Tales from Huffaker Haven: May 2016. he who hesitates .......

"He who hesitates is lost."

For the last several days, that phrase just keeps going through my head. It's usually immediately followed by the self-admonition: "Get ON with it, Marilyn!!"

This blog post is going to end up being much more photos than words. Life has been busy, and whose isn't? We're no different than anyone else. I've had a couple of rambling-mind posts that I thought about putting up, but I'm going to move on with getting current first.

So without further adieu ---, I give you: May.

Miss Emma was ready for a photo session in the back yard, ...... but not so ready for there to be actual INSECTS out there with her, as well. Who knew, right?

We seriously have been trying to get her over her fear of buzzing things. Not sure if it's working. This is her look when she had a fly-by that she couldn't run from, because she was stuck up a tree. (Well, I guess that's ONE way to keep her out there!!)

At the beginning of May, Darcie returned from her freshman year at BYU (Provo) for about a week of visiting, before heading back down there for her summer job as a sports camp counselor. (Boy, things sure come full circle, don't they? She used to GO to softball camp at BYU -- read more HERE -- and now she's a counselor there for the campers!)

While she was here, it was time for the annual J.A.M. softball clinic, Emma's second year. They were short on counselors this year, so Darcie stepped up and volunteered to help. Makes it her 5th year as a helper.

Off they go!!

Also while she was here, the weather was nice enough to go out and make ice cream on the trampoline:

(I love the spirea blooming in the background! The peonies were kind of on their way out, though.)

(And, ....... she snagged the camera from me.)

..... so I got her back:

Todd and I wanted to surprise Darcie with some fun activity that would remind her that home is still a nice place to be. She's had a great time at college during her freshman year, and she's got even more upcoming adventures (more on that later), so we chose to do something that's both super-fun, and still is a reminder of her childhood.

So we planned a day, and took the girls four-wheeling!!

And then later, I found this photo of her when she was about 3 years old .....

If I'd know I had that picture, I'd have had her do a re-creation of it.

(We used to tell her that if she was holding on to the "insides" of the handlebars, then she was helping to steer it. Ha!!)

It was still pretty chilly up in the mountains, so we're dressed for it. Plus, four-wheeling usually means you end up getting a little muddy:

... or wet .....

(I try to tuck my feet up on the fenders to keep them dry when we cross streams.)

The real revelation came to Emma, though. The child actually had thought that "four-wheeling" meant that we take her for rides around the back yard. Yes, THAT'S how long it had been since we'd gone on a real ride.

We were all a little spattered. But, hey ----- what a view!!!

(In keeping with her adventurous photos from southern Utah -- she wanted this shot here.)

Man, oh man -- it sure was a ton of fun to get back on the machines again!!

We had ALL kinds of weather in one day -- sunshine, rain, snow, HAIL [that hurts!], --- and I think Darcie loved every second of it!!

Darcie wasn't around this year to help Todd out with coaching the Little League softball team. Emma moved up from T-ball to Farm League (coach-pitch). That put me in as assistant coach, and I ended up with very few photos. Maybe that's just as well?

(She would always tuck her softball pants down inside her socks! That's one way to do it, I guess!)

Also in May --- can you believe it's been a year? Alyssa and Andrew celebrated their first anniversary! Alyssa asked me to take some couple-photos for it, so we had a photo session down by the greenbelt.

We kept heading south from there, and had to pull over for the classic state border picture of Emma:

(And then she wanted to take a picture of me, too.)

We hadn't ever been down to visit Todd's sister, Shelly, in her new home, so this was the trip to do it! Actually, there was another reason for taking the trip at this particular time, but we sure soaked up all the family time we could while we were there!!

Love Shelly!!! She's got the greatest little family, and it was a blast to be there.

Alexus took Emma out for a spin in the 'Stang ---

(And we went to dinner in one of the coldest restaurants, ever. Seriously, we were wearing our coats in there!!)

Shelly & Andy had invited us down for Family Day at the mine where Andy works, and we jumped at the chance! It was so much fun to see!

So, in no particular order .........

They have some pretty BIG equipment out there:

Cool girls!

This photo is a little warped, because it's 3 pictures together. I wish I could set you on the edge there to look down into this thing, because it's HUGE. Like, really, really big!!!

So, I took my long lens, and zoomed all the way in on that last picture. If you were to look really, really closely at the upper right of that photo, you would see this:

Those teeny tiny, look-like-toy-trucks and grader and excavator ---- those are the big, humongous ones like the dump truck from that first photo!!

Unbelievable!!!!

And they drive those things until they can't drive them any longer. Here's one of the used tires:

The mine was really quite welcoming and had a bunch of displays and stations set up from all their different departments -- engineering, geology, safety, electrical, thermal imaging, processing, ..... I can't even remember them all. They handed out a bunch of candy and freebies (that's what's in those bags we're carrying), and fed us lunch, and drove us through their processing plant area, as well as to the top of the mine edge.