Summer's Testimony

Summer wanted to share her testimony during sacrament meeting on Sunday. Little did I know, she had already written her 'testimony' in a notebook. Here it is:
In case you're having a difficult time deciphering it, I'll translate:

Jan, 9, 2011
Sometimes you can trust others and sometimes you can't. I try to always have a testimony of God. I'm scared of fires, so I say my personal prayers every night and it works for a night and a day and then I say my prayers again. I was born in Pleasant Grove, Utah, and I'm 6 years old and I know the church is true and that we should try to always CTR.

Although it would have been entertaining, I didn't let her take the notebook with her. She did a great job anyway.

Fax found this fun website where you get to design your own Sweet-Bus. We all had fun choosing how we wanted our bus to look. Do you like mine?
Although, to own a bus in Utah, you'd have to figure out some way of making it have 4WD.

Kennecott Copper Mine

If you click on this photo, you can see the water at the bottom.
(It's the size of a football stadium.)

Last Saturday we decided to do a little afternoon trip with the kids. We went to Kennecott Copper Mine. It's so huge you can see it from our front porch. Anyway, Jake had his friend, Chase, over so he came along too. Let me just say that the photos don't do it justice. It's enormous!! To give you some idea, the little "pool" of water at the bottom of the pit is the size of a football stadium. The kids are standing in front of a tire that they use on the dump trucks. It's pretty crazy. We had a good time and it was only $5 for our whole car.




What was my kids' favorite part? Gift shop, OF COURSE!!! So if you're ever in Utah, it's worth the 20 minute drive.

Dance Festival 2010

The school had the dance festival today, which means only 2 more days of school!!!! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Here's Summer, strutting her stuff.

Summer on the left, Wynn on the right.

Jake

Lookin' good Jake!

Here's Brook

More enthusiasm!

It is May 24th, right?

Yes, I took these pictures THIS MORNING!! And, it's still snowing. That first picture is of my garden that I waited to plant until 2 days ago. I'm so glad I waited to avoid any freezing temperatures.

It's Finally May

Yes!! It's finally May! So, why am I still freezing? Why does the forecast say it's supposed to snow on Wednesday? Oh well, at least there's only 3 weeks left of school.
So, apparently, one of my quarterly resolutions was too hard. (That's what I'm telling myself anyway.) Out of the entire month of April, I only made it into bed before 10 pm twice. Yes, twice. I'm pathetic!! And it's not like I have something amazing to show for it. It was mostly because of Top Gear, and other shows on the DVR. By the way, Top Gear is hilarious. If you've never watched it, it's on BBC America. Fax and I are both fans.
Anyway, I'm boring, so here are some pictures of Summer, Wynn, and Gracie. They were, obviously, all playing dress up. I love the shoes and backwards crown on Gracie.

New Kitchen?

Jake and I saw this and decided that it was the best kitchen EVER!!! On it's own, it's very impressive, but I'd have to say the best part about it is, location, location, location. Jake liked that he could go fishing from the railing. It reminds me of the many lakes in Washington and northern Idaho. The only thing I don't like about it, is the antler on the table. To me, that's a little unappetizing. But that's just me. (Click the picture to see the whole thing.)

Quarterly Resolutions

This year I did something a little different for my New Year's Resolution. I decided that I could only make 2 resolves. (Instead of the enormous list that I usually make.) My two goals were, and still are:
1. No sugar (As in, sweets, desserts, etc. I know that most things have some sugar in them.)
2. Don't go to bed until the dishes are done.

So far, I've stuck to my goals pretty well. I've only left the dishes twice. (And I had good reasons.) And I've had a couple of crunchy granola bars, but no real treats. I know, who couldn't do those easy goals, right? It's not like I said I was going to exercise 2 hours everyday. But I've also decided that every 3 months I'm going to add two more goals. So, for this quarter, my two new goals are:
1. In bed by 10:00 p.m. (Not including Friday and Saturday nights, and with exceptions when children are up because they're sick.) I think this will be my hardest goal yet.
2. Attend the temple twice a month. (I'm going to try for once a week, but twice a month will be my actual goal.)

So wish me luck! I'm really nervous about the in bed by 10, goal. I'm really quite a night owl, and Fax doesn't get home until after 9 a lot of nights. But hopefully this will help me change my ways, right? And maybe I will naturally start wanting to get up earlier. Or at least not be so tired when I have to get up earlier. Let's hope so.

Hayden at the MTC

Hayden went into the MTC this afternoon. I think he's pretty excited to get going on his mission. He'll be awesome. If you're interested in the blog that Gretchen started to keep track of what's going on with him, it's: www.eldernewey.blogspot.com
You can find the link on my sidebar.

St. Patrick's Day

Wednesday is Summer's day to say the family prayers at our house, so here is a sampling from today.
Dinner prayer: "And please help all this green food to turn pink." (I don't do corned beef and cabbage, so my kids get food dyed green.)
Bedtime prayer: "Please make it so that we never have St. Patrick's Day again."

Too much pinching, you ask? Forgot to wear green today? Nope. Just doesn't like so much green. Prefers pink instead.

P.S. Brook and Jake came home today and said they were not allowed to pinch anyone if they weren't wearing green because it's against school rules. Seriously? You can't even pinch someone on St. Patrick's Day anymore? Wasn't that the only fun part of St. Patrick's Day?

Anyway, I hope you had a Happy St. Patrick's Day even if you're not Irish and have no idea why we celebrate this holiday. (Like me.)

Blue & Gold Banquet

Ready for the flag ceremony.
Jake got to say a prayer and do a reading about about the flag ceremony.

It was Jake's first Blue and Gold Banquet on Tuesday. It was awesome because for the first time in three years, I was not in charge of it!! I helped, but that is so much better than being in charge.

I took a picture of the cakes, because I decorated the chocolate one. It was fun, and I'm grateful there are lots of creative people online that share their ideas. We got both cakes from Costco, but I added the camping embellishments.

Policeman!

So, my niece and nephew, Grace and Wynn, are over this morning. Christy and I do a trade once a week. Anyway, Wynn was telling me all about Policemen today. Where they keep their handcuffs, how they shoot their gun, etc. So I asked him if he wanted to be a policeman when he grew up. He said, "Well, they don't make very much money, so............I decided to be a mailman." Fax and I were cracking up. Then he said, "Plus, they have those trucks without doors that you can just jump in and out of!!" True, Wynn. True. I remember wanting one of those trucks when I was young. Maybe I still do....

Lunches

So today Jake was complaining about what I put in his sack lunch for school. Today it was him, but it's usually Brook and Jake. They complain about how big a sandwich I send. (Jake now only wants 1/2 so he can get out to recess sooner.) Don't send me a granola bar, it takes too long to eat; besides I just give it away. I'm sick of cheese and crackers, don't send those anymore. Don't send me a pudding because I have a hard time opening them. Don't send me a whole apple, just a half (peeled and quartered, of course.) Can I have a kiwi instead of a mandarin orange? Can I start buying milk again? I'm sick of juice boxes. (Two weeks ago he was sick of milk.) Can I have all the parts to my sandwich in different bags. Turkey in a bag, cheese in a bag, and my bread, with some butter on it, in a separate bag? So I jokingly say to Fax, "There's no pleasing these kids. It doesn't matter what I send, they're never happy with what they get." Fax says, "Were you ever happy with what your mom sent you for lunch?" Which immediately brought this to mind:
I don't ever really remember hating what my mom sent me (apart from the half-frozen milk in above "cup" container) but I do remember the lunch box. I hated that *@#% lunch box!! I remember swinging it over my head on my walk home thinking, "If I throw this in the woods I could tell Mom that I lost it and maybe I'd get to take a brown bag instead." I never did that, but I'm sure I complained about it PLENTY!!! I had a friend whose mom made her save her lunch sacks and bring them home to use over again. I'm pretty sure I asked if I could do that.

Anyway, now it's my turn. And no, my kids don't have a Tupperware lunch box, or any kind of lunch box for that matter. But it is a possibility I would have made them save their bags and bring them home for further use, except that I remember how much my friend hated doing that. So, I don't know, maybe they wouldn't complain about the contents of their lunch if they really hated the container. Or maybe, it doesn't matter what you send, what you send it in, or even if they take hot lunch everyday. People, in general, like to complain about things. I guess that's kind of what I'm doing.

I also remember having a Partridge Family lunch box that I was super excited about bringing to school, until the first day when the boy-who-sat-next-to-me's last name was Partridge. Then I was mortified that he might think I liked him because I had a lunch box with his name on it. Does anyone else remember stupid stuff like this from ages ago?

Mission Call!!!!!

This is my nephew, Hayden. He turned 19 on Thursday. On Wednesday he got his mission call, but chose to wait to open his call until Sunday so that friends and family could be there while he opened it. He's going to Neuquen, Argentina, and goes into the MTC on March 31st! We are so excited for him!!! He's going to have the best time. Hayden is a hard worker, he's super easy to get a long with, and is understanding of the gospel is amazing. I know he'll be a great missionary. We'll miss you Hayden, but we wouldn't want you anywhere else for the next 2 year.

(Neuquen is just west of Bahia Blanca, about half way between there and Chile.)

The Beach!

Jake, Brook, and Summer

Huntington Beach to be exact. The day after we went to Disneyland we decided to head to the beach before we headed back to Las Vegas. It happened to be Christmas Eve and it was beautiful. The kids had a great time playing in the surf, and I just enjoyed taking pictures and walking around in my flip-flops. The sun was shining, it was nice and warm, and I always enjoy the smell of the ocean. Fax and I decided that, if ever given the opportunity, we would love to live at the beach. (I came to this same decision 20+ years ago.) Now I just need the $$$$$$$$$$$ to make this dream a reality. ;) But we enjoyed our time there while it lasted.

The look of pure joy & day-old face paint.

Here's hoping we'll be back soon!

Christmas in Vegas!

After Disneyland, we got to stop in Las Vegas and hang out with the Karpowitz family for Christmas. It was, of course, awesome! I don't have a bunch of pictures from Christmas morning, because we video taped it. I truly enjoyed the sunshine and 60 degree weather. I didn't miss the cold and snow for even one nano-second. I know my kids were kind of missing a white Christmas, but not me.

Summer and Emma asleep on Emma's bed.

Ryne, Jake, and Brook.

Brook and Kate.
Karpowitz stockings from above.
Moulder stockings from above. (blurry)

Disneyland!!

Thanks to the generosity of Fax's sister, Maureen (see above), we were able to visit sunny California and spend a day at Disneyland for part of our Christmas vacation! Sunny, and 65 F. Who could ask for more?

Jake is all smiles.

Brook & Fax

Summer and Ashley
Maureen & Summer, Ashley & Brook
Brook and Summer
Summer with her face paint.
Brook, Jake, & Summer

Brook, Sleeping Beauty, & Summer
(Summer was very excited about the princesses. Brook, not as much.)

Thanks Maureen! And thanks for having such great teenagers to hang out with too.