ok I am back!

WOW!! Call me a slacker even more than ever. I cant believe it has been since JUNE since I have posted. Here it is September now and I have so much to catch up on
So lets start.....
the rest of june was full of fun. Brekyn got to go to Girl Scout day Camp and I got to go to since I am a new Brownie leader. We had so much fun making swaps, doing crafts, service projects and playing games. I loved getting to spend these few days with just me and Bee.














Then we started the summer with a good ole camping trip to Huntington Canyon. We went with the Orrs, and the Austins. It was fun fishing and riding wheelers. The rain was a bit interesting though! Had a blast!

Next it was time for our Annual Acadian Builders BBQ. This is an event Jon and his partners do for all of thier guys and their families every year. Tons of burgers, hot dogs, tasty brownies, and there is ALWAYS a soccer game in progress.

Then there is July.... the month of patriotism. We went to the Provo parade this year and had a blast. We had the best seats in the house. After the parade, we decided to go back to our house and go swimming and have a bbq. Later that night, we found us a little turnoff on the backroads with a PERFECT shot of the fireworks. We sat up camp in the back of the truck with an ice cream and watched the fireworks. They lasted so long that the kids fell asleep during them so we packed up and went home.

What did we do a lot this summer you ask?????? SWIM!! We swam so much my kids were about to turn into little fishes. It is very nice having a pool near our house. We can go over anytime and it is a great incentive for the kids to get their chores done. Tukar even learned how to swim and he even got brave enought to go down the slide by himself and run and jump in. The girls even learned how to swim without plugging their noses (it's about time too) I loved having the pool nearby and having friends and family come over and enjoy it with us. Next year everyone!!!

This July, Jon and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I planned us a fun weekend in Park City where we just had time to spend with each other and do whatever we wanted. We went up to the Olympic Park adn hung out for a while watching the aeriolists practice for their show on Sunday. It was so cool to sit and watch them catch some serious air coming off of the jumps. If you dont know... Olympic park is where they held some of the events for the 2002 Olympics. It is now the home of the US Ski team and they practice here all summer (and winter too) We went shopping at the outlets and then went and did the Alpine slide and the Zip line. The zip line was okay (I was expecting more speed though). We raced down the slide and I kicked TRASH!!!(sorry love) later we went to this really yummy Italian restaraunt on Main street. I love going to Park City and seeing how people live and how they act. We had a lot of fun and spent some good quality time together. 14 years... wow! And look how far we have come.

BIRTHDAY TIME!!! This years birthday was so much fun for me. My family came out to have cake and ice cream and hang out for a bit. I had a celebration planned later with my girlfriends. It was Leslies birthday coming up too so we had a party for the both of us. We went to Texas Roadhouse and had yummy food. Les and I got ot get on the saddle as they gave us a birthday Yee Haw!! Later we went back to my house for a fun night of yummy flesh colored cake (shaped accordingly for us), dance dance revolution and American Idol until 4am. Layne rocked it too! She is "our next American Idol!" It was a fun night shared by all and I love all of my friends so much for the love and support that they give to me. They all mean SO much to me and I appreciate all of them for everything.

Pinewood Derby~

Brekyn's Pinewood Derby~
Brekyn and her dad got to do a fun project together and build a pinewood derby car. Now for those of you that dont know what that is?? Well it all starts with a block of wood that has to be cut into any shape that you would want your car to look like. Then you sand, sand, sand, and paint, apint, paint untill you get the car of your dreams. Usually they have weight limits on these cars, but since this was for the Activity Days girls, they were really lenient about that. Brekyn and her dad made a sleek brown car with pink racing stripes down the center. It was fun for them to spend some time together and we even got Pa out into the garage to help out too.

~School days~
It was that time of year again for school to start. Sydnie is now in 8th grade and is as smart as ever. She is taking some real fun classes this year including sewing, personal phscology, and ASL (American Sign Language) She loves her school.
Brekyn is now in 4th grade. Only 2 more years of grade school for her. She has a fun class this year and really loves her teacher, Mrs Bjorneson.
Tukar also started school this year. I decided to start him in preschool this year. He started out great, then we have had some seperation issues and some issues with him paying attention with his coloring. He gets bored really easy. But he loves his teacher Mrs Bruce. That is an easy name for him to remember since he calls his swim helper "Bruce". It is in the shape of a shark. All sharks are "Bruce". He is learning his letters, numbers, and shapes really good. Hopefully he will get better about staying on task.

Random catch up pics~ Here are some random pics from the rest of our summer fun. Everything from karaoke parties, to family reunions.
Nana's Birthday

Happy Father's day!

I just want to tell my sweet husband that you are an AMAZING father and husband and we thank you for everything that you do for our family. You are such a loving and caring person and I love everything about you. I love the way that you help people and how carefree you are. You keep me grounded and you make me a better person. You have taught me so much and I love how you love me and our children.

I want to tell my grandpa how much I love you too and how much you mean to me. You are such a wonderful man and I look up to you so much. I want to tell my dad that I love you and you raised such an amazing man and I appreciate all of the life lessons that you taught him. I thank you for loving me and accepting me into your family and loving me like one of your own daughters.
I also want to tell the other "DADS" in my life that I also love each and everyone of you. This includes my mom. You did a great job being my "dad" and I love you so much.

lacking on the posts...why???

Ok so I have been such a slacker on this thing! I really need to keep up on whats going on with my life since I use this as kinda my own personal journal.
So here is whats been happening.....

Jon had another surgery on his back at the end of May. He has been in a lot of pain and could not stand it anymore. So he met with his neurologist and they decided that the best move was to remove all of the hardware he had in his back. Well it worked. Jon said that he felt better a week after this surgery than he felt after a year from his other one. I would feel better too not haveing 2" lag screws and big bolts inmy back next to my spine. So I am excited to get my old hubby back. A happy one. One that is not consumed in pain all of the time.
Next-- it was our city's celebration time! Pony Express Days are a pretty big deal to our family. There is so much to do and we try to be a part of as much as we can. This year was a lot of fun. The city did a scavenger hunt that took us all over the city to find clues. We had to know who the first mayor was, and the current mayor (thank goodness they didn't make us say the ones in between because if you watch the news around here or read the newspapers-- you know our "MAYOR" situation!) Then we had to go to the new bike park and find the teeter totter and take a picture next to it. There was a lot more including visiting some of the local businesses and getting little rewards! Hey we got a free new toothbrush from Dr. Gardiner! I love Family First Dentistry! After all of the clues were found-- we went to the park where the city had a FREE family fun carnival. The kids played games and we waited to see if we won something for the journey we had done that day. Well we didn't but it was fun anyhow!
The next day there was an animal show at the park and Jon took the kids over. Tukar got to go up and help the hnadler with a HUGE 10' python. It could have swallowed my kid in one gulp! He had fun though and he thought he was pretty cool!
Then it was time for the CARNI's to come to town. It is really nice not living RIGHT NEXT to the park anymore. I forget how bad I hate the parking situation when the carni's come. We got the kids wristbands this year and it was worth it! I think they made a mistake with the advertising though because they were too cheap!
One of my favorite things about PED is the FIREHOUSE GRILL!! I actually have a love hate relationship with it! I love to eat the yummy burgers and scones but my husband thinks he has to help in there every second of every day. Sometimes I just like to spend time with him and go do fun things like watch our kids ride the rides. This year, PED fell on the first weekend of June. That means about a week AFTER Jon's surgery. I thought, "YAY! I will get to spend time with you this year!" NOPE!! All 3 days he was behind the grill cookin some yummy burgers. We didn't even get to watch the concert because he was working. Oh well.... I respect him so much for STEPPING UP and doing the job.
One of my other favorite things is the parade! Every year, all of the fire department kids load up on the rigs and we all ride in the parade and throw candy. Jon got to drive the new Heavy this year and we threw out SO MUCH CANDY!!! I love to see the little kids who don't expect anything and aren't the stingy ones get candy thrown to them. At least these are the ones I try to throw the most candy to. Plus we are always at the first of the parade so after we get to the station (where the parade ends) we unload all the kids and finish watching the parade!
This year while we were at the Carni~ there was a Helicopter Company that took people for rides. a 6 minute ride for $30 or something like that, well Jon made a deal with the guys that own it - 4 burgers for a free ride. So Kori, Leslie and I went over and took them up on their deal. They took us on about a 15 minute ride and even gave a few "extras". The pilot actually took us up as high as he could go then turned off the engine-- It scared the #$%^ out of all of us! It was an amazing experience to see Eagle Mountain from that angle!
The whole weekend ends with the concert. This year was Daryl Worley and Josh Gracin. It was good but not as good as when Sawyer Brown came. I love his shows and we even got to go backstage and meet him-- (thanks for the hookup Jeff!) Then we all sit back on the grass and watch the fireworks. At least I get to watch them with Jon now-
before the city was big, he was the one that got to light them off. He said there is nothing like it.

What else....
Brekyn and I went to Girl Scouts Service Day Camp for 3 days and it was a blast. I became the Brownie leader recently because I have a problem saying no to people. I like it though. I really got to know the girls in the troop those 3 days. We did a lot of fun projects including ridding the park of poisonous weeds that hurt the animals. We also played games, I loved being able to spend that time with Brekyn and watch her have fun and meet new friends.

We also had a fun night at our friends house (Dave and Kori's) doing Karaoke. I haven't laughed that hard in such a long time. I was a little nervous at first but after I loosened up- I didn't care what a bad voice I had. We sang until 3am and It was so stinkin much fun!!!

Quick trip to Denver!

Jon, Tukar and I went on a quick trip to Denver to see our nephew Bryce graduate from Horizon High School. We flew out Monday night with Jon's sister Angie and her 2 girls Charley (3) and Justice (5 months). Wow.... traveling with 3 small children is a lot of work. It was nice that Tukar had someone to play with the whole time though. Him and Charley got a long so good! That made it really nice. They got to be buddies!
We started out by almost being late for our plane. We gotstuck in traffic on I-15 for about 30 minutes to some girl could do a news report. They had 3 lanes of traffic blocked off at rush hour just for her. I wish I had that much influence. Anyways...we got to the airport and got on our plane. Tukar was so excited because this was his first time on a plane (I lied- he went on a plane when he was 12 days old) But this time he could remember. He was so cute. He had his little back pack full of things for him to do. He carried it around like he was all that! He had such a big smile on his face and could not wait til he could go through the clouds. After we got there, we got our car and headed to find our Hotel. Usually when we go out there, we stay with Jon's other sister, but she already had guests coming to her house. Mom and dad were also going out there. We met up to eat at Old Chicago. The kids were so exhausted from such a busy day and we had another busy day coming up! Tuesday was the big day! We all met up at D's house and took some family pics. D had a few surprises up her sleeve for the graduate! As we were all sitting there waiting, the first surprise showed up! A limo! I had never ridden in a limo before so I was excited. Jon was as well. My cute little MIL was more excited than anyone! She cracks me up. When it first pulled up, she thought it was somebody famous coming to see us! So we all loaded up and took off! Our next surprise was where we were eating. CHEESECAKE FACTORY!! I had never eaten dinner there before so that was exciting as well. My dinner was deelish! I will definitely eat there again. Thank goodness we have one in Utah now. Bryce thought he was all that and that was the point I guess. So after the graduation (CONGRATS TO BRYCE BTW!!!!) we all headed back to the house for some yummy cheesecake! We had another long day ahead of us and the kids were so tired so we headed back to our hotel. The next day came and we had to pack up and get ready to go home. We had breakfast and headed over to D's. We all sat and played cards for a bit until it was ready to leave. If you know my MIL- you know that it is standard to sit and play cards with her. She loves her games! Then it was back onto the airplane and off for home. We got back, got our luggage, and found our car. I could not believe what we found when we got going though.....SOMEONE HAD SIPHONED OUR GAS! Jon is really anal about having gas in the car at ALL times so we knew we had at least a half a tank when we parked to leave. Now we were so below empty that it took all the fumes we had to get to the first gas station! It was a fun trip, but too short. I wish I could have spent more time with my sister and nephews while we were there. That just means we will have to go back soon!

My Teenager!

I cannot believe that 13 years ago today, our lives changed forever. It was the day I became a mom for the first time. I remember how happy and scared I was at the same time. There in my arms, was the most beautiful baby girl who I loved unconditionally. Some say love at first sight does not exsist, then they are obviously not parents, because the first time I looked at that little girl, I was in love. Sydnie was such a fun little girl. A girly girl. She loved to play dress up, and play with baby dolls and loved to be with her daddy. She is such a daddy's girl.
You always hope that as your children grow up, they develop into good human beings. That they are honest, true, kind, smart, sincere, trustworthy, and helpful. Sydnie is all of these things. Now I am not saying she doesn't have faults, but overall, she is a pretty dang good kid. She is the kind of girl that I can trust to babysit and do a good job. I know that I can take off for a minute and run to the store and things will be good when I get home. She is the kind of girl that will work hard to get what she wants. She brings home perfect grades, and applies herself at school. She cares about the little people too. She knows they way people should be treated and doesn't stand back to watch others get hurt. She sticks up for them.
I love this girl with all of my heart. She is a wonderful daughter, sister, and friend. I love how she feels like she can talk to me about anything. We have a very close relationship and I cherish that more than anything. We can always work out problems together. She is there for me as well. She listens to me and loves me too. She makes sure that I am taken care of and help me so much (well most of the time)
So we just want to wish my beautiful 13 year old daughter, Happy Birthday! We love you so much and hope you have a wonderful day!