Christmas!!!!!!

It was nice to be home this year for the holidays,and we had a lot of fun.We listened to Grandpa Monson's testimony as well as Grandpa Wirthlin's. We had a wonderful Christmas Season and we hope you did too.












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Hike!!!

School is out and "I am bored!" is a frequent statement, so we decided to actualy do something. Justin and the kids went to the wonderful Berry College and took a hike. It was a little chilly ,but they managed. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Busy Weekend

This weekend we attended a fun Stake Activity. We had a luau (with a pig) that was done by a Sister Missionary that baptized several people from our area 30 years ago. She even named some of her kids from people she baptized in the Rome, Georgia Ward so many years ago. They came back to Georgia and gave us a great show. This is as close to the Islands as we are going to get.

Fun times in Salt Lake

After taking our family reunion, we finished the week in Salt Lake. We were able to see the rest of our family and friends. (Sorry friends I didn't get any pictures of you.) We stayed up half the night laughing and talking about all the good times. How we miss you and love our barbeque's.

Justin and I were able to spend a day with McKenna and take her to the Salt Lake Temple for the first time to do baptisms. That was a day we will never forget.




We also were able to attend the Days of 47 parade on the 24th of July. It was good to just be with family, relax and enjoy the sights. It was so fun to see Alex, Sydney and Jack. They are our friends that just moved to Provo from Georgia.



We were able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Hill and enjoy a fun day at the Lehi pool. The kids loved playing with all the Star Wars toys Grandmas has collected over the years. We spent a few days there after they returned from Yellowstone.

We were able to spend some fun times with Grandma Monson. We got to go to our favorite place and eat Sconecutter food. We spent some time at Murray Park and ate some real good ice cream. The kids had a blast when Grandma spun them around until they were dizzy using the playground equipment.

Our highlight of the trip was Grandma Johnson's 85th birthday. The menu was dedicated to all of Grandma's favorite foods for us to enjoy. It turned out great. The kids enjoyed running around the yard. It was so fun to be able to spend the day with her. I am glad we were there for the her birthday.

Family Reunion

Well it has been a fun summer. We were able to have a family reunion up at Yellowstone National Park. When I was trying to figure out how many people were with us, it took me a good 10 minutes to get some kind of count. I thought I had the number straight until I figured out that I did not count a whole family so I had to recount. We had 45 people with us. Did I get everyone? Email me if I missed you. Talk about a BIG FAMILY. Top that! We have had this all planned for quite some time. Did it all live up to our expectations? stopping at every gas station on the way up to Yellowstone, Mosquitos and 20 bottles of OFF, feeding and cleaning up for an army, enough people in our family to sink the boat to Jenny Lake, dirt everywhere, disturbing the peace, kids running around like wild animals, the joy of many opinionated people in our family, a powerful thunderstorm, sleeping on the hard ground, trying to fit everyone in the few vehicles we had, and a long drive (and for some a long plane ride also).

The things we loved about our family reunion:

*Elk, Deers and Bears (oh my!)
*pictures, pictures and more pictures
*Ryan's slide show
*Old Faithful
*Campfire with smores
*Swimming and boating in Yellowstone and Jenny Lake
*Dutch Oven Cooking
*A little bit of Grace (Grace's baby blessing in the campground at Colter Bay)
*Justin's art work during the trip
*a $3.00 shower at Colter Bay
*Madeline practicing her music on the way up for her July 24th Tabernacle Choir Concert with Donny and Marie
*visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming
*two $8.00 cake mixes from the grocery store for peach cobbler (Yum!) Thanks Dave!
*phone and internet services in Evanston, Wyoming to be able to call our Stake President back after several attempts to reach us
*Family from all over the country
Georgia
Connecticut
Arkansas
Utah
Idaho
Nevada
California
PRICELESS!!!!!!!!

Hike at Jenny Lake

Dad getting dinner ready

The kids in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The kids at Old Faithful

Boating in front of the Grand Tetons

Fun and not so fun of the summer.

Tennis Camp

Berry College

McKenna's Poison Ivy Episode

Asher's Baseball Team

4th of July at Ridge Ferry Park

My Secret Garden...

This year we have chosen to try to grow something in our yard besides poison oak and weeds. Every previous year the bugs and the birds have seemed to get more out of our plants than we have, so we tried something new...box gardening.
We created a special mix of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost and 1/3 peat moss. We have found so far that the roots grow strong and there are few if any weeds. We started with one crate and everything we planted grew quickly (as seen by the pictures). Yesterday we filled up two more old crates from Justin's work and planted Watermelons, cantaloupe, eggplants and herbs. We'll see how these come along. We also sprinkled the top of the dirt with a "Sevin" pesticide. (We changed our last name so that Green Peace, the Sierra Club, and any other tree huggers won't come after us.)
The best thing about using these crates is that when we are finished, we could shoot the neighbor's dog, bury him in one of the empty crates and use him as compost next year...imagine the tomato's we would get....

School is Out!

Yes it is time again that all mothers dread. School is officially out and the kids are already bored and it has only been one day since school ended.

McKenna officially graduated from 6th grade. Justin and I laughed because we never had such a big program when we graduated from 6th grade. The teachers just shoved us out the door. We laughed and said that I guess the world has changed so much they are just happy that kids graduate at any level. These are some pictures of her graduation. She received several awards and honors. She was awarded the Presidential Award for Academics and Character. This means she got all A's and B's for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade and high CRCT scores. She also got awards for the Beta Club, Reading Bowl Team and an Elm TV award where she was the anchor and camera man this past year. She was nominated from her teachers for the National Creative Society for Chorus and Band. Wow that is a lot of awards! We are very proud of her!

Asher also has a lot to brag about. He got awards for High Honor Roll, Showcase for the Arts and Perfect Attendance. He got 158 AR Points this year. He loves to read. He has been in the musical, participated in Scouts and played baseball also. He along with McKenna were in the challenge program this year. Asher tells me he and his friend are going to be the first ones to Mars. His study of space in the Challenge program and a trip out to the Huntsville Space Center has inspired him to do great things.

We usually do not like to brag, but we are very proud of them this past year.