Memorial Day Weekend

We took another "Fonger" trip off the beaten path and headed for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We went to where it is the shortest distance from the rim to the river and hiked down for a morning of fun and frolic on the mighty Colorado.
Here you can see where a lava flow blocked the river for a bit, but the river won.

Looking up river from where we were. There was a lot of traffic when we were there and watched a helicopter fly people in and out all morning as they started or ended their rafting trips.

We played down on the Colorado River for awhile and waved to the kayakers and rafters as they went by. A lot of them were amazed to find a family on the banks of the river.
Lacey, you are not riding with me.


Our friend, Ben, came with us and even almost smiled here. He HATES the camera.

Lacey was ready to swim to Lake Mead. She loved the river and tried to fetch the dirt clods the kids were throwing in the water.

Hiking uphill on the way back is just cruel.
Josh just cooling his heels....off a cliff.

Lunch on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Awesome.

We hiked down to the point that is kind of sticking out into the water.

Winding Down

Kindergarten Graduation

As silly as the cap and gown may seem, it is absolutely the cutest thing in the world to see these kids march in to Pomp and Circumstance and take their place as graduates of Kindergarten. They deserve it too. All day kindergarten is no joke. Tye is on 1st grade level and ready to work toward getting the real cap and gown moment.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Tye's 6th birthday...finally. He counted down for 300 days....yes, that is 300.

He had a lot of expectations, hopefully some of them were met.
Gavin's birthday present to Tye was the little Lego cars and fort he created for Tye.

Tye took his friend Jaxon to Jumpin Jacks and they bounced, danced, ran, and slid until they could hardly stand up. Good day.

Mountain Man Rendevous Jr.

Jordan was invited to attend a mountain man rendevous with his friend Jaden. Fortunately for us, Jaden's gpa is a Scoutmaster in Cedar City with a very active troop and Jordan gets invited to do the really cool stuff with them. He came back braggin about his hatchet throwing skills.

Marc's Cake

The kids look forward to lighting the candles more than they do eating the cake. It gets more and more exciting every year.

Gav's Derby

Gav had fun making his first car and wasn't particular about anything except that he insisted it have a personalized license plate. Goobers got the Best of Show award!

Spring Break Hike

When the Julanders came to visit "sunny" St. George we only got one sunny day. We decided to do a little canyoneering near St. George.

Eric and Joshua resting and looking down where they came from.

One of the favorite parts of the adventure is crossing over the rock wall past the waterfall. All the kids did great holding on to the rope and climbing over the rock to get to the canyon on the other side.

Jess makes it to the other side.

A cousin photo op of a very fun day.

Adventures on the Freeway

OK, so the suburban does NOT get as good of gas mileage as the Yukon and on our first road trip with the suburban I ran out of gas...........with 7 kids with me..........on I15. Special. But we do have roadside so we were saved, no problem.

Sam and Gavin were being good scouts building a shelter and getting ready for a fire...just in case. I wasn't sure whether it was cute or just complete lack of confidence in Aunt Heather/Mom!

This nice officer (who was on a drug bust a little way down the road) kept coming back to make sure we were OK. He was very kind and since we didn't look like criminals agreed to have his picture taken with us for the ole memory book/blog.

Klondike 2010

St. George boys can do snow too, very multifaceted.

In true Fonger fashion, Jordan has a story to tell.

It's anyone's guess as to whether it is true or not!

February 2010

Just a small sample of the charter population in Utah. Thanks to our legislators, charter school law in Utah is getting better and better. Thanks!

Speaker Gavin Fonger keeping 'em in order.

The Free Dress Friday committee hearing.

Hanging out with state Senator Urquhart on the Senate floor at the capitol. Our family was invited to go the the Capitol in SLC and help represent our charter school. The kids were introduced on the Senate floor, banged the gavel on the House floor, ate lunch in the committee room and learned a little about how our State legislature works. I learned tons and it was really a fun day to watch everything in action. It is alot more low key than I expected. Nothing too controversial was being debated so we didn't get to see anyone yell at anyone. Yes, we were a little disappointed ;).

Painter's Half Marathon