Macho, Macho Man

A Hard Day's Work!

It was so nice outside on Saturday.  We had to take advantage of the nice weather and work on some projects outside.  We got a lot done!  We weeded, we mowed, we swept, we cleaned the backyard and we put in these pavers, so that we could get the garbage cans off of the driveway.  I think that it turned out very nice!  It was a long day and I am so sore, but it feels good to have accomplished so much!

Sure Love These Kids

A Few Recent Pics

On Wednesday, for Scouts, the boys dressed up as Zombie Scouts.  They were going trick-or-treating for canned goods.

The kids played flag football outside for a long time today.  They used long socks for their flags.  They had such a good time and they all got along so well.  I love that!

Today, Grant and I ripped out the planter/bookcase in the living room.  It looks different, but we like it!  It will be nice when we get everything done, but that will take a while.

A Little Too Close To Home

Check this out... KSL News Story

This happened Saturday night.  If you look at the address, you'll notice how close it was to us.  Kind of scary!

Conference!

Conference was great today! I can't wait until we get the conference issue of the Ensign.  I love to go back and read the talks, I get even more from them that way.  The kids were pretty good today while we watched. We had them listen for certain words and when they heard them they got to add treats to their cups.  They would eat their treats as they wanted to.  It worked really well, we'll have to do it again next time.

This picture was from Friday.  The kids got their new school t-shirts. 

We're Done with Soccer!

It was Daniela's last game tonight!  Her team lost, but she did great!  She had quite the crowd there, cheering her on.  Her activity day leaders and girls were there, her 1st grade teacher Mrs. Wells, Becca and her family all came.  It was great!  Daniela loved it!

Three Haircuts

I'm sure if you looked close, these really wouldn't look that great.  I gave all three boys haircuts tonight.  I've never cut their hair with scissors, I've always used the clippers.  I did these with the scissors.  I think that for my first time, they aren't too bad. They sure are handsome boys!

These Two Love Each Other

This is how we found Krista and Alex when we got home tonight.  They were asleep in our bed, holding hands...so cute!

Great Kids

Brandon before school this morning. (I finally was there to get a picture!)

This is the group that the kids walk to school with.  I love our neighborhood, we have such good kids and they all watch out for each other.  I don't worry about them going to and from school.

Football

Today, Grant signed Brandon up for football.  Brandon is excited, we'll see how he likes it!

1st Day of School

I wasn't here when Brandon left, so I'll have to get a picture tomorrow.  Here are the other kids this morning...

And on their way home with all the neighborhood kids...

South Fork Park

On Friday, Becca, Steph, Sandra, and I had a fun time visiting at the park while the kids played.

Mom, would this picture be okay for your wall?

Cascade Golf Course

Grant, Brandon, Ethan, and I went golfing at 7:00 this morning.  Cascade Golf Course is closing, tomorrow is the last day that it will be open.  The boys wanted to go one more time before it closed.  It was so much fun going out with the boys.  I don't go golfing very often, but I do enjoy it.  Maybe that's what I should do this school year since all of the kids will be at school for the full day.  Huh, I'll have to think about that... On our very first hole today, Brandon was hitting from the fairway and took a big divot.  I told him not to worry about replacing it since they are tearing down the course in a few days.  Then we decided to take that divot home with us and this is what we did with it....

We'll have to see if it grows.  I hope that it does.  It was a fun morning!

A Few Recent Pics

July 20, 2013

A new trail opened, the Murdock Canal Trail, for riding bikes, running, skating, or whatever.  It goes from Orem all the way to Thanksgiving Point.  Orem City sometime in the future will connect it to the Provo Trail. Here is a map...

I went on a bike ride with a couple of friends in the ward.  We went on this trail.  We got on in Orem and rode into Pleasant Grove before turning around.  I think we went round trip about 16 miles. The trail was actually nice, it was pretty flat.   It was fun to be with friends.

July 19, 2013

Tonight a family in our ward, the Lloyd's,  invited us over for dinner.  We went over at 6:30 and didn't come home until 1:00.  We had a great time.  Devron made some great food for dinner.  We took s'more cookie bars.  We ate, visited, and ended by playing hand and foot, a card game.  The kids played and watched a movie, City of Ember.  They had a lot of fun. The Lloyd's have four boys, ages 11-2.  Grant took a picture of all of the kids, I'll have to add it later when he gets home.

The Sound of Music

We went to see this play tonight.  It was over at the outdoor theater, the Scera Shell.  We took all of the kids, sat down on blankets under the stars, and enjoyed the show.  It really was well done.  One of the boys from our ward, Seth Kelson was in it.  He played Kurt.  His dad was in it also.  The kids seemed to enjoy it, they never complained or asked if it was almost over.  I guess by about the third song, Alex did roll his eyes and said,"Ugg, another song!"  He never complained after that though.  It was fun because we saw other people from our ward there also.

My Hubby is Home!

Grant has been gone for a few days at a work retreat.  He came home with a few of these...

They played paintball.  He had never played before, he enjoyed it.  They got a lot of things done at the retreat, so that is good.  It is the best to have him back home!

Pretty Funny

Have you guys seen this?  We think it's funny...

Workin' for FHE

We worked out in the yard tonight.  Ethan, Brandon, and Daniela mowed the lawn.  They divided it into thirds.  Daniela didn't quite get finished because we ran out of gas.  I'll have to get some tomorrow.  Krista and Alex were on apple picking duty.  They had to pick all of the ones that had fallen to the ground.  There were quite a few, but they are tiny ones.  I guess they are just thinning themselves out.  I don't know how many Krista and Alex picked up, but Brandon ended up helping them.  He picked up 600 all by himself.  I never would have guessed that there were that many.  My project was weeding the garden.  This is a huge project.  See how it looked when I started...

And this is after two hours...

There is still a lot to do!  It doesn't even look like I did that much.  I'll have to try to work on it more tomorrow, maybe I can get the kids to help since they are about done with their jobs.

Loving Timberline!

I needed to unload and load the dishwasher today.  I asked if someone would please unload the dishwasher and I would load it.  Brandon said that he would do it.  I told him to let me know when he was done and I would go load the dishes.  That boy loaded the dishwasher as well.  He said that Timberline keeps making him do all of these nice things.  I am so thankful for all of my kids.  Of course they fight sometimes, but I think that for the most part they get along well and are happy.  Brandon sure has been a good example for the younger kids.  Daniela does a great job also.  I love how she takes care of her younger siblings, especially Krista.  I love my family!

July 13, 2013

Welcome home Brandon!  He had a great week up at Timberline Scout Camp.  He talked about it for a long time.  He had kept a journal, so he was able to tell us in detail all of the things that he had done.  It was fun to have him share so much with us.  It was fun for him to have Ryan up there with him.  Look at these handsome boys!

Brandon spilled some pretzels on the floor and made a mess.  He got out the broom and swept them up.  He said, "Timberline made me do that."  It's funny because I really don't think that he would have done that before.  He's a good kid, we love him!

Snow Cones

Last night we took the kids out to get a snow cone at a new place - Hokulia.  They were massive - and we just got the smalls.  They were very delicious too.  Brandon is at Scout Camp this week so he missed out, but we'll make up for it when he gets back.

Cub Scout Day Camp

Ethan had a great time today.  He had to get up early.  He had to be at the church at 6:30am, but he didn't mind.  He popped right up when I woke him up.  He was excited to go.  He came home with lots of stories about what he did.  He had a fun day!

Shoes and Bugs

We were cleaning upstairs, which wasn't really that messy.  I had all of the kids get their things.  Daniela had six pairs of shoes upstairs.  She has a bad habit of leaving things all over the house.

We found this bug behind the screen of the TV.  We have no idea how it got there.  It was gone later in the day.  We wanted to smash it, but we just couldn't get to it.

July 8, 2013

This morning we dropped Brandon and Ryan off at Timberline Scout Camp.  It is a Youth Leadership Training Camp.  I am so excited for Brandon to go.  I thought that it would be hard to leave him, but it wasn't.  He seemed excited and we know a couple of the leaders up there this week.  I hope that he has a great week!

July 7, 2013

I did something today that I seriously have not done in a long time.  I got up and bore my testimony in Fast and Testimony meeting.  I had decided a long time ago that I had to big of a fear to get up there. This had caused me to be “past feeling” of any promptings of the Spirit.  I knew I wasn't going to go up, so I never felt any promptings to go up.

A challenge from our Stake President at Youth Conference helped me to change. He challenged us to go home from Youth Conference and pick one thing to work on, some way that we could improve ourselves. I thought about it and I really want to work on recognizing how the Spirit speaks to me. I want to work on recognizing the Spirit and acting on the promptings that I receive. I think that the more that we follow the promptings of the Spirit, Heavenly Father knows that He can rely on us and we are blessed with more personal revelation. We need this in our lives. I just read a quote by President Packer that says, “ You won't survive spiritually, unless you know how to receive revelation.” I want this revelation in my life because I need it. The Spirit will prompt me about things that I can change and do better for myself and for my kids. I love my children and I want to do all I can to help them to grow spiritually. I need the help of the Spirit.

It is because of this goal that I bore my testimony. I was “past feeling” but because I wanted to make this change, Heavenly Father was already testing me. After many years, I felt the prompting of the Spirit to share my testimony. Actually I had felt it for a few days.  I had to do it.  I wanted to show Heavenly Father that this may not be easy for me, it is scary, but I love Him and I want to do what I need to, to receive this blessing.

July 6, 2013

We rarely go see movies in the theater, but this week we happened to see three movies in four days. We saw...

I liked them all.  I probably would not see The Lone Ranger again, but it was good one time.  I don't think that I would take the kids to see it.  The whole family went to see Epic and Despicable Me 2.  We liked them both.

July 5, 2013

Poor boy! He got hurt playing basketball today!

July 4, 2013

We had a really busy, but fun day.  We started the day off by going to a flag raising ceremony at the church.  We had a short speaker and a yummy breakfast.  A little later, Grant and I went over to his brother's house to help him work on his sprinklers.  This was a messy, but kind of fun job.  We got home in time to make some food to take over to his sister's house.  We went there to visit, swim in their pool, and to enjoy some good food.  Grant and I left the kids there and we went to the Stadium of Fire.  Thanks to his boss at work who bought us the tickets.  We ended up sitting on the field, so we had great view.  It was a lot of fun.  We got to see the Cirque du Soleil performers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kelly Clarkson, and some awesome fireworks!

We came home to find out that Ethan was playing in the car with a glow stick.  He bent it and it broke and he got splattered with all of that liquid inside.  Some of the liquid flew in his eye and it really hurt him.  Thanks to Julie and Dave who were with him at the time.  They pulled the car over really quickly and poured some water into his eye.  It still was bothering him when we got home, but it felt better before he went to sleep.  We teased him that he was going to wake up and have a powerful glowing eye.

Maple Bacon Doughnut

I think this looks so gross, but Brandon had to try it and he really liked it.  If you want to try it, we got it at the Macey's on 800 North in Orem.  It looks huge in this picture, but it really is just a normal size.

Fire Belly Frogs

Meet Omniog and Enaj, our fire belly frogs.  It's not the best picture, but it's the best that I could do.  Grant gave Ethan $1 at the Orem City Summerfest.  Ethan went to a booth where they spun a wheel for prizes, there was a 1 in 4 chance to bring home a frog.  Hello Omniog.  Daniela went back the next day because she wanted a frog too.  That is how we got Enaj.  I want to let them loose in our next door neighbor's little pond.  The kids really enjoy them.  They have to go buy live crickets, shake them in some kind of powder, and feed them to the frogs.  Disgusting!  This is one thing that I will not be helping out with.  I guess it's a fun thing for Grant and the kids to do together.

One Month Gone

I can't believe that a month of summer vacation has already past.  It has flown by!  The past couple of weeks have been really busy.  My mom came into town for a little over a week.  It was so much fun to have her here.  We went to the Parade of Homes, we found a home that my mom loved, we looked around town for lots, we visited and had lots of fun!  The time flew by and it is always so hard to say goodbye.  I can't wait until my parents move out here and I can go see them more often.

A couple of days after my mom left, Grant and I left for Stake Youth Conference.  We were a Ma and Pa.  I didn't really know what to expect and I really wasn't too excited about it.  I was worried about leaving the kids.  Thank you to Becca and Greg for watching the kids!  I cried after leaving them, but I settled down quickly because we were thrown into our roles for Youth Conference and I knew that they were in good hands.  I really did not worry about them at all, I just checked in every now and then with Becca.  Thank you once again!

Youth Conference was awesome!  It was really hot and we camped in tents one night and in cabins the next, but really I can't complain.  The spiritual benefits definitely outweighed the physical discomfort! I came home on a spiritual high and I still feel it.  It is neat to see the youth understand the messages being taught and to hear them bearing their testimonies.  I truly feel like they are a chosen generation and they are prepared to live in this day and time.  They are up to the challenge.  I know that I need to do my part in raising my kids, but I am truly grateful for the programs that the church provides like girl's camp, youth conference and EFY.

Happy Father's Day

I love you Dad! I wish that you could have come to Utah as well. I can't wait until you guys move out here. I can't wait to be able to spend more time with you. I hope I don't wear out my welcome, but I plan to come see you guys every day! (At least most days!) I hope that you don't get sick of me.

Happy Father's Day, Grant!

Urinetown

Tonight we took Ethan out to the Hale Center Theater.  We saw the play, Urinetown.  I didn't know what to expect from the title, but it was really funny.  We liked it.  Ethan enjoyed it and was laughing.  We bought season tickets, so Daniela is up next for the play, Guys and Dolls.

Ethan got a bad sunburn on Monday.  Today it was still really hurting him.  I found him trying to cool down a bit...

Fun with Family

It was fun visiting with Scott, Mysha, and their family.  We met them over at Becca's house.  It has been a while since we have seen them.  We are looking forward to getting together with them again on Friday.  It would sure be fun to have them live closer.  We will have to try to go visit them sometime in Arizona so that it is not so long in between visits.

Kid's Meeting

The kids are having a kid's meeting right now to figure out if we can afford this house...

It's for sale, in Orem, and even in the right Junior High boundaries.  They are so funny.  They are pulling out their wallets and pooling their money together to see if we can afford it.  They are looking at their debit card balances also.  So far they have $330.  It is a pretty cool house, but sorry kids, there's no way we could ever afford it!  They are trying to figure out a family who could go in on it with us...anyone interested?  Here's the link to the house, just in case you want to check it out.  Kid's Dream Home