Book of Mormon Challenge

If there is free time around here this is what you will find. Someone, if not many, reading the Book of Mormon. Brian has challenged the family to see who can finish the BOM the quickest. We started Tuesday morning. Bailee and Karlee were eager to start. They wanted to beat their Dad bad. By the end of the day both Karlee and Bailee had finished 1Nephi. Brian was on chapter 17, I think and I hadn't even started. McKinzie decided not to take on the challenge. Day two, Karlee and Brian had finished 2Nephi. Bailee only had a couple of chapters left. Still, I haven't started. The guilt is setting in and I'm wondering if what McKinzie is doing is not too bad an idea. Today both Bailee and Karlee on in Jacob and Brian is in Mosiah 1. I finally started and I'm at 1Nephi 20. I know I'm way behind. But you have to take into account how busy life is. This week had become extremely busy and spare time...none. I think I may hide their BOM so I can catch up. Karlee set the pace the first few days and the rest of us have been trying to keep up. I need to convince them to take a break so I can sort of catch up. I'll keep you posted on the out come. Wish me luck. I'm the only one that needs it.

end of day - Bailee is in the lead, mosiah 2. I'm at 2 Nephi 2 :0)

It finally got us!

We don't get sick very often, but it finally got us. Mason was up last night at 11:30, vomiting. I know, YUCK!! This morning he was feeling fine. With never having a fever, I was tempted to send him to school. Being how he would love a day off, I decided to let him stay home. I'm glad he stayed home. He has been on the couch all day and even slept most of the afternoon. I hope he feels better for school tomorrow and I hope no one else gets it.

Too cool!!

We were headed out to Walmart and I noticed a couple of horses coming down our street. Yes, I ran to get my camera. (It's never too far from me.) Mason will be soo sad when he finds out he missed this. This is what he wants to be when he grows up. Kinda cool, I think. We were able to pet them, the horses that is. Carson's friend L was over, but he didn't want anything to do with them. I really wanted to get a picture of both of them with these mounted police officers. Too cool!!

A storm is brewing...

I went outside to get the mail and this is what I found. I couldn't resist running to get my camera. As I sit here the rain has started, with thunder and all. I don't mind a good storm, as long as I can stay inside.

Spring Break!!

I am so slow with posting our spring break fun. Finally here it is, one week ago today we headed up to Oklahoma to stay in a cabin called, "The Lone Star".

Not too surprising since I booked the cabin, and we all know how I feel about Texas. It sure felt like home. It was a little cozy, but we were not planning on staying inside for the week. We went there to ride our ATVs in the National Forest. We were not disappointed with the fun trails we found.

Every night we ended up in the hot tub, of course. It helped our aching muscles from riding and hiking.

Family time is "the best".

Do you see the ATV that Karlee is on? Not much later than when I took this picture, Bailee observed Karlee flying through the air with the ATV flying over her. Karlee got a few scratches when she landed. The ATV got a front fender cracked and the back rack fell off later in the day. I'm sure the metal partially snapped when it landed. Totally messed it up but it still worked fine. Don't worry Karlee got up dancing and ready to ride some more.

The kids were aching to go hiking, mostly Mason. So off we went one morning. It was beautiful.

Everywhere we went the boys picked up sticks, we even brought home five for six. Do you see Brian's hiking stick? I don't think I got the top of it in the picture. I asked him to have it lean so it is easier to pick out. I should of had him lean it the other way. It still blends in.

I didn't realize that this trail was so rugged. The kids loved it and Carson did great.

Carson wanted to climb all by himself. There were a few spots that I held his hand. He kept leaning away from the mountain. I didn't want him to roll down into the stream.

There were a few times that Carson would fall asleep while we were riding. One afternoon we headed out with a chance of rain, and lucky us. . . it did. We all had fun. It kept Carson awake and were able to ride for an hour and a half straight. It was great! We did get cold, but no one complained because we didn't want to stop riding. Now that we have been riding in the National Forest I don't think any riding around our home will be good enough. We are ruined. I guess we will have to go to Oklahoma again. HOORAY!!!

Happy Birthday!!

Today is Brian's birthday. I hope he has had a great day. It's hard to tell sometimes. He made some big plans to work around the house so by the end of the day, when we were all ready to go out to dinner for his birthday, he was exhausted and fell asleep. We still went out, to Razzoo's, and had a great time together. The kids wanted to put the correct number of candles on his cake, 41. When he blew them out it smelled like we had had a fire in the house. Good thing Brian has a great sense of humor. We love you Brian. Happy Birthday!!

Extended family

This week we have received some great news about family. My niece Colette came to Dallas to network for an internship that is needed for her career. Carson and I met her at the airport in hopes to hang out for a few hours. We found out we had an hour and 15 minutes until she needed to be at her hotel ready to meet and greet. Well, despite the drive time from the airport to the hotel, we didn't have much time to find a place to eat. She wanted something Texas, so we found a BBQ place off the interstate. They turned out to have great BBQ sandwiches. I also had sliced potatoes covered in cheese. Yummy!! It was nice to catch up on her. With us living so far I don't feel very connected to family. I haven't tried very hard, but I'm trying to be a better sister. These last few years I've tried to at least send out birthday cards and give them a call. Most of the time I leave a message. At least they know I'm thinking of them. So when I heard that Colette was coming to town, I made sure to spend some time with her. She is such a beautiful and talented young woman. I hope this internship works out for her in Dallas, so we can get to know her better.

The next exciting news we received is that my nephew Jake received his mission call yesterday. (Jake it the one in the middle holding the slumped over baby. I'm guessing he's three.) He is going to China, Hong Kong! I am soo excited for him and the experiences he will be having. He will enter the mission home in Provo on May 20. He will be speaking Cantonese...so cool! He is the first of this generation to serve a mission. What a great example he is to his family. I am soo proud of you Jake for deciding to serve a mission. I hope there are many of your cousins that follow your example.

Gymnastics

Mason and Karlee have been doing gymnastics for five weeks now, one week left. They both love it. This is Mason's first time and he loves everything about it. He was extremely nervous at first. He doesn't like change and is very cautious in all he does. The high school has gymnastics twice a year, the spring and fall. Mason is already looking forward to the next session.

Carson so wanted to do gymnastics too. You have to be four years old. In the fall I'm sure he'll get his chance.

None of the still pictures came out very good of Karlee, so I actually have quite a few video clips.


Of all the sports Mason has tried, this has been his favorite. One of my favorites too, six weeks long and only once a week. Very doable with a busy family.

Brian did it again

We have both known for weeks that Brian was going to be gone this last Monday and Tuesday. On Saturday it hits us that he will be gone for our anniversary. We were both bummed and surprised that neither one of us caught it sooner.

Well, to my surprise, Brian shows up in the evening with flowers! I was totally blown away. Even though we had already celebrated our anniversary, he said that he couldn't stay away. He said that something is wrong with being away on our anniversary. I couldn't agree more.


BTW, this is the third time he has bought me roses in five months. I just might be spoiled! Thanks Bri!

19 years....and counting!

It has been 19 years since Brian and I were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. It's amazing how time flies. I was scanning in our wedding pictures over the weekend, so I could post one, and it brought back soo many memories. All good! With our anniversary being on a Monday we decided to go out on Friday to celebrate. When Brian was finished working in Toronto, the group of people he was working with gave him a gift card to Morton's Steakhouse in Dallas for $120. We originally had wanted to go there for Valentines Day, but they didn't have any reservations available. We are glad we went for our anniversary. We were treated like royalty! We were early for our reservation, but was seated immediately. On our menu it wished us a happy anniversary by name. What a great personal touch. The steaks were melt in your mouth amazing. Down to every detail was great. With it being our anniversary, they offered to take our picture. Which was great, I had brought my camera and Brian couldn't believe I was going to a take a picture. I didn't have to ask, they offered. I mentioned the amount of the gift card, well it wasn't enough. With tip it cost us another $50. It would of been worth it even if we didn't have the gift card. Some day we'll to back, maybe for 25 years!

As I look at these pictures, it doesn't look like the same people. We have changed hair color, size and shape, even our love for each other. It is truly amazing to be able to love someone more and more each day. Brian you ARE my best friend. I look forward to eternity....with you!

A Night of Percussion

This has become one of my favorite concerts for band. When McKinzie was in band, she played the flute, she always sat in front. With Bailee playing percussion, it is rare that we can even see her, let alone know for sure what she is playing. At concerts, you know that the percussion adds to the piece, you just don't get to hear the potential of the students or the instrument they are on. At "a night of percussion" the students get to show off their talents. There are many solos and duets, but mostly the bands from both middle schools and the high school play some amazing pieces. In the clip above they are playing "1812 Overture". I hope you enjoy the music.

Great job Bailee!!

Favorite gift

This is one of my favorite Christmas gifts I received last year. My Mom gave this to all of her kids, there are 10 of us. She gave it to us at Thanksgiving since most of us were at her house. It was great. We all stopped what we were doing to check out the old photos. Mom had put in snapshots of our kids over the years and some of when we were growing up. We had to check everyone elses to remember how funny they looked during their school years too, my kids loved it. Now we have a great way to display our favorite snapshots and rotate them as the years go by. Behind the picture is also a pocket to store many many more.

I am so slow sharing this because it took awhile to find a way to hang it. Brian was actually very quick hanging it up, I'm the slow poke.

Thanks Mom!!

Dance

I can't believe I forgot to post this. This is Kinzie and her boyfriend Jeff. They went to Snowball a few weeks ago at her high school. I think she will have only one more high school dance left, that's sad but also a relief. Finding a dress is always a challenge. Especially when her parents won't budge on the standards. But somehow she always finds a dress that pleases all of us and she always looks beautiful!