Back to School Special (dinner)

We had our back to school "special" dinner, we came up with a theme and are going to try and focus on that theme for this school year.

I found some little gifts to give the kids to help remind them of what we talked about.

This year we took from the scripture for the youth Joshua 1:9 and talked about having courage.

*Having Courage to learn.*

*Having Courage to try new things.*

*Having Courage to do what is right.*

A small sample of our conversation.

Ben- "Alivia do you know what courage means?"

Alivia- "yes, to be brave inside yourself"

Ben- then talks about having courage and giving some examples of making good choices.

Ben- "cooper what does courage mean?"

Cooper- "ummmm ...(shrugs shoulders) can I have another cupcake"

Maybe it will mean something to them someday. I hope.

Our kids favorite dinner-Spagetti~ Yum!


I gave them a little book mark and a clip for thier backpack.

A little apple cider bubbly~

Fresh strawberries (Me and Livi's favorite)

Who says a two year old can not be refined:)

100 things

We had a Relief Society activity the other week, you were supposed to bring something you could not live without or one of your favorite things.
Mine happen to be my sunglasses. When I go outside on a sunny day without them on, I feel blind. My must have with sunglasses polarized lenses...makes a big difference.

While were sitting and enjoying our selves, they gave us a list to fill out of 100 of our favorite things and these are mine in no particular order.
1.Family
2. Computer
3. Remote Control
4. Big bath tub
5. chapstick
6. Chips and salsa
7. memory foam
8. hair bands
9. lotion
10. Nachos
11. Churros
12. Clean floors
13. Target
14. Airplanes
15. Girls Camp
16. Going to church
17. Reality TV
18. Ceiling Fan
19. A/C
20. Blogging
21. KSL.com
22. Dr. Laura
23. exercising
24. cell phone
25. getting a tan
26. snorkeling
27. going to Hawaii
28. lots of milk in my fridge
29. sunshine
30. looking outside a big window
31. clean sheets
32. fresh cut grass
33. Clorox
34. sunblock
35. sea turtles
36. Costco
37. Costco hot dogs
38. Pepsi
39. coke
40. ice
41. texting
42. voice mail
43. email
44. music
45. Josh Groban
46. Michael Buble
47. Chile Verde
48. Newborns
49. going to pampered chef parties
50. back up camera (in car)
51. being organized
52. photography
53. learning photography
54. crafts
55. clean kitchen sink
56. loose pants
57. massages
58. black out curtains
59. mod podge
60. blue tooth
61. tinted windows
62. on time flights
63. primary
64. YW
65. Sunsets in Hawaii
66. Caramel popcorn
67. gum
68. Christmas lights
69. Eclairs
70. queso
71. Tampons
72. Ribs
73. Cafe rio
74. Gain laundry soap
75. Ipod
76. Ipod docking station
77. New carpet smell
78. Fresh paint
79. Clean windows
80. IKEA
81. Parking in the shade
82. Shade umbrella
83. Hair smoothing serum
84. toothpaste
85. kittens
86. singing
87. learning how to play my guitar better
88. garlic
89. school teachers
90. Senior missionaries
91. markers
92. hairspray
93. Clean teeth
94. end of the hockey season
95. Vacations
96. cheap car rentals
97. coming home to a clean kitchen
98. Fabric softener
99. open windows
100. full tank of gas.

Getter better

This is a second year we have 'seriously' tried to plant a garden. Last years attempt, well lets just say Ben wasn't raised with my Father, he would be out in the garden sometime 6 hours or more a day. I did pick up on a few things and together we have tried a few different methods.

The row with the trenches method, the spray the whole garden method, and this year the rows and a drip line method.

Our success (used very loosely) this year comes from a few different reasons.

The Grass hoppers did not come back like last years mess.

We added lots of compost, grass clippings, soil, and watered like crazy more. Almost a little too much in my opinion, Ben did not agree:)

But mainly the grass hoppers were 95% fewer!

Ben says there is nothing like carrots and peas from the garden and I totally agree.

I also have another reason for the garden is since I am working in YW I can work on Personal Progress again if I want to, I decided to start and my Faith Value Project was planting and harvesting a vegetable garden. It is supposed to take at least 10 hours to complete and I am happy to report it is complete.

And to a better garden next year, we are slowly figuring this out!

School 2010-11

School is back in Session, can I hear a "holla".

I really do miss my kids BUT I sure love the structure school brings with the neat little schedule that comes along with it:)

Alivia popped right out of bed this morning, btw she is an early bird this year so she goes an hour an 15 minutes earlier than last year. Hooray!!

Cooper was sleepy but got really excited when I started packing his lunch....

Mostly that he got to take a capri sun with him, they are rationed very strictly here at our house.

Some pics from this morning, Kessler wanted in on all of the action. (this is at Bauer's preschool when we dropped him off)
Bauer SO excited to go inside.

The 2nd grader and the 1st Grader. SO FUN!!

We met the teachers yesterday and Alivia has a really cute teacher, and Cooper has one of our favorites teachers in the whole world!!!

Some things that I love during the school year. (Fall)

New school clothes

Opening my windows at night.

My house stays clean a little bit longer than usual

I don't get bugged when I clean my glass front door and .05 seconds later there are finger prints it actually is a few hours with a clean door.

Corn on the cob

Fresh tomatoes

Pumpkins

So many others....

A trip to Germany (not every fall but this one)

I am so excited Ben and I are going to Germany in about 2 weeks and I can't wait. (without kids)

which means.....First Class (hopefully).....

Also Ben has been at a meeting in MSP for Target National sales meeting, and so we have put our 2nd annual back to school night (which I need to think of a catchy-er name) on hold.

Will give you updates on that soon.

A Temple with No Roof

Once again I had the honor of going to Heber Valley Girls Camp in Heber, Utah.

One of the most beautiful places on earth, the Spirit is so strong there and it such an uplifting place to be for 5 days.

This is about 5% of the pictures I took.

The furry creatures that visited every night.
There were a few bucks that would pass right by our camp every night, at one point one leader was standing about 2 feet away from one.

Me surrounded by Stake leaders/friends.

The robot, yeah I busted it out....

Some great pics taken by one of the YW in our ward.

Fun times.

On the sunrise hike, the sun peering onto the top of Mount Timpanogos.

The sunrise hike as well the sun peering through the trees on the way back.


Some highlights with out pictures.

Monday night FHE with the Stake Presidency, President Matheson is a wonderful speaker.

Tuesday Night Ten Virgin activity, will you have enough oil?

(another great activity that reveled our Iron Rod experience last year)

One of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Wednesday Devotional by Annie.

Thursday testimony meeting around the cap fire.

Friday Morning, time to go and say good bye for another year.

Cooper # Addi

Cooper made a friend in Kindergarten and has been talking about her all summer. We drive by the Oquirrh Mountain Temple a lot. A few times he has told me that is where he and Addi are going to get married, I then ask him what are you going to do when you get married to Addi? he said go to church.....

He tells me all the time as well about the day he walked home with her and they played a game called squeeze. I asked him what the game was and he said you hold hands and squeeze. I thought that was hysterical.

The other day at Walmart, Cooper had his 2 $ allowance to spend and he walked past a fake yellow rose and asked if he could buy it for Addi. We stopped by her house on the way home he hopped out of the car, he hid it behind his back, knocked on the door and gave it to her.

She then returned the favor the next day and dropped off a cute card and candy bar to him.

He then showed me this picture later in the day.

I asked him what the symbol was with his name and her name he said it was Addi plus Cooper.

Tru Wuv!!

Driving with the kids

Lots of craziness happens in the car. Giggling, crying, screaming, laughing, talking. Lately we have been driving around running lots of errands. One day I had my camera and just started taking pictures of the kids.
Lots of preparation going on here, Girls camp this week and a few days last week has been a full time job working on things from 9am-5pm.
Today and this week will be no exception.
I also have my 15 yr high school reunion this weekend, and let me tell you Ben is so excited for that. (not)
It will be fun to go hang out at a park and go see some old friends.
I will take some pictures of the camp preparation and post soon. I know you are dieing to see
13 bags of frozen rolls, 35 bottles of salad dressing, 4 bins of camp supplies, 13 crates, 13 pairs of crocs. It is going to be CRa-ZE!!