Bottle It Up

The older I get, the more precious my TIME means to me. Wouldn't it be nice if we could bottle it up and use it whenever we needed some extra? Whenever my husband and I plan a home project he always mentions our TIME and figures that into the cost. I always tell him that we're just free labor. When we lived in Carnation, WA we lived in our first home and changed a lot of things in it over TIME. When it came TIME to move, I found myself a little reluctant to leave because of all the elbow grease we put into it over the years. There was a lot of TIME and good memories immersed in the walls, molding, cupboards, yard, etc.

I find myself trying to allocate my TIME in my mind during the day. I am trying to get to know a couple ladies a little better and by the TIME I can reach the phone, it is too late to call them. Yet there are others that are clearly busier than I am making the rounds and visiting and serving us. Sometimes, I am very amazed that with how much TIME can cost, what others are willing to give to me and my family. I feel I am surrounded by great givers of TIME who know how to bottle it up and let it out when needed!

"We Are Family"

I Can't Drive FIFTY FIVE! Remember that song by Sammy Hagar? That's all I could think about when I saw this sign, ha ha! I love it!


We went down to Hurricane, Utah to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. We had a great time.


My siblings and parents.


The Grandkids!


Troy and Ellie (spitting image of her father)!


We had a short program for our parents. The younger ones did a non-rehearsed dance and were so cute!!


The older grandkids lip-synced to the Jackson 5's, "I Want You Back!" We ran out of afro's so Luke decided to be an Ozzie Osbourne, Michael Jackson. Where did he come up with that one? It was VERY entertaining!

Each of us also compiled a few memories of our parents that we shared and put in a binder to give to them at the end of the program. It was so much fun to hear everyone's different memories and experiences with our parents. What a great couple they are. We felt very blessed to have such wonderful parents.

Thrillin Rides and Dirty Reunions

At the end of July we took the kids to Silverwood theme park. Our middle and elementary schools give you free tickets when you read for so many minutes during a specific time frame and three of our kids got one. We had a lot of fun.


Since we are a roller coaster riding family we had to try just about every one UNTIL... Troy, Austin and Alexis got stuck on the biggest one there. I was waiting for them with the younger kids and could actually see Troy's white shirt when they came down the free fall section. Then, when they were ready to take another corner the coaster just started to rock and roll. They were suspended for about 25 minutes while the crew members got it worked out. When they finished working on it, the ride resumed and the rest of us decided that we didn't need to ride it.



We also tried out the water park for about...45 minutes! As soon as we got changed, paid for a locker, sent the older kids away to the slides and were comfortably floating in the lazy river we heard over the loud speaker that the water park would be closing in about 15 minutes.... it was just enough time to get soaking wet, lose Troy's sunglasses, realize there is a very cool wave pool further down that we couldn't touch and find the older kids. Next year, it will be a two-day trip!



...waiting for the coaster hostages.



We also got to go camping in Cle Elum last weekend with some close friends from our old ward, the Candlands. We got dirty, carved walking sticks, thought about chocolate covered roasted crickets, told a few bear stories, sang songs, played games, cooked, captured bees, hiked and got serenaded by a great new acoustic group, "Boys Don't Cry," ha ha. Go Adam and Jordan! We had a great time!


Luke's Big fashion statement.