Summer of Service

One of the things I am hoping to teach my kids is the joy of service, so we are trying to live a summer of service this year. On Wednesdays, we are planning on trying to fit in a service project and also a little something fun, or a field trip to somewhere that we have never visited. Matt's day off is Wednesday, so this way he can be a part of the fun. This week we went and made breakfast for the people who were staying at the Ronald McDonald House in SLC. We made french toast and sausage and cut up strawberries. Of course it was a little stressful because we were caught behind an accident on I-15, but we made it and were able to provide breakfast for about 35 people. The kids got right in there and helped cook it all up (especially Cassy and Connor). It is so fun to have them be old enough to help out so much and to see them be so capable and in charge of themselves. The families staying at the house were very appreciative.

After breakfast, we headed off to the Kennecott Bingham Copper Mine. It is a huge copper mine and we had never been to before. The mine is huge (one of the few man made things that can actually be seen from space). It was interesting to learn more about the mine and the operations there. We were especially interested in the big trucks that haul off the debris. They are as big as a two story house!

Cabela's was the next stop on our tour (much to Cassidy's chagrin). It is a big sportsman's store that I had heard was really cool. The boys had fun and Matt bought some bullets so they could go shooting. The store has lots of stuffed animals, especially deer. There is also a fresh water aquarium with a variety of fish. We were most impressed with the huge catfish.

We stopped at a picnic area at Thanksgiving Point to eat our lunch and play a little soccer. We had a great day serving and exploring some places we have never been!

Harry Potter-a-thon

We woke up to snow on Memorial Day...not just a skiff, but a couple of heavy, wet inches! So needless to say, we weren't heading to the pool for some memorial day fun. Once we shook the snow off the trees and assessed the damage in the garden (we had just planted the garden on Friday), we decided we would have a Harry Potter-a-thon. We called the Shuman family and they graciously let us borrow the first three movies from them. We watched them all and we couldn't stop there. Over the next day or two we watched all the Harry Potter movies up to the first of part 7. One night we even stayed up until almost 3am (Addy and Alex fell asleep) so we could watch the last show. We let the no PG13 rule slide for the younger kids (just this once). We can't wait until the final movie comes out on July 14th or 15th! I think we might try to go see it as a family to celebrate Matt's birthday....wingardium leviosa!

A Few More Kite Flying Pics...

Serious Wind

It has been so windy for the last couple of days. The kind of wind that makes the french doors flex and the "beep, beep, beep" go all night long. At least this time we had the sense not to set the alarm so we wouldn't be awakened at 3 am with the alarm going off (oddly enough, the kids never wake up when this happens even though it is ear splitting). We decided to try our luck with flying kites today after church. Matt was napping and missed the excitement. Cassy was typing her "Lights Over Africa" book, so she missed out too, although she was outside and I am sure heard us screaming! We started out with the boys alien kite. It took us a few tries to get the hang of it, but we were able to fly him for quite a while with the string out as far as it would go. Soon after, that little alien man decided to try some acrobatics and he kept trying to take out the spectators with some dive bombs. Alex tried his little star wars kite, but the wind just flexed it in half. Then we brought out the big kahuna, the star kite. before we could even try, we had such a gust that the kite practically took Alex with it. Unfortunately, it ended up dragging through the field for a while before it became airborne and I think a could of the support sticks fell out or broke so it ended up looking more like a flying turkey. We tried to get the alien man relaunched so I could help with the flying turkey. The wind took our little alien man up so fast it broke the spindle I was holding and that alien man flew away and started doing his dive bomb acrobatics again. We found him on the next street over, the broken spindle stuck on someone's chimney. By the time I got over there, the boys were trying to climb a tree to get on the roof to unstick the spindle. I opted for some scissors to cut the string. We recovered both kites (although we haven't found all the sticks). We will have to go fly a kite another day...I am worn out.

Crepe Paper Flowers, Hullabaloo, Paper Doll Crafts, & Chocolate...all at the same time!

One of the things I enjoy most is watching to see what Addy will do during the day to entertain herself. Sometimes I think I should have put her in preschool, but she is always busy and I get to be with her everyday and I wouldn't miss that for the world! In the last 10 minutes she has been making paper doll crafts, which morphed into making me crepe paper flowers on pipe stems, playing Hullabaloo (and doing the winners dance every time), and eating her chocolate Easter bunny. Of course there were a few hugs and kisses thrown in too. I am so glad I get to be home with Addy and share this fun time with her!

Here is a look at our day so far:
Family Scripture study
Spanish Lesson
Breakfast
Morning Chores
Kids off to school
Get ready
Play Group (as we were leaving, Addy said she wanted a play date...never enough time with friends :)
Lunch at play group
Coupon clipping
Addy computer time (while mom makes a few phone calls)
and now the crafting, dancing, and chocolate eating....
the older kids will be home in a few minutes then we will go to....
Alex baseball
Connor Orthodontist
Alex soccer
Addy soccer game (taking Alex and his friend Sam)
Cassy Futsol (at the same time as the soccer game:)
Bookclub for me (YAY!)
and somewhere in there we need to practice piano, read 30 minutes each, do homework, & eat dinner, prepare sharing time lesson, etc.

When people ask what I have been up to lately, nothing ever comes to mind....clearly it is because I have lost my mind with all of this running around!

Bad things happen in 3's...

Well, they always say that bad things come in threes. We have had our share of not so great luck lately....

1- A couple of weeks ago I hit my poor Mishy cat with my car in the garage. I felt ssoooo bad!. Her leg was broken and part of her back. We had to have her put to sleep. Right after the accident, we were trying to comfort her and she actually started to purr. I think it was the goodbye gift she gave me. She had been a part of our family for about 17 years.

2- I broke my favorite sunglasses.

3- My cell phone has been missing for four weeks....how have I even survived? It actually hasn't been too bad. I hate to buy a new one, because I am sure it will show up (Matt is actually the one who is more sure). I'm crossing my fingers...

4- My car didn't pass inspection for the first time ever (it is 10 years old though)

5-My lens on my D5SLR is catching and won't take photos. The replacement lens is about $500 (of course I found one that is even better than the one I had :)

I am hoping that I am done with my run of bad luck and that I am not just on my second run of bad things happening in threes!

I have started planning a crazy lifetime dream trip. I am so excited, although I can tell my kids are a little nervous. I am hoping to take the kids to Europe this December until the end of April. CRAZY! Matt will come for a couple weeks at the beginning of the trip and hopefully again while we are there. The plan is to travel around and then live in a little village in Spain called Mijas for about 3 months so the kids can attend school there and hopefully pick up on some spanish. We have been having some morning Spanish lessons and the kids are doing great. Kell has loaned me her Rosetta Stone and we try to do a lesson or test every morning before school. More on that later!

Tag....with Grace

"Mom, mom, mom....I've got to tell you something," said Alex as I was reading to the kids just before bed.

"You know Grace? (big smile)"

"Guess what?"

"She played tag today..."

"With ME (bigger smile and THAT look)"