End of Summer

Although I was sad to see the kids' summer vacation come to an end, it is good to get back on somewhat of a schedule. We are now into soccer and football season, so our Saturday's are tied up from now until the end of September, and then October for Football. But the kids had an awesome final week of summer. On Monday, Nate took Brady and Zack (and also their cousin Cassidy), to Lagoon for the day. This is something that he has wanted to do for the past 2 years, since now they are old enough to ride the big rides, and they are just as dare-devilish as their dad. They had a blast, and stayed the entire day. No pictures, because...no stroller to carry the extra stuff around. But Nate of course won a few bears and a couple of snakes at the hoop shoot...his favorite passtime. On Tuesday I took all of the kids to 7 Peaks with my sister Jo and her kids from Blanding. Again we stayed the whole day and soaked up as much sun as we could. A few days later we went to the new Lindon Aquatics Center. A little smaller than 7 peaks, but still a lot of fun. We had one last cousin lunch on Thursday. (So weird that I only will take 2 kids to cousins lunch from now on.) We enjoyed a lot of swimming during the summer and lots of cold treats. One new thing that surprised us was the Ice Cream Man....I honestly didn't know they were still around, but he came by one day and of course we indulged a little bit!

The kids enjoying a treat from the Ice Cream Man in the backyard. We set up an extra long and extra wide slip and slide on this day...but forgot to take pictures. Oh well we had a nice dead spot on the grass from where it wasn't getting enough water, but too much sun through the tarps. (Shhh...Don't tell their dad)

Family Prayer Part 2

So here is the second part of the Duck Duck Goose/Family Prayer story that happened tonight. Some nights Hannah is in bed before we say family prayer, but when she isn't we have to 'explain' to her that we will play a game of Duck Duck Goose after our prayer. Because without fail when we kneel down for family prayer she wants to start a game. Tonight was no different, and she 'grudgingly' knelt down 1/2 way through the prayer. When it was her turn to be it she stood up and said, "Da...Da...Da...Mama...." (when she tapped me on the head). I guess she doesn't think that I'm a duck!

Lucky 13 part 2

1. Sara is an very affectionate person, my confidant and best friend. And she laughs at my dumb jokes.

2. She makes our house a home. Decor - food - cleanliness - laundry - you name it. The food is so good she's won 3 chili cook-offs.

3. Sara is very giving - a mother of 5 (6 if you count me) and does not have much time for herself. Recently she went on a girl’s weekend trip to Las Vegas and I honestly don't think she bought herself anything. It was all for the kids.

4. She truly puts the lord first in her life. I could say, "I don't want to go to church she would say ok, see ya when we get back. And she would take all 5 kids and head off to church. This is also evident when I get to take all 5 kids while she goes to yet another primary meeting.

5. She doesn't hold grudges. And it’s a good thing to; otherwise I might have my own bedroom.

6. She has unbelievable will power and self discipline. No matter what it is, no carbonation, running daily, fasting, or keeping a secret.

7. She's so patient. Even if her hair is on fire she can keep her cool. She might produce a small stream of tears (or river), but she doesn't fly off the handle.

8. Intellectually she's a natural. When I took calculus in college I would spend hours at the tutor to figure things out. She on the other hand could sit down with me and figure it out on her own. This sometimes made me curse.

9. Her parents gave her $100 for being sweet 16. She used that money to buy my wedding ring; which is always a reminder to me of our commitments.

10. She goes out of her way to spend time with my sick grandmother, mother, sisters, and other relatives.. And even makes them goodies.

11. My family likes her better than me. My mother is the first to take Sara’s side no matter what the argument. People just like her better. Or is it that they feel bad for her, because she's stuck with me. hmmmm See #10

12. She has never been caught up in worldly possessions. A big 9 passenger van might not be her vehicle of choice but she would drive it happily if it were needed.

13. She is faithful. She waited for me for two years, and we have since disproved the theory of 'good things come to those who wait'

Thanks for a wonderful 13 years lover.

First Day of School

Well we started the school year August 20th. And now the 3 oldest go full time. This is the odd year I guess....Brady is in 5th, Zack 3rd, and Rachel 1st grade. When they came home I had homemade cookies waiting, a tradition of ours for the 1st day. (Which I am kind of rethinking....then I'm stuck at home all day with a TON cookies.) But I spoiled myself and celebrated by going to 2 aerobics classes that day....I'm sure I'll find plenty to do with my time as the school year goes on. I asked the kids what their favorite part of the 1st day was and Brady said: Science, Zack said: Recess, and Rachel said: Seeing Mitchell Menlove's Mom and Shannon at the cafeteria (Teresa works there as a lunch lady, and Shannon was on her lunch break.) It is nice to have some order back to the house and have it quiet when Hannah goes down for a nap. Jace was willing to ride the bus to his school, so it took a lot of explaining that his school doesn't start for a couple of weeks. He will actually have 2 years of preschool, since his birthday is in September. For now I'll enjoy having the younger 2 here, and not being worried about getting home every day at 12 to meet a kindergartener.

Off to school.

All the troops ready for the big day.

Jace and Hannah 'helping me make cookies'...Hannah looks happy now but she had a fit when I let Jace hold the beater and not her...sheesh!

Brady off the bus.

Rachel and Autumn....good freinds and first timers staying the whole day.

Zack and Burghandy, glad to be home.

Brady's friend Mitchell Abel....always a character.

Finally eating some cookies and telling me about their first day.

Tibblefork

Too bad I forgot swimsuits...Jace still had a ball running around in his under-roos!

Courtney Clayson....I just loved all the mud on this little princess.

Brett on the canoe with Jake, Hannah, Courtney, and Josh.

Zack practicing his cast out....he reminded me of Huck Finn with his pants rolled up.

Annie on the raft and Brett on the canoe with a bunch of kids having a water fight. Annie is always up to no good!

Brady liked standing out on the rocks to cast out.

Jace and Jake...two good little buddies.

Rachel was the only smart one and brought extra clothes, sometimes I gripe and moan about her extra packing whenever we go somewhere, but it sure came in handy.

Hannah loved the mud...so much for that shirt!

Josh, Brady, Jace, Rachel, Zack and Caleb out on the canoe...they did pretty good for a bunch of little kids.


Last Saturday, the 22nd of August, we were invited to go to Yuba Lake with a bunch of families in our ward, but since we had 3 soccer games and 1 football game, we decided to find something fun to do closer to home. We decided to ask the Clayson's if they wanted to head up to Tibblefork for a little canoeing and to escape the heat of the day. We took up a picnic lunch, our Crawdad (aka...canoe), and some fishing poles. They kids had a blast rowing around the lake, playing in the water, and getting quite muddy. Brady and Zack also practiced casting out a lot with their poles. I think they will enjoy fishing later on...especially if they ever catch anything. Next summer, I am going to remember to fill the slower days in the summer with a quick Tibblefork trip, just so we can escape the heat. It felt so good up there, and it was nice go get away for a bit. There were quite a few other people up there, but it wasn't too crowded. When we first arrived there was a lady walking around in the mud, looking for a set of keys that she might had dropped. Well she couldn't find them, and then about an hour or so later a Ranger came by to see if we had seen any keys. Of course we hadn't, but he was helping her get a tow truck up so that she could get her car back down the mountain. But just as we were leaving about 3 hours later, Zack was walking in the mud and just happened to step on her keys. We thought the best think to do would be to drive her car down to the ranger station. But as we were walking to the parking lot, she pulls up in I recognize her and Nate runs the keys to her. She was so relieved, and gave Zack and Nate a big hug. Then she came back and gave Zack $5, because he saved her about $200 I'm guessing for finding her keys. It's amazing how $5 can make an eight year olds day. We had a fun afternoon, and hopefully we can go up there one more time this year, maybe when the fall leaves are changing.

Lucky 13

Today is mine and Nate's anniversary. It is crazy how fast time flies, but I'm glad that I have had the privledge to share them with Nate. I would like to share 13 random memories and/or reasons of why I love Nate and why I married him:
1. When I lived in Manzanita Hall at SUU, I was walking home from church one Sunday and looked at the parking lot to where my car was parked and it was shimmering in the autumn sunlight...since Nate worked on the freight crew at Albertson's he decided to saran-wrap my car with a large roll of industrial plastic wrap. It took a knife and scissors to get it all off.
2. Nate is a very thoughtful gift giver to me. He always ponders and asks many women what they would want for a gift. They've even said, "Wow, I wish my husband would take time think about what he is getting me."
3. He made ME a huge cheesecake from scratch to ask me out for the first time....that was a hook, line and sinker.
4. Nate is a very hard worker and seems to always have energy to get the job done.
5. It took him 3 weeks to kiss me after we started dating, but we had seen each other every day of those 3 weeks.
6. He is a great dad to our kids, and still wants more....that's border line crazy though.
7. We wrote each other FAITHFULLY for his 2 year mission. And even though he was on a tight budget, he still remembered to send little (and big) gifts from the mission field.
8. Nate loves to spend time with just me. From time to time, he will say, 'Um how long has it been since you and I have gone on a date?'
9. One night, when we lived in Cedar City, and there was about 3 feet of snow on the ground, he came home from work at 4:00 am, and decided to stand outside in his garments for a good full minute and then run and jump into bed with me and 'snuggle'. I was mad then, but we can laugh about it now.
10. He loves basketball...and honestly I LOVE watching him play basketball. He is naturally athletic, and I love that about him.
11. Nate is known as the family fence mender. He always says that it is best to take the humble road, and not have contention among those you love. Even though he has been shot down in the past, he still tries to 'mend family fences'.
12. On our honeymoon to California, we had a BALL. Seriously, it was the funnest trip I have ever been on. When we were at Six Flags, he was literally dragging me from ride to ride like a little kid. He wanted to ride the scarey rides as much as possible. I'm glad that he still hasn't lost his childhood boyness attitude.
13. He loves life. We are both so happy with the life that we've created together. Even though I know we both make mistakes, we definately have learned from those mistakes.

I love you Nate...thank you for a wonderful and lucky 13 years!

(Brady was our photographer for these pictures....and when we told him that we wanted to take some pictures of us kissing...he just giggled like a little girl.)

Fancy Nancy

Since Rachel's birthday is December 27th, I pleaded with her to have a summer birthday party when I was 9 months pregnant with Hannah. Last summer was the first of the 1/2 birthdays, and when her birthday rolled around in 2008, again I promised that she could have a summer birthday party again. Well summer came, and we were really busy as a family, but she kept talking about her party all summer long and of course WOULD NOT let me forget. So before school started we had her birthday on Monday, August 17th. She absolutely loves the Fancy Nancy Books, and checks them out at the Library whenever she finds them. (For those of you who don't know who Fancy Nancy is she is a little girl that makes and says everything fancy...very cute books.) So we had a Fancy Nancy Tea party, that was a HUGE success. Every little girl came that we invited (except those that were out of town and Kaylee her cousin...Chalise still feels bad about forgetting.) I even had a few little girls in our neighborhood, who sometimes hang out with Rachel, ask if they could come. And Kaylee Allred missed the first day of school, she goes to a charter school, to attend. (That made me feel a little guilty, but she said it was worth it.) Brady and Zack 'willingly agreed' to be the waiters for the party, they even dressed in church pants and white shirts. Brady was also willing to wear his pink tie, but I said that it wasn't necessary, since most waiters, get a little dirty working. It was also a great opportunity to teach the girls, and my boys a little about manners and proper things to say when at a fancy restaurant.

First things first: Since Fancy Nancy has tight curly hair we had to put curlers in the night before, and of course Hannah got in on the action, but they didn't last more than an hour in her hair. Rachel was a darling Shirley Temple the next day.


Yummy food...I set out the food buffet style, so the girls could pick out what they liked. Brady and Zack's assignment was to make sure their drinks were never empty, and get them second helpings of whatever they wanted.

Rachel and her friends: Clockwise from top left Taylor, Rachel, Kaylee, Hannah, Sage, Rachel and Kierschtie, Suzi and Alex, Kaila and Ali.

All the 'Fancy Girls'

Brady, Rachel, Zack....aren't they good sports for becoming 'slaves' during their sisters' party?

Here is Zack serving strawberries.

Brady refilling a drink...he even had to clean up a few spills.

Rachel with Grammee's Parasol....this was the hit of the party. Grammee donated all of her 'jewelry' (which is more than one person can wear in a year), for the little girls to dress up in during the party.

She LOVED everything that was given too her, even though we talked about how presents are not the reason why we have parties, it is to celebrate and spend time with our friends. (We're teaching manners every chance we get.)

Fairview 5K

Every year we go down to Fairview for the 24th of July weekend. And almost every year (except when they have it on a weird day) a bunch of the family members like to enter the 5K race. It's a great little race through almost all of Fairview, since the town it so small. We love running by the horses in all the fields, and then down main street. (Just wish that we had the people through the parade route cheering us on like we did on the 4th of July Freedom Festival Race....oh well).
This year Nate was determined to beat his record minute pace. Which he did, and finish 1st place in his age group. He ran the 5K in 21 minutes...now that's fast.
They also have a kids 1 mile race, just before the 5K. We talked Brady into running, because he has been running a mile 2 or 3 times a week to gear up for football. He did great and got 2nd place in the Boys 9-12 year old group. He was thrilled to receive a metal, and a few bragging rights. His time was just under 10 minutes.
My sisters' JoAnna and Emma and their husbands also ran with us, so that we can keep each other going. Emma and I rarely get a chance to run together, but we always stick with each other in the races that we enter. We ran it in 27 minutes...so we had 9 minute miles. A little bit better than our 4th of July, 9 1/2 minute miles. I don't think we'll have many more races this year together, with our kids' soccer and football seasons starting to get underway. I guess our racing days will have to take a back seat until next spring.

My sister Emma and I at the Fairview 5K


Brady at the start of the kids 1 Mile run. Notice how he is standing...and then Nate is standing the exact same way in the back ground. Like father like son.


This is a 'high quality' picture from Nate's phone. This was a trail relay race that Nate and I along with Emma and Jeremy ran in June. It was a lot of fun, even though we like to run our leg's twice. Long story but a memorable one.

Shannon

This is just a shout out to my awesome friend/babysitter/kids friend/taxi driver/big sister/backup for whatever and whenever....Shannon Menlove. I'm sad I don't have a picture of Shannon, because I think she is a beautiful and wonderful girl. I just want to remember how much I appreciate her and all she does for me and my kids. We first met Shannon when we moved to PG, 3 years ago, she was 14 then, and was begging to babysit my kids. So we signed her up again, and again, and again. She just loves my kids, and they love her.
Rachel considers Shannon her big sister. She is always calling Rachel to go to movies, paint nails, or just go and do girly stuff. Just last week she took Rachel for an afternoon and they made tons of flower clips for Rachel to wear to school next week.
A funny little story that happened yesterday; Shannon and her family were sitting across the aisle from us in church. When Hannah started to become unruly, I tried to usher her over to Shannon who was bribing her with a package of smarties. (But Shannon's dad was sitting next to the aisle... he is a pretty big guy, but just a big teddy bear. But of course Hannah was a little intimidated, and ran for the smarties and ran right back to me....we all just chuckled a little.) It was worth a shot though.

But as I write this, I start to remember all the awesome people that my kids have had the opportunity to associate with in their short little lives already. Scout Leaders, like Angie Mazeika who spoil the cubs. And 2nd moms like Annie Clayson, that just feed Zack whenever he is over there. It is so great to live by so many awesome people and have the associations that we do.

Mt. Timp

Nate and Sara at the Saddle!

On Friday, August 7th 2009, Nate and I set out at 11:30 PM for a long...long...long hike up Mt. Timp. Seriously I didn't think it would take that long, but we were with the youth in our ward, which seemed to slow us down quite a bit. We actually didn't start on the trail until about 12:00 AM. Those kids were a lot of fun and quite talkative at first, but by about 2 or 3 am....all were quite and we would just hear a few comments here and there. Besides being one of the coldest day's ever in August history, it only felt really cold when we stopped to rest. At the lower meadow, about 1/4 of the kids wanted to turn around. So some of the leaders took them back. The rest of us found our second wind...somewhere... and made it to the saddle. What an amazing view it was from there. The sleep deprivation got to a lot of us....all but 3 leaders and 2 boys. So Nate, along with Steve Clark, Lane Watters, Chance Robbins, and Spencer Taylor, went on up to the summit to see the sunrise. The rest of us watched it from the saddle. I debated on wether or not to hike to the summit or not, but without any sleep, I felt that my reflexes wern't that sharp and I didn't want to risk falling down the mountain. I think I'd like to do it again...and make it to the summit next time. Hiking through the night was great...just to see different sets of head lamps on parts of the mountain. And then to see the view on the way down in the night was breathtaking. It definately is a lot of work, but it was fun to see the view from up there.

Ward Kids Breakfast

So a friend of ours in the ward decided that we needed to get our kids back on track since school starts next week. Whoever wanted could join the kids breakfast club. So basically we get our kids up at 7:00 am every morning. They get showered and ready, then head off to a different house for breakfast. They must be there by 7:30 or else they don't eat. They started this morning at the Scheuber's house, with yummy homemade bread and healthy-for-you chocolate spread and sprinkles. (Andrea is from Switzerland, and makes some tasty treats for everyone in the ward from time to time. She also bakes our Sacrament Meeting bread every Fast Sunday, which everyone LOVES. It's a good thing that the priests have such a hard time breaking apart the bread because it is so thick, so that we all get a little extra big piece.) Anyhow, my kids got home just after 8:00 and were all excited about being able to see friends and start the day off right. Thank you Andrea for thinking this activity up, it will make next week seem like a breeze!



Rachel, Zack and Brady enjoying some homemade bread!



Tanner and Parker Christensen....Weston and Addy Clark.....such cute kiddos!



Kim and Fay Sheuber. Looks like Fay really likes the chocolate.






All the kids at breakfast. Holmes', Clark's, Scheuber's, Clayson's, and Christensen's.

Ring around the Rosies

One of Hannah's favorite games is Ring around the Rosies. Her siblings are so great to play with her anytime that she wants. And thanks to Aunt Aimee for teaching us the 2nd verse of Ring around the Rosies, sometimes it is a little confusing for people that havn't ever heard it, but it is one of Hannah's favorites. At times you can tell that Hannah is a little catered to since she seems to rule the roost. But we love having her with our family and we are realizing just how wild and crazy she can be, just to keep up with her older brothers and sister. She gets extremely angry when one of the kids comes up and hugs me and says, "My mommy", of course they are just doing it to egg her on. But Nate and I have our own fun too, because she hates it when we hug or kiss and has to get in the middle of us and get her own kiss from each of us.

Tis the Season

We had a very busy June and July with 3 members of our household playing baseball and softball. In fact one week we had 8 games that needed to be attended and played in. (But we usually averaged about 5 or 6 games a week.) Zack played machine pitch for the Rockies (and I feel like such a loser mom, and never got any pictures from his games...so sorry Zacky). But he did great and had a fun time with 2 of his best friends on his team, Caleb and Mitchell. Brady played for the Yankees, and mostly played catcher. It was a great 'learning' year for him on how serious baseball can be. In July his coach did a Field of Dreams, and took the boys to an Orem Owls game, where they had to dress in full uniform and were able to walk out onto the field with the Owls team. Nate played on 2 softball teams. One for our ward/neighborhood team in the PG Rec League, aka Grovecreek Sandlot. The other for his work TGN in the Orem Rec League. Rachel opted to take gymnastics instead this summer (and I didn't get a picture of her either...but she is signed up for fall gymnastics, so I have a second chance.)
For fall softball, Nate's Sandlot team decided to play in the Orem Rec League...the same league as his work team. So he had to make a decision on which team to play for. It was a tough choice, but he decided to go with his work team, and rub sholders with some of the higher up's...wink, wink. He got a lot of slack from friends and neighbors, so he is making any peace offerings he can.

How does your garden grow?

This is year two of having my garden in the once weed infested area to the east of the shop. I had to have Nate cut down more trees and branches this year to be able to get more sun to the area. And I still would like more, but that means loosing the coverage of the oak trees. But the garden is growing well and my kids have enjoyed eating fresh peas while I've enjoyed some early tomatoes. In a month we'll have plenty to share with whomever and donate to our ward Harvest Station. (A place where people in the ward can put extra produce and it is free to whomever.) Here are some early pictures of peas, green grape tomatoes, and a blossom from cantaloupe. (I can't wait for all those to get ripe.)

Basketball Court

So as many of you may know we prepped the ground just to the side of our shop for a basketball court in June. The ground was dying grass, because of the shade of the trees, and kind of an eyesore. So Nate put in many hours of prep work so that he could have his court. We actually bought the b-ball rim last November, and have been waiting until the ground was ready to pour cement on. Our friend Shane Staheli pours concrete for a living and gave us a smokin' deal on our cement. As long as Nate would be his trusty side kick and help out, since Nate has helped Shane of a number of concrete jobs. Everyone asks how our boys like having their own court, and of course they like it. But not as much as Nate. If you know Nate, you know that he lives, eats, and breaths basketball. He is always out there shootin' hoops, but I love having him here so close and being able to watch him. I have a feeling his love for the game will rub off on the kids in no time. Here is a picture of him dunking a b-ball...look how much air he can still get. Not bad for an old man! Just kidding love...at least you're my old man.

Favorite Things

So I've been pretty bad about blogging lately, but with a good excuse...we've been having a fun fun summer. Staying busy, playing hard, and enjoying being together as much as we can. So I'll try to catch up as much as I can remember. One of my favorite things in the world (seriously) is to look outside and see all of my kids sitting in the sandbox, all playing together. I'm glad that the older boys love to play in there as much as Hannah does. It just makes me a happy mom to see them all hanging out together. As we were preparing the ground for the b-ball court in early June, Nate commented that in both houses I've always insisted that we have a sandbox, and both times he has grumbled a little, but he comes to realize just how valuable they are!

Family Prayer

So I have to write this real quick before I forget. Nate knelt down in our sitting room tonight and said, 'Everyone kneel down for family prayer.' So all the kids quickly minded, and as I was crossing the room to join them, Hannah, (who is 18 months) started walking around the outside of the circle tapping everyone on the head saying, "Dah...Dah...Dah..." We all started busting up laughing, because she was trying to play duck duck goose. (Our favorite FHE game.) And as we all quited down and Nate started praying, she gets up and starts again. It was hard to keep our laughs to ourselves, but we managed the best we could. And of course we had a quick game of duck duck goose before bedtime!