Thankful Thursday

1. Bus Rides-My kids get so excited when we see a city bus go by. They always ask if it is "Grandpa's bus." Well, today we went with Grandma to ride Grandpa's bus! It was so much fun to watch the joy on my kids faces as they got to spend time with their grandparents. They love them so much and I hope they never outgrow the desire to want to ride the bus with them!

2. Aloe Vera Gel-Sunburns are no fun! With the sun finally out comes the kids outside, a lot! We have had to break out the gel and we all love it's cooling effects.

3. Sales-I love sales. I hardly ever pay full price for something. Dirk is also a little less resistant to me going shopping if I he knows I will get a good deal. I love saving money!

Thankful Thursday

1. Dancing-Nothing brings a smile to my face quicker than watching my kids do something they love. Ever since Simon was born he has loved music. He dances to any beat he hears including Rayden knocking on the kitchen counter. He's always 'bobbing to the beat' and making us all smile and laugh. How can you not love him?

2. The Sun-After all this rain I was very happy to bask in the sun the other day! It felt so good to lay there for an hour and enjoy the warm rays! I hope the sun is here to stay for a little while!

3. Clean Smell-You know that smell of clean? I love that! I love the smell of a room right after you have finished cleaning it, or the smell of clean dirt. I don't know how to describe it other than it smells CLEAN! Even fresh mown grass has a clean smell to it. I have spent many a days this week rediscovering the smell of clean and I am loving it!

One of My Best Friends

I just love this girl!

Alexia is the best. She has always been my little helper and she doesn't normally complain. We do have our diva moments though. Since I injured my knee she has been helping out a lot more. I love that she has kept the smile on her face which helps me keep the smile on mine. It is one of the things that I love most about her. She is always happy. Since she has been such a big help I figured it was time for some girl time.
Lexi has been dying to see the Hannah Montana movie and yesterday I decided it would be a great afternoon to do that, just her and me. Lexi was so excited she was bouncing in her seat the whole way there. She asked if she could have popcorn and a slurpee. Of course I said yes! How could I turn down those beautiful blue eyes?

She loved the movie! My favorite part was towards the end when the movie gets a little sentimental and Lexi climbed in my lap and wrapped my arms around her. Yeah, I got teary eyed. We sat like that to the end.
On the way home we talked about all sorts of stuff, from what games she likes to play with her friends to who her favorite Jonas brother is. I loved the time getting to know her better and just being close. She really is one of my best friends!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

A week ago Dirk and I were scrambling around trying to get all of our stuff and our kids stuff ready to go. The kids spent 5 days and nights at my sister's house while Dirk and I headed off to Kansas for my 10 year reunion. I have to admit that I was nervous about leaving my kids for so long. Lexi and Ray couldn't wait but Simon is so little and he doesn't understand yet what was going on. We all survived and had a great time! We dropped the kids off Thursday night and we headed out early Friday morning for the airport. Dirk's favorite part of traveling is the flight. He loves take offs and landings.
Here is the sweet ride we were given at the car rental place.

I don't know how many of you have actually driven a hybrid, but Dirk and I never had. They aren't too bad once you figure out how to turn them on! I think it took us 10 minutes to figure it out. I'm sure we were quite funny to watch.
Friday afternoon we went to our niece's softball game. I'm not a big softball fan but I loved listening to Jade's varied comments. That girl is competitive!


Afterwards we had dinner with my brother and his wife. Saturday we went to a car show in the morning. One thing I learned while there, never let Dirk have control of the camera when cars are involved. I have a lot of pictures to sift through! In the afternoon we drove around some of my old hangouts. While doing this Dirk spotted a sign for a model airplane show. You can probably guess what happened. We quite some time there talking to the people and admiring their planes.
Saturday evening was my friend's get together. We ended up ditching the official reunion and had our own bbq. It was really great to see my friends who were able to make it. I did miss those who weren't there. Here is the group of girls.

Hannah, Cassie, Katie Beth, Hanne, Amanda, Krissy

Sunday we were going to try to go to church at my friend's dad's church but we didn't get up in time. So instead we ended back at the airplane show! Dirk said it made the trip well worth it. In the afternoon we went to my sister-in-laws parent's house and had some of the best bbq ever. Her dad is one of my favorite cooks. He makes the best hot wings ever! Dirk and I managed to get a pic with all our nieces and nephews who were there.

This is starting to sound really bad like a travel log but I am almost done for those who are still reading.
Monday we went shopping! Just Dirk and me. No kids, just us! We went up to a place by the Kansas Speedway. They call it Legends and it is like Gateway except a bit bigger. While there Dirk did make a great contact for our business and we are praying that it will lead to great things for us.

Yeah, Dirk thinks a lot of himself! ;)

That night the rain clouds rolled in and we got tons of rain. We were watching the news and we were under a tornado watch and sever thunderstorm warning. Dirk got a taste of what it is like to live in tornado alley. :) A tornado did touch down a little north of us but wasn't a threat to our area. The rain didn't let up the next day either. We were flying out that evening but we had most of the day ahead of us. We headed up to St. Joe, MO. Dirk wanted to see the home of Jesse James. They also had a museum of the pony express. We went to both and Dirk was in control of the camera again. He makes me laugh at some of the stuff he took pics of!

All in all I would have to say we had a great time! We didn't do anything way exciting but it is the first time we have taken a vacation without the kids. We missed them terribly and were excited to get home to them but it was great to have a few days of just us. I think we might have to do it again sometime.

Thankful Thursday

1. My Sister-She took my kids for 5 days....enough said! :)

2. Safe Journey-I am very glad that Dirk and I were able to take some time to be together this last week. The weather didn't always cooperate but we still had a great time. I think Dirk felt a few nerves when we were under tornado watches and also when he was driving in the middle of a thunderstorm that made the one in Smithfield last week look calm. I sure am glad to be home safe and sound with my kids around me!

3. Dry Home-While Dirk and I were gone I have learned that it did nothing but rain. Knowing the flooding issues in our neighborhood lately I was very thankful to come home and find that nothing had happened in our empty home. We had no flooding issues. I hope the rain does stop soon so all my neighbors get a chance to dry out.

My Scariest Night

I have had a lot of scary things happen to me in my life but I think last night topped them all. It even topped the tornado warnings we had when I lived in Kansas. Last night was probably the biggest storm I have ever seen in my life. I remember thinking, "I live in a landlocked deseret. How the heck do we get hurricanes!?"
I set out yesterday evening to get my hair done with my sister-in-law on the other end of the valley. It was a little windy but beautiful and hot. I called Dirk about 10 minutes before I was leaving to let him know I was on my way home when he told me to look outside and drive VERY carefully. Amanda and I had no clue it had started raining and that it was so bad. We made a mad dash for our cars and I kept thinking I had seen worse. Driving through Logan was not bad at all, just lots of rain. I didn't even panic when I saw lightning strike over and over and over. Or when said lightning killed the power in North Logan. The sky worried me a bit in Smithfield. I literally felt like I was driving into the belly of the beast! I kept thinking about all the storms that accompany tornadoes and how much worse the sky looked here! About halfway between Hyde Park and Smithfield is when panic set in. The storm was so much worse all of the sudden. The highway was way flooded and I was all of the sudden not sure if I was going to make it home. I don't know if I have ever prayed so hard in my life! It was the scariest thing not knowing how much worse it could get. I kept telling myself it was all uphill from where I was at and that it would get better. I really wish I had been driving the truck instead of the car. I would have felt safer. I did get to a point where I didn't feel like I was driving through a lake but the water current was horrible. I feel so lucky to have made it home ok! Here is a picture I stole from my friend's blog. I live just around the corner you can see. Major river action going on!

I missed the worst of the hail storm but here is what was on my back deck this morning!

Dirk and I were very lucky not to have to worry about flooding like our neighbors. The kids did leave our back door open and we got a lot of water in the house but Dirk was able to clean it up with a few towels. We were lucky. Some of our neighbors windows shattered and the water poured in. I heard there were a couple homes with water to their knees. I guess Smithfield was declared a disaster zone last night and I believe it whole heartedly. We are so blessed, though, to have a wonderful Emergency Disaster Plan in place in our area. There were people everywhere checking on neighbors and helping those who needed it. It is very comforting to know that we can all band together when things get bad!

Field Day

I think I have finally caught up on everything now, so I can sit down and catch up on some blogging! So be prepared for a lot of posts!

Today was Lexi's Field Day at school. The room mom's were in charge of the activities. It was so much fun! We were all so glad that the rain went away this morning and the skies cleared up for us! It wouldn't have been much fun having field day in the classroom. The kids had a great time playing all of the old favorites:
Tug O' War
Red Rover
Potato Sack Race
The Egg and Spoon Race
and a few more!


The PTA provided popsicles which were a lifesaver as it started to get hot towards the end! I'm so sad that Lexi is moving to 1st grade! She has made some great friends in Kindergarten and I know she is looking forward to playing with them this summer!

Kicking Off the Summer with Camping!

Just incase anybody wonders, are favorite thing to do in the summer as a family is to go camping. There is just something about the fresh mountain air and the smell campfire that we just love! This last weekend we headed to one of our favorite places up Logan Canyon, Franklin Basin. Of course, we went with our Brett and Britney. Who wouldn't want to be there for Hayden's first camp trip? It was terrific weather. We did have about 45 min. of rain on Saturday. It was just enough to keep the dust down but not make it muddy. Friday night Nate and Sarah came up with their girls and cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire. The kids were ecstatic to see them! Saturday the men took the kids for a hike while the women stayed back and enjoyed the sun. Ahhhh, bliss!

The kids loved finding wood for the fire and playing with the bow and arrow that Dirk made for them last year. I think we need to make new arrows now!

At night Lexi and Ray fell right into bed to sleep. Simon didn't want to go to bed so he would sit on our laps and just watch the fire. He was instantly mesmerized! Seriously, if you can't get your kid to sleep let them watch a fire for 10-15 minutes and they will be out!

It was so great to have a couple of days of laziness in the middle of all our craziness lately. I can't wait until we can head back again for some R&R!

This is by the river at our campsite. Right above Simon, behind the rock, is where it bubbles up out of the ground. It was really cool to watch!

Recital Time

Lexi had a different kind of recital this spring than she usually does. Back in December Lexi decided she wanted "to take a break" from dancing. Originally she was going to learn to ski but Dirk wasn't able to take her up as much as he wanted to so I signed her up for Sign Language classes in February. She has loved every minute of it! I can't believe how fast kids learn! She had her recital this last Thursday and she definitely impressed her Mama! She was given this shirt by her teacher to wear. On the back is her name in sign language.


Here she is with her class. It was a small group and she was the youngest by at least a year! She can't wait to start it up again in the fall!

Preschool Graduate

*Sigh* Another one of my babies graduated from Preschool. I can't believe he is so big and if I must say so myself, quite the handsome little devil! Ray used to be not able to wait until it was his turn for school and now he is done with his first year. He has loved every minute of it and learned lots to boot! He is lucky enough to have some great friends that he went to preschool with. I hope next year will be as good as this last one has been for him. One more year of preschool and he will be off to Kindergarten. For now, though, we are going to concentrate on having a great summer!