Happy 35th Birthday Betsy- Aug

The love of my life and my best friend
Esther and I

What can I say about this birthday. I'm getting old. I don't feel like it, but 35? I'm very blessed. I'm married to a man that I think is the greatest on earth. I have great kids who still love me even though I'm a tiny bit crazy. And, I have great friends close by and far away. I'm a very blessed 35 year old little girl.

For my birthday Mike invited some friends over for a back yard bar-b-que and games.

Kick ball

Run Buddy

500 (Alyssa won)

Happy 4th birthday Gracie-Aug

It makes me kind of sick to my stomach that these pictures are part of the batch that got lost in the computer abyss. Emma Grace turned 4.
She is such a delight in our family. She is girlier than is OK, but she can play in the sand, dirt, and mud just like a boy. I love that about her.
He party was a princess tea party. She invited all of her primary friends to come over dressed in their favorite castle attire. We danced, sang and had a very prim and proper tea party. I think everyone had a good time. I know my Gracie had fun.
Happy birthday Gracie. We love you.

first day of school-Aug.

7th Grader Savannah Mae


These pictures were not actually taken on Savannah's first day of school. I hate to admit it, but I dropped hte ball on 1st day of school pictures for her. But, it's kind of a good thing because my camera had some kind of technical difficulties and I lost a whole group of pictures including the the 1st day of school for Alyssa, Emma Grace, & Logan.
So, just for documentation sake, Alyssa started the 5th grade and looked cuter than is allowed by law. Emma Grace started 4 year old preschool and looked fabulous. And, Logan started 3 year old preschool looking dashing and debonair.
Logan started 3 year old preschool. He went for aobut 2 weeks before he informed me that he was NOT a big boy. He just wanted to stay at home with me. I agreed. He's not big enough to leave me yet. So, Logan and I spend our days together and for the most part I love it. I have learned that there is a time and season for everything. I'll have a clean house when I'm old. For now, I'm playing with my kids.

Guys & Dolls

Taking my girls to see Guys and Dolls was a special back to school treat. It was fun to see a Broadway version of the musical. I was in this musical in high school. The girls thought it was awesome to see a pruduction that their mom had performed in.

Utah-July

Our annual trip to Utah started with a BANG! For real, Look at my nose. It got in a fight with the van door at the airport. This picture was taken about a week later. It hurt so bad I wanted to cry. Actually I did cry, several time through out the next couple of days. The black circles that appeared under both my eyes were not as bad as I feared they would be so that is a blessing.

Mom's broken nose

Other than that the trip went just fine. We got to enjoy time with family and friends. The pioneer parade in North Logan goes right in front of Granny and Grandad's house. Every year my dad has the kids help him put up the flag and he plays a patriotic tune on his trumpet.

Cute cousins

Candy

I was pretty good!

I think we should invest in some lessons before next year

Ready to bring out the flag

Don't let it touch the ground

We stayed for 10 days. So, we had lots of time to play and we did!
Logan and Grandad on the John Deere. Good Quality Boy Time.
Emma Grace joined the Sky View Cheer Squad. Aw, Memories.

Playing on Grandmas Doon Buggy with Rianna

Buddies

Fishing with Dad and Grandpa

Gracie Caught One!

Most fishermen don't employ such an aerobic style, but it worked for her.

Savannah is her Mothers Daughter. She sat there all day a didn't catch a thing.

Logan was everywhere present. He was in his relm.

Alyssa had the best luck. I think she caught 3 or 4.

But she didn't touch them. Yuck.

We went to Lagoon with the Larsen cousins. Emma Grace and Logan love the bumper cars.

They both loved getting soaked in the water fountains.

Check out Emma Grace in the background. Crazy kids.

I'm a little bit of a sucker. I let them get their faces painted.

Meow.

ROAR!

Chloe & Emma Grace.

Logan, Chloe, & Emma Grace hung out together all day. They had so much fun. I was anticipating that Lagoon would be a nightmare without Mike there to help me. They did really great. Logan realized that he has an uncle Paul that rocks!

Logan & Paul
The worst part about the day was that I was a single mom. I had to stay with the little ones 99.9% of the time. Thankfully Savannah and Alyssa were able to go with their cousins and aunt Karen, Jenny, & Becca to ride all the rides they wanted to go on. I missed them, but I'm not sure they were as sad as I was. They had a blast.

The last weekend we were there my parents went out of town, so we went to Bear Lake with Karen and her kids. It was fun. I got to take my kids to Pickleville. They loved Juanito Bandito. T.J, my cousin, (Juanito Bandito) sent us a cd of the music to the show and has even had several conversations with Savannah on the phone aobut some of the lyrics she couldn't figure out. It was fun to see them enjoy a part of my childhood that means so much to me. I was glad that Andrea and her kids made such a fuss over my kids.

Dillan and Emma Grace her hilarious together. Dillan was teaching Gracie how to be a real cowboy. He told me I should probably get a piece of paper to take notes about what he was teaching us. He taught us "Yee Haw. Howdy." I asked about Hey, Howdy, Hey. He thaught I could say that if I want to but real cowboys don't.
All in all it was a great trip. We have found that 10 days is about as long as we like to stay. Any longer than that and my kids get sick. Mike came back to pick us up and we were happy to come home to our southern home.

Joy in the Journey- July

Grayson Ward Young Women

I got to go to girls camp with Savannah this year. I was excited because it was her first year at camp. I was excited because we were sleeping in cabins. Savannah was excited because it was her first year at camp. I was excited because a majority of the activities were held in air conditioned buildings. Savannah was excited because it was her first year at camp.

The theme for the camp was "Joy in the Journey". Our ward's skit was supposed be be about "Joy in Divine Nature". So, the girls learned "the Mom Song". It is a hilarious song that puts everything a mom would say in a 24 hour period into 2 min. and 55 sec! The audience thought it was histerical. Perhaps it didn't hurt that all the girls dressed up like "moms".

Frazzled mom
The Mom Song

I was in charge of one of the night time devotionals for the girls. I told them that at camp their were cool girls.

C-calculating
O-obnoxious
O-outcasting
L-lazy
We didn't want to be "cool". Instead we wanted to be nerds!

Grayson young women are NERDS!
N-nice
E-energetic
R-righteous
D-daughters of God
S-selfless

The last night of camp before the ward testimony meeting the stake held a devotional. It was a live version of Lehi's dream. The girls were blind folded and told to hold onto a rope. They couldn't see where the rope was leading. They had to feel their way along the path. The leaders were told to tempt the girls to let go of the "rod". It was kind of horrible, for me. But, it was very effective for all of us. I started tempting the girls by saying, "come on this is boring let's go swimming." It didn't work. Then the thought struck me. The adversary doesn't use obvious "tempts". He knows us very well. He knows our weaknesses and insecurities. It was after having theses thoughts that I became a VERY effective tempter. I led several girls away that had figured out what the object lesson was all about. I had one little girl in tears. She didn't let go but I had hit on a tender spot with my tempting. IT WAS TERRIBLE. After all my girls partook of the fruit of the tree I marched myself to the stake president to repent. Our testimony meeting was a very tender one. The girls were very sincere in their thoughts. I was very sincere in my apology. I love my young women. I mostly love MY young woman. Savannah is such a shining example to the other girls. She is kind, concerned about others, and stives to make good choices. She truley took advantage of all the stake leaders had to offer. Many of the girls didn't want to do anything. Savannah wanted to do EVERYTHING. I love that about her.

Our first Broken bone!-July

Gracie came home to visit from Nevada this summer. It was so fun to play with her and Gavin. We went swimming and they came over to play with us, too. It was all great until we decided to blow up the bouncy in the basement. I was getting it all set up and my Gracie was getting so excited that she couldn’t stand it. She came skipping up behind the cord, tripped and screamed. It wasn’t a “Logan took my toy” scream, or an “I stubbed my toe” scream. It was a “Mom I need you NOW” scream. I got her settled on the couch with an ice pack, finished setting up the bouncy, and then wondered why she was still crying.
I’m so glad that Gracie was here. She just graduated with a degree as a radiology technician. So, she’s seen tons of broken bones. My Gracie’s bone was not poking through the skin, it was not bulging, it wasn’t anything. Gracie looked it over and said it was questionable. Then she looked at me and said, “You’re her mom. If this isn’t normal for her then take her in. I’ll bet it’s broken.” Done.
Off we went to the emergency room. Emma Grace wasn’t crying any more. Mike dropped everything at work to meet me. Esther and Gracie were home with the rest of my kids. I was beginning to question whether or not I made a good choice. We went back into a room. Emma Grace was happy to meet the nurses who gave her a dose of Advil. Then they took an x-ray. We went back to the room to wait for the doctor. She came in to examine my girl. Emma Grace was sweet as candy. She was giggling at the doctors jokes. Could she move her arm? Sure, no problem at all. I started apologizing to everyone. Mike for making him leave work. The doctors and nurses for wasting their time. They were trying to reassure me. It’s better to be safe than sorry and such nonsense as that. Then the doctor left to check the x-ray. When she came back she looked at Emma Grace and asked her if her arm hurt when she fell? “Yes.” “That’s because it’s broken.” I’m not going to lie when I say that I was kind of relieved. They put a huge brace on her arm and sent us home. We had to wait two days to get a cast put on it. I tried to keep Gracie home from church, but she was too excited to show her friends.
Monday we took her to get a cast. No surprise, she chose pink. Luckily for her she was able to get a water proof cast, which meant she could still go swimming. She was in the cast for the rest of the summer, including our trip to Utah. She got her cast taken off on Alyssa’s first day of school.
It’s kind of a good thing that I’m so behind on this blog thing. Because, yesterday Emma Grace told me that she missed her cast and she hopes she breaks her arm again soon so that she can try out a yellow one.

Gracie & Gracie

ER Smiles
Buckle Fracture
Brave Girl

Calling "the Sisters"

Happy/Broken Baby

Gettin' her Groove on

Rockin' the Cast

Off it comes

Yep, that's a saw!

Whoa!

Daddy & Me

Sisters