Gus Triple-Header!

August 15th, 2010 was a day for the record books...first I was released from YW that morning and later that day we were able to go up to my Brother Matt/Kimi's home for a Gus Gathering. It was three times as exciting as we were able to celebrate Jackson's, Ella's, and Shirley's b-days as well as see them in person! To top it off, Chip and Louise from the Gus side were in town as well!
Here is J blowing out the candles!

Great to see the Penman side!

So fun to hear about all of their happenings/service opportunities! It was a great afternoon/evening!

Sunday Dinner

We tried to have Grandparents and the "BYU family" over monthly for a Sunday Dinner. We told our Gus parents that is was too far to drive after they made the trek several times (although we always love seeing them:)! The Prestons always crack us up and we love hearing about their lives!

We try to do a family night. Grandpa has shared mission stories and tried to teach the kids to play the ukulele!

It is harder than it looks!

Fun times!

Summer Dance Recital

Kenz did the fun summer dance week long class with her friends/neighbors!
Sarah does such a great job with the girls all week and then the end of week recital is so fun! It has been a fun summer tradition! Thanks Sarah!

The Bees LOVE Kennedy!

Kennedy is "extra sweet" (smelling?) to the bees as she has the worst luck during the summer! Here is one day where like FIVE nailed her all at once! Ouch! Poor thing! She is so tough though to make it through! She is the one that only let out a scared whimper when getting her FIVE kindergarten shots! We love ya Kenz! Go away Bees!

The Boys earn their BEAR!

We are so proud of the boys earning their Bear award in scouts a few months early! They are doing such a great job and it is fun to watch them set goals and accomplish these scouting milestones! Congrats Boys!

Bella!

It is always so fun to have Bella over to play! She and Kennedy get along so well and they can usually always entertain themselves which makes it heaven for me!:). I love that they live close so they can just "zip down in their golf cart:)!"
They had some fun times in the pool this summer!

So cute girls! Friends forever!

Service with a Smile!

I had to arrange a service project for all the YW, so I went to the city to see what they needed help with. We were able to divide in 3 groups and clean out a drainage basin, clean playground equipment/tables, and also clean up garbage on the trail surrounding our homes. I was with the basin clean-up gals! Of course we have to have a little fun too...
Ashley taking her bag for a slide before filling it with tumble weeds!

A few more minutes of play before digging in!

Rolling down the basin!

Finally we got to the service project! We even found an old tire in the tumbleweed mess!

The city crew said they would be by in the morning to pick up our "pile." We all had fun while helping out the city too! Great job girls! XO

Melanie is getting Married!

Melanie from work has waited many years to find her handsome prince, but the day has finally come! What better way to get ready than spending an evening with a room full of friends to help you celebrate! One of the "jokes" of the evening was this 50DDD bra!
Let's be honest...not every bridal shower picture should be posted:), so we will keep this family friendly! In case you can't read the nightgown, one of our former co-workers stenciled "NOT TONIGHT" on the nightgown! So cute! I love these gals! Congrats Mel!

Saying Good-bye...

Our YW President was moving...
We will all miss her leadership, spirituality, creativity, and fun!

I drove some of the girls to her house after we finished an activity and we were able to leave our good-bye sign etc! We will miss you Katie! Thank you!

Steve Judges the Miss Wasatch County Pageant

Steve was asked to judge the Miss Wasatch County pageant on July 10, 2010.
He is such a great judge as he has a great eye for talent, interview, and over quality of the contestant. He is frequently asked to judge pageants but can hardly ever do it with his schedule. This one just happened to work out! Here he is as the panel of judges are introduced!

They had some great girls running. One girl had to drop out that day though as she apparently has a medical condition/low blood pressure issue? where she passed out cold during her interview and smacked her head:(. They announced later that she was OK--poor thing!

I had to snap a picture of the husband and wife auditors as it brought back the memories of the 2 or so years Steve and I did it for the Miss Timpanogos Pageant--as well as were the Judges Chairpersons! It was so stressful making sure everything flowed flawlessly from the contestant info bios/booklets to the judges dinner and scoring/tabulating/printing the results! I am so glad we have simplified our lives a little!

Of course the tall blond won (not that she didn't deserve it and not that I have anything against blonds:), I just have a part of me that always roots for the underdog too! I was able to meet up with Steve afterward to grab a treat and then since we drove there separately (he had to be there all day for interviews etc.), I had a very peaceful and beautiful drive home! The lake was gorgeous girls (as Mom would say)! It was like crystal clear glass so I had to get a picture with one hand without taking my eyes off the road! What a fun evening!

International Night at YW

Never fear...the YW posts are almost done as we are released next month:)! One of our Beehive activities was an international night where we each shared a little bit about a country or place around the world. We always tried to tie our activity in with one of the For Strength of Youth Book topics and this one was on education.

Some shared treats that went along with their presentation.
Some of the treats were not as "tasty" as others but it is always good exposure to try new things! It was a great night!

Ding Dong!

Kennedy loves to have friends over! During the summer when they play outside more, they often like to ring the doorbell and come and say Hi!
Who can be annoyed when these faces are there to greet you? I had to snap a picture one day to remember the carefree life of a child!:)

Let Freedom Ring!

I was on the phone, calling work tonight--going to ask them if they needed help at midnight (since we have later church and I don't teach tomorrow)--I quickly hung up when staffing didn't answer as I remembered I had a catch up date with Blogger! It's been another busy week with kids and obligations but I have got to keep my resolution to post everyday (or at least 30 a month:)! Here we are ...The 4th of July 2010!
More action at the Perry's pool up the road! They are so nice to have people over!

Loved the swim attire!

In-coming!

Cute Zonda!

Had to get one of Cam and his "gun show!"

Speaking of muscles...I couldn't help but snap a quick picture of Zonda's trainer and his wife (the blonde)! Oh--if I just didn't like those carbs!

Kenz and the tramp!

The sun starting to go down...which can only mean one thing...

Cul-de-sac of FIRE!

Everyone is looking up! Did someone get some "out of state" fireworks by accident:)?

The fountain-type ones are so pretty and fun to watch too!

The pyro-dads!

Everyone helps clean-up the street after the fun!

The boys continued their fun for the next several nights with a multi-night sleepover at our house with Zak!

They planned out how to tie fireworks together to cause a chain reaction for a longer firework show!

They did a great job even though we had to constantly remind them of safety:)!

Boys will be boys?

They had a blast catching up with Zak for a few days but were tired when it was over!

Happy 4th of July!