Personal Ponies

Last night as an activity for the young women in our ward we learned how to train and groom Shetland ponies. One of the Young Women leaders is involved in an organization called "Personal Ponies," where they train these animals, then gift them to children with special needs. They also visit hospitals and nursing homes, so they are very well behaved. I took Shannon and as soon as she saw them she yelled, "horsies!"

She even got to ride one for a little bit. Basically, it was a little girl's dream come true.

She wanted to sit by one of her favorite babysitters, Sarah.

This is her friend, Josh. They had a lot of fun together chasing each other and racing up and down the hill.

(P.S. Don't miss the other posts below. I got a little bit behind.)

Ward Party

Matt was sick, so I took the girls and went to help set up for our ward party last Friday. I didn't end up helping at all because Shannon was running all over the place, but that's ok. It was 100 degrees, so it was very unpleasant for both kids, but they actually handled it pretty well.

Shannon saw the camera and wanted to say, "cheese!" She is sweaty, has messy hair and food on her face, but she's still pretty cute.

Here is a video of Shannon playing with some geese we found on a pond in the park. The pond smelled like the Salt Lake and looked just about as dirty, but Shannon thought it was great fun. I think the geese thought she was throwing bread at them, because they were coming up to her, but she was just being mean and throwing dirt.

Lauritzen Family Reunion

Last week we had a family reunion for my dad's family. These are most of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives.Shannon thought the stream that ran through the campground was a lot of fun to play in. Too bad she is allergic to dogs, because she loves them. This is my cousin's dog.From left to right: my dad, my sisters, Mindy and Kristi, my nephew, Jordan, my mom, and Leah being held by her cousin, Megan. It got kind of cold up in the canyon when the sun went behind the mountain. It was a very good time!

Geocaching

I took Shannon geocaching with her cousins a few weeks ago in the foothills above Springville. Here we are at the trail head, wondering a little bit if this was really the right place. It was a pretty steep hill, and quite a bit more difficult than we thought it would be, so those of us in our sandals were a little bit uncomfortable, but it was beautiful! The first cache was behind this huge boulder that looked like it could roll over on us at any moment.

This is everyone signing the guest list in the cache. Shannon was really enjoying the adventure.

Here is a view of a nice storm over southern Utah Valley that was chasing after us. It was beautiful!