WE are alive and kickin!

Hey I just wanted to post that we ARE still alive but not really into the blogging world right now because we are busy and having fun!

We have been pretty busy around here with Jims three jobs, being parents, both our mutual church callings, and just life in general! We have enjoyed most of it though and tried to keep a smile on our face!

Jims has been working soooo hard with a third job, doing some programming stuff. Its tedious work, there are issues with the projects, he complains some but he is still sticking in there! I love him soo much! He works soo hard for us and I am really getting to enjoy this stay at home mom business. BUT.. I know come August.. I will be ready to be back to work.

This job pays well and we owe Amber his sister a ton for hooking us up. It has been great to not have to worry so much about living without my paycheck. AND He has already earned enough for us to take our family vacation this summer to SAn DIeGo WOOT!! and pay off some debt. Thanks Jim and Daddy we love you!

WE have been doing some fun stuff. My friend Jen and I took our kids to The Museum of Ancient life.. AKA the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. WE had a good time. We hadn't been in a while so it was nice. Ryker of course hated everything even the water table. He didn't like the feel of the sand on his fingers and speaking of sand... in the quarry, YEAH all he would do it THROW dirt!!! That caused probs, especially later in the bath since he throw a knock down drag out fit to wash his hair.. Yeah stupid ear problems.. oh well thank goodness for ear tubes and modern medicine.

*His favorite part of the trip. There is a steering wheel that changes the skin of a dinosaur to match its surrounding environment. He was in heaven thought he was driving! I swear all this kid eats, drinks and sleeps is CARS.

We also went to the UTa LAke BOat ShOw with some other friends the Rutherfords. We got to make fish hats, play some games, ride in a wagon and such. I was a little dissapointed that they closed some booths down 1 hour early to closing of the show. There were alot of people there. The kids wanted to fish but the line was sooooo long and I wouldn't have minded going on a canoe ride but... again the lines! It was fun what we got to do but I think we will skip it next year. Oh AND they ran out of food so we were starving when we arrived home at 3ish. It was FREE though so what can I expect!

Check out Rykers hat, he HAD to have it at the Dino Musuem but he loves it and wears it everywhere.

One Sunday mom Innes called to cancelled dinner and told us of illness in the home. I had already made a large dessert and had a salad so we invited Jen and Gary over for dinner after church. We had such a great time eating yummy food, and playing Metallic guitar hero. Thanks for coming on such short notice guys! It was a blast!

Orem Summerfest was fun we like to call it the Orem Stupidfest (we learned that from friends that work for the city) because of the stupid things people do, say, wear ... you get my point. At the park there are real rides, (if you can call them that they are rickety, old and scare me to death) booths, entertainment, a helicopter fly in, and more! We took the kids and they had a blast on Friday. We had to leave early with plans to return on Saturday to spend our 10 tickets but the carnival got rained out. It was amazing the thunderstorm we had that day. The water was racing up the roads and driveways! Jim was coming home from flying and there were chairs (that people had set up for the parade) and flags flying into the road into his car INTENSE!

*PS reason we left early on Friday was to meet up with Annaca and Aubrey my first year college roomies and their families at a park to play and catch up. I was soo excited to see them. I love those girls.!!! We have AweSOMe memories together and went through some great trials. It was soo good to see them. The following day they were running the Utah Valley Marathon( I wish ...sorta) and we were suppose to do lunch afterwards but they cancelled not feeling up to it and I TOTALLY understand.

H0wever, we weathered the storm and later that night it calmed down in time for a fun BBQ at at Jen and Garys house. GREAT FOOD and FRIENDS!!! Our kids play well with theirs, Kya and Brennon and other kids. Gary makes awesome steaks so we ate, gorged, chatted and we watched the parade. It was a good time however it made me grateful for the Lehi Parade. It's just a great parade with the miniature floats they are soo cute!

Girls Camp was alot of fun! It was alot of work getting it all planned and we were just going as a ward. We headed South to Manti and Mt Pleasant. The adventure started with breakfast at the church at 6AM. I volunteered to cook crepes for the girls. Jen Tippets helped me at last minute. Lets just say I was tired the first day with only getting 45 mins of sleep good thing I wasn't driving. So we went to the beautiful Manti temple to perform baptisms for the dead. I lost my recommend and so I stayed out with the other girls that weren't participating. I was sad as I haven't been in that temple but I did get to take a nice nap in the waiting house.

Girl camp was great! The first 2 days we had a lot of harsh rain and even hail. It was so bad we moved into the cabin that we were using the first night. It was nice to be warm. We just weren't prepared for that wet weather and many of the girls, including mine, feet were soaking wet and soo cold. Jim sent me up boots the next day thank goodness! LOOOOVE HIM!!!!

So I was the craft person for camp and we made some fun stuff. We made magnet boards with lil stands and the girls use them to put post-it notes on for their secret sisters. WE also made the clear jewel magnets to go with. We made Fathers Day cards and my favorite was we did freezer paper painting on shirts. These girls are soo creative and soo fun! Alot of them free handed the most beautiful artwork or funny sayings onto their shirts. It was my all time favorite craft. The crafts were ALOT of prep work and such but I was soo excited to see them all turn out. The weather turned up for us and we enjoyed the Manti pageant, some great service projects at the cabin and the lot we were on and more! It was all in all a good ward bonding experience no schedule, no stake activities, just relaxing and enjoyable.

I love my calling it's been soo much fun to learn and take in all I can from these awesome girls!

what a pretty site?

all the YW after baptisms

waiting out the rain

the beehive tent was soo cute all made up then it flooded

Blu and I tried to set up and old fashioned tent and just when we got it figured out... he ripped a hole in it. It's a good thing we didn't need it huh?

Doing Crafts... don't laugh at my hat it's too high I know I know...

The next week Jim was suppose to go to scout camp from M-W and be a leader for his deacons. He was excited HOWEVER on Sunday morning he woke with the flu and wasn't allowed to go. He was soo sad and has been stressing out over the scouting part of his calling forever now. He was excited to go and see it all in action, have the work be done and just enjoy time with his boys but that didn't happy. BUT he got lots of work done for us. We got to spend some time together. I got to take him out to dinner, since he didn't get a Fathers Day Dinner, to Tepanyaki Steakhouse one of our favs. It was sooo yummy! AND on Thur-Sat he got to go to a LOGAN HELICOPTER FUNFLY. He really needed that break and flying and bs'ing with the budddies is a great break for him!

I try to survive without Jim. It was hard. I gained more respect for my single mom friends out there. While he was gone I went to Youth Conference, Lehi Parade and Family Fun Day, started some home projects, tried to sleep, didn't happen, slept at moms house, and just was a mom.

I went to Youth Conference out at Camp Williams on Friday thanks for my sis in law AMy for watching the kiddos. She is such a great aunt, took them to McDs, and swam outside LOVE IT!~

At youth conference I got the chance to repel down a 45 ft wall and 45 ft free side! It was soo fun and scary. We also were fed well and got to participate in some other leadership action courses where we had to use certain equipment to complete a mission. That evening I enjoyed learning how to and MAKING A HUGE FOOL OUT OF MYSELF while doing so a game of outside volleyball. It was all in all a good time!!!

Afterwards I flew home to Lehi. (it will always be home) to watch the parade with my kiddos. They got soo much candy it was great! We enjoyed setting with the Humes they are the best Auntie and Uncle I have and their girls are like nieces not cuzzins.

* I have this thing about cheerleaders and flag girls though. I don' t really want Jo to ever be one but my Uncle Brett was being a punk about it all. He was saying things like "Hey JO doesn't that look fun, why don't you go out there and cheer with them. Aren't their dresses so cute? You want to be a cheerleader huh?" silly uncle brett!

After the Parade I took my kiddos up to see my mom and dad. I haven' t seen them in a few weeks as mom has been at girls camp ad youth conference too HOWEVER my AWESOME dad took 2 days off work to have my kids while I went to Girls CAMP. They were good for him too!! YEAH!! LOve you DADDY!

ANYWAY... we went to see gpa and gma herbert and played. They ordered pizza and we even slept over. It was a good time to sit and chat with my mom while the kids entertained themselves, or g'pa entertained them. I had alot to tell mom and miss those chats.

The next morning I worked out on the treadmill. HATE THOSE THINGS!!! and then we all went to the Parade again. It was 2 hours long, hot and muggy, BUT soo cute! And we sat with the Humes again so that was fun for mom to chat with her sister.

After the Parade I tried to be Worlds Best MOM and take my kids to FAmily Fun Day at the park. It was soo hard. Ryker was a whiner butt the whole time and would just randomly run off. So when I saw Shelby Humes, Aunt Shelli, Sis In LAw Staci and Baby MaCade I was soo relieved. Shelbs took JO on hte big inflatable toys, which were only like .25-.50 each CHEAP LOVE IT! and I took Ryker on the train, to the petting zoo and stuff. It was soo hot and crazy and by the time we headed home about 3ish Ryker was very mean. He was throwin all sorts of crazy fits and before we even got to PG he was out in the car THANK GOODNESS!!

JIm arrived home that night! It was soooo good to see him. I missed him a ton. I miss him more when he leaves me then when I leave him. I think this is because when I leave I am usually sooo busy doing stuff that I don't have as much time to sit and think. BUT when he leaves me the night is much longer and the bed is empty and you know I miss him.

I hope he knows how much I love and adore him. He really does do a TON for our lil family. I am a spoiled BRAT and he keeps me HAPPY!

WOW that was alot of news huh!