wade through, little boys to try to keep track of. A lesson for parenthood, I don't know if I am ready to deal with the stress of keeping track of little children in a crowd that the news estimated was 300.000 strong.

Here are some of the things we saw. Trust me, lots of fun, lots of noise, and something I want to take my little boy to in a couple of years (when ear plugs will fit in his ears and stay in.)