Swim Lessons 08

We tried something new this summer with swimming lessons. We were able to get a group together and go to the Peak in Brigham City. This made it easier for carpooling, and to help with the distance. The girls really had a lot of fun, and I was really impressed with the instructors. The girls really seemed to do well and learn a lot..... along with all the fun. Top pics: Kambree on "Safety Day" learning how to maneuver in a life jacket. Bottom Left: Hailee Jo, Kassie, and Hattie Bottom Right: Kambree learning with her class

This Is The Place Heritage Park

My Mom and I took the kids to the "This is the place heritage park" on Tuesday. The kids really had alot of fun. I remembered going there as a child on a school field trip or something, but it had even more to see and do than I remembered. They have several activities and crafts for the kids. More than I posted pictures of. These are just a few. The kids in front of the ZCMI "America's first department store" wagon. You could go inside ZCMI and buy old fashioned candy and toys. They had several of the toys out on a table they could play with. This is the playground with several play houses and a teepee. They also had a wooden train with all the cars attached they could play on also that is not in the picture.

Playing poineer games.

Watering the garden..... pioneer style...... with a bucket and a can to dip out of the bucket.

Tooling leather in the saddlery shop.

Cleaning the cabin.... beating the dust from the rugs. When they were finished with this project.... Kristian was grateful for our modern day cleaning methods.

Washing the laundry, rinsing, and then hanging it out to dry.

We visited the hat shoppe. We all had to try on a hat..... but I especially liked this picture I took of Kassie.

Riding the train around the park. (I recommend this first, instead of last.... like we did it. You can get a better perspective of where things are located and what you would like to see and do)

Pony rides were Gage's favorite.

All in all, it was a good day, and we had fun. We were a little late getting home. There was a tanker truck in SLC that over turned on the freeway, and they had to close all but one lane.... all the lanes during rush hour still has back-ups on a good day.... so this was not a great situation. We left the park at 4:30 and got home a little before 8.

We would highly recommend this adventure for your kiddos before school starts.

Bear Lake....again

Bear Lake has been our vacation spot this year. This last weekend was the third time we have been there this summer.... but we have really enjoyed it. This time we stayed in Grandma & Grandpa's condo. All of my siblings and their families were able to be there, and we all had a lot of fun together. I think we could have stayed a couple more days and still been able to all get along together...... but maybe those with little ones would not agree..... that always makes it a little harder. Hangin' out together after breakfast one day. Everybody getting ready to head out to the boat.

Gage and Kambree riding the tube with daddy.

I have a really great family. We all get along well and help each other out, and we were able to have another great family vacation! Thanks to you all.... we had so much fun with you!

What will $144.00 dollars buy you?

32 Gallons of Gas......

After our Yard Work stint last night.... we were out of gas in everything. The 4-wheeler, the old Blue Truck, the mower was on E.... and no gas left in the shed. So Cory and I took a little trip to town to fill all our gas cans. ONE HUNDRED FORTY FOUR DOLLARS! Just to keep around for all those little things! Ridiculous! Absurd! Appalling! A Freakin' Joke! {{Are a few things that come to mind}} $4.15 a Gallon. What about you? What are you paying for Gas in your neck of the woods?

Never Ending Yard Work...

Our big exciting Family Home Evening last night was our never ending yard work. Why is it you can spend hours out there and barely make a dent? Just when it starts to get noticeable that you have actually been accomplishing something, it's time to start over again.... with weeds, mowing, watering, etc..... So last night we focused on the trees. We planted them 4 years ago as little 5-6 foot sticks. We have not really trimmed them since.... we were just letting them grow and do their thing. This year they are really huge and bushy, hanging over into the driveway, and really bothering me. We really felt like we were butching them last night.... but they look so much better. More like trees than large bushes. Before and during trimming........ After trimming..... you can actually see the road now when we pull out of the driveway! :)

We even made the kids help haul the branches back to the burn pile. {{They were so excited.... :( }} Cory and I realized we need to give our kids more outdoor chores. They complained how hot, tired, and about the bugs the whole time. WIMPS! :)

After trimming I mowed the lawn, Cory watered the trees & did the chores. Very exciting FHE.... but it's nice to have it done!

Giving In....

.... I finally decided to do it. I told myself when my desktop died, I would not save pictures to the laptop. It would just make for more work later to save them to a disk, and transfer them to my computer, or now to the new one. I GAVE IN. Just to myself, but still, I can't take it anymore. All of my cards for my cameras are full of pictures, so i can't even take another picture unless I start deleting. I have done that, and I am not willing to delete any more. The rest I want to keep. So here I go.... Officially blogging from the laptop. Pictures and all. (So scroll down.... the new posts are dated according to the time they happened, therefore, are mixed in with posts you have already read.) We ordered a new computer last night. So hopefully, in another 2 weeks I will get things back to the way I am used to. :)

Computer Update....

Yep, we're still waiting...... but good news. We didn't lose anything. The hard drive is still working and in tact. It took 3 1/2 days for his software to destroy and get rid of all of the viruses it had, but it still will not boot up. It tries, but then quits. He was going to clean it really good and make sure all the connections were connecting properly and get back to us.... yesterday. Still have not heard from him. I am thinking we will just get a new one with and extra port for our old hard drive, then we will not lose anything with the new one, and just have two hard drives. Let the kids have the old computer for their games and such. Good Idea? Yeah, help me convince Cory. :)

CAMPING..... again!

We had a fun family camping trip this week up Logan Canyon to the Franklin Basin area. We went along with some friends, and all the kids had a BLAST! Although it was extremely dirty with all the dry dusty dirt, we went down to Bear Lake to let the kids play at the beach and in the sand. They had so much fun and could just play for hours on end. Not everything about this trip was great. We had some problems with our truck the first morning we were trying to leave for Bear Lake. After much prayer on my part that we could make it the rest of the way up the canyon, we arrived in Bear Lake and Cory took his truck over to a shop in Laketown that he knew of. They determined that it was one of the fuel injectors so they would need to order parts. So the six of us crammed into Layne's and Shane's trucks along with their families so we could make it back to camp...... back to the lake the next day...... back to camp..... etc.. it seemed everytime they said they would have it fixed, they would have some reason why it wasn't done yet. So we were finally able to pick it up at 5:00 on Thursday. Just in time for it to pull our trailer home. But, hey, we made it. Thanks to our wonderful friends for all their help and cramming their families in so we could fit! All in all..... we had a great time! (Apparently I didn't take many pictures at camp. Only found 2 that were pretty dark. So I guess we will enjoy the beach photos.) Great memories!! Thanks Friends!!

Girls Camp

Kristian was able to go to girl's camp for the first time this year. She was so excited. They went to St. Charles Canyon near Bear Lake. She was able to go with some of her best friends and they all had so much fun! She came home exhausted and needed tons of sleep to catch up, but had such a great experience. Here are some of her favorite photos..... Really silly and fun leaders.

Although it doesn't look like it.... she said she had a lot of fun!

Learning to Braid....

Fun Activities.....

Thanks to all the leaders and the comittee who made it such fun and a great experience for Kristian!

Braces!

Kristian and Kassie both got braces on their teeth today. They were so excited. Thinking it would be so cool and fun..... after the fact they weren't quite so sure. Kristian Before Kristian After Kassie Before Kassie After It has been fun for them to get to experience this together. I hear them asking each other quite often "Does it hurt when you bite this... or that... etc.." it makes me smile and I am glad that it brings them together in another way. Good Luck Girls!!! We're in it for the long haul! :)