Last day of SUMMER VACATION

We had a great last day of summer vacation. My wonderful friend Kari took us out to Windsor lake to play and we had soooo much fun. Then we came home and topped the day off with a Father's Blessing from Daddy which the kids love to have. A fantastic day but sorry to see the lazy days of summer gone!

Our Little Taste of Malaysia

Aspen couldn't even stand the smell of this fish on a stick, but Grandma dared her so she tried!

This had peanuts and little fish body parts including a little fish head!

It tasted good with the peanuts!

This was another kind of fish, not our favorite thing!

These were the things most of liked, probably some of them Aspen didn't like!

Fish on a stick, YUCK!

Gifts from Grandpa and Grandma!

We probably have the sarung on wrong!

Ryan's parents are in Malaysia on a mission and they sent us an early Christmas gift. So we had a taste of different Malaysian foods and got to dress up like them and Britain got a cool ball to play with. We had so much fun! I will say some of us enjoyed the taste testing more than others. Aspen had a really hard time trying anything and the rest of us were willing to try it all. Here are some pictures! Thanks Gardell and Leann for the experience!

Aspen's Primary Party

Aspen has a wonderful church primary teacher Sister McDonald. She is in Valiant 10 and has her best friends in this class. Sister McDonald said if they do good deeds she will write their name on a piece of paper and put it in a jar and when it is full they will have a party. The girls filled the jar and so it was party time. Some how Aspen volunteered our house so we had the pleasure of having six little girls at our house. I had to do nothing but provide the home. The girls planned the activities which included: a white elephant gift exchange, bobbing for apples, limbo, twister and murder in the dark. I took some pictures of the activity, in it you will see Britain and his friend Wesley who were kindly allowed to participate by their sisters!

Swim lessons and Internet

Today Aspen ended her swim lessons. She is in level 5 and she did really well. They really focused on the techniques of each swim stroke and how to do a roll in the water and kick off the wall to turn yourself around. Her favorite thing was at first the thing she dreaded, it was diving for a 10 lbs. block in the deep end. It took her a couple of tries but when she got it she loved it. I am sad I have no pictures but for some reason both of our camera cards were full and I left my phone at my mom's. I think we will do some more lessons this fall and sign Aspen up for a swim team next summer. I had signed Britain up this session also but his level didn't have enough people so we will have to try again next time.

We also joined the 20th century and got internet at home I am so excited now we won't have to depend on Ryan's work computer. Yea!!!

The Paul & Richardson Shoot Out

We got a 12 gauge shotgun a few months back. We hadn't loaded it or anything so our friends The Richardsons who are gun gurus invited us out to do some target shooting. Bill taught us how to load it and shoot. I was so scared at first but eventually I got use to it, but I still don't like the kick back. We had so much fun and want to go again. We are so glad for friends who have knowledge in things we don't.

Ryan's Climb of Longs Peak

Ryan's Uncle Jeff invited him to climb Longs Peak. So Ryan jumped on the idea. They stayed at his grandma's house in Lyons on Thursday and got up on Friday July 24th early and got to Longs Peak at 3:10a.m.. They reached the summit at 10:00a.m.. Ryan said after they reached The Keyhole it became very technical. It was 15 miles round trip and they got back to the car at 3:oo p.m.. Ryan was wiped when he got home and said that he wouldn't be doing that again for a long time if ever, but yesterday he told me a friend of his wants to hike it next year and he wants to go. So I guess enough time has passed that he has forgotten all the hard work! These are some of the pictures he took!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

These pictures were taken on July 18th. The carrot Ryan pulled was just to thin them out so they can get bigger. But you can see some of our harvest. Today we went out and it seems that our squash has been trampled. So we are not sure what happened. So we will see if it is worth it next year. We have some people next to us that hasn't weeded at all so it is really running into ours. All in all its been fun to see what comes up and for the kids to see how a garden works!

Our New Adventure!!!

Since both of my kids will be in all day school this year I have decided to babysit this sweet little baby. Her name is Delaney and we had the pleasure of watching her this week. We all fell in love and loved having her around. She got lots of smooches and hugs. Aspen was a great helper she could do it all, so in about 2 years she will be a great babysitter for anyone who is in need of some help. Britain would be playing and then all of a sudden he would come where ever she was and say "I just had to look at her cute little face" and then run off. Many times through out the week the kids would say "I wish she was our baby". She will definitely get lots of lovin when she is here!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Twinkletoes

On our Utah trip the kids decided to pass the time by making up nicknames. I had brought up the idea of twinkletoes for Britain just to be funny but somehow I ended up with Mrs. Twinkletoes. Aspen early had received the nickname Creampuff because we were at a chinese buffet place and Aspen snuck a creampuff and when she came back to the table she hadn't quite finished it and a bunch of cream was coming out of her mouth. Britain's name ended up being Sonic and Ryan was Troll. So of course my birthday cake had to include Happy Birthday Mrs. Twinkletoes!!!

Off to Utah to see Jonas Brothers!!!

We went to Utah On July 3rd destination Jonas Brothers at Stadium of Fire. Our family loves the firework show and entertainment. Last year Aspen and Ryan went alone and saw Hannah Montana. But this year the whole family went. When we got there we went to The Oquirrh Temple open house so the kids got their first look inside a beautiful temple, it ONLY took us 3 hours to do the tour and mostly stand in line it was so packed. Then we went to our favorite hotel (The Long House) Jeff, Raylene and their wonderful kids are always so kind to us while we invade their home. We got up early the next morning and headed to Provo for the 4th of July Parade but this time we had box seats. James Mayfield a childhood friend of Ryans let us come up to his office that over looks the parade. Then we went to Ryan's favorite restaurant stop in Provo Los Hermanos. Then we headed to The Stadium of Fire. They have lots of booths you can go to and get free stuff such as: Jonas Brothers guitar pic necklaces, posters, pop, you get the idea. When we got into the stadium we saw these barricades leading up to a room we tried to get in but you had to have a backstage pass. So we waited front and center to see if they would come out, the police even said stand back make some room and then the Jonas Brothers Bodyguard came out so we thought for sure they were coming out but then someone by us said they brought them out a back door. Aspen was so sad because she had read a book on the Jonas Brothers and in it said they sign autographs for every fan so she really believed she was going to get that autograph but Ryan got to shake Glenn Becks hand I was sad because I am the one who watches him all the time, it should have been me but I am not aggressive like Ryan! So the show was great we all had a good time and great weather. Sunday we went to church with The Longs, had dinner with James and his family then took a walk with Jeff's family and had a little firework show of our own. The next day we headed to Seven Peaks Water Park and had a great time Aspen went on almost all of the slides (NO FEAR) Britain was a little short for most but him and I loved the wave pool!!! On Tuesday we left the Longs but had to get a picture of Britain and Tanner (his older brother he never had) Tanner was so kind to Brit playing basketball, video games and of course Army men! We drove to The Arches it was beautiful and hot! Then we went to a hotel and of course swam and swam. On Wednesday we headed home to Greeley. It was a fun trip I am so glad we can make memories together!!!