Mini Reunion

This past Friday we got together with Chad's family for a little mini reunion. We started the day meeting Abby's family and Angie's family at the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. The temple was beautiful and the kids loved seeing each other and walking through the temple holding hands. I don't think it can get much better than that!

After the temple we went to Abby and Chad's new apartment and changed clothes and then made plans to go to Wheeler Farm. The kids had a ball running around and petting the animals and it was free. What more could we ask for??? Maybe the part where we were pooped on by the cow - we all could have gone without that. Hayden wouldn't even go near the cow after watching that! But other than that it was a great afternoon!

That evening we met everyone at a restaurant and had a great dinner!. The kids pretty much sat at one end and the adults on the other end of a giant table. We all enjoyed ourselves but I am not so sure the other people in the restaurant enjoyed us?!

It was great to see everyone again and we had a great time. Thanks for everyone making the effort to get together!

Perfect Summer Day

Yesterday Chad had to go to Huntington State Park to pick up his gun and rifle (it was being inspected) so we decided to take the boat along and get it started for the season. Thankfully it survived the winter and started right up this year. The kids had a ball and of course saw the sun shining so thought it was perfect weather to swim in the lake. Chad and I are much smarter about the whole thing and just enjoyed the boat ride.

Hayden was the first to jump in off the back of the boat. The water was cold enough that it completely took his breath away and I was totally shocked that he did it so of course I did not have the camera ready. After the initial shock of the water he decided that it would be better to just have his feet in the water and splash the girls.

Kenzie was the next to jump in and she had a blast doing this over and over again. She even tried to swim out to some birds but we convinced her to come back because neither Chad or I wanted to rescue her if she got too tired. Kenzie eventually was convinced by us to try without her life jacket and she did that a few times too.

Courtney was the last to jump in after much convincing. We have several videos were she said she was ready and then we would count to three and she would talk herself out of doing it. After some lunch and convincing by Kenzie she was finally able to muster the courage to do it and decided that it was pretty fun.

To top off the day we came home and roasted some hot dogs and toasted some marshmallows in the back yard in our new fire ring. The kids loved it and we discovered that the dog loves marshmallows too as long as they are not toasted. (The toasted ones stick to the roof of his mouth - very funny to watch.)

While we were outside I took some shots of some cool things:

You can't tell from this picture of our garden but everything is coming up and our corn is growing like crazy - very exciting, at least for us!

These jets passed over us and made a giant X in the sky. Hayden thought this was very cool!

A beautiful sunset at the end of a very fun day!

Another Trip to Yuba Lake

Remember the Dodgeball Tournament that Chad was in??? Where the prize was a $100 gift certificate that had to be spent in Emery County (which not everyone lives in) so it was decided that they would buy fishing equipment with the prize money and then go on a fishing trip and have a little competition to see who could win the prizes??? Well, this past weekend was the big fishing competition and the rest of the family decided to tag along for some fun.

We left Friday afternoon and headed for Yuba State Park with the whole family including Dauber this time. We got there about 7:00 pm and ate a yummy dinner and then the guys decided to go late night fishing for catfish while the kids and moms watched a movie.

Saturday was full of fun adventures, such as:

• A bike ride where we saw a snake (already dead but this didn't phase Kenzie who picked it up), we saw a huge amount of swallow nests, we threw rocks off the bridge and saw the beautiful lake for the first time without ice on it.

• The younger kids played in the sand box while Dauber took a nap (who, by the way, was eshausted after playing and roaming around all morning with his friend Collie-our friend's dog).

• The girls found an old house that people who built the dam lived in and fixed it up as their little house. This required scavenging the hillside for treasures any spare minute they had. Some of the things they found were used as the door bell (an old garbage can lid), decorations (old bottles), buckets (used for mailbox and garbage), tire rim (used as a silly mirror). They were so excited about the finished product that they had me take a ton of pictures of it so they could always remember it.
  

• Went to the beach and played in the water which was still a little cold but the kids had to do it for a little while anyway.
  

• Played on the beach which included a sand fight, drawing pictures in the sand (Hayden drew several pictures of SpongeBob and Patrick Star) and sand castles.
  

• And last but not least Chad finally caught a Northern Pike the last 5 minutes they were fishing (about 8:00 pm) and it won him 2nd place. The prize for 2nd place was an electric fillet fishing knife, which he was excited about. First place went to Wayne due to the fact that his Pike had a fish still in its' belly (top 2 pictures on the right).
  

Happy Birthday Kenzie!

We can hardly believe that you are now 10!
Kenzie we love your sense of humor,
your laugh, your caring personality, and your sweet spirit.
We hope you had a great birthday!

I know this is a week late but we had 2 separate parties for her birthday and party number 2 was yesterday so now you get the recap.

PARTY #1:

On the 5th (her actual birthday) she took cupcakes to her class at school and we had a family party that evening. She chose her favorite dinner (BBQ ribs, baked potatoes and green beans), we opened presents and had dessert (chocolate/strawberry parfait). The parfait thing is strange for a birthday dessert, I know, but she was checking out my recipe books and thought this looked really good.

PARTY #2:

On the 13th we had a party with a few of her friends at the wave pool. She chose to have pizza and flip flop cakes. Everyone had a lot of fun and it was probably the easiest party I have done yet. I am now asking myself why I haven't done this before.

Spring Soccer

This spring Courtney decided to play soccer which started back in April and just finished today. She finally decided that soccer is really fun and plans on playing again. (This is compared to the first time she played back in kindergarten and thought there was far too much running involved.) We all had fun watching the games - our only complaint was the cold weather back in April.

Cort's favorite thing to do - play as goalie and throw the ball in.

She never ended up scoring a goal although she did come close a few times (she had to get over her worry of kicking the ball and hurting someone else). Hopefully she can do it during fall soccer.

Mother's Day Festivities

Our festivities started on Saturday when a home improvement store in town lets you bring your children in and they get to plant a flower pot for their mom for free. (Yeah free!!!) The kids loved picking out the flowers and planting them and I loved the finished product that is now sitting on my front porch.

On Sunday I was showered with hugs and kisses, more flowers and homemade gifts and cards. I was also pleasantly surprised by Mackenzie giving a talk about me in Sacrament meeting that I had no idea about. (I can't believe that she was able to keep the secret.) She did an amazing job all by herself and of course she made me cry - big surprise.

Kenzie's gift - a magnet

Cort's gift - a portrait of me with letter

I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day - I am truly blessed!

P.S. Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you! I hope you had a great day too!