Family Pictures

 

Principal's Pride Keen

Keen got the Principal's Pride award this week in class!  Mrs. Kelly says he is so helpful in class and works hard at making sure he is doing his work on time.  So proud of Keen!

 

The Whole Enchilada

Josh and Andy and a small group of friends went to Moab this weekend for a bike ride.  They rode the trail "The Whole Enchilada" that was 26 miles long.  It took them all day to get through it and Josh said it was the hardest ride he's ever been on.  He had trouble with his tires and had to change them 4 or 5 times along the way cause they kept popping.  Lots of different terrain made for a difficult ride, but they made it and he was happy to say he was done!

 

Gardner Village

We took a girls night and saw the cute witches and halloween decorations at Gardner Village tonight.  It was so fun!  Melissa, Izzy, Morgan and Brooklyn came with us and it was the perfect night to be out and about!

 

Muffins

Liev has been placed on quarantine from school cause he was exposed by a classmate of his.  He's home with me for the next 2 weeks!  Today I left to go play basketball and came home to some homemade banana muffins.  He was so cute and wanted to surprise me with something he had made.  I asked him what he put in them and he said, "1 banana, a little bit of sugar and lots of flour."  Delicious.

 

4-wheeling

We took a 4-wheeling trip up to Midway today and were hoping to catch the colors up there before it was took late.  It was an absolutely gorgeous ride and we saw plenty of colors up there!  Chalks, Hammers, Browns came with us and we had such a fun beautiful ride together!

 

Canning

 

Hale Center Theater

We have season tickets to Hale Center Theater this year and it has been fun to see so many different plays!  We've been trying to take each of the kids when we can.  We do have to wear masks which is kind of a pain, but at least we still get to go!

 

Murder Mystery Party

We were invited to a Murder Mystery costume party at our neighbor's house and had the best time!  We were each given parts and ideas for costumes and a role that we had to play for the night.  Josh and I were Frankenstein and Bernice (Frankenstein's bride).  I haven't been to a costume party for so long and it was super fun to put together our costume and get all dressed up for the night.  And...I won the best costume award!  It was such a fun night to get together with neighbors and friends and do something fun and mysterious for a night.

 

Pickle Ball

Josh and I have been playing lots of pickle ball these days, especially during the pandemic it has been a good pastime for us.  Josh just ordered us new and improved paddles and I'm hoping that it ups our game as well!

 

Band night

The marching band competition season is about to start and Mr. Densley (the director) planned a friends and family night for everyone to be able to come see the band's performance. Due to covid (words I'm so sick and tired of hearing) there will be a limited amount of tickets to the competitions so he wanted the community to be able to see them perform.  Such a good idea and so fun to gather to support them and all the hard work they've put in! They did great and I think it was good for them to be able to perform in front of an audience to get some practice in before the competitions begin.  

 

Cleaning the bike

Beck likes to take extra special care of his wheels and cleans it pretty often.  Taking care of the thing that gets you around the neighborhood is very important...

 

Bball friend bike ride

A group of my basketball ladies also ride mountain bikes!  Imagine the fun we had doing something else that we love! 

 

Tilly

Tilly has become part of the family just like that...

 

Lake Powell

Josh and I decided that it's time that we take the plunge and get our family to Lake Powell.  We've each been as single kids, but it's been years and years.  We've wanted to take the family but just haven't found the right time or way to do it until now.  And honestly this is the first year that all the kids are old enough that we can actually take them all without worrying too much about tiny babies.  So the planning and packing began.  We knew we were going to camp but wanted to take the right stuff without overpacking too much.  We got some good ideas about meals and gear from friends that have gone and started getting prepped.  We did a trial pack of the boat to make sure we knew how much space we had before we actually packed the coolers and bins.  We had a pretty good idea of what we would need.  And off we went!

We drove down after work on Wednesday night and stayed overnight in the hotel near Bullfrog Marina.  We crammed into one hotel room but were so glad to just have a place to sleep that we all fell asleep instantly.  We woke up and had a quick breakfast on the go then headed to the dock to load up and get on the water.  By the time we got in the water it was about noon and it took us about an our or two to find the perfect spot.  We ended up in a canyon called Iceberg Canyon and found a great spot that backed up to a big cove.  The sand bar had a rock ledge all the way around it so it was easy to anchor the boat right up next to the shore and get our stuff out.  We felt so lucky to get such a good spot.  It was pretty much the hottest part of the day by the time we anchored and unloaded so we went back out for a couple hours and got some water time in.  When it was time for dinner, we were all hungry and ready to eat and relax.  The evenings were the best there and cooled off a little bit but never got too cold.  We all slept in a light sleeping bag and tent except Rease who set up each night in the boat.  Rhen started out in the boat with her the first night but got afraid of the bats that flew around so finished the week in the tent with the boys.  The nights became one of the most magical times there with stars the filled the black sky and a dead quiet that was so relaxing.  We were mesmerized by this place that we had all heard so much about but were just starting to experience!

Right around the corner from our camp was a great little cliff jumping spot.  The kids found it first as they were exploring and swam around the corner to find these awesome rocks to jump off.  They came back and got us and we cliff jumped there every day from that day on.  We usually spent most of the morning hanging out at camp, skipping rocks, playing games and reading.  Our camp was shady until almost 11:00 every day which was amazing!  We loved relaxing in the mornings and exploring around there before we got out on the water.  

Once we were out we skied and wakeboarded in the canyon and then just out into the main channel there was a good spot up near the wall that stayed pretty calm usually.  We were always on the look out for spots to jump and we found a cool little spot that the kids instantly named "Gru's nose". 

The kids have had quite a bit of boat time this year and are all feeling pretty comfortable with their wakeboarding, kneeboarding and skiing.  They are all getting really good!  We were usually in the water for most of the afternoon and by 4:00 or so we would find a shady spot to let the boat just float and we'd stay cool.  I loved this time of day - we had dance-offs, played cards, guessed songs, had snacks and sometimes just sat there enjoying the incredible surroundings.  

Evening at camp was always fun.  We had good food and someone was in charge of dishes each meal.  We washed in the lake and took baths a couple of times.  It was the best (and I wish I would have gotten a picture of it) when Josh told the boys to strip down cause they were going skinny dipping.  They all took their clothes off and then I promptly made them put life jackets back on before they got in the water.  So all the boys had life jackets and bare bums as they scrubbed and washed and swam across our little cove.  Desh still talks about how much fun he had "skinny dipping" at Lake Powell!

The last day we were there the boat had a hard time starting.  It was a little freaky cause we had no way to get back if we actually were broken down.  We did finally get it started (after a prayer and lots and lots of trying) and once we did, we didn't dare turn the boat off again.  So we let it idle while we packed up the camp and then left our gear so we could spend the day skiing.  We did all we could and all we wanted to do before we headed back to camp in the late afternoon to pack up the boat.  

We had to say goodbye to our camping cove and I may have shed a tear or two as we drove away.  We had the most fantastic and magical week on the lake and all agreed that we want to come back every year.  September turned out to be the perfect time for weather.  We were hot during the day and just perfect at night while we slept.  We luckily had no wind and no big problems with our boat.  We may have gotten lucky on our first trip there but it got us good and hooked.  We all officially LOVE Lake Powell!

 

Labor Day scones and pickle ball

The 7th annual scones and pickle ball tournament is here!  I can't believe we've been here long enough to have our 7th year already, but it's still going as strong as ever!  We love having the neighborhood gather and enjoy the beautiful day together.  The food is always delicious and the pickle ball tournament gets more competitive every year.  The pickle platter is still around and now holds the names of the past 7 winners.  Gracie and Connor joined us this year and took home the trophy!

 

Cabin work day

We had a family work day at the cabin this weekend and got a lot of winterizing stuff done up there.  Papa put the kids in charge of hauling the newly cut wood from the side of the cabin to the wood pile.  They were so cute and made good use of the size of their group and formed an assembly line.  It started with Keen and passed through all the young ones then ended with Rease and Rhen stacking it nicely.  It was actually very effective and they were done with the job in no time!

 

Misha's wedding

My good friend and fab five member got married today!  She has been single for a few years now and found someone that makes her totally happy and I couldn't be more happy for her!  We got to be there at the reception and we all picked up right where we left off 20 years ago.  Love these ladies to death.  

 

Beck Principal's Pride

Beck was the first one in his class to receive the Principal's Pride award!  He got it the very first week of school and his teacher, Mrs. Johnson, was so sweet about him.  Because of covid they don't allow parents in the school this year, but she sent me a picture of cute Beck and the principal.  Good work Beck!

 

Summer of Heroes

This year we have been studying the Book of Mormon together.  As we went through the long book of Alma this summer we learned about some of the "heroes" in the book.  It was fun to look forward to studying a new hero each week and try and figure out what they did to make them the hero.  We talked a lot about using the same qualities for ourselves and making a hero out of each one of us.  It was pretty cool to take a look at the end of the summer and see all those that we had learned about.