Christmas 2010

This year was definitely the most fun. The Christmas seasons started for us, the day after Thanksgiving when Kaysen declared, "Turkey day is over! When is Santa coming??" He understood and was so amazed with the idea of Santa this year and that made it so much fun.

However, each day we read one of his Christmas story books on the true reason for Christmas and after a few times, Kaysen recite the book from front to back and would tell strangers that the wise men gave Jesus gold, frankenscence (sp?) and myrh. And I'd just smile and be proud, hoping my son understood what Christmas really is about.

Our local Fire Department had Santa come and visit and they took picutres and gave out a little toy and candy cane. Kaysen jumped right on Santa's lap and said, "I wanna Tag Leap Reader" and maybe a train set.


Gage however wouldn't go anywhere near him, until he saw the candy. Then he only stayed on his lap long enough for us to snap a picture of him climbing off.

We had our 4th Annual Nelson & Karen Miller (Jerry's parents) Christmas party this year. Santa came there too and Gage hoppped right on Santa's lap and stayed on that time. Kaysen also hopped right on one again and said, "Remember? I already told you I wanted a Tap Leap Reader Santa! Do you like my camo jacket?? (my sis-in-law has all of these photos and I haven't been able to get them yet.)
We also went on a hay ride and went caroling around our small town. My favorite part was when we stopped at the house of a widow and her handicaped daughter. Her daughter was so excited to see us sing to her that she was jumping up and down and had the biggest smile on her face. Kaysen's favorite part was when Unlce Merrick sang "Jingle Bells Jingle Bells. Jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride on a big ol bale of hay." Kaysen thought that was just hilarious and sang it that way the rest of the night.

On Christmas Eve we did our tradition of opening up our Christmas pajamas. Kayen's say "I've been good, ask mom!" He thought that was funny, but he wanted him and Gage to have matching pajamas so I'll have to remember that next year. Here Kaysen is dancing around, showing off his new jammies and Gage is pouting because he doesn't want to go to bed yet.



Christmas morning came and we had to wake the boys up at 5:00am because Jerry and to leave for work at 6:00am. Kaysen didn't want to wake up until I reminded him that Santa had a present out in the living room for him. Gage could care less that Santa came and rolled right over and tried to fall back asleeep. Until I told him to go see if Santa brought him a new Mickey or Dora movie. (What do you know, there was one in his stocking??) This made him sit right up and run out of his room. Once he saw his little atv toy he didn't care about much else. Any toy he unwrapped when in the bucket on the back and he'd drive it all over the house.

Kaysen got a train set from Santa and was really excited and played with it for a good while. Then we said it was time to unwrap the other presents and he says, "Mom. Could you do me a favor? Could you get the box that has my Tap Leap Reader in it? I said, "Why do you think you have one of those?" His reply was, "Because it's what I wanted for Christmas." So I made him unwrapp some gifts and then finally he uwrapped his Tag Leap Reader and the smile on his face made all of it worth it. He was so excited and I loved it.

The worst part of the day was that Jerry had to go to work at 6:00am and didn't get home until almost 7:00pm that night. So for me, it didn't really feel like Christmas. The boys and I ate breakfast at Jerry's grandpa's house which was wonderful, then we just hung out at Jerry's parents house for a few hours and came home. The boys had so much fun playing with all their new toys with their cousins and had a great day.

Finally Done...

I am just excited to announce that I am finally done canning. Well I have been for 2 weeks now but am just remembering to announce my excitement now.

We got home from Disney Land on September 2nd and pretty much every day since then I have been canning.

What could I possible can for that long you ask?

Here is my list of completed canning items:

30 pints of squash and zucchini
10 pints of pork
13 pints of beef
5 quarts of chicken
12 1/2 pints of peach jam
22 quarts of peaches + 2 pints of peaches (2-40lb boxes)
39 quarts of applesauce + 9 pints of appleasauce (3-36lb boxes)
12 1/2 pints of jalepenos
8 1/2 pints of green chilis
29 pints of sweet meat sauce ( a family recipe mmm.mmm.mmm)
24 pints of salsa
9 1/2 pints of sweet pickle relish

and I'm thinking there may be even more to add to this list, but my brain is fried and I can't remember all of it.


Besides canning all of this I bagged, sealed and froze some more peaches, zuchinni, squash, corn, green chilis and jalepenos.

It's rewarding to see our year supply add up and to know that I worked hard to get it there. But I have to admit that Jerry helped me a ton too. He helped peel all of the peaches and apples. And boy do I owe him big for all of the help. He's pretty awesome huh?

The bad part is that we are still getting tomatoes like crazy but I don't want to can anymore so they are kinda going to waste. Its impossible to eat 20 tomatoes a day. So if you need any tomatoes come one over!

Moments...

Today during lunch my boys were very grouchy.

I mean VERY.

In turn, I was becoming grouchy.

I decided it was time for naps.

Kaysen wanted me to lay by him.

Gage wanted to lay by Kaysen.

So I left the room and let the two brothers fall asleep next to each other but highly doubting that they would. They usually just end up playing with each other.

2 minutes later I peek in their room and find them like this....


And they stayed that way for over an hour...until Kaysen woke up because his arm fell asleep from Gage laying on it. I was temped to move Gage so they would sleep longer, but in the end I decided I loved the sight of them being so sweet, way too much to change it.

Luckily they woke up much happier, and to a Mom that was much happier also.


Tonight as I was working on crafts I let the boys watch Dora on Netflix. They were pumped because this doesn't happen very often. (We don't have cable, so they get kinda bored with the same movies over and over.) They hadn't watched much t.v. yet today, Jerry was at work, and I needed to get work done so out came Dora.

As I'm painting I hear Kaysen say, "Gagers. Hey buddy. You wanna sit on my lap?"
Gage says, "yeah!"
Kaysen replies, "Well come here then." and pats his legs.

I walk in to find this...


Gage has his very own chair right next to Kaysens but he opts to sit on Kaysen's lap. Gage is so big Kaysen is barely peeking around his shoulder to see the t.v.

I love moments like these two. Moments when I'm so glad that I have two little boys that are already growing into the best of friends.

Our 4 year old...

On the 6th of October our eldest son celebrated his 4th birthday party. Not just any birthday party...a PIRATE birthday party. He has been talking about his PIRATE party since Gage's birthday. It was the second thing he spoke about when he woke up that morning. The first was...I'm 4! Am I as tall as Greg now? (being our friend Greg Fish, who is at least 6'4".)


Once again I decided to try and make a cake for my kids. Really, have I not learned that I am NO good at cake decorating? This is supposed to be a pirate ship in the ocean. It was my 3rd cake. I told Jerry I was going to Safeway if this one didn't work out decently. I couldn't find pirate figurines to put on the ship so we just have a treasure chest, cannons, cannon balls, railing and sails...oh yeah. And blue jello that wouldn't set up. All the hard work and dissapointment (mine) was worth it when Kaysen walked in saying, "Oh mom! That's an awesome pirate ship!" Good thing 4 year olds are easy to please huh?


We invited 7 little boys to come over to our house for a treasure hunt and cake. I got them pirate bandanas and patches to dress up with as they went on their treasure hunt. They followed a detailed map which Jerry drew and each of the boys got their very own treasure box filled with candy. They all had so much fun, but were mostly excited to go back inside and open presents and play with all the new toys.

I've noticed that I'm really good at recording the birthday parties, but not at taking pictures. I have none of him opening presents or blowing out the candles....at least it's on video though.


The worst part of this special day was that Jerry got called and picked for jury duty. Of course! So he wasn't able to be there for any of the party. However, when he got home we headed to El Rancho and had them sing to Kaysen. That way we could celebrate as a family. Kaysen thought he was pretty cool. I was so excited to get fried ice cream...its my favorite. However, I was so full from dinner, all of us were, so we didn't even finish all of the ice cream. ugh...I wish I had it to eat right now.


I remember waiting and waiting to get pregnant with you Kaysen. As soon as we found out we were over joyed. I don't think we fully understood the happiness and love you would be bringing into our home. You are my biggest helper and best example. You pray daily for us to "talk nice and be obedient." You make me want to be a better person and especially mother. We love you and hope that you had the best 4th birthday ever!

Brothers...

We had the opportunity to listen to our prophet and apostles from the comfort of our living room this weekend. Jerry was at work so it was up to me to get Kaysen and Gage to sit somewhat still for 2 hours.

So before conference I showed pictures of King Benjamin and told Kaysen the story of how everyone made tents to sit in as they listened to King Benjamin. Then I asked him if he wanted to make a tent and sit in it while we listened to our prophet?

What do you think the answer was???

It went something like....a jump in the air with an arm thrusted upwards and a "YEAHHHH!" As he ran in the kitchen to help move chairs.



2 minutes later we had our tent....

And it actually worked at keeping them still, as long as the had snacks to eat as they listened. Gage was a bit harder to work with but Kaysen actually did so good.

At one point Kaysen was starting to move around quite a bit so I said, "Kaysen, you need to be reverent and listen. Do you now what they are talking about?"

He replies, (with attitude) "Yeah. He's talking about Joseph Smith Mom. You know that guy that saw Jesus."

Hmmm...I guess he does listen. Many times, better than I do.

Helpers...

I have recently started making crafts and selling them for Embellish Boutique in Lakeside. I've been super busy with ideas and creations.

Of course as I work I have to keep 2 little boys occupied. I must admit, many times I do it with Dora, Diego or Mickey. But today I decided that they had had enough of that.

So we headed outside to paint.

I need to paint blocks... (like this and more)

Gage needed to paint...well everything.


Kaysen needed to paint the same piece of wood...about 13 times.

But you know what?

They did great and had so much fun...and I was able to work and play with my boys today.

Looks like we'll be bringing out the painting clothes a lot more often. :)

Still big...and getting bigger...

Yesterday Gage had his 2 year check up. I thought this boy was getting skinnier. He really seems to have thinned down a lot. When he got on the scale he weighed 34.9lbs. He is in the 92% for his weight. His entire life...all two years...he hasn't gotten below 90% for weight. I guess he really is going to be a big boy. His height was around 36". It was a bit hard to tell because he didn't want to stand very still as they measured. So he was in the 87% for height. It is crazy to me that he is still so big. Most of his clothes are size 3T. He's always been at least 9 months ahead of the size he is supposed to be.

Kaysen will have his 4 year old check up soon. I'm sure that he maybe weighs 34 lbs. It will be fun to see how close their sizes really are. When the wrestle on the floor the competition is very close, it is funny to watch them roll around and try to pin or tickle each other.

Where Dreams Come True...

That is the slogan to the place we just got back from....well okay. We've been back a week and a half now but are just now getting back to the daily grind.


Did Grandma's dream come true?? I hope so. She was able to come to Disneyland with us. And man are we grateful. She was so much help and even stayed at the hotel with the boys while they napped and Jerry and I went on the TOWER OF TERROR and other grown up rides. THANKS MOM!


Kaysen's dream of getting a driver's license came true when he was allowed to drive on AUTOTOPIA. Jer's dream of driving in California with little traffic came true too...on this ride at least.



My dream of going to Disneyland with my family came true. I think I was more excited than they were.

Gage's dream of meeting Mickey Mouse came true as soon as we walked in the gates of Disneyland. He jumped out of the stroller and it took all the strength we had to hold him back until it was his turn to meet him. Then we got some Mickey ears for the boys...notice he wouldn't take them off??

Kaysen's dream of meeting Buzz Lightyear came true too. This was by far his favorite ride. We had to go on it a couple of times.


We have at least 200 more pictures and at least 50 video clips but I didn't want to bore you with them...some of them were dang cute and fun too. (and of course my favorites wouldn't upload on here)

We had so much fun. We left at 4:00 am on Gage's 2nd birthday and spent 2 days at the park and 2 days just hanging out and driving. It was definitely the best time to go...our longest wait time was 20 minutes and that only happended once. Most rides we just walked right up. It was the greatest. This will definitely always be the time our family goes, even if we do have to pull kids out of school. We were able to ride 90% of the Disneyland rides just on the first day. Kaysen is already saying that now we are going for is birthday on October 6. But that isn't likely...hopefully next year though.

Gage turns 2!!!

Gage turned 2 on the 30th of August! Crazy, Crazy.

He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse so I did a Mickey Cake...

Okay, a very sad Mickey Mouse Cake.

I wanted to go all out but couldn't get myself to do it so much. We only had a small party for grandparents and we were leaving the next morning for Disneyland. Needless to say I was a bit lazy, and crazy with other stuff. Sorry Gage.


Here he is crying because I am lighting the candles on his cake and he sees Mickey and wants him.

I am the most sad because about 30 minutes after the party I dropped our camcorder...and broke it. We video recorded us singing and him opening present so Jerry didn't take pictures of it all and I was trying to help Gage. Needless to say, we have no pics or videos of him blowing out his candles, which he did all by himself. And immediately after that, he grabbed Mickey off the cake and played with it.

It was a fun little party and we appreciate his grandparents for coming and celebrating the special day with us.

My baby is now two years old and its absolutely crazy to me. He just isn't a baby anymore...

We sure love the little dare devil though and wouldn't trade him for anything.

First Day...

Does this look like the face of an excited little boy or what?


( I love this pic because he is so excited to show his new teacher his cowboy belt buckle. He even tucked the front part of his shirt in so it can be seen easier.)

Today was his first day of preschool in Joseph City. He has been wanting to go ever since we moved and he could no longer go to the one in Show Low.

As soon as we got in there the teacher had him arrange the letters of his name in order and then trace the letters of his name. He did both without much help and already earned a super start on the board. He was so excited.

The day went off with only one minor setback...he didn't want to come home with me.

He thought he was going to get to ride the bus home like his cousin Landon.

I was too scared to let him ride it home. We live on a dirt road that the bus won't go on. They would drop him off about 1/2 mile away from our house.

But after 2 days in a row of Gage falling asleep 20 minutes before I have to leave and go get Kaysen I have decided to let him ride it home. I have to be there waiting for him or they won't drop him off, but it will make it a lot easier for me to get him if Gage is asleep. I can hop on the four wheeler and be gone for 5 min at the most and not have to wake my son up.

Now Kaysen is so excited to ride the bus home on Monday...we'll just see how much he really likes it once he does it.

A Little Hike...

Our back yard has a pretty good size hill behind it so we decided to take a little hike up it.

Well, Kaysen decided he wanted to and begged all day to do it.

We told him to wait until it cooled off a bit, so after dinner we headed out. The weather was perfect.





Here is a veiw of our humble abode...see the open space? I LOVE IT!


We sat atop this hill and pointed to different areas of our property sharing all of the dreams we have in the future.



We came back down and did a little yard work.

The boys were trying to get a drink from the water hose gun. Needless to say they got soaked.



Then they decided to get on top of the propane tank and pretend they were bull riding.

Besides the mosquitos that decided to come out, it was a beautiful evening full of quality family time...My favorite thing.

Rough Day...

I believe that I spent 90% of my day yelling.

I know...I'm horrible.

It just seemed that neither one of my boys wanted to listen to a word that I said.

And after saying the same thing oh about 15 times, I just started getting a tad impatient.

I tried so hard to get my boys to take a nap.

The needed one.

I hoped they would wake up happy.

I needed one.

I hoped I would wake up happy.

After over an hour, the nap never came.

I figured it was useless to fight anymore. Usually they are asleep within 5 minutes of just sitting still on the couch.

I finally gave up.

I continued cleaning my house and all the many other things that needed done.

Finally it was time to do dishes.

My boys were arguing horribly by now...about EVERYTHING.

"He's touching me."

"He's taking my toy."

"Gage, stop!"

"AHHHH!!! MIIINNNNEE!"

"I want that."

"I had it first"

After each incident they would come running to me wanting my intervention. I told them I wouldn't listen. I was tired of them fighting and told them to work it out between themselves.

This did the trick.

Eventually they left each other alone.

5 minutes later this was what my house looked like...

It was heavenly.

I still continued to clean, and didn't get the nap that I really wanted.

But when my boys woke up they were much happier.

And so was I.

Another moment.....

If you click HERE you will read a few funny stories about Kaysen and the many times he makes me want to shrink and hide, but laugh all the while.

This past week we were in church when he saw this little baby across the aisle from us.

I said isn't that a cute little boy...because man he is. He just has these chubby cheeks that make me remember Gage as a baby

Kaysen says, "Yeah he sure is cute. But mom why is he dark like a Lamanite?"

I was busy wrestling Gage and didn't completely here this statement so I asked him what he said.

Quite a few decibles louder he replied, "MOM, I SAID...why is THAT boy dark like a Lamanite?"

Oh how I wish I wouldn't have asked him to repeat what he said.

You see, this little boy is a very cute little black boy with the cutest curly hair and chubby cheeks.

I may need to add that this isn't the first black child he has seen...we are not that sheltered here.

On Saturday we read the story in 2nd Nephi about how the Lamanites skin was darkened because of their unrighteousness. The book we read from has pictures and Kaysen was asking which guys were the "wicked Lamanites" then went on pointing to each and every one of them he saw in the book.

Once again, it goes to show that this boy does listen even when I think he isn't and also repeats what he is taught anytime he wants to repeat it....

Happy Birthday Jer!!

Yesterday was Jerry's 27th Birthday.

He woke up to some whole wheat pancakes with strawberries and homemade whip cream, bacon and eggs for breakfast.

We are not major cake eaters, so I decided to put candles in the pancakes for him to blow out.

After taking this picture he asked me not to post it...but it's the only one I have of him blowing out the candles. He was a little exagerative when blowing out the candles. He was making Kaysen laugh. As he blew out the candles we sang the Happy Birthday song to him and I think Kaysen was definitely more excited to sing than anyone else was.

After breakfast Jerry did what he does best.

He went to a friends house and helped pour concrete. 3 hours later they were done, so then he went to help his Dad and brother who are just starting to build their home.

I'd have to admit that many times I get exhausted just thinking about how much Jerry works. This week was his long change and everyday he had something he was helping someone else with. I'll also admit that many times I tend to get a bit grouchy about it. I just want him home with me, relaxing.

In the end I think to myself that I sure am glad that I am a wife that can complain about a husband working too much than husband that does nothing at all.

He is such hard worker and that is actually one of the many things I love the most about him.

Overall he says he had a good birthday, even though he didn't relax all that much...but does he ever?

Happy Birthday Jer!!! I hope that it really was a good day and I hope that we can spend at least 27 more birthdays together.

Dare Devil...

Unfortunately this post will have no pictures of the story I am about to tell...I didn't think I would need the camera so I didn't bring it...needless to say, from now on I'm taking my camera everywhere.

Last night we took the kids to the Joseph City pool (yes we have an indoor swimming pool) because it was the last night for open swim.

The boys loved it.

Kaysen is doing so much better at holding his breath under water...thanks to a second round of swimming lessons.

I believe that was the 2nd time Gage has been in a real pool.

The kid was in heaven.

We taught him how to blow bubbles in the water and he actually did amazing.

I knew Kaysen would want to jump off of the edge of the pool and have us catch him but I didn't want Gage doing it because I know how brave he is and that he will jump off with no one there to catch him.

I was right.

Luckily we were always there to catch him...but he wanted to jump when we weren't ready.

He saw the diving board and immediately started running there.

So...Jerry swam down to the 10 1/2 foot deep section while I walked Gage along the diving board. He was a bit scared as he walked along but as soon as he saw Jerry he crouched down and jumped right off...twice.

He wanted to do it again and again but we didn't let him.

That kid is definitely going to be my brave little dare devil that I will have to watch out for all the time. The boy isn't even 2 years old and there he is doing what 6 year olds were scared to do.

Oh man I hope I have the endurance to keep up with this boy....

On His Own...

I have just recently come to the conclusion that my almost 4 year old is growing up way too fast.

Just this week he has proven to me that he does not need pushed on the swing anymore.

He can pump his legs all by himself.

He is loving that he can go to the swing anytime, meaning he doesn't have to wait for me to get there to help. He wants to be out there ALL day now...

This is how high he can get...when only pumping for a few seconds...look at him go.



For the past week he has been telling Jerry and I that he wants his training wheels taken off of his bike.

We tried and tried to tell him that he wasn't quite big enough and that he would probably wreck a lot on it.

That did not discourage him.

So last night we took the training wheels off for the first time.

He made sure to put his 4 wheeler helmet on while he rode his "dirt bike"

The little stink did really good actually. The first few tries he only went about 20 feet but after about 30 minutes of working with him he could eventually go about 100 feet before he quits pumping those legs. He has also learned to put his legs down to slow down, this has greatly decreased the amount of wrecks he has had.




However, after each wreck he just gets right back up and tries again. He is determined to ride his bike like "the big boys do."

ps. I have some great footage of these little rides, but they are on my video recorder and are pretty long...I'm sure pictures will suffice.

Independence Day...

This year we stayed in JoeTown for our Independence Day Celebrations and I'm so glad. We haven't come for the past 2 years and this was the perfect year to go. They had so many things for the kids to do. My boys loved it.

Here's our patriotic boys getting ready to go to the park and watch the 5 minute parade.

Once we got to the park we saw many booths set up for the kids.

They had mini golf...the boys liked it but it took them quite a while to get the hang of it.

They had water slides/pools. This was definitely their favorite place to be that day. We took them back about 3 times. I dont' blame them though...it was major hot out that day. This one was just perfect for Gage. He went up the little stairs and down that slide a million times and never got sick of it.

And Kaysen LOVED this one. Here is is sliding down for the first time. He was a little unsure because once he hit that first bump he caught some good air and went flying. He decided he loved it and continued going down all three slides on this thing. As you can tell, it was a hit with all of the kids.

Every year they even have activities for us big kids. This year Jerry and I were on an outdoor volleyball team with our sister in law, Kylie, and Jerry's Dad, Nelson. It was single elimination though and we lost our first game but it was close and we had so much fun. Jerry and I also competed in a horseshoe tournament but didn't do too well there either. We only made it to play 2 games. Maybe next year we'll do better??

This is my cheesey boy taking a picture, enjoying his snow cone as we watch some volleyball.

And this is my other cheesey boy that won't show that typical smile because he is WAY too busy enjoying his snowcone.

We enjoyed some delicious hamburgers while we sat and watch volleyball too. You can see the remains of the hamburger on Gage's face below....This picture of Gage is just 2 minutes after sitting him in the car. I took the pic just as his eyes were closing. We sure wore him out...and the rest of us too.


We headed home for a little nap before we headed to the gym for Jerry's 3 on 3 basketball tournament. His Dad and brothers, Jeremy and Tyson all played. I can't believe how active his dad is...he will be 61 years old but he's out there every year competing in all of the events. I hope Jerry and I can say that when we are his age. They actually did pretty good too...they won 4 out of 6 games, not sure what place that is but that was pretty impressive to me. The 3 on 3 tourney is a major hit here every year and they always have a lot of good teams.

After the basketball tourney we headed to Jerry's parents house to eat dinner and play my favorite card game...ROOK. They've hooked me on that game.

Holbrook had their firework show on Sunday so we headed over there and parked the truck to watch. The boys were a little stir crazy from sitting in the bed of the truck for an hour but we battled that with Dora. Luckily we had our DVD player in the truck or else I would have gone crazy.

Once the fireworks began they sat still and watched...for 10 minutes.



Once they decided to start getting crazy again we decided to leave. We headed over out Bill and Sandy's house to play 6 man wahoo. We had never heard of it but decided to give it a try. Its a game like aggravation with a little bit of a twist. Krystin and Kyle won the first round, then Jerry and I won the second...thanks to Bill for killing Kyle before he could put his last man in place :) Then we realized it was nearly midnight and our kids were still awake so we headed home.

We had a fun and busy 4th and we are so grateful that we live in a town that makes it so much fun and special and we are so grateful that we live in a country where we have our freedom. Thanks to all the servicemen and women out there who make it possible!

cure for grouchiness.....

I enrolled Kaysen in swimming lessons this summer.

The first day I had to wake him up from a much needed nap in order to make it to lessons on time.

As we walk through the door to the pool, the instructor smiles and say, "Looks like somebody isn't too happy to be here."

Kaysen looks up at her.

Then looks back down and with a pouting lip says, "No. I don't want to be here!"

I'm thinking to myself that this lady must think I have one grouch of a kid.

They took him over where all the other kids were and did a little introduction then asked them to go hop in the shower before they got in the water.

Needless to say Kaysen wouldn't go.

Finally I convinced him to go and just stick his head in, not his whole body.

Soon it was time to get in the water.

Water must be like medicine, or like chocolate.

Because instantly this boys attitude changed.

He started being the spazzy little boy I know.

Making funny faces, and really just acting spaztic and loving that his instructors were laughing at him. They later told me that he was the most hilarious kid they've met...

He still listened well though when they were talking, but as soon as they would finish he'd be go right back to acting like Kaysen.

At the end of the lessons they took all of the kids over to the diving board to let them jump off.

I was shocked that Kaysen wanted to do it.

He's umm....my logically thinking kid. (and a bit of a scardy (sp?) cat)

Here's the video of it....(ignore the wierd sound at the beginning...don't know what it is!)

He was a bit too scared to jump himself so he told his instructor to drop him in...

Swimming cured the grouchiness...until lessons were over.

Then he cried the whole way home because he wanted to keep swimming.

At least he has been excited every day since to go to swimming lessons.

I knew...

This picture is a scene from my life eight years ago. (although I did not take this pic...I have many similar ones that I didn't feel like digging out of my hope chest.)

I was a bit naive about the situation that was before me though.

The Rodeo-Chediski fire was blazing all around and I really thought that it was a simple small fire that would be under control by the end of the day.

However, by the end of this day 8 years ago I had over 30 family members that were evacuated from Linden and they were staying at my parents house.

When standing on the hill above our house, I could see the flames dance across the tips of the pine and oak trees just a few miles away.

This moment I realized how scared I really was. I thought my little home town was going to be completely engulfed in flames.

8 days earlier I had just met Jerry on a blind date. 1 day earlier he had met my family for the first time.

On this night I decided to call him because I needed someone to talk to, even though there were plenty of people close by for me to talk to.

It was 9:00pm when I finally got the nerve to call him.

I told him about my family coming over to my house.

For some reason I started crying.

I really don't know why??

Looking back now I kinda laugh at myself...was I really that scared?

I guess so.

"Do you need a hug," Jerry asked.

"Yeah I do, but that's not going to happen. It's 9:00 pm and you live an hour away." I said.

"So..." he replied.

"So that's not going to happen."

"I'll be there in a hour."

"How's that going to happen. Your car isn't working and I'm sure your parents won't want you taking theirs here when a fire is raging close by."

"I'll find a way."

"Okay. Thank you. Be careful."

For the next hour I sat on my parents front porch. All of the kids were sleeping on my parents front lawn, with ashes falling like snow all around, while the adults got the comfy beds inside.

One hour later Jerry pulled up in the drive way.

We walk to each other and the first thing he does is give me a long and very enjoyable hug.

"You okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine. Thanks for coming."

"It's no problem. Glad I could."

It was this moment I knew that I would marry this man.

It sounded foolish to say.

I'll admit I thought I was crazy.

I was 2 days away from my 16th birthday.

How could I possibly know this already?

Needless to say, I kept this to myself because I knew people would laugh and call me a love struck teenager or something like that.

It didn't matter though...I knew it and that was what mattered.

We sat on the porch and just talked to each other for the next few hours.

We talked about his mission...he had just submitted his mission papers the week before and was waiting for a reply.

We talked about me being mad because my birthday was in 2 days and here I was about to be evacuated from my home. I was also mad because I was supposed to be getting my driver's license but couldn't because the DMV was closed, due to the fire.

"Wait," he said, "your 16th birthday is in 2 days."

"Ummm...yeah." I said guiltly.

You see, when we met on June 8th, at a blind date I told him I was 16 years old. I mean, I was 12 days away from being 16 and after talking for 5 minutes he asked my age, so I just said I was 16. What were the chances that I would be seeing him in the future right??? So what did it matter if I told a little fib??

"Oh...cool." He says.

I later found out that the age difference did bother him a little bit at first...but luckily not enough to quite dating me.

2 days later, Jerry was in the valley moving his stuff back to his parents house for the summer. He gave Rachael my birthday present since he wouldn't be able to see me.

What was my gift??

A fire extinguisher and a card that said, "Hopefully you don't need this but just incase. Happy 16th birthday." The 16th part was written larger than the rest.

I laughed pretty hard when I got the gift.

Here I realized that when I married this man he would keep me laughing forever.

Now 8 years later I still know that he is the man I was supposed to marry and he is still making me laugh every day.

Hart Canyon...

Last week we went camping at Hart Canyon for 3 days and 2 nights.

Just while Jerry and I were setting up camp our boys looked like this....

Like Gage's Elvis impression??? He always does a cheesy smile so I had the brilliant idea to try and wait a couple seconds until the cheesy smile goes away then hurry and snap the pic...this is what I got. Still cute huh?

Kaysen thinks he is a stud....he is.

We spent most of our days riding the quads. We saw so many elk, deer and coyote. They boys loved it. Almost every time we hopped on Gage would fall asleep though. I guess he just felt it so relaxing....and everytime he fell asleep I handed him over to Jerry. I trust him driving one handed much more than I trust myself.

Showing us their muslces...and Gage almost falling off the stump because he got a bit too excited when showing those muscles off.

The crazy couple that decides to take two boys camping for 3 days.

Helping gather fire wood.

Waiting for his marshmallow.

Blowing the fire out.

Making sure he gets every last bit of marshmallow.


Brushing our teeth in the morning.

Then we went crawdad fishing in this beautiful creek.

There were some monster crawdad's in there. Kaysen and Gage loved it. Jerry tried to get me to eat the ones we caught....heck no. I made hime through them back.

My boys. Kaysen loves to point out that, "I'm drinking a BIG FAT coke." Camping is one of the only times he gets to enjoy his very own.

Camping was really fun this year. My boys were covered in BLACK dirt from head to toe within five minutes. Luckily they could jump in the creek to wash a bit of it off...but it didn't really matter because within 5 more minutes the dirt was back. They had so much fun, riding quads, playing catch, shooting water guns, shooting Kaysen's bow, swinging in the hammock, roasting marshmallows and just being outside roaming the woods.