Funny Faces

My Mom gave me control of her camera last Sunday at Family dinner. I had fun, everyone likes to make funny faces. We had fun! I love living by my family. The pictures of us sitting on the deck are in the back yard of our new house, we sign on Wednesday!!!
 
I thought these were hilarious

Football

Lance and Taj played football in my parent's living room. It was so cute! The helmet and football have been around as long as I can remember.

Isn't he cute!

Preparing for the pass.

He throws...

Does he catch it?

NOPE!!!

He let it hit him in the head on purpose.

Goes for the tackle.

He's down!!!

Taj had so much fun.

Camping

We went camping a couple of weekends ago up at Potter's Pond. It was so much fun! My brother James brought up a four wheeler and we caught lots of fish. I would go camping a lot more if it wasn't so much work. It was fun though.

Taj woke up at 5:30 in the morning and was ready to play. I talked Lance into taking him fishing, Taj was so excited. He loved camping and loved the dirt and rocks. He loved fishing the most though, he almost fell in a couple of times.

Elli had tons of fun. She loved the four wheeler, I didn't get any pictures. Her and her cousins loved to have their fishing poles in the water but could not be bothered to reeling in their poles when there was a fish on it. Her cousins here are really making Elli girly. There was a field of wild flowers by our campsite. It was so pretty. I made Elli go sit and take pictures. It was at the end of the trip so she looked pretty dirty and she wouldn't look at the camera.

We love living by cousins. Elli and her cousins Hallie and Gracie get along so well. They all love to get their pictures taken.

Elli and Hallie are only a few months apart and they are best cousins. Their personalities are total opposites which probably helps. Hallie says she will not go to preschool unless she can go with her bestest cousin Elli.

Be an Asset

While I was in Cedar at my teaching conferences I went to some wonderful sessions about being assets in kids lives. There was a presenter named Brad Barton that talked about how kids need 40 assets in their lives. The more they have the more likely they will succeed in life. Some of the assets are a loving family, supportive parents etc... The one that Brad emphasized is having three or more nonparent adults who care about them. He told us about his abusive father, having learning disabilities and how he had less then 14 assets in his life and how the odds were against him. Then a wrestling coach believed in him and made him believe. He ended being an amazing athlete, even qualifying in the Olympic's in the Steeple Chase, and graduating with honors from college. He was so awesome to listen to and really made me think.


I don't know if everybody knows but I am in the Young Womens in our Ward here in Orangeville I was also in the Young Womens in the Ward we were in in Cedar. I love it and I love working with the Youth. I worry about some of the girls I worked with in Cedar. I have kept in touch with them somewhat but after this conference I am going to make sure I care about the Youth I am around. There are even some kids in our neighborhood who look like they could use an adult that cares. I just wanted to share this with whoever will read it. I love working with teenagers and am excited that I can be an asset in their lives. I hope this made sense and it just makes me feel better to share it with others. The pictures above are at Girls Camp. It was so much fun, these girls are so awesome!

These are my Cedar City Girls. I miss them!
If anyone wants to look at the 40 assets go to:
http://www.search-institute.org (I tried to link it but I'm not smart enough)

These are even good to know for parenting.

Summer Fun

So I am so excited because we finally made it so we can use my Mom and Dads internet from our laptop. I can now update my blog more often. Not that there is much to tell. Our summer has been pretty uneventful. Me and the kids just got back from Cedar where I was going to a teaching conference with my Dad. I brought my camera but I didn't see my kids that often so I didn't take any pictures. Most of our summer has been going to the lakes and fishing and swimming with the dog. The kids love to play with the dog. The beach we are playing on in these pictures is no longer there, the water level at Joes Valley got higher. Lance is so proud of his dog, he loves to fetch his duck out of the water. I hope everyone is having a fun summer!!!

New Member of the Family

We now have a new member of our family. His name is Achilles. He is a black lab with an awesome pedigree. Lance has wanted a dog for so long, he is sick of getting his own ducks out of the cold water. He is a way cute puppy. When we picked him up the first thing he did was jump on Taj and started licking him. It was fun, he loves kids and the kids love him. He is already a good retriever which makes Lance so proud. I even think he is a good dog and I am not an animal person.

Elli's Birthday

Elli turned 4 years old at the first of the month. She has been so excited for her Birthday since her cousin Hallie's Birthday in January. She has been making a list ever since. It was funny because it took me forever to decide what she wanted for Christmas because she didn't know and then January came around and her list was long. I couldn't figure it out until I was watching tv with her and a commercial came on with a toy from her list. The difference from Christmas til then is that we didn't have sattelite. I have found that Nick JR and Disney have a lot more toy commercials then PBS. Well anyways her list grew and grew. She even saw a commercial for a toothbrush that has a special brush for the tongue so that got added to the list. She was so funny. When I asked her what she wanted for her Birthday cake she wanted a Princess, Superhero, Hannah Montana Cake. So that is what she got. She had so much fun on her Birthday, Her Grandma Debbie came from Cedar to see her and spoil her rotten. Then she got to go play with her cousins at her Grandma Janice's house.
It is amazing how far Elli has came in the past year. When she turned 3 she graduated from Early Intervention where she was going for speach. She has no problem with her speach now, even though I keep having her tested hoping for free preschool, she never stops talking. She also isn't very shy anymore and she sticks up for herself so well. I love my Elli June. I can't believe she is four. She keeps telling me that she still likes three though. I feel so old.