NORTH TO ALASKA............

The Brinkerhoff family is off and running on a return trip to Anchorage, Alaska.
Most of you know that they spent 2 years up there while Joe attended college and played basketball for the U of Anchorage. In fact Jace was born up there. I was lucky enough to go help out when he was born. But this year, Jace has been up there playing "Summer Baseball" on a league out of Anchorage. So they thought it would be the perfect time to go check things out and reminisce. The girls have never been there and were excited to see somewhere new. We dropped them off at the Airport this evening, and hope they can all get some sleep on the plane, as they all looked worn out.

But they haven't lost their sense of humor, you can tell by their silly faces in the next picture.
Have fun, be careful and take a picture of a moose for us. P.S. They will be bringing Jace home, he is having trouble with his arm and will probably need surgery to get him ready for next season at UVU. Can't wait to see ya Jace.

Soar like an EAGLE..............

This last weekend we went down to Cedar City to celebrate with Kyle , and attend his Eagle Court of Honor.

Here he is pining the mother's pin on Karen. We were all so proud of him. Lots of hard work went into getting this award. He had 51 plus merit badges he has earned.
After he was presented with his award, Kyle presented Jim with a "Mentor"

award ( which is a new award, given to someone who helped the Eagle get his award). He stood up and gave such a nice little talk about how Grandpa had helped encourage him and offered to help in any way, and was always checking on him to see how he was doing. It was a real honor for Jim to get that little pin. Here is a picture of all 4 of our Scouts. Erick , Kurtis, Jim and Kyle
At the same Court of Honor, Kurtis was presented with his LIFE award. He has one more merit badge and has to wait his 6months and he will get his EAGLE.

Probably in January. Way to go guys, We are PROUD of YOU!!!!!

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD.............

Last Monday, Todd and Danelle called and ask us to meet them up the A F Canyon. So Jim, I and Sydney hopped in the Tundra and took off. They said they would meet us at Cascade Springs, on the back side of Timp. This is looking back at Timp. See the snow still left! It was a beauty of a day. When we got to Cascade Springs, we found that they had gone down stream from the springs to fish and so we went to find them. We had to cross the stream a few times. I thought this was a beautiful sight , so wanted to share the view.

There were butterflies all over. Many different sizes. I think they must have just hatched. Most were this size, but every once in awhile a BIG yellow and black monarch would fly by. It was awesome.

At last we found them, and Shay said " Stop"

Sydney jumped out and joined Shay, Colt, Rachel (shay's neighbor friend) and

Nelly ( shay's new puppy) They loved the water. It was just right in temp.

This was just a big mud puddle, but they had fun playing in it.

We tried to drive on down the stream and see if we would come out in Provo

Canyon, but we hit some spots that were straight up!!!!!! and rocky. We tried a few, and made them( with the help of Syd's prayer) but they just kept on getting steeper and we were not sure where we would end up, so we turned around and

returned the way we came. ( Syd kept saying , We are gonna Die!) I feared for my life too some times. Jim just laughed. I guess I was not cut out to be a 4-wheeler.

When we got back to Cascade Springs, we stopped and walked around a little.

This is a fish we saw. There were a lot of them, but they just ignored us!

It was a fun day. And we made it home ALiVe!!!!!!! Thanks Father in Heaven, for all your beautiful creations that we can go and enjoy.

GRANDPA SQUIDWARD.........

Yesterday, Jim had a tumor taken off his nose. It was the kind that is pretty easy to get and it only took the Dr. 5 minutes to have it out. Then we sat and waited for 45 minutes while they checked to make sure he got it all. It was about the size of a pea. He then stitched him up and sent us on our way.
It was really sore yesterday, but he has had a pretty good day , today. Tomorrow he gets to take the bandage off and check it out. It looks pretty swollen, and the grandkids yesterday, called him "Squidward" cause his nose was so big. He has been pretty awesome about it. Went shopping and all, I don't think I would have.

Matt's Pet.......

Tonight after working in the garden, picking peas, and radishes, Matt was watering and this dragonfly came out of the peach tree and landed on his pants.

It just stayed there for a long time while he watered and then he came and sat down and picked it up. He held it for awhile and then it flew over into the pine tree. Jim called it," Evinrude ".

Fun in the Sun........

Here are the kids having a ball on our new tramp.. It sprays water out the top .......

Sadie in motion.........

Colt and Sadie chasing each other........

Shay, getting wet.........

Man or Wo....Man? Shay looks like the villan, Syd just smilin........

GRADUATION.......

Kylee, graduated May 28. Sorry it took me so long to get this on the blog. She is the girl in the middle of two boys with the lei on her neck. She just would not look our way. Maybe she didn't know where we were , there were so many people there. We are proud of you Ky. Way to go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY............

I just about missed this month's birthdays. But we want to wish a great shout out to :

Tricia on the 10th,

Karen on the 20 ,

and Matt on the 27.

Hope you have a great day. We love you and are glad you're part of our Family!