24th of July in Pictures

Instead of boring you with all the details of the 24th of July I thought I'd just do it in pictures.

Porter is waiting for the Parade to start so he can see Payton on the float. Payton in his Pioneer "Costume"

Playing Pioneer Games at the Washington Park. Someone at the booths let the boys hammer nails into a board without having to give any tickets.

After the fun in Washington we headed up to Enterprise for races, playing in the water and a BBQ. After the Enterprise races they have the fire department throw money donations into a large man made pool where the kids find as much money as they can. The older they get the more the firefighters spray them with the hoses. They sure can blast the heck out of the 14 year old and up kids.

Payton and Porter waiting for their chance for a cool swim.

The water was nice and calm when they first got in, but after a quick squirt from the firemen's hose Porter was done.

Payton actually found $3.50 in change. He was one happy boy!

Just a quick one

It's been a while (ok way too long) since I last blogged but for some reason it's not in front of the line of things to do lately. I've been working 3 days a week for the past three weeks filling in for girls at the office who think it's summer and want to have a vacation with their families. It's been good for the money part--considering we're building the house and want to pay for things. It' been hard to leave my kids that much and it's almost been even harder on my lower back. This little girl (or 85% girl--just in case it's really a boy) is letting me know I'm getting older but I'm letting her know who's boss...most of the time. Anyway, the house is almost done. I think we'll be closing the first or second week of August, YEAH!! It will be a great anniversary present for us although it's not the cheapest gift we've ever bought for each other. I'll have to post pictures of my getting better all the time house soon!!

House full of Russians

Today the boys and I went swimming at g-ma Julies. When we returned there was a strange car parked in the driveway and the garage door was open. I was very curious to find out who was in my house...as was Payton. When he walked through the door he yelled, "Hello?" and a very nice man's voice yelled back, "Hello!" I was still unloading things from the car so I asked him from the garage who it was. He said, "I think it's Aunt Ada's husband." Well, my 95 year old Aunt Ada's husband has been dead since I was born so that gave us all a good laugh. It was a family from Washington State that had come this way to visit my aunt. Because of the road work on my aunts street they weren't able to chat at her house so they came to ours. The man was from the Nordell side of the family so I didn't know them at all. He had married a Russian woman and they had one little girl Porter's age named Anastasia. The woman's mother was also with them but spoke no English. Anastasia spoke English before her two week trip to Russia and now she speaks Russian. Payton and Anastasia got along great and when I would check on them down stairs Payton said, "Mom! She can speak Spanish!" I got a good chuckle. The two of them played great regardless of the language barrier. As far as they were concerned there was no barrier. The mother who spoke no English gave me a chocolate bar from Russia which tasted pretty good! After they left Payton told me that he kissed Anastasia "right on the lips!" When I said we don't kiss girls he said, "Well, we do if they're beautiful." I guess that's the criteria. Payton got his first kiss from a Russian girl, because she was beautiful.

The Results Are In! We're Having A...

So I went to the Dr. today for my ultrasound. I had mixed emotions--not about the sex of the baby but about the situation I am in. Todd has been gone to Arizona for the past week on this fire crew for the BLM. He is toying with my emotions because he was going to be home Sunday and when I talked to him that morning he was working on leaving. When I talked to him Sunday after church he said he was going back to Arizona because he had been called out on another fire. I knew I would be disappointed if he wasn't with me at the ultrasound because our house has been split 50-50 on whether it was a boy or a girl. Payton and Todd vs Porter and I. So I devised a plan that when the Dr. got to pointing out the sex of the baby, I would look away and he could just type whether it was a boy or girl so Todd and I could watch the video later and be suprised together. Everything was going to plan but the baby wasn't cooperating and wanted to be modest. Anyway, later during the ultrasound he had to point some things out to me and explain why he thought the baby was a GIRL but he was only 85% sure. So, Yup, we're having our first Princess. Todd was way happy when I told him on the phone. I just don't know if we can really afford to have a girl. I guess I better start learning how to do hair or start investing in some really cute girl hats.

This might Get Your Goat!

My grandpa was a rancher and raised cattle and sheep. He passed away when I was young so I didn't get to know him well, but I'm sure if he had any sense of humor and had seen his granddaughter's skills he would have been laughing so hard that it would give Tears in Heaven a new meaning. Our neighbor, Santa (that's what the kids call him because of the beard), had a goat. He kept it penned up and on a chain right next to the wall where the kids could peek over and tell DJ (that's the goat) hello every now and then. As I was getting ready to go to the bank today I noticed ol' DJ was out of Santa's gate and running down the street. I ran to Santa's to see if he knew and by the look on his face, he knew. We chased that goat from Main Street down to 300 West all the way down to Telegraph street (for those who know Washington from my house down to the Staheli Barn). Just when we thought we had it cornered DJ showed us how stupid we really were. Just picture an old bearded man, a pregnant woman with her two children trying to catch a goat that didn't want anything to do with them. After an hour of being out in 100 degree weather Santa called it quits and said "He's got water and grass, let's just leave him". And with that, we got into our air conditioned car and went about our day. I guess I'm not as intimidating as I thought because I couldn't seem to get that darn goat turned the right way so we could just chase it on home. Nothin' but good memories for Santa, Payton and I. Hope DJ has a good life...where ever he may roam. --wish I had a picture to share but...well, you understand.

Youth Conference

Last weekend I was able to go up to Manti with the youth of our ward for our Ward Youth Conference. We went to the Manti Pageant Thursday night. I remember watching the pageant when I was little but I remember very little from back then...except for the angel Moroni on top of the temple. The pageant was great and made me think about how little I really know about the Book of Mormon. Now when I read the B.O.M I really try to figure out who's talking and how they relate to those I might know a little better in the book of mormon. The next day we got to do a service project on the temple grounds. The weeds there are nothing like the weeds here. They all came out so easily...must be the location? Later that day was spent at Palasade Lake (I hope I spelled it right). It was so beautiful there. I'm so used to red rock and red dirt that the green trees and grass threw me off a bit. The water was freezing but that didn't stop the crazy teenagers. I got plenty of sunshine while we were there. That night was our testimony meeting. It was different than most of the testimony meetings I've been to. We held it in the front room of the home we were staying in instead of building a fire and going outside. It was good to hear the testimonies of the youth. This next sunday our ward is getting new Bishopric as well as having our ward boundaries changed to there was a lot of emotion during the testimony meeting. After that we cooked s'mores over the BBQ and then called it a night. We were up the next day ready to clean house and pack up. It seemed like short Youth Conference but I really enjoyed my time with the youth and all the leaders. I'm so glad there are great programs like this in the church. Just thinking about my own boys getting to have opportunities like this down the road makes me excited because they were so important in my youth and helped me gain the testimony I have now.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, to my own dad, my father in law, my grandparents and of course to my own hubby, Todd! Sometimes Mother's Day is a bummer because it's so close to my birthday and it seems like it all gets celebrated together, but Father's Day is great because I get to just focus on those special men in my life.

First let me tell you some things I remember about my own dad that makes me love him and appreciate him. He's always been a hard worker. I don't remember him staying home from work even when he sounded like death warmed over. I loved going down to Bloomington Elementary with him and he would let us ride the scooters in the gym and watch movies and read books in the library. On special occasions he would get me a pop out of the pop machine which I thought was sooo cool because I didn't need money to get a drink. I remember watching my sister's play ball with my parents and while dad didn't yell much while they played (and mom would yell when it was something good, "Good One!") I remember the coaches corner when the game was over. I don't remember being coached in the corner much, probably because dad knew I wasn't going to be that great at sports anyway so why try. Or it could have been that there was no room for improvement--I think that was the reason, all right. I loved watching the Jazz games on his bed with him. They could get pretty exciting and that bed is pretty fun to jump on. I loved dancing with him in the kitchen while he made up some melody for us to dance to. You wouldn't know he was such a good singer with all that talk he says now while being in the choir in Nauvoo but he sure could make up some great songs. I loved sharing his chips and salsa with him and although I hated helping hold up the tomato plants in the garden while he tilled up the garden I loved eating his tomato's when they were juicy and red. I sure loved dog piling and shoving my hands in his arm pits to get a reaction. Of course there are so many other memories, Christmas, family reunions, camping, his big belch after dinner but always telling mom thanks for the meal, the list goes on and on.Dad, thanks for all the great memories and especially for teaching me the gospel in my life. I think that's one of the reasons I feel obligated to my church callings is because of the example my dad set for me. He was always dedicated to his callings in the church. I love you dad!

Of course Father's Day wouldn't be complete without telling my own hubby what a great dad he is. The boys love him and Porter is always asking to go fishing...at not the most opportune time. There are still morning's he wakes up and asks his dad to take him turkey hunting again. I'm glad he loves to take his boys in the hills with him so he can share time and memories with them just like I know he has of his own dad. Dennis (Todd's dad) was Todd's best friend and I know he doesn't want anything different with his own boys. If you ask Payton who his best friend is he'd say Luke but if you ask him who his bud is he'd say his dad. He's a great example of hard work and hard play and he's always getting on me about eating healthy and living right. Glad to have a nutritionist in the family to make me feel guilty. I know the boys love him so much and I'm so glad that we're having another baby (which Todd hopes is a girl) to share the love that our family has to give. Happy Father's Day sweetie! I love you!