Hiking Badger Mountain

Last Saturday we wanted to get out of the house and go for a walk, but instead of wandering around the neighborhood we opted to hike Badger Mountain. Badger Mountain is the prominent peak in the area reaching 1579 feet. Hiking Badger is a sort of right of passage for locals, akin to climbing the "Y" at BYU.

We knew Madeleine couldn't make it so we brought a carrier for her, but we were hoping Asher would like to walk. We weren't that far before Asher insisted that he ride on my shoulders. The unexpected result from carrying both of them was that I flew up the mountain compared to Vanessa, because I was in such a hurry to put them both down.
At the top we had a picnic, and Asher peed on the bushes next to the radio tower, which he thought was really cool (the tower, not the peeing). We also took some pictures including this one of the Columbia River Temple (Temple is middle-right, Columbia River is upper left). After we climbed back down the kids had a bunch of fun playing on the play ground. Madeleine loved the swings, but the fun and games ended when Asher wandered in front of her and got bulled over. Still it was a really fun day.

Fall Colors

This is a post that I (Paul) have wanted to make for a while, even though it isn't exactly the most exciting topic. It is partly to give a shout out to the Riggs, our friends who moved to Denver so Jeromy could go back to school to get a masters in Landscape Architecture. When we first bought our house Jeromy was working at Beaver Bark Nursery making landscape plans for customers. He offered to put together a landscape plan for us since our house just came with a sand lot.

We didn't follow his plan exactly, due primarily to cost constraints, but partly because of our lack of vision, which we now regret. However we took his advice about tree selection. He chose special varieties based on their fall colors and how quickly they grew. He also advised us of the best fall sales so that we could get the most bang for our buck.

We bought the trees in fall of 2006, after they had gone dormant, and looked forward to seeing their promised beautiful fall colors. Well last year our sprinkler system got tripped sometime in September and quit watering our yard, but since it was set to water at night we didn't notice. It was early fall and so we didn't suspect anything when the leaves started to shrivel and fall off, but I became concerned when instead of turning the brilliant red that Jeromy had promised, they simply turned brown and fell off. I realized in time to save the lawn and trees for the next year, but we didn't get to enjoy the fall colors.

So this year I have been (not so) patiently waiting for fall to see the colors. Our maple tree in the back yard, shown in the picture below, changed colors first in mid October. First it went purple, then a burning red color started at the core of the tree and worked its way out to the outermost limbs. It was beautiful.Our aristocrat pear in the front yard has been a beautiful tree, but has tried my patience. The maple tree had long lost its leaves while the pear tree was still completely green. Finally it has turned yellow with the outermost leaves turning pink. I will have to post an updated picture when the tree really turns pink, but I got too anxious since I have been plotting this post for some time. Last week we used a Beaver Bark coupon for $20 off a $50 purchase to pick up another tree. We found a pink flowered dogwood tree, normally $100, but 50% off, and we got it for $32 after tax (70% discount, score). I planted it yesterday in our front yard, in front of the the side fence. We are excited because we think the pink dogwood flowers will be a great compliment to the white pear flowers. To Jeromy, thanks for the help with our yard, both in advice, know how, and labor, and to the Riggs, we miss you guys. We hope Denver is treating you well.

Happy Halloween!

First, Here are some pictures from Asher's birthday. He was so excited to help make cupcakes. He put all of the cupcake cups in the muffin tin and then asked me every ten minutes if he could have a cupcake yet. It was also very important to him that he have a number 3 on top of his cupcake because Madeleine had a number 1 on her birthday. I think this is how traditions are born. All day, he kept saying "It's my birthday, I am so happy"! This guy has been anxiously waiting for his birthday for a looong time. He had about 6 presents to open after dinner and it was just too much for him after number four so he begged Madeleine to open the rest for him. She was more than willing to help Asher with this "chore", and he was happy to scoop up the toys when she was done. Ahhh cooperation.

We went to our church's "Trunk or Treat" instead of going door to door. We all had so much fun! This was the first Halloween that Asher willingly put on a costume. A few days before Halloween I took him and Maddie to their Music class Halloween party and he refused to wear his costume. Luckily on Halloween he was ready to go.

I was there early to help set up and Asher and Maddie ran laps around the gym, screaming with the other kids who were there early. It is so funny how different siblings can be. Our primary president, Molly, was telling Halloween stories while people prepared their cars for the trick or treaters. Maddie ran up and sat between two kids that she didn't know. Asher insisted on sitting on my lap. Later, during trick or treating, Maddie ran from car to car yelling "Trick Treat"! Asher was excited too, but wanted to take things a bit slower. I knew it was time to quit when Asher started saying "I want to go home" to people instead of "Trick or Treat". I love their little personalities.



Oh, we are currently in the middle of painting, which explains the blue tape on our walls.