This is hopefully my new habit, but please don't hold it to me. I might fall off again! I did find a few more of my pictures from the last couple of months, so I will post those first.
These are a few more from Zions. Man I have cute kids, yes I'm a little bias.
Bryce Canyon, the 2 youngest were such troopers. We dragged them down to the bottom of this part of the canyon, parts of it were pretty strenuous. I believe it ended up being about a 3.5 mile hike, part with good inclines and a ton of wind. This was the very first day too, I'm surprised they didn't put their heal in for the rest of the week.
Scenery pics from Bryce. Such a stunning place to see!
Just a few weeks ago, my kids got to ride our Bishops wives horses. They happen to live right behind us. My kids love the horses and are always feeding them, what a treat to get to ride them once in awhile. Knightin didn't want to get off.
I think that is the last of the pictures from earlier. This week, went way to fast and didn't go anything like I thought it was going to go at the beginning of the week. Rain was part of it, being tired was another part, and then I also got to help a friend which took up part of the week as well. The change of plans wasn't un- welcome just different then what I planned and it made my week fly by.
At the first of the week I got to take Tay school shopping just her and I. We also took her to the doctor to get her shots for junior high. So crazy that my baby is going into junior high. Up until now I have been pretty lucky that I have been able to go and pretty much pick out the clothes for my kids. Taylar about half way through last year decided that she now had an opinion about the clothes she wore and half of her clothes set unworn in her closet. The mean mom that I was, I wouldn't buy her new clothes. So I knew that I wouldn't get away with buying her clothes this year. It was a very new experience to go shopping with a child who is picky, again I now appreciate my mom even more. She had three daughters to get outfitted every year. It was fun though, I got to see more of her personality come out and we had fun on our date just the two of us. Even better I didn't come home to a daughter that had no hair. ( This is the first time I have let Ki babysit for any length of time since TJ got her hair chopped by Knightin over a year ago.)
The first several days of the week, were filled with yard work. Surprise, surprise! We would weed, rake and make more pavers until it would rain and then move into the house to get things done inside. I had a project to do for church and a few other little things to tie up, so I guess that it was good that it rained a little, so I had an excuse to get other things done that need my attention. Wed. I got a call from my very talent friend Audrey Bandley, wondering if I could help her catch some of the wind and storm on film. I said sure and then got the privilege of helping her do a couple of photo shoots of things she wanted captured on film for her DVD for her EFY song "The One". Todd got to help out on Thursday night, by being a model of Jesus or at least from his shoulders down. That was fun. Then on Friday we got to photo some teenagers and young adults. It was a fun experience. Everyone did so well and were so cooperative. Saturday was filled with yard projects. We installed much need rain gutters. Cleaned up the back area behind the glass doors, got our playground stuff out on our grass ( or should I say our pathetic start of grass) and cemented down, as well as a few other little things. We are finally closing up on the projects that we wanted to get down this summer. Each year we get a little more done. In maybe 15-20 years we will have the house and yard we are dreaming of, well the house will never be that, but it is going to be a heck of a lot better then it is now!
The boys helping (watching) Todd put up our gutters.
Tay was helping for a bit, but then decided that she would rather read. I thought it was cute. She looks so small.
TJ being cute and silly!
This is the area all our playground stuff was while we were trying to grow our grass. It fills nice to walk out there and only have our tables. We got these tables for $10 each the wood is a little beat, but the frames are in excellent shape. Maybe that will be a project for next year, to re-finish our tables.
Playground stuff out in the grass and cement down, yeah!
One of our other little projects. We made a compost bin. We are going to try it, they say homemade compost is some of the best, and heaven knows our dirt here in Mona could use some nutrients. Rocks just don't seem to be the best nutrients, but that is the only things our dirt seems to have plenty of. Though now we have 8 garden boxes with rock free dirt, least everything but the tiniest rocks, thanks to my amazing kids spending hours with me sifting our dirt, so that we could save money.
Just for fun here is a quote TJ said to us yesterday " Mom there is a problem. When wasp eat watermelon, they then make a red wasp nest." Where did that come from? Love their little brains, so here is a red wasp nest for your viewing pleasures.
The next set of pictures are some of my favorite from the photos I took for Audrey, of course I have a lot of Todd. I thought the Jesus pictures turned out pretty cool.
If you would like to view her video on youtube here is the link for that.
Here is, not necessarily the best picture, but a fun one. If any of you have hung out with my husband for any length of time, you know that he is a nut. He has answers and statements for everything, but they are usually off the wall. So you will probably laugh plenty around him. I took this picture as he was preparing toSHOW us what the statement "gird up your loins" meant. He is not the type to just tell you, when he had the perfect costume on to show you. If any of you might be wondering, here is at least one of the origins, and the one Todd performed for us. Gird up your loins--The expression is Biblical in derivation, a traveler would raise his tunic up and fasten it up with his belt to free his movement and keep it from dragging in the dust. Good times and plenty of giggles! I love my husband.
Last but not least, I want to share with you how proud of my daughter I am. Today in church was "fast and testimony meeting" A day were the members can get up and share with others there feeling and beliefs in the gospel. This is a very scary thing for many people, me included. To get up in front of people, especially 3oo plus people is more then I can handle. Because of this I have only shared mine a few times. I tell myself all the time I should be braver, but I can't do it. Today was a good meeting, then towards the end my husband gets up, and I am thinking man, now I am going to cry. Todd is usually silly and fun loving, but when he shares what is in his heart, it is powerful and emotional. So, I was already fighting to hold back the tears. Then my sweet, very shy daughter got up too. I couldn't hold it back any longer. I know what it takes to get up there, and everything about being in front of people scares her, but she had the strength because of her love for the gospel to get up anyway. Wow, what a example and strength she is to me. She has now bore her testimony twice and given a talk in sacrament meeting since she turned twelve. She is doing so much better then I did at that age.
A Testimony Is a Gift of the Spirit
I want to share with you one more thing that makes me look up to my daughter. Last week I was having a particularly bad day. I was frustrated that Todd is never around, and that the few times he is around, he seems to be needed by others. I was so tired of having to be a parent by myself, and make our house and yard the way we want it by myself too. I was just being emotional, and irrational. I wanted to move, I didn't want a big yard anymore, I didn't want to spend all the money on gas for commuting, and our house was to small. I kept saying is all this worth it when we never see you and when we do see you, the time is always taken up doing projects. I didn't want anymore projects. I know I was being stupid, and after a couple of days I was back to normal, and realizing how very blessed me and my family are. I guess those days just sometimes creep up on ya. Anyway during this time of insanity, my kids got to hear and witness this blow up of mine. Taylar is ultra sensitive to this kind of stuff and was worried sick (unfortunately literally). She made me this little note!
This was the front.
Then this was on the back. She had stuck a picture of Jesus that she had drawn, and added the little note about prayer. Why can't I have such un-wavering simple faith? Again, I tell you that little girl is such a BIG example to me. Love you Tay, and all my family!!!!
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