Grand Canyon!

Our family lives in a beautiful place. Many people travel from all around the world to see where we live. Sadly, we have not even seen all of the beauty around us!!

This last week, Cory had a day off from work and we jumped at the chance to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Its only a few hours away and I love the drive. We were all set! But..that morning...the refrigerator wasn't working. STRESS!!! AAHH!! Thankfully, my smart hubby was able to fix it by the end of the day. So, although we didn't go on that day, we were able to travel there a few days later.

Only YOU can prevent forest fires!

On the trail! We did a lot of hiking and I was so happy with how my feet held up.  Hooray for happy feet!

And a happy birthday to my hubby! 39 years looks good on you!!...so glad its not me.

Beefalo. Yep. That's what they are called!  Talk about breeding gone wrong!

My favorite boys.

I keep thinking back to a year ago when we had our pictures taken on the steps of the Idaho Falls Temple. James was about my height then. >sigh< they grow so fast!!

I love my family!

 We had a great time and I recommend the Grand Canyon to anyone who is even thinking about it. For me, the views were fantastic but the company was better.

Peach Days Ribbons

Peach Days is the local festival that my family looks forward to every year. There is great entertainment, lots of neat pioneer exhibits, the best parade in the county and yummy food...the food it SO very yummy.

Just about every year James tries to enter something..only once before has he been able to enter something in on time. This year he was able to enter his new favorite recipe. 

Brace yourselves..its a DOOZY!

Chocolate-chip-oreo-brownies.

It was intense! He has made it a few times at home to perfect it..and I guess he did because....

 

...because he took home the Sweepstakes Award for baking. He defeated ALL of the other baking entries--including the adults. 

 The Brownies were a huge success. Half of them were devoured by the judges. (if you look at the pictures, the other entries only had a small bit of them gone.)  and when James spoke with one of the judges later, she said that his was "TO DIE FOR!"

What a sense of accomplishment for James. He has some big struggles, but he has a heart of gold that makes his mama so happy. I love my James! 

Seriously though, these brownies were AWESOME. A layer of chocolate-chip cookies, then he placed Oreo's on them, then he poured brownie batter on top of that!

The other surprise of Peach Days was about my chairs. All day I had been pondering about placing one of my chairs to be judged. This was so huge to me. I love to paint my chairs but I don't feel like a "real artist"..more of a person who loves to doodle. 

 When I brought my one chair in, several of the ladies really liked it. I was flattered!....and then they asked me if I had any more. Of course, I laugh, my entire kitchen set is an assortment of chairs! And before you know it, they have me convinced to bring all of the chairs over for the show.

 All the way home I was trying not to freak out. Cory was just concerned on what we were going to sit on at the table. (Those food storage buckets really are comfy by the way.)

We cleaned them up and picked up a few on the way--since I have chairs all over the place..lol..

I was so happy with the response. At one point, during Peach Days, Cory took me to the display and had me sit next to it and listen to people's reactions. The positive feedback was almost overwhelming. It was nice to sit there anonymously and listen to what was being said. 

From the Judges.

It really boosted my love of doodling. I can't stop! And I love that about me. I love creating. I love making something thrown away into something beautiful again. I just love it. 

Thank you, Peach Days!

Bubble bubbles bubbles

Every summer we do a little program at the library around science. Several years ago we did the program around bubbles, it was so much fun we had to do it again this year.  It was MUCH easier this time around since the boys could pretty much do everything without my help.  The crowd was about 300 total for the two shows. It was crazy fun!!

Luke was the Master of Ceremonies. He is naturally charismatic and did an awesome job! The kids LOVED him!

Ben gave his first presentation. He talked about his "Snake Bubbles."  He had fun figuring out which fabric made the best chain of bubbles. (It was a super cheap washcloth btw. )

Luke made bubbles that he could hold in his hand. He used dry ice to make the bubbles nice and cold, and he totally held them in his hands.

Ben did bubbles with a straw...and then he played with all of the other bubbles.--Who can resist bubbles????

This is James practicing his presentation. He did two different chemical reactions commonly known as elephant's toothpaste. We were trying to get the huge reaction of bubbles that you see online, but we were unsuccessful. We even purchased some potassium  iodide with no large reaction. :(

However, it was fun to see the difference between the yeast reaction (on the right) verses the potassium iodide (on the right).

Of course we had BIG bubbles!

Lots of BIG bubbles!

And to top it off, we put the kids inside a bubble. How often do you get to be inside a bubble?? So fun!

Kay the fantastic librarian that has inspired my boys so much. Without her encouragement, I don't know if James ever would have read on his own. She could get us to do just about anything.

We love the library! And I love bubbles. Lots of bubbles! :)

Sweet Sixteen!

I cannot start a post about Luke turning 16 without a proper baby picture of him.  Luke was a very fussy baby. He didn't like to be held or comforted by his mom. He has always preferred to be independent and learn things on his own...the hard way. I love my Luke.

Last year Luke took a class about World War II. He loved it and has read many more books about WWII and the events surrounding it. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when he wanted to have a 1940's Dance Party for his 16th birthday party. What I was surprised was when I agreed that it would be fun!! I am not a party girl. My kids have had maybe one or two birthday parties. I love small gatherings, but more people then six and I'm suddenly a wall flower. But alas! We pressed forward and I became very excited for it.

For his birthday, we gave Luke some WWII memorabilia. He loved it! It suited him very well. As he called it "Real History!" Among the items were a ration card, various badges, pins and buttons. We also found the newspapers from after Pearl Harbor. So neat!

We decorated with flags, flag banners, lights and vintage posters.

 

We had some friends, who are dance instructors, teach the swing, foxtrot. They had the kids twirling around and dancing all over! Even Ben danced with all the girls!

My amazing mother in law found a 1936 car to display outside and it was the detail that made the party great! 

Luke dancing with his Grandma Sutton--who was born in the 40's so she was her own display. She kept up with all the kids on that dance floor!

Grandma dancing with her son...the biggest smile of the night!

Over 60+ kids! They were awesome!

Fun times!

Like sister like brother.

Y-M-C-A!

The clean up crew...we have so much fun anytime!!

Dance dance dance!!!!

 Happy birthday Luke!! I hope you'll never forget this even...cause I'll probably never do it again. Love you!

Pioneer day

Sometimes I think my kids are so stinking cute. On pioneer day they dressed all up and I thought they were just adorable. My littles were anyway, my older boys refuse to let their mom call them adorable anymore.

Ok maybe technically the pioneers weren't cowboys and I'm sure the pioneers had matching socks. But that morning, I really couldn't care less!

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A big thank you to the leaders of these pint size pioneers. They are dedicated and do a fantastic job. Thank you ladies!

Run away!

At the Cheesecake Factory. Wow it was yummy!

 I have the best friends!  They are just like me in the sense that they love a good time and a good laugh--lots of laughs. We decided that we should do both of those things in a concentrated amount in the innocent venue of VEGAS!

Ok..maybe the venue isn't that innocent.
However, it was my first time to the Cheesecake factory and to Fremont Street. I will definitly be at the Cheesecake factory again...Fremont Street...well...maybe not.

I really wanted to swim with the sharks at the Golden Nugget. It was already closed by the time we arrived, but it was still fascinating to watch!

Fremont Street...AT MIDNIGHT!

With all of the lights it was like daytime.

At the temple!!

 Ok the real reason we went to Vegas was to attend the Las Vegas temple. I had never attended this temple and really wanted to. I love the spirit of the temple and the contrast to Fremont Street was quite extreme. There is so much peace and comfort found at the temple. I prefer the peace at the temple a thousand times verses the worldly Fremont Street.

We laughed and laughed and we cried and cried. We shared memories, adventures and trials. A wonderful time