Bull Ride

We went to flamig gorge days and Sawyer saw this mechanical bull and wanted to ride it sooooo bad, we told him he couldn't because it was $10 and that was to much. He was bummed and kept asking, but we kept telling him it was $10 and to much. Well we came back the next day and he had some money that his Grandpa had given him, we had forgot all about the bull, but as soon as we got to the fair area, Sawyer pulled Dennis over to the bull and told him I have $10. We told him that would take all his money and he could not buy anything else, but he still wanted to do it, so we let him. He had a lot of fun. The rest of the day everytime he asked for soemthing I told him that he used his money on the bull and he was fine with that. I love this face, he is enjoying himslef so much, but is acting cool at the same time.

Cooks

Julia is always begging to cook something. I am not a cook. Here is a funny story about Julia. One day I was teaching her primary class and they were drawing pictures of service that they could do for others. Julia was not drawing anything, so I asked the girl sitting next to me what she was drawing, she said "I am drawing my mom and I making cookies to take to our neighbors.' Julia started drawing right away and her picture was looking alot like the little girl's picture. SO I asked Julia what she was drawing and she said, "This is a picture of my mom and I going to the store to buy cookies to take to our neighbors!" So it is a known fact that I do not bake, but Julia had some cookies at a friends house she loved, so I got the recipe and let Julia and her friend Emmie make them. You would have thought that Julia was the happiest girl ever. To say the least she had a lot of fun. Maybe we might start baking more often?

Library programs

Our town library is really good. Each summer they put on a summer reading program. So instead of just reading and getting awards, they have programs for the kids each week. This year the theme was something like, express yourself, so all the programs were geared around the fine arts. Some weeks the programs were good, and other weeks, not so grand, but this week was a lot of fun. The kids got to play musical instruments and listen to the professionals. You will notice that there are no pictures of Ryan, he was off in CA having fun with his cousin, will blog more on that later.

blog overload

Well after a couple of months or more, I finally decided to update my blog. I did not get everything done tonight to completely catch up but I will work on it this week, because Dennis is out of town, so i will be staying up late and getting up late in the morning. Have fun reading and check back frequently during the next week as my goal is to catch up!!

Chalk it up

Each year our rec-center has an event called chalk it up. The kids get chalk and draw on the side walk and can win awards. This year it was sooooo cold, but the kids still wanted to do it. Sawyer was not old enough to participate, but had a lot of fun with the rec-center mascot, seemore the eagle. He would not leave him. It was funny. Julia drew a rainbow scene. Ryan started drawing a design and then got frusrated and colored the whole thing in orange and turned it into a camel. Julia won the most creative in her age catagory. Ryan got a great participant award. He was not as happy as Julia, but it is good not to win everything. Julia was just glad to leave because it was sooo cold.

Awards

The last day of school the kids had an awards assembly and both recieved an award. The awards they recieved highlight their own personalities and I was proud of both of them. Ryan recieved an award for his excellence in reading, getting the highest reading points in his class and high in 2nd grade. Julia recieved an award for being nice. There were only about 4 people in kindergarten that got this award and she did. Both kids did really well this year in school and both love going to school and are excited for school to start again.

Field Day

I love to the go help with field day at school with the kids. I love watching them interact with their friends and see them have fun. I always help with the jump rope station because it is right by the playground and Sawyer can play there. Also all kids love to jump rope, so they are always having fun. Also it make me appreciate all the hard work that teachers do with my kids.

My Sweet Baby

I think that kids are so beautiful when they ae sleeping. I know that Sawyer is not a baby any more, he tells me all the time "I'm a big boy", but he is still my baby. I wish that kids never grew up, even though I love the fun things that my kids do as they grow up. but I sure love my baby!!!!

Longacre cousins

Our kids love to hang out with their cousins. The Longacres have the best match for our kids, there is a cousin the same age for each of them. They play so good together and love being together. The Longacres just got a pool and the kids had so much fun in it. We love spending time with them.

The Jungle room

We went out to Idaho falls to visit with Dennis's sister Rose and her family. We love to go to hotels as a family so got a room at the america inn. Dennis thought that it would be a fun idea to get a theme room, I am not a big fan, think that it is a little cheesy, but I am a believer now, because the kids loved the jungle room. They thought it was the coolest thing ever, I think that they made me take about 20 pictures of them all over the room. Here is a tiny sample of the pictures. We might get another themed room in the future. Any suggestions?

Family 5k

As a family we entered our first 5K. Ryan and I ran it and Dennis walked with Julia and Sawyer. The plan was to stay with Ryan, help him finish, because I have ran these before and he is only 8, but the plan did not work. Ryan started off so fast, I could not keep up with him, so I finally told him to go ahead and stop waiting for me. He beat me by 9 minutes, that is a very big gap in a 5k. He finished fourth in his age group which was 12 and younger. He loved it and wants to do it again. I will have to work out more to keep up with him in the future. It was a fun time and we plan on doing more together.

GABBY!!!!!!!!

I went down to Salt Lake to visit my GREATEST Friend from Wichita last week. We had a great time, and I miss her soooooo much. While I was down there I stopped by to see my sister and her family, when I got ready to come home I suggested that Gabby should come to our house for a few days, we were going back to Salt Lake on Sturday, so it would work out great. To my great joy, Mandy said sure. So Gabby came to our house. We had a lot of fun, she is such a good little girl. Her and Julia did so well together, I know Julia is going to be a great mom. Sawyer liked having Gabby around, but was also very into letting us all know that he was the "guy" around here. We loved having Gabby stay here and hope she will come back again.

DERBY DAY

Ryan had his first pinewood derby a couple of weekends ago. WE learned alot and he had a lot of fun. He designed his car and did almost all the work by himslef, Dennis had to cut the car out. One big lesson that we learned is that weight REALLY matters. We did not make his car very heavy and it had a bit of trouble getting to the end of the track. But, one great lesson,

you do not have to win to have fun

!!!

CUte little Pigs

To Dennis's great joy we are now that proud owners of 2 cute little pigs, Wilbur and Hammy. Ryan is involved with 4-H this year and is going to be taking a pig to fair. We will get the privilege of eating the other one this fall. Both the kids know that the pigs are only ours through the summer, but insisted on naming them, so I hope there are not a lot of tears later this summer. WE keep them at a pig barn in Green River, and Ryan and Dennis do all the work to keep them fed and clean. I must admit that I was a little grossed out at first, but I am coming around. The greaset thing is seeing how much the kids love to go there and hang with the pigs.

EASTER

Easter is a glorious holiday, we get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I can live with my Father in Heaven again. I love that Easter is all about coming to life, spring bringing all the flowers and trees to life, even if it takes a long time for that to happen in Wyoming. I love Spring!! We celebrated this Easter in Vernal, UT with my family. Most everyone of the siblings were there and we ate and played games. The grandkids had a fun easter egg hunt. It was alot of fun.

Little Jumping Bean

Julia is in love with the jump rope. This is her new talent, she will spend hours upon hours of jumping rope. It is the first thing she does in the morning and the last thing before bed. She has even started to write her own chats for jump roping. One involves "hooking" up with a boy that starts with the letter of the alphabet that she messes up on. Way to young to do that!! Where do they come up with this stuff?!?!?!

Coloring Eggs

Our annual coloring eggs event went well. We love to color eggs and the kids have so much fun. We always have a competition for the prettiest egg and the ugliest egg. I think that the ugliest is for the person that tries way to much to make their egg pretty that it turns ugly. Dennis is a pro at this and Ryan is following in his footsteps. We had about 7 different kits and the table was covered in egg dye. Our neighbors the Killpacks were the judges, mostly the little 4 year old girl, which might have given Julia the advantage, as she won the prettiest, and Dennis won the ugliest. Fun times.

CARRIBEAN CRIUSE

We were able to go,(we meaning Dennis and I only), on a cruise. I earned it through Lia Sophia. It was amazing. We had sooooo much fun. It was a five night six day cruise. We did not get a lot of pictures, and some of the pictures are on a water proof camera and have not been developed yet. The first night of the cruise there was a Lia Sophia welcome. We got our own ship hats.



The first day at sea, we explored a lot, played dodge ball and watched March Madness, the second day we went to Grand Cayman. There we para sailed, took a boat tour on the ocean, rode waverunners on the ocean, and walked around the city and shopped. It was beautiful and the weather was amazing.





The third day we went to jamaica. We took a tour, went to a botanical garden, climbed dunn river falls and then again just walked around the city and shopped. I loved Jamamica, but I did not love the sales people.



The last day was at sea and we just relax, layed out and ate ate ate. In fact the food was so good on the ship that Dennis and I together gained more then 10 pds. Ouch!!! We loved cruising and would do it again and again





The day we got off the ship we had a long time before our plane left so we went to the everglades.

Boo Boo

This is what happens when a 2 year old roughs around with a old man. Sawyer was playing with a grandpa in church on Sunday, just roughing around, having alot of fun until.....the guy decides to dodge Sawyer's full blast move, resulting in Sawyer runnimg full throttle into a table at eye level. Needless to say the guy felt real bad, and Sawyer comes away with a great battle wound.

Elk Refuge

WE decided to take a little day trip to Jackson for the main purpose of going to the elk refuge. It was fun, Ryan and Dennis talked about the big horns, Sawyer was excited to see reindeer, since that is his favorite thing in the world, Julia had fun, but froze, and I just enjyed the relaxation. We had a lot of fun, but some advice: Don't try to eat out in Jackson Hole before 5 pm, there is nothing open.