Brynlee's friend party

Brynlee's birthday was not til the end of the month but we decided to have her friend party a couple weeks before her actual birthday because she wanted to take her friends to see the new movie, Dolphin Tale 2. We thought if we waited to take her friends to the movie they all might have already gone to see it. I told her this year it needed to be small with all that has been going on at our house so she invited seven of her closest friends and of course her sister Baylee. All the girls met at our house, we opened presents, and then headed over to the movie theater. I bought all the girls popcorn and brought in drinks and licorice and we had a great time at the movies!

Happy 16th Birthday Connor!!

September 17th, Connor turned 16 years old. Wow, where did the time go? I'm really feeling the pressure of only having a few more years left with him before he leaves on a mission. The week of Connor's birthday we were in the middle of putting a new roof on our house and shingling both the house and the addition. We asked him if we could celebrate his birthday a couple days later because we had to get the roof done before it rained. Connor was fine with that and was the biggest help to his dad roofing the whole week. Connor has really stepped it up and helped his dad build this addition. He's been the biggest sweetheart lately and I just love it. ( He is a teenager after all, you never know what mood they will be in.) We asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and of course it was Panda Express, a favorite to all of my children. All he wanted for his birthday was money so that's what he got. I'm so proud of what a good kid Connor is and is really coming into his own. He hugs me and tells me he loves me more and is really trying hard to be a nicer brother to his siblings. He is so excited to get his license in the next month and is really a pretty good driver. Happy Birthday Connor, we love you so much!!

Vote Brynlee.... she Rocks!!

Brynlee decided to run for student council this year and she was so excited. As a mom I was so nervous of the let down if she lost, so I prepared her for either outcome. Brynlee put this poster together all by her self and it says: " Make the WRITE choice... Vote Brynlee she ROCKS! She glued pop rocks and mechanical pencils to her poster and then handed out mechanical pencils to her classmates. She also had to write a paragraph on why she should be on student council and then read it in front of her class. Each 5th grade class voted for the top two candidates and Brynlee won along with her good friend Ary! Brynlee's teacher came and told me in the lunchroom the day the votes were counted and wanted me to know before she told Brynlee later that day. I was so excited knowing how much this meant to her. She gets to help out with different activities through out the year and she goes to a couple early morning meeting twice a month. Great Job Brynlee..... you do Rock!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Our life consists of nothing but working on our addition 24/7. Warren and Jake decided to get more finished on the addition; so Sarah and I decided to pick up some lunch and take the kids to Wheeler Farm. We had a great time feeding the ducks, looking at the animals, playing on the playground, and floating boats down the stream. We spent a couple hours there, and the kids would of stayed longer had we let them. Later that evening when the guys were finished working, us adults got dressed up and went out to dinner.

Connor's Eagle Scout Project

I'm so proud of Connor!!!! Connor just finished his Eagle Scout Project earlier this month and it was a great success! Connor, his troop, neighbors, and family passed out about 350 fliers around our ward and stake asking for donations of after school snacks for the boys and girls club here in Sandy. Connor met with the director Linda and she said they were in dire need of after school snacks. Connor over the period of two weeks collected donations and at the end of the two weeks our front room was filled with donations. Connor and a few scouts loaded the snacks in the back of our truck and it filled the pickup truck. We showed up to the boys and girls club and Linda walked out to our truck and about broke down in tears. She said in all her years of collecting donations she has never had this much food dropped off at one time. The boys carried it in and we filled a room at the club with all the donations. Linda was so excited and grateful for what Connor did! It was a great experience for Connor and I know he felt joy in serving others!

First Day of School 2014

August 20th was the first day of school. Connor is a Sophomore in High School, Carson is in 8th grade at Eastmont Middle School, and Brynlee is in 5th grade, and Baylee is in 2nd grade at Bell View Elementary. They were all excited and ready to go back, its nice to be on a schedule again. I was bummed for the first time to see them all go back to school, I wanted more time with them to play this summer! Love my kids!!

Addition- Phase 1

Two years ago Warren and I refinanced our house and took out a chunk of money so we could put an addition on our house. At that time the cost of lumber was quite high so we put it off until this year. We started in the middle of April with first tearing down the garage and breaking up all the concrete. Boy was this a big job! We filled two dumpsters and had many hands out there breaking concrete for hours. Then came the fun part for Warren; he rented a mini excavator and dug the hole for the footings and foundations himself. Our brother in law owns a foundations company so thanks to him we borrowed the panels and set up the walls for the footings and foundation. The day they poured the footings it was literally pouring cats and dogs. Everyone who came to help was drenched! Next came the flat work which Warren is great at but he needed lots of help to pour the 20 yards of concrete. It took most of a Saturday, three cement trucks, and six men to get it all done. Warren just amazes me at what he can do, seriously he can do it all! We are so lucky not having to pay for labor on this addition, so far.

Gladiators

Back in June Carson tried out for two soccer teams and didn't make it. The coaches of those teams already had who they wanted it was quite dumb to even hold tryouts if you ask me. Shortly after I ran into a coach who was recruiting for a couple of his teams and so I set up a tryout for Carson. Carson did well and coach Jeff put Carson on his upper team. Altogether I will be paying somewhere around a 1,000 dollars but that is what it costs these days to have your kid play comp soccer. I'm really impressed with his coach and Carson is having a great time on this new team. Carson played in three different tournaments over the summer and has one more to go in a week. Carson was quite excited to score a goal in the first tournament and the Park City tournament his team went to semi-finals. Go Gladiators!!

Baylee's Birthday Party

 

Baylee turned seven back in June and with how crazy busy this summer has been we finally got around to having a birthday party. It was so last minute I texted all her friends mom's and scheduled her party the very next day at McDonald's. It wasn't the party she would have wanted but with my house torn apart this was the best I could do. The kids had a great time and Baylee loved the attention!

Connor's first stitches

I was just starting to think how lucky we have been with having two boys and no stitches. I guess it was bound to happen. Connor was helping me take down curtain rods and sliced his finger open on one of them. I knew it wasn't too bad but Connor was bleeding a lot and feeling pretty nauseous. I took him in to his pediatrician and they put three stitches in his finger and told me it was pretty deep. Connor is a pretty tough kid, I felt bad for how sick this made him. They told us to come back in ten days so they could take out the stitches but Warren of course said no need for that and he pulled them out instead.

Daddy Daughter Date

These pictures seriously just melt my heart! For activity days the girls planned a daddy daughter date and Brynlee was so excited to spend time with her daddy. I gave Warren the idea to get her flowers and he thought it was a great idea and bought her red roses. He surprised her right before they left to the activity. I love her reaction when she walked around the corner and Warren handed her the Roses..... yes I couldn't help but get teary! :) They had a great night together!!

More Fun Adventures......

I wanted to take the kids and do a service project that they would never forget and so I thought that the Bishops storehouse would be a place that they could learn more about what the church does to help those in need. Years ago Warren and I had hit some low points in our life and did not have a steady income and had to go to the Storehouse to get groceries a few times. I have never forgotten how grateful I was and wanted my kids to know that we needed to give back because we  benefited from this service. We spent a hour and a half and bagged and boxed toilet paper and filled a pallet. The kids did well despite the hard work and I hope they always remember this experience. We will be going back again. 

This fun day Baylee and I had a mother daughter day because the other kids were out of town. We went shopping and to lunch and the highlight for Baylee was riding the merry go round! I just love this sweet girl she melts my heart with her sweetness!!

The girls went and spent the weekend with grandma Jana so daddy and I could concentrate on working on the addition without any distractions ( more to come on the addition ). Grandma took the girls to a painting exhibit and the girls got to meet a Utah Jazz player, Jeremy Evans. He is a whopping six foot nine, the girls were thrilled to have their pictures taken with him! Thanks Grandma!!

The Aquarium

I promised the girls that we would visit the new Aquarium when they got out of school and so we finally found some time and went. We invited our friends the Schaugaards and spent a few hours exploring the new facility. My favorite is always the penguins and the kids loved petting the sharks and stingrays! I love these fun adventures that we have together and wish the summer would never end.

Just keep Swimming

 At the beginning of summer I always ask my kids what activities they want to do in the coming weeks and swimming is always at the top of the list. This was our first trip out for the summer and so we headed over to the community pool by our house called white towers pool. Connor brought his friend Max and they all had a great time. I'm not into swimming so much so I sat in the shade and watched them play! Don't judge me, sometimes it has to be enough that I just took them, right? I just love the second picture of Baylee doing the splits off the diving board, she never ceases to amaze me!

Scooter Heaven

Ever since Carson got his new pro scooter for his birthday he lives and breaths the skate park! Hi literally sets his alarm for eight in the morning and heads out to the skate park and comes home for lunch and then goes back for the rest of the day. On the days he has soccer practice I have to make him stay home so he doesn't over do it in the 100 degree heat.
On Monday nights it's family night at the skate park and only kids with parents can come in. So this night Carson begged me to come and at first I didn't want to go out in the heat but then it hit me how much this means to him. To have a parent there to watch him would mean the world to him. Carson was so happy when I said I would go and I took these sweet pictures of him doing tricks! As I sat there watching him I thought about how lucky I am to have such great kids. I really love watching them do things that make them so happy! One of the highlights of being a mother for sure!

Girls Camp at the Cabin

I just did my second girls camp as camp director and this year I took them up to our family cabin. The leaders slept inside and the girls slept out in tents. My theme was "WHO am I " focusing on the girls knowing that they are daughters of God and I used owls to pull it all together. I think it went really well.
We did crafts, played games, certified, hiked, cooked, did skits, did a service project, had a testimony meeting, did a value hike, ate smores, and built lasting relationships! The girls favorite thing was playing in the Salina creek! They loved it and begged to go back the next day.  I had the girls paint for a service project and we gifted this picnic table to my in-laws for the use of their cabin & property. One of the best parts for me was having my sweet husband take off work to assist as one of the priesthood leaders! The last picture is of all of us leaders who came to camp and the short sweet lady in the front is my assistant camp director Bonnie. She is so amazing and knows so much, I hope to be like her one day she is the greatest example!