Weight Lifting vs/ Age

Nothing turns a woman on more than watching her man pump iron!

Happy 40th Birthday Cam!

Oh No! The Big 4-0!

I conspired with some friends to plan a surprise party for Cameron and it turned out awesome.  Cameron was called on by many friends:  family friends, neighbor friends, old friends, school friends and little friends.  It was an evening of total enjoyment as friends and family came and went wishing Cameron a Happy Birthday.  I only wish I had taken more pictures as the sun went down but I was too busy eating cake and chatting.

Good mix of mom and dad.

Nelly

Nate and Kelly - us - Becky and Roger

Crazy Hat

The theme for Cameron's end of Summer work party was 'Crazy Hat'.  It was in Cottonwood Canyon catered by Famouns Daves -yummy yummy!  Prizes would go to the craziest hat worn to the picnic party.  When we told the kids that the first prize was an Ipod, our home exploded with craziness!  They got right to work on making the craziest hat ever invented.  After several prototypes had failed, we were able to get some awesome hats from a couple of neighbors.  Makayla made her hat out of every single hair bow/flower clip in the house and clipped it onto Dad's sun (mow the lawn) hat.  Her intention of wearing it waned as we neared the canyon.  Dad wore it in the end which made him look even sillier.  Guess who won first prize?

*1st prize went to the Lady Flower Hat Guy - Dad.  He won the Ipod and will not share it.  Humph! 

*2nd prize went to the Fish in the Pot girl - Kerri.  She won a humongous water gun.

*Worst Hat prize ALMOST went to Jarin for sporting a BYU hat.  He was glad he did not receive the prize - a Davy Crocket DVD.  Totally missed out on that one.

We ended the evening by making SMORES every way possible.  It was a great picnic!

Jarin's Reading Abilities

Now that Jarin has read this book a few times (true story), he can read it in his sleep.  Way to multi-task!

School Days

Twas the Night Before School Started

Author: unknown

Twas the night before school started
when all through the town
the parents were cheering
it was a riotous sound.

By eight the kids were washed
and tucked into bed
when memories of homework
filled them with dread.

New pencils, new folders, new notebooks too,
new teachers, new friends, the anxiety grew.
The parents just giggled when they heard of this fright
and shouted upstairs-GO TO BED-IT'S A SCHOOL NIGHT!

Makayla - sophmore in high school
Jarin - seventh grade in jr. high school
Trevor - fourth grade in elementary school
Rebekah - second grade in elementary school
Kerri - second grade in elementary school

 

Hebrew Proverb

"A child is not a vessel to be filled, but a lamp to be lit". 

Shine babies, shine!

Summer Family Time

Isabel and Brian (Salisbury) and their two adorable girls (Emily and Caroline) flew from North Carolina to spend a couple of weeks in Utah with family.  Brian just got back from being deployed in Iraq as a Paralegal Specialist in the Army.  Everyone is happy to have him home again.  We had a fun family party with the Pack's and Brian's family at our house.  Yeah for family!

Jarin's Scout Camp

I always wondered what boys take pictures of on their week long camp-outs.......

-picture of someone else with a camera

-a self-portrait

-the sky

-the road construction guy

-a green frog

-a blue frog

-big giant cock roaches

-food on the run

-boys learning archery

Sign me up for the next camp out!

Dinosaur Museum

Each summer Kennecott sends all of their employees a voucher book to participate in museums and parks around Utah and Salt Lake counties for FREE.  We love it and use it every year.  As you can see below, the two older kids no longer want to participate in the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum, Trevor and the girls still love it.  I am so glad!  We went with Lica while she was visiting us from Virginia.

Aging Gracefully

Chilean women are beautiful.  They are almost wrinkle free up to age fifty and gray hair doesn't show until you are a great-grandmother.  Note:  Lica has never dyed her hair, not once!  Not only did I inherit half the Chilean beauty (Yeah!), I also inherited half the Gringo side.  That means that my wrinkles came at twenty five and I will be pulling gray hair out before the grandkids come along.  I'll take what I can get.  

Check out what a touch of Chilean does to the next generation - pure gorgeousness.

Shrink a Dink

Eight year old Jarin is finally caught up to Abuelita.

Is it me or is Abuelita shrinking?

London

While we were eating corn dogs at home, Cameron was eating London's famous fish and chips while on a business trip.  It was the first (long) business trip away from home since switching jobs from Graymont to Kennecott four years ago.  After living without him for nine years of constant travel, this was a breeze - sorta.  We love having him home!