The Boys

These are my boys.  I love each of them for who they are and what they contribute to our family.  Liev brings energy, Keen sensitivity, Beck has the wit and Baby Desh makes us all want to love just a little bit more.  I have a lifetime ahead with these boys and I can't wait!

Animojis

Josh got the new iPhone XS and has been having lots of fun with the new features.  The animojis are a favorite for the kids!

BYU Football

It's that time of year again and BYU football is here!  We love going to the games together and the kids especially going for the Cougar Tails and Popcorn.  It's a fun family event though and most of the time at least a few of the cousins are there to hang with.  We love to cheer on the Cougars!

Mom and Desh

Desh came and sat on my lap today and said, "cold."  So I zipped him up in my jacket with me to snuggle and get warm.  This boy makes me happy!

Pumpkin Patch

It's almost Halloween and that means time to pick the perfect pumpkin for carving!  I think everyone found good ones!

Principal's Pride - Keen

Keen received the Principal's Pride award today.  His teacher Mrs. Hoffer was so kind and says she loves having Keen in her class.  We are proud of this boy and his hard work at school!

Lincoln Logs

The kids have gotten so sophisticated in building their lincoln log houses.  Decks, slides, east and west wings, they got it all!

Sisters

I caught this cute picture of the girls as we were sitting at the church watching women's conference.  All snuggled up and leaning on each other - I hope that never changes.

Ranger Ride

Josh has taken the boys out on the ranger a couple times lately.  They love exploring, getting dirty and finding new treasures - like this big orange sign! 

Sunglasses

Keen came out and said, "Hey guys I found your glasses."  Yes he did.  Looks like he found every pair that was in the house...

Mountain snow

Rease took this picture to show me that there is actual snow in the mountains which means that ski season is quickly approaching.  Now come the daily snow reports and weather watching.  I can't tell if she's excited or not?

Ski Gear

We got our ski gear out tonight to try on and make sure everyone has things that fit.  These cute boys are ready for the snow!

Playing in the rain

Today the kids got home from school and it was pouring.  They were already wet from walking home so Desh and I joined them and splashed and played in the rain!  It was soggy, soaked and super fun to get wet and cold then come in for hot chocolate.  Love these fall storms!

Ready for school

Beck got his backpack on and said "I'm ready for school."  Um...you may have forgotten a thing or two...

Beck's Art

Beck does some really cute art projects in his preschool class.  Miss Melanie is so great about teaching them in lots of different ways using different things.  Here are a few he has come home with so far.

Nicole's 40th birthday celebration

Our good friend Nicole Brown turned 40!  We all planned a day to celebrate with her that started with breakfast and continued on with a 4 wheeler ride through the mountains and ended with dinner at her favorite restaurant in Heber called the Back 40.  It was such a fun day and we loved celebrating with her!  The highlight was definitely the 4 wheeling.  It was the perfect fall day and we caught the colors in the trees at just the right time.  Chalks, Flints, Browns and us went and had such a great time together.  The pictures tell the story so I will leave it at that.  But we love Nicole and are so grateful for the friendship that we have with this group!

Big Boy Desh

Desh wants to be just like his older siblings.  I have a feeling he will have a lifetime of trying to keep up with everyone!  The potty thing - we are ready for anytime buddy!  School? Give mom a few years with you to herself, then you can go to school.  For now, just be my little guy still please!

Canning

We snuck in some canning this year amidst the many things swirling around in life.  But I was completely out of tomatoes and always love doing anything when I am given some produce.  So we did tomatoes, peaches and pears (from Shelley's trees), grape juice, salsa and salsa verde.  I love when my shelves get filled up downstairs!

Orlando

Josh and I took a trip to Orlando for our anniversary!  Josh was headed there for a conference and invited me to come along.  Their conference was at the Disney Yacht Club resort so it was right in the thick of all things.  I jumped at the chance to join him!  The hotel was right on the water and had a huge walkway all the way around with shopping, restaurants, etc.  It was awesome!  I went purely to be with Josh and enjoy the down time, but we did a few things while we were there too!

 Something that has been on Josh's bucket list is barefoot water skiing.  The world barefoot center is in Florida and Josh told me that if he ever makes it down there he would try it.  We've watched videos on barefoot water skiers and it is pretty crazy to see.  I was unsure of what we were getting into when we called for an appointment, but I was happy to come along for the ride.  The ski center was about an hour outside of Orlando in a quiet neighborhood surrounded by lakes.  We got to the house that hosts the skiers and got fitted for our wet suits (which were super tight and ultra padded.)  The water on the lake was AMAZING.  Stillest water I've ever seen.  It was so peaceful that morning and we just took it all in.  When we met our guide for the day, it turned out that he was THE guy.  Keith St. Onge is a 14 time national barefoot skiing champion and 3 time world champion.  He's the one that's in all the videos of barefoot water skiing and we recognized him immediately.  Josh was so excited that he would be helping and guiding us throughout the morning.  There were 2 others in our group - a dad and son from Australia that were in Florida for 2 weeks to be taught and trained by Keith.  Ben, the son, was a competition barefoot skier in Australia and came every year to Florida for training.  We felt like we were in very good company on our small boat.

 After watching Ben and Tim ski and do amazing things likes jumps and stomach starts, Josh was up next.  We were taught to start on our back, hips up out of the water and then move to a pike position while riding on our butts on the water.  Once there, we slowly brought feet down to touch the water and stand up at 90 degrees in ankles, knees and hips.  It looked really do-able and Josh made it look amazingly easy.  He was the picture perfect student with great form and stood up and stayed up on the first try.  Once we went the length of the lake, Keith had him slowly sit down back onto his butt and let go of the boom or the rope and glide along the water before he started another time down the lake.  It was pretty awesome to watch and see!  Josh was a natural and picked it right up without any problem.  He skied a few times up and down the lake then took a break for me to try.

 When it was my turn, I will say that I had many more problems getting up, staying up and keeping all the 90 degree angles I was supposed to.  I fell a lot a first until I finally got how it was supposed to feel.  After that I did ok and it was a crazy feeling to know that we were skiing...without skis!  We loved every second of our couple hours out on the boat with Keith, Tim and Ben.  It was an experience close to the top of our list!

 Josh was a great skier but didn't escape a few hard falls that come with barefoot skiing.  One in particular gave him this awesome bruise on the whole right side of his body.  He said he's never been more proud of a bruise...

 Besides barefoot skiing, we squeezed in a trip to the outlet mall, eating at some really great restaurants, taking a run around the pier every morning, laying by the pool and even a day at Disney World.  It was such a fun trip with Josh and I was so happy to be there with him and celebrate 14 years!  Love this man with all my heart!

Fixing the dryer

  This week our dryer stopped working.  I turned it on, heard a pop and then it stopped and wouldn't turn on.  I hate when things like that happen and a repairman has to come out and charge us an arm and a leg to fix it.  So I settled in and decided to check it out myself first and see if it was something I could do.  I watched a couple videos on youtube and decided that it was either the thermal fuse that had shorted out or the control board had gone bad.  So I opened up the dryer and started with the thermal fuse.  While I was in there I found about $7 worth of quarters in there.  

And then found the one quarter that caused the problem.  This one had gotten stuck between the fuse and the side of the dryer and shorted it out.  I was happy that I at least found the source of the problem.  

Then I opened up the top of the dryer and looked at the control board.  Sure enough - that too had a problem.  The circuit for the motor was all burned out which I'm sure was caused by the same quarter and thermal fuse.  I think one thing led to another and both parts gone shorted out and stopped working.  So I ordered both parts (the control board was a pretty penny - $220!) and replaced them.  It was kind of a pain being without a dryer for a couple days while we waited for the parts, but I figured if that didn't work then we'd have to get a new dryer.  I was hoping that these two parts solved the problem.  After getting them replaced and the dryer put back together I said a little prayer and turned it on...Voila!  It worked!  So happy to know we didn't have to pay for someone else to come out and fix what we could do on our own.  Plus I think they would have charged us much more than what we put into it.  A penny saved is a penny earned right?

Beck's Hairdo

Beck has started doing his own hair in the mornings.  He put gel in, combs it and sprays it with hairspray.  Today he did an especially good job with the hairdo...I only had to help him a little bit.

Liev's Progress

A kid's body is simply amazing.  Liev has made amazing progress since he's been home from the hospital.  He was embarrassed to show anyone his eye so on the way home we stopped and bought an eye patch which he wore for a few days.  Slowly though he started taking it off more and more and he is doing awesome!  He was really set on being able to open that right eye all by himself and just 5 days after the accident he did it!  It's just been uphill since there and today you can barely see anything.  He's a pretty amazing boy!

Activities for Liev

Liev has gotten a lot of visitors and been given lots of activities to do while he is down and out of school for a while.  His favorite things have been the legos and this fun slime lab complete with glasses, gloves and a mask!  Anything to get that brain healed!

Rease's 10k

Rease had a goal to run a 10k this year and has been working really hard on her training this summer.   We decided to the the Rock Canyon 10k in Provo on September 8th so had plenty of time to get our training in.  We have been running together and she has also been running with her friend Taya about one morning a week.  It has been really good for her and she has been really dedicated to her training.  When race day came she was pretty nervous but excited.  Aunt Hayley ran with us too which was super fun.  The three of us girls stayed together and chatted, enjoyed the scenery, helped each other keep going and had a great time!  Rease did awesome! I was so proud of her and this big accomplishment.  It was so good to see her put her mind to something and do it!

Lost a tooth!

Keen joined the tooth fairy club and got his first visit from her last night!  We're looking forward to lots of new teeth in the next few months!