The Savage Six

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

We had a yummy dessert last night for family home evening - strawberry and vanilla ice cream cake. The best part was Dad did the lesson. I LOVE when he takes charge!!! Happy Valentine's Day!

Back to School

2011-09-02T13:09:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was back to school and everyone had a new first. Trent started his first day of high school. Teagan began her first day of middle school. These two take off first at 7:30 a.m.

Then these two follow shortly after at 7:45 a.m. So thankfully everyone leaves about the same time which makes it possible for devotional to happen at a sane hour. Brilee had her first day of Montessori school (3rd grade). And Benjamin had orientation for kindergarten which will start next week. Since he left a little later for that he filled the gap with extra long teeth brushing, rinsing with mouth wash, and asking me to put gel in his hair. I love the gel look but normally he wants nothing to do with it. But he was good with some extra primping yesterday, which just cracked me up! But the result: a super handsome kid WITH fresh breath!

Splish Splash Hawaiian Bash

2011-08-28T19:13:00.011-06:00

Brilee was born the day after Christmas. It isn't exactly the best time to have a friend birthday party and so she has never had one. And always wanted one. And I've been promising her one for the last couple years. So now that we finally have some grass and landscaping we threw Brilee a big Splish Splash Hawaiian Luau Bash! She invited about ten friends.

We played three games: pass the coconut (like hot potato), beachball toss, and a tropical relay where the girls had to put on a grass skirt, large flower lei, big pair of flip flops, big straw hat, and crazy glasses. Then the part they were all dying for - the water slide...

We served the yummiest luau punch in pineapple cups, cake, and for the ice cream Teagan and Taryn (my party assistants) served sorbet in pineapple, coconut, orange, and lemon halves. My friend MaLea introduced me to it and it went along perfect with our party theme. Plus they are delicious! You can buy them at Costco.

These guys worked their tails off getting the new trampoline put in by party time. It had only arrived the day before the party, our old one was a saggy, droopy danger zone.

Long after the party was over neighbor kids stuck around and decorated our sidewalk with their beautiful artwork. The birthday girl sporting her new shades...

Benjamin and Shaylie played endlessly with the dragons...

By the end of the day we still had a houseful and they decided to make it a sleepover. Brilee got a Disney make-up kit and that led to some serious pink eyeshadow make overs. Then they raided the girls' dress closet and wanted me to take pictures of them. They were pretty silly by this time of night. Brilee loved every minute of her first official friend birthday party!

Bear Lake

2011-08-07T23:22:00.000-06:00

The Savage Crew had their annual "pow-wow" at Bear Lake this year. Grandpa and Grandma rented some cabins and they had a beautiful view. My niece, Chantel, designed shirts with this on the front...

and this on the back...

I thought they were cute since people will randomly sing that song to us from the Disney movie, Pocahontas. The hot tub was a hit and the kids were constantly in it when we were at the cabin.

We played some games, in fact Trent struck up a game of Monopoly with anyone willing to play.

Benjamin won his beloved Starbursts in the candy bar game.

We took a tour of Minnetonka Cave which is full of stalagtites and stalagmites. It was kinda cool.

No matter how many pictures we took of Trent his eyes were closed in all of them.

The cave is huge and a chilly 40 degrees year round.

This was the one they actually let us touch.

Then we had lunch and a couple hours on the beach. It was beautiful weather that day!

That night we went to Pickleville Playhouse for dinner and to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was a great show, Pickleville always does an awesome job.

The next day we wanted to be on the beach all day but the weather didn't cooperate so we finally came back to the cabin and fixed lunch...

Aunt Lisa brought sugar cookies and the kids had fun decorating them.

Brilee said, "Take a picture of my cookie glasses, Mom."

Shayna is an awesome decorator...

Bruce and Grandpa had to jump in the hot tub with the kids to get warm after the long, chilly trip bringing the boats back from North Beach.

One night we tried Bear Lake Pizza Company's "Old Ephraim" which is an enormous 28" pizza with 20 slices, each slice being 14" long. To give you an idea this slice in on a large dinner size paper plate...

We tried again the next day for more beach time. We did have a little better luck but it didn't last as long as we hoped before the wind came along.

This was Benjamin's butterfly friend. The kids got a kick out of seeing this beautiful insect close up but I think he ultimately had a bad wing...

Thanks for the cousin fun Grandpa and Grandma!

Utah Vacation

2011-07-21T13:28:00.025-06:00

In June we headed to Utah to attend the Wimmer Reunion in Nine Mile Canyon, a place my Dad loved and I visited often with him growing up. My grandparents were homesteaders out there.
This was my first look at a rock my Dad liked and had placed in front of his friend, Ben Mead's Bunk & Breakfast in Nine Mile Canyon. Ben spoke at my Dad's funeral in 2007 and told the story about the rock, which I'd never heard. So this was my motivation to definitely make it to the reunion this year when I learned it was to be held at Ben's Bunk & Breakfast. We also had a great visit many cousins and other relatives we don't see very often and had a delicious barbeque.

Here are some of Jack's descendants in front of what they call "Jack's Rock"...
Uncle Steve H. took us out to Huntington Reservoir for an evening of boat rides and the kids loved that but I didn't get any pictures. Bruce's part in our Utah vacation was cut drastically short as we had to drop him off at the SLC airport to fly to a conference in Massachusetts. But that didn't stop the rest of us from finding some fun. We stayed in Aunt Denette's fabulous guest suite. Dang it, if they didn't treat their guests so well we wouldn't bug them so much, hee hee. They have the most beautiful hiking trails right in their neighborhood. Denette took us on a relaxing hike where Teagan gathered a wildflower bouquet...
We did a cousin swap, we left Trent in Price and had Karli with us until we all met up at Lagoon.
The next day we went to The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. They've had the stingers removed from some of their stingrays and they actually have a petting tank. This was fascinating for the kids and one of the highlights.
There were all kind of engaging displays at this place...
We hit Panda Express for lunch then it was on to Cowabunga Bay in Draper and was it ever a good day for it with temperatures in the mid-ninety's!
This is a new place that's great for young kids as it has a small pool, a nice lazy river, and about 8-10 different slides.
The next day when we got to Lagoon we found a nice shady spot for our lunch and the "big" kids disappeared immediately. They were headed for the cool big kid rides. No little kid rides for them, they were outta there! We hardly saw them the whole day. Karra and I hung out with Teagan, Brilee, Benjamin, and Karli.
Our theory was that it was so hot everyone would probably go to Lagoon-A-Beach so maybe the lines wouldn't be so long. At the end of the day I think we were right because lines really weren't that bad.
We had to cool off at the Log Flume. Karli, Brilee, Teagan, Ben, & me.
Aunt Karra, Karli, and Brilee in the back of the Tidal Wave. Karli decided she didn't like that ride.
We discovered that Teagan is definitely her father's daughter. She was a little queasy about some of the rides especially roller coasters. On the other hand Benjamin is definitely his mother's son. He was game to go on everything and anything and was too short for most things he wanted to go on. He did, however, convince me to take him on the Jett Star 2, and this is his first time on the Sky Ride...
Benjamin teasing Trent with the air baseball Derek had won for him...
By the end of the day we were pooped!

Tee Ball

2011-07-19T18:41:00.011-06:00

Benjamin tried his hand at Tee Ball for the first time this summer. He was a member of the Homes West Hot Shots and he had a couple of awesome coaches. Above he is choosing a bat. Below here he is up to bat. He's my lefty.
After missing four games straight because of our vacations, we could no longer locate his team shirt. Sigh. He was pretty worried about that but luckily his coaches were cool about it. Here he is below dressed in white on 3rd base...
Here he is coming home...
Meeting with Coach Holli after the last game...
The team party was at Pizza Pie Cafe where pictures and awards were given out.
Best of all Coach Holli made baseball cupcakes! He can't wait until next season.

Moi Birthday

2011-07-19T02:00:00.008-06:00

On my birthday I got up about 8 a.m. I roused the sleeping kids and we had devotional. Then it was split, tear, run cuz we had places to be by 9 a.m. Ben had a tee ball game and Brilee had an appointment with her favorite "tudor". Bruce worked outside all day trying to get a drip line to all his newly planted trees. I've decided he is happiest out working on his acreage. I had worked out in the yard all the day before and loved every minute of it (except the wind) so today was clean up after the kids and neighborhood friends.

Then at 1:00 I went to Chili's for lunch with three sweet friends; Kirsten, Tiffini, and Lindsey. Kirsten had arranged it and that was a lot of fun. Later I dropped the girls off at their Activity Day leaders house and I actually made it to the gym - shock! That was my gift to myself. Then I went shopping and found a lot more than I thought I would, until finally I got a text from Bruce who was wondering if I had gotten lost. Lost in the moment that's all.
When I got home Bruce had made dinner - BBQ chicken, twice baked potatoes, and orange jello. And my sweet Teagan girl had baked me this chocolate cake...
Don't you love the freckles? Teagan pointed them out to me - orange sugar - LOVE IT! After dinner I showered and Bruce and I went to a movie while the kids went to bed. Fun day!

Luscious Strawberries

2011-07-19T00:06:00.021-06:00

I love when the price of strawberries drops. I introduced the kids to dipping them into chocolate this Spring and we did it several times. They absolutely loved it! I love that combination of flavors; sweet savory strawberries and melted milk chocolate, yu-uummmy. We also had a lot of fun with our trifle bowl this Spring (pics at bottom).
Teagan's wearing a mask she made for art at school.
My Mom and sister came up for Time Out for Women in June but sadly this is the only picture I took. T.O.F.W was sooo good this time. I loved Heidi Swinton, Brad Wilcox, and Kris Belcher, and discovered the music group, Mercy River. I had never listened to their music before but it's been the only thing in my CD player since.
Teagan and I made our guests a mixed berry trifle with cream cheese flavored pudding and vanilla pudding. It was so good. I LOVE fresh fruit, it's one of my favorite things about summer.
Teagan decorated the top of this trifle which was another of the same on a different day.
Another day we experimented with that new Jello brand chocolate mousse pudding and strawberry pudding. It was even better!

Olive Garden

2011-07-17T18:08:00.010-06:00

We drove to the Idaho Falls Temple Visitors Center to catch Mark Mabry's Reflections of Christ display before it left. I didn't have a good feeling about it when we pulled up to find a construction project had begun out front. It turns out they closed it early that day because of the project. We were so bummed since we'd made the effort to drive over and the schedule had said it would be open. We decided to go to one of my favorite restaurants (that we don't have in our city), the Olive Garden. However, three of our four kids ordered this:
Yeah, we may as well have gone to McDonald's if all they wanted was chicken nuggets and french fries! I ordered the braised beef and tortellini and it was heavenly. It ended up being a nice drive and family evening after all.

Ben Quote of the Day

2011-07-13T19:42:00.017-06:00

Benjamin said something last night while I was putting him to bed that made me laugh. I want to remember it so I'm going to write about it but I need to give you some background first. When we moved from ultra humid Louisiana to ultra dry Idaho something immediately happened. The younger three kids' skin threw a complete fit! Their skin became intensely dry and they would scratch until it bled. We had to go to the doctor and everyone got their own prescription strength steroid cream. Even that didn't help a ton. It was just such a complete change! In the South we would occasionally get out the hydrocortisone for Teagan's itches and that always took care of things. Nothing really seemed to do the job in Idaho. Although the girls have had their moments, Ben has suffered with it the very most.

Finally, I discovered Aquaphor and learned that if I faithfully cover Benjamin's legs with it DAILY, his exema becomes manageable. If we miss a few days they become so dry and awful looking. He can't resist scratching and then they bleed and look worse. Usually when I put him to bed and he starts itching like crazy, that's my reminder to grab the Aquaphor container and start greasing him up with it (literally)! Well, last night he came in my room to find the finger nail clippers and asked me to help him. I clipped his nails all nice and short. When he laid down in his bed he went to scratch and said, "Look Mom now I won't scratch my legs cuz my nails are too short." He knew I'd like that since I'm always telling him to not scratch, but grab the medicine instead.

Now that's a "Savage Sandwich" taken fall 2006. Benjamin turned one just a couple months after we moved here. This is one of the last pictures I got of my dad. He and mom came for a visit October 2006. Little did we know he would be gone in one short year. Seeing snow again was most exciting, but the cold weather was super drying to the skin. Man, sometimes you don't notice how much your kiddos have grown up until you take a look back...

End of School Year

2011-06-17T22:46:00.009-06:00

Teagan really cleaned up at the end of the year awards assembly. One she was proud of was the Presidential Physical Fitness Award fifth graders can earn. I helped her class work on this throughout the year. They were timed on the shuttle run for speed, one mile run for endurance, sit and reach test for flexibility, and sit-ups and pull-ups for general strength. Teagan's flexibility blew everyone out of the water. Sadly, this was the area that kept many of the otherwise super fit boys from getting the award.
The girls had a great Spring TaVaci Concert! Every year they want to do TaVaci and I say, "Why?!? No one around this house sings! You barely sing in school programs and Primary so why should I pay for singing lessons?" And every year they tell me that TaVaci is different and it is fun. I DO wish they would sing more in other areas of their lives. But then again I'm not much of a singer, other than tickle backs every night, maybe that is the problem?
Trent surprised me with his willingness to participate in the last day of school talent show on June 1st. He played the theme song from the Titanic. Just to warn you Bruce had to hold the camera over his head to get the shot so it's a little shaky especially at the beginning. But listen to it because he did a great job! We're so proud of him!

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-24T10:26:00.008-06:00

We took our kids to the Field of Heroes at a local high school. It is pretty overwhelming when you consider that each cross represents an American soldier who was killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

This front line represents Idahoans, many of which had been decorated by loved ones.

Benjamin

2011-05-22T18:37:00.005-06:00

The other day I was mopping and Ben thought it looked fun, so he pretty much took over. What would I do without this little helper keeping me company at home while everyone else is in school?
This clever kiddo finds ways to get what he is after! I was working in the kitchen when I looked in the pantry to find this...
He used the stool to reach the number ten cans, then added them to the stool to make himself high enough to reach the popcorn. I didn't know whether to yell or laugh.
The 16" bike brought by the Easter Bunny. He won't be needing those training wheels.
I love this kid sooooo much!

A Week in the Life

2011-05-20T16:42:00.011-06:00

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are." -Mary Jean Irion

I love this quote, probably because I need it. Sometimes with motherhood it is easy to not savor everyday life but instead get caught up in the stresses and to dos. Here is a glance of a week in our lives from the Spring of 2011.

On Monday, we had a celebration. EVERYONE had made their beds (even Mom)! Twas a bloomin' miracle! We made such a fuss about it that, sheesh, it happened a few more days in the week. Sometimes in life we need to celebrate the little things.
On Tuesday, three little "chicks" made a "nest" on Mom and Dad's bed. Lot's of rain (which we will never complain about here in the barren desert) this Spring kept the kids inside for entertainment. I think they used about every blanket they could possibly find.
On Wednesday, Brilee loaded the scripture basket with all her babies and stuffed friends and played for hours.
Thursday was the 2011 Reflections Banquet. Teagan placed at the school and district level and was a state participant. Way to go my little artist! She received a gift card to Wal-Mart.
Teagan and her friend, Lydia, who placed in photography.
On Friday, Teagan's G.A.T.E. class launched the rockets they have been working on. Teagan's went forever high but on the way down her parachute didn't come out so it had a hard landing.

Dance & Zoo

2011-05-17T23:16:00.010-06:00

May 7th was the girls last dance competition of the season. We headed down to stay with Aunt Denette Friday night then had to be at Taylorsville High School by 8:30 a.m. This was a huge competition with hundreds of dancers.
I haven't taken many pics of the girls in costume so I'll have to get some at recital time. It was a long day. We had time to sneak away for lunch in between numbers because there were so many groups there. It turns out Brilee's group got 1st place for both of their categories and Teagan's group got a 2nd and a 3rd place. I thought they did awesome up against the big studios in the big city. We matched them dance step for dance step.
It was a gorgeous day and they were done performing by 4:30 so we headed over to the zoo. The girls couldn't wait to peel off those dance tights and get into some comfy shorts. We just wanted to be outside. We got lucky as we arrived at five minutes to five and they closed the doors at five. But they let those inside wander around until 6:30. It was plenty of time for us.
Trying to squeeze us all into a pic in front of some scruffy looking camels who were shedding their winter coats.
Brilee trying to get a look at the giraffes...
Brilee said, "Look Teagan, he's all wrinkled. He must be old."
The sun was a little bright in front of the elephants.
On our way out of town we drove around Temple Square and I couldn't believe the beautiful display of tulips. They were amazing! Everything was in full bloom. I would have stopped but couldn't find a close, convenient place to park and I didn't want to take too long cuz we had a long drive home and the girls were pretty tired. Teagan took the pic below while we were at a stop light and the funny thing is it doesn't even have a single tulip in it. It was tulip heaven. And so peaceful too with not very many people around. This is seriously the time to visit Temple Square. I'll have to remember that for the future.

Knee Surgery

2011-05-08T17:45:00.006-06:00

Mom had a total knee replacement in April so last weekend I headed down to visit her in the Payson hospital. She may shoot me for posting these pics, heehee. Denette and I had a nice visit with her on Saturday then she had several visitors on Sunday.
Karra painted her toe nails and did a lot of this...
It just happened to be my nephew Jordan's 15th birthday. He has grown a ton lately.
Sisters...Denette, me, Karra
Morgan, Denette, Krista, Karli, me, Karra
Mom is doing awesome in her recovery. Get better quick, Mom, so you can come up for T.O.F.W. girls weekend in June!

What I Love

2010-10-24T07:25:00.001-06:00

I love children who practice without being asked!

July Fun

2010-07-24T08:17:00.028-06:00

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

2010-07-07T23:52:00.012-06:00

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

2010-07-03T07:33:00.004-06:00

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

2010-06-30T06:36:00.015-06:00

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

2010-06-30T05:46:00.008-06:00

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

2010-06-30T04:03:00.007-06:00

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

2010-06-22T15:02:00.008-06:00

Dance Weekend

2010-06-07T09:46:00.003-06:00

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

2010-06-03T22:13:00.006-06:00

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

2010-01-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

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

Brilee's 7th Birthday

2010-01-02T00:23:00.006-07:00

Brilee's birthday is the day after Christmas. Every year we head south to celebrate with cousins. (It's not exactly the best time to have a friend party and she's never had one). I think next summer we will have a half birthday celebration with friends. This year we brought a cake down with us and Grandma Savage had made her a pink cake so she had two! Below are Benjamin, Trent, Chantel, Raquel, & Brilee.

Brilee, Cherakie, Hailey, Teagan

Putting on her giant purple lipstick piggy bank filled with stationary.

Happy 7th Birthday Brilee Su Mykellykell!

Christmas '09

2010-01-01T22:44:00.014-07:00

Trent did a lot of babysitting the week before Christmas while I was trying to finish things up. I found these pictures on my camera. I don't know who had more fun the babysitter or the babysitted (Benjamin).

Santa found us this year. He wrapped everything!

He even ate all the goodies Brilee had layed out for him. It cracked me up that she even filled a water bottle for him...

The girls found these black headband bows in their stocking.

Grandma Wimmer gave Benjamin the cutest little cat that rolled around on the floor and laughed and laughed. Ben got such a kick out of it! Teagan picked it up and the tail just kept rotating around and around as he laughed...

Trent got some Wii and DSi games he was excited about.

Benjamin spent an hour playing with this Play-Doh set.

Trent used a new tool set to help Bruce put together a Barbie mansion for the girls.

Ben gravitated back to the Play-Doh set...

He and Teagan made Bruce a steak, potatoes and gravy, and green beans. Yum!

We played lots of games...

Each of the kids found a toy air gun by their stocking and that led to several battles throughout the day. Here Benjamin hides in the pantry from Brilee who is chasing him on her roller blades.

Brilee got this little Appletters game that's like Scrabble but you don't keep score. I thought it was neat that on one of my turns I had enough of the right letters to spell out 'Christ' on Christmas day (above). Hope yours was a merry one!

Brrrrrrr...

2009-12-10T14:12:00.002-07:00

Today while driving my girls to school the temperature gauge in the car said it was minus 16 degrees outside! Brrrrrr! Some schools around got canceled but not our district. Trent is home sick with the flu. Oooohhhhh how I'm longing for those Southern winters today..... Andrea, Lisa, Lynetta, Martina, or Melinda if you go Christmas shopping today in shorts I don't want to hear about it.

She's Double Digits!

2009-12-02T16:56:00.010-07:00

Yesterday Teagan turned 10! She chose to have a family party (after some bribing from her father). Teagan Malia was my only baby that came right on her due date.
I told her to give me a happy smile so she did this...
Teagan loves those Andes' chocolate mints so I made her a cake with them. It turned out fabulous! The frosting is just creme cheese, cool whip, and Andes' mint pieces. Then we decorated the top with mint curls.

Some things to know about 10 year old Teagan include: favorite kind of ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough, fav color is purple, primary song is "Stars Were Gleeming", fav food would definitely be brownies. She loves to make brownies and cake and has gotten good enough that when she comes to me and asks if she can make a cake, I can say yes and know that she can do the whole thing from start to finish and I never have to go into the kitchen. (Still working on the clean up part without reminders though ;) Teagan loves to play with friends, ride bikes, and read as she's currently diving into the Harry Potter series. She's going through book 3 like a mouse through a block of cheese. She watches the movies after she finishes each book and says she wants to be a writer when she grows up.

She came home with a cerebrum in a ziplock bag from school a couple weeks ago. They dissected the brain of a sheep in her gifted class. I might have to secretly dispose of that thing. Hope she's not planning to keep it forever but with her you never know, lol! She also placed first in the visual arts category in her school's Reflections contest this year. Way to go Teagan, we love you!
Happy Double Digit Birthday!!!

Thanksgiving '09

2009-12-02T14:00:00.017-07:00

For Thanksgiving this year my mom and both sisters and their families came up. Some hadn't even seen our home yet so it was great to have everyone here. They all ran the turkey trot in Salt Lake and arrived early afternoon. My nieces have all but grown up and they are beautiful! Here my sister, Karra, and nieces Erica and Ashley are putting together dip for the veggies.Morgan, Karra, and Erica
Below is my sister, Denette, and the boys Trent, Jordan, Derek, and Benjamin who were either running around or hangin' out in the living room...
Finishing up the food prep and carving the turkey...
Steve, Ashely, Denette, Mom, Trent, me, Krista, Jordan
Krista, Jordan, Karra, Steve, Erica, Steve, Ashley
Later on we planned to break out the games but ended up just visiting and laughing and eating leftovers, which we had TONS of...
The next day we hit a few stores but the kids were dying to go to Outer Limits for some laser tag. That's pretty much become a tradition since that's where we go every time they come up. The kids weren't gonna let us out of it this time for sure. Then we hit the Christmas parade and Gingerbread house display. We played a mean game of Taboo and by then, the little kids were beyond exhausted. Saturday everyone had to head back home. It was fun, glad you came up!

Trick-or-Treaters

2009-11-02T21:45:00.005-07:00

Hope yours was a happy Halloween!

Brilee, my cute little toothless Egyptian.
They make chocolate ears?

Ben's First Preschool Party

2009-10-28T22:41:00.005-06:00

Benjamin chose to be a Knight in shining armor for Halloween this year. He sure is proud of his costume and was so excited for the party they were going to have today at preschool.
This is Ms. Shawna and her class of six boys, that's right all boys. I love that it's such a small group and Ben adores his teacher.
He came home with lots of things he'd made including the candy necklace he's wearing. Benjamin is so animated - he's a little ham. Love him!

One Big Pumpkin

2009-10-22T09:38:00.002-06:00

Benjamin and Brilee are sitting on top of a 600+ pound pumpkin grown by Cliff Warren, a neighbor of ours whom Bruce went to school with in Utah. We also learned Bruce had dated his wife's sister... small world. This year Cliff also grew an over 400 pound pumpkin and LOTS of smaller ones they shared with friends. We grew lots of pumpkins of our own. News of what we've been up to coming soon...

Back to School

2009-08-31T09:39:00.009-06:00

Everyone is now back in school. Trent started 7th grade, Teagan is in 4th and Brilee is in 1st. Benjamin started preschool today at Ms. Shawna's house. He's been saying her name all week and telling everyone who his teacher is. I thought I would have to go with him and hang around for a bit but he went right in, hung up his backpack, turned around and flashed me a big smile and waved goodbye! As I walked back to my car I thought, 'well that went better than I thought.' I'm so happy! Now the race is on to see how much I can get done before pick up time!

Squeazin' the Last Bit of Fun Outta Summer

2009-08-24T22:36:00.015-06:00

Bruce, Trent, and Jordan floating the Portneuf River.

It took some convincing to get Brilee to go down the slides by herself at Lava but when she finally did she decided she loved them. Then we couldn't get her off!

Trent can go down without losing his contacts. One of his many talents, lol.
Benjamin was posing as a fierce Tiger...
Teagan and her friend, Mindy, taking a break on the snake.
They also loved the climbing wall and diving boards. It took them four hours to muster the courage to go off the high dive (not the platforms) but just before we left they had both jumped off it once. Yeah!
Hanging' out at Jumpin' Jacks with Morgan, Derek, and Karli...

We LOVE ice cream!!!
Jordan and Brilee got creative with a container of airsoft gun ammo...

Cousin Time

2009-08-08T13:29:00.010-06:00

Bruce and Trent headed to Treasure Mountain for scout camp so we headed South to visit our Price cousins. We enjoyed International Days, took in a parade, did lots of swimming, floated the canal, played on the rope swing, canned apples, visited with Great Grandma Henrie (who's almost 92!) and had cousin sleepovers every night between Grandma's house and Aunt Karra's house.

Karra wanted to spend a day on Huntington Lake but Steve had to work so it was her first time to take the boat out all by herself. She unloaded it like a pro. The kids loved it!

Benjamin checkin' out the water...
Morgan, Karli, and Brilee

Derek and Morgan like to go FAST!
The D-Man
Brilee, Benjamin, and Teagan loved the boat!

Even Benjamin jumped in!

The kids were excited to catch some crawfish (or as they call them here crawdads). Derek tied some deer meat onto the string and let's just say they came running! Morgan caught some big ones.
Karli, Derek, Benjamin, Teagan, Morgan

Checking the lines for crawfish.
My sister, Karra, and I.
We really wore all the kids out but especially 3 year old Benjamin.
They caught a whole bucket full and I asked them what they planned to do with them next. To my surprise Derek informed me they'd be dumping them back into the lake. I told him we used to eat them when we lived in the Deep South. Trent loved them - we were raising a genuine southern boy! But if I remember right they were more of a red color down there. I guess here they just catch them for fun...
While we were there Karra turned the big 37!

And Karra loves to do girl hair! I need to borrow her for our dance competitions, lol!
Teagan and Morgan. Thanks for hangin' out with us, we had fun!

Alaska

2009-07-08T22:50:00.001-06:00

Grandpa decided that going to Alaska and doing a little fishing was one of the items on his bucket list. So, off we went during the middle of June. Trent and I joined up with Grandpa and Grandma Savage, my sister Janet, her husband Bert and two of their kids, BreAnna and Josh, and my brothers Roy and Blake. The ten of us – off on a fishing and sight seeing adventure.

We flew into Anchorage, AK late one night and headed straight for the hotel. The next day, we picked up the rental cars and did a little sight seeing around Anchorage. I lived in Anchorage for a summer (18 years) ago but I was surprised that I could still remember a few of the streets around town. But it obviously has changed. They have a temple now – which we stopped by to see.

After a few hours in Anchorage, we headed down the Kenai Peninsula towards Homer, AK. On the way, we stopped at Portage Lake to get a glimpse of Portage Glacier. The Glacier has receded way up the mountainside but there are small icebergs floating in the lake.

Here is the remains of an iceberg just before it completely gone.

The road follows Cook Inlet for quite a ways down the road. The view is beautiful.

We stopped at the little (and I mean little) town of Ninilchik. We had a couple of rental "cabins" to stay in for the week. The cabins were small but nice. While in Ninilchik, we went fishing out on Cook Inlet for Halibut three times. We caught our limit (2 per person) each time as well as a few other types of fish (sculpin and cod) that were either used as bait or tossed back. The Sculpin (Irish LordFish) were about the ugliest fish I have personally laid eyes on. It was like an oversized bullfish with fins that stuck way out. I wish I had taken a picture of it. Here are the ten of us with one days catch.

Most of the halibut were in the 25 - 40 pound range but a few were bigger. Trent got lucky and pulled in a 90 lb one. It took him a while to get it in.

Grandma and Grandpa admiring the catch. Grandpa caught the second largest one that day (47 pounds). It looks puny next to Trents.

The view down a halibut's mouth. Not as scenic as other parts of Alaska.

One day we went King salmon fishing on the Kasilof river using a drift boat. It wasn' t as fun as I thought it would be. The fishing was slow and the river was full (and I mean full) of boats. Still we saw plenty of eagles and I was one of the lucky ones. I pulled in a 31 inch (28 lb) King salmon. I really enjoyed the fight. I got him up to the boat several times and he would take off again.

One day we decided to go down to Homer and take a sight seeing tour out on the ocean and across to Seldovia. Seldovia is a small town of about 250 -300 that can only be reach by boat or plane. It was a pretty view getting there. We saw lots of birds and a few sea otters.

Trent decided to read up on Seldovia while we are on the cruise ship.

Overall, it was a great trip and we had a lot of fun.

Yeah, thats what I'm talking about.
Bruce

Blessing in Disguise

2009-07-06T21:43:00.022-06:00

All week leading up to the 4th of July we were trying to decide what to do. We usually go to Cache Valley to hang out with cousins and grandparents. Plus they have a better parade. But I was just there the weekend before to return cousins and the kids had sorta worn Grandma out. So we reluctantly decided to stay home this 4th of July and go to the parade here. It was short but we had a good time. As we were leaving I was beginning to wish we had made the drive anyway. I said to Bruce, "Why'd ya let me talk us into staying here this weekend?"
Anyway we got some lunch and went to a park and played tag with the kids. It was the park we used to live by and that's what we used to always do when we'd go there. They weren't about to let us nap, it would break tradition. The day before someone had called and asked us to clean the church. Who asks people to clean the church on the 4th of July?!? Can't we be a little more organized than that? I totally let this guy off the hook by telling him we would since we'd be in town anyways. I was a little grumbly about the whole thing but at 2:00 we headed over to the church to clean for a couple hours. The kids were super excited about the fireworks show we planned to attend that night. Especially Benjamin. He kept asking if it was time for the fireworks yet.
But then these nasty clouds decided to roll into town... Bruce took this picture from our back deck. He thought it was fascinating how all these clouds rolled together as if they were going to form a twister. No, not a twister they just decided to DUMP all their contents over our area in a very short period of time...
We've had a very unusual summer so far. It has not been very hot and we've had record amounts of rainfall. Which, ordinarily I would love it, but we've been trying to landscape and it is going much slower than I'd like and the dirt isn't all in it's permanent place so our window wells have been letting water in with each rain dumpage. Thankfully we only finished a family room in our basement and the problem window wells have been in the unfinished part so we haven't really had any major damage to speak of, we just have to watch them everytime it rains. Each time Bruce has thought he solved the problem. Well on this day I was sooooo grateful we were home as not only did we have one window well that water was pouring in but this time the water really began to rise in our walk out basement area. This had never happened before but because there's no lawn yet nor a berm installed yet at the top, water began eroding quickly down toward the house. This was the 'lake' outside our family room window downstairs...
I used towels to dam the water and keep it from getting to the carpet. There was maybe an inch of water sitting in the unfinished hallway. The kids were bringing all the towels in the entire house down to me and they were getting soaked rather quickly.
The worst part was seeing the water rise outside the basement door. It came up so quickly! The girls heard me panicking and started praying it wouldn't start coming in the door. OK, honestly, I was praying too. It was not fun! After bailing out the window well Bruce jumped in the skidsteer and began moving dirt around to stop the streams coming toward the house. I thought about the damage that could have happened had we not been there to prevent it. Water came to within 4-5 inches of the basement door! I took this pic awhile after the rain stopped and the water had receeded quite a bit.A beautiful rainbow came out and we WERE able to go to our fireworks show. It was chilly but the kids loved it. The next day we learned that all but Sacrament meeting had been canceled for our entire stake so people could get out and help those that had severe damage. MANY basements got flooded. Being at home turned out to be our blessing in disguise. I'll never grumble again about cleaning the church - holiday or not! ;)

Cousin Camp

2009-07-03T11:30:00.024-06:00

When both of our husband's were in Alaska on a fishing excursion my SIL, Heather came up for a visit. (The Alaska pictures are posted below). She left a couple of her girls to spend a week with us while she went to girls camp. We had a great time with Hailey and Raquel. The first thing we did was make them part of the family and put them to work!

After that we had fun. We went swimming a lot. On the cool days we went to the indoor pool at the gym and on the one hot day we went to the outdoor pool. They played school, jumped, reenacted High School Musical 3 with all the neighbor girls, made cookies, (surprisingly good ones btw) climbed trees, went on a nearly 5 mile bike ride, got wet and muddy, went roller skating, played cards, played with the neighbors cats, a stray dog and caught bugs. Last but not least they starred in a TaVaci commercial. Whew! TaVaci is a school for the performing arts that Brilee participated in and that Teagan is wanting to do with her in the fall. This week the kids are bored and miss their cousins.

Cousins

2009-06-18T22:27:00.003-06:00

There's got to be some fun for all this rain!

Reflections

2009-06-13T12:30:00.015-06:00

Reflections is a National PTA Program supporting the arts in schools. Students of PTA schools have the opportunity to enter into any of six categories. All three of our school age kids decided to enter pictures in the visual arts category. The top three in each category and age group advance. There were 152 entrants in the visual arts category from our childrens school so we were surprised to learn that Trent, Teagan, AND Brilee all placed and would go on to the district competition. A couple months later we learned that both Teagan and Brilee had won and would go on to the state level. Wow! That was the theme by the way.

Trent titled his 'Seaside Volcano'.
Teagan titled hers 'A Quiet Day in the Country'. It is very colorful and has a lot of detail.
Brilee titled hers 'Wow! It's a Beautiful Day'. Brilee climbed up to the bar and looked at Teagan's picture and basically drew her own version of that (lol) but, hey, she went pretty far with it. =)A couple weeks ago we attended a nice awards program they held for all district and state winners and we learned that Teagan received an Award of Merit at the state competition. Way to go Teagan! Way to go ALL little budding artists!

Field & Fun Day

2009-05-27T09:24:00.010-06:00

The end of the school year has lots of fun activities. Yesterday Benjamin and I went to the "big kids school" to help out with Field & Fun Day. I maned the milk jug toss station all day. Benjamin was here, there, and everywhere. He had a great time and got exhausted. The weather was absolutely perfect in the mid-70's with sun and no wind! I finally sent Brilee around with my camera while the 4th - 6th graders were out on the field to get some pictures since I constantly had kids at my station and was sorta stuck there. Here's what she came up with:
There were these crazy suits to put on at this station where the kids danced around on a parachute to some fun music. I looked over to see Trent jammin' out in the stripes! It was hilarious!

Art Show

2009-05-27T09:02:00.003-06:00

Easter Egg

2009-05-17T23:06:00.003-06:00

Well, its a little late but I found this picture of an Easter Egg that Teagan and I made this year. Cool huh! Kinda of like a picture of the cosmos wrapped around the egg. Brilliant purples and deep blues; the picture doesn't do it justice.

How did we do it - well that's a family secret now. Gayla was rolling her eyes and telling us that we were going to ruin one of her nice hand towels with the permanent food coloring. Yep, but it was worth it.
Bruce

Happy Birthday

2009-05-12T20:23:00.003-06:00

Happy 44th Bruce!

2009-05-12T16:05:00.008-06:00

Today Bruce turned 44 so here are 44 things I love about him:
1. He is patient.
2. He has large, warm, strong hands.
3. He is good at math.
4. He is an excellent teacher, Trent is lucky to have his constant help with his math.
5. He is a very good listener. Sometimes Bruce answers the phone when my sister calls and she once told me she felt like she could talk to him all day, he's such a good listener!
6. He never whines, just gets the job done.
7. He's my heater at night - what would my ice cold feet do without him?
8. He's very strong. For someone who doesn't exercise regularly he sure can pull a lot of strength out of his muscles when we really need it, like when we move, which seems to have been often in our nearly 16 years together.
9. He is respectful to his parents.
10. He wants to stay out of debt.
11. His domestic skills put me to shame. It's funny that I can take a loaf of bread over to a neighbor and they naturally think I made it and later tell how good it was, Bruce just smiles and lets me take the credit (too modest to do otherwise) I can't believe I'm admitting this - I'm really blowing my cover (LOL).
12. He can seriously make the BEST bread, dinner rolls, cookies, and cinnamon rolls!
13. He's willing to mop the floor when I'm in a pinch and probably does as good a job or better than me. Cleans the microwave (jobs I hate).
14. Understands the sewing machine a lot better too.
15. He never drinks caffeinated beverages.
16. He has overcome some really tough things.
17. I love when we work together on a project and really connect over it.
18. He loves to garden and plant all kinds of things.
19. He has already planted about 200 trees on our lot.
20. He introduced me to sushi and I love it. (Served a church mission to Japan)
21. I love to spoon with him at night.
22. I am grateful that he works hard and is a good provider for our family.
23. He encourages our family to be our best.
24. He is an exceptionally great father and is basically worshiped by our children.
25. He chases kids through the house laughing rediculously during "tickle parties".
26. If he comes home and the house is a mess he never asks me what I've done all day.
27. He is five years older than me.
28. I love his broad shoulders and nice buns. (Can I say that on a family blog?)
29. When I was dating I hoped I could marry someone that was bigger than me, like if I sat on his lap I wouldn't feel like I was crushing him. I thing I got that.
30. He supports me in the things I want to do.
31. He fixes things around the house.
32. He gives great back rubs.
33. He never complains about the lunches I make for him.
34. He eats everything I cook (whether it's good or otherwise).
35. He makes the best homemade french fries. Idaho potatoes really are GREAT for that!
36. He listens when I talk about things that trouble me, and he works hard to make adjustments when necessary.
37. He encourages me and gives me good advise when I need to hear it and is quiet when I can't take it.
38. If Benjamin's behavior gets loud at church I LOVE, LOVE that Bruce takes him out and lets me enjoy the meeting.
39. I love when Bruce takes the lead with Family Home Evening.
40. The "hernia wall" (retaining wall) is almost finished and looks great.
41. He worked super hard on the window wells for the basement and THEY ROCK (literally)!
42. He is a good leader.
43. I appreciate his willingness to serve others; neighbors, at church etc.
44. He is kind: a great example of "a soft answer turneth away wrath."

Happy 44th Bruce------------I love you!!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom

2009-05-10T10:31:00.002-06:00

Smart Boy

2009-05-06T10:05:00.002-06:00

Here's what Benjamin likes to do on cold mornings. He makes a bed right in front of the fire. Yes, it is May but we still turn this thing on in the mornings.

One of Those Days

2009-03-04T23:58:00.008-07:00

Yesterday was one of those days! It began when Teagan missed the bus. I threw on some clothes and drove her to school stopping at Smith's on the way home just to pick up some hot deals on their ad. Seventy seven dollars later I came out and headed home. How does that happen? I came home to find Bruce getting ready for work and Benjamin climbing to the top (the TOP) of the dining room chairs and jumping onto the couch. All the chairs happened to be in the living room because I was going to mop the day before but was never able to finish the job. Anyway he kept getting hurt but just didn't want to stop jumping. I was able to get some laundry and other jobs done in the middle of the day thank goodness.

Now you have to know that our family is a tad overscheduled this school year. I'd rather think of it as being involved and busy. I'm very grateful our children are able to participate in different things of their choosing, I like the schedule we've worked out and I'm not complaining about it one bit. However, as 3:00 draws near I start getting anxious. We usually have neighbor friends I need to send home, then get everything we'll need for the rest of the day: snacks, water bottles, extra pants for my recently potty trained boy whose still having trouble in the bm department, get my workout gear on, motivate the kids to change into the gear they'll need for whatever they're participating in that day. Well, yesterday Trent had swimming from 4-5, Teagan had dance from 4:30-6:00, Brilee and Benjamin were going to go to the Kids Klub while I squeezed in a workout for myself at the gym. Then Trent and Teagan had early judging (cuz the girls have a dance performance out of town this weekend) for the Jr. Music Fest and they had to arrive in their Sunday best by 6:25 p.m.

So I was throwing dinner in the crock pot, making sure I had all the dressy clothes and sending kids to the car when I realized I couldn't find my keys anywhere. Nor could I seem to locate my spare set of keys. Finally, all the kids were in their seat belts and all the gear was in the car but I was still walking through the house wondering what in the world I had done with my keys when I'd gotten home from Smith's earlier in the day. They weren't in ANY of the places I put them and I was worried that Benjamin had played with them. I went out to the car to question him and let him out of his carseat to show me where he might have put them. Nothing came of it and by this time both Teagan and Brilee were praying we would find the keys but it just wasn't working.

Finally I called Bruce and he said he'd run his key home but I knew it would take him a good 15 minutes to get there. So I just took a deep breath and started folding the pile of clean clothes on my bed to calm down. What else could I do? When he made it home we finally got on our way and Teagan was only a little late for dance but Trent had pretty much missed his swim session and I canceled my Kids Klub reservation and tried to run some errands instead. We picked Teagan up from dance at 6:00 and the kids changed into their dressy clothes on the way to ISU. I pulled into my parking spot and looked at the clock - 6:20. Ahh, we're early. One good thing to happen today. We met up with Bruce inside and checked in. It was then I realized I completely forgot about their sheet music, it was sitting on the piano at home. They were each playing two songs. The director said Trent and Teagan needed the sheet music to give to the judges so they'd know if the song was being played right.

Sooooo, I jumped in the car and raced home all the while Benjamin screamed that he had changed his mind and didn't really want to go with mom but wanted to stay there with dad! By this time I seriously couldn't believe how the day was going. It took me a good 30 minutes to get home and back and I was FAST to say the least. Meanwhile, Trent and Teagan had been able to practice their pieces on pianos in the fine art building so they were ready to go. The best news of the day is that they both earned SUPERIOR scores! Next year the sheet music will be THEIR responsibility. They'll probably remember better than I and save me a trip home. Great job Trent and Teagan!

Benjamin entertaining himself by being a puppy.
Trent is showing off his new florescent green retainer.

Bruce and Teagan

I've Missed Skiing!

2009-02-25T23:31:00.002-07:00

Tonight our ward (church congregation) rented the ski resort that's a 30 minute drive from where we live. I had a blast! The first couple of runs I was pretty rusty. Well, hey, there sure aren't any ski hills in the South! After a while I was loving it and can't wait to go again. I love that we live this close to a resort! Trent and I were the only ones to ski, Bruce chased the other three around the lodge. It was kind of funny cuz it was only Trent's third time to ski but he was giving me refresher pointers. I think it's been at least 13 years since I have snow skied. It sure felt good to go again, forgot my camera though. Next time...

Top 8 of '08 even if its late

2009-02-22T22:19:00.028-07:00

I've been wanting to post our family's top 8 events of '08 but thanks to the help of one certain three year old, I couldn't find my memory card. But, alas, I finally located it so decided to go ahead and post. Hey, don't look at me like that, the Oscars for best movies in '08 were just awarded yesterday.

#8
Trent and Teagan both participated in our city's Junior Music Fest after taking piano lessons for one year. They each played two songs and both earned a Superior rating. Teagan played "Frog on a Log" by Martha Mier and "Grandpa's Pocket Watch" by Deborah Brady. Trent played "Frolic" by Ronald Bennett - I really liked that one. I don't remember the other one though. They are currently preparing for this years Music Fest next month.

#7
Brilee started kindergarten! When we moved into our new house the family acrossed the street had moved in a couple months before us and happened to have a cute red headed girl just Brilee's age. They ended up in the same class and are the best of friends! It has been awesome for shy Brilee to have someone to hang with and walk home from the bus stop. Here they are eating donuts on a string at a school carnival.

#6
Trent turned 12, received the Aaronic Priesthood and began passing the sacrament at church. He attended his first full week of scout camp at beautiful Camp Loll near Yellowstone National Park. Bruce was able to go along and they had a great time.

#5
Walt Disney World! Bruce's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary Thanksgiving weekend and flew the whole family (46 people) to Orlando, Florida for five fun filled days! They are a great example to us, showing us how it's done. We love you Grandpa and Grandma!
#4
Bruce was able to secure a large research grant that was a collaboration between ISU, USU and the Army Corps of Engineers. It's a dam spillway study. Hurray, one step closer to tenure!

#3
Reflections Winners! Reflections is a PTA contest in the arts. Trent, Teagan, and Brilee all entered in the visual arts category and each placed in their individual divisions. No one could have been more shocked than me. There were 152 entries at their school. I mean I would have believed it if one placed, but all three? Wow! (BTW that was the theme for the contest this year). We found out last month that Teagan and Brilee placed at the district level and their pictures went on to state! We'll have to post the actual pictures when we get them back in June.
#2
The Nutcracker! The girls had a blast dancing in the Nutcracker, Teagan as an angel and Brilee as a lamb.
#1
By far the number stress relieving event in 2008 was finishing our new home and getting moved in!!! It was one grueling summer but we were (and are) so happy to be moved in. We have great neighbors and love it out here! Bruce has his acreage and I have a new home. (Pleeeaaaase no more remodeling projects!!!!) Can we just move in and live our lives now? Oh, thank you, thank you!

My First Tag!

2009-02-10T23:21:00.003-07:00

Jennifer, my cousin Tyson's wife, tagged me. Let's see, does that make her my cousin-in-law? Hmmm... It is my first tag in the blogosphere! The first one was supposed to be favorite TV shows but I changed it to movies since I watch so very little television. (Who has time?) Well, here goes...

8 Movies I liked:
1. Radio
2. Hitch
3. Remember the Titans
4. Pursuit of Happyness
5. Glory Road
6. Homeless to Harvard
7. White Chicks
8. Pride & Prejudice

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Talked to my sister on the phone
2. A Turbo Kick class at the gym
3. Read books to Brilee and Benjamin
4. Baked two loaves of banana bread
5. Drove Brilee to TaVaci
6. Drove Teagan to tumbling
7. Vacuumed the bedrooms
8. Checked my email

8 Things I look forward to:
1. Benjamin being potty trained
2. Getting more snow
3. A Temple trip this Friday with girlfriends
4. Taking the kids roller skating Saturday if they make the bus all week
5. Getting our landscaping done
6. Date nights with Bruce
7. Time to read all the books sitting on my nightstand
8. Getting together with extended family

8 Favorite restaurants:
1. Ruby River
2. Texas Road House
3. Olive Garden
4. Red Lobster
5. Butter Burr's
6. The Lion House
7. Chilis
8. Applebees

8 Things on my wish list:
1. Bruce to get our humidifier installed
2. Shelves in the garage
3. More shelves in the storage room
4. Finding a good preschool for Ben before they all fill up (yes I mean for Fall)
5. A magnetic board in the kitchen to display all our art, notes etc.
6. My hair to grow
7. That we can get our lawn planted in early spring
8. The economy to improve

8 People I tag:
1. Melinda
2. Heather
3. Andrea
4. Lisa
5. Martina
6. Wendy
7. Amilyn
8. Lynetta

Welcome to our new page

2009-02-01T23:11:00.003-07:00

This is our new blog ..... I imagine it will be changing as Gayla tries new things.
Bruce