First Week of August

The first week of August the kid's and I drove to Utah. We picked up Malorey and Alisa Kooyman from the SLC airport and took the four girls to EFY on BYU's campus. Kayla and Malorey were in Chipman hall and Rachel and Alisa stayed in Taylor hall in Helaman Hall's on campus. They had a good time. This was Rachel and Alisa's first EFY and Rachel felt the girls acted really catty because boy's were involved. The girls all went to two years of Retreat for Girls at Utah State in Logan. It is basically an EFY style program for girls 12 on up! I recommend the program highly. Anyway Rach got used to the girls attitudes and ended up having a great time. After we dropped the girls off the kids and I went to the Creamery at BYU. YUM!!! Then we drove by the Provo temple. My kids have never been in Provo off the I-15 corridor. Mia used her camera to start collecting temple pictures. On this trip she took photos of the Provo, Ogden, and Bountiful temples. Jake, Mia, Sofia and I had a fun week playing around. We hiked up Ensign Peak and Sofia hiked the whole way herself. Hopefully I will add photo's later. We also spent two days at the Lagoon amusement park. Thanks to Grandma Nancy for providing the tickets. We had fun! Mia rode most of the big roller coasters. She liked Wicked the best! Jake offered to watch the girls so I could ride Wicked. I was scared but I noticed there was a lot of old people like me in line. So I rode alone and...It Rocks! I loved the ride! We had a great trip. I feel bad we didn't stop to see the Parke's but hopefully they will forgive us.

This week in Birthday's

Making today possible was of course Jake and Rachel's Birthday's. Rachel turned 14 and will go to her first official youth dance on Saturday at the North Stake. I'm sure she will dispute this point due to her attending the EFY dance at BYU the first week of August. She and Kayla roomed with the Kooyman girls and had a great time. Jake turned 12 and had a fun filled week being with the young men. Tuesday was balloon volleyball (code for water fight) with all the young men and young women. Then Wednesday the "Scouts" went to Lake Mead where he tried to water ski, tried to wake board, succeeded at knee boarding, and blew everyone away with 4 to 5 feet of air before crashing on a tube! Good times, Good times! Last Sunday I also celebrated my 40th birthday by putting on more weight, wrinkles, and practicing my crabiness. Good times, Good times!

A Big Day for Jake

Today Jake received the Priesthood and was ordained a Deacon. Wow! Grandma & Grandpa Helm and Grandma & Grandpa May came to be a part of his special day. I'm excited to see him progress in church. I better take tissues to church next week when he passes the sacrament for the first time. I cried when each of my old cub scouts passed the sacrament for the first time. The old theory that what goes wrong on special occasions is what you will remember and what really makes them uniquely yours applies to today. When we got to church Jake and Sofia went into the chapel together without me. Mia and I came a little slower with Grandpa and Grandma May. When Tony, Kayla, & Rachel came in late we didn't know where Jake was. Since he was supposed to go up to the podium I went out to look for him. Well he was sitting in the chapel with a friend...so I missed him being presented to the ward. I'm really sad about it but hopefully some day I will be able to laugh about it, just not today. It is memorable though! I told Jake after the meeting that he stole one of my special mother moment's. How's that for mean! At least I got to see him ordained. (I'm still trying to convince myself.)

A little Drama

Hey I figured out how to rotate pictures! I still haven't found the computer cord for my camera. The kids auditioned this week for the Signature Productions Play "The King and I". They are excited to hear if they get call-backs. We just went and took snap shots at Kinko's for their head shots. The Cashier thought I was nuts when I asked to use the passport photo backdrop. Nuts and cheap is a fun combination, my poor kids! Maybe when I work it all out I will post their photos. I should also post Mia's latest glamour shot. She was playing tag with Sofia Friday and tripped and fell head first into the stair railing. It was ugly but the emergency CAT scan showed she is fine. If she wanted to go out on the town till 3AM she sure did it the hard way. We can always count on Mia for a little excitement!

It's a new thang!

Well here I go! I am afraid this will be just one more thing I never get around too. It is so fun to read about and see current photos of those we love that I wanted to be part of it all. You should have heard the reaction I got from my family, Non-believers. There will be a learning curve. I have already learned that either I need to learn how to store my pictures upright or I better stop taking pictures sideways. And where is the computer cord for my camera? When I went to add photos they were all old. Wish me luck!