Father's Day Part II - The Money Game!

Grandpa loves to play the "Money Game" off his balcony in his house.

He will stand at the top of his staircase and drop dollar bills.  The rule is that if

you catch it in the air, it's yours.  If it hits the ground then you have to

carry it back up to him and he will do it again.

This is a stressful game and harder than it seems.  He's been known to 

drop $5, $10, $20, $50 and even $100 dollar bills (on the rare occasion!)

Here he is showing the money before it's dropped.

You'd have thought he was dropping a million dollars, but it was on $38!

 There it goes...

 Anticipating...

 And the fight begins!

 Someone is always accused of cheating...

 Someone always feels cheated!

 But everyone always works together to make it right :)  Logan shared his winnings

with Emmie and made her feel better!

Enjoy this post from 2008 where Maddie felt
cheated but then Grandpa made it right...

CLICK HERE

I also noticed my dad is wearing the same shirt last night as in the post from 2008.  It must be a lucky shirt (or maybe that's why he has so much money for the money game - because he never buys himself new clothes!)

Happy Father's Day 2012 - Part 1

We kicked off our Father's Day celebrations at my dad's house

last night.  Brittany and I brought brownies and ice cream over for the party!

Dave and Bronson having a wrestling match

 My dad...  Don't you love the view from their backyard?

 Grandpa and the kids.  Maddie had to work and couldn't be there :(

 Tetherball is a favorite at grandma and grandpa's

 Look at the spectacular view of Timanogos they have.

 Talbie in front with Brinkley (the most spoiled dog on the planet!)

 Opening presents

 My cute mom!

 Dallin got hurt but it's nothing that a rubbed back can't cure :)

 The Heal's

 Dave and Jared having fun on their phones!

 Ping Pong - another favorite

 You can see the Provo Temple from their deck too.

 Dustin :)

Grandpa played his famous "money game" last night 

from on top of his deck.  More on that in Part II

I Hate to Brag...

...but this blog is for my posterity and really the only journal I keep.

Talbie did so great this year...

She works SO HARD!  I had to get mad at her over Spring Break

because she wanted to spend her days studying!

Talbie had a rough start to school!  She started kindergarten only

knowing the 6 letters in her name (barely).  We found out a year

before she started school that she had horrible eyesight - one eye was very near sighted 

and the other one far sighted.  This was making her see double of everything.

From the first grade she was in resource classes for math and reading.

She hated to read, because she didn't understand what she was reading!

A miracle happened when she was in 7th grade.  It was during this time that

the Twilight movie came out and she came to see it with us girls.

She really liked the movie so she thought she would try and read the book.

She read it - and understood it!  From there she read the sequel

and hasn't stopped reading since.  She probably reads 2 books a week.  

They kicked her out of the resource program in the 7th grade because she was doing so well.

She has her sights set on going to BYU and has been applying for scholarships already.

You're awesome Talbie!

I have spent the day today, cleaning out my storage room.

When it gets to the point that I can't walk into it, I know it's time for it to 

be cleaned out!  I took a huge load of junk to the DI today and it felt great!

I came across some great pictures and old letters when I was cleaning today.

These pictures are for my family to enjoy. 

 This is my little brother, Dustin in front of our house in

Boise, Idaho - probably around 1984.  Look at his awesome Big Wheel!

I also love this picture because it shows the cute Datsun truck I used to drive

when I was 15 (yes I got my license early in Idaho).

 This is me in front of our house we built when we moved to Utah in 1986.

My parents still live in that house.  I think I was a Freshman at BYU in this picture, probably

around 1987-1988.  In the corner you can see the little red Toyota Celica I drove :)

 Another classic picture!

This was in our Boise house.  I remember taking this picture on one of those

dreaded weekend nights that I was stuck home babysitting ;)

Bret, Cody, Brittany, and Dustin.

 Me in Boise getting ready for a Daddy-Daughter Date.  I was a 

"Merrie Miss" in Primary, which they don't have anymore.  I

was 10 or 11 in this picture.

4th Grade Dance Festival

Today was the Dance Festival for Emmie and once again I earned

the Mother of the Year award!

I totally forgot it was the dance festival and we got up and got dressed like it was any other day.

I leave for work about 20 minutes before Emmie goes to the bus stop so I set the

timer for her and then she heads over to Brittany's house and walks with Logan and Dallin.

This morning when I was at work, I got some pictures sent to me from my friend (thanks Suzy!)

They were great pictures of Emmie and Logan dancing the Virginia Reel.

Emmie was in full cowgirl attire.  She was reminded it was the dance festival at Brittany's house

and she raced home to change.

I'm thankful for Emmie because she's so easy going.  Having a mom that didn't remember the dance festival would have really thrown others for a loop (I'm not naming names...Maddie! :)

I didn't work until Maddie was 18 so that makes a difference :)

I'm thankful for family who is always there to fill in when I'm not there or forgetful!

I'm thankful for good friends who take pictures and think of me.

Thank you!

My Cowgirl

A family tradition is that we always go to the rodeo in Oakley for the 4th of July.

Ever since Emmie's first rodeo, she has dreamed of being a barrel racer when she grows up.

She is now 10 1/2 and she still has the same dream.  

She loves horses but has only ridden on one at a petting zoo.

Well, her luck is changing because I came across a great deal for riding lessons for her in Payson.

She will start next week and have lessons once a week for a month.  1 hour long private lessons!

She's so excited!

To celebrate, we all went to the CAL Ranch store yesterday to get her outfitted.

 Picking out boots.

 Dave insisted that she needed spurs so here they are picking some out

 Cutest little cowgirl around!

St. George/Brian Regan

Our family went on a fun little trip this weekend to St. George.
The purpose of the trip was to see Brian Regan at the Tuacahn.

When we got into St. George, we ate lunch at the Brick Oven.
My brother, Dustin came on the trip with us and that made it even more fun!

Before we checked into our hotel, we went shopping.  Emmie

got some much needed running shoes.  This girl goes through shoes

faster than any boy.  She said to me last week, "Mom, I need new shoes

before our school's 3K."  I thought she was just saying this because she wanted new shoes.  She had just bought shoes for her about 6 weeks ago.  But, after we bought these, I took a good look at her old ones and they were nothing but holes!

We found some fun bracelets.  Of course they didn't have Talbie's name so

she got "Marie" for her middle name. 

While the girls went shopping, Bronson and Dave went for a hike. 

There was a reason behind their little "hike."  

Bronson has been wanting a pet lizard.  Bronson goes through phases like this and he becomes obsessed about something and he can't stop thinking about it until he makes it happen.  This is usually a good thing like when he's teaching himself how play guitars, build guitars, wood carve, build magnetic engines (that was last week's obsession), but when it comes to pet lizards - I have to put my foot down.

I knew he had taken Dave on a hike with the hopes that he would find a lizard.

Well, of course they saw one, and Dave caught it.  Notice in the picture above that he even came

prepared from home with a tin with holes punched out of the top.  This boy has faith.

Especially because I told him before we left, in no uncertain terms, that we were not coming home with a lizard - no matter how many we found!

Bronson is a very spiritual boy (or knows how to make his mom feel bad) because when he and Dave

got back to the hotel with their new "pet", Bronson said to me,

"Mom, I prayed before we left that I would find a lizard - and that you'd be OK with it and let me keep it."

What do you say to that?

More on the lizard in a moment...

Here we are just before going in to see Brian Regan.

We had never been to the Tuacahn before.  What a beautiful outdoor theater.

It was a great show and so funny!

It was a quick trip and we headed home on Sunday.

Bronson held his lizard the whole trip, except for the moment about 1 hour outside

of St. George when he thought he's open the lid to check on him and he

JUMPED OUT AND WAS LOOSE IN THE CAR!

Bronson's prayer must have still been working because after we pulled over,

and practically unpacked the entire car, we found the lizard and put him back in the tin.

I was secretly saying a prayer that he would hop out of the car and we'd never catch him

again but we know who is more righteous in our family - not me!

We all got home safe and sound and the lizard is doing just fine!

Art Work

Emmie is becoming a great artist!  

She has submitted a few drawings in her lifetime, to the FRIEND magazine.

Here is her latest creation and we sent it last week.  

I hope they publish it!!

21 Years!

Happy Anniversary Dave!  21 years today :)

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.  I've posted others

through the years if you're interested.  It's funny how "up to date" you

feel when you get married, and then after 21 years - you can see how

"dated" you've become.