"20" in Nature

Brandon had an assignment to find the number 20 somewhere in nature.  He was given the assignment on Monday.  He had to have a picture to turn in on Friday.  It was kind of hard to find, I looked for a couple of days and never found anything.  He found this one on his own.  I told some of you about it, so I want to post a picture to show you what he found...

Handsome Boys

A Fun, Busy Day

Just a busy day today, taking kids to and from school, trying to get homework done, soccer games, activity days and scouts.  We are tired, but we had fun.  Alex scored a goal in his game, Daniela scored three times! She did great!  They love soccer, so we'll keep at it.  Becca came over we made salsa and chicken flautas.  They both came out great, it was a yummy dinner.  It was great to visit with her and that cute little Lindsey.  We had cousins over tonight, our kids had a ball especially with that cute little Rylee.  A fun, busy day!

First Day of Kindergarten

First in line to go into the school on his first day of Kindergarten.

He had a great day!  He loved it!

Mrs Jensen

Yesterday, I took Alex to school to find out who his teacher will be for Kindergarten.  We were hoping he would get Mrs Jensen and he did!  Ethan and Krista both had her for Kindergarten.  He is very excited to start school!

Princess Academy

Tonight I took Daniela to Deseret Book by the University Mall.  We got there at about 5:15pm.  We stood in line for about 45 minutes for Daniela to meet...

Shannon Hale!  Many of you may not know her.  She is the author of Daniela's favorite book, Princess Academy.  She was signing books because she she wrote a sequel to this book called Palace of Stone.

Daniela was very excited to meet her and is very excited to read this new book!  Daniela was also excited to have Shannon Hale sign all of her books.  She really loved what she wrote in one of her books...

We also had four soccer games today.  It was a long time to spend over at the soccer fields, but the kids loved it!

Temple Night

Sometimes you just need to get away and the temple is a good place to go.  Grant and I went out tonight.  It was good to go to the temple because you can leave your worldly cares behind for a couple of hours.  It's always so peaceful there and nice when it even continues when you get home. :)

Show Off!

I try so hard each day to get my 10,000 steps.  I was so proud of myself the day I got 15,000 steps.  Well, Brandon wore his pedometer today...

He is such a show off!

Found It!

Well, look what I found today...

I called the library.  I can get my money back except for a $4 processing fee.  I'll go do it tomorrow!

First Day of School

School Open House

Grant took the day off.  We wanted to spend the day with the kids since they go back to school tomorrow.  We took them to Nickel City and to Miracle Bowl.  We all had a great time.

At 3:00 Grant, Ethan and I went to the Open House at Ethan's school, Foothill Elementary.  We met his teacher, he got to pick his desk, we walked around the school, we put lunch money on his account and we set a place to meet when I pick him up from school.  He seems to be excited.  I hope all goes well this year with him being in a different school from everyone else.

At 4:00 we took everyone and went over to Cherry Hill Elementary for the Open House.  We did some of the same things.  The kids saw a lot of their friends, they are excited for tomorrow.

On the way home we took all of the kids to Chuck-a-Rama for dinner.  They had never gone there before, they enjoyed it.  It was a fun day.  Now we have them in bed, hopefully they will be able to fall asleep soon because they start school earlier this year.  We have to get them up around 7, we'll see if this gives us enough time because we need to leave to take them to school at 7:40.

The Best Three Hours of the Week

This week I read a talk by John Bytheway.  He talked about how if we go to church with the right attitude, it should be the best three hours of the week.  I have to say that I don't always go with the right attitude, maybe I seldom do.  A lot of times I go to church tired, I go knowing that I won't get to listen much because I still have to keep Krista and Alex entertained.  They are pretty good, but they still want to sit on Grant and me, or they try to lie down.  It's definitely not always easy to stay focused on the talks.

Today I went with a different attitude.  I wanted to learn, I wanted to feel the Spirit.  I have to say that I came home feeling pretty good.  Grant did not go to our ward today, so I had all of the kids to deal with in Sacrament Meeting.  There were a couple of times that they got fidgety, but overall they did great.  I really enjoyed the talks, we even had a great musical number.  It was great to go and learn, feel the Spirit and come home with some goals in mind of how I can try to be better this week.

I have to say that Primary was great today too.  I love being in there with the kids.  I love Sharing Time (not really looking forward to it next month when it's my turn to do it), I really love Singing Time.  I love hearing the kids sing and I love to learn the songs too.  We have a great music leader, the kids love him.  We'll have to see how the rest of the week goes, but so far, yeah, it was the best three hours.

1/2 Mile Run

Someone in the ward organized a 1/2 mile fun run for the kids tonight.  We were to meet at the park at 8:30 pm.  We were supposed to bring flashlights or glow sticks.  Just Krista and Alex went over with us.  They lined them up and we ran/walked two times around, this was a 1/2 mile.  They had popsicles for the kids at the end of the race.  They had fun and we had fun visiting for a little bit.

Daniela had her first babysitting job tonight.  The neighbors had their kids in bed and she went over to read.  The kids did come out of their rooms a couple of times, but Daniela was good and sat with them until they went to sleep.  It sounds like she did a great job.  She texted me a little bit because she was hearing noises.  She got a little scared, but had fun.

Dentist

This morning Daniela and Alex had dentist appointments at 8:30.  Counting all of my kids we have only had one cavity until we went to the dentist a week ago and Alex had FIVE!  They are flossing cavities.  The dentist said he actually looked like he was doing a good job brushing his teeth.  I have been helping him floss his teeth now and it is kind of hard to get in between them, his teeth are close together.

The dentist filled four of his cavities today, he did not want both sides of Alex's mouth to be numb, so he just filled the ones on one side today.  Alex did great.  He sat still for him, he never complained.  He had the gas and got to watch Scooby Doo.  I'm sure this helped!

Daniela had to have two teeth pulled.  Her permanent teeth were starting to grow into the roots of her other teeth, so we had to have them taken out.  She did great as well.  She chose to watch Holes.

Testing at the School

First of all, Happy Birthday Dad!  You were already in bed when I called tonight.  I will give you a call tomorrow.  I hope that you had a great day!  I love and miss you!

We were at the school by 9:15 this morning.  Daniela and Brandon met with their teachers for some testing before school started.  They both took about two hours to get everything done.  In the meantime, I went with Krista to meet with her teacher at 9:40.  I filled out some papers while Krista met with her teacher.  We then had Alex's appointment with his teacher at 10:30.  Again, I filled out some paperwork while he met with his teacher.  We got done around 11:15.  It worked out great because Daniela and Brandon both got done around this same time.  I am really excited for this new school year.  Lots of people over the years have told me how wonderful Brandon's teacher is.  Her name is Mrs. Billings.  Daniela has Mrs. Hill this year.  I love her, Brandon had her two years ago.  I don't know Ethan's teacher, Mrs. Hardy, since he is going to a different school than the other kids.  I have heard good things about her though.  Krista will have Mrs. Wells this year.  I know she will love her, Daniela had her a couple of years ago.  I think Alex will get Mrs. Jensen. Both Ethan and Krista had her, she is a great teacher.  The kids should have a great, fun year!

Alex had his first soccer practice tonight.  He loves to play.  He is excited about his gold uniform!

Marlo Bergeson

Today we attended my (Grant's) uncle Marlo's funeral.  It was such a great service.  All of his children spoke (3 boys, 1 girl) and they all did a fantastic job.  I was crying and laughing and feeling the spirit throughout the meeting.  He was (is) a very interesting and incredible man.  I stayed at his house for most of 1 summer when I was working up in Salt Lake.  He took such great care of me - he made sure I had a good breakfast every day.  He'd get up early to make me oatmeal, soft boiled eggs, toast, and fresh orange juice.  He always called me 'Granny Grant' which never bothered me.  He's doing some great work on the other side and had a wonderful reunion with my dad.  They were college roommates and became good friends before marrying sisters.

I remember one time our family was eating Sunday dinner up at their house.  About half way through the meal my mom commented on their silverware and how she'd never seen it before.  When we all looked at the silverware, we noticed that they were almost all different.  Marlo got really excited and said, "Oh yeah, that was a great find at the junkyard.  I picked up all this stuff yesterday including the silverware."  He said he washed them pretty good, but I still lost my appetite after thinking about where my fork came from.

We will miss you Marlo!

Wasp Sting

I should have taken a picture of Alex's wasp sting each day.  He got stung on Saturday while they were up the canyon for the obstacle course.  Yesterday, Sunday, he woke up and it hurt him a little bit and it was swollen some.  This morning he woke up and his ankle plus down into his foot was swollen.  It hurt him some and it made it a little hard to walk.  I decided to take him to the doctor.  The doctor gave him a prescription for 12 mL's of some kind of steroid.  He took half of it today and will take the rest tomorrow.  I'm glad that I had one of those $10 gift cards with a new prescription because it cost me $10 for that 12 mL's of medicine.  He took his medicine and I gave him some benadryl and zyrtec.  Tonight it is a little swollen still, but it looks much better.

Tonight we went out to eat with family.  We tried a new restaurant, it is called Milagros.  It is in Orem on 800 North, close to the freeway.  I really liked it.  I thought the food was really good.  Grant liked what he ordered also.  I'll have to go back and try other things.

I have been trying to walk 10,000 steps each day.  I bought a new pedometer and have done pretty well with my goal so far.  I don't worry about it on Sundays, I like to have one day to relax.  Today I got more steps than I have ever gotten in a day.

Keele Vacation

Saturday was a fun day, it was action packed.  There was a lot planned, the kids were all exhausted by the end of the day.  After breakfast everyone headed over to the park for a Home Run Derby.  Everyone got about 27 pitches to hit as many home runs as they could.  Everyone else was playing in the field collecting points for catching fly balls and throwing imaginary runners out at first.  Everyone had a turn and everyone had a great time.

Next everyone headed up the canyon for lunch...

and an obstacle course.  It looked super fun.

Everyone then went to the church.  We shot rockets off in the parking lot.  Then we played Bonco and had dinner.  It was a really fun day.

Camping Out

Yesterday was the first day of the Keele Vacation.  Brandon and I sat out most of the activities because he was the sick the day before and we wanted to give him the full 24 hours, so that he would not get any one else sick.  Grant and the other kids enjoyed a fun time at Mike and Terri's.  They swam a lot and some played basketball.  They had a great time.  They came home around 8:30.  Then Brandon and I joined them.  The plan was to watch a movie outside on an inflatable screen and then all sleep in tents in the backyard.  Our plans were altered a bit because it rained.  We set up the movie downstairs and just projected it an the wall.  That worked out great.  Even though it rained off and on, we still slept outside in tents.  We had seven tents set up.

Grant and I bought this double sleeping bag at Costco.  It is so roomy and soft and warm.  I loved it!

Today they move on to more fun activities.  I will be missing the activities today as well.  I guess that I spent a little too much time with Brandon...

Sick Day

What a day!  Not fun when people are sick.  Especially when one of those people is you.  I really feel bad for Brandon though.  He has been sick all day with his stomach hurting.  He threw up twice.  He felt a little better after throwing up, but not much.  He has been lying around moaning all day.  Unfortunately there is not much I could do to help.  I have not felt well today either, but luckily I do not have what he has.  I have a low fever, a headache and I feel achy.  I hope that we both feel better in the morning.  We will have to miss the first day of the Keele family vacation.  Hopefully we will all feel well enough to join them on Saturday.

More Golfing

This morning we had a tee time at 7:56.  Grant, Brandon, Ethan and I played at Sleepy Ridge golf course.  Alex actually rode along with us, we snuck him in.  He didn't play, but the girls had slept at Becca's house, so we couldn't just leave him.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun.  Brandon and Ethan loved the golfing, but also loved driving the carts.  We didn't let them do it too much, but we let them try here and there.  I have only played one other time this year, but it was nice to go.  I had some good shots and some really, really bad shots!  I actually got three legit pars.  I couldn't believe it.  The boys did great.  They have loved having their golf passes this summer.  Of course Grant always does good, maybe one day you'll see him out on the tour.

Alex Golfing

Grant took Alex golfing tonight at Eastbay in Provo. They have an Executive course which is really short, only 8 holes and 6 of them are par 3's. Alex had a great time, this was his first time golfing. Here are a few pictures and videos...

Double Date

If you come across this book....

we lost it.  It was a book we borrowed from the library.  I paid for it tonight.  $17.42.  I think that I could have bought them three new copies from Amazon for that price.  New lesson learned.....don't lose library books.  Of course I already knew that, I guess that it is a lesson that I need to teach to the kids.  Or one of them anyway...

Fun in Primary

A funny picture taken in Primary today...Brandon, Daniela, and Ethan are in it.

Brandon's Fun Day

Brandon had a fun day today.  He slept at his cousin's house last night.  He swam and played and swam some more.  He had a really fun day.  Then they invited him to go boating.  He had a great time.

Journey 2

Tonight we watched Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.  The kids and I enjoyed it.  I thought it was good and funny.  The younger kids thought that is was a little scary in parts.  I'll have to see if any of them end up in my room tonight with bad dreams... We have never seen the first movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth.  We'll have to see if we can find it.  Also, it looks like a third one is coming out, but not until 2014.  Have any of you guys seen it?  What did you think?

 

Soccer Starting Soon

We got soccer schedules today.  I know the kids are looking forward to it, I don't know if I am.  I am because they will love it, but we will be really busy for a month.  We signed Daniela, Ethan, Krista and Alex up this year.  Daniela and Ethan did not play last year, but they wanted to play this year.  We'll have two games each Wednesday night, two games each Thursday night and then all four of them will play on Saturdays.  Then we will have to see when they have practices.  Brandon is going to play flag football again this year.  His games start on September 15.  On two Saturdays, we will have his games to go to as well.  We've got school starting on the 21st, then soccer on the 25th.  The kids are so excited!

On a Mission

We didn't do too much today.  We took Brandon to a couple of merit badge classes.  He finished up Citizenship in the Nation and Citizenship in the World.  They were harder ones, so he is glad to have those out of the way.

We've been on a mission today.  We couldn't find four things.  We couldn't find the cell phone, Ethan's Wolf badge, Krista's LeapPad and a library book.  We said a prayer and set out cleaning our rooms and looking in, under and behind everything to find them.  We ended up finding three out of four.  We still need the library book.  This is the one I really wanted to find because it is due tomorrow.  We have not finished looking.  We will have to continue tomorrow.  I may have to go into the library and ask for more time.  Hopefully it will turn up.