Top Ten

Since it's been a year since my last post, I thought I'd do a quick top ten list to get caught up.

1. We moved... about a mile down the road. The house is a great fit for our family and I love having a big backyard. I even planted my first garden! We have a nice view of the mountains, but my favorite thing is being able to see so much of the sky.

2.We went to Lake Powell and Zions last summer.






3. Hayden played lacrosse and started piano lessons.




4. My youngest brother Robby married Elise in the Logan temple on the snowiest day ever. It was an adventure getting to the ceremony, but totally worth it.


5. Tyson had his tonsils removed. It was a mean recovery. He has been healthier ever since.



6. We took a quick trip to Disneyland in December with Chad's family. The boys had a blast riding Indiana Jones and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was fun seeing the park all decorated for Christmas.


6.Hayden finished fourth grade and Tyson finished second grade.

7. Our family continues to be involved with JDRF. We raised almost two thousand dollars at the last walk! We won the best family t-shirt prize for our Tyson and the Rockstars shirt. We are looking forward to the next walk in August.


9. Tyson was baptized and started cub scouts

10. We said good-bye to our pets Fluffy and Blossom. We're grateful to still have Che.

The Fourth of July

I love the Fourth of July
I love celebrating it at the cabin
It makes me want to live in Oakley
in the big old brick house on Cow Alley

We celebrated Hayden's birthday while we were there. The bottom layer of his cake collapsed while we were having lunch in Park City.

We went to the Oakley parade and sat at the end of Cow Alley. It was really fun this year, Chad was cheering everything that came by...banks, pooper scoopers, Labrador retrievers... I'm glad he's a good sport about doing things like this with our kids. He's a good dad.

They still throw candy!!!!

I was impressed with Hayden this weekend. I didn't need to ask him to put down his video games, he did it on his own. He played the pool with CJ and battleship with Aunt Leslie and Daniel. He talked just about everyone into playing foosball with him.

Someday I might get a good picture at the Oakley rodeo...It was an extra great holiday weekend. All of my dads family came into town to do a big family picture. It was cool to have them taken in the quakies by our cabin. Regatta pictures to come.

Trilobite Hunting

About fifty miles outside of Delta there is a place you can go dig for trilobites. My mom had been wanting to do this for a while and it turned out to be really great. The extra long car ride was absolutely worth it. After we paid the fee and rented our hammers and buckets we settled into the shale and started hunting. To find the trilobites you carefully split the shale into slices with a flat hammer like tool. The trilobites are nestled inside the layers.
Hayden found his first fossil as soon as he stepped out of the car.
They suggest that you bring gloves and glasses. Ty picked out these sunglasses on the way there. They looked just like my dads.
This place is in the middle of nowhere. You can see the shack where you pay and the equipment is stored and the pavilion. To the left and down a steep hill are two nineties era port-a-potties. That's all that is there. Pretty cool.
Everyone sits right on the rock to dig.
This is the awesome man who works there. When there is no one at the shack he comes out and helps people dig. He chiseled some fresh rock chunks out for my dad.
There were two friendly dogs that roamed around. This one was very interested in Hayden's string cheese.


We ended up with a bunch of fossils. There were so many we even left some there.
Overall, it was a great adventure.

Pinewood Derby

A few weeks ago our ward had a pinewood derby. Chad took the boys to my parents house to have Pop help design and build the cars. They turned out really good for their first time. Hayden's car even took third place!

Field Trips

I got to go on both boys field trips. Ty went to Hogle Zoo and Hayden went to Camp Floyd. It was kind of drizzly the day we went to the zoo and most of the animals were pretty active. It is kind of nerve wracking to see the cougar prowling around, knowing that they live so close. The baby elephant is super cute. The three boys I took in my group loved climbing on the statues, I have a bunch more pictures just like this, with different animals.

Hayden's group went to Camp Floyd. I hadn't been out there since I was in grade school, and it was really neat. One of the volunteers was dressed up as a soldier and told the history of the fort. He did a really good, I learned a lot of interesting stuff. They had some fun activities for the kids. We went in an old school house and played pioneer games. They learned about the pony express and ran a relay race. The got to hand dip candles and participate in a musket drill. Overall, it was a great field trip. We might even take Ty back to check it out.

Mickey Mouse Ears Cake

This was a really fun cake to make. It was for Chad and Jana's birthdays. It says Jana on the other side of the hat. Since Chad hates fondant, I used sprinkles on the middle layer and the hat. They ended up everywhere.

A Trip to the Copper Pit

My sister and I took the boys to the Bingham copper pit a few weekends ago. We walked through the visitors center, watched the video and checked out the mine. It's amazing how big the copper pit looks from the inside.

We took pictures like this when I was a kid.