Bonneville Salt Flats

Sunday after church we headed for the Bonneville Salt Flats and Speedway. Ryan had been wanting to go all Summer and do some photography and we just couldn't squeeze it in until last weekend. We packed a dinner and drove out there for the evening for some good photography lighting. We had great family time, which I think we don't get enough of. I love hanging with my boys and having them all to myself. I highly recommend the Flats, it's like you are on another planet. We got on the Speedway and Ed drove pretty fast, no land records were broken, but it was pretty exhilirating. Ryan practiced his photography and driving. Brennan and I walked around and did some reading.
On our way out from the Speedway, we stopped at the entrance to eat our dinner and ran across a biker couple with their "hogs" who were having some mechanical problems. Ed asked if they needed help and they said they were okay, but I encouraged Ed to wait and finish our dinner and make sure they got off okay because it was getting dark and the speedway had pretty much cleared out. After about 45 minutes, they couldn't get their bike started so we offered to push start. Because of Ed's back he couldn't help, but Ryan and I threw on our running shoes (Ed always throws in a pair of extra shoes for us) and we got the bike going. It feels so good to help people.
The Salt Flats are called the "Salt Flats" for a reason. It is Salty. Because Ryan was laying down on the ground for some of his shots, the ground is moist and he was soaked and salty. His clothes were hard when they dried. The inside of the car was packed with salt from our shoes. When we got a look at the car the next day the wheel wells of the car were packed with salt that looked like snow and outside of the car had a thick coating of salt. Needless to say, a serious car wash was in order Monday morning.

Day Adventure to Dugway Geode Beds

Late last week, my partner in crime, Christine and I took the kids on a 4-wheelin desert adventure to hunt for geodes. We heard about it, googled it, filled up the gas tank, packed the car with water, snacks, kids and digging equipment, stopped for some $1 Cokes at McDonalds and away we went on our adventure out to Dugway. On our way there we saw lots of Antelope. This little guy, just sat and stared at us as we stared back.

We stopped at the one of the historic Pony Express Stations at Simpson Springs and the gang posed for a picture.

After about 50 miles of gravel roads and no other cars on the road, we arrived at the Geode beds. We had no idea exactly what we were doing, we had done the research, but it is a different story from reading about it to the literal applications of it. So when we got to the beds, we finally saw two people on the side of a hill digging. So I stopped to talk to them and get the "skinny" and the "411" on the geode situation. They were very nice and told me they were novices themselves, but did give me some information on what a geode sounds like when you hit it against a rock, they do have distinctive sounds. So away we went to find our own locale to dig.

So we drove around the area a bit. Found a place to park, set up our day camp with umbrellas, chairs, drinks and snacks. And away we go to digging and exploring. Christine, Ky and Brennan got right to it finding geodes ( I am sure Christine will be thrilled by the butt shot).

Rylan had to work really hard digging out a really big geode.

It was pretty stinkin hot, in the mid 90's, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. Here is Ky and Brennan contemplating their next dig site.

There were some puddles of water and Brennan brought his net and was able to find some toads that he was able to catch and bring home.

Christine and Emmy trying to keep cool under the shade.

Emmy is such a crack up, she is such a "ham", I just love this kid!

These are some of Brennan's finds.

We had some much fun on our adventure. On our way home we got a little crazy by 4-wheelin over some big hills and hitting some of the mud puddles pretty fast and seeing how high we could get the mud to go. The kids had so much fun, it sounded like rollercoaster screams some of the time. Can't wait to go on our next adventure.

Lake Powell 2010

Ryan wakeboarding

Brennan and Aunt Donna

Scrabble with Natalie, Brennan, Simone, Chad and Sabrina

Brennan Fishing

Sabrina, Donna and Natalie

June started out with our yearly trip to Lake Powell. It was most amazing because this year we were joined by the other Callahan Clan, Ed's brother and his family. We had a great time, lots of laughs, food, fun and sun. The top 5 things I want to remember about the trip are:

1. Spending time with my sis-in-law Donna. She rocks!

2. Spending time with my niece Natalie. She makes me feel important.

3. Brennan studying fish, reading about fish, catching fish and torturing everyone else with fish facts. My nephew, Chad was the most incredible patient fishing assistant to Brennan ever. Thanks Chad!

4. Cliff jumping - NEVER tell Donna and Yolanda that they are NO fun! We will prove you wrong, even if that means jumping off cliffs.

5. Playing Scrabble with the girls and having the biggest laugh of the weekend about the spelling of "jive/give". Sabrina and Simone, just thinking about you two gives me the biggest smile.

Visit to the Ranch - Spring 2010

A couple weeks ago we had a nice visit to the grandarent's ranch in Colorado. We always enjoy our visits. It's always relaxing and there is always something for the boys to do. On this visit, grandpa put the boys to work. Grandpa gathers and collects wood all year round to run his wood burning furnace.

Grandpa's wood pile and woodburning furnace

While Grandpa, Ed and Ryan were working, Brennan was doing this:

There was also some of this.... boys being boys:

The Callahan boys

Spring Break-Zoo

Brennan has been 'pestering' me about how he has never gone to the zoo (I did take him as a toddler), and how all his friends have gone and he is the only kid that has never gone to the zoo. Pretty much, he gave me a guilt trip, made me feel like a bad parent .....so now I have joined the ranks of good parents and took my boys to the zoo, and here is the proof.
I had a great time with Ryan and Brennan. I love spending time with them, we make each other laugh. I find out all sorts of things about them when I have them all to myself with no electronic distractions.

Arches National Park-Winter 2010

In January we made a day trip to Moab/Arches National Park. Ryan wanted to test out his new camera and we thought it would be a great day trip and an opportunity for some family time. We had so much fun hiking and exploring. We practically had the park all to ourselves. We spent a few hours at the park, went into town for some dinner, then went back at night.

Ryan took this picture of Ed & me. We are sitting under an Arch.

Brennan with Fiery Furnace in the background

Brennan is also an aspiring photrographer. He likes to do whatever his big brother does.

I took this picture of Ryan taking a picture of me.

Brennan took this picture of me under an arch and I can't get over how huge my ba dunk a dunk is. I knew it was big, but no denying it now.