I did that!

Angel's Landing - Zion's National Park

This was definitely one of my most favorite things I've ever done!  I'm not ready to take my kids on this hike yet, but someday I hope I will be able to go with all my boys to this AMAZING place - it was spectacular!

"Fall"ing fun!

Creative writing assignments by Cole

(typed exactly as written by Cole)

#1
BLOOD!
      It all started when we went to trafalga on the bowling alley.  "Hay my tum!" Right as I said it my finger got smashd! "Yooow!" I howled.  "mu, me, ca, fa, piapl, pab, pub, paoa." I cried with a whisper.
      I fell down unconscious.  "Oooo" I complained. "Yow!" I howeld.  Soon I was wide awack.  "What was that for?" I exspand.  "Sorry I gave you a shot." said the doctor.
     "I see a light, should I go toward it?" I said.  "No!" Siad Danny my little brother.  "Wow we almost lost you!"  Danny expland.  "I cant feel my body!" I said.  "Wow his actions are huge!" said the doctor.
      "Hmmm." I said in my mind.  Soon I went to sleep. "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" I snord owl lawde.  We whent to bed. "Yiye!" Ha ha! it was a dream.  Aaa! It was real!"  Sooo....I playd video games all night! O! I hade two stitches.
      Three days later.....I found out I had a broken finger.  I had to wear a splint for tow or four weeks.  "Noooooo!!  I cant play video games!"  I siad.  And from that day four weeks on my life was horrible.
THE END!

#2
When I grow up...
I want to be a sicintise.  Makeing mashinggs and poshons.  I all so want to g to BYU college.  I also want a famly and maby a baby!  I want to have go nise howse.  And 2 yrs of a job, then make a bisnis of my owne.  My companys name will be Cole la teck.  Ill hire peple for my coumpane.  And blld a vlig calld stown creck.

The vision test

Today I took Hunter to the Dr. for a well check-up.  He also had some warts we needed to take care of.  (that's another story!)  They had Hunter do a vision test in the hallway.  He had already complained to me that he felt like he couldn't see very well with one of his eyes, so we were suspecting there were vision problems.  Hunter started to read the letters with his left eye, maybe missed 1 or 2.  Then he starts on the Right eye - he is missing these letters - I think ALL of them.  Danny is standing next to him and looking at the wall and back to Hunter trying to figure out why he's saying the wrong letters.  Then he starts to say softly, "L!", or "F!"... Hunter continues missing the letters and is really struggling with deciding what letter to call it.  Finally Danny exclaims, "Hunter, you're not very good at this!"

I was just giggling.  That little preschooler couldn't figure out why his big brother didn't know his letters!

Surprise visitor!

 Here is a picture of me on my first day in Bahia Blanca, Argentina serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was March 14th, 1997 (good thing I made a scrapbook noting the dates!)  Marty was my newly assigned companion and trainer (I won't post last names on my blog) and she was my everything.  She taught me how to work and serve with all my heart, mind, and strength.  We laughed, cried, and did all the wonderful things that missionaries do together for the next month and a half.  Being a missionary has been the greatest blessing of my life - it was also the hardest thing I have EVER done.  And she was there at the start of it - really, she shaped and molded me into the missionary I had hoped to be.

Fast forward 16 years - I didn't know it, but Marty was in town for a special honor of being inducted into the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame.  She suddenly realized that I live close to there and I got a surprise message via FB.  We had an hour to visit before she had to run away to the airport.  Oh, if I could only tell you how much I love and admire this amazing woman.  The stories I can you about our time as missionaries are an earful - but I cherish those memories.  I honestly think of my mission on a daily basis.  Thank you Marty for taking time out to visit me - I love you so much!

Halloween!

HEARTBREAKING NEWS:  I did not take pictures of our Haunted Garage that we did for our neighborhood.  This was our 3rd annual Haunted Garage and the best turnout ever - over 100 people came through!  We couldn't have done it without Cherae, Chris, and her boys.  We love having them be a part of that tradition!  I didn't take a single picture - that's how stressed I was.  sniff sniff.  Shayne is the one who really makes it happen though.  He had the vision and he worked late every night building different parts to make it come together.  We had a spider room, an Egyptian tomb (with a mummy!), a scene from Poltergeist, and then a butcher shop of body parts.  To sweeten the deal, Cheryl and I had made oodles of sugar cookies for everyone who came through.  A big thanks to Shayne's parents and my parents for their help too - it's definitely a family affair!  How will we take it another notch up next year?

I have a few other pics of Halloween fun...

Family Halloween Party

Cheryl is fixing my hair - this is a hair-do I'll NEVER forget!  And Cheryl was giggling while doing this - I think she was remembering those good ol' days of doing lots of beehives!  And let it be noted, it took just as long (actually longer) for her to get it out for me the next night after our Haunted Garage.  Thank goodness for Detangler spray - I still have hair on my head.

The finished product.  If you are a fan of "Better Off Dead" - then you'll think this duo is awesome.  If you don't know the movie, borrow it from us sometime.  

Halloween

The boys were Ghostbusters and I was a ghost (thanks Chanin for this awesome costume).  Skyler would have been a perfect Slimer - but the creative juices ran out and I was too exhausted to make it happen.  We never did decide what Shayne would be either - so the family theme kinda fizzled.  Plus, we have a bin FULL of kid costumes.  Skye was a cow earlier, then a lion - his roar was perfect.  And it didn't cost us a cent.  Cole's favorite part of  his costume was wearing his pajamas under it to school for the day.  

Pics of the boys with their loot.  Hunter's homework was to sort and count - I finally told him that I had snuck a few taffy's, and a few twix too.  

Cookie Dough and a Limo

I knew that Cole's school was going to be selling cookie dough for their fundraiser this year and I didn't think much about it.  Last year, Cole sold 2 cookie dough orders, both to me!  This year, he came home and said, "I need to sell 20 cookie doughs to get an MP3 player, can I start now?!?"  Sure - why not?  I suggested he go across the street where it's a different school boundary and he went to work!  He sold cookie dough everyday after school until he ran out of houses he knew - then he talked to Grandma/Grandpa and even sent the order form with his daddy to work.  He was only 1 order shy of his goal and then he talked to Nana - wa-lahhh - she helped him reach his goal (and more!) and this little boy knew he was getting his MP3 player!!  He was so excited!  Then, he found out that the top 10 sellers of the school got to go on a limo ride, out for lunch, and an afternoon of playing at "Cornbelly's" DURING school hours.  I can't even tell you anxious he was about the results.  Finally, they announced the winners and Cole was one of them!!!  His MP3 player is filled with Weird Al and more Weird Al and he still talks about how lucky he was to go in a limo while he was so young.  I loved watching him work so hard - evidently this kid is goal oriented and can be diligent when he puts his heart into it.  Who knew?!?

yo, yo, YO!