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!!!