some things not to forget

Every now and then i have to post some of the cute things my kids say or i will forget. During spring break i took the boys to the zoo and they bought a back scratcher in the gift shop. it looks like a tiger and is very cute. they still have them and Tucker calls his a "scratcher backer". Every now and then he will ask me to get his "scratcher backer" and make it feel good. :)

i know there are problably sevreal other things that are cute, but now that i am in front of the computer I cannot think of them.

Tucker has been so exctited all july for woodbadge. he didn't really know what is was except for camping. He didn't understand that Dad would be in the training and Tucker wouldn't actually be part of woodbadge, just family camp...nevertheless, he had lots of fun! During family night they opened all the activites up for families. Tucker and Fisher loved the BB gun range! At first they didn't want to wear the protective eyewear or ear protectin, but once they got shooting they loved it! With Fisher i didn't really want to push the ear protection thing, because hey he's already deaf(!), but it was camp rules to wear them or no shooting, so we made him.

summer camping trips

some Bear Lake fun. i will post a separte post of all the bear lake pictures.

getting ready to iniate the fire pit steve got for fathers day

some of the George kids at our "campfire"

This is a cool picture right after the rainstorm we had in Morgan

the double rainbow we saw while having a "campfire" in our backyard

It's about time I posted something. It has been about 2 months since my last post! well. the month of July has been all about camping. Before we left for all our camping trips we thought we'd set up the tent and make sure it all fits. Steve got a fire pit for Fathers day so we tried that out as well.

Steve started the first week off by going to camp stiener with the varsity scouts of our ward. When he got home (saturday afternoon)he unpacked his stuff from the scout trailer and put most of it into our truck to leave for Cascade Lake Sunday morning. We spent sun-thursday at the 4H camp at cascade lake with Steve's stepmoms family reunion. Her family is so big (14 siblings all but one married with kids) that about the only place big enough for us now is a 4h camp. it was beautiful scenery and all our meals were taken care of so that was really nice for me! From there we drove to Bear Lake (thursday evening) to stay until Saturday night for the anual Hanson reunion. We were in a tent again here. Poor Steve only got to sleep in bed once in the last two weeks so far. Bear lake was lots of fun and surprisingly warm and calm for Bear lake.

We got home and washed all the clothes and aired out the tent for a week then left for Camp Barlett in Idaho for Woodbage/family camp..more scout training for Steve. This also was tents.

i have really come to appreciate my toilet and running warm water. Camp Bartlett has KYBO (keep your bowells open) and 6 showers for the whole camp.

While steve was off in training the family got to have fun. The kids were separted into age groups and did different acitivies daily. i was part of the spouse group and got to do several fun things like archery, shot gun range, minnetonka cave, horse back riding, and several other options. It was lots of fun, but i am glad to be home wiht running water and my own bed!

7 years and no itching!

Sunday (June 7) Steve and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we took a trip to St. George without the kids. We had a fun, relaxing weekend (Friday-Monday) with each other. It was fun just to be together without work or kids. As part of our Sunday there, we saw some of the church history sites in St. George i.e. Brigham Young's winter home, tabernacle, Jacob Hamblin home and the temple of course. I forgot my camera, so the only pictures I have are on my blackberry. As soon as I figure out how to get them off the phone and onto my computer I will post them.
We did a temple session Saturday morning and were lucky enough to be the witness couple. Its kind of funny, every time we have gone to the temple out of town we end up being the witness couple. We have been lucky enough to do that in the Nauvoo temple, St. Louis temple and St. George. We must have that glow. ha ha!
We cannot believe it has been 7 years since we got married! It has been a great 7 years full of adventure, learning, growing and bonding. We have accomplished a lot in 7 years and have two cute little boys from it. I love Steve and am so proud of him. He makes me laugh daily and is fun to share my life with. to Steve ...1-4-3!

Good friends!

Steve's good friend Dave Vassilaros ,who he met in the missionfield-MTC actually, and his wife Bonnie came out to Utah and we got to spend some time with them! With the exception of about 2 hours last summer, Steve hasn't seen him since his mission 10 years ago! Dave and Bonnie live in Pennsylvania and we do not. Last year on our church history tour we happened to stay one night in Allentown, PA , Dave's hometown, so we met up for dinner.

On their trip to Utah, we were able to spend half a day with them; it was fun!

They had not eaten dutch oven cooking before and Steve is an awesome cook so he cooked up a meal and taught them how!

As a fun way to bring back memories and laughs, he bought Dave a Flannel since he always teased Steve about wearing his in the mission field.

Here are the two pictures I managed to snap while they were here.

Thanks Vassilaros for visiting and your friendship!

Happy (belated) Mothers' Day!

Even though Mothers day has come and gone I have to give credit where credit is due...my wonderful mom!
I have the best Mom!!! She is so wonderful, Christlike, giving, happy, selfless, loving, compassionate, sweet, talented, nurturing, fun, smart, full of service and so much more! My mom is what I aspire to be like. When I lived at home there would be so many mornings i was up early for school ( community college) and would try and sneak downstairs so i wouldn't wake the rest of my family and would find her sitting quietly in the family room studying her scriptures with one little light on.
Other times when i would rush home from class and had about 1 hour til work she would be waiting there with a lunch for me so I wouldn't be late and offered to chat or just sit and watch one of my favorite TV shows at the time.
I cannot draw and my mom can..so there were numerous book report presentations or other assignments in elementary school that she drew for me!
My mom introduced me to the violin, my love of reading, family traditions and the joy of motherhood and having fun with your kids in the simple things in life. She would literally play in the rain with us or have leaf races after a storm.
She always made (still does) me feel important!
If I can be the kind of mother to my kids that my mom has been and continues to be to us- I will be a success! I love you Mom!!!

My dad is hip!

My dad got to meet Kiefer Sutherland aka Jack Bauer when he (Kiefer) was in Utah. He came to Simmons Media and met my dad and other X96 people. Apparently he is a fan of X96. My dad said he was really nice in person and does like X96.

Now how many other dads especially those over 50 can say they listen to X96 and have met Kiefer Sutherland? My dad is pretty hip. love you Dad.

Panic stricken evening!

Last night was TheUtah School for the Deaf North Division carnival. We went to support the school and help with the fundraiser. They hired a company called Custom events to put it on for them. They bring in a whole bunch of blow up toys like the ones at Bouncing off the walls or Kangaroo Zoo, plus some games, food and a climbing wall.

Our boys were having a blast going through the mazes and playing on the slides when about 2 hours into it Melissa, Fisher's teacher, approached me and asked where his hearing aid was. I told her on its on him..she then said no...the mold is in, but the actual aid is gone.

What?! I thought. IT'S LOST?! Steve and I spent the rest of the evening looking for his hearing aid all over the grass, in each slide. Many parents, teachers and ride operators assisted us in the search. Steve and I must have looked for 1 hour straight in the grass and on all the rides....no luck! They are small and hard to see. To make matters worse our hearing aid insurance lapsed last month..so they are currently uninsured. Basically we are out about $3,000. (each)

The school promised me they would go out and look with a metal detector first thing in the morning. I was hoping and praying it wouldn't rain (water damages them!)

Distraught I texted my friend who works for Starkey to find out my options. Didn't get any answers yet, he was still checking.

We finally gave up for the night and drove home, praying the whole way that they would be found. I retraced Fisher's steps this afternoon when I remember seeing him with both of them on. Steve took a flashlight and went out to look in the grass (our sprinklers had already been on though so if they were in the grass they now had water damage).

Steve then went out in the garage to look. He thought he heard something. (Hearing aids make a high pitch squeal when they are not in the ear.) He told me to turn off the lights (the florescent lights also make a noise) to hear better, then turn them back on. Steve made his way over to the bike trailer and FOUND THE HEARING AID!!!!! It was in the bike trailer. We had gone for a bike ride today and Fisher had on a helmet. When he took off the helmet it must have knocked off the aid from the tubing. Good thing one of us has good hearing..I cannot hear the high pitch unless I am right next the them holding it up to my ears.

He had gone to the carnival without even having the aid hooked to the mold and we didn't even know it!

Just when I was ready to give up something wonderful happens.

I am calling the hearing aid insurance company today!!!!

This is a picture of a Behind The Ear (BTE) hearing aid to give you an idea how small it is.

See how it can easily blend into the ground?! So the mold part (the part you actually place in the ear) was in his ear, but the tubing came unhooked for the rest of the aid.