Sunday, July 21, 2013

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.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

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.


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

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!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Pretty Funny

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


Monday, July 15, 2013

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.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

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!


Thursday, July 11, 2013

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.


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

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!


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

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!



Monday, July 8, 2013

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.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

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.

Friday, July 5, 2013

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.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

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.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

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.

Monday, July 1, 2013

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.