Time out for the girls!!!

This past weekend I meet up with 6 of my sisters for a girls weekend in Las Vegas. We had a blast. We picked Las Vegas so we could attend the Time Out for Women seminar. It was a little deeper than our usual girls trip that would include shopping, pedicures, eating out and talking all night. On Friday we had tickets to a seminar called "life Seminar" a fresh look at life, learning and leadership. Wow, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. We were giving a workbook when we entered and expected to work. We had to dig deep and do some major soul searching. It was filled with so much valuable and practical information. It was so professional yet we felt touched by the spirit on those specific things we were meant to hear. I have already used one of the conflict management worksheets on my hubby - not that we have any serious conflicts - but it did help focus in on a specific issue we were dealing with. I am sure he is thrilled I went,j.k.:) Next year this will be presented in a webinar so check it out on Deseret Book for updates, I would totally recommend it. Saturday was the more typical Time out that I had attended before. It was awesome and inspirational.The theme for the day was living a "joyful life" I am definetly on board with that. Good times. Thanks to Jeff for handling the kids without any complaint and for missing me. You are the best!!! The weekend was a little bitter sweet since my little sis, Kari is moving tomorrow from Newport Beach to Plymouth, MA. Thank you so much for making the effort to get to Vegas. I know it was a sacrafice. I appreciate it more than you know. Tara and Cheri I hope you can make the trip next year - I love you girls so much and love that we take time to be together.

Saturday morning with Amy.

Amy and I had the chance to hang out together on Saturday morning. First we went to her softball tryout/evaluation. This is her first year where she had to be evaluated. She was excited and also nervous. She asked if I thought she would make the team. Well everyone makes the team so I told her to do her best. She hadn't played for a few months but she went out there like a pro. Especially hitting. Good job Amy. I didn't take any photos but we will take care of that when the season starts. After that we went to Sun City to pick up a instrument rental for band class. Amy choose the trombone. HMMMMM. She never waivered. That is what she picked 3 weeks ago after the band assembly and she still wants it. I asked her why, she explained to me that her band instructor told her trombone players were special(?) and that instruments take on the personalities of their players. Nuff said. She is the only trombone in the band. Can't wait for practice time:)

Mom, can I go to the school Dance???

O.K. so Evan just started 6th grade (middle school)and is doing well with everything so far. Last week he asked me if he could go to the after school dance. What do I do? Do I go and stand in the back, keep him home AGHHHH? I wasn't quite prepared for this - but I remember going to after school skates in Jr High. The school is pretty strict and I felt comfortable with the supervision, so I let him go. Evan was trying to convince his buddy in the carpool to go. His friend had no interest in dancing with girls. Evan said, "We don't have to dance with girls until our Prom." I thought that was pretty cute. He went and ended up having a good time and hung out mostly with his buddy's. He's growing up too fast.

Epic Labor Day Weekend!!!

The Tuesday before Labor Day Jeff called and asked if I wanted to go to Mammoth. I said "yah right", he had some business he wanted to take care of and the next thing I knew he had the kids arranged, a condo rented and two other couple from work signed on. AWESOME!!! We really needed a break to just get away. Everything
came together perfectly. We had a blast. Here are a few pictures from out "Epic Weekend" as Phil called it.
We went to Mammoth to go Mountain Biking, Daniel geared us up and we had a blast. Here are the guys and then the girls.

We had a great time together - we all liked to laugh, eat, have extreme fun, and completely forget about the 11 kids we left at home:) On Sunday we went on a beautiful hike to Crystal Lake. It was a 4 or 5 mile hike from one beautiful lake to another. It was neat to be at a place that only those hikers would ever see. It was so amazing to see the beauty of nature and really be able to take some time to appreciate it. I'm so thankful that Jeff made this happen. I really appreciate this about him. You are a stud out there on the bike. Love you.

In our stake we are able to purchase peaches and plums every summer. They are great quality and such a great deal. Since I moved here I have learned so much about canning, freezing and anything you can do with this fruit. This year some of my "little sista's" from my ward came over to can and make pies and jam. It was fun to visit and help each other process all of our fruit. There were 13 (almost 15) kids, 4 hubby's, pot luck crock pot dinner and plenty of chaos as you can see by the photo. My sister in law Tara came over the day before and in 2 days we processed approx 140lbs of peaches and 50lbs of plums. Good times and tasty goodies for our families.
I just wanted to post a follow up to prove that my kitchen has recovered. I am glad we are done for this year and am very happy to have my pantry stocked for the winter.

I have a blog!

I have enjoyed viewing some blogs lately and decided it was time to do one. I have felt like I was sitting in your living room looking thru photo albums. My photos have been hiding on my computer and on disks for far too long. So I guess this is a small glimpse into our photo albums and our crazy but happy lives. Thank you Heather for helping me and answering all of my questions.

Evan's 11th B-day

So Evan turned 11 yesterday. He just started middle school and seems like such a little man.
He is so responsible and a big help at home.
He is such a good brother to little Grant. They
moved into the same room this summer and almost every night Evan snuggles with Grant so he is not scared.
He is very self confident and self accepting. He is friendly with everyone and is well liked. He loves his video games and reading. He is very excited to be in middle school, especially since he found out there is a ski club. For his birthday we gave him a Hoodie to wear skiing and we paid the fee for the 4 ski (local) ski trips. We love you Evan.
Our #1 son. Thanks for making us proud parents.