Modern Art

It's as good as some of the art I've seen, and this was created by a nine year old!

Fishing...Kind of

One evening before dusk we drove from Castle Dale to Millsite near Ferron to do some fishing. The only things we caught were a lot of mud, Caleb's crock, some grass, and nearly a bat. 

The water had receded lower than my dad had expected, so there was a lot more mud that expected.

 

 

Facing Fear, One Step at a Time

 Carter is my most nervous child, especially when it comes to animals. Scratch that, especially when it comes to cats. He seems to do pretty well with some dogs, but cats.... I don't know what it is. He begged me to go with him across the road to the neighbor's yard to see if he could catch a cat. The cats had been terrorized by Caleb for the past week, so they were a little nervous too.

Here is Carter, facing his fear..

 

 

 

A Really Special Place

There is no doubt that the Castle Valley is a very special place. This is the view from the front yard of my childhood home. Spending a whole week in Castle Dale made me realize quite a few things. Just one being that it is a really beautiful place.

My dad and I took my kids out on the desert for a really fun hike. Dad dropped me and the kids off at the top of the canyon, then he drove the four miles around to the bottom of the canyon. We started hiking down, he started hiking up and we were going to meet in the middle. We found out pretty quick that one man can hike much faster than a woman and three (easily distracted) kids. 

Nonetheless, we finished the last half(ish) of the hike together through the beautiful slot-style section of the canyon. In the very recent past there had been a flash flood in this canyon so it was kind of wet and all of the brush had been pushed over. It was really cool to see how much water had been in the canyon just days ago, and we were glad that we hadn't decided to hike it earlier that week.

Caleb hiked until the last quarter mile, and then grandpa Neal carried him on his shoulders. We caught some tadpoles that we had with us until just a few days ago when they finally died. After our hike we drove down to the Buckhorn Panel to eat our lunch. We found some shade in a dry river bed, and took a short break after our hike.

 

 

 

Since I didn't have my phone with me during our hike, I wanted to take a few pictures of the kids together. However, Caleb had other plans and pushed Cali off this rock. Disoriented and scared (but OK), she ran in the opposite direction from the car. So after grabbing Caleb, making sure Carter didn't fall too, I had to retrieve Cali who had run about 200 yards away.

It wasn't very funny at the time, but the fact that I snapped a picture at the exact second before the push occurred is pretty funny! This is a classic insight into the personalities of all three of these kids.

 

 

Pre Parade...Parade...Post Parade

Pre Parade: 5K run around my hometown with my sister. I had a '90's playlist and honestly thought I was running back in time. For several minutes I thought I was about 16 years old.

 

Parade: My kids weren't impressed by the lack of candy throwing at this parade. Not to mention it was super hot, and these Wyoming kids kind of struggle in the heat. I took Caleb and Carter back to my mom's house due to an emotional breakdown by the two of them in regards to the heat/not.enough.candy.issue.

 

Post Parade: Luckily the post parade activities helped cool them down and recover/

 

The Castle Valley Pageant

If you've never been to the Castle Valley Pageant in you should, at least once. Years and years ago it was written and performed as a road show for the Castle Dale Stake as a historical representation of the pioneers who settled the area. It grew in popularity and soon became a yearly pageant performed by the people of the Castle Valley area. About ten years ago the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints bought the rights to the production, and now it's an official church pageant and is performed every two years. 

Since this year was a pageant year, we decided to check it out. I took Cali once when she was really little, but she doesn't remember it. For about two hours before the production there is a full scale pioneer village for people to explore. When I asked my kids what they liked most about the pageant they said, "THE PIONEER VILLAGE!!!" and "The horses at the first of the pageant". 

Even though their favorite things were before or during the first 15 minutes of the pageant, we still stayed through the entire 90 minute production. Cali and Carter were engaged by the story and songs and live animals. Caleb did pretty well too, and sat quietly until the last half hour. I was pretty impressed.

 

 

 

 

 

The Emery County Fair

I had the most wonderful opportunity this summer to spend some time in Castle Dale. The Emery County Fair is a time honored tradition for a true Castle Dalian that I wanted to share with my kids.

As a kid my mom and dad would take us "down to the fair"; we would eat Navjo Tacos and buy overpriced trinkets and feel pretty awesome! In fact, in 1989 (ish) my sisters and I won the talent show at the fair and by doing so were able to perform at the Utah State Fair. I was also the recipient of blue ribbon for my peanut butter cookies when I was in 4H.

So, you can see, it's kind of a big deal. This year we arrived on Thursday evening just in time to get some face painting, fair food, and few good bounces in the bouncy houses.

Even after the makeup washed off, Caleb was still convinced that he was the real "stidernan" (Spider Man).

We brought Bethany and Brock with us on our Emery County adventure, and we all took turns nibbling on this juicy little nugget!

Cotton Candy + Sweaty Hands = A Pretty Cool Trick

 

All three kids tried their luck at the fishing pond, but Carter didn't give up he was the only one who reeled in a fish. Cali gave up after a few minutes, and Caleb mostly wanted to play with the worm...

Carter was pretty proud of his catch, although we had to do some convincing for him to hold the stick, he didn't like the way the fish "flipped around and almost touched him". Caleb was pretty proud too, but I suspect he was mostly happy to have his own bag of caramel popcorn.

 

A Dentist Office?

Caleb has a little dental problem. Apparently, his teeth are not as strong as my other kid's. After a strict chocolate milk detox and the removal of his tonsils, he is having his cavities filled. 

Initially a pediatric dentist told me that he needed every.single.one. of his teeth capped.  So, being the good parent that I am, I sought a second opinion. The second pediatric dentist gave us a much better diagnosis and had an old school Mario Bros arcade in his office. So we're going with the video game dentist.

Tomorrow we are going on our dental adventure to Provo, and thankfully, Caleb won't come back as the kid with the silver grill.

Photography By Carter

On July 28th I ran the Red Desert Round Up 5K with my friend Jessy. She stuck around for the parade, and I went home to get my kids ready for the day and finish up some Saturday chores.

Later that morning she called me to tell me that I won 1st place in my age group...and that I got a medal. She picked up my medal for me and brought it to my house later that day.

I promptly put on my medal and asked Carter to take a picture of me... He replied, "Sure, but I have to hurry because I am watching Ice Age on tv...." He was obviously not impressed by my medal... at all

Carter's first attempt at photographing me in my moment of glory...

Carter's second attempt.... worst than the first

Carter's third attempt...

 ...and the forth attempt as I walked toward him to get the phone out of his hand... Never send a six year old to the job of a nine year old. Or, if I were a talented teenager I could take a picture of myself by strategically holding the camera next to me while posing in a mirror...

The fifth time's the charm, I guess.  Luckily he got some of the Ice Age movie he was watching in the shot too. Oh, and attention all area 30-39 year olds... You may want to come out and represent our age group!

 

Pollastro Reunion

After I got back from a week of fun at Girl's Camp, I drove to Salt Lake to meet Christian where he was working. We drove together to Price, met up with our kids, and hung out with the Pollastro family for most of the weekend. As if Cali and Carter hadn't had enough grandparent attention, they decided to stay an extra few days. So, on Saturday night, Christian and Caleb and I drove back to Rock Springs while Cali and Carter partied it up slip and slide style.

Christian's brother Carson, his wife Nykelle, and their two kids Mia and Cade, came to town from Illinois where they live. It was fun to have a few days to visit with them and see how much their kids have grown. Carson and Nykelle used to live in Rock Springs and Green River, WY so we used to see them a lot. We have missed not having them around and being able to spend time with them.

Here we are, minus Dustin (my favorite little buddy...who is a grown man now!) When Christian and I got married Melissa and I were both 18, Carson was 16, Brittany was 13, and Dustin was 10. We've all grown up a lot, as you can see.

Christian, Me, Devin (Melissa's Husband), Melissa, Nykelle (Carson's Wife), Carson, and Brittany

My kids went for many many years without a single cousin. Then, some of our siblings started reproducing. Now there is a whole pile of Pollastro cousins. I'm sure there are more to come... I expect at least a couple more from Carson & Nykelle...same with Melissa & Devin. Plus, Brittany and Dustin are not even married yet, so give them a couple more years and we're bound to have a whole new batch.

Left to right (Youngest to Oldest)

Cade Pollastro (one year), Brock Esplin (19 months), Caleb Pollastro (2.5 years), Mia Pollastro (3 years), Parker Esplin (4 years), Carter Pollastro (6.5 years), Cali Pollastro (9 years).

We also had a family bocci ball tournament. Nykelle and I thought we were pretty awesome, until we got killed by Devin and Melissa. Apparently throwing a ball close to another ball is harder than it looks... and more fun too! 

Lizard Catching 101

Caleb has a lot of talents. If you've seen him in action you vouch for his strange physical abilities and his cunning ways. While I was gone to Girl's Camp he developed his talents by catching animals. It started with catching cats at my parents house. My dad reported that by the end of the week he could catch one cat while holding another one around the neck. When I ask Caleb what the cat's at grandpa's house are named he says, "Their names are scratch me." I wonder why?

I witnessed his animal catching skills later that week when he caught a lizard at grandma Vicki's house. Uncle Carson helped him at first, but once he got the hang of it, there was no stopping him. He rocked the lizard like a baby and when it fell asleep he yelled, "wake up!" at it. 

Not sure if it was asleep, or if it was "asleep", if you know what I mean....