Steve's birthday is tomorrow!!!

Hey, it is the big 39!!!! This is his last good year, I hope he uses his time wisely before his youth goes to the grave. Happy Birthday Hunny!!! We love you.

So when I came home from work today, this is what I walked in the back door and saw.

They had used every blanket and even my little tent that I took to Trek with me that one year. It is wall to wall tent in my living room and they informed me that they are sleeping in it tonight. Have fun.

Steve and I ran in the Sunset City 5K race on the 25th. We went to the Bees game the night before (well, the Bees didn't end up playing, but that's a different story), and so we didn't even get to bed until 1:30 that morning. We dragged ourselves and our kids and Wendy out of bed at 6:30 am because we had to be over at the park ready to race at 7:00 am. Steve said when we got there. "Now you're not going to be upset if I stretch my legs and pull ahead of you, are you?" I said heck no, I want you to do the best you can. Go as fast as you want. Well I didn't know he was going to leave me in the first 2 seconds. They say mark, get set, go, and he takes off. However, my muscles did not cooperate as well. We were both very happy with our performances though, it was a personal best for both of us. Wendy had the kids with her and took a few pictures of us at different spots along the way. We were moving though, so they were kind of blurry. Steve came in at 33:08 and he said I came in at 36:56 - forgot to look at the time as I went across the finish line. Neither one of us were able to run the entire race, so we are going to try again around Labor Day and see how we do. Here are a few pictures.

We have really had a great time training together. It was my goal to do this. Steve has been coming along to support me and ended up kicking my butt. It's all good though, he's worked hard.

So in the middle of July we went on a trip with my mom and dad to some of the church history sights. It was really such an amazing trip, we felt the spirit continuously and it was so nice. We would really like to take our kids back there if we could figure out how to do it without spending so much time in the car. That was a lot of driving. We learned so much though, I was amazed at how much stuff I did not know. I've been a member all of my life, but I guess I have just lost track along the way of the sacrifices that preceded me. So here's the little run down.

The troops are heading out. Steve and I planned for a lot of heat, but spending so much time in the car with the air conditioning, we froze. I had to buy a blanket the second day we were out.

Games helped us stay sane in the car. (dad cheats)This is at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. This was our first stop and just as amazing as you have imagined. A huge meeting will take place here sometime in the future. To know that we were standing on sacred ground and that we were where Adam once walked was a very peaceful feeling. It is really a natural amphitheater - just amazing.

We spent the first 2 days in Independence Missouri. This is the temple of the Community of Christ church. They used to be the Reorganized church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They changed their name in 2006 I believe. We got to take a tour of it inside. I really don't want to take away from what they obviously feel is so wonderful, but it really was very unimpressive. Something that we all found disturbing is that one of the members of their first presidency is a woman and they have 4 women apostles. When we left there, we just really felt like we needed to go somewhere where we could feel the spirit again. So we went to Liberty jail.

I thought this was a good picture of all of us at the Liberty jail. The lighting wasn't all that great in there, so a lot of my pictures are dark. The museum was actually built around the jail. This is the jail that Joseph Smith and 4 other men spent over 4 months in. Joseph Smith received some amazing revelations towards the end of his stay here. One of the men that were in there with him was 6 feet 6 inches tall and the ceiling was only 6 feet tall. He never could stand errect after leaving the jail. Josephs oldest son came and spent one night in the jail with them while they were there. One of the men sang to him all night long that night. Josephs son remembered it as a night of peace. There was an amazing feeling at that jail.

We went to Branson, Missouri next. It is a really fun city. This is the Titanic museum. They told us it would take us about and hour and a half to walk through it, we exited about 3 hours later. It was just really such an amazing museum and such a captivating story. They gave us a boarding pass when we entered and it told a little bit about one of the passengers that were actually on the ship. We kind of became the person on our boarding pass. We were all trying to keep up with what our person did. At the end of the museum we found of if we lived or died. All of us lived but Steve. That night we went to a little musical thing called Presley's Country Jubilee. They are not related to Elvis. It was great! Family oriented, patriotic, and funny. We were laughing pretty hard at some spots. Me and mom even bought one of their joke books.

Next we went to Nauvoo. Our first sightseeing expedition there was to see Carthage Jail. This is us in front of the window that Joseph Smith fell out of. He was shot twice in the back and twice in the chest. Again, there was an amazing spirit there.

This is Nauvoo by the Mississippi river.

We went to the Nauvoo pagent that night. It poured on us for about 20 minutes. Then right when the pageant started, the rain stopped - amazing how that works. =) It was a great pageant and we really had pretty good seats that we could see good. At the end of the pageant the light of the temple came on and you could see the temple so magestically in the background. It was beautiful.

We walked up beside it that night, and this is the picture that Steve got. The next day we went and toured as much of Nauvoo as we could and then we went to the temple for an endowment session. It is really a beautiful temple on the inside. They built as much of it to original specs as they could.

Emma, Joseph's, and Hyrum's headstone. This property is owned by the Community of Christ church.

The next day we went to Winter Quarters.

The story here amazed me. The Saints were driven from every home they ever knew and then when they arrived at Winter Quarters, here comes the Calvary wanting 500 Morman men to enlist and fight for a country that refused to protect them. The went, and they were blessed for their efforts. The never actually had to fight, and the money that they made marching for the army helped provide the supplies and food that their families needed back home. Unbelievable stories of selfless sacrifice.

Steve hangin' with Brother Brigham. This is actually where Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd prophet of the church.

At Winter Quarter's temple

I just liked this picture, you can't see my stomache. =)

So we had a great time. On the way home we even stopped in at the first Cabela's in Sidney, Nebraska. Honestly, the one in Lehi is nicer. However, we did find Steve a birthday present there, so it was worth the trip.

Thanks mom and dad for such a great time. Hopefully we will not forget the things we learned, but most of all the way we felt.

A months worth of stuff

Okay, I am going back a ways, but I will be brief. We are starting with the last few weeks of school. Britney had to do her last book report on Sacajawea - I'm sure I spelled that wrong. Anyway, it was very interesting and we learned a lot. She had to dress up like Sacajawea and give an oral report as if she was the person. She practiced at home, and she did great at home. Isn't she the cutest white indian you have ever seen?

For Memorial Day we decided to take a hike. I got on the internet and just found a hiking trail in Davis county and we took off. On the internet the description of the trail said "moderate", what that means for you beginners - STRAIGHT UPHILL THE ENTIRE WAY! Now Steve and I have been getting ready for this 5K in July, and so we thought we were in great shape. DANG! We found muscles we didn't know we had. It took us about 4 hours to get up and back. We took a lunch and ate on the trail. The internet said there were a couple of waterfalls. We saw the first one kind of early off, and so we just kept going and going until we finally got to the last one. It was worth it, because when we got down to it, we were standing literally right underneath it. So very cool. Britney got scaped up a little bit - fell on her butt. But Steve was dragged down the hill by Ralph. His forearm looked really bad and he also was hit in the eye by something and got a black eye. Ralph almost lost his life that day. So here are some out of order pictures. I will explain underneath them.

right under the falls at the top of the mountain.
Britney's doing that weird thing with her shoulders because she is cold.

Again - under the falls

Pretty close to the top - 20 more minutes and we were there!
Don't ask me why they're all looking in different directions.

Trenton's reinactment of Joseph Smith and the Sacred Grove.
by george, I think he's got it =)

Okay, June 8th was the kids first day out of school and we thought we would start off with a bang. So we went to Lagoon. We had fun! Joshy got us way good discount tickets - thanks Joshy. We went with Tonja, Joshy, Sean, Kellie, and Scott. We rode the way scary rides and even Britney went on Wicked. Tonja, Steve and I battled nausea on and off during the day (the over 30 club), but we still had a great time with the family. The kids really had a blast and when we got in the car Trenton said, "That was the best day of my life." Trenton is a little daredevil and will ride anything. He scares me.

Scott and Kellie

Joshy, Sean, and Tonja

Sean Britney Trenton

Me, Steve, Britney, and Trenton

Trenton and Sean's first ride.

QUIZ: What's wrong in this picture?

Random picture of Ralph, he's just so cute!

Okay, so on Monday (June 22nd) we get this package in the mail from Yvonne (Steve's mom) and it is these bandana headband things that the kids can wear on their heads. I think they are way cool, so they wore them all day Monday and looked like little gangsters. We went to the Golden Spike museum/location in Promatory. It was really quite cool. And we learned stuff. Did you know that Promatory Utah is where the Union Pacific railroad and the Central - something, can't remember what it was called, but it was the one that started in California - anyway Promatory is where both railroads came together and so then we had this massive railway system across the entire U.S. Anyway, it was kind of a neat thing to see and nice to learn something for a change on one of our outings.

We just call them ragheads. Dang they're cute!

in front of one of the steam engines

My first race!

Okay, so I was in my very first race ever today! It was a 5K run/walk/jog. I walked and jogged. So far the longest I can run without stopping is a half mile. I wanted to get a feel for what I am in for, that is why I entered this race. It was uphill for the first half mile, which killed every muscle in my body. It was also raining the entire time. But I was in good spirits and very glad that I did it. I also had the best cheering section ever. Half-way through the race I looked up and there was Steve and the kids standing on the corning yelling, "run mama, run." So Steve got a picture of me running. I guess I inspired them, because they said they all want to run it with me next year. We are all going to start training together. Maybe I can get them to run in the Sunset City 5K on July 25th with me.

at the beginning of the race - much anticipation

in the middle of the race

the blessed finish line!

enjoying a banana with the family

my personal cheerleaders

do we look cold? because we are. =)

Spring fun

Okay, so most of this will be pictures. The first half are of our little family trip to temple square. We went the Monday after conference and we had so much fun. We went to the museum accross from the capital, then lunch, then to the Beehive house, then walked around temple square for a few minutes, then went and saw the Joseph Smith movie at the JSM building, then went to the church history museum that is next to the family history library. It was a very full day and the kids seemed to like it and were very interested in learning everything. It's fun to be able to teach them about things that are near and dear to my heart. When we were at the first museum, they gave the kids a paper that asked them questions about things in the museum and they were very determined to answer every question. We spent just about 2 hours in that museum and they didn't get tired of it at all. We were starving by the time we got out of there though.
The next pictures are of us just playing around in our tree that is in the front yard. The blossoms are so pretty, I just couldn't let a perfect photo-op pass us by.

This is at the Church History Museum

no comment. =)

Cuckoo in the Wookie-woo

Okay, so we were just playing apples to apples jr. and the green card was something like peaceful or calm - I don't remember for sure. Britney was the judge and she chose Thanksgiving as the winning card. Trenton started to argue with her and she said, "yeah, I like Thanksgiving, even though our family is sometimes cuckoo in the wookie-woo." And when she said it, she pointed at her head with her pointer finger and made the crazy sign.

I'm really not sure which group of people she was talking about and not entirely sure I know what a wookie-woo is, but it cracked Steve and I up! So Britney thinks we're all nuts! Funny girl.

So we spent the last 2 days watching and listening to conference as I'm sure most of the rest of you did as well. I thought it was wonderful. Bawled my eyes out during Elder Holland's talk. He always stikes a cord with me. Isn't it amazing how good you feel after conference? It's much like the feeling I have when I leave the temple.

So on Saturday, we couldn't just sit and watch T.V. all day, so we went for a drive during the afternoon session and listened to it. Well....we ended up at this really cute park in Syracuse and I took some pictures. But honestly, all I could think about was you dad. There were so many birds especially pelicans, I know you would have loved it.

So enjoy the pictures and we'll go bird watching when you get home!

Spring....I see SPRING!!!

I am so excited....it got up to 60 degrees today and has been a lovely day! Oh how I hope it sticks around for a while.

So we had a really busy weekend. First as most of you know me and Steve and the kids traveled with Kellie and Scott to Blackfoot Idaho on Friday. My nephew Randall was playing in a jazz band at a dance. All of the adults went to the dance and the kids stayed home and had their own version of fun. We had a great time. Connie had just had surgery and so was not suppose to move around too much. So Randy found her a chair with wheels and danced her around the dance floor. It was great!

Kellie and Scott were loads of fun and I tried to keep up, but man I think I got old. Randall was the band. Not kidding, he played more than anyone else. He also danced more than anyone else and with a different girl each time and they were all CUTE! What a hot guy my nephew is - it's genetic. But I have to say, the highlight of the trip was my hot husband. He was so charming. He just swept me off my feet. Well basically, he got out on the floor and danced with me - or jumped around with me. At one point he took my arm and told me he was going to show me how to cover some distance on the dance floor. So with our 2 arms out in front leading us, he danced me across the entire dance floor - basically we ran. I was laughing hysterically. It was a lot of fun and just the shot in the arm that I needed.

So when we got back to Randy's that night, the kids were still up and oh my goodness, hungry. So at midnight, they were having a snack - thanks Randy and Connie for your patience. But that wasn't enough, then Randy read Britney a bedtime story - he can do different character voices, so it was funny. I think we might have gotten to sleep around 1:00 am and then we were up at 6:15 am because we had to be at a baptism in Kearns by 11:00am. What a day!

We made it to the baptism. It was our good friends the Robinson's daughter Meghan that got baptized and she was so beautiful. We had a good time there, since it was our old ward and we got to talk to a lot of our old friends.

Then we went over to Tonja's and helped her fix up our car so that it would pass inspection. Man by the time we were done with all that we were wiped out. I seriously don't even know how we made it home - oh ya, I slept. I don't know how Steve does it. We all had that jet lag feeling for 2 days.

The kids are doing great! We are all looking forward to baseball/softball season right now. Sign-ups are this week - yeah!!! We really have a great time with it.

Well, that's it for now! Here's some pictures.

This was on the way up to Idaho.

Randy and Connie getting their groove on.

The Smith's are on fire!

Me and Steve - no one got a picture of us actually dancing.

Ignore my stomach - k-

Midnight snack

This is what 6:15 in the morning looks like.