New School Year

Hard to believe but summer is over and the kids are now back in school. The days, months, and years keep flying by so fast!

Kierstie is nineth grade and Cozette is in seventh grade. Both are attending Jr. High. They are both very excited to be back into school.

Kierstie is very excited because this year she is enrolled in Seminary. She has come home daily from school excited to share the stories Brother Taylor has been sharing with her class. She is also taking an honor class this year for Biology. She is still striving to achieve very good grades. Ideally she would like perfect citizenship and 4.0 gpa. Her classes are Spanish 2, Mixed Chorus, Algebra, World Geography, Seminary, Honor Biology, and English. Kierstie stayed after school Thursday and tried out for Show Choir. She enjoyed this last year and wanted to be involved again this year if given the opportunity. She will find out next week if selected.

Cozette was nervous for her first day of school. Because she is no longer in elementary school and has seven classes she is responsible for finding and attending. She kept telling me she was going to be lost and that this is going to be hard for her to do daily. So far she has come home every day this week excited that she is getting to know her teachers and making her way around the school without being lost. She is taking Utah Studies, Integrated Science, CTE (career, tech, and education), English 7, Cadet Orchestra, Math 7, and Art Foundations. She also stayed after school with Kierstie on Thursday and tried out for show choir. She was excited as well as Kierstie for her because she is natural at singing accapella as well as something they can do together. Kierstie sang Part of Your World from Little Mermaid. Cozette sang Castle on a Cloud from Les Miserables. Disney and Broadway. Definately their style...lol.

Kierstie and Cozette next week on Tuesday are going to try out for the play "Annie Get Your Gun". Cozette wants the lead. She thinks it would be awesome. They are both really excited and want to be a part of the play no matter if they obtain a lead or other role.

As soon as the opportunity arises, Cozette wants to try out for Volleyball. Kierstie will try out for Basketball. They are both going to have a busy and eventful school year.

Kaylynn this year is in the fourth grade and Cameron is in the third grade. They both are very excited for their teachers and have the opportunity to continue the friendships they have made in the previous years as well as make new friends this year.

We have truly been blessed in our home of over three years now. The kids are flurishing in their surroundings and with all they are learning. Todd and I have been and are still very proud of each of their accomplishments.

Bees Game with Family

Family Night Out

This year we were invited by my dad to get together with my side of the family and go to a dinner and games held from the Kawanis Club and then enjoy a Bees (SLC) Baseball game.

Kierstie asked James (a very nice boy within our ward) to go in Cozette's place and he accepted. Todd, myself, Kierstie, James, Kaylynn, and Cameron were all in attendance.

The BBQ was fruit, baked beans, chips, hamburgers, hotdogs, and cookies. It was yummy. After eating dinner we enjoyed some games that the Kawanis Club planned. Races with different age groups.

Kaylynn raced with kids age 9-11, and won the race. Cameron raced with the kids age 7 and 8.

Kierstie and I raced with the girls 12 and older. James raced with Todd and the men 12 and older as well. Kaylynn won the race as well as James.

James won the race but not by much...in case you are reading our Blog James...lol!

My dad was able to race walk with his age group.

So I've Decided...

So many people that I know are reading this book. I have decided it is time that I begin the same adventure. I am now reading this book. I will let you all know what I think when I have finished.

Seeing Myself Through My Children

I saw this on a friends blog and thought it was cute. I was curious to how my own children would answer so I sat down with each one individually and asked them these questions.


1. What is something mom always says to you?

Kierstie: can you help me around the house
Cozette: can you help around the house please
Kaylynn:do the right thing
Cameron: clean your room

2. What makes mom happy?

Kierstie: when i surprise you (like doing something without being asked, etc)
Cozette: doing the dishes without her asking
Kaylynn: when i listen to her
Cameron: when she says "i love you"

3. What makes mom sad?

Kierstie: i don't know, i haven't seen you sad, at least in a long time
Cozette: if i don't obey or don't do as i should
Kaylynn: when i don't behave
Cameron: when someone is hurt or sad

4.What makes you laugh?

Kierstie: when people tickle and tease me
Cozette: making up funny names for each other. making others laugh
Kaylynn: when daddy tickles me
Cameron: being tickled


5. What makes mom laugh?

Kierstie: when we tickle you and find your tickle spot
Cozette: trying to make me laugh when i am sad
Kaylynn: when dad tickles her
Cameron: when she is tickled


6.What was mom like as a child?

Kierstie: i don't know, you don't talk about your childhood
Cozette: i don't know, you haven't told me. i do remember you saying you would play the piano for an hour every day
Kaylynn: flexable
Cameron: i don't know


7. How old is your mom?

Kierstie: 38
Cozette: 37
Kaylynn: 38
Cameron: 39


8.How tall is your mom?

Kierstie: 5' 6"
Cozette: 5' 5"
Kaylynn: 5' 4"
Cameron: 30 feet


9. What is her favorite thing to do?

Kierstie: spending time with the family
Cozette: spending time with us
Kaylynn: hang out with our family
Cameron: go on vacations with her family


10. What does your mom do when you're not around?

Kierstie: working
Cozette: sleep
Kaylynn: sleep
Cameron: play the piano


11. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Kierstie: best scrapbooker (or selling scrapbook supplies)
Cozette: pianist and scrapbooking
Kaylynn: singing
Cameron: playing the piano


12. What is your mom really good at?

Kierstie: cooking (even though maybe not as good as whitney, but still very good)
Cozette: helping us to do right, teaching us things to know and that are important, and she is very good at playing the piano
Kaylynn: scrapbooking
Cameron: playing the piano


13. What is your mom not very good at?

Kierstie: finding addresses when looking for our friends houses
Cozette: some sports
Kaylynn: i don't know....um some sports
Cameron: playing sports


14.What does your mom do for her job?

Kierstie: OPS with Jetblue, not sure what she does though
Cozette: airline reservations, time of flights, etc
Kaylynn: stay up all night, talking to people on the phone for Jetblue
Cameron: stays up all night long working at Jetblue


15. What is your mom's favorite food?

Kierstie: italian
Cozette: italian
Kaylynn: anything
Cameron: spaghetti


16. What makes you proud of your mom?

Kierstie: the way she supports me
Cozette: that she is my mom. i am glad to have her as my mom
Kaylynn: by giving me good food
Cameron: when she takes me out to restaurants, takes me on vacations with our family, and helps me with my cub scouts


17. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

Kierstie: daisy
Cozette: meg (from hercules)
Kaylynn: cinderella
Cameron: ariel


18. What do you and your mom do together?

Kierstie: go shopping
Cozette: cook, shop, play, and hang out
Kaylynn: hang out
Cameron: we work on my cub scout awards and projects


19. How are you and your mom the same?

Kierstie: we have the same pinky fingers, same personality, we also wear the same shoe size
Cozette: with both like to cook, we both like to hang out, and we both like to tease daddy
Kaylynn: my mom was in gymnastics as a little girl, i am in gymnastics as well as a little girl
Cameron: we both have croocked pinky fingers


20. How are you and your mom different?

Kierstie: she is older and I am younger
Cozette: i hang out with my friends every day...my mom doesn't hang out with her friends anymore
Kaylynn: she is tall and i am small
Cameron: by our thumbs my are straight and my moms slightly curve, also i am a boy and she is a girl


21. How do you know your mom loves you?

Kierstie: she tells me every day, and i tell her every day that I love her too
Cozette: because she tell me every day, and i can see that she loves me
Kaylynn: she says "i love you" all the time
Cameron: she just always does



My kids know most about me pretty well. My favorite food is spaghetti. I am 5' 7" and 38 years old until November 8 (so I give Cameron half credit). I work for Jetblue as an Operations Reservations Supervisor (OPS). I think I need to talk to my children more about my childhood.


I also think all my friends and family should ask their children the same questions and post the responses to your blog sites!

Saturday August 9

Last weekend was fun. I woke the family at about six in the morning. We went to a park down the street from Alta High School for the 2nd Annual Balloon Festival.

This was a neat treat with the kids. It is not very often that you can see these balloons close up. We were able to walk right up to them if we wanted before the launched into the air.

After the balloon festival we went to Lowes and the kids made mini school lockers. Every 2nd and 4th Saturday the kids can make a project at Lowes. The kids can also go to Home Depot on the 1st Saturday of every month and make different projects as well.

Enjoy the pics!

2nd Annual Sandy Balloon Festival

Sweet Angels

I love all the different pics I have of my kids. But my favorites by far are when they fall asleep randomly, either by themselves or together. Here are two of my favorite sleeping pics.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

I have found all my pics that we saved to CD's when our last computer died. I wasn't blogging then and would love to share pics of my kids and how they have changed and grown up over the years. Enjoy the journey with me.

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" Elizabeth Stone

Heavenly Blessings

We are very grateful to our Heavenly Father. He listens to our prayers, watches over us, and knows of our needs. We have had lots of thoughts and decisions in the past few weeks and everything has worked out fine! Thank you for the blessings you continue to pour out to our family.

Our Van is fine...

After re-reading my post about girls camp. I realize I didn't tell everyone that we found out what the problem was with our van. It is my key. I guess the anti-theft micro-chip or battery inside my key is dead. Todd's key works great.

Thanks for all of your concerns. We are glad it is a minor fix and not something major.

We all survived YW Girls Camp

One of my callings in church (which I love, actually I love all my callings) is YW Camp Director. I have always loved girls camp and it is a pleasure to be able to share this passion with my children now. Before moving to this neighborhood I have only served as YW Camp Assistant. The year we moved into the Taylorsville 39th Ward in 2006 I was called to go to YW Girls Camp as an assistant. Then last year and this year I have served as YW Camp Director. I would love to have this calling forever. I love to camp, the mountains, the young women, etc.

The past couple of months have been great getting ready for this trip. The theme was B.O.O.T (Building On Our Testimonies). Our ward was the 39th Platoon. We took about 253 pics at camp, but I will share just a handful.

Our mascott was tree frogs. I found pink camouflage with green frog material and we made pajama pants as well as green beanie hats. Her are some of the girls in the beanie hats and wearing the pj's.

The night before camp I was finishing last minute errands that I needed before packing. The last store was dollar tree (near our house) and the car would not start to go back home, with a message display of Starter Disabled. I lost it. Crying and was asking myself, why? The night before camp and what was I going to do. I called Todd to come over and try and help me. We ended up calling our nephew Mike (thanks so much) to help us tow the van back home (he is a tow driver for Cottonwood Towing, in case any of you would like to have him help you in the future). The message usually will display when something triggers the anti-theft. He thought maybe it would reset. Todd's mom let us trade cars (our Honda for her van) so I could at least get the girls and family up to girls camp. Thanks mom!!! The morning of camp Todd tried the car and it worked so we loaded up everything to head over to the church. When everything was loaded and I put the key in the ignition and again nothing. Ugh. So we unloaded everything from our van into mom's van instead. We decided it would be better this way and that we would deal with the van trouble upon our return from camp.

This year was special for me. Todd went as a priesthood representative, so thus my whole family was able to go to camp with me. Kierstie and Cozy are already in YW, but Kaylynn and Cameron came with as well. It was fun to have them with us. They got right in with the girls and were learning the camp songs. They participated in everything we did.

Cameron and Kaylynn helped Todd and I set up our tent. I love camp Timberlane. Alpine Fir is my favorite spot within Camp Timberlane.

Here is the rest of our camp spot.

Our first night we had dinner with the stake. This was a surprize for all of us because we didn't know what dinner was going to be. Each ward was to bring three dozen cookies for dessert. We paired up with a buddy (Kaylynn was my buddy). We walked thru the line for our dinner which was a M.R.E (Meal Ready to Eat). These kits are given to the military personnel every three days as their meals. You cook the meals yourself with everything in the kit. Our kit was spaghetti. It was fun to do, but definately made you humble and grateful for the food we enjoy everyday. I forgot to take my camera with me so I am unable to post pics. After cooking and eating our food, which was like eating from your 72 hour kit, we made homemade vanilla ice cream in zip lock bags. Yummy. Kaylynn and I did a great job making our ice cream. It was frozen just right for us to enjoy. Dad and Cameron's ice cream was a little on the milk/slushy side...lol.

Here is our group from the 39th Platoon (minus Trish (YW Pres), Brother and Sister Durrans our cooks, and myself (I am taking the picture).

Jenn and Emily were my lovely assistants. Thanks for all your help during camp with certification and just being there. You are both amazing.

1st Year (Recruits) Hattie, April, and Cozette
2nd Year (Privates) Kiana
3rd Year (Corporals) Kierstie, Jodi, Jayme, and Kathy
4th Year (Sargents) Krysal and Mekayla
5th Year (1st Leuitenant) Ariane
6th Year (2nd Leuitenants) Cheryl and Jinny



On our first night we enjoyed getting to know everyone in the stake through cadences. Our cadence was fun to learn and chant at every opportunity.


Left...Left
I left my phone and ipod at home
To come to the woods
I feel so alone
Did I do right...Right
(Leaders) Right my ladies
(Youth) We love tree frogs



We played Espirit de Corp games.











This game was fun. Some would walk around while saying a phrase then stop in front of someone to dance silly. Each person doing the silly dance would switch places. Here are some of the pics.











Thursday activities were certification for all levels. In the afternoon we rotated between activites of lazer tag, an obstacle course (walking on beam, running thru tires, throwing airplane thru hula hoop, moving rubber ducky in rain gutter of water while blowing air thru a straw, swinging on rope over muddy water, hitting a tank with a water balloon grenade, crawling under a limbo stick, hopping on one foot back across beam), and water balloon toss thru hula hoop up high. Here are some of those highlights.





















Thursday night was our skit. Camp Director's picked from a hat. Our skit was Hannah Montana characters in the Coast Guard. We love skits! Everyone participated. The girls even gave Kaylynn and Cameron a part.

Kierstie was Lily, Cozette was Hannah, Kaylynn was Sarah, and Cameron was Uncle Earl.














Friday we went on our hike.










That afternoon we made fleece blankets that the soldiers of unit 142 can give to the children of afghanistan. We also wrote letters to the soldiers.

Friday night was our last night at camp. Bishop Lesko came up for Stake Devotional. After that we returned to our ward camp and held our camp testimony meeting. It was a very spiritual conclusion to camp.

On Saturday I presented our ward bead to the girls. A dog tag.
YW B.O.O.T Camp
2008
D.O.G
Daughter of God

During camp I had different acroynms for camp a thought in mind for each.
POW=Person of Worth
MIA=Missionary in Action
FROG=Forever Remember Your Good Works.