Ensign Peak

For a combined activity, the youth in our ward were going to climb Ensign Peak. (For those who don't know what Ensign Peak is, it is where Brigham Young climbed up and proclaimed that this was the place.) Mike being somewhat in charge of the activity, wanted to make sure he could find the place and make sure the youth could climb it. So on Saturday, all of our family except Ashley (because she has a hurt foot) drove into Salt Lake and climbed Ensign Peak. It was a fairly easy hike. The kids enjoyed picking the Acorns off the tree and eating them as they hiked along. It was so pretty to see the Salt Lake Valley from so high above. Mandy had an attitude and didn't enjoy waiting for her mom to take pictures of the family with her cell phone camera. (I'm trying to figure it out. What can I say, it's a new phone.) But over all it was a huge success. Especially when you get to go eat at Wendy's when the hike is over.

Summer Fun

Before I know it, the summer will be over and school will be starting. I can't say that we have done anything great and grand for the summer but I have tried to do little fun things with the kids to keep them occupied. But because the two older girls have had softball tournaments the last 4 weekends beginning on Thursday- Saturday, we haven't had as much time to go and do things. Because Ashley's team got beat out early at the West Valley tournament we made it home at a decent time of day a couple of Saturdays ago, so that we were able to take the kids fishing up at the reservoir. The kids have been begging all summer to go and since Mike had to get a fishing licence to go to scout camp, we didn't have an excuse not to go. Of course Mike had to teach them how to prepare their line. Then he had to show them how to cast their line. Of course this happened about 20 times. Finally he gave up the pole and let Mandy give it a shot. She was a great fisher woman. She made the only catch of the day. Granted it wasn't a fish but the next best thing is a crawdad. I guess crawdads love grasshoppers cuz he wasn't giving it up. Every kid except Ash and Brooke got a turn to fish. (Ash stayed home and Brooke isn't capable of doing it.) The one thing we learned is we need more fishing poles, one isn't enough.

Of course as I mentioned, we have been doing lots of softball. We just finished the last tournament yesterday. Ashley's team ended up taking 2nd in the Kaysville tournament. She pitched the championship game but ended up loosing 2 to 1. It was tied 1 to 1 until the last inning. She even hit good. She managed to hit off of the girl who supposedly can pitch 60 mph. Not many of her teammates could, so I told her she should be pleased with how well she played. So Ashley's team finished with 2 second place trophies a first place trophy and who knows what happened in West Valley. Mandy's team didn't do as well. But they improved greatly. Mandy had a rough rec season so it was good to see her make great strides. She is hitting good and is a great bunter. Her coach said that Mandy is a utility player. He knows she can play anywhere and do a good job. She played mostly second but when they knew they would be playing teams that could hit in the outfield, they put her out their to catch the balls. She did great! I just wish her team had one more game, because they were finally learning to work together as a team. After saying that, I am glad that softball season is over. It has been a long 6 months of softball and practices. Now I have to get prepared for volleyball which begins tomorrow. Yes tryouts begin tomorrow. I think this year will be the hardest cuts for me to make. I like all the girls yet I know in order for our program to improve there has to be cuts. This stinks!

Besides volleyball, I am going to try to make some more memories with the kids before school starts. Then what will Brooke and I do by ourselves once the kids go back to school?????

PARTY!!!!

Volleyball Camp

This last week, I spent 4 days away from my family in sunny St.George. I went to a volleyball camp with our team. I was a little disappointed that none of the Jr.'s or Sr.'s decided to go. So we took 12 sophomores and 2 freshmen. Boy did we create some memories. On our way down to St. George I allowed the girls to do the Chinese Fire drill. Of course this happened where there was no traffic.... out in the boonies. As we made our way down I -15 my air conditioner began blowing hot air. Needless to say it was a roasty toasty drive to St. George. I called my dad on the way down and he made an appointment for me to take my van into a shop. They found that my compressor had gone bad so I needed a new air conditioner. So I decided to have them fix it. So we spent the next day and a half making several trips or throwing everyone in together. I was so glad to get my van back and to have some air. The little team I was in charge of improved so much and we had too much fun. On our Tuesday night game, They giggled and laughed that we were pathetic. The next day they all did their hair funky or braided. One of the girls told another girl that her hair looked like a lunch lady. I told them if they won, that I would take them for hair nets. They won so we went looking for hair nets. We couldn't find hair nets so we got shower caps. They all went into Maverik with their shower caps and then I came in to pay for their drinks with my shower cap. The girls thought this was a lot of fun. We got a few chuckles from other patrons. I was proud of the girls that I worked with and felt they improved so much by the end of the week butI was glad to arrive home on Thursday. I had fun but was ready to get back to a normal life. I don't care for eating out so much and being away from my family for such a long time. I am so glad that I have such a great husband who is willing to help his wife out, even though he thinks she is an idiot for wanting to be a coach.

Let's Go Camping

As we looked at our calendar, our weekends are pretty much taken by other things.... softball, scout camp, girls camp, etc. We decided if we were going to take the kids camping, this would be the only weekend that we would have. As the weekend grew closer, so did the clouds. We decided that we would wait and see if it was going to rain. (nothing like being in a tent and having lightning and rain all around you.) As Mike arrived home from work, so did the dark clouds. We decided that maybe we could go for a cook out and bag sleeping in the wilderness. As we loaded up the van, the clouds began crying a little. We decided to go up Middle Canyon in Tooele. It seemed clear in Tooele and we thought maybe we could beat it. As we arrived in Tooele so did the rain. We kept going and decided we would give it a shot. We found a camp ground and began building our fire. The kids were sitting around the fire when it began lightning and thundering. I sent the kids to sit in the car and then the rain came. The trees were a great protection but not enough. So we got an umbrella and held it over the fire to keep it protected from the rain. After 10 minutes of the rain only picking up the pace, we decided that our cook out would have to wait. So we loaded up the chairs and packed everything in the van and headed home. We picked up pizza to eat instead of hot dogs and hamburgers. We pitched our tent on the wet grass and let the kids sleep out on the lawn. We decided on Saturday we would try it again. We decided to go up South Willow Canyon to find a spot. Everything was taken so we ended up at the Stake Center where there was a fire pit. We began building our fire. We had a hard time catching the wood on fire. The wood we begin to burn, but then it would slowly go out. We spent an hour on the fire and then gave up and went home and cooked our hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. If anything, we got really smokey. We smelled like we went for a cook out, but got the great taste of the grill. So much for camping in the great out doors!

Nutmeg

Sooo Brooke has a new name. We made custard pies for Ellie's birthday and when we sprinkled the nutmeg, Mike said hey Brooke that is the same color as your hair. So now her name is nutmeg. Nutmeg has said some funny things lately and I wanted to share what her little mind thinks of. Jase had gotten some Oreo cookies for his birthday. He has kept them in his closet for over a month, just eating some once in a while. We were eating dinner and Jase shared that Brooke had climbed his shelves in his closet and had eaten all his cookies. Brooke pipes up after he was done and says "I wanted an Oreo, so what!" The funny thing is she said it with attitude and her hands were out in front of her turned upside down and moving up and down as she spoke. Today while we were eating lunch, a cat walked by and Brooke said, "that cat sucks". Why does she have to repeat everything that she hears. Today we made custard pie for Father's day. I caught Brooke putting her fingers in the pie. I told her to stay out of it, she said "just look away." Needless to say, Mike has lots of holes in his pie. One day Brooke was saying shut up. Ashley was telling her to stop. Brooke kept saying it and Ash told her she was sick of her. Brooke turned to her and said, "your face makes me sick!" Of course Ash let her know she was a little brat. (this helps her to know how she should talk.) One day a boy came and was talking in his truck with Ash. Mandy, Brooke and a friend of Mandy's kept watching and bugging them. . The boy kept staring at them and Mandy yelled what are you looking at. Brooke thought this was funny. So when Ash came in she said with her attitude "What are you looking at?" One time at dinner Brooke said she knows the "H" word. We let her know the "H" word was horse. So now anytime someone says horse, she says, "you said the H word. There are so many more things but I'm not a good mom and write them down immediately so these are just a few.

June is almost gone

I swear that school just got out and before I know it school will be starting again. So this is what we have been doing so far this summer..... Birthday, birthday and then birthday.

Brooke started June off with her birthday. She got all her most favorite things (bubbles, bubble gum, and play doh.) Such an easy birthday. Thank goodness, because the next day we had a birthday party for Ashley. She "only" invited 15 teenagers but it was amazing how there ended up being so many more. She claims they were not invited and just showed up. Well 4 lrg. bags of chips, 4 bags of popcorn 10 packages of candy, 6 2 liters of pop, cookies and cupcakes later, we survived a ton of teenagers celebrating Ashley's birthday 6 days early. The next week Ash began weight training and running and helping 3 hours a day at the elementary summer school. (She thinks that she probably doesn't want to be a teacher.) Then she had basketball camp then softball practice. When Ash got home she was pooped! Open gym for volleyball on Tuesday and Thursday. The rest of us went to the Movie's on Tuesday. Mandy had softball practice that night. While she was at practice, I went with Mike to shop for the food that he needed for youth conference. The rain began to fall while we were at Wal-mart. Mandy called saying practice was over. She was able to hitch a ride to Wal-mart. Ashley had her birthday on Thursday. I took her out for lunch and then after open gym, we came home to lit candles on her cake. She got a straightner and a new battery for her phone. (her dad vows he won't buy her a new phone.) Then next two days were crazy because of Mike being in charge of the meals for our ward youth conference. He survived and learned many things that he hopes he doesn't ever do again. Sunday began another week. I got a new calling. I am in the youngest nursery. I still have my scout calling but they informed me I wouldn't have 2 for much longer. I survived nursery and so did the kids. It was Ellie's birthday also. Instead of a cake, she requested 4 custard pies. With her pies, she got a water slide that she had to wait till the next day to try out. Now we began a new week. Repeating the last week events except no youth conference and no basketball camp. We just threw in a few more softball practices and the softball tournament that started Friday morning at 8:00 in the morning. (This is why we didn't want to do all-stars.) Well the end of the tournament got canceled because of rain. So we will finish things on Monday or Tuesday. Thank goodness it is a local tournament. Also, last Wednesday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. The kids loved the temple and thought it was so pretty inside. I told Mike I felt like a cow being moved through as quickly as possible. I am sure that is the way they have to do it in order to allow all the people that want to see it be able to see it. After the temple, we went out to eat. Jase said that was the best day ever. I am glad they loved their trip. Today is Father's day so 2 more custard pies were made for the great dad that lives here. Nursery went well. Maybe because we only had 3 kids there.

So throw in laundry, yard work that has been hard to do because of rain, cleaning the house, organizing the garage and all the other little things that need to be done, no wonder that June is almost over.

Spring.....Means going crazy!

I love spring. The flowers start popping out, the yard is green (especially cuz we have had so much rain) But spring also means going crazy. Softball season has come and of course I fell into being a coach. So we practice one day and have games twice a week. I would choose not to practice, but my team is not so good that we need to practice. (For instance we have twins on our team and they are left handed. They struggle remembering to step with the correct foot. During our game one of them got the ball and went to throw it in. You could see her brain churning of what foot to step with and what way to throw. Before I knew it she stepped and threw her mitt and kept the ball in her hand. I couldn't help but laugh along with everyone in the stand. This is the team I have this year. Then you have Ellie who hit a home run but got sent back because they were able to throw it into the dirt. Bad call by the ump. It has to be thrown inside of the baseline. But then I was playing catch with her and she moved her mitt and I thumped her hard in the forehead with a ball. So when a girl popped up at shortstop, you see Ellie ducking and getting out of there. Another fine example of this year. Beside softball I have been trying to sew a costume for Ellie's first grade circus, preparing for field day at both Grantsville and Willow Elementary. Grantsville has almost 900 students. That's a lot for field day. Then add in scouts and scout meetings, running kids everywhere, trying to throw Jase a birthday party, clean the house, do the yard, find time to exercise, go shopping, and go watch Mike play in a tennis tournament. That is just one week of spring.