Eagle Approved!

Darek has gotten his Eagle Project approved by the District. We are now filling out paperwork to send to council & hope to get it completed in the next couple of months. He is building Campsite markers for two of the loops at Little Sahara. He and Zach Bates are working on this together - each doing a loop. He has to weld pipe stands for each site and a face plate and then we will go to the sand dunes and cement them in and stencil the numbers on each one. The plan is to hopefully get them done and ready to install over the Halloween weekend when the kids are out on Thurs. & Fri. We'll see how that goes.

Also, next Tues. the 29th is the boys regular Court of Honor. Awards will be given and they will be recognized for everything done at Steiner (they have already been given their badges).

Good News: Darek has been given a fabulous assignment at school. Every other day he gets out 15 minutes early to help retire the American Flag and the state Flag. The reason he got the assignment? Because he was the only one in class who knew how to properly retire a flag! Way to go, bud!! We are so proud of you!

Next Good News: Don is going to be the new Scout Master until the end of the year. This will give him time to help Darek get through his Eagle & Parker get a little farther. Then he will need to be devoting all of his time to National.

Almost here!!

Yesterday we finished up the school shopping, bought the last few school supplies and had the hair's cut. I think we are as ready as we can be for the first day of school. Hard to believe that Darek will officially be a Freshman tomorrow and Parker will be a big 7th grader. Both the boys start school tomorrow with orientation for students and a short day schedule.

Parker is very excited to be headed to Jr. High. He is pretty maticulous about his appearance and his school supplies. Yesterday at Costco he found the best deal ever (according to him) - a binder that holds ALL his stuff (and he has alot of stuff). He was on cloud 9. He immediately came home and organized the binder with pencils, paper, pens, calculator and schedule. Preparation for school is complete after this great find! He also got the hair cut so he's lookin' pretty cool. I have to brag that he is one good lookin' young man! Watch out girls!

Darek on the other hand is anything but excited. He did buy some new shoes (DC's) and picked out some cool shirts, but other then that Mom has done the rest of the shopping. Unlike Parker, he doesn't care if he has pencils, paper or anything else. He is taking Welding this year so I hope that will be a fun class for him and a good outlet from the book work. We pray he will have an awesome year and keep encouraging him to get involved and enjoy the high school years. We tell him that great memories can be made over the next four years and that you can't go back and do it again, so live in the moment!

Best of luck to the both of you and may you have a WONDERFUL year!

Redneck Riding!

Don has been really sick and needed some R & R. We decided that a trip to Ibapah was just what we needed. So we loaded up the bikes and off we went. Our good friends Bob & Crystal Mitchell we able to come with us which was great because we haven't seen then for quite some time. We pulled in at 10:30 p.m., tried putting what I thought was the key into the door and no go! I couldn't believe it. Luckily Don was able to get a window to open & we pushed Darek thru.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Not too hot, not too cold. The kids did lots of riding behind the house with Don sitting in a chair and enjoying the moment.

On Saturday, the boys talked me into driving the truck the dump so they could "Treasure Hunt." Well they found a matress and decided it would be great to tie a rope to it and drag it behind the 4-wheeler. Much to my protesting the mattress was tied down to the bed of the truck. Back to the house we went. Immediately they rigged up the mattress and from the pictures you can see the result. Talk about Redneck riding. Leave it to the boys to be inventive. However, it did provide an hour of entertainment!

While we were there, Rachel got her first taste of shooting. Dad took her out and let her shoot Parker's gun first which just has a site on it. She couldn't quite get the hang of it. So he gave her Darek's gun with the laser site on it and she nailed 20 out of 25 shots! Not to bad for a 7 year old.

All in all it was a great restful weekend spent with great friends in the greatest place on earth!

They Survived Steiner!

Well, the men survived Camp Steiner. They had an awesome time and the weather couldn't have been better - cool, but not too cold.

Two big high five's to both the boys who passed their cold water check in Scout Lake. Ya! Parker went on to earn his Rowing and Canoeing Merit Badge and he participated in the Canoeing races on the last day. Darek didn't earn any water merit badges, but he PASSED the cold water check which is a huge milestone for him. Way to go, boys!

The high point for Darek was earning his climbing merit badge. He learned to repell and climb on the cliffs at Steiner and according to his dad he is really good at it. He also earned his 2nd year round camping award, Indian Lore, Fish and Wildlife & Geology.

Parker was a busy beaver. He earned his rowing, canoeing, geology, cooking, first aid, orienteering, indian lore and his year round camping.

Both boys loved the rifle range where they showed everyone how good of shots they are. Parker could hit the target on the first shot every time. He was the rifle shooter in the leg of the Mountain Man relay.

The girls and I drove up on Friday and spent the day and night with them. We had a fabulous time watching the troop participate in the Battle of Steiner and performing their hilarious skit at the closing camp fire.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Last Wednesday the girls and I attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. We had a wonderful time and it was great to see inside this beautiful temple. It is very similar to the Draper Temple. The Celestial room reminds me alot of the San Diego Temple in that it is very open and the sunlight comes in. The girls were fascinated with the chandaliers.

Afterwards we enjoyed a cookie and a drink and a picture in front of the water fountain at the front of the Temple. It was a terrific day!

Freedom!

Well, all the men at our house are gone for an entire week. Don and the boys have left for scout camp at Steiner until Saturday. They pulled out of here with 14 other boys & leaders yesterday morning. My boys & hubby were excited to go. Darek & Parker are going to work on a climbing merit badge and with lots of prayers, they will both pass the COLD water swim check & be able to earn their canoeing and rowing merit badges. The girls and I are going to go up on Friday morning and spend the night, then bring back a load of boys Saturday morning.

The girls and I have freedom for one week. That means no cooking of meals and SHOPPING! I'm having to work 3 days of the week & so not lots of time to party, but enough. We plan to do some shopping on Wed. and attend the Oquirrh Temple Open House.

I do have to say that even though they have only been gone one day, I miss them all! Our house was way to quite last night. As the saying goes, "Can't live with them. Can't live without them.

Oh My Gosh! He's 15!

Okay, it is hard to believe my first born is 15. He is growing up so fast. We celebrated Darek's birthday over the 4th of July weekend with a party at the pool. Aunt Aly rented the depot pool and Darek invited a couple of friends, Zach and Dillon Bates to come and hang out. It was also great to have lots of family. Karen & Phil were in California (and we missed them), but everyone else was there. We were glad that Uncle Paul, Aunt Barb, Justin & Mariah and their kids, and Bethany & Josh could join us. The Jones' were also able to attend and that was great.

Lucky for us the weather cooperated and we had no rain (thanks to lots of praying). It was beautiful weather and fabulous to have the entire pool to ourselves. There was lots of stunts off the diving boards (even some of the little ones tackled the diving boards), swimming races, basketball games, & little bodies going up & down the slide!

After the pool party we went back to our house and had cake and ice cream and presents. Darek received just money from everyone. He is wanting to purchase some new riding gear, so that's what he'll do with the money.

Thanks to everyone for making his birthday so great! We love you Darek & are so proud of the young man you are becoming.

God's Country

Our trip to Ibapah was terrific! It was great to have the whole family (including 7 dogs) together and enjoy the beauty of what dad calls "God's Country." The kids had fun riding ATV's, playing on the playground, feeding Kyle Batemans baby calves, and having water fights with Aunt Aly & Uncle Ty.

The first day we were there Parker decided to be "Evil Canevil" (as Uncle Ty now calls him) and tried to make a jump while riding the motorcycle. Needless to say, he didn't quit make it and landed on the front tire of the bike and sent him & the bike end over end. Miraculously nothing was broke, but he did a great job of bruising most of his right leg and arm and giving himself a good rode rash. By Saturday night he was back on a bike, but no jumping.

Our good friends,Dameon & Laurel Jones & their kids were able to come with us. We were so glad to have them join us and enjoy the beauty of this area. Thanks to Candice for taking care of Parker and making him laugh when she told him that "Chicks dig scars!"

We attended Church on Sunday and were the majority of the congregation. There was 32 people in attendance and 22 were from our family. It is rodeo time and so many of the people in Ibapah were at the Lehi roundup.

Trixie surprised us all and chased and caught her first rabbit. It was amazing! She ended up with a cut pad on her front paw and spent the rest of the time hobbling around or I think she would have caught another one.


I think one of the funnest things was the water balloon fight with Aly & Ty. Aunt Aly brought a pool which we put on the small piece of grass in front of the school. She also bought 500 water balloons and we used all of them!!! On Sunday, it was really hot and Ty filled about 60 water balloons and then launched them on the kids and Aly. It was quite a site and everyone had fun dowsing each other in water.

Swimming pool $15, water balloons $5, 45 minutes to fill the balloons and 5 minutes of priceless memories!

Thanks everyone for a great time!!!!!!!

Fantastic Trip!

The boys recently returned from a trip with Grandpa & Grandma. They went to Ohio and New York to see some church history & US history sites. Their first stop was at Niagra Falls, which the boys said was AWESOME. Parker particularly liked seeing the falls at night as they changed colors. They were able to take a ride on the Maid of the Mist and learn about how the falls came to be. They were surprised by how much power the water generates. They went and saw some of the Locks on the great lakes, which Darek LOVED! He was totally fascinated by the concept of the locks.

Next they went to Palmyra, where they visited the Sacred Grove and homes of Joseph Smith. Parker even took the opportunity to roll down the Hill Cumorah! They went down to Kirkland and visited the temple and some of the sites there. They also had the chance to visit the Amish country and were surprised by the horse & buggy transportation.

Of course the highlight of the trip was finding a couple John Deere Tractors. Some were for sale & I think if Darek could have, he would have brought one of them home. He was able to see a 9000 series tractor, which is one of the largest made John Deere tractors. He was in heaven. The boys were also surprised by how green this area of the country is and all the tall trees.

They had the best time giving Grandpa crap and listening to Grandpa's jokes (Dad came up with some good ones!) And for the first time in his life, Grandpa was in a hotel room with more boys than girls! Despite a little rain, it was a great trip! Thanks mom and dad for spending the time with them. It will be a great memory for them!

New Addition

As if we don't already have a zoo at our home, we decided what was one more animal. At the end of May Don's big boss asked him if he could find a home for his Yellow Lab. His kids are all leaving home and he couldn't give her as much attention as he would like. With a little convincing, Don agreed to let her come live at our house. Her name is Bailey and she is an AKC yellow lab who will be 9 years old on the 23rd of June. She is a good dog. Well behaved and loves to be loved. She is a licker and so Don has nick named her Princess Lick-a-Lot, which totally fits her. She is getting along well with Trixie. She has had a couple of run in's with Cinnamon, but that's just because he thinks he is King Stud at our house. He quickly let her know his position and now she just avoids him at all costs. She is used to being walked almost every evening and knows when it is time to go. This has been a good thing, because it makes Don & I get out and walk.

School's Out!!!!

School is finally out!! Yahoo!!! I'm so enjoying 3 months of no homework, no fighting about bedtime and no crazy mornings. I think it is safe to say that my kids are just as excited.

This year I graduated two from different schools. Darek graduated (yes, he did it) from the 8th grade and will be heading off to the new Stansbury High next year as a freshman. Needless to say he is not looking forward to high school and is very nervous. We took a tour of the new school a couple of weeks ago and it is BIG. Hopefully another trip to the school with Grandpa will help him start to feel comfortable. And yes, he is deserting a family tradition and will now be a Stansbury Stallion. Sounds weird to me. I always thought my kids would be Buffalos. Little did I know things in Tooele would change so much.

Parker graduated from the 6th grade and will be attending Clarke Johnsen Jr. High as a 7th grader next year. Hard to believe. He has grown up so fast. He truly enjoyed his 6th grade year as he made so many new friends and became quite popular with everyone. He is very much looking forward to next school year.

Becca finished the 3rd grade and will be moving on to 4th grade, with Miss Manzione as her teacher. She is very excited. Rachel will be a big 2nd grader and Linda Lee will be her teacher. She is so excited to have Mrs. Lee (and so is mom).

Young at Heart

Saturday we went to Little Sahara to do some riding. We met up with some friends and spent the day cruising across the sand and soaking up some sun. We had a fabulous time! The weather was perfect and the kids were having a blast.

Don recently acquired a Banshee (although he'll tell you it was a Birthday present for me) and was dying to test it out. Needless to say, he rode it once and then his oldest son confiscated it and spent the rest of the day on it. Don was able to snag it back long enough to make a couple of runs up Sand Mountain. He was happy as pie to be able to keep up with some of the best of them on the climb up the mountain. Talk about being a teenager again!! Oh, wait he never has grown up.

Earlier in the day he attempted to be a teenager again, and soon realized that he is getting older. The friends we were with had a motorcycle that was big and fast and the boys wanted to see dad ride it. So when we were over at what we call our "little sand dunes" he decided to give it a try. His first pass was great-made the jump and all was well. So he decided to go for another pass - not so lucky this time. He made the jump, but failed to let go of the throttle as he land and the bike shot out from underneath him bucking him off the back and making him land HARD on his shoulder and bottom. Lucky for him the sand cushioned his fall and nothing major was damaged, except for his ego! The last 2 days he is realizing that his body is not young anymore and he is hurting. We love ya, Dad!!!

Dancing Queens

Becca & Rachel have been taking dance lessons this past year. We are finally in the home stretch with competitions out of the way and a dance recital on Saturday. I have to brag about them because they have both done an awesome job!

This year their dance teacher chose TV Theme songs as the theme for the year. The kids have had a ton of fun dancing to some classic TV songs. Becca's jazz dance is to a mix of Laveren & Shirley and Happy Days. Her costume is a Poodle Skit and the dance is absolutely darling. At the Taylorsville Competition 3 weeks ago, they took 2nd place and at Lagoon two weeks ago they took 2nd place again. However, they missed 1st place by one-tenth of a point! But the girls did AWESOME!!! Her ballet dance I've only seen bits and pieces of. The music is from my most favorite TV show - E.R. I know this doesn't sound to fun of a piece of music, but the dance is beautiful (from what I've seen). I'm excited to see it at the Dance Recital.

Rachel's jazz dance is to the Doodle Bops. This is a show on the Disney channel. Her costume totally fits the TV show and the dance is darling. Mallory is in her class and the group took 1st place at Taylorsville - Woo Hoo! At Lagoon they placed 2nd, missing first by two-tenths of a point. These little girls danced their hearts out!! Rachel's ballet is to my other favorite T.V. show - St. Elsewhere. I've seen none of this dance and Rachel tells me that is because it is a surprise. I'm excited to see.

Great job girls for working so hard!! Despite a little complaining here and there, they have both given it their all.

April Fool's Joke

Rachel has been looking forward to April Fool's day for weeks. She has come up with ideas and made plans to fool someone in our house. Well, apparently she planned to pull a joke on me, but Becca gave it away and broke her little heart. She was in tears yesterday morning.

She had got out of bed in the middle of the night and stuffed her pillows in her bed so it looked like she was there. Then she had climbed in bed with Becca to sleep. Her plan was that when I went in to wake her up, she would come in behind me and scare me. Becca was angry because Rachel didn't want her help and she slammed the bedroom door really hard, waking Don up and causing me to come flying out of the bathroom thinking something was wrong - ruining the whole prank! She was devistated!

After consoling her, I came up with a prank to pull on dad. We took his work boots and dumped dry cat food down into the toes and then waited for him to put them on. When he put his first foot in he yelled, "What the heck!" He seemed kind of upset and Rachel wasn't so sure that he would take the joke. I kept mouthing to her to say "April Fool's" but she was a little scared. Finally she said it and Don started laughing. She too then started laughing. He told her that he thought the cats had thrown-up in his boots. We all got a good laugh & she went to school and told her class about it. Her teacher thought it was pretty funny. Even dad told all the guys at work about it. Good job, Rae!!!!

Medieval Battle

On Tuesday night the boys had a Court of Honor. It was a Medieval Times theme and once again Alvin Merrill (the scout master) really got into character. He had made swords that were PVC pipe wrapped with swimming noodles and LOTS of duct tape. He had a "fair maiden" that they were fighting for. He called up each boy and knighted them, giving them each a very creative name. Parker was knighted Sir Mash Potatoes and Darek was knighted Sir More helping of Green Beans. Tristan Burgio was Sir Sharp Knife, Zach Bates was Sir Pepto Bismal and Parker's friend Brenden was Sir Gastrial Intestinal. I thought I was going to fall off my chair laughing. It was hilarious and the boys loved it!

He then had rounds where he let the boys battle each other with the swords, which Don & I thought was rather brave of him. The boys actually did pretty well with the rules and no one got seriously injured. Parker, however, did come out with a small black eye. He took a whack to the face, but he was okay and it made for a good April Fool's joke the next day at school.

Parker received his Automotive merit badge and Darek received his Camping merit badge and his Automotive merit badge. The boys are doing really great. Darek is to the point of submitting for an Eagle project and working on about 4 required badges for Eagle Rank. Parker is working on his Star rank and some required badges.

Sand Storm

We thought we would enjoy the great spring weather on Saturday so we loaded up the trailer and bikes and headed to Little Sahara. What a mistake that was. Let's just say that miles of sand and gusting wind don't mix well. Saturday the temperature was beautiful and we had a little wind when we arrived, but by mid-afternoon the wind was blowing harder and made it miserable to ride. We had sand in our eyes and teeth and that was with helmets and goggles on. We thought we would ride out the night in hopes that the storm would roll in, bring some rain and wet everthing down good. Much to our dismay, the wind was still there in the morning. Now it was blowing harder and getting colder. The kids tried to ride in the morning, but couldn't see far enough in front of them to be safe. Don decided that we were packing it all up and going home. Needless to say, us and a couple of other trailers were the only ones that were crazy enough to try and ride it out.

I told my kids that this trip reminded me of a book we have at home that is called Sand. In part it says, "Sand is in my toes. Sand is in my shirt. So much sand!" Don added to the story with "Sand is in places I didn't even think it could get!"

As Grandma B. always says, "It's just another adventure!"

New Addition to the Yei posterity

Donald's brother Doug and his girlfriend had a baby boy on March 15th. He weighed in at 7lbs. 50z. and was 20 inches long. He looks like all the other Yei boys. Not quite sure what to think of the name, but then again this is Doug we are talking about. His text message said the baby's name is Kayoshi (yoshi) Bradjamin Yei. I'm sure now you are laughing because Don, David and I were. Not sure if they are calling him Yoshi and if the middle name is a misspelling and it's suppose to be Benjamin. I told Don he would have to call him and get the pronunciation of it. Baby and mom are doing great. Grandpa Kay would be proud that he has such great posterity - 6 boys to carry on the family name!

There is possibility that David will be headed back to Iraq in April. It is a voluntary activiation. If not enough members volunteer than they will start picking men to go. Please keep him in your prayers. We really need him to stay here to be with his kids right now.

Disneyland

A few weeks ago Aly and I took a much needed vacation to Disneyland! We had so much fun despite the down pour of rain for 3 days. Local news said it was the most rain they had received in over a year. Go figure!

The first comical thing that happened to us was our flight. We flew into Long Beach which is the first time either of us had been to this airport. When the plane landed we were sure we were in some small country. In order for us to exit the plan we had to walk down a ramp (in the rain) and onto the tarmack. Then trek thru puddles of water to get to the "so-called" terminal (which wasn't any bigger than my home. The next thing that made us laugh was the baggage claim. This sits outside the terminal with a canvas over the carousel. Now if the weather was great this wouldn't have been such a big deal, but remember it is down pouring and cold.

By the time we made it to our hotel, we both had to change shoes and socks (drainage in California is not great. Lots of BIG puddles!)

Disneyland was fun. Aly and I spent three days wearing our heavy coats and blue rain ponchos! We were quite the beauty queens. After the first day we didn't even bother doing our hair. Because of the rain, lines were short and most things we walked right on to.

Our favorite ride was the new Toy Story ride at California Adventure! It was fabulous and worth the 40 minute wait. It is similar to the Buzz Light Year ride at Disneyland, but in 3-D. Aly and I would get off and get back in line. We were sure we could better our score each time. It became quite competative and funny.

The craziest thing we did was ride Screamin California 5 times in a row!!!! It was awesome! We acutally rode it like 9 times during the three days there. No line, it was great!

When we went back to the Long Beach Airport, we had to take a picture. We were still laughing about our arrival, but it just got better. We went into the area where you check in. It was about the same length as an isle at Walmart and about that wide and that included the "food court." After we checked in our bags we had to walk outside and wait in line to go thru security. Good thing they have canvas tarps over this area. Once thru security, we were back in the so-called terminal. There are only 4 gates and not enough space or chairs to support the number of people flying. Once again we had to walk outside and up a ramp (this one was covered) to get back onto our plane. We took some great pictures and had a good laugh!

All in all the trip was very enjoyable and good R & R. Now we all need to plan on going in 2012 because by then all the new rides will be done and opened in California Adventure. It is getting a major overhall with 3 (it might have been 4) rides.

Suprised!

I recently started working and I'm gone from home until 5:30 on some nights. Last night I came home to Darek cooking Spagetti for dinner. I was sooo surprised, yet so proud! He had also helped Rachel and Becca count out 100 Starbursts for Rachel's 100th day of school party.

The great thing about it was that he had stepped up to the plate in being a responsible teenager, which I so knew he was capable of doing. I love ya, Darek and thanks for being such a great big brother and son!!!!!

First Post

Well after reading my sister, Karen's blog, I decided that if she can create something that cute then so can I. I also thought it would be nice to keep our family and friends posted on what is going on in our life throughout the year rather then just at Christmas time. So hopefully you will all find this enjoyable and sometimes even amusing.

I'll try to do my best at keeping it updated. Sometimes my life can be crazy.