This dog...

... seems half human to our family (he's certainly treated that way).

What do you think--is it possible?

Garrett's Secret Sunday

First of all, I apologize for John's camera phone--good enough to document, but that's about it. We attended a nephew's farewell in Utah County and Garrett chose his Secret Sunday activities as we were driving back so I didn't have my camera with me...

Garrett wanted to start his "tour" at the Church History Museum across from Temple Square. The kids love the "I Am A Child of God" exhibit--even 15 and 18-year-old girls coloring stained-glass sheets...

Grayson tried his hand at the Degrees of Glory beanbag toss while Garrett was watching short video clips about Latin Americans' life stories and testimonies...

I admired the tied quilt (look Michelle, no needle in my hand...)

and John "absorbed" it all...

We walked around the construction site of the rising City Creek Center which was fascinating for the guys and then we headed over to walk around Temple Square (Hailey was pretty much done at this point but we can't leave until the head of the Secret Sunday says we are done)

She perked up when we went into the North Visitors Center and watched a great video on Families.

It was a gorgeous day, lots of bonding and we've got a really fun one coming up next week...

"LOST" -- A Girls Camp Adventure

I was never so happy to see Camp Piuta as I was last Tuesday after being "lost" for over two hours on barren highways and muddy roads...

Our theme was "Wind" and our first crafts included wind chimes, wind socks and windmills to decorate our cabin.

On the second day, the camp director Lauretta and I went on an early morning hike to figure out the best route for our afternoon hike with the girls. We were truly "lost" for an hour and a half and had to cut through forest and valleys off-trail to finally find the road back to camp.

Most of the young women attended camp but a few "lost" souls showed up for a night or two.

Hailey and Baby Beehive Eliza hung together a lot during camp. They even managed to get "lost" for a couple of hours when there was work to do...

Since camp was under direction of the stake and they were in charge of all of our meals, the leaders (especially me) felt COMPLETELY "lost" with the various methods of cooking our food. It took several hours for most meals to be prepared and cooked with dutch ovens, sticks over the fire, buddy burners and bags. We even cooked a turkey on a tripod! (it was delicious...)

The girls separated into four groups for the Fort Activity which consisted of making the best water-proof lean-to shelter if they were ever "lost" in the outdoors.

Each did a fabulous job and most of the shelters were pretty water-tight.

Above, Emily is modeling her all-nature attire which she wore for the evening pageant. She competed with her outfit, a talent (singing "Ain't No Mountain High") and answered a question which consisted mostly of her shouting "world domination." She won the pageant!

I would've been "lost" without Hailey at camp. Counting down--one more to attend... I am SO not a camper!

Summer Camps

Hailey and I are heading off to girls camp for the week so I thought I'd make life REALLY easy for John and drop the boys off to camps too. Garrett is at BYU tennis camp for the week and Grayson is at the BYU basketball camp.

This is Grayson's first time spending the night away from us over a period of time--he's only 11--and I hope he does OK...
He's got great buddies to hang with and hours and hours of basketball each day so he "should" be fine. Plus unlimited food in the Cannon Center--isn't that every boy's dream?! I just reminded Garrett to say hi to his little brother if he sees him on campus... you know how that goes.

Wasatch Back

WOW! That's all I can say about the Ragnar Relay this weekend. We had 12 ladies, 2 vans and ran 188 miles from Logan to Park City in less than 2 days. Our team was called "Run, Walk, Crawl." This is the awesome Van #2-- (Lisa S., Steph M., Lisa C., Karen M., me, Leanne B.)

This was Van #1 plus a driver (Karen Mordue and I split up the driving in our van so we were always tired--I never did get any sleep) Misty M., Lauretta S., Kayley T., Heidi L., Heather P., Ally and Kristen H.

My first leg started on Friday around 3 pm up Snow Basin Rd. 3 miles straight up and almost a mile down. It was a hard run and hot, but it felt great. My second leg was at 2:30 am in the pitch dark night around Rockport Reservoir. I told my van to go ahead and wait for me at the exchange so they could try and get some sleep. Little did I know I was going to trip over a dead racoon at mile 3 and have to run the last 2.5 miles with blood dripping all over my hands and knees from the fall!

My final leg was a bad trick played on me! I was expecting a nice 5.7 mile run down from the top of Guardsman pass to Park City ski resort. Because of unforseen obstruction they added another 1.5 miles through forest trails and no van support. Glad I was able to pull it off and have my parents, John, Grayson and Cooper waiting for me at the end of my last run.

The whole team ran through the finish line together at the end.

I had an awesome time and a great experience pushing myself to the max of my running capabilities. I may be returning next year...

Grayson's Choice

Grayson is a homebody. That's why he chose to stay inside and play his two favorite board games (Apples to Apples and Oodles of Doodles) with the family for his Secret Sunday.

He also had me "help" him with a pasta bar for dinner and S'mores for dessert...

Secret Sundays...

John does not like to sit around on Sunday afternoons. The kids and I do. We tried to come up with something we could do for the next 12 summer Sundays that we'd all enjoy. Thus, we came up with the idea of Secret Sundays. We all get two turns before school starts and we have to choose something that doesn't cost money and that we can justify as being Sabbath-appropriate. I took the first turn and packed everyone a sack lunch to grab after church and we quickly changed clothes and hopped in the car. No one knew where we were going except me, the driver. We went to the Golden Spike Historic Site which none of us had been to before.

It was free National Park day so I knew we wouldn't have to pay to get in (remember, it's Sunday...) and we were able to hear the guide talk about the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railways, see the trains be put "to bed" for the evening and watch the "Golden Spike" movie.

We had great family moments during the hour and a half drive there and lots of laughs as John recounted funny stories about each of the kids growing up. They were begging for more. By the time we were almost home, we must've spent too much family time together because the fighting and teasing started and John and I asked to be dropped off at Ashton's grave at Lakeview Cemetery so we could walk home. The kids obliged and again, everyone was happy.

Last week in May...

Since I'm the team manager for Grayson's comp. soccer team and we had money left in our team fund, I scheduled a party at the new Boondocks in Kaysville and the boys had a blast.

Grayson received the "Mr. Versatility" award because he can play any position on the field.

The coaches were extra kind and gave me a gift certificate at Garden Day Spa for a manicure & pedicure (I've actually been the team manager for this same team and coaches for 3 years...)

Cooper celebrated his 3rd birthday on May 26.

Hailey made some "Honey Love" muffins and Cooper enjoyed them all...

Grayson competed in the first-ever Math Olympiad at Davis High School.

He and his partner Annie represented Boulton's 5th grade in "Mystery Architecture." Each team gets 20 minutes to build the highest structure they can with the items given to them in a bag. Pretty tricky but lots of fun...

We headed down south on Friday to sunnier skies and warmer weather--yay!

We rented an ATV and a Rhino on Saturday. This is how we teach our kids under 16 how to drive before we actually get behind the wheel WITH them!

After a day in the dirt and dust we headed back for some tetherball...

swimming...
snoozing...
tanning...

Welcome June! Bring it on...