A trip to Utah

My Brother Brice just finished his bachelors degree in Civil Engineering.  He graduated this April from Brigham Young University.  My Dad was going to drive up to Provo for the graduation and invited Aurora and I to hitch a ride with him.  We did.  We had a fantastic trip.  I enjoyed all of it, but especially the nine hour drive up and back-- I had so much fun having uninterupted time to talk with my Dad and Sister.  I love my family so much!  I took a lot of photos, so here they are!  Hope you get  a good laugh out of some of them.  We Somers people have fun together! 

The morning of Brice's graduation.  Aurora is doing up Raelin's hair. 

Raelin holds very still for Aunty Raroo.

In the other bathroom, Morgan is fixing up Alaina's hair. 

Alaina is brushing her teeth.

 

Pappa and Ryker are ready to go.

Alaina-pie is ready to go.

 

Now we are all waiting for graduation to start. 

What could be more entertaining than taking silly pictures?

We met William and Angel at BYU.  Liam was at preschool. 

Raelin has a mouse that Ryanne sent to her.

Pappa is helping Raelin find her Daddy's name in the program. 

Aurora is still obssessed with Raelin's pretty hair. 

 

Awww, she likes this sweet girl. 

 

Doesn't Raelin have a lovely face?! 

I love her eyes.  I love her nose! I love her chin!

She looks like a Somers.

Grandmother, Mother, two daughters: 

Dee Lawler, Morgan, Raelin and Alaina.

Pappa is taking pictures.

Lucky Angel--she gets a back massage while we are waiting! 

 

Grandfather Lawler and sweet baby Alaina.

William's normal face. 

Also known as the Joker!

 

What devious plan are they crafting?

What knowing look is this? 

 

He really does have a large smile. 

 

Sister snuggles.

Angel is taking some good photos.

Raelin almost has the same grin as William!

 

But not Alaina.  She's serious-faced. 

Oh dear, what have we here? 

 Two dead possums in the road. 

 

You know, that camera is as big as her head. 

 

Finally, the long wait is over and the graduate

 is here to get his congratulations!

Yeah Brice! 

We screamed and cheered loud for him. 

I call this picture "Looking up to Daddy";

Some day Alaina wants to wear a

cap and gown.

Hugga-sister

Hugga-brother. 

Hey look!  I really was there! 

I was so proud of Brice. 

Family hugs, minus Ryker who was wiggly

and had gone off for a walk with his Grandpa.

 

Daddy and Alaina.

I really like this picture.

Dad is full of love and pride for his son.

All of his children and their spouses are

 graduates from college now! 

Hugs from Angel.

There's Ryker!  Silly Boys!

Dad with his four kids and two of his granddaughters. 

Raelin is going to grow up and get a master's degree

in three subjects.

Sweet family.

Ryker!--Get that tongue in!

Now Raelin is looking up to Daddy.

Ryker!  There's that tongue again!

Ryker still has his tongue out!

(Reminds me of us trying to get a family picture).

Smooches from the happy wife

(how much longer 'till you graduate with your Master's degree she asks?)!

Alaina thinks mommy ought to be giving daddy a better kiss. 

 

There we go--now Alaina's kissing Daddy.

 

And kissing him some more. 

Cute grin. 

Peeking back over his shoulder.

 

 Where will their future lead them?

Alaina up close. 

 She had scraped her nose a few days before this.

 

I like her little hands. 

 

Raelin is happy because Pappa found the mousey she lost.

Going.

Going.

Gone!

Morgan has put a white board and markers

at kid level in her house.

All the kids and some of us adults like to draw on it. 

Even the neighbor kids would

randomly walk in the house to doodle on it. 

If you don't know who this picture is,

it is a younger version of someone with

a scar right on thier lip. 

 

Charicatures of the kids.

Ryker and I had fun playing ball with some toys Mimi sent them. 

Aurora turning Brice's garden for him. 

At William's house.  William is building a marble tower for the kids. 

I think they knocked it down faster than he could build it.

Don't ask me what Angel is doing. 

Is she swatting invisible flies?

Maybe it's a meditation pose.

Once the tower was up,

they had a lot of fun rolling the marbles down.

Aurora snuggling Alaina.

 

Brice snuggling Alaina. 

Do you think she gets enough snuggles?

Alaina was dancing.

She's really getting into it!

Don't you love her grin?

She is turning circles and wiggling like crazy.

She wiggled her pants right off!

William's cat Motors is trying to ignore me.

Is this the "Time-Out" chair?

What did she do?

 

Okay, now she's just plain sour at me. 

When all else fails, lick your fur. 

"No-no, I'm so ashamed! Don't look at me!"

"Back off or I'll give yeh' the ol'one-two --

POW! Right in the kisser!

Home School

We believe in home school at our house.  Well, we don't home school; but we learn things!  When the kids are off-track for a month I take over as science teacher and put my degree to use.  I love it!

We went on several field trips in April.  Here is what we learned:

Bees:

You can "farm" bees.  They live in white boxes.  There is a queen in each box.  They collect pollen from the plants around them.  That is how you get different "flavored" honey: clover, orange blossom, sage, etc.  It all depends on what plants the bees are near.  Leah is afraid of bees.  She would not get in the picture. 

(Mckay)

Mommy likes bees.  Her name, Melissa, means Honey Bee.  Bees are hard workers.  They obey their leader.  They make things sweet and prepare for the future.  They raise their babies with care.  They like to see the world around them.  Mommy is a lot like a bee.  Mommy is not afraid of bees.  She lets them crawl on her.  She always wanted to see inside the bee hive, so she carefully opened the lid.  She saw all the trays of honeycombs and a gazillion bees.  She held very still, but got stung by one bee; I think she should wear bee-worker clothes.  They wear hats and gloves and nets over their faces.  They don't wear short sleeves and get stung in their armpit like mom!   All of us kids stayed far away!  We didn't eat any honey, but we saw broken bits of honey comb on the ground.  It was very waxy.  We saw bee larvae inside some of the combs.   (Mckay)

This is poison oak.  It has three leaves close together in little clusters.  It has berries.  New leaves are kind of red.  It is poisonous and can give you big red itchy bumps.  The oil on it has the poison.  It grows all over the mountains and foothills here where we live in San Bernardino.  Look out for it!  Sometimes it is growing in  other bushes and it blends in and you don't see it right off.  My mom has had it three times, twice as a kid, and once as a grown-up.  I guess she still can't figure out not to walk in it!  (Ryanne)

When poison oak is dry, it can be yellowish. 

(Ryanne)

Mountain Lupine

Very Pretty.

(Mom)

Mustard.  Aweed.  You can eat it. 

(Mckay)

This orange plant is a parasite.  It is called Witches Hair or Dodder.  It grows little flowers that produce seeds.  The seeds grow up out of the soil and then the plant attaches itself to another plant.  Because Dodder has no clorophyll, it cannot use the sun's energy to grow.  It sucks sap out of other plants to grow.  It has really tiny leaves that are like scales. 

(Mom)

This was pretty, but we don't know the name of it. 

(Ryanne)

Mom thinks this is Yerb Santa. 

A plant that was used as a medicine for lung and breathing sicknesses, headaches and stomach aches.  It was used by native californians and early Spanish Padres.  It can be chewed, made into smooshy stuff to rub on  the chest, or made into a tea.  But we don't drink tea.  (Leah)

Part way up the hill on one of our hikes.  The kids were tired and asking when we were going to turn around.  I told them we were going to hike to that tree-- the very dark green blob in between the two converging hills.  They were dismayed.  (Mom)

But they made it! 

Ryanne was grouchy that I "made" them hike so far and she wouldn't get in the picture.  We are hiking up the Canyon at the top of Palm Ave.  Behind the kids is our lovely San Bernardino . . . smog?

(Mom)

We are proud of ourselves!  Look how high up we are! 

Here are two things we caught when we hiked down the creek in Cleghorn Canyon.

One is a toad.  One is a baby water snake.  The toad is prey.  The snake is the predator.  I think the snake is going to get full. 

My mom caught the snake.  It was fassssst.  You should have seen my mom running around in the creek trying to catch it!  We all laughed at her but none of us would help her because we were too sacred to grab it.  Besides, after mom caught it she told us it can let a smelly oil out of its skin.  It really stank!  And so did mom's hands.  Yuk! 

We all tried to catch toads with our nets, but Mckay was the only one who would actually pick them up and touch them.  Mom thinks we are sissies.  She says she was catching snakes and toads when she was three! 

(Leah)

Here is the coolest thing we caught.  I found it.  (Leah).  I thought it was a toad, but it turned out to be a horny-toad--or a lizard.  It was really poky.  I liked touching it.  It looks big in this picture, but it was really small. 

Here is my mom's pinky finger so you can see how small it is.  I wanted to keep it.  So did mom.  But we learned that they are protected because there are not very many of them.  And they mostly only eat certain kinds of ants.  So we let it go.  Isn't it cute?!  (Leah)

Here is what I caught (Elias).  It is a bug.  It is black.  It has six legs. It is a beetle.  Mom says it is a silphidae beetle.  That is a carrion beetle--or one that eats dead animals.  Yuk!  She likes bugs.  She touches them.  At home she has dead bugs on our wall.  She killed them at school.  They are a picture and she knows about them. 

I made a creation for scouts.  It is a sculpture.  (Mckay)

I also like to fold paper into shapes.  It is called origami.  I can make frogs, swans, balloons, tons of airplanes and some other stuff I can't think of.  I taught myslef how to do it.  I made them into a mobile.  (Mckay)