Strike!

A few weeks ago we had planned to have a "fun water day". Well the day came and the kids had done what they needed to, and it was POURING! Change of plans. . . Fat Cats and Costa Vita. They love bowling!

Kimball kept hugging everyone after their turn.

We all love the bowling and the food, . . . . very good food, I think we should do this again—love Costa

Every shot I got of McKay has him bowling with his eyes closed. So funny.

Joise was beating everyone for a while and she loved that!

Love how they have made bowling fun for everyone with the ball dispensers for little kids and the bumpers so the ball doesn't go down the gutter. It kept the scores close for everyone helping to keep everyone interested and having fun. Of course in the end Craig Won!!!!!

It was a Splash

At the end of everyones long season and extra long summer camps the athletic dept. at BYU throws a big party. They rent out Seven Peaks! The best part {drum roll please}. . . Costa Vita caters! It's awesome. There isn't any lines, crazy people

{except us}, and did I mention NO LINES! The older two and Craig head off to the slides and the younger two and myself enjoy the kids pools.

We finally spotted these two, as they sped along the lazy river.

Kirk was awesome! The kids hung on him and drug him all over that kid pool. He's such a good sport.

We'll miss being at BYU but are excited for our next adventure with Griffin Hill!

Domo Arigato

Domo arigato Okasan!

The kids LOVE their new pj's from Japan. Craig and I have put in an order for a pair. The kids say they are soo comfy. We had a little fashion show.

Can you find Kimball?

Don't you love them?!

Ja mata ne! Okyakusama no ai!

{If you add Ohiogozaimas you then have the extent of my Japanese ;) }

july 24th

on the 24th we went to this is the place heritage park.

with cameron and sierra.

it was so fun.

we were watching some indigenous american dancers.

candy from the candy cannon. yuck for salt water taffy.

we learn how to play pioneer games.

me and abby explored

all of our favorite place

i think it must have been hard and fun to be a pioneer.

Trek ~ Life Changing

We were so blessed to be asked to serve as a Ma & Pa for our stake trek. A couple of friends from our Ward who had been Ma & Pa's on the previous trek told us that it would be a life changing experience. We thought it would be great but weren't sure it would reach the lofty heights of life changing.

They were right, it was life changing. We have a new appreciation for the word experience. Until you experience what the pioneers went through you can never fully understand what they went through. Our stake made our trek experience, amazing! The level of humility that it takes you too, will hopefully exist within us throughout the rest of our lives.
The connections established with our trek family will hopefully be a part of us forever. Even as I write this it is hard to put words to explain the "experience". The family that we were assigned turned out to be a wonderful collection of youth. We lucked out big time to have these kids in our family.
They all contributed in every aspect of the trek, pulling the cart without hesitation, cooking dinner, participating the assigned activities, getting into the spirit of the trek. We enjoyed every minute of the time we had together. At the end of the trek they asked us for feedback. The one thing several Ma's and Pa's asked for was more time with our families.
The stake members that organized our trek tried as hard as possible to make the experience as authentic as they could. This meant wearying clothes similar to what the pioneers wore. Pulling a hand cart the same dimensions as they had. Having the same amount of provisions etc. I know we still had it a lot better then our pioneers had it, especially since we were crossing parts of the country that they crossed in the dead of winter while we crossed it in the middle of summer.
But yet again the efforts from our stake helped us all to "experience" the trek rather then think contemplate trek.
As you can see from the above picture they had some fun activities organized for us. McKenzie was not good at this particular activity, it is a bad sign that she has markers over her face.
The picture above was right after the women's pull. The women's pull is where the brothers are not allowed to help the girls pull the cart up a steep sandy incline. It is a challenging sequence both physically and emotionally. After the women's pull the boys in our family would not let the girls pull or walk for a short while. They insisted on the girls riding on the cart. Activities like this helped bring everyone together. The spirit was incredible throughout the trek.
The picture was taken after pulling the cart through a mud hole. There where about four of them. The "experience" was life changing. I hope our own children get the opportunity to receive the tremendous blessing of attending trek, because it is hard, tiring, expensive, and requires a significant time commitment. But it is an incredible spiritual "experience."

-Craig

A Birthday Celebration

My grandmother was amazing. She was with all of the time growing up. Grandma was creative. She always made up games to help us learn. We spent A LOT of time in the car waiting for my mother at fabric stores. Grandma made up a little jingle that we would start to chant after a while; "mother, mother where are you. mother, mother tell us true. mother, mother we love you." We chanted that over and over. Sleep overs, senior citizen bingo dates and chuck-a-rama. She made the best raisin cookies and her banana bread was always my favorite! If I had a bad day I always knew I could go to grandmas and she'd pull out a loaf for me. Grandma was also born on the 4th of July and always told me the festivities were for her.

She past away the January after Kimball was born. I miss her terribly.

Grandma, we celebrated your birthday with three days of fun this year!

There were balloons.

Stadium of Fire, which you would have loved. It was country music.

A parade for sure.

And ended with one of the things I loved to do with you and Grandpa, visiting graves. Even though now it is yours I visit, I know that you are with us still. I also know that you are happy and I'm sure you still worry about us all.

We love you grandma!