We went to Lake Powell last week. It is a beautiful place. It rained a few times, and then there would be waterfalls all over. We even saw a double rainbow!
Amazing.
Lake Powell!
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Category Archives: Family Fun
Happy 80th Birthday!
Today was my father-in-law’s 80th birthday!
What a wonderful day! We went on a ride up the gondola at the ski resort and ate lunch up at the top in a beautiful restaurant. It was such a fun experience.
We love him so much and are so happy he is part of our lives.
Happy Birthday Grandpa!
Thanks, I Needed That!
Last fall my “dream come true” Kelsey came home from her LDS mission. She had been gone for almost 19 months.
My heart was about to burst with excitement, when I was waiting for her to come down the escalator at the airport.
I had Emily make me this sign that said,
“Hug me first”.
A really fun thing happened while I was standing there. I got about 10 hugs from people coming home. These were complete strangers!
I loved it! I love hugs!
I had no idea that would happen. But it sure was neat!
Hug someone, it is fun!!
Happy Father’s Day!
I want to wish all the Father’s, Daddy’s, and wonderful men in my life a “Happy Father’s Day”!!
We all need a father. I love you all!
Also thanks to my Daddy for being the most amazing and wonderful father! I love you!
Oh and, Thank you my sweet darlin’ for being an amazing and wonderful (and sometimes Disneyland) Daddy to our children! You’re the best!
My Kiddos!
A few weeks before Emily left on her mission the kids were all out on the west lawn doing gymnastics and having fun. All of my children took gymnastics lessons for a period of time in their life. It is so fun to watch them playing and having so much fun together. They each took turns seeing how many back hand springs they could do in a row. Then they decided to have a hand walking contest. That’s when my darlin’ had to join in. I love time together with my family. What a wonderful experience to be a parent. I know I am so blessed to me Mama to these 4 people. I am so grateful for the love, lessons, experiences and time together for all the years we raised them. I love them so much!!
Family is a circle of friends who love you. -unknown
Busyness!
I recently wrote a post about how busy things have become. Last Sunday, “Bonus Baby” spoke in church, before leaving on her mission. It was mother’s day and we had a house full of guests here to see Emily speak. After Emily spoke, we had 60+ people at our home. It was a fun and very busy weekend. Emily did such a great job on her talk. She is a sweetheart and I am so blessed to be her Mama.
This Monday is Riley and Janet’s wedding. We have been busily making decorations and preparations. One of my favorite things that we have been working on is a bench to put Riley and Janet’s gifts on. It started out as our old bed frame. For years my sweetie and I shared a full size bed. We’re not tall people, and a lot of that time my darlin was working graveyard. When I got out of bed, he was getting in bed. We finally graduated to a queen sized bed. I kept the frame for all of these years because I wanted to make a bench out of it. So with the wedding coming up, we decided it was a great time to make the bench. It is turning out so cute!! We’re not quite done with it. Here’s a pic
We will be busily decorating on Monday morning so Riley and Janet can get married. Then Monday night we’ll have a reception for them. I am so happy for them. They are a very good match for each other. Every mother wants her children to marry a wonderful person. Riley is marrying a wonderful person. We love Janet.
Just two days after the wedding, Emily will leave on her mission. (That was part of the reason for having the wedding two days before, so Emily wouldn’t miss it.) We will drive to the MTC in Provo and drop her off. Then we won’t see her for a year and a half. Ouch. I’ve done this before, but I never get used to dropping off a missionary and saying good bye for a time. The hardest part about this one is, she is my baby. My baby grew up. We used to tell the kids when they were little that “growing up” was against the rules. It was fun to get their responses to that. They’d say something like, “But mom, I have to grow up!”
She did it. She broke the rules, just like the others.
My church calling has been quite busy. I am the Primary President in our ward and I absolutely love it!! I have meetings every Sunday with the children in our ward. We sing and learn together. I love the be in Primary. I meet with my counselors and my secretary each week for an hour or so. We love the children and the teachers who serve with us. We feel very blessed knowing that Father in Heaven is helping us to do our best.
After the wedding, and Emily leaves, things will calm down quite a bit. I think I might have too much time on my hands. I know there will be tears. I know I will miss my “Bonus Baby”. I also know she will do an amazing job on her mission and will bless many people. I am happy when my children have amazing opportunities. This is how I feel about being the mother to a missionary.
I’ll just keep doing what my mission president taught me.
Life is good!
Hand and Foot!
The girls, Kelsey, Melissa and Emily, are having a ball playing “Hand and Foot”! It is such a fun game. Our friends from southern Utah taught us how to play it, and it is one of our favorite things to do when they visit. These are the rules (or at least the way we play):
You will need about 5 decks of cards, all shuffled together.
Before play begins, you draw a small stack from one of the two discard piles. While counting you lay down the cards making two piles in front of yourself. If you get 22 cards (11 in each pile) then you get a bonus 100 points. If not you just make sure you have 11 cards in each pile, you may have to draw a few more cards, or put a few back. One of your piles is your “Hand” and one is your “Foot”. Set your “Foot” aside for later, and start looking at your cards in your “Hand”.
At this point you are trying to build books. The books are called “Perfect” or “Imperfect”. A Perfect is when all of the cards are the same thing, all Kings, all Aces, etc. An Imperfect is when you use the wild cards to complete the book. And example is 4 King’s and 3 wild’s. A complete book is 7 cards total. When the book is complete, you stack them and set them aside. If the book is Perfect then make sure a red card is on top, if it is Imperfect the top card should be black.
The game is played in rounds. At the beginning of your turn, you draw two cards. When you have at least 3 cards that will eventually become a book, you can start putting them down and begin building them in front of you on the table. In order to put them down though, you’ll need to have enough points to put them down. In round 1, you need at least 50 points to put your cards down, round 2=90 points, round 3=120 points, round 4=150 points. The person who puts their cards down first gets a 100 point bonus.
In each round you will need to build 2-4 books. Round 1 you need to build- 1 Perfect and 1 Imperfect, round 2- 1 Perfect and 2 Imperfects, round 3- 2 Perfects and 1 Imperfect, and round 4- 2 Perfects and 2 Imperfects.
You can pick up the cards in the discard pile if you have at least 3 cards matching the card on top of the pile, then you get 7 additional cards off the pile, a total of 8. One thing about taking the cards from the discard pile, is that you have to be able to play the card on top. Which means also having enough points to lay down for each round. Also, you may end up with a bunch of bad cards, it is the discard pile after all.
Wild cards are: Jacks and 2’s.
Red 3’s count against you 500 points.
Black 3’s are 0 points.
Ace’s=20 points, 2’s=20 points,
Jack’s=50 points,
7 & up=10 points, 6 & down=5 points.
After you have played all of the cards in your “Hand” you can go into your “Foot”, and start playing them. Of course you want to get rid of any red 3’s as quickly as you get them. Note: you cannot make a book out of red 3’s or black 3’s.
The person who gets the required books for the round and is able to discard their last card, wins that round and also gets a bonus 100 points.
When someone discards their last card for that round, everyone counts the books they have made: Perfects are worth=500 points, and Imperfects are worth=300 points, count them first. Then count all of the cards you have, including the books you have already counted, using the point system above. If you weren’t the one who went out and you still have cards in your hand, those count against you. Hopefully, you won’t have a red 3 (or more). Total the cards and minus that off what you laid down.
The object of the game is to get the most points. So, fun!! I think that’s all, if it doesn’t make sense leave me a message and I explain it better. We have had so much fun playing with friends and also with family!! Try playing a game of “Hand and Foot”, I know you’ll love it!
My Baby Brother, Larry!
Today is my baby brother Larry’s birthday!
This is my baby brother and his beautiful wife, Lisa.
I love them.
When we were little, growing up together we had lots of fun. Now we are adults and we have even more fun. I’m so glad he is my baby brother, and that he married such a wonderful woman!
Happy Birthday baby brother!!!
My First “Smash” Type Book!
I love the idea of a book where you just put all kinds of things in it, pictures, clippings, ticket stubs, and of lots of journaling. I am usually a little particular about how I put things in a scrapbook. Smash books are fun, because it is a little more relaxed. The whole process is to just smash it in there, and have fun! Sounds good to me. I decided for my first smash type book to do, “Memories of 2012”. I always have things and stuff that I want to keep for memories sake and I don’t know what to do with. So here goes:
I decided to do a page for each month to put a few highlights from the month.
I made a book of “Love Notes” for my mom on her 80th birthday. Everyone in the family wrote a note to her telling her how much they love her and how grateful they are she is our mom and grandma and aunt.
She loved it.
My darlin turned 50 this year. He got to do I-Fly. It’s a neat place where you pretend your skydiving, because you’re in a tunnel with air blowing past you so fast that you can pretend you’re skydiving. I put a little book in on a separate ring with additional pictures that wouldn’t fit on the pages.
Hermana Kelsey came home!
I put lots of envelopes in as pockets to hold cards. I have all of the Christmas cards our family received too. I never know what to do with them, but I always want to keep them.
I am super happy with how it turned out. It is about 36 pages long. It is a quick look at the year and a very fun way to keep memories. I plan on doing it every year from now on.
Liam & Homie!
This is Liam & Homie.
Homie is the one with fur.
They both came to stay at our home for a bit. It was so fun and such a blessing to have them stay. Liam is our nephew, my hubby’s sister’s son.
He’s ten.
He blessed us by reminding us how the world looks to a ten year old. He blessed us by reminding us that someone is watching your example, so be a good example. He blessed us by teaching us patience. He blessed us by reminding us that the most important thing is love.
I love this boy. When I look at this picture, I just watch to give him a squish!
Then I want to kiss his cheeks!
Then I want to cuddle with Homie! And hear him squeak. When he squeaks, he’s telling me he loves me. And I love him too.
I’m so glad that Liam & Homie came to stay!