Faith in Every Footstep 2009

Our trek was amazing....besides the tired feet, blisters and the dirt....we all had so much fun! The first day we walked 6.2 miles with a slush breaks and lunch along the way. We ended at Wheatgrass reservoir, where we shared a campsite with cows. The reservoir was more like a pond, and it was more like stinky cow water, but that didn't stop our kids! They hopped in the canoes and pushed eachother over. The bishop even got in for a race across the pond!

The second day we had delicious breakfast burritos (yeah...we didn't starve on the trip...that's for sure. We had some really fun leaders that would gather the kids around and start fun games with them...the kids had a blast! Then we were off for our next 6.3 miles...of course filled with watermelon & slush breaks!

About a mile into our day of walking, we were stopped and were told that they need men volunteers to leave and join the Mormon Batallion to fight in the war...we heard gun shots and all! The women had to pull the handcarts by ourselves for about amile and it was NOT easy! Each handcart had a 7 lb. baby, and we had to carry it the entire way....when the men left for war we one of the handcarts' baby became ill and died...so we had a burial reenactment. It really made us think about what they went through to lose their family members one after another. We so were grateful when the men returned to assist us the rest of the way!


Later that day we ran into indians, and they insisted to have one thing from each cart to allow us to get through their land. We gave them treats and snacks from each cart. That was a cool experience.

We finally made it to camp at Pine Park...it is so amazing! We had a visit from the Pony Express, who delivered all of the kids a letter from home. It was so neat!

We ended the night with an awesome testimony meeting and I was amazed at our youth! They are such great examples to me! It was such an amazing experience.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRIP:

MOBILE PORTA-POTTYWe definitely had friends in HIGH places in this case. We had a porta-potty on wheels (pulled behind a 4wheeler) the whole trek!

A BUS RIDE HOME
We were MORE than grateful that we did not have to haul those hand carts back out of Pine Park. The Red Cliff Ascent bus picked us up and hauled us out and we were SO HAPPY to go!

Our Holiday Weekend....

Me and the boys had a fun weekend up at the ranch. They had fun running around and getting dirty....eating smores....grilling burgers....Jed on the other hand....had a fun weekend working in the rain....getting overtime!

Thursday night...Grandpa Rick snuck in while we were asleep.

Friday...we visited Grandpa Rick for a bit....did our shopping in SG and then headed to the ranch for a nice evening of burgers and smores.

Saturday... we got totally rained out at the ranch and came home for an impromptu spaghetti dinner...(F.Y.I. go buy a Boboli pizza crust, cover with mozarella cheese, Broil...and make homemade ranch to dip.....Yummo)

Sunday...I "got" to talk in church and was glad when that was over....

Monday...we went swimming in SG with Baby Kate and then had to drop her off at her other grandma's...that was sad...like dropping off one of my own for week....then Monday night we got a bonus....Kurt and Kim stopped on their way home from up north and we had a yummy BBQ and the boys got to have a sleepover in Broc's room....They are like a bunch of girls giggling until midnight....Fun though....

Now it's time to gear up for summer...this week is Youth Conference...we're going on a pioneer trek!

Broc the graduate...

Broc had his Kindergarten graduation yesterday. It was so fun to see all the songs and things they had learned all year. He was so proud to show off. Mrs. Snow gave them each a diploma and a scrapbook of the whole year...which is so awesome....when he went up to receive his diploma, I don't know if he even got out of his seat or if he just reached out to grab it...he was in such a hurry and he didn't make eye contact with Mrs. Snow or anything....I guess he is ready to move on! His reading and computer scores are on a 2nd grade level. He is so smart and we are so proud of him!

baby k8

The newest temporary member of our family:

Baby Kate

My brother Konan and his wife Robyn have awesome benefits with her job and went on a 3 week cruise to Turkey, Istanbul, and end up in Greece....rough life huh! When I first heard of their choice of destination...I wondered "what the heck do they want to go there for"? But I have since seen pictures of the places they will stay and WOW! IT's amazing the things they are able to see and do....AND bonus for us...we get to play with kate for a lot of the time they are gone. Grandma Lainie will split the job with Grandma Bywater...and we get her for just a few days in between.

My boys LOVE her.....Broc already asked if we could keep her in our family....I told him that her Mom & Dad would probably miss her...and he said "Ok, but when we have a baby sister...I want to name her Kate."

Check me out......

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Summer Fun!

We are so lucky that our boys come up with activities to entertain themselves....

They take turns cruising around onthe four wheeler until the battery goes dead....thank goodness for our open area of our backyard! Brayden doesn't let it get him down when he gets stuck in the dirt ruts from the tractor...he just pushed his way out!

Today we decided to blow up our pool, that is needing a little repairing! We were holding up the sides of the pool with dump trucks out of the sandbox....time to invest in a new one. The pool thing never lasts long anyway...they usually end up just spraying each other with the hose anyway!


We go over to the park at the Elementary on occasion...and this day Brayden really wanted to ride his cousins motor scooter....he settled for wearing the helmet (upside down and backwards) and standing on the scooter!

Their latest discovery is Sprinklers+Sandbox=backyard beach...this is what they do everyday...and bring all the extra sand in the house with them when their done.....they did that until Jed realized it was putting so much weight on the sides of the sandbox that it was splitting out the wood....bummer! (I didn't even get a picture before it was banned)

So far we are loving summer.....we have had such nice weather everyday! Thank goodness for otter pops and a nice yard to run around and play!

Pre-Birthday party

My Mom thought it would be fun to take Broc to Pirate Island Pizza the Thursday night before his birthday and meet Konan, Robyn & Baby Kate! I think seeing Baby Kate and having her the whole next day at his realy party was the best present he got. He loves that little girl SO much! The feelings are definitely mutual! We had a lot of fun playing the arcade games and bumming tickets off Uncle Konan. I think we ended up with like 1500 or more tickets! Of course that buys you a bunch of dippy things, but the boys thought they had struck gold!

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Broc's 6th Birhtday

Wow..how time flies...I can't believe what a good boy Broc is. He is so smart and loves to play with his brother! He always acts so grown up....even at age 6! We love you so much Broc, hope you had a great Birthday!Broc had a Monsters vs. Aliens party with an emphasis on his fave character B.O.B. We played "pin the eyeball on B.O.B" and then we had an outdoor obstacle course. They to run through a baby pool, ride a baby bike, crawl through a tunnel, run over a sprinkler, through another tunnel and hit a water balloon off the t-ball stand. The boys had a fun time with that. We, of course, had B.O.B. colored cupcakes and everyone got B.O.B slime, masks, glow sticks and squirt guns.

Hmmm...maybe Brayden will get a nice quiet party at home with us....haha