families are forever!!

saturday night we got to go to the "ogre mountain" temple openhouse. the only one we were missing from our family was cheyne. (someday, we will be more important than a rodeo). anyway, it was a great feeling inside the temple... looking around at our little family, and thinking, "this is what it is all about!" what a great thing to know that "families can be together forever!" but i know why little ones aren't allowed in the temples after they are dedicated. actually, kamryn was very reverent. kendyl was tired and said she had a headache and didn't want anyone to talk to her. siona let us know that we didn't know what we were talking about when we were at the baptismal font. she is getting baptised when she is 8 not when she is 12! (we were trying to tell her that when she turned 12, she could do baptisms for the dead at the temple). when we were in the sealing room, the temple worker was explaining to us, the purpose of the sealing room and i don't know what hunter heard, but all of the sudden he said, "but i don't want to die!". ryker ~ another story! he wanted to push his stroller not ride in it and he wanted to push the buttons on the elevator. isley was pretty good most of the time, but at the end, she got a little fussy (of course it was getting late).
after the temple, we went to 'famous dave's' for chicken and ribs. while we were waiting for a table, don and i headed back to the restroom. in a minute, mel and siona came into the women's restroom and mel asked me if i had ryker with me. i told her NO, just dad and i had come back. she said that ryker was missing. when i went back to the front to wait, i asked chet if he had found ryker. he said NO, i thought he went with you and dad. anyway to make a long story short, he HAD followed us, or just meandered himself back and went into the men's restroom. don was in one stall and seen urinal screens falling to the ground. he couldn't figure out WHAT was going on, then he seen 'THE SHOES'... RYKER'S SHOES !

don: "ryker, what are you doing?" and then his little head poked up under the stall and he said, "gammpa?"

don: you ARE in time out! go put your nose on the wall until i come out.

when don got out, he found that ryker had been playing and washing his hands in the urinals ~ he was having a GREAT time! GROSS!

tired kids at the dinner table.
oh... i love my family!

never say never !

i know i've said that i didn't ever think i'd do this again, but... this past week, donnie and i went with our stake youth to deseret land and livestock, just below evanston, wyoming for four days. we were on the equipment committee, so we didn't walk, we pulled the equipment trailer. i think there were about 700 people with our group.

these two pictures are what it was like at least half of the time we were up there. (my camera died and these are the only pictures i got, but there are lots more out there somewhere). these pictures do not do it justice. it poured down rain. (i was sitting in the truck when i took these pictures). we were smart and slept in the equipment trailer with craig, ladawn, mike and cindy. we had air mattresses and a heater. unlike most, when the clouds opened up and poured rain all night long, we were dry and warm. it really rained hard the first night, and never quit all night long. the rain started just as the second handcart company got into camp, that evening. they were trying to get their tents set up as quick as possible. some didn't get the tarps tucked under their tents good enough, and by the time they got their tents set up, a lot of their things were already really wet. needless to say, the next morning, there were a lot of dripping wet sleeping bags, pillows, clothes, shoes, etc. that had to be hung up to dry. (i loved it, a little gal came over with her shoes to see if we could put them by the heater. they still had about 2 inches of mud on them. kids! do some of them even have a clue?!!!!) some of the kids didn't have extra jackets, and one kid didn't even have one! we were sharing our jackets and warm clothes, wondering if we would ever see them again. (happy to say that we actually got them all back).

the second afternoon, it cleared a little and they went out trekking again. we kept camp at the same place, so they just trekked around in a circle and came back to their camp already set up. although... while they were out trekking, it did rain and blow for a bit. blowing the food tents over, twisting and bending the poles, which had to be straightened back out so that they could put the tents up again to have it ready to serve dinner under when the trekkers got back into camp. that night it was nice enough to have a hoe-down. they had a professional caller, and what a sight it was. i think he had four different huge double circles. the whole camp area was a dance floor. almost every kid (and a lot of the adults) were out there dancing. they were having a great time! after the dance, they served hot chocolate and cookies... what were they thinking? sugar? not a good thing! kids were so hyped up, they were up screaming and running around half of the night. all i can say is "thank you", to who ever invented ambien!

friday we woke up to blue sky... yippe! we got up, had breakfast, and moved camp, after the trekkers left. (we had to load all of the tents, sleeping bags, and extras that they didn't take on the handcarts, into the trailers, for over 650 people, every time we moved.) meeting them later that evening at the next camping spot. we watched some of the staff, play horse shoes, read, took naps, and were envious when some took showers (they brought their solar showers, and showered in their bathing suits. not that there was really any place to hide behind a bush or anything).

we got to meet a lot of new people and renew a lot of old friendships. over all, we really had a great time.

it made me think again, about the blessings that i have been given. my ancestors trekked across the plains, leaving almost all that they had, to come to salt lake, because they had such strong testimonies of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints. they didn't have a nice warm trailer with an air mattress, and a heater, to get in out of the elements. they didn't have the modern medicines, (just in case they got a bad migraine), for blisters, or sunburns, or anything of the liking. they didn't have a porta-potty or a water buffalo following behind them. they didn't come over the hill and see a food tent set up, with a warm dinner waiting for some one to serve them. and... they didn't know that they were going to be able to come home on saturday afternoon and take a nice long hot shower, and sleep in a nice bed. boy do we owe those people a lot! and heavenly father, knew that i could have never made it. that's why he saved me for this day and age.

what he said and what she heard!

saturday morning we were down at the property. (chet and tiff brought their trailer down to park for the summer). it was a pretty day ~ a little cool, but okay with a jacket on. we were trying to get donnie up to go for a ride with us (he was sacked out on the couch, trying to get caught up on his sleep). anyway, we sent kendyl in to try to persuade him (you know how grammpa's have a soft spot for their grandkids) and we figured she would be able to get him up. she came back to the door and said, "grammpa said, he has CRABS and he feels EXPLODED!". (he was being a smart alec ~ surprise, surprise!!!), and what he said was, "he had CRAMPS and he felt BLOATED!"

mother's day project

i have the GREATEST kids in the whole world!

my kids asked me what i wanted for mother's day. i told them that i just wanted them to all come over one saturday and help me with some 'projects'. so last saturday, they all came over to help. the girls washed all of my windows. tiff and mel taped and painted the two back doors. and, of course, they had alot of help (when you have babies, isn't there always alot of extra help?).

the weather was great and the kids had fun playing in the water and bounce house.

hunter was helping grandpa (i'm not sure what he is doing here, but i do know that he has a big wrench wrapped around his foot).

ryker helped haley plant flowers.

isley even helped. she was happy to be outside.

i thought chet and george were in my bedroom working, but when i went in to see what they were doing, this is what i found.

this is a mess of insulation

this mess, on my bed, is all of don's things that were in his closet.

and this is what i found on my dresser

these are ugly wires hanging from the television

in the end, this was the finished project. ~ they moved our t.v. to a different wall and hid all of the ugly wires.

so actually, i guess they really did work hard after all.

(we thought they were just in watching the sports channel.)
and, with only one 'extra' hole in the sheet rock, it looks really nice!

tiff getting ready to paint

don and cheyner replacing one of the posts on the back porch

we had "papi" with us for the weekend, but i don't think he was too thrilled with all that was going on.

thanks kids! your time and efforts are the BEST mother's day present that you could ever give me. (and NO mel, next year i don't just want a flower pot!)

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

YOU ARE THE BEST!!

memorial day weekend

memorial day weekend is the time we like to take our trailer down to our lot. so late saturday afternoon, we loaded the trailer and headed down to fairview. if you remember, it was not a dry weekend! after slipping and slooshing (while i'm holding on with white knuckles!) up the mountain, we finally got to the top with no calamaties. and... just as we got the trailer to it's summer resting spot, the clouds burst and it rained all night.

just a little glimpse of how hard it was raining

this is the last hill we had to get up. it was a total mess!

sunday afternoon, chet and tiffany came down with kendyl and ryker. they pulled the four wheeler trailer down. by the time they got down to the lot, the tires had about 4 inches of mud and rocks on them.

monday morning turned out to be really nice. we did unload the wheelers and went for little rides (mostly down to godwin's), but we did ride them.

we put the swing up and ryker loved it!

kendyl actually likes the swing this year. last year, she didn't want anything to do with it. (she even wanted to go higher!)

ryker, sharing his fruit bar with "gammpa". (yes... we even have to take fruit bars camping with us!)

chet even got tiff in the swing. twisted her up as far as he could, and let go!

we had a great time, despite the rain. but then of course, this picture was what it was like as we were leaving to come home. beautiful, huh!

(this is why we love to go down there).

goodbye to fairview, until next weekend.

turkey anyone?

may 13th, we loaded up the fifth wheel and headed to 'monticello', to go turkey hunting. of course, we didn't leave until late (don and chet wouldn't know how to set up camp in the light), so by the time we got to our camping spot and all set up, it was about 2:00 the next morning. the guys, got up and left camp about 5 or 6 (i don't know for sure, because us 'smart' ones were still sound asleep). donnie came home with "his" turkey later that morning. the guys, after breakfast and a nap, went back out to look for turkeys. while we stayed back and watched the humming bird 'air raid' for the bird feeder.

donnie's big prize

one of the many birds we fed.

friday about 11:00, we all (don, me, cheyne, chet, tiffany, kendyl, and ryker) loaded up in
tiff's new car (armada) and until 11:00 that night, we were driving around looking for a turkey for chet. we stopped and had lunch somewhere on top of "san juan mountain". about 5:00 p.m. don said, "chet, i wish you would hurry up and kill your turkey, so we can go back to camp". and then kendyl came up with "dad, maybe you shouldn't shoot the turkey, cause just maybe he wants to stay alive"

don with his little buddy

donnie and i

cheyner - (trying to get away from the camera).

kendyl, chet, ryker and tiff

kendyl (with her "beautiful" pine cones) and ryker

this kid is all boy... here he is 'shooting' at the decoys.

saturday, the guys, once again went out early in the morning. don was driving tiff's car, (and if you have ever been with a guy who is driving and may be looking for wild game, you know that they "look" as they are driving, meaning, they don't pay attention to the road). well... the cattle guard just happened to jump right up and ripped into tiff's new car, doing quite a bit of damage. they almost had to bring the cattle guard home with them, because it was lodged up under the bumper and running board so tight. good thing it was don and not me or tiff. we would have NEVER heard the end of it. all in all, it was a nice trip, if nothing else, but to get away for a few days.