Trip to Shoup!

Fox had two days off last week, so we decided to drive to Shoup before the snow came! We haven't been to Shoup in 4 years, and our kids had never been. We are so happy we went and were able to spend some precious time with Grandmama and Grandpapa.

This was the first time we had been since the mill burned down (Grandpa had a huge mill that was used for gold milling and also all of his personal storage). It was crazy to see the wreckage and hear the story of the fire. I begged Grandpa to tell me the story of the person behind the arson--an old business associate. He didn't want to tell me, because he has decided to be very positive about all of this.

Here is the makeshift shack that still contains the tools Grandpa uses in his gold mine tours:

Only a few items survived, like some of Uncle Jeff's Buddhist temple bells he had been storing there:

A picture of the fire. I never realized why it burned down so quickly, until Grandpa explained that all of his dynamite and propane was near the entrance! The fire burned for 3 days.

All of Grandpa's guns that we have shot with over the years were reduced to bars of metal:


Grandma (holding dog food or Kleenex?) outside the cabin, which is fully stocked with logs for the winter! Their cabin stays really warm with their wood stove going.


Cash and his great-grandparents! He loved them so much!


Enjoying the swings!


Beautiful Shoup!


I wish I got more pictures, but, as usual, I forgot my camera charger!
On our way home, we drove over a rock that flew up and busted a hole in the transmission of our rental car! We had to stop to let a huge herd of big horn sheep pass us, and the car started smoking. We knew it was bad. Luckily, everything got resolved, and we got home late but okay. It's not a trip out of Logan if we don't have car trouble! Of course, it was worth it to spend some time with our treasured grandparents!

Punishment or...?

Cash has been quite a handful lately. We love him dearly, but he is growing and learning and testing everything in his path! There are a few instances where we have tried so hard not to laugh as we were "gently correcting" (okay, punishing)him.
Some examples:
Cash has been picking up every word he hears, as is common with curious toddlers. The other day, we were playing legos, and he got frustrated. He yelled, "This is sucks!" Then said, "That's a bad word, right?" Hmmm...yes, but not conjugated correctly. The next day he yelled, "Sucksing!" when he spilled something. And today he yelled, "This sucks me!" So, I am not sure if I should be teaching him the proper conjugation of the bad word or just blatantly trying to ban this word from his vocabulary! I guess Mommy and Daddy should stop saying what we don't want him to repeat?

Another example:
We had 4 inappropriate crayon usages today. 4. And these were not washable crayons--they were cheap mystery-brand crayons. The couch, the carpet, the bedspread...all when we were not looking. Then, I saw the 4th incident occurring from the corner of my eye! Cash was scribbling on his sister's white bedframe. I screamed "Nooooo!!!!" (I try not to scream, but, come on, this was the 4th time in a day).
Cash explained himself: On Coco's bedframe, he had spelled the letters C-O-C-O. Cash:"It's her bed, so I wrote her name!" (and he did!)
Me: "Oh my goodness, Cash, you spelled your first word! That is so awesome! Now get in the corner! For the last time, we only color on paper!"

Parenting is hard.