Epic Survivor Girls Trip

On November 9th 3 friends of mine, Megan, Rachel K., Rachel F., and I took off early in the morning for our a girls' only trip to watch Survivor with a Survivor contestant Dawn.  We were also excited that we chatted non-stop on our 10 hour drive to South Jordan Utah.  We did have to make a few stops.  Our first stop was to fill up the tires with air due to a warning light in Rachel F's car.  We came to find that the Spare tire was the problem.  Who knew that a spare tire could hold up a trip.  We also stopped in St. George and ate lunch at the Olive Garden.  We all ordered bread-sticks, soup and salad.  It was then off to our destination.  We arrived in South Jordan a little early so our head navigator Megan pulled out her handy sheet of information and we punched it into the GPS and we found where we were to watch Survivor that night.  We still had a few minutes so we headed over to Target and did a little looking around.  Everyone had brought gifts for Dawn and her family and I was out of the loop on that so I purchased some Stephen's Hot Chocolate mixes and wrapped them up for mine so I would feel so left out.  We were then off to watch Survivor.  When we arrived at the house we were welcomed by a 3 year old boy who told up that both of him mom's were in the basement.  We didn't know what to do but head downstairs.  We were welcomed by Dawn, her husband and family and all the friends that were watching Survivor that night.  They were all so gracious and kind to all of us.  It was a joy to watch and interact with Dawn as we were there watching Survivor.  She gave us some great insight of what was going on during this episode and more.

After the show we were all directed to put our name in a container to play some Survivor Challenges.  We were too busy talking to Dawn that we didn't make it to that.

This is our group of ladies with Survivor Dawn.

Dawn was so nice.  We all got individual pictures with her.  My oh my I look like I have been traveling all day.  I should have freshened up a little better.

My parents were very gracious and let us stay with them the first night.  We got there a little late so didn't have too much time to visit with them.  They did make us a nice breakfast of French Toast to start off our day.  We also had a good visit in the morning before we took of to Utah Valley to start shopping.  We first went to Hobby Lobby.  Way too many choices there.  It was so much fun looking at all of the stuff.  We then went to Ross and then were off to Diego's for some great Mexican food.

After lunch we headed off to BYU and had a campus tour on one of those large golf cart type vehicles.  Since I was the only Utah State Alumni in the group of BYUers I sang a little bit of the Utah State fight song while we entered the cart.  It was awesome.  It was fun to see all the campus and learn a little bit as the ladies I went with talked of their memories of how things were when they were attending BYU and what changes have been made.

I was super tired while we were waiting for our tour I took a little rest.  Megan thought it was funny so she snapped this photo.  Also the picture on the right is the driver of our fine tour.

We couldn't resist talking pictures with this extraordinarily large Indian Statue whom I can't remember the name of but find quite odd that BYU has a half naked man on their campus.

Before we left campus after doing a little bit of shopping in the book store we had to find our new friend Dawn's office (she is a part time English Professor at BYU) and get pictures.  I know we are incredibly crazy, but it was a lot of fun.

We finished our day on campus by stopping by Rachel K's nephews apartment and then went to get some dinner.  I believe the place we wen to was called The Noodle Company or something like that.  What I had was quite delicious but for the life of me I can remember it's name.  We also got our drinks out of this nifty machine that has stored in it every single kind of drink and you push the buttons to navigate to what drink you want and sure enough it gives you that drink.  Very advanced technology.

We were all full after dinner but had to stop and have a piece of pie in a shake from Sammy's.  Rachel F. had raved about this place so we went to check it out.  There were a bunch of college kids there so we felt a little out of our league.  We did enjoy our tasty pie in a shake concoction.

Day 3 first thing we did was take off to get some glitter toes at the mall.  We stopped and picked up Rachel F's sister first and this is how beautiful our toes looked after.  This was quite a splurge for me because I don't  pamper myself like this ever.  I was talked into it though.  My toes are on the right side.  We then walked around the mall and looked at a few more stores and took Rachel's sister home.

It was then off to Guru's for lunch.  I had sweet potato fries and a wrap.  It was pretty yummy.

We did more shopping at the Quilted Bear and Desert Book.

For dinner we went to the Bombay House.  Here I am drinking a strawberry yogurt drink - I can't remember the name.  I am sure it was more fancy than how I explained it.

I had a delicious meal.  It was a big explosion of flavor.  It was called Chicken Makhani.  Everyone loved it. I would definitely order this meal again.

Although we were incredibly full we ended our night with a trip to Far's where you pick your ice cream or frozen yogurt from soft serve machines and then put toppings on it.  They weigh it and then pay for what you weigh.  It was pretty good, but I didn't get too much because I was so full.

I am so grateful for this trip and the people I went with.  Megan is a Survivor of Breast Cancer and battled overcoming it for the past year.  Hopefully she is completely out of the woods with that.  Rachel F. was diagnosed with Addison's disease this past year while being pregnant with her second child.  We nearly lost her last year.  Rachel K. is just an all around amazing person with raising 4 children and having to do it alone sometimes while her husband travels a lot and is in the Bishopric.  I felt honored to be with three great women who I consider Survivors.  Thank you for including me in on such a grand adventure.  It was truly an awesome trip where we laughed cried and tried to solve some of life's problems.

Tyler's Baptism - Oct. 8

 Tyler's Baptism was on October 8th.  Yes it is amazing that I am getting around to writing about it we were very fortunate to have my parents, Justin's mom, and Justin's Brother Jason's family.  We really appreciate family support, especially since we live so far away from most of them.

 Tyler was baptized by his dad.  We are so grateful that he holds the priesthood to be able to bless our family

 Tyler with his grandparents.  We know that Justin's dad (the fire grandpa - Tyler's name for him) was with us this day too.

This really was a special day for our family.  Mackay even gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost.  We are so proud of Tyler and his decision to be baptized.  He is a good boy, well most of the time.

Before Halloween

We could not get this kid to be a happy kid for our pictures
Tyler as Captain America
(we almost got him to smile)

Harry Potter (because we left our costume at school he was Green Lantern)

Two Cute Guys

This year we get to celebrate Halloween all weekend. Friday the kids had their class parties and the school carnival. Saturday we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. I accidentally erased the photos of the Halloween Parade at the school and forgot the camera for the Trunk or Treat. Am I good or am I good. Luckily we snapped a few photos when we got home.

Thoughts

So today I was put in as Relief Society President of my ward. I have been feeling like it was coming for awhile but part of me is still in denial. I am putting down these thoughts because at first I was really? Me? I don't know if I can do this? The people before me were so much better. Then thinking of what President Uchtdorf said we need to be patient with ourselves and not put ourselves down. Now I will change my pattern of thinking to how I can best serve. I am grateful that my Heavenly Father trusts me enough and has enough faith in me to know that I can fulfill this calling. I am grateful for a family that will support me and love me no matter what. I hope that the sisters will be patient with me and my absentmindedness. It will be an interesting transition. Most of all I pray for understanding and wisdom to serve in the best way possible. I also ask my Heavenly Father for inspiration and the help of many angels to guide and direct me. I am Humbled and I know that I can do this calling, but it will only be effective with the help and service of others. I also pray that I may have an abundance of love for those I serve with and those who I serve for. May we all be blessed!

August 22 - First day of School 2011

Ready for school with friend Callie
Tyler's Teacher

Mackay and Callie's Teacher

School is already upon us and we ask ourselves where did the summer go. It is time though. The kids are anxious to see their friends and to start a life of schedules.

Mackay loves his 5th grade teacher Mrs. Ponek and Tyler thinks his 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Switzer is fun and funny. I am just so grateful for great teachers that love the kids that they teach. It should be a good year. Thankfully the teachers didn't give out too much homework this week. I think I had the most homework with all the paper work that I had to fill out on the first day. Go Gator's.

The rest of the week went fairly well. I was able to have friends over for a brunch on Monday to celebrate the kids being in school and also accomplished a lot around the house. It is also back to PTO stuff and I did quite a bit of that this week also along with finishing my Visiting Teaching. We ended the week with a PTO sponsored movie night at the school. We watched Rio and sold pizza, popcorn, chips, and water. We had a pretty good crowd show up. There was a lot of laughter, so I believe the kids had a good time. Yay for a successful first week of school.

August 20th - T's Birthday

Tyler was so excited for his 8th Birthday to come. It just couldn't come fast enough and then on the 20th it was finally here. Hooray! He woke up early asking, "Is it my birthday today". "Why yes it is", I told him.

We started the day with opening presents. He got his cub scout clothes, a fishing pole, an art kit, and a little stuffed animal dog. He was excited about everything and now wants to go fishing. We then had his favorite breakfast - Toaster Strudels. He loves those and makes them himself. We got ready for the day and then headed to Wal-Mart to by him a fish for his last present from us. We ended up getting 2 Betas. One of them only lasted 5 days. Wednesday was a very sad morning when Tyler woke up and found a dead fish. Poor little guy. It was then off to home for a lunch of Macaroni and Cheese and hot dogs and to get things ready for his big birthday party. At 2 pm Friends showed up and we had eight activities planned for the "It is Great to be 8" Party. We played a pop the balloon game, tried to land blown up balloons on a target by blowing the balloons up and then letting the air out. We then had a contest to see who could eat the Fruit Roll-up the fastest, we played a marshmallow game, and the kids decorated bags to put their goodies in. We also opened presents and had ice cream and cake. It was a lot of fun!

In the evening Tyler picked to go to Junior's Taco Shop for dinner and then we hung out with a lot of people at the Decker's wedding reception. The kids loved playing with friends there. It was off to home for a couple of episodes of The Avengers and then off to bed.

More upcoming will happen on October 8th when Tyler has decided to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are so happy for him and so glad that we are able to raise such a fun great kid.

Annual Beach Trip

Santa Barbara Mission

Solvang, CA
Pyramid Lake

Refugio State Beach

July 29-Aug 5 we took our annual vacation with many friends to Refugio State Beach. The weather was absolutely perfect. The last day being the best.

Most days we had a late breakfast and headed to the beach, which was a short distance from our campground. I was not very good at taking pictures this year so am relying on friends for what I for got. At the beach I mainly visited with friends. I did build a few sand castles, and on the last day finally did some boogie boarding. Justin did a lot of boogie boarding! Mackay and Tyler are still a little shy of the waves but got braver as the days went on. They played a lot in the sand and also searched for sand crabs. Mackay was very brave by our last day and ended up swimming out quite a distance. He also did a lot of body surfing. Tyler and I even gave sea kayaking a try. We really wanted to see some dolphins and did see some in the distance a ways. Tyler was a little scared so we didn't last too long.

Wednesday we decided to take a trip to Santa Barbara to visit the Mission there. Mackay had done a report on it earlier in the year for 4th grade. It was really interesting. We did the self guided tour and saw the beautiful grounds. We then drove 30 minutes to Solvang and ate at a Danish Restaurant and walked around the town and had pastries and ice cream.

Sunday we did go to church. The ward there is always very welcoming. We also too a little hike to a water fall after church.

Most of our days were just spent being lazy in the sun!

It was a blast we are grateful for fun friends and the calmness that the beach brings. We will miss it!

What a summer so far...

It is so hard to believe that summer is more that half over. It is going by so fast, but we have kept busy. To keep this brief I am just going to summarize what we have done.

-Swim Lessons thanks to the Littons

-working on Handwriting and math

-Trying to encourage the kids to read

-Took the kids to Utah to spend quality time with their grandparents.

-I spent a week at Girls Camp with the Beehives from our Stake - so much fun!

-Justin and I spent 4 kidless days and felt like Newlyweds again.

-Invited to do fireworks and play cards at friends

-Went to the 4th of July Flag Raising Ceremony at the church.

-Friends over for BBQ and Fireworks on the 4th

-The kids and I spent two weeks in Utah, me driving up by myself (big accomplishment)

-Went to the Hogle Zoo

-Slip and Slide in the Irrigation water at my parents

-Visited Logan, ate Aggie Ice Cream, toured USU campus (boy has it changed), hung out with friends.

-Visit to Brigham City to see friends and witness the Moroni being put on the temple there.

-Playing in the Creek at the Agrens

-Playing with cousins

-Feeding cows and sheep and Hill Grandparents

-Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the back yard.

-Working in the Garden

-School Shopping

-Visit to the Carrick's and swimming with them.

-Chores in the morning and friends or movies in the afternoon

-Drive to LA to go backpack shopping and make a big Costco run

Next is the Beach - so excited!

Father's Day

Today is a day where we are able to celebrate our fathers. I do have an awesome dad but today I would like to pay tribute to the father of our children. I am so grateful for him because he does take good care of our family. He is adventurous - that is why we do so many hikes and other things. Most of all I am grateful that I am able to stay home and take care of our kids while he fulfills his duty of providing for us. We love the daddy of our home very much! For his special day we got him a Kindle and made him a candy bar poster. He really liked both.

Family came to visit us - we were amazed!

We received a call on June 12th from Justin's twin brother saying he was going to come and visit us the next day. Sure enough on the 13th Josh his wife Kristin and their 5 kids showed up at our house at around 3 pm. Justin got off a little early and we took a trip to the museum and looked at some airplanes. They thought it was super hot here since they haven't gotten to warm yet where they live. We had a great time visiting with them until they left to go and visit more family the next day. Hooray for family visits even if they are super short.

Backpacking at Big Pine

The day after school got out (June 10), we packed up our van with our backpacks and drove to the Cannon's home to meet up with them and half of the Kimbler family to make our way north to big pine for our first adventure of backpacking as a family. We arrived at our destination at around 11 am ate some lunch stored gear in the bear boxes and then hiked a mile into our camp ground. I was grateful it was just a mile to carry a not so good backpack. We unloaded our gear and set up tents and then took off on another hike below the Palisades. It was a nice little hike. Just long enough for the kids not to get too tired. We had a little encounter with a snake that luckily I didn't see but others heard hiss at them. The kids had so much fun playing together and loved the stream and the rocks that were in our camp area. We made our backpacking style dinner of spaghetti cooked over a little backpacking stove. We also roasted marshmallows thanks to the cannons for bringing them. We ended up turning in at around 9ish because it was dark and cold. We were up fairly early and started the day with a nice bowl of hot oatmeal and a steaming cup of hot chocolate. We cleaned up and headed out on a hike which included part of the John Muir trail. We hiked up past a waterfall and then on to the rangers station where many ate lunch and we played in the pond there and the kids pretend to fish. It was so beautiful up there and a really good hike for us and the kids. We were down and back to camp and then back down to our cars by 2 pm. We then decided to drive into Bishop and eat lunch at Jack's and then got some things at the bakery there. It was then home to get cleaned up.

End of Year Parties...

On June 1st Tyler's class went to the Bowling Alley as their final and I think only field trip that they had this year. The kids on the lane that I was in charge of did pretty good bowling considering they didn't have the bumpers on their lane. Most of the kids got bored after awhile but a good deal of them stuck it out until the game was over. I myself found it rather entertaining watching these little second graders bowling. Most of them would throw the ball in the air and it would drop and slowly make its way to its target which was mainly the gutter. We would still cheer and give high fives and tell them they were doing a good job.

Mackay's class also did an end of school year party at the park, but alas I forgot to bring the camera. They had a water fight with squirt bottles and ate pizza, chips, and soda. It was a good time.

Laws Train Museum in Bishop, CA

Towards the end of May, Mackay's class took a trip up to Bishop to look around The Laws Train Museum. They have taken several buildings and trains that were around the valley and placed them at this museum. I was able to tag along as a chaperon. The kids had a good time but weren't to anxious to learn about all the things that were there. I found it interesting, but will have to take a trip back up there so that I can read and look and soak in all that you can learn from this museum.

May Happenings

For mother's day I decided that I wanted to go for a hike so Justin took us up Owen's Canyon and we went on a short hike to find some Indian writings or pictographs. We didn't find them on the 7th but had a great time with great weather. We even stopped by the Indian Wells Valley Brewery and picked up some soda's. They were really good. On the 14th we decided to try again and this time we found the pictographs. They are actually hidden a little but very impressive. On this day the wind was really blowing, but it was warm so the hike wasn't too bad. The kids were even able to play by a stream for a little while which they really enjoyed. Our kids love water. We were just happy to get out of the house for a little while and even get a little exercise.

We made it to the pictographs - May 14
Indian pictographs up Owen's Canyon

This little guys loves to get dirty...

Me and the love of my life

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Easter

Well Easter is tomorrow but we always celebrate some on the Saturday before. This year we decided to attend the Easter Egg Hunt on base. It is more of an Easter Egg gather as Tyler calls it because you really don't hunt for eggs because they are all just thrown all over the field and the kids go and grab as many as they can. In some of the shells they get candy and in others a paper to go and redeem a prize. We got some of both. We then did a cake walk and scored a carrot cake. It was a fun little outing. We also did a little Easter Egg decorating in the afternoon. We tried the Tye Dye kit they made cute eggs but in the process we also decorated our hands. Silly me, we should have worn gloves. Tomorrow we will do baskets and get our new church clothes for Easter.