Y-A-Y for Camping!!!

We just returned from a weekend camping trip to Payson Lakes. It was our first camping trip with just our own immediate family. We weren't sure how the weather was going to be, but it turned out to be Beautiful the whole weekend! We went on lots of walks to the lake and on trails, made tin-foil dinners, ate S'MORES, sang songs... just a lot of family bonding! Bret, Melissa, and Kyson actually joined us for a few hours during the day on Saturday, it was a lot of fun to see them! I think Bret caught at least 100 fish in the lake there, seriously. :) We already look forward to our next camping trip...then again, I am procrastinating the clean-up right now, I may feel differently when I actually get to that part. :)
Everybody likes to be with Daddy. Especially me! :)
Gavin is at a bit of a difficult age for camping. He wanted to explore EVERYTHING, and would take off and not look back. He wanted to play in the water, hit things with his collection of sticks, throw rocks, and attempt to grab bugs and Bees, luckily we caught him before he did that one! He got a few bumps and bruises along the way, but didn't complain a bit, he was in Heaven! At least he is walking now, last time he was covered in dirt from head to toe from crawling in it!We got to use our new projector and screen! We had a very private camping area, but if we wouldn't have...I'm sure there would have been some VERY JEALOUS passerbys! Bret and Melissa joined us for the movie Cars, and the next night we enjoyed the movie Enchanted, gotta love that one. :)

Home/Away - Theater

We got a movie projector! We are sooo excited to have it. Brian is so handy and did some research on how to build a movie screen. He was so excited about it that he even went to the Fabric store BY HIMSELF to get the right screen fabric!!! We started our project late at night after the kids were in bed, and they woke up to a BIGGER THAN LIFE movie!!! It took about 30 minutes to make, and it is totally portable. It has already been put to Great use! Our only regret is that we wish we would have had it at the beginning of the summer for some great outdoor family movie fun! We already look forward to next summer, for now we can cuddle up at home inside with our popcorn, snacks, homemade orange julius...mmm... who needs a real movie theater?!!

Joy School

Today Kambria started "Joy School." It is sort of like preschool, but it is run totally by moms, and instead of teaching letters and numbers and such...things like honesty and sharing, etc., are taught. There are 6 kids in her class all between the ages of 3 and 4. She has class 2 days a week, and each week it is in a different home (of one of the kids in the class). So, I will have the kids one week in every 6 weeks. The lessons are already written out and are very structured. I really struggled with the decision to get Kam involved because she sometimes struggles with a little separation anxiety. But, this is also the reason that I thought it could be such a good thing for her. I gave her the choice, and she said a prayer: "Heavenly Father, I am going to have fun in preschool. Preschool is going to be alot of fun...." I figured that was the answer. :) We went "school shopping" yesterday, and her most prized posessions right now are her new Princess light-up shoes, and her school scissors. I am not a big fan of kids and scissors, so she was just beside herself over getting to have her own! As I dropped her off today, I was soo nervous that she would cry. She wanted me to go in with her, so I did. She was really hesitant at first, but once all of her friends were there she did great. I was only there for about 5 minutes... When I picked her up 2 hours later, she was jumping up and down, laughing and running around with friends. Though I missed her while she was away, I think this is going to help her soooo much. I asked her how it was and she said: "MOM, it was so so so SO SO SO FUN!!!" She has been saying that all day. YAY!!!

a few "KAM-ism's"...

(Setting: Sitting on my lap, giving me one of her KAM-size hugs)

Kam: "Momma, I miss Jesus" (sniff, sniff)

Me: "Oh Sweetheart, Jesus loves you very much."

Kam: "Momma, When are you going to get dead?"

Me: "I don’t know Sweetie, why do you ask?

Kam: "Well Momma…when you get dead then you can run really, really, really, really fast on dirt. Then, Jesus will come down and you won’t be dead anymore." (big smile)

(Setting: Watching rowing in the Olympics)

Kam: "Daddy, who is that?"

Daddy: "Those are the slow-pokes, Sweetie."

(TV flashes to another boat)

Kam: "Daddy, are those ones the fast-pokes???"

First Day of School!!!

Today was Brynlee's first day of Kindergarten! She has been anticipating this day for a LONG time! There are 2 other girls from our ward that are in her class...McCall and Jocelyn. They are going to have SO much fun together! Brynlee really likes her teacher. She really enjoyed the activities they did. She liked story-time, and drawing, but she says her favorite part was playing with her friends at Recess!!! She has also been looking forward to riding the bus to school. I wanted to drive her on the first day (separation anxiety???), but after school when I was there to pick her up she really wanted to ride the bus with her friends. I have been a little nervous about her riding the bus, but then I found out that the Principal rides the bus with them to make sure they get to the right place. Brynlee rode in the very front seat with both Jocelyn and McCall, you would have thought they were on a ride at Lagoon with how excited they were. She says she is going to sit in the same bus seat with the same friends everyday. ...and so the journey begins...

Swimming Fun!

Today was Brynlee's first swimming lesson. She has been wanting to take lessons forever, but I just didn't know how we could work it out with me watching her, and then keeping an eye on my other two little ones. We worked it out today. This girl is Fearless. She loves the water. I think we are going to have quite a little swimmer on our hands in the next little while.


Kambria enjoyed watching her sister learn, but she didn't want to do it from the sidelines (just what I was afraid of) :) Luckily our friends Scott and Gina were there too, and were a great help! Scott held Kam's hand while she blew lots and lots of bubbles into the water! We went into the little pool after (probably 2.5 feet deep), and Kam kept jumping in to a sitting position with her face going under. When she would come up...she had a shocked face, then she would get out and do it again. We will put her in Brynlee's class with her next time.

Fruits of our Labors...

We are enjoying our garden and our fruit trees this year. Brian and Brynlee planted the garden together. It is one of Bryn's favorite things to do, she looks forward to it every year. We had our first corn of the year yesterday...YUM! The home-grown tomatoes are an all time favorite, we will truly hate to see it end this season. This is the first year that our fruit trees have produced much. I love fruit...more than candy. The apricot jam has also been a huge hit in our home this week, we have already gone through 4 of the 12 jars since it was made one week ago!



What is yummy jam without some homemade bread?!

Happy Helpers...

This week the kids have been such big helpers. They sure like to work right along side their Daddy. We got some dump-truck loads of gravel for the side of our house and for the back around our firepit. Brian was out there for several nights spreading it around. Working happily with him were our little sweeties. I caught them in action:

YEE HAAAW!!!

Last night we witnessed our little Rodeo Princess doing her "Thang." Brynlee saw the Muttin'Bustin' (sheep riding) in the brochure for our Lindon Days and just HAD to do it! She got her best friend from age 1, DarTanion Day, to participate also and they were SOO excited! She was so brave and did such a GREAT JOB!!! They called her name and she just walked right up to the gate. Her sheep TOOK OFF FAST and she was almost completely sideways from the very start! She hung on like the tough girl she is, she took quite a tumble at the end (so much that the kid after her didn't want to do it anymore). She was a little shocked after, but shook it off and has a BIG smile when she talks about it now. She says she wishes she could do it everyday, and is already plotting her ride next year when she wants to stay on "even longer!" We are so PROUD of her. Check out her video:

One Lucky Girl...

Yup, that's me...LUCKY. Not only was I raised in a Wonderful and Loving family, I was also able to MARRY INTO an incredible family! The kids and I were able to go spend time with family in Pine Valley for the past week. We kept busy with picnics, water fun at Bob and Janelle's house, 4wheelers, cousin-fun, Taylor's 8th B-Day party, and 2 Great Tuachan shows: Sound of Music and Les Miserables! Brian was with us for both weekends, but traveled home for the week in-between so that he could work. We really had a wonderful time. Our Pine Valley picnic...we hiked to this stream and had a great time eating our sandwiches and getting wet. Gavin loved throwing rocks into the stream, sometimes he would hit someone with a rock though, not everyone was happy about that.
Bob and Janelle's waterslide/pool. This was a Great way to get a break from the St. George heat!
Yah, Don...you are still scared...this waterfight is NOT over yet. :-) I'm not sure you know what I am capable of. hehehe...
Random pictures from the week. Thank you to Annalee for most of these pictures!