Summer 2013

Wow how summer has just flown by.. Seems like it just started and now it's almost over.. Well I have a little catching up to do again.. We had quite a busy summer.  So to pick up where we left off from the last post in June. June 23rd was Logan's B-day.. We had gone down to stay at grandma and grandpa's house while dad was away on a work trip..  We went up to the canyon and had a picnic and a water fight in the creek however we didnt get pictures of that event.. Left the camera behind..

She really wanted a camera so she could take some pictures of our upcoming trips to yellowstone and Flaming Gorge..

she has wanted some shaving cream for a while now so she could have a shaving cream fight.

During the same time Austin flew out to MI to hang with his best friend out there Isaac Harrison. He calls him his brother from another mother.. They were very close while we lived out there..
Isaac's parents took them to see a Baseball game in Detroit the day he flew in..

 He had a great time there despite his arm being broken and not being able to swim in the lake they live on :(

 

The next week we took Allie down to Byu to go to EFY. She was meeting her best friend Aubrey Bourett from MI there and was going to room together. She had a blast there and met several guys. Even some from Idaho.

 

The following week after EFY we met the Bourett family up in Island park at a cabin we would be staying in for a few days while we toured Yellowstone and Jackson Hole with their family. We are missing some pictures since our camera's battery had died the first day into the trip so alot of these were taken from my iphone. I will have to add some of the pictures Matt Bourett took for us later when I get them off Steve's computer.

Old Faithful!

Dont ask me how the Flaming Gorge Trip pictures got added here in the middle of the Yellow Stone trip. So you will have to excuse the mixed up orders. So after we returned from our Yellowstone Trip we went back to Brigham to go to Flaming Gorge with Steve's brothers and their family's.. It was a last get together with Matt before his family moved to Italy for a few years.  We had such a great time.. All the kids tried skiing. Some succeeded but I think all had a great time..  We sure had missed camping at the Gorge while we were living back East.  We were so excited to be back in the west so we can do more trips like this.

Uncle Rich in the poop tent waving his flag of surrender..

The Kayak we bought just before we left on the trip proved to be the most desired item.. The kids loved playing out on it.

Logan trying to ski.. She didnt really want to but Dad made her try.. Didnt make it up this year.

Same with Jessie. Hopefully next year they will get up.

We were very hesitant to let Austin get into the water for fear he would get his cast wet, but he wanted to get in the water so bad and I couldn't blame him, so we put his cast cover on and duct taped it around him and hoped for the best and low and behold it kept him dry.. (yes we are a little red neck) I told him to try and keep his arm up out of the water just in case.. It was quite funny..

 Allie tired so many times but just couldn't seem to get her legs to stay together. She has got to build up some inner leg muscles.. Plus the skii's were very loose and hard to keep on. She sure did give it a good try though..

 We got her up for a few seconds.

Tube War!!

Not sure what Austin's face was all about in this one..

Sammy and Olivia were troopers going up against the big boys.

Allie had the awesomest dismount we have ever seen. She hit a wave and we swear went 10 feet up in the air did a front flip and landed head down.. She smacked pretty hard and had a horrible head and neck pain which ended her tubing fun for the day but it was pretty cool to see. If only we could have had the camera rolling for that one..

Sara and Jessie making their own mud pool.. Hey people would pay good money for a mud bath these days..

It was so relaxing just floating out on the water until all the kids thought it would be fun to see if they could dump poor aunt raigon off her raft.

Gorgeous sunsets up there.

All the cousin's minus Amy's kids.. They did not want to come up to the Gorge with us..

Steve's youngest brother Matt and his family.

Steve's younger brother Rich and his family.

Our family..

The Hoyt brothers.

The whole family minus Amy's family.

The sister in laws minus Amy.

Ok these next few ones are out of order again..  Austin decided he wanted his name shaved into his head for the summer. It got a little cricked, but he liked it.. Dad thought he looked dorky..

My dad or the kid's grandpa had his hands operated on and we had to get pictures.

For Father's Day I decided to bake Steve an Apple Pie.. Turned out really good.

So as soon as School got out Freshman Football Camp started  and on the very last day of camp at their Scrimmage game against Nampa High the last 5 minutes of the game no less Austin was tackled to the ground, and after the call had already been made some idiot from the other team decided he would rush in and jump on top of Austin just in case he wasnt already flattened enough.. Seriously?  The boy's face mask had come down on Austin's arm breaking both bones in his wrist area and dislocated his arm. From what they say it was pretty gruesome looking. I happened to be at a appointment in Boise and had forgotten my phone at home and Steve was in Idaho Falls working and spending the night there so the coaches and hospital staff was unable to reach either of us..

Meanwhile Austin is in pain and the Doctors needed permission to give him pain medicine and put him to sleep so they can re set his arm. Eventually they got a hold of my parents to get permission to treat him and the coach stayed with him until I was able to get to the hospital.. I had left Logan home alone thinking Austin would be getting home from football within an hour and would be with her.. So she was home getting all the calls from the coach and hospital on my cell phone.. She was so grown up and told the nurses I wasnt home and was at an appointment and texted Steve on his cell phone telling him what had happened so he could call the hospital. She handled things very well for a 9 year old.. I had been gone for 4 hours by the time I got home so the coach had to stay with him for quite a while..

 

He had to stay in a sling and brace for 3 weeks until we could get it casted.

 

Finally when he got home from MI we were able to take him in and cast it.. We were quite surprised they told him he only had to wear the cast for another 3-4 weeks, because originally we were told he would be in the cast for 6 weeks. So that made him really happy.  He got it off just in time for football to start up again.. He has to wear a brace for a couple weeks while playing football but then he is good to go.

While we were staying in Brigham we did a little shopping at the mall and got some skirts for the girls..

Jessie had been saving her birthday and christmas money and allowances for 2 years now in the hope of buying her own xbox since her brother wasn't being very nice and sharing his as much as he should of. She was very close to having all the money so Grandpa said he would pay her to mow his lawn for him.. So he taught her how to do it and she earned enough money to actually buy Austins xbox from him so he can save to buy a playstation 4..  sheesh these kids!!

Ok back to Yellowstone LOL..

The kids didnt enjoy Yellowstone very much.. They kept saying we already have seen a million geysers and mud holes. We are tired of walking.. What lazy kids hu?

The best part of yellowstone the kids did enjoy was the wildlife we were able to see.. Lots of buffalo!

Lots of Elk.

 

We even got to see a black bear which was really cool.

And you cant tell from this picture, I will have to post a better one from the Bouretts camera when I get it but there was a big Moose laying down in these trees.. We had to wait forever before he finally stood up and moved a little..

It was so pretty up there. The drives through the park were awesome.

This was one of the shops along the way we stopped at.. Logan really wanted this hat.

We didnt get any on here of Jackson hole.. I will have to see if any of the picts we got from the Bourett's has some and put them on here..  On our way back home we went through this little town called Arco Idaho where the only place to eat was this little green restaurant called the Pickle's Place.. It was actually pretty good food.

Steve's brother Matt and his wife had just adopted a little baby girl from Virginia and we got to meet her for the first time when we cane down to Utah to spend some time with them. She is such a cute little doll. We all fought on who could hold her.

So again out of order. So when we went to drop the trailer off at the place we had rented it from Steve was unhooking the equalizer hitch and it has a crow bar wedged down on it and when he tried to loosen it it had snapped and came around and hit him in the chest.. It was a sickening thump I heard from the front of the truck.. I thought something had broke on the trailer bit it was the bar hitting his chest.. It had hit him with such force that it knocked him to the ground and knocked the wind out of him.. It tore a hole through his shirt but not his garment and cut his chest and deeply bruised him.. We thought he might have broken a rib, but his brother who is also a doctor checked him out and nothing was broken just badly bruised...  He was very lucky.. I truly believe his garments had protected him. It could have been alot worse..  It got pretty ugly over the days and now has left him with a cool little scar that looks like the number 7.

I have been wanting to get a grand piano for years now and we have a lady in the ward that we have made good friends with that had one and said she would probably be selling hers when her daughter leaves on a mission.. So her daughter left on a mission this summer and she asked if I still wanted it and I said heck yes I do.. So instead of getting our back yard landscaped this year I got a grand piano instead and I love it.

Just tempting another french braid but this time going sideways. It sorta turned out...

Our Stake was having a Pioneer celebration for the 24th of July and we happened to have some friend of ours from when we lived in Santaquin Utah staying with us so we dragged them along with us and one of the activities was a stick pull like the pioneers would often do for fun.

Then the last week of July Austin had his other good friend from MI, Alex McTavish come stay with us for a couple weeks.. They had alot of fun hanging out together. We took him bowling for his last night with us.

The other day it was really quiet in the house and I started wondering what the girls would be up to so I checked around the house and when I didn't find them proceeded out side and this is what I found.. Looks like they put Logan's shaving cream she got for her birthday to use..  I had to hose them down before I would let them back into the house..

This week Steve had to fly to Copenhaggen Denmark for his work meetings so that is pretty cool for him other then the crazy time differences.  While he is there they are taking him to an old amusement park there and a few different historical places so it should be pretty cool for him. With his new job he has taken on within the company he is traveling about every week. Anywhere from 2-5 days a week.. Kind of crazy..

My grandma Palmer passed away this past Sunday. She was 89.. She went pretty peacefully so it was really a blessing. She got very weak and had some internal bleeding so she was ready to go..


And finally here we are to today.. The first day back to school. All the kids were a little nervous, but also dredding going back.. The summer just wasn't long enough.. Secretively I was jumping for joy... J/K I actually liked them home and being able to sleep in, but I also like being back on a schedule and being able to do what I want without having to keep the kids busy.   Sweet logan I think was a bit nervous. Her stomach started hurting last night when we went to bed and at 3 AM she was up in my room crying saying her belly hurt so I had to get up and give her some pepto.. Jessie was helping care for her so they both didn't get to much sleep last night. Plus she is suffering from horrible allergies so this will be a long day for her.. She is in the 4th grade now.

Jessie has now moved on to middle school.  She is quite nervous going to a new school again and now having to have several classes and a locker combination she has to memorize, but I think she will do fine. We walked through her schedule at the school and everything was right near her locker so it should be a pretty easy transition for her.. Other then her locker wasn't working so they have to fix it which has caused her a little anxiety I think she will do awesome.

Austin is also a little nervous and excited to finally be a high schooler. Nervous because it's another new school and trying to remember where to go but excited to be back with his friends and his many many girlfriends. (He's just like his dad. A big flirt and social butterfly) I'm sure he will have a great time..

Then there is Allie who is now a Junior. She is so excited to be back with her friends and be in Madrigals. She also just got her official drivers license last week so now she can drive to high school which makes her and all the kids happy so they no longer have to ride the bus.. Except logan.. She gets out earlier so she will have to ride the bus home which is a hour long ride.  So although they are not to thrilled to be going back to school I think they are pretty excited to be back with friends and doing their various activities.

Wow Major Catch Up Spring Summer 2013

Wow so I have really neglected my blog for a while again.. What new right? well where to start..

Well at the end of March Logan got a really bad pink eye and she ended up lacerating her cornea which caused a big infection in her eye. She was pretty miserable. Finally after getting on some different medications and resting her eye it finally healed up..

Also starting at the end of March or First part of April city Baseball started up.. Steve had volunteered to be an assistant coach of Austin's team. They had baseball every single day and sometimes even Saturday's.. I had no idea it would be that time consuming.. Anywhere else we have lived baseball is usually only 3 days a week but not here.. It was a real pain some days.. Austin really improved this year.. He played pitch and center field.. The coach was able to help him a little with his swinging and after that he was nailing them almost every time..  He made some awesome plays this year..

Austin also got his braces off in May.. We had to get a before and after shot.

Quite the funny guy..

Jessie and I were able to attend a horse expo. We had alot of fun checking out all the horses there and watching them perform.

For Mother's day I was down in bed with horrible allergies that wiped me out, but my kids took care of me by making my favorite breakfast of crepes with beautiful flowers they picked from the neighbors yard.. LOL

We have some great storage area in the top of our shop so we decided to take one of the areas and make it into a play area for the kids..  We hope to eventually put some stairs leading up to it and make a slide they can come down on..

We had a family outing at Big Al's which is a huge bowling Alley/Arcade. It was really fun. It had been so long since any of us had been bowling..

The last week of School Allie tried out for Madrigals the top choir for High school and made it in for next year so she is super excited about that.. She loves to sing and play piano.. She is thinking of majoring in music.. She got Straight A's again this year.. She is so smart and we are so proud of her.. Even Austin made the Honor roll this last semester with all A's and B's.  He could be Straight A's if he would just put the effort into it..

School was out early here which the kids were so excited about.. Back in Michigan school doesn't get out until today June 11th so they got out almost a whole month earlier.. I like the earlier out time.. So we decided to spend memorial weekend camping with Steve's brother and family and Cousin Mike.. Even Steve's brother Matt was able to join us for a couple days.. Since moving away from Utah we have really missed being able to go camping and fishing with family.. We didn't get to go out in NJ or MI and the fishing we did in MI wasn't all that exciting because all we would catch is little blue gill or sun dish so to come back here and catch big trout was really fun for the kids..  I forgot I had my camera until the last day as we were packing up to go home so I didn't get to many fun pictures.

Luckily Uncle Mike was able to get a picture of Logan and cousin Malorie with their fish they had caught..

This is the little trailer we had rented to stay in.. It was really nice to have because it was a little on the cool side especially at night.. Poor Austin and Dallen had to sleep in the tent and it got a bit cold for them a couple nights.

Man it was sure fun though.. I cant wait to do more.. We hope to be able to get our own trailer or motor home again maybe next year we we get more moolah...

So last week I had told the kids it was there turn to make dinner so Allie and Austin came up with a plan and told us we had to stay in my room until they were finished.. Then we were blindfolded and led to the dinner table where we were then able to take our blind folds off and this it what we saw.. This was there version of a fancy red neck dinner.

 I was a little scarred to see my son in a dress.. he even had one of Allies bra's on.. hmmmmmmm

Hash browns with eggs and spam in it.. Blue punch and orange julius by candlelight..  They did an awesome job and it was a yummy dinner.

Austin even went on you tube to learn how to fold a paper towel into a nice dinner napkin... I think you can about learn anything on you tube.. He went on there a couple weeks ago to learn how to tie a bow tie to wear to church.. he did an awesome job at it too..

So Now it brings us to today.. Well summer has officially started. It's been in the 80's and 90's very hot..  We still haven't closed on our house in MI.. We are hoping it happens soon. We have a very steep hill we live on that has to be retained with rock walls and eventually landscaped and it's going to cost us a small fortune to gt done so we are hoping to get it done by this fall.  Steve interviewed for another position within his company last week so we should be hearing about that sometime this week.. It will be a job with more traveling which I am not looking forward to, but in order to achieve his goal of becoming a Regional Business Director he has to take these next steps.. I guess we made it through him traveling 3 out of 4 weeks when the kids were very small (barely)so I guess we can handle it again.. The thing that really sucks is for 6 years now we have wanted to get back to Utah to live closer to family again and now with this new job the company would most likely be willing to relocate us to Utah, but now with 2 kids in High school and with all the moves we have done lately to them having to start new schools and get new friends we just cant do it to them again.. The timing really stinks.. Why couldn't this have happened last year when we were still in Michigan and was looking to move.. It would have made things so much easier.. So I guess we will stay here for a few more years until kids get out of school.

Football has started for Austin.. he is excited to be playing again.. He missed out last year due to our move out here to Idaho. He will be playing running back this year..  He will be starting his freshman year at High school. Allie will be a junior this year. She is ready to go get her official driver's license oh dear heaven help us.. Jessie will be going into the middle school 6th grade and Logan will be going into 4th grade... Wow how time has flown by.. My kids are getting so old.. 2 more years and Allie will be graduating uuuggghhhh.... I just cant be this old yet..

 Yesterday was Steve and I's 18th anniversary.. It's crazy to think we have been married that long already.. What a ride it has been.. Lots of up's and down's, but we have made it through and still together.. I am looking forward to another 18 + years. Last night he brought me flowers and took me to my favorite restaurant PF Changs... Yummy!!

Well we have alot of exciting things coming up.. Austin will be flying out to MI next week to go see his best friend and his brother from another mother as he calls him so he is really excited for that..  Allie left today for girls camp and will come home for a week and then will be getting ready to go see her very best friend from MI, her sister from another mother at EFY in provo Utah the first week of July and then the following week we will be taking her family the Bourret family our good friends from MI to yellow stone and stay in a cabin in Island park for a week.. They have girls that are really close to our girls so they are just so excited and can hardly wait.. It will be so fun to hang with them again.. We miss them alot...  Then as soon as we return form yellowstone we head to Utah for a family reunion with Steve's family for a nice get together with steve's brother Matt and his family before they move to Italy.. They just adopted a new baby and I am so excited to see my new niece.. Then we will be heading camping up to Flaming Gorge one of my most favorite camping spots.  Cant wait!!  So stay tuned for pictures of all our fun summer adventures coming up..

Until then.