Better Late Than Never

Hey Everyone,
It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over. We have had a great summer so far and luckily we have been able to spend a fairly good part of it together as a family. We started the summer off by making the children miss all the shenanigans that occur on the last day of school and had everybody on an airplane to visit Virginia. The stated purpose of the visit was to have a family vacation and enjoy the historical sites of Virginia. The secondary purpose was to ascertain how well the family would handle relocation away from mountains, high altitude and in particular Grandma and Grandpa. The flight proceeded without any major embarrassments. Noah did not smell any disturbing odors that he felt obliged to questions and for the most part everybody slept for most of the flight. We had a great visit to Virginia except that the weather did not want to cooperate. It was rainy and cloudy except when we were in DC and then it was so hot and humid everybody wilted and a five dollar bottle of water at the Lincoln Memorial sounded like a great idea. While we were in DC we decided that it would be fun to see “A Night at the Museum – The Smithsonian” at the Smithsonian. Unfortunately, 10,000 of our closest friends decided that this sounded like memorable experience at well. The staff (used to handling a few dinosaur loving prepubescents and their sightseeing families were all of a sudden drafted into shuttling 3,000 people into a sold out theater. Needless to say anarchy was the rule of the day. I was able to use Isabelle to get me in a side door. As I was trying to get Kira’s and Aaron’s attention to let them know I had some good seats in my sights, I watched some very ignorant (Utah definition) people push Aaron down and steal the seats he was trying to save. We finally succeeded in scoring enough seats with only one that had a seat pan less than horizontal when in use. The movie was very enjoyable and definitely beat the heat. The majority of the vacation was spent at the Water Park and Busch Gardens. We did drive by a couple of historic monuments and wondered if they were related to the civil our revolutionary war (Pauline was able to set us straight and gain some brownie points for knowing stuff that Dad didn’t - not really all that uncommon; however, I have the kids buffaloed). The vision that the kids would come back with a greater knowledge/appreciation of our Nation’s history was replaced with a knowledge of physics and what pulling 3 g’s will do to the human body (in Kira’s case it turns her a interesting shade of green).
We also spent some time at Virginia Beach. It was raining most of the time; however , we were able to still have a lot of fun. The girls weren’t all that keen about playing in the water. Isabelle preferred to build a sand castle while Kira was all about looking pretty for the boys. Elijah and Aaron had Dad nervous about how far out into the water they were willing to venture. The most surprising of all was Noah. He absolutely loved the ocean. He loved playing in the waves and did not care when he would get knocked down. I could not believe how big of fish he was and how much he loved the ocean. I kept expecting him to grow some fins and gills and swim off. The rest of the month was very uneventful – the family returned to Utah and started to get moving on their action packed summer. Kira and Elijah went on Trek for Youth conference while Aaron stayed home to keep Pauline company. I will get Kira or Elijah to write about Trek since no one has been very verbose in discussing their experiences with their dear old dad. That is the update for June. I will post July when I get it done. Pauline is responsible for August.

Cute Wallpaper

Cute Wallpaper...who ever changed it! Looks good!

The Date and Time should now be final

Kaylie and LJ have finalized their plans. (At least the important part of their plans.)

The wedding will be November 21st at 1 PM in the Draper temple. The reception will be that night. We hope it doesn't snow too much that day as the temple is up on the hill.

On November 20th in the evening we will have a wedding dinner.

So put it on your calendar. If you are able to make it we would absolutely love it.

Love to all.

And the votes are in...

I don't know why that's my title.
But I'm engaged. I think all of you already know.

We're thinking November 21st. Subject to change, though.

Expect a phone call, post-temple scheduling, of course.


It's crazy exciting.

I'll tell my Dad or Nate to put the vid up for those of you who don't have facebook.

Chopped My Hair

I was getting a lot of pressure to buzz my hair off when we were in Utah so I could look like Terry and Steve.  I decided to takes some action on my own once the pressure was gone.  This was as much as I dared to do, but it is shorter than I can ever remember having.

Take a look …

 

 

Kim and Darrin's Update

Hi Family,

July was a busy month for our family.
Of course we started out with our vacation to Utah. We had a fabulous time, and the kids loved getting to know their cousins. I feel like they really made tight bonds this year.

When we got home, life was rough for a week while we adjusted to "real" life again, and we've almost got Josh's snapping under control!

The boys have been in swimming lessons for the past few weeks. They have really excelled in their swimming skills. Josh was able to skip a class and go on to the 3rd one and Andrew is now in the 2nd level. They are doing great, and I feel much more confident with their swimming abilities.

Luke is a monster as usual. He doesn't play with toys much, he just wonders around the house looking for trouble. He is a climber and climbs on everything...the couch, kitchen table, end table, etc... None of our other kids have climbed like this, so we're not sure what to do.

Darrin is very busy with work and EQ. We are grateful for the times when he is around. The kids adore him love the time when Daddy comes home. Lately he's been playing basketball with the Elder's Quorum to get some "guy time." He also did cut his hair. It's a six on top and a one on the sides. I really like it and hope he keeps doing it, but I don't think he likes it very much. I'll post a picture when I can sneak one...

I've been busy doing who knows what. I'm, oddly enough, planning to run a 5K on Saturday. This time I'm going to run the whole time and see what happens. Hopefully I won't die! I'm enjoying a break from scouts. September is coming too soon. I did go to cub camp for a half day...it was very fun and I look forward to lots more years of going because I have sooo many boys!

Anyway, that's our update!
We miss and love everyone!

--Kim

July by Steve FINALLY

I finally have gotten around to posting this month. Things have been crazy and work and the sprinkler system keeps breaking at home, so I decided I needed to do this during lunch time. I think I can handle writing a post. Fixing the sprinkler system is another thing altogether. It has been an endless array of trying something, finding out it is still broken, swearing and throwing things around, repenting and then starting all over again.

Well we have pretty much finished up our summer. Zach is getting ready to go up to USU, Kelsey is in the middle of tryouts and Kaylie is anticipating the return of Leland James. So I think all these things mean the end of summer is approaching.

We had a great time on our vacation. We rented a cabin down by Zions and Bryce for 3 days. It is just outside of Duck Creek. We spent most evenings at the cabin and then spent the days at a National Park. The kids liked Zions the best. We didn't do any major hikes, but it was so hot the water hikes were definitely enjoyable. The picture is from my phone, so not great, but this was the hike up the narrows. Kaylie took approximately 2000 photos, so she can share more if inclined.

On the way home we stopped by Cedar Breaks national monument. I have never been there. It is quite beautiful.

The rest of that week we spent up at Strawberry at the Jorgensen family reunion. Everyone was there except Mike and his family. It was fun to see everyone, but it was very hot. Only one fish was caught while we were there. Later after eating it we found out that it should have been thrown back.

Other than that we have been doing the normal summer stuff. The garden is doing OK. It got a late start because of the cool spring, but we are expecting tomatoes soon. We have already had a lot of corn.

Well, I better get back to work. Hope everyone is doing well.

July by Britt and Jason

Hi!

This month went by so fast! I'm still working at B&N, and Jason's been working with a guy in our ward who's just opened an ice-cream business. We go to the gym two to three times a week, for which I am glad. It's nice to have someone who supports my running/aerobics/spinning/boot-camping self. Jason plays basketball with the guys and I hit whatever class I feel like that evening. It's very good for the body AND mind. =) I'm secretly hoping to participate in next year's 4th of July run in UT and not do too terribly... we'll see! Lol.

Jason got called as Assistant Ward Clerk. He's in charge of the ward history, so we get to attend all the church functions and then he gets to write about them. It's good to be social and get to know the ward better, esp. since I'm still in Primary and usually do more socializing with my CTR 6 class. It's just boys most of the time, and I have to say I admire all of you with multiple boys in the house. My boys have been a lesson in patience, and I don't even live with them.

We miss you all and are looking forward to seeing everyone again. Enjoy August!
Love, Britt and Jason

Chad's July Report

We had a fabulous trip to Utah at the start of the month. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of our Utah family. Thanks everyone for gathering with us. Highlights were definitely 1) spending time with family, 2) Lagoon, 3) visiting the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House (we agree with Mom and Dad…that was really special to be seated in the sealing room with a bunch of our family), 4) hiking to the T on the mountain (I don’t think the kids will soon forget this experience…and it was a valuable story as Chad and I had to teach HP and RS today. I won’t bore you with the details.), 5) Grandma’s potato salad and macaroni salad and ice cream by Grandpa.

It was hard to make the adjustment to home life after a long vacation. We had a week to adjust and then started activities. Matt had Cub Scout Camp for a week. He came home covered in dirt every day. Good stuff. Trevor, Jenna, and Jason took swimming lessons for 2 weeks. Matt also did a basketball camp.

We’ve had record HOT weather in Portland this last week. We had 4 days in the 100’s with one day reaching 107!!! I know this is typical Utah weather, but really rare for Portland. We were glad for A/C and are dreading our bill next month. Between the record snow fall in December and the record heat in July, we’re a little bit confused about where we are living…

We can’t seem to keep enough books around the house for Trevor and Matt. They have been reading A LOT this summer. It seems that they have a book and a DS attached to them at all times.

Jason has really perfected the art of flips on our trampoline. He has “invented” many different styles of flips. He makes it look easy. He is so used to doing flips that he has had a hard time diving for swim class. All of his dives end up in a flip. I think he has made his teacher nervous a couple of times.

We celebrated our 14th anniversary this past week. We celebrated by going out to dinner. It’s been nice to have a “built-in” babysitter (aka Trevor). It makes it a lot easier to go on dates and Trevor does a great job as the babysitter.

Mom and Dad July

Hi Everyone, I'm not sure what I'm doing, but here goes. We have had a wonderful July. It hasn't been too hot, and we've been able to see most of the family. It was really fun to get together over the fourth. We are surely glad Chad's and Darrin's family were able to come and celebrate with us. We were only missing Mike's family, but we get to see them in August, so we're happy.

We had fun going to the temple open house for the new Oquirrh Mountain temple. It was really beautiful. A special thing happened when we went into the sealing room. They have everyone come in and sit down, and then they explain the purpose of the room. It just so happened that only our family was there. It was awesome to look around and see all the children and grandchildren, and realize that we have all been sealed together as a family. How blessed we are!

Lagoon was fun. We enjoy seeing everyone riding rides and having a good time. Dad and I rode the Bumper Cars with some of the grandkids. They were amazed that we, especially Grandma, could drive them. I crashed into some of them pretty good too. It was really fun.

Thank you all for the nice dinner on my birthday. I normally don't like my birthday (I don't like getting older), but it was fun to all go out together as adults. I felt really proud of my family.

Dad and I are keeping busy with the Cub Scouts. We had a family summer picnic for our July pack meeting. We roasted hot dogs up at the Wigwam, and had watermelon and corn on the cob. I think everyone had a great time. We are going to take a vacation during August from Cub Scouts. We will start up again in September. Thank goodness for the vacation! We're worn out.

We did it again. Dad and I got up early at 4:30am on July 24th to drive into SLC to get us a spot for the parade. It is getting harder and harder to find spots in the shade. We were lucky and found one. The only problem was the concrete. We didn't have any grass. I think everyone had a good time anyway. The parade was really nice as usual. We came back to Tooele for lunch and then had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. The kids played in the water and had water balloon fights. That is the way to keep cool.

We love all of you and hope all is well. I hope you all take a few minutes and keep us posted on the blog. Love Mom and Dad.