House of Joy

Our home has truly been a house of joy this month. We have been so blessed with visits from extended family, reliving old memories and making new memories. As we speak David and his brother Paul are heading out for their hike up Kings Peak. David has been looking forward to this for so long, i'm glad its finaly here. We had nice BBQ with his parents last night before the mountain men headed off into the wild.

Sam celebrated his 4th birthday this month as well. Thomas hung the decorations and we all enjoyed the spiderman cupcakes. Nana & Papa are such goood sports wearing their birthday hats.

Grandma & Grandpa came for a visit as well. All you have to do is look at this picture to see the joy they bring to my children and home when they come.

Uncle Loren & Aunt Teresa came as well. Their beautiful children are growing so quickly. My boys were in 7th heaven having their cousins here. Friends sleeping over and being here three days straight, they didn't know what to do with themselves. They had such a good time.

Beauty All Around

We had rain storm come through and i couldn't help but marvel at the beauty that was left behind. of course this picture does no justice to it's beauty, but what a gift from our Father in Heaven.

Our Little Adventure

I have known for awhile that there was a mall down in Sandy with a Carousel, but i have been far to lazy to take the kids down to it. Sandy is about a 45min. drive from our house so it would call for a "whole day" to take them down there. So, finaly yesterday i took them down. And now i am regreting every minute of it! OH, they had fun of course, but acted just terrible when they weren't doing what they wanted to do. They showed their evil little selfes to the whole mall. With the screaming and hitting, they truly gave me a run for my money. of course it was mostly sam. tom just wouldn't leave me alone about getting ice cream. it wasn't enough that they got to ride the train and carousel, no, he needed more! sam just was being sam. and ben was very tired of being in the stroller. it was huge mall and i had no idea where i was going!!! anyway, here are the pictures of them while they were happy and getting their way, but i don't have any pics of the red devil eyes they were showing at all other times!!!

72-hours& 3 weeks

Isn't that the cutest face ever, but its that cute little cast on his arm that gets me. What a tough little guy he is. If you read my previous post you know what happened last saturday. I had to take him back to the dr. on monday and they put him in this little cast. he has been so brave through this whole thing. the only time he has cried was right after it happened. but once we got to the e.r. he quit crying and has been his normal wild self since. even with a broken radius he is still a hard core boy. he has to wear this for three weeks. It hasn't slowed him down once. he still climbs the hill in the backyard, runs and plays with everyone, and rides his bike. and you will be glad to know that it has most certainly not slowed or tempered his patience at all!!!!

Now, as for all this mess on my bed, and i'm embarressed to admit it, but i finaly got our 72-hour bags organized and ready to go. i had a terrible dream the other night that there was a catastrophe and i was not prepared. so that morning i got up and got it done. it took all day, between taking care of three kids, but well worth it! i did have to go to the dollar store and get a few trial size items. but most everything we already had at home. so really it only cost me $25 to get these ready! my next goal is to get larger 72-hour kits ready. i read online somwhere to use those lock on lid trash cans instead of totes. at first i wondered why, but then i got to thinking how much sense it made. one, they hold more, and two, you or your kids can pull them. i started picturing the pioneers crossing the plains pulling trash cans and thought how much more sense that made than everyone trying to carry a tote! of course i have no plans to pull those crazy things, but you never know if you might have to. (no access for car travel or somthing) anyway, it is a huge relief to have those done.

E.R. visit on Pioneer Day

So, the day started out wonderfully. David arrived home after spending a week at scout camp. it was so nice to have him home again. We then decided to get together with his folks for the day. it was pioneer day so there were a ton of celebrations going on. the plan for us was to go to the "Riders in the Sky" concert later that night, but plans soon changed. Before we went there we decided to go wonder around the Newgate Mall in Ogden for a while. They have a great play area that the kids really enjoy. Thats where it happened. I had just gotten into Sears and i hear Sam screaming. i think nothing of it cause he does that all the time. then david calls on the cell and tells me to get back cause we might need to take sam to the E.R. and sure enough thats where we ended up. After about 2 1/2 hours there, it was determined he had a fractured wrist. Nothing major, but it had to be splinted. i have to take him to the dr. again tommorow so they can possibly cast it. but who knows. we were thankful davids folks were there to watch ben and tom while we were in the e.r. with sam, that was such a blessing. also we decided to skip the concert that night. we'd had enough excitement for one day. but as you can see from the picture of ben, his day was not bad at all. he still managed a smile and to have a good time.

But sam on the other hand, was pretty upset with me that i "tried" to make him sit still and rest his arm. that lasted all of 10 minutes then he was outside playing with the boys again. He looks happy in this picture huh!!!

Trip to the Park

We went to the park the other day to feed the ducks! It was soooo hot, i could barely stand it! But the boys had a great time and thats what is important, i guess. Only one thing was missing thoug, my sweet little Thomas. He is still at Grandma & Grandpas house being spoiled!

This little digger is Sams fave toy at ths park.

Ben obviously has no problems just using his hands.

When it was time to feed the ducks, Ben preffered to

eat the bread himself instead of sharing.

Sam loved throwing the bread. And getting so close to the

waters edge.

David is such a sport to drag our boys around on all

our adventures! What a great daddy!

And this is one of Sams favorite trees to climb

at this park. I like it too, it is so close to the ground

I don't get scared if he falls!

"Junk in my Trunk"

Well, it is a saturday, and i HAD to go out "junking". It's kinda crazy, i go through phases that force me to purchase dust collectors! anyway, it was a great hunt today. i took Ruby with me and we had a blast! I found a ton of great stuff (i think anyway) for $30! My favorite place was an old ladies house. her husband recently passed :( and she had to get out of the house ASAP. And it wasn't that she had a ton of great stuff, even though i found a few things, but a lot of it was still all wrapped in boxes and newspaper fresh from storage. It was so much fun unwrapping things-not knowing what you would find next. I had a blast there! But now its time to come home and find a place for all my "great stuff" somewhere in this little house! I have found a few homes for my goodies, some are still looking. but i'm having fun!!!!

So, here are a couple of pics of my treasures...so lets try and find them a home!

These little chickens look happy here.

What do you think about this cute tray on the shelf here?



Now, this vase was supposed to go in the kitchen, and i had another place in mind for the ivy ball, but they looked so cute together, they insisted on staying together here in the entry.

I know it is summer now, but this aphghan is so soft, i can't wait to snuggle up under it on the window seat and watch the snow fly this winter. And then one of the boys can rock in the chair next to me with the cute cushy pillow!