Camping

Friday we decided to try to get out of the heat by going camping with some friends. It was much cooler up Lovell Canyon and we even got COLD at night! We couldn't have a campfire but it was still a blast! Friday we set up camp and just enjoyed hanging out. The kids explored and wore themselves out. Zach shot a crow and cooked it up. Only he and Nate tried it. They rest of us were just fine with sandwiches and yummy smores brownies. After the kiddies went to bed, the adults sat around playing battle of the sexes. Saturday we went to go climbing and repelling. The men went first to set things up and found the area not real safe for kids, but we had fun watching our men climb and repel. I got to climb a little to take Nate some water. He didn't look very high up so I started to climb without a harness or rope- it was a little higher than I thought. Thankfully Nate grabbed my hand as the rock I was using to pull myself up with crumbled away. I have missed climbing (I haven't been since Mara was born) and now that we live so near Red Rock Canyon I really want to start going again. Wyatt fell asleep while we were breaking down camp so we just put him in his car seat and he slipped down some but stayed asleep for an hour or so. On the way home the kids fell asleep- so nice. I can't wait to go again. If you want to go camping let me know- we want to get a big group together to go in August or September.

Thank You

Thank you to all of my family that has served and sacrificed so much for our country. Thank you for keeping me and my family safe. Thank you to the wives, mothers and children who have sacrificed as their husbands, sons, and dads were gone for so long serving us all. I love you and thank you with all my heart. Thank you Grandpa Don, Jason, Kim, Trevor, Adam, and Nick! Thank you Katie, Tiffany, and Nikki! Please take a second to view this wonderful video. http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

Puzzles and Popcorn- My Boys

Like father, like son

I love my boys!

I looked over at the kids while we were watching National Velvet. This is what Wyatt was doing with his popcorn. How sweet that he was sharing with his T-rex and Bob the Builder. Sorry for the shaky camera- I was trying not to laugh.

For Abby

My friend called me the other night with some deep questions on her mind. With my kids running around asking for dinner, our conversation was a little short. I have thought a lot about what she asked and said since. I just wanted to post a few things that I hope might help her find what she is looking for. She asked me how I know Heavenly Father loves me. I think my answer to this question has had several differing answer at different times of my life. I know that we are all loved by our Heavenly Father and that we each feel and understand that love in different ways depending on our circumstances and how the Spirit communicates with us. Lately, I have seen and felt His love in the small daily blessings that let me know that I matter to Him. The little tender mercies that aren't things that are necessary to survive but that are just reminders, to me, that He cares and is aware. For example, I was sick and a sweet girl in our ward called me up and said I am bringing dinner over at 6, okay? I wasn't dying, Nate can cook, but just not having to have that worry was a blessing and proof to me that He knew what could make my day easier. It is the hug I received at church last week from a lady I do not even know- she said she felt like I really needed a hug- and I really did. It is the answers to prayers that come in strange ways and from strange sources. It is the extra patience and understanding that has slowly started to enter my life after months of fasting and praying for those things so that I could be a better mom and wife. It is the sweet spirit I feel when I really study my scriptures or hear the children in Primary sing I Love the See the Temple with all of their little hearts. Abby, it is the little things that remind us of what we all once knew, that we are children of our Heavenly Father and He loves us more than we can understand. He loves us despite our weakness, our shortcomings, our mistakes and our doubts. He loves us- He really does! Search your soul, Abby, you know this is true- it is just easy to forget as we rush around everyday concerned with mortal things- focus on the eternal. I just finished reading an incredible book, The Brothers, by Chris Stewart. It is a novel about the War in Heaven. I know it is fiction, but there are incredible truths in this book too. I want to give you a few quotes from this book that made me remember to put my focus on the eternal. ". . .Father explained,'I am sending you to earth at a very treacherous time. Once you are there, you will forget everything. And the things you will deal with will seem so important to you. Your everyday problems will seem incredibly large-your work and your school, your family and friends, what to wear, how to look. Are you fat? Are you strong? Are you pretty? Are you smart? Do you make enough money? Do other people like you? Why weren't you chosen for a game or group activity? Why isn't life always fair? Worries such as these may consume you and take all your time. "'You may obsess with disappointments; you may put all your focus on the pain. It will be easy to forget that life is always good-that whether you are here or on earth, you are meant to find joy.' ". . .But if you listen, I will tell you. If you listen closely, you will know. I will whisper to you through father's blessings and a mother's sweet songs. I will talk to you through my prophets and the words they write down. I will give a special blessing to you through a chosen patriarch. And there are other gifts I will send you: bishops, teachers, family members, and friends. I will send my Spirit to guide you. I will not leave you alone. "' and remember, my children,' the Father said, looking at all of them, 'it doesn't matter so much what you know, but it very much matters who you are! And who you are isn't left here in the premortal world. The veil over your memories won't change the spirit inside. Who you are doesn't change when you go down to earth, and the sacrifices you have made here will help to carry you through.'"

Kite "Flying"

So we bought the kids their first kites the other day. We decided to try to fly them today to help Wyatt be happy (he was crying about some pjs that he desperately wanted to wear, but we no longer have as they are way to small.) There was no wind, so Nate ran. We will try again soon.

Water Fun

Friday we went to the new Town Square shopping center that has a play area and water fountains for the kids to run in (Thanks Nicole!) It was a blast. We had friends from Ft. Apache and Coronado Wards so we had twice the fun with twice the friends. Most of the pictures I ended up with were Kate's kids and Wyatt. Mara was running around too much to catch a picture as were most of our other friends. Emilee had her new camera and I can't wait to see her pictures. It was such a nice day, even if my shoe broke and we had to go shopping for news ones! I think this may be a nice cool hangout for those HOT summer mornings.

Book Club

Okay, so, we moved into this ward a little over a year ago and in an effort to make new friends and to expand my mind I started a book club. It is mostly people from our ward and has been lots of fun, but I am struggling with the last couple of books. I think I may have (is it even possible?) gotten burned out on reading. I was reading non-stop for months on end. Anything I could get my hands on- all types of genre - and loved it. Nate wasn't thrilled- I was staying up 'til the wee hours of the morning because I couldn't put the book down. Just one more chapter I'd say, but I would finish the chapter and keep right on reading. Then I decided to try to have some balance in my life. Reading 24/7 wasn't the best thing for me or my family. So, I went cold turkey. I stopped reading (well, not my scriptures) and started knitting. That became my new obsession. I learned to make lots of new and fun things. I again came to the conclusion that I needed balance in my life. So, I tried to start reading again. Jane Eyre was the next book for book club. I couldn't get into it (GASP!!!) I know people think I am crazy that I didn't just love the book. I never got past page 18. I finally gave up. A few weeks later I finally got the reading bug again. I have read several good books and have a huge stack next to my bed of books I am dieing to read. Thankfully I have found a better balance. I just finished three really good books, but I am trying to read the next one for book club, A New Earth, and feel stuck and bewildered. I can't get past page 7. I have read these first pages several times, but feel like either, I am an idiot and just don't get it, or this is a bunch of mumbo jumbo about "enlightenment" and how there was no one around to smell the first flower. I just don't get it! Can anyone help me here? I use to think I was fairly intelligent- I graduated in the top of my class from my high school and I graduated magna cum laude from college, but this type of book, so far, seems silly and pointless- is this really suppose to help me in my life????? I know I have only read 7 pages and I will read the rest, but thus far I am very skeptical about this book and what it is supposedly doing for people. Are we making things to complicated? The Savior came to this world and gave us the simple principles we need to follow to be happy and prosper in this life, yet how many books have been written to try to teach us how to do this? I don't get it- maybe all the pregnancies, sleepless nights, and endless hours of talking to and dealing only with babies, toddlers, and preschoolers has killed one too many brain cells and I am no longer semi-smart, but am now just barely ahead of my children in intelligence. Is anyone else reading this book and what do they think of it?