Fun Hike!

So a couple of Sundays ago

we went for a jeep ride and a hike

up Hobble Creek Canyon on left fork.

It was a lot of fun because we got outta the house,

went for a Jeep ride, which I personally LOVE,

and also got to hike!

I love that we can literally just leave our house

and in a matter of minutes we are in the mountains!

Maybe that's one reason I endure the Snow!

Hmmmmm?

Brandon, Oakley, I and

KC, our new dog that I have yet to post about,

went on the hike.

It was so beautiful!

I love being able to enjoy the beauty all around us

that Heavenly Father put on this earth!

We also found a few caterpillars!

FUN!

where did the summer go?

Hi everyone!

So who knows where the summer went? I'm pretty sure its slowly

disappearing and I don't like that!

I am firm believer that I would love a place like Arizona!

I really do think that Utah is a great place

when it comes to seeing the diversity of the seasons,

but I'm really dreading the whole snow thing!

I used to love the snow and was glad that I lived in a place that was snowy with the cold,

but I'm not really agreeing with that so much anymore!

Ever since I started working at the post office

I have really learned to

HATE

the snow!

I HATE the cold,

I HATE the wetness,

I HATE the slipperiness!

It's the worst to have to drive in the crap!

I'm just really not looking forward to 5 months of it!

Why can't we just have it down here in the valley

for a month or so and keep it in the mountains where we need it anyways!

GEEZ!

Who can I talk to about changing this?!

SCIENCE

SCIENCE FAIR TO BE APPLAUDED

We all know Oakley

LOVES

Science, but look at that he is actually

REALLY

good at it too!

His science fair project made it

past the school level

and onto the District level!

which we all thought was an

AMAZING

accomplishment,

but just when we thought we were done

he made it all the way

to the Region Level!

WOW!

NOW WHAT?

I think we were all in shock!

No time for that we have a competition to go to!

We got all ready headed over to BYU

and once again he did

AWESOME!

He was such a grown up in his suit,

answering to all these big fancy judges,

and not even breaking a sweat!

Where he gets his

KNOWLEDGE

and his calm demeanor, hid dad!

Definitely not ME! LOL!

So after the day was done they had an

awards ceremony and low and behold...

4TH PLACE!

AWESOME!

HERSHEY TRACK SHS

HERSHEY TRACK!

So you know how there are those kidsthat just loath Hershey Track

and then there are the kids who could care less either way,

and then theres Easton who

LIVES FOR IT!

Wind, Rain, Shine, Hail and Icy Rain...

We had it all, but that wasn't slowing down Easton.

Are you kidding this kid trained like crazy!

He was amazingly focused.

He smoked the competition in the first heats,

then the semifinals came and it was close but,

he came in second.

So now all he had to do was run like crazy for the

finals and maybe, just maybe

he could pull out a first place.

Well, unfortuantely they were all in line

and it started to downpour like mad!

They ended up cancelling it and he didnt't get

to race the final! UGH!

He was a good sport,

and we were soaked in about one minute of

standing in the hail/icey rain!

Well stood in a hail storm,

we can both check that off

our bucket lists!

On your marks! Oh yeah its intense!

Cole was the biggest competitor and right next to Easton!

Semi Final race for the 100 yard.Oh its close! Come on EASTON!Easton and Jeremy hanging in the rain. Got rained out right as he was about to run Finals! BUMMER! It was a wet one, we looked like drowned rats and it only downpoured for about 5 minutes!

And the results are in...Not to shabby since they took the semifinal times! WAY TO GO EASTON! SO PROUD OF YOU!

KANON WE MISS YOU!

KANON CALL

Well some of you may have heard that

our dog Kannon passed away last month.

This was a very sad time for our family

and hard for everyone around.

I think I may be able to post

about him now without crying...NOPE!

He was literally one of our children,

and we miss him dearly!

If you ever had the priveledge

of meeting Kanon you would

have know how special he was.

We have had many dogs in our marriage,

and Kanon topped them all.

He passed away early in the

morning on April 9th, yes my b-day.

I think he was not feeling well in

combo of being almost 6 years old.

Which is pretty old for a Great Dane,

they live only about 6-8 years.

We love him very much and can't wait to see him again!

Visit to Bear Lake!

Hanging out in the Yard.

Kanon was so easily enertained and in turn enertained us as well!

Kanon Loved to be Loved! He would snuggle up to anyone who would rub him!

He loved to sleep almost as much as I do! Although he definately got to do more of it than I did!

MOVING FORWARD

Hey! Hope everyone is doing well! I just thought I should do a little update

since my last post was kind of a downer!

GEEZ! Sorry!

Well I haven't had time to finish the book I was talking about,

but I have read more of it.

There is a chapter in it called "The Volunteer Spirit".

It really helped me grasp things and put them in perspective.

I will quote a paragraph...

"I know some of you are going to fight me on this, but its worth the fight. Just go with me for a moment. No matter what you're doing in life, you volunteered. There are no slaves in this country, with a few-I'm sure-tragic and rare exceptions. You have choices. If you chose to be a husband, you signed up to be patient and supportive. If you chose to be a mother, you volunteered to clean up catapulted applesauce containers and messy diapers. If you chose to work at the phone company, you signed up to take calls from customers for eight hours a day and help them as much as you can. Whatever job you have, you volunteered. You applied for the job. You accepted the job. And when you did, you agreed to have some hard days, maybe many hard days, until you change your mind and volunteer for another job."

I don't know if anyone else out there has been playing the victim role,

but after reading this I realized that I was!

There is not one thing on the list of all the things I do everyday

that I did not "volunteer" for.

I said yes to be a wife.

I said yes to be a mom.

I said yes to owning a home.

I said yes to help at my kids school.

I said yes to be on both PTA boards.

I said yes to work at the Post Office.

I said yes to the Relgion that I believe in.

I said yes to be the 1st counselor in Primary.

I said yes to be a friend.

I said yes to brownies knowing I will need to get on the treadmill.

I cannot think of one thing that I do in my life that is forced.

I signed up for it all, which to me is a great reality check.

Since coming to terms with this,

I feel like a new person.

It has been wonderful!

The book I am reading is called

"Wake up to a Happier Life"

and every day I feel like that is what I'm doing!

UPDATE!

Hey there!

Its been way too long!

Why did I say I'm going to catch up on my blog? I don't know!

I can't catch up on scrapbooking,

what on earth makes me think I could possibly catch up on my blog?

So, we will start once again!

Well, believe it or not there are a few people who check out my blog

and they are getting tired of seeing the same ol post! uh?

Well, here is something new! Lets just do a quick update shall we...

I'm still a wife and a mom,

I am still working at the post office quite a bit,

I am having a hard time not letting it consume me!

It seems that I am having a hard time

FINDING A BALANCE

between working and home life!

I cant seem to get them both done... the way I want.

I tend to get really frusterated!

I've been trying to read a book that is supposed to help me find the balance,

yet I don't feel like I can sit and read when the dishes aren't done

or the laundy need folded, or whatever else needs done!

UGH!

I not only need to find the balance between work and housework,

but also between being a mom,

wife (if your married then you know what I mean!),

finding Temple time, PTA mother on two boards,

1st counselor in Primary Presidency,

oh ya and finding

ME TIME

to workout and do stuff for me! (HA HA!)

I know that I will find the balance,

I've been at it for over a year now,

I'm just not satisfied with the results.

I thought a schedule would be good,

but as soon as the post office calls me into work, its all over!

My mind is totally in work mode, and the schedule...

WHAT SCHEDULE?!

Any suggestions on finding the balance?

Im pretty sure I'm not the only one who feels like this!

Don't we all? Working moms or not?

Well that's my post for now, maybe if I finish reading this awesome book

then I will have some answers of my own!

"CARNY RATS"

who doesnt love a carnival!

okay a lot of people! but we love it!

at least the kids and i,

we are lucky enough to have

a loving supportive husband and father

who may not love it like we do,

but comes and secretly enjoys himself!!

we love what the carnival means to us!

its signifies that summer has begun,

we love spending time together,

we love riding the rides,

looking at the booths,

and those scones are to die for!!

oh yeah, thats a good look boys!

getting ready to hit the rides!

"faster, faster, faster!!!!!!"

"i wanna puke!! keep going!!"

only two brave souls dared to do the "RING O FIRE!"

can you say flexible!!

wow seattul, ballet has payed off!!

BOYS WILL BE BOYS!

yep thats my boy!

we were in the back yard and we came across this snake!

so of course oakley thought it would be

soooo awesome

to test out his skill and see if he could hit it with his BB gun!

oh yeah he got it!

kannon our dog was curious in what was going on.

he was chasing it as oakley drug it across the grass!

it was quite comical!!

"CINDERELLA"

well as some of you may know seattul takes ballet at "academy of ballet" we love it and she loves it too! at the end of every year they do a very large production play. it is super fun to see how hard the kids work on it and how much they enjoy the attention! this was seattuls 5th year to be in one of these plays so this was her second opportunity to be in cinderella. she has gotten to play two different roles since the first time she was only 3 years old! wow how time flies! when she was 3 she was a cute little bluebird and this year she was a mouse! great job seattul!

this was taken on stage during dress rehearsal, no flash photography allowed during actual play! seattul is the third one in on the front row.

seattul all ready to go in her costume!

make up on and ready for pictures!

ME RUN A 5K? NO WAY!

ya thats what i thought but believe it or not it was possible! this is how i kicked off my summer! too bad the motivation didnt last all summer! i ran the 5k at the start of art city days. i did okay, i think my time was 30 min and some odd seconds, cant remember. i wanted to improve all summer and run like 2 a month, but you know what happen...work, have fun with kids, work, have fun with kids... seems like a repeated pattern all summer!! oh well i think the kids had a fun summer and i did too! maybe just maybe next year i will do better and maybe there are some fellow bloggers out there that have some similiar goals! come on lets motivate each other!!

am i panting?! no way!!

my kids were so proud and

i was happy to be done!!

holy smokes!

where did the summer go!

I have been a non-blogger and its been months, now I am so far behind, grrrrrr! Instead of sitting at my computer for hours on end trying to catch up, I am going to try to post a few things a day and see how that goes. So I guess the first thing that I will be blogging about is Moab since that was the family vacation that we took in June just after school got out!! Wow! that seems like so long ago. If you have been checking my blog for updates hopefully you haven't been so frustrated that you quit checking because I am ready to get back on the ball!! Check back soon!!

REMEMBERING THE ONES WE HAVE LOST!

TRENT WILL ALWAYS BE IN OUR HEARTS!

BRANDONS LITTLE BROTHER WAS TRAGICLY KILLED

IN A CAR ACCIDENT RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN 1983.

ALTHOUGH OUR KIDS AND I HAVE NEVER MET HIM

WE STILL FEEL A STRONG BOND TO HIM.

WE SEEM TO REMEMBER HIS BIRTHDAY EVERY YEAR

BECAUSE HE AND I SHARE THE SAME DAY!

WE LOOK FORWARD TO REUNITING WITH HIM AGAIN!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYDAY EASTON!!

WOW! NUMBER 9 ALREADY!! YOU ARE GROWING UP WAY TOO FAST!! EASTON INVITED SOME FRIENDS OVER THIS YEAR AND THEY ATE PIZZA AND CAKE, RODE ON THE RIPSTICKS AND PLAYED BASKETBALL FOR A WHILE AND THEN WENT TO THE MOVIES!! I WOULD SAY IT WAS QUITE THE HIT!! HOPE YOU ALL HAD FUN!!

EASTON AND HIS AWESOME CAKE!!

SWEET!! A RIPSTICK!!

PLAYING BASKETBALL AND RIDING THE RIPSTICKS!

JACOB, JEREMY AND BRADEN!

BRADEN, JACOB EASTON AND JEREMY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OAKLEY!!

its hard to believe that oakley is already 11 years old! i remember when oakley was about 3, easton was about 1&1/2 and seattul was just a newborn and brandon and i were having one of those moments were you just look at your kids in amazment. brandon and i looked at each other and said "wont it be so weird when out kids are sitting in the back seat of the vehicle and they are carrying on a conversation with each other and we are in the front having a totally different conversation?", well that day has come and it really is nothing short of amazing! they have all grown up to be great kids! i sometimes sit and listen to them talk to each other when they dont know it and its just awesome! oakley is such a good person! he had a lot of fun this year on his bday with his buddies. he wanted a friend party really bad so he go to invite four friends over for pizza, bowling at fat cats and a movie-city of ember! so much fun! we love you oakley!!

WAY TO GO SEATTUL!!

the first grade had an awards assembly and seattul was one of the five people in her class to recieve an award. seattuls teacher mrs. hall is awesome, we have loved having her for a teacher. she says seattul is so obedient, she is a great friend and a good motivater. whenever someone is having a hard time in class seattul is always willing to come over and help out her classmates. mrs. hall says seattul is always getting her work done on time and never has to ask her more than once to do something, she stays on task very well. seattul great job! your mom and dad love you very much and want you to keep up the great work!!!

DAVEY CROCKETT-WAX MUSEUM

In Oakleys school this year everyone in the 5th grade had to dress up as a great american character and come to school in costume ready to give a verbal report to anyone who wanted to listen. All the kids in the 5th grade classes were to sit as still as a "wax statue" until someone came up to them and pressed a "button" on the desk. Once the button was pressed then the wax figure would come to life and give a brief but detailed description of their life and accomplishments. It was a really cute idea and it was better than another book report. The kids really got into it and did a great job!! WAY TO GO OAKLEY, I MEAN DAVEY CROCKETT!

VOLLEYBALL-YAHOO!!!!

okay i know so volleyball season has been over for months now,but i am telling you, i am so behind!! we had so much fun! i know we were not the best team, but hey, we weren't the worst either! it was fun to get to know everyone and see all the mad skills that we brought to the games!! i was a little hesitant to play, but i am glad that i did! thanks trina for pushing me outta my comfort zone! can't wait until next year!! thanks again girls!

kari keiffer, angie allen, trina esklund, joy smith,

terri bird, patti parker, laycie call, and cecilie brothers!

(hope i spelled all the names right!!)

NICE! joy and trina being goofballs!

trina, joy, cecilie, angie and laycie at our favorite after game hangout-two jacks!!

trina, joy, cecilie, and laycie