Labor Day

We went with Joe's family up to the Strawberry River to fish. It was so beautiful! We caught a few fish and just enjoyed the day. It was so relaxing. The kids adopted a couple water snakes for the day...that was fun! Jace was the first one to catch a fish. He was pretty proud of himself.

Summer Fun!

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by! I feel like everything has been chaotic and wonderful and crazy and fun all at the same time!

I could go into detail, but I won't, so here's our summer in a nutshell (there are even a few pictures!!):

We moved back up north and we are near family again, yeah!

Blake moved out!

We went to Disney world with Casey, Kim & Gage and my parents!

I had a paradigm shift!

I got to see my Mission President and Mission Mom!

Jace had his 7th birthday!

We went to the Oquirhh Mountain Temple Open House!

Mark graduated from High School!

We went to Bear Lake and stayed in a cabin for the 4th of July Weekend!

Jackson got a black eye, ugh!

Jenn's kids stayed with us for a couple of days!

Jackson got two stitches in his chin!

Spent the day with Petrina, Austin, Kyle and Collin!

Jackson go his stitches removed, thanks to Uncle Casey!

Mark had a birthday!

We celebrated 10 happy years of marriage!

Jadon got baptized!

I took the kids to Idaho for the day to see Grandma Mitzi!

And Caden started football!
We're not done yet, we are going to Park City, we get to see Petrina again, Mark and I are going to Puerto Rico (not Costa Rica) for our Anniversary, and I can't believe that my baby starts school! Jack will be in Kindergarten, Jace in 2nd Grade and Caden in 6th!

See what I mean? Time really flies!

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving; Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I missed all the holidays! Life has certainly been busy! But now that I am sitting down at the computer actually ready to write, I am drawing a blank!

My niece, Kristie Norton, got to come up from California and stay here for a couple of weeks. It was so fun to see her! She was here just before Thanksgiving. She’s so cute! She is a huge Twilight fan, so of course we went and saw Twilight together…Oh, the memories! And she stayed at our house for a couple of days. I’m so glad I got that time with her. We don’t get down to California very often.

We just got back from a cruise to the Western Caribbean. That was a blast! All 5 of us went for my birthday. Not really, that was just an excuse. But it worked for me! I’ll go to Jamaica and Grand Cayman anytime! In Jamaica Mark and I walked to the Farmer’s Market to find some mango's. While we were walking around, he saw two Jamaican’s playing domino's in the back. We stopped to watch them play and Mark started talking smack, telling them that he could school them and that he would send them home crying to their baby mamas. It was hilarious to hear him talk because he sounded just like them! So they pulled up a chair, found a friend and the game was on! It was fun to watch. Mark attracted a crowd, who of course, were all smoking huge joints. They were all impressed with how well he played. They asked how he learned and he explained that he used to live in Jamaica. That he was one of the guys that wore a white shirt with the name tag. They all knew the missionaries. It was fun to see him interact with them. I didn’t know he could speak Patois so well!

The next day we got to spend on Grand Cayman. We got to see our wonderful friends there, Cyndy, Casey, Ginny, Murray and Hannah! What fun to spend the day with them. They took care of Mark while he was on his mission. We spent a day in Cozumel, a few days at sea, ate way too much food and had a great time. It was a fun trip.

Jace lost his first tooth this week! Yeah! He got his first visit from the Tooth Fairy. He was so cute! He’s been trying to loose that tooth for about 2 months now. He even tried to get Grandma to pull it out with the pliers! No such luck! He ate apples and tootsie rolls and anything chewy. All to no avail. But, on Sunday last week, we were at Grandma Neilene’s house and she finally got it out for him. He is so happy!

Mark’s nephew Blake just moved in with us! He’s been here for just over a week. He’s so fun! We are glad to have him with us! He seems glad to be here and he is really adjusting well. He played several basketball games last week, hung out at the Jeffrey’s home nearly every day and he went out to see two movies. He went to church with us on Sunday and said he really liked the ward. He especially loved the Priest's Quorum because they talked about sports the whole time. He's been having alot of fun, but he is out of money. Time for him to find some income! He applied at several places last week and today we went to LDS Employment Services. He's got plans and that is a good thing. I really think this move is good for him. He’s so well-mannered and such a great kid! We are going to take pictures soon and I will post them. I'll post a picture of Jace's missing tooth, too!

Krissy Jo

My sweet niece, Kristie, was able to come and visit her "Utah" family for a few weeks. Unfortunate circumstances took her away early, but I am so glad she was able to be here with us for as long as she was! She stayed with my sister, Kim, for most of the time. But luckily, we had her stay at our house for a couple of nights. What a great time we had! We got to go and see Twilight together...Yeah! And she asked me to take her to Temple Square. What is a trip to Utah without Temple Square, right? We had such a great time and I think we wore her out, but I am so grateful that I got to spend the short time with her that I did. She and Caden really bonded. It was cute to watch them sit together playing a game or watching a show. She is so great and I want her to know how much I LOVE HER!!! I'm so glad you got to visit Kris!!

Lofty Goals

Today is the first day of school, and I've got some pretty lofty goals. First of all, I must say that I have mixed feelings right now. I will miss the freedom of summer, being able to go and do things with the kids, but I am so happy to be back on a schedule. This summer has been absolutely NUTS!! I will definitely miss having the boys home, but at the same time, I am ready for some peace and quiet! Not that the boys were always playing at our house, but when they were, I swear, half the neighborhood kids were with them!

Jace is in first grade this year, Caden is in fifth grade and Jackson is in his second year of pre-school. I cannot believe how big my boys are! I got suckered into doing pre-school again, so I get to be Jackson's teacher this year, too. I am glad about that. I get bored during the day and I'm used to having lots of things to do...especially since my Texas schedule was so hectic with daycare AND pre-school. And I am glad to know exactly what Jackson is learning. It's so fun to watch his expressions as he is exposed to new things...he LOVES to learn!

Jace was nervous to go to first grade this morning. He's been so excited all summer that he gets to play on the "big play ground" this year. He's six and has quite the attitude for a six year old. Plus he has selective hearing loss and doesn't listen to a word I say. Last night I wanted to make sure that he KNEW it was not okay to be sassy to his teacher and that he needed to be a good listener. So I called to him in the other room, this was our conversation:

Me: Jace, tomorrow you meet your teacher. Are you going to be nice to her?
Jace: What?
Me: (a little louder) Are you going to be a good listener for your teacher?
Jace: (a lot louder!) What?
Me: (to myself) Never mind

I am sure he will do great, she is not "mom". Once we got to school and met his new teacher (she's young and really cute!) he said, "I think I will like this class." I know he will and I know he'll do great this year. He's a very smart kid and an excellent student. All of his teachers have absolutely adored him!

Caden is always excited about school. He's in class with a few of his friends from last year so he's pretty happy about that. His teacher speaks with an accent and he thinks that is pretty cool. We missed back to school night since we were out of town last week so we went a little early this morning to meet both of their teachers, find their classrooms and find their desks. Caden will do just fine, he couldn't get rid of me fast enough!! This was our conversation:

Me: Are you going to be able to find you class room?
Caden: Yeah, I am going to go play.
Me: Well, do you need anything else?
Caden: No, I'm good. Can I go?
Me: Okay....have a good day!
Caden: .... (he was around the corner and out the door)

He is in fifth grade and I suppose it's uncool to have your mom walk you to class. At least no one else was inside the building, so none of his friends saw. I wouldn't have walked with him to class if we'd gone to back to school night! Poor thing! Oh well.

So about those "lofty goals"...I am aiming really high this year!

This is our schedule and we did great this morning!

6:00am Get up and work out for 30 minutes (this is just for Mark and I)
6:30am Get the kids up and read scriptures until 7:00
7:00am Make hot breakfast while the kids get ready for school
7:20 am Eat breakfast
7:50am Car pool

It took a few minutes for Jace to wake up, but he finally joined us. I wouldn't dream of disturbing Jackson's slumber for scripture reading...he's a bear if he gets woken up. But Caden did great! He was tired, but a willing participant. I am really excited about this. I hope we can get into the habit of reading scriptures as a family, everyday. I know it will benefit our family.

Spontaneous...

We took a very last minute, very fun trip to North and South Dakota last week. There was a LOT of driving involved, but it was way worth it. We figured with it being the last week of the kids summer break, we may as well take the opportunity to go! We knew once school started there was no way we'd be able to pull it off. We went with Mark's sister, Marlene, and most of the kids cousins: Taylor, Emilee, Jadon, Jonalyn and Jamie to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We went to church with Joe and Neilene on Sunday, took a trip to the Zoo and spent lots of time at the water park where they are staying. The kids had so much fun!!! We did some shopping and of course played a few games of pitch. Then we were off again.

On our way home we stopped in Deadwood. That was an interesting little western town. You can see in the photo what Emilee thought of Deadwood! We visited Cosmo, a little place near Mt. Rushmore, where everything defies gravity...the kids loved it there. And then went to see Mt. Rushmore. What an amazing place. On our way home through Wyoming we stopped at Martin's Cove and learned more about the pioneers and their rescue at the Sweetwater River.

We had such a great trip. We got home last night. The kids start school tomorrow and I am so ready to be back on a schedule! We miss you Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks for the fun trip!!

(I promised Jamie and Taylor that I would post this picture on my blog, so this is for them!!)

Temple Square

We went to Temple Square a few weeks ago with Mark's brother, Joe, and his family. It had been so long since Mark and I had been there and we really wanted to take the kids again. We took the tour of the Conference Center (which we had never done before. It's pretty impressive!) and we watched the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theatre in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Then walked around the temple grounds. Jace and Jackson asked alot of questions after the movie and it gave Mark and I a great opportunity to share our testimonies with them. Caden got to talk to a Sister Missionary at the Visitor's Center about the Saviors visit to the America's and I was really impressed with his comments and questions. He's a smart kid! It was such a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I feel so blessed to live so close to Salt Lake and to be able to do things like this. It is a great reminder of our Church's heritage, and a wonderful way to feel the Spirit.

What A Summer!

It has been one crazy month! There is so much that has gone on and I have so many pictures to post! Here it all is in a nutshell! The Steele's are here to visit, Delta Res, Park City, Jackson' Itty Bitty T-Ball and Mark's Softball. Oh, and of course, Allison had her baby on Wednesday!! We have been going non-stop the last few weeks, and there is so much more to come! It's been a great, but busy summer so far and it's not even half way over!!

Our good friends are visiting from Texas for the summer. We went swimming with them on Tuesday. The kids had a blast! It's been so fun to visit with them! We miss them dearly!