Dirt and bees and more dirt

Sadly we are home from a wonderful vacation to Utah. It just went by way to fast and none of us really wanted to come home. I think we could've easily stayed another week for sure. But real life calls, BOOOOOO!!

This trip to Utah was by far the best trip ever for our family. We went on adventures and laughed, stayed up late chatting, learning more about one another. It was just the best trip ever with wonderful lifelong friends.

I will post about our trip thru the week because it was so much fun and I don't want to squish it all in one post. But first I have a funny story to tell! It wasn't funny at the time and it hurt like you know what but now its funny.

I was lucky enough that I got to drive our friends 4 seat Razor 1000. It was so much fun to drive and I defiantly want to drive it again. I didn't realize when driving that I would literally be covered in dirt and my hair would be a different color. I had dirt in places that I have no idea how it got there but dirt was everywhere and I didn't care. We were having to much fun to care!

 Before sting!

 Julia wanted to drive the Razor so bad

In the driver seat! Yay!

and our friend Mike

Now I was following our good friend Mike going down the dirt road really fast in my opinion and all of the sudden something flew up my nose and my first thought was "Ouch a rock is stuck in my nose" I reached up while driving and pulled out a BEE!!!! A bee just flew up in my nose and stung me in the process. Ouch!

It hurt so bad and I really had some choice words to say. I didn't want to end our fun day so we kept going after my Mike tried to look up my nose to see if the stinger was in there because it sure felt like it.

No stinger so on we went and I wanted to keep driving to give me a distraction from the pain. When we got to our second destination I took a look at myself and didn't recognize who was looking back in my little camera. I was swollen and dirty! I just started laughing at myself because I looked so funny and unrecognizable. I really wanted to cry but I just laughed and laughed. It was a wonderful, fun, memorable day.

 SWOLLEN!

Really SWOLLEN!

Good reading

There's nothing like a good book!

In the past 6 months I have read almost 25 books and I never have liked to read EVER!

In school whenever I had a book report to do I would usually read the back of the book to what I thought was a summary of the story.

I never did get a good grade on any of my book reports and I'm sure my teachers just laughed at me.

Well a couple books that I really enjoyed and actually read a couple times over

is Stephanie Nielsons

Heaven is Here

This book is so inspiring to me. I found so much courage and strength in her story and had to read it a few times to be able to gain the strength that I needed. I appreciate those who write their stories down for others to read so they know they are not alone in their trials.

Also another book that was incredibly inspiring was a book by

Elizabeth Smart

I encourage everyone to read how someone survived thru their trials and how the faith they had is remarkable. I'm so thankful to these women and so many more who have shared their stories and their message of hope and strength.

Fire in the sky

Julia took this picture the other evening at the top of the mountain by our property. This is when the fire was closer and the smoke and ash were terrible. Today its a little better. We are very grateful to all those fighting this fire. Stay safe out there!

Make up

I cant stand to much make up on my face like foundation, concealer, or powder. I don't know why I cant stand the feeling but that's the way it is. Now my sweet daughter Julia LOVES make up and has a good collection of it. I don't even know the differences in some of it like bronzer to some stuff you put on your eyelids before you put eyeshadow on so it shows its true color. What??? Julia loves it when I let her do my makeup because she wishes I would wear more of it. She really does a great job and I'm glad she enjoys this kind of stuff.

 My little polka dot case of make up and I don't have much in it.

 I seem to always have a pile of laundry to do

I love mascara and that's all I need

 But I have to be the one to put it on

All done! Thank you Jules and I did keep it on until bedtime.

Sista Time

My sister Jennifer and her husband David and my sweet niece Alexia came out from Arizona to visit. It was short but very sweet! I wish she lived closer just because we would have so much fun together creating all kinds of cute projects. It was my sisters birthday then their anniversary then David's birthday so I made a Strawberry bar cake. It was Yummy!!

 Lexi Girl!

 This was so refreshing on a hot day

 Lexi, Jenn, and David

 Cuties

Isabelle photobombing

Its so fun when family visits!

Sands Fire!

Our little town of Acton is having mandatory evacuations in certain areas. Right now we do not have to evacuate but that could easily change really fast. We are packed and ready if we need to go.

Its really Smokey outside we cant even see the mountains. We are praying for everyone involved in fighting this fire and for the safety of everyone.

Blessings

"God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face."
This is the message that Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said to us at the October 2008 General Conference. It is a wonderful talk that really touched my heart and I teared up a lot. It was just what I needed to hear and I was reminded of the blessings I have received.

Several years ago I was in a dark place and felt I had no way out. I was scared and I

had my oldest son who was only a baby at the time. I woke one morning to realize that I had the most wonderful thing happen to me in the middle of the night. My sweet and loving Grandma Lillian came to me to help me and let me know that I'm not alone in my battles. She was beautiful and bright and in all white.  It was a dear sweet blessing that I was able to receive this and it has helped me tremendously thru the years. I will never forget this and cherish it close to my heart.

Why am I telling this on my blog? First of all it is extremely hard for me to speak of this but after many inspired promptings I need to share this experience with whoever reads this. You are not alone in your battles and trials, I know of this. I encourage you to go and read this wonderful talk and to pray and to feel the saviors love that he has for you.

You can go to Lds.org to look it up, if I knew how to post the link here I would but I'm VERY challenged on the computer. Where's my teens when I need them?

Here is my Grandpa and Grandma Eugene and Lillian. I found this on family search and I realized, why don't I have pictures of my Grandma here at my house? My oldest brother looks so much like my Grandpa.

Kids and Chores!

My sweet kids want to have a bunch of animals, they love having pets of any kind. They don't like the responsibility that it comes with. We have had turkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, many unwelcomed snakes, a horse, goats, and pigeons. We want the kids to learn how to  be responsible and learn to work hard and these pets have really helped with that. These  sweet animals have shown unconditional love that has helped in so many ways with all of us. I'm thankful we are able to share our home with all of them.

 No matter what an argument happens everyday between all the kids of who feeds what animals but we don't give in to that and remind them of the jobs they promised to do. Someday they will appreciate all of it.

Evening walks

I want to start walking our property in the evenings when its a lot cooler outside. We have almost 7 acres to wonder around on and Mikey made a trail that outlines the property that I can follow. The kids want to go and our dog Champ likes to tag along. Its wonderful!

My goal for the rest of our summer is to get in better health since I have had some health issues for the last year. I should be able to be active with my kids and not feel so lousy all the time. Its time for a change and if I put it out there than I can be held accountable right. I'm only getting older so now is the time!

Isabelle found under one of the Juniper trees her parrot that Jackpot stole and hid under it. It was really sad for all of us to find his secret hiding spots. I like Isabelles water bottle pocket holders.

FHE

Today was a wonderful day! It is the Sabbath day and so special to all of us. Mikey had to work so that is not to fun but we had Family Home Evening tonight and it was great. Everyone had a part to contribute to the evening and I love that most of all.

 Isabelle leading us in song

and Logan with scripture

 Julia taught the lesson on kindness and it was perfect! I loved that she picked what the lesson should be on because we all need to have a reminder about kindness every now and then.

Julia did an activity with toothpaste to help us understand when you say mean or hurtful things to somebody its hard to take it back. Just like trying to put toothpaste back in its tube, you can forgive someone who hurts your feelings and also you can be careful what we say to one another.

 Isabelle had the activity and she had a awesome idea. I also think she is very smart with her idea to get a toy but I still loved it. She wanted everyone in the family to do a gift exchange and to draw names to buy something for each other and that would show kindness. So $5.00 was the budget and I think everyone got something they actually liked. Good job everyone!!

 Then of course Treats!! We made Ghostbusters/Oreo s'mores. We saw the new Ghostbusters movie on Friday and it was funny then we saw these awesome Ghostbusters marshmallows and just had to get them.

I just love Summer, I love the evenings, I love my family, and I love my Savior!

Our beloved Jackpot

I absolutely hate to be having to write this at all especially after a bad day yesterday. Our Jackpot who we have loved so much has gone missing. Its been a little over 2 weeks now with no sign of him. We have checked shelters, missing flyers have gone up, posted on several missing animal sights, and social media. NO sign of him at all and I fear the worst. He was a member of our family and surly spoiled. I'm hoping for a miracle to happen because he is chipped and I hope to get that phone call that he is found.

Test time!

I'm smiling on the outside but so nervous on the inside! I have two procedures tomorrow and I don't want to do them. This is what I look like messy hair no make up and no food = not happy! But I will smile and try to have a positive attitude thru it all because it is necessary. I'm sure many of you have probably had an endoscopy and colonoscopy before. I've never had any tests like that so its my turn to experience what I've been missing I guess. My hope is to have some news that isn't to horrible tomorrow and be able to get thru with flying colors. Now to go drink a huge bottle of disgusting liquid!

Time to cool off

I love swimming! I have loved it since as far back as I can remember. The refreshing coolness and the weightlessness of it all. Most of all I love to tread water, it is relaxing to me and I could do that for hours. When we had to tread water in PE in junior high school I was happy about it because it was something I really enjoyed and I did not enjoy school at all. So today we were able to swim even if it was only for a little bit.

Summer

I Love summer because you can relax and go as you please. Free from schedule and just be....Oh wait we still have a schedule to keep! Logan still has football practice every morning only for a few days more until August and Lowell has summer school everyday. Well soon we can enjoy a few weeks of no schedule, soon we will be enjoying beach days and traveling.  Until then board games and things we can find to do around the house.

Mikey's work

Isabelle and I had an appt near Mikes work so we took advantage of that and surprised him. He was so excited and happy to see us. He grabbed a couple of hard hats that we had to wear for safety and gave us a personal tour of the power plant. It was awesome and LOUD!!! Isabelle was so excited and thought it was so special that she was the only kid to be on this adventure.

 We are so far down under the water in this picture. It was so surreal to think about that. The lighting inside this area is really like the picture, it has a green tint to it. I don't know how Mikey deals with the lighting, noise of the generators, and heat everyday.

 At the office!!