What I Love

I love children who practice without being asked!

July Fun

The pool parts came in and we've been having pool parties ever since. On this particular day all the girls were enjoying the pool when Trent and friends suddenly joined them...
They played a little rough, got wild, and did a lot of splashing.So the girls headed for some warm sun on the deck. (BTW these are the girls of the closet clubhouse).
Popcycles too, of course!Another day we turned the master bathroom into "Spa Ooo La La" and I gave Teagan and Brilee a manicure and pedicure. They couldn't wait to play that with their friends. Later I went out for a pedi of my own. I love to relax like that in the summer.
Bruce and Teagan went to a Daddy & Daughter Hoedown. She loved riding the horses the best. It was her second time ever being on a horse.
We've really enjoyed the firepit Bruce and Trent built during spring break. We've been experimenting with different kinds of s'mores.
My favorite way to do it is adding bananas and using the strawberry flavored marshmallows. Yum!
Oops! Trent tried roasting his mellows with the chocolate sitting on the top of them so it would melt a little too. But it dropped to the ground. Better luck next time bro...

This & That

We had a pretty fun 4th of July at Grandpa & Grandma Savage's house in Cache Valley. We watched the parade, had a barbecue, played with cousins and stayed for fireworks. Grandpa grilled melt in your mouth steaks. They were so yum! I forgot to take my camera though. But I found this silly picture of Teagan. I accidentally left a pair of Bruce's pants in her room while I was putting clean clothes away and when she found them she used one of her belts to create this look. Notice the weed hanging out of her mouth...
I was surprised to see her having such a good time with it. Go figure.
I also want to share a couple of quotes that I love from my friend Melinda's blog. They made me tear up when I read them. Kinda helps to have a reminder of where your priorities should be. Thanks Melinda!

I Was Really Here

I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates
in a shiny new sports car,
wearing beautifully tailored clothes,
my hair expertly coifed, and with
long, perfectly maincured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon
that has mud on the wheels from taking the kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut
butter on my shirt from making
sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children.

I want to be there with a little dirt
under my fingernails from helping to
weed someone's garden. I want to be
there with children's sticky kisses on
my cheeks and the tears of a friend on
my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know that I
was really here and that I really lived.

-Marjorie Pay Hinckley


You're Gonna Miss This

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

-Trace Adkins song

Dad's Scones

Bruce makes the best scones. Of course, he has the best helpers. The kids love when he makes dough. It usually gets turned into either rolls, bread, scones, or cinnamon rolls.
These things are the best with a little of Grandma Wimmer's rhubarb strawberry jam. Perfect mixture of tangy and sweet - so yummy! Thanks for the jam Mom!

TaVaci

Just a few quick catch up posts. Teagan and Brilee participated in an awesome spring TaVaci concert that was full of wonderful music. They sang their little hearts out.

This number below was really cool. There was no "music" or vocals, they made their own rhythms with all kinds of things. You can even see the plastic bag sticking out of Teagan's pocket (she's dead center with the white hat).
This one was my very favorite. Teagan came home with the assignment to find some "ugly clothes". We were visiting Bruce's parents and I was planning to hit the D.I. when Grandma pulled out an old jumper that used to belong to Aunt Janet. We won't say how old she is now. Grandma must have been hanging onto it just for Teagan, ha ha. The girl on the far right is holding a J.C. Penney catalog. They were swearing on a J.C. Penney catalog that they would NEVER let their mother's go shopping alone. They sang and danced to a cute song about mom's coming home with some, uh, interesting, okay "ugly" clothes and accessories when they go shopping for their daughter's alone.
It was really funny. Teagan is on the far right in their beginning pose.
I took all these pics with my old camera. At the end I was busy clapping and cheering loudly when my camera rolled off my lap and slammed onto the cement floor. I thought, 'No worries, I've dropped this old camera dozens of times.' However, this time it was crunched. So I mourned it's loss and got a new one for my birthday. Hopefully I'll be figuring it out soon. But speaking of birthdays, 40 is the new 30. That's all I have to say about that!

Reflections 2010

Congrats to Teagan who learned she got an Award of Merit at the state level in the PTA sponsored Reflections program again this year. An Award of Merit is basically an honorable mention. Here she is holding her trophy with her picture on the shelf above her. The theme was "Beauty is..." Teagan titled her picture "Friendship is Beautiful". There was a 'Required Artist Statement' in the paperwork where she had to explain how her work related to the theme. For that she wrote, "Do you have friends? Do you like them? Friends help you endure hardships. They help you fix mistakes. Friendship is beautiful." Her picture has friends doing all kinds of things like playing basketball, soccer, red rover, having a picnic, walking a dog, jumping on a trampoline, taking pictures and watching ducks in a pool. Way to go Teagan girl!

Pool Swept Away

I can't sleep. Yes, it is like 4 a.m. I get insomnia at odd hours. So figured I'd get up and tell you what happened yesterday afternoon. Well, it actually started a few days ago. It is finally warm here (at long last) and the kids have been dying, begging for Bruce to put up their swimming pool. We picked it up late last fall when the stores were slashing prices to get rid of them. We had one when we lived down South and it was fabulous. This one is much bigger - 24' around and framed. Anyway Monday he and the kids worked on leveling the spot, raking it out and wetting the ground down to compact the dirt. Yesterday morning Bruce worked on it some more but then had to get in to work and the kids were so determined (and impatient) that they figured they could assemble it themselves. I took Benjamin to a birthday party at 1:00 and Trent, Teagan, and Brilee were hard at work outside with Teagan reading the instructions and Trent leading the assembling. When I returned around 3:30 I was shocked to pull in the driveway and see the entire thing put together! It was a lot bigger than I realized it would be. The kids began begging to fill it up with water. Bruce had said it would take a day to fill. I was reluctant and wanted him to check it and make sure they had gotten everything right and tight so we wouldn't have any problems down the road. I know if it wasn't perfectly level the sides would bulge.

Brilee kept calling Bruce at work to find out when he was going to come home and check it. She was beyond ready to swim! I began folding clothes and finishing laundry. A while later Brilee came in to tell me the wind was blowing the pool away! I looked out the window - aaahhhhhh!!! 'This can't be happening!' I thought. Sure enough this fierce gust of wind was mangling the pool! It had been calm all day and the wind was suddenly turning on us. I panicked. What do I always do when I panic? I call Bruce! He said, 'Tell all the kids to go climb in it and I'll be right home!' It would have made a great blog picture but I certainly wasn't thinking about grabbing my camera, I was thinking, 'HOLY CRAP, this can NOT be happening!!!' I mean what a day for a huge gust of wind!!! I also said a few words (which we shall not print here) that I heard my sweet little Benjamin repeat, huh huh. Three of our neighbors working nearby came running over to help us hold it down. I jumped inside and they got all the poles out so it would lay flat. Boxes and other stuff were blowing across the street. Finally the wind calmed and I mean calmed. It was as if Mother Nature wanted that pool down and then she moved on to other parts. Sigh. What do ya do? Some of the poles got bent so now it must be fixed before we can put it up. Sad kiddos... I wonder if it even had a little water in the bottom if it would have stayed put? Or would that have been a bigger mess? Or would it have depended on how much water was in it?

Anyhooooo, Grandpa can we have a ride in your boat this weekend? Maybe we will enjoy some other bodies of water...

More Dance Pics

Dance Weekend

We just wrapped up an entire weekend of dance. Teagan had great fun this year. I'll post more pictures later. We're leaving today for a vacation back East and have oodles to do before we can get on our way...

Closet Clubhouse

A while back I came into the girls' bedroom to find this...
Yes, that is five pairs of little girl feet! Teagan, Brilee and their neighbor friends discovered a great place for a "secret club" - the top of their closet. Since I took these pictures they have completely decorated the place with everything from Harry Potter posters to American Girl doll cut outs to valentines from school. It's all decked out now. They have a secret club name, a secret stash of goodies, and lots of secret plans for the summer.
What really cracks me up is remembering Bruce's reaction to this very closet after our finisher had built it. He took one look and said, "What a big waste of space." It's really high since this room has a ten foot ceiling. Leave it to five cute little girls to put that problem to good use!

Sledding With Cousins

Bruce and Grandpa Savage got out the four wheelers and we went sledding at Sage Brush Hill in Cache Valley. Some of the girls were content to play at Grandmas. Benjamin was so excited to try out the sled Santa had brought!

Trent went solo

Chantel and Brilee

When Benjamin went down with Bruce he got a face full, and a back full of snow. Bruce couldn't fit his feet on the sled so all the snow they kicked up came right toward them. Brrr...

Chantel and Brilee try it backwards.

Ben and I climbing back up the hill.

Brilee made a snow angel.

Raquel and Brilee