It's Been Too Long!

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since my last written post. It seems like we have done so much in the past 8 weeks I just don't know where to begin!

Addie finished up her preschool class near the end of May and had a little "program" for the parents to watch. However, with those barely-3-year-old kids the program consists mostly of the teachers singing and the kids doing a few hand gestures. It was cute though and Addie was excited to have Mom and Dad there to watch:)

For Memorial Day weekend we went with our friends, the Sudburys, down to their ranch in Delta, Utah. We had an Awesome time!! It was so nice to get out of town for a couple of days and not have to set up a tent!! The kids had a great time riding the wheelers all over. We enjoyed lots of good food, watching movies and a few thunderstorms roll through on Saturday and Sunday. At some point, Adalyn found Kathy's purse and used her make up. She was quite a site, but at least she got the right stuff in the right areas:) Monday we went to the nearby reservoir for the afternoon before heading home. The kids had a blast. We didn't bring swimsuits, but the kids managed to get soaked just the same:) The weather was ideal, probably mid 70s near 80 most of the time. It was great to just hang out and visit with friends, I don't think I get enough of that back here in the "real world." (For pictures of our weekend in Delta, see Ashley's Blog)

The next weekend we went to JennyLyn's house in Ogden to barbecue and celebrate her birthday. That was a lot of fun too. Ryan didn't make it back into town in time for this visit and Andrew was performing that night, so it was just Me with the rest of the kids. Mary and Frank were able to come up with their kids, as well as Evy, so a fun time with my sisters.

We had to leave the barbecue pretty quickly after 6:00 so we could get back to the Valley in time to see the Youth Cultural Celebration for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House that Andrew was performing in. We weren't able to go to the Conference Center to see the performance, but they had it broadcast to a nearby Stake Center. We probably got a much better view watching the broadcast, though, so we weren't disappointed. We even spotted Andrew a few times and he did a great job!! I think we are supposed to get a DVD copy of the whole show, so hopefully we'll get that soon. How exciting that he got a chance to participate in something like that!

The following Tuesday I was asked to usher at the Oquirrh Temple open house, as they didn't have enough volunteers scheduled for that day. I was a little worried about being gone for 5 hours as Ryan wouldn't be home, but Andrew was there and my next door neighbors agreed to keep an eye on things and feed my kids dinner, so it all worked out okay. I drove through quite a downpour on my way to the temple and I totally saw lightning strike only about a block in front of me. I was feeling pretty tense for most of my drive through the storm, but I made it. It was actually kind of fun serving in the temple. My "spot" was just as you come down the stairs into the baptistry. My face was seriously aching by the end of the day from smiling all afternoon, but I didn't mind. I will be back at least once more on Saturday morning, July 18th, this time in the refreshment tent:)

On Friday June 5th we celebrated Alexia's 9th birthday with McDonald's for dinner and opening a few presents. We saved the cake and ice cream part for her Sunday-evening family party.


Saturday morning I took the kids and Andrew's friend to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. They all did well and we had a nice tour. It is really a beautiful temple, inside and out. It is in a great location overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. Ryan finally made it home later that evening and He and I went back to the temple, so He could get a chance to tour the open house. It was nice to have a couple of hours out together, without the kids.


Sunday evening we had a small group of local family members over for Alexia's birthday celebration. She got a few fun things and some cash and had a good time celebrating.

First thing Monday morning I dropped Andrew off with his group heading off to Scout Camp for a week. As we have had a most unusual June, with LOTS of rain, mild temps and thunderstorms, Andrew's week-long camp ended early, on Wednesday, after being Totally rained on for 3 days straight!

On Thursday, June 18th, I got together with my sisters, Jenny and Mary, to pick out a gift for Evy's bridal shower. Who knew it would be so hard to find cute lingerie for the bride to be?! We went to 3 different stores before finally finding some variety at Maceys in the mall. Since JennyLyn is closest to Evy's size, we had her try on our top picks. (we DIDN'T have her show us how they looked:) Finally, 2 minutes after store closing, we had a winner, a cute little black strappy nightie. I hope Evy likes it, or should I say "I hope Evy's Husband likes it?" :)

On June 19th, Austyn had his end-of-the year program for school, which Addie and I went to watch. Addie, however, couldn't just "sit" and watch, she had to be up dancing and trying to sing along with the 1st graders:) She's so funny! Austyn did a great job and was all smiles.

The next day we had Evy's bridal shower hosted by Eleanor at my grandparents' house. We had a good turn out of cousins and friends. Eleanor provided the food for the luncheon and made the most delicious oriental chicken salad. (I really need to get that recipe:) We had a fun time visiting, opening presents and getting to know Evy a little better with a how-much-do-you-know-about-Evy questionnaire. Surprisingly, Evy's soon-to-be mother-in-law got the most answers right and won 1st prize! After the shower, I went with Evy, JennyLyn and Mary to Hogi Yogi for some frozen yogurt. It was fun to visit for a little while with them there. We headed out just as the really dark clouds were rolling in and drove home in another downpour.

Fathers Day we got together at Em & Nate's place for a barbecue. Again, lots of good food! I actually threw a couple of pork chops on the grill this time and they turned out just perfect:) We finished up dinner just as the wind was kicking up, blowing in another thunderstorm.
I have really LOVED this past month with all the thunderstorms! A lot of people have been getting sick of the rain, but I love the days with variety, the early day sun and heat with the clouds and rain rolling in later in the afternoon to cool things off. It has been overall a really mild month and I haven't had to use the AC much at all:) I have finally taken full possession of our other upstairs room as my office and moved the girls' beds downstairs. I have really liked having my office upstairs, but have had difficulty sharing that space with the girls, especially when I want to work while they are sleeping. So, I decided to try moving them downstairs instead. There are a few kinks to be worked out, but so far so good. The girls like that they can have their beds down (not as bunk beds), but we now no longer have a family room:( However, the girls don't mind having a big screen TV in their bedroom:) We would like to expand our kitchen and basement out to accommodate our space needs, but I don't know if that will be a reality for another couple of years yet. In the meantime, we may put a wall up in the family room area to give the girls some privacy, but it's all in the planning stages right now.


Andrew had the awesome opportunity to go on a Youth Handcart Trek for Youth Conference last week. They trekked 30 miles in 4 days, dressed in pioneer-type clothing and pulling handcarts. Andrew came back quite a bit darker than he was when he left, though some of his darkest color has already peeled off his face. (that was lovely:) All in all he had a great time and didn't get ANY blisters!!

Last Friday my brother Sam was in town with his family, so we had them all over for a barbecue. Mary and Frank were also able to come up for that, along with Evy. We had a fun time visiting and playing for a few hours. Kelly brought a little gift for the girls called "Bling Strands." They are different-colored tinsel-looking strands that can be tied into your hair to create really cool sparkly or shiny colorful highlights in your hair. They will stay in for up to 2 weeks and you can wash, brush, style and curl your hair as always. They are really fun! (Thanks Kelly!!) After dinner another thunderstorm rolled through, this time knocking out the power for about an hour-and-a-half. Luckily, it was still light enough outside that we didn't need to light all the candles. The power came back on just in time for bed about 9:00 pm.


Saturday we finally went shopping for a new tree for our front yard. I have been researching fast growing, large shade trees online and we decided to go with a Bloodgood London Planetree, which is a relative of the Sycamore. We borrowed a truck from our friend Paul and brought our new tree home. It is about 10 feet tall already and we are hoping it does well in our yard. It's only been a week now, but so far so good, it's still alive:) We have sure missed having shade!

The kids last day of school was Thursday. Addie, Andrew and I attended an awards assembly at the elementary school for those end-of-the-year awards. I have to say, however, it was Way Too Long!! It seemed like the first 30 minutes was spent thanking the PTA and everyone who participated in PTA and giving gifts and personal thanks to each of the 15+ members of the PTA board, and more and more PTA. Come on already!!! I came to see the awards, not to attend a PTA meeting. There are reasons I am not a PTA member!! . . . . . . . ANYWAY, That venting being done . . . . Ashley and Alexia both won trophies for having the most reading minutes in their grades. Ashley also won a trophy for Poetry Writing and one for Math Olympiad. Austyn brought home the Sense of Humor Award, an award for making a 2-grade jump in his reading proficiency and an award for spelling! Great Job Everyone!





Friday we had a family reunion to go to for Ryan's Grandpa Hunt's descendants. It was supposed to be an overnighter, but we only stayed for the afternoon and evening. They had rented a large house/lodge in Mantua, just east of Brigham City, for the reunion. The weather was perfect, with temps probably in the 60s while the sun was up. The kids had fun wandering around the lodge, inside and out, visiting, playing games and eating a delicious lunch and dinner. Ryan wasn't able to come with us as he didn't get back from work until about midnight. So, I took this picture of the view from the front porch of the lodge, so he would have some idea what it was like where we were. After dinner, at about 9:30 pm, we headed home. On the way we saw a couple different fireworks displays in Ogden and Bountiful, but the most impressive was the great lightning show out over the Great Salt Lake. We were able to watch that for pretty much the whole way home:) We made it home just before 11:00 and the kids went right to bed.

Today is the 4th of July. As usual, we walked the block or two from our house to watch the parade. This is the first year it hasn't been super sunny and hot. It was nice to have a little cloud cover and the rain didn't start until the parade was nearly over, but even then it didn't last more than 5 minutes. Andrew rode a 6-foot unicycle in the parade this year and only fell off ONCE. Great Job Andrew!! He had no problem getting back up and finishing the parade.

Later today we are planning to spend the evening with our friends the Hensons, barbecuing and watching the fireworks from their place. I made THE Fruit Salad, but I was a little disappointed because WalMart didn't have the #10 can of tropical fruit that I usually buy to make the salad. So, instead, I had to get 6 small cans of tropical fruit. Hopefully it will taste just as good. It's one of my Favorite Summer Salads!!

Tomorrow we will be having a birthday party here for Clayton and his girlfriend Jessica, as their birthdays are the 4th and the 6th of July. Which reminds me, I need to get to cleaning up.

Monday we have appointments for Andrew and Alexia to see the orthodontist and find out how much it is going to cost to get their teeth set in the right direction. Hopefully we can get their braces started soon, though I am not looking forward to the whining from Alexia about the pain. Oh well, she'll thank me later:)

Tuesday we have dentist appointments for the four oldest kids, cleaning and checkups. Fingers crossed that they don't have any cavities, though highly unlikely with these sugar lovers:(

Next Saturday, Evelyn and Sam will be getting married in the Draper Utah Temple. This will be another all day deal with the morning wedding, midday luncheon and then the reception in the evening. I am supposed to be making Evy's throw-away bouquet, so I better get busy on that as soon as possible.

The following weekend, Saturday, July 18th, I will be working at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house from 8:00 a.m. until noon. When I last checked, there were still some reservations open for 8:20 and 8:30 a.m. that morning, then quite a few more that evening from about 5:00 until close.

Well, that's what we've been up to, in a Very Large nutshell. I'll be back soon!