Heise 2009

Our new annual tradition is going to be going to Heise (or someplace similar) with my Uncle John and his family. We went this year and had the greatest time (and that's coming from someone who HATES to swim!) We did pick the coldest day of the summer (66 degrees for a high) to go so we spent a lot of time in the hot pools. Everyone went on the slide except me, my sister Shanda and my Mom. Even my girls went! Here are the pictures:

There- now you know what I did last summer!

Camping 2009

For our annual camping trip this year, we tried a new campground- Buttermilk Campground on the Island Park Reservoir. It was okay. Lots of people so not as quiet as I had hoped it to be. But the girls (and my dog) loved, loved, loved the water. We had a great time and I am happy to report that no bears came to visit this year, just Nazi camp hosts. There is nothing like camping to soothe the soul. Here are some pictures:

Four Years Old!

Tayla absolutely refused to go get her yearly pictures taken at the JCPenney studio. So, I canceled their appointment and took them to the Rexburg BYU-I gardens and took the pictures myself- well with my Mom and sisters help. We took hundreds of pictures. Here is a collage of some of the best ones:

California 2009

So I have been really bad about blogging becuase I hate how long it takes for pictures to upload. So, I read someone's suggestion about using slide.com instead and it was faster. I think it is a little faster. SO, I'M BACK! We've had a couple of fun things happen since Easter, so I will post a narrative and a slide show to go with it for each event:

As you can tell, nothing really exciting has happened since Easter. That's why I haven't ever posted anything since then. But we have been home about a week from a fantastic family reunion in California and I wanted to post pictures for those of you who aren't on Facebook adn add some more detail to what we did on our trip.

We left on Saturday June 6th for a reunion with Rex's brothers and their families in California. We drove halfway to Winnemucca, NV and then the rest of the way to Clear Lake in Nice, CA on the 2nd day. We stayed in a townhouse/ duplex I think it was on Clear Lake and went boating. Rex has 3 brothers and their families and his Mom that went with us. So, 2 brothers, their kids and his Mom stayed in one of the townhouses and we and his brother Jared stayed in the other townhouse next door. It was the perfect arrangement. We had a barbeque Sunday night and just hung out. We spent Monday and Tuesday at ClearLake. We had such a relaxing and enjoyable time.

On Wednesday we drove to San Fransisco. I enjoyed the trolley and the sea lions. I hated Chinatown and the traffic. The Golden Gate Bridge was quite the site to see and we ate lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe.

On Thursday we went to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose where the girls had a great time. They got to dress up, make corn husk dolls, go 'shopping', make rockets, etc, etc. It was definately a kids day.

On Friday we went to Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. This was more of an adult day. We saw lots of shows, which I loved. Then of course we rode roller coasters and got to our hotel room really late!

We headed back home on Saturday. Another long drive but I loved driving through Truckee,CA and the Donner Pass. Beautiful country.... Here are pictures from California

Easter

We've had a busy weekend- most of it Easter related. That and a ward activity took up our entire weekend.

The girls decorated Easter eggs at my Sister Shanda's house on Thursday. They loved doing it. And since they did it at Shanda's house, I didn't have to clean up the mess- she did! Ashtyn concentrating

Tayla displaying her eggs

On Friday night we had a ward activity- a Gardening seminar. We actually coordinated with the activity committee and held a Primary activity at the same time. We ate pizza and rootbeer, built scarecrows and bird feeders, played a flower Bingo game, planted seeds and played a barnyard game. We had a good time. Only about 12- 15 kids came and I loved that! One thing that I can't get over was that the activity committee ordered enough pizza to feed 40 kids and yet those 12-15 kids ate it all (and drank the 5 bottles of pop!)

Saturday afternoon, a lady in our ward organized an Easter egg hunt over at the school (thanks Valerie!) My girls had a great time.

Ready, set, go!

Ashtyn searching
Tayla going for the hard to reach ones
Ashtyn posing with her stash
Showing off their eggsTayla checking out what's inside

Easter of course, we really nice. The girls loved their Easter baskets and were able to take their new set of scriptures to church with them. They liked the bunny rabbit and the candy too of course!Right after the Easter Bunny came....

Loving their new stuffed animals

I found the girls dresses at Costco and thought they looked dang cute in them.

Our Primary President today gave a fantastic lesson in Sharing Time. The other counselor raises baby bum lambs and brought one in for the kids to see after the Primary President gave a lesson about Christ being the Lamb of God as well as the Good Shepherd. You can only imagine how much the kids loved that! But the part that really choked me up was this story that she told them: (told in the May 1988 Ensign by Elder John Lasater of the Seventy)

"Some years ago, it was my privilege to visit the country of Morocco as part of an official United States government delegation. As part of that visit, we were invited to travel some distance into the desert to visit some ruins. Five large black limousines moved across the beautiful Moroccan countryside at considerable speed. I was riding in the third limousine, which had lagged some distance behind the second. As we topped the brow of a hill, we noticed that the limousine in front of us had pulled off to the side of the road. As we drew nearer, I sensed that an accident had occurred and suggested to my driver that we stop. The scene before us has remained with me for these many years.

An old shepherd, in the long, flowing robes of the Savior’s day, was standing near the limousine in conversation with the driver. Nearby, I noted a small flock of sheep numbering not more than fifteen or twenty. An accident had occurred. The king’s vehicle had struck and injured one of the sheep belonging to the old shepherd. The driver of the vehicle was explaining to him the law of the land. Because the king’s vehicle had injured one of the sheep belonging to the old shepherd, he was now entitled to one hundred times its value at maturity. However, under the same law, the injured sheep must be slain and the meat divided among the people. My interpreter hastily added, “But the old shepherd will not accept the money. They never do.”

Startled, I asked him why. And he added, “Because of the love he has for each of his sheep.” It was then that I noticed the old shepherd reach down, lift the injured lamb in his arms, and place it in a large pouch on the front of his robe. He kept stroking its head, repeating the same word over and over again. When I asked the meaning of the word, I was informed, “Oh, he is calling it by name. All of his sheep have a name, for he is their shepherd, and the good shepherds know each one of their sheep by name.”

It was as my driver predicted. The money was refused, and the old shepherd with his small flock of sheep, with the injured one tucked safely in the pouch on his robe, disappeared into the beautiful deserts of Morocco."

The reason it choked me up was because I can picture the Savior doing the same thing when we are injured or making bad decisions. I can see him calling us by name, over and over, and anguishing over the decisions we are making or the pain we are going through. I can see him refusing to give up on us and being upset that something had happened to us. I can see him- and have felt him- put us in his pouch and take care of us...

Happy Easter

Respect and Sticky Buns

The title got your attention didn't it? Keep reading.... I've had kind of a boring week. Funny how I can say that because at the time, I felt like I was extremely busy. But, making a list of things to blog about turned out to be very small.

I spent money at Dress Barn, ate dinner with friends at Sol Rio, went to a gardening class with my Mom, had a horrible experience in Primary and watched General Conference. There that's it... Now for the details.

It was a mistake for me to go shopping with my Mom at Dress Barn. I was convinced to spend too much money. But I will say that the clothes were well worth it- 2 shirts, a sweater and a brown skirt. I think Dress Barn is my new favorite store. I might also add that I did some convincing of my own and Mom spent plenty of money there also...

We had a great time at Sol Rio with a group of friends from our ward. I'm not a fan of Mexican food though and what I ate just didn't taste very good. And to top it all off, everyone else was able to eat with a fork, where mine was more fajita style and I made a mess. So embarrassing! Anyway, even though the food wasn't that great, the company was fantastic. I am so grateful for good friends in a fantastic ward.

My favorite gardening store is Town and Country Gardens. Every Saturday they put on a gardening class and my Mom and I went to the container gardening class. I love to plant my flowers. I'm no professional by any means but I am working on it. I can't wait for Memorial Day weekend. My sisters and my Mom and I all get together and have a flower planting party. I look forward to it all winter....

Primary 2 weeks ago, pretty much sucked. The primary president was out of town, the other counselor was sick and the secretary was late. We had scheduled to have all of the teachers leave for a teacher training meeting during sharing time, we had a substitute pianist and a substitute chorister. So, that left ME, a sub piano player and a sub chorister (who had to leave to feed her baby anyway) with ALL of those kids for 40 minutes while the teachers left for their meeting. And to say that the kids were awful that day is an understatement. I told the other counselor that it was a good thing I had Conference weekend to recover because I don't think that I could've gone back that soon. I was so fed up! I made poor Rex stay in the Primary room with me in case I needed an extra hand. And boy did he have to work- he told me later he doesn't see how we do that week after week.....

That kind of leads to my next point. I enjoyed General Conference very much. Probably the talk that stands out most to me was the one given by Sister Liffereth (I think it was her, not sure now......?) from the Primary General Presidency. She spoke about teaching our kids to respect others. I feel very strongly that this is an area that our world SEVERELY lacks in. I don't believe that kids are being taught to recognize and respect their elders- parents, teachers, grandparents, bosses, etc...... I hope that all of you who read this blog are teaching your kids to be respectful. I know that what I witnessed on Sunday in Primary was NOT respectful from probably 50% of the kids there. Some of those kids were just outright defiant. There I go, on my soapbox again.... But, I guarantee you, I have made a resolve to make sure my girls are respectful....

We spend the Saturday session of General Conference here at home but on Sunday, we go out to my parents house and eat a great breakfast- sticky buns (recipe below- and ignore my sisters and Rex's comments, if any, that they make- I have fixed the recipe!), egg souffle, cinnamon rolls, fruit, etc. So delicious! After Conference, we have dinner. I love Sunday Conference....

Sticky Buns

Line a greased bundt pan with finely chopped nuts. Put about 22 frozen Rhodes rolls evenly around pan. Sprinkle 1/2 Pkg (3 oz) butterscotch pudding (NOT instant) over the rolls. Melt 1/2 C brown sugar and 1 cube butter. Boil until like caramel. Pour over the rolls. Cover with a damp towel and let rise overnight. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Well, here are a few pictures of the girls- again in Idaho weather. First a snowman that they made together in a fresh batch of fantastic snowman snow and then Ashtyn with her snowdog- complete with a tail and ears. (And then a picture of my snow dog, Nora.) :) And finally a few days later, when Ashtyn and I went to the river and got sunburned. Thank you Idaho.....

The twins and their snowman

Tayla eating the snowman's nose

Ashtyn and her snow dog

My snow dog, Nora

Ashtyn at the river, feeding the ducks

Well, would you look at that! For not thinking that I had a lot to say, I said quite a bit....

I told you!

I knew it! It snowed today. I left for church early this morning with no coats or jackets for any of us because it was a great morning! When I left 3 hours later, it was snowing! I told you it would snow soon!