21June2010
Posted by Pres under: Mandy; Preston.
Mandy and I got to be Ma’s and Pa’s for our Stake Pioneer Youth Trek this year. This year our stake decided to Trek in our own Cedar Valley. This was kind of cool, because we left from our Stake Center and as we began to Trek up into the hills the youth really felt like they were leaving their homes behind. In fact from this picture I think you can almost see our home.
Up the hill from Eagle Mountain.
We had a really good “family” of youth. The leaders told us, as ma’s and pa’s, not to do anything for the youth that they could do for themselves. They were all so willing to help push and pull that Mandy and I didn’t have to help push hardly at all. The only real complaining that they did was that the groups in front weren’t going fast enough or stopping too much for breaks.
The second day was pretty difficult with some steep climbs and really rough and rocky trails, but they never stopped pushing. This picture was taken at one of the last places where we could still see Eagle Mountain. It was near the top of the highest ridge that we climbed.
Last glimpse of Eagle Mountain.
Of course they did the Women’s Pull on the steepest part of the trail. I was pretty proud of Mandy she got right in there. Two of the girls in our group, (way to go Bri and Becca), after they had pulled their groups two handcarts up, went back and helped three more carts pull theirs up. Pretty inspiring. I think overall the Women’s pull was the highlight of the Trek for most of the youth, both young women and young men. Here is a picture of the trail they had to pull up and one of Mandy pushing with all her might.
Women's Pull
It was hot, we didn’t see a cloud for three days and Cedar trees don’t give much shade. We got sunburned despite lathering ourselves in it every couple of hours. My feet were pretty blistered by the time we got home. We had some really great and inspiring experiences. The motto of our company was, “We can do hard things.” I was really proud of the youth, especially those in our family. They did everything they were asked to do. They never complained. And they seemed to be having a good time the whole time. As we came into Eagle Mountain and their family and friends were lining the streets to welcome them home they decided to show off and run their handcart the last quarter mile or so. Which meant that we also ran the last quarter mile or so to keep up. Here are a few more pictures of our family and the route we took.
The Dean Family
19.51 Total Miles (click on image to enlarge)
1June2010
Posted by Pres under: Taya.
We spent Memorial Day weekend in Rockland, Idaho with my family. Conner loved being able to climb Grandpa’s apple trees. (We don’t have any trees big enough to climb in Eagle Mountain.) Taya wore herself out scooting all over Grandma’s house. (Our house isn’t big enough to get worn out in.) We also got a couple of woodworking projects done in my dad’s shop, and my mom helped us finish our Pioneer Trek outfits.
We also had my sister Britney take some pictures of Taya for her 1 year old pics.
This one was one of our favorites.
1 Year Old Taya
14May2010
Posted by Pres under: Conner; Preston; Taya.
The end of April and the First of May are always really busy with birthdays. Conner and Taya’s birthdays are two weeks apart. Taya shares her birthday with my mom. We also have my birthday and two of Mandy’s sisters birthdays in there too. Here are some highlight pictures from Taya, Conner, and my birthday parties. (I didn’t have to share mine with Conner this year.)
Taya’s Birthday - April 28th.
(click on images to enlarge)
Conner’s Birthday - May 12th.
(click on images to enlarge)
Pres’s Birthday - May 7th.
(click on images to enlarge)
I just had to throw this picture in there. This is Taya after a long day of celebrating with her new baby doll that she calls “Ba-Ba”
28April2010
Posted by Pres under: Taya.
Taya turns 1 year old today!! She has the same birthday as my mom who turns… Just kidding, I wouldn’t do that to you mom.
Taya as a baby.
1 Year Later.
We are really starting to see Taya’s personality develop. She is into things a lot more than Conner was. She is very curious and is always looking for new things to play with or destroy. We have gotten in the habit of getting the mail and just giving her the junkmail to play with because it is something new and it keeps her occupied for a couple of minutes.
Taya is getting a lot more mobile. She took after Conner and decided not to crawl but scoot across the floor. She is just starting to show interest in walking. She can stand and walk if someone is holding her hands, but hasn’t mastered the balance to stand on her own yet.
Her new favorite toys are balls. She gets so excited when we walk by balls at stores, even the big red concrete ones outside of Target. She loves sitting on the floor and rolling a ball back and forth with you. I think we need to start working on volleyball serves and spiking, but Mandy thinks she is still too young. She’s probably right, we don’t want to burn her out too early.
She loves watching Conner play with his toys. Because he is so animated and all over the place when he plays, she thinks he is playing with her too.
It has been a fun and fast year.
Happy Birthday, Sister!!
7April2010
Posted by Pres under: Conner.
A couple of days ago we finally downloaded the pictures off of our camera and we found this one from a couple of months ago.
After church we must have been so busy getting dinner ready (probably Fast Sunday), that we hadn’t noticed Conner setting up this scene on the living room floor. Apparently they had talked about Noah’s Ark in Primary and it had reminded Conner of his board book of Greg Olsen paintings of children. We found the book opened to the painting of the boy pretending all his toy animals and dinosaurs were loading the ark on the floor.
He had even used the rocking chair that Grandpa Dean had made and Grandma Dean had painted a picture of Noah on for the ark.
