Saturday Fun

We were supposed to go swimming last Saturday for a family date. However, our kids have been sick over the past couple of weeks, and I wasn't feeling great. So, as soon as I got home from school, we decided instead of going to the water resort that we would go to the dollar theater and watch "Bridge to Terabithia".

We had a great time watching the movie, and of course we had nearly a whole row of tears near the ending of the show. Aylee never likes to show emotion. I asked her if she cried and she said that her throat had hurt during the movie, but that was it :).


After the movie, we let them play around on the arcade equipment for some time (the movie was about the innocence of a child's pure imagination, thus, we couldn't pass up the arcade room without letting them pretend that they were playing the video games.

I had to work that afternoon, but upon Amber's insistence, we stopped off at McDonald's before heading home and enjoyed a nice ice-cream code break as the kids played on the equipment there.

Our family date cost us about $7.00 for the day. It was a steal for all the fun we got out of it. It is a blast to have the kids all at an age where they still pretty much like the same things and really enjoy playing together.

It's Done!

I took Micah to get her drivers license yesterday. We had to meet her old drivers Ed teacher for the skills test. He was sure to ask her if she was sure she wanted to take it on Friday the 13th, after I had been asking her all morning. She did well. She took a big corner a bit fast...and has issues stopping completely at stop signs. And I thought it was a bit unfair she had to parallel park where there was no cars...lol. We hurried over for her to take the written test right after.
She only missed 3! She finally got her "mug shot" and the lady congratulated her! The day didn't go off without a hitch though. We did go to take the test and found out that the tags were expired by almost 3 months, and then we had to buy new Idaho plates because I guess ours were too old according to law! But I guess if this is the worst, it's all good!

She did it!

After Amber had called me on Wednesday to announce that she was going to repaint, patch flooded walls, re-texture walls, and re-shelve, I put my foot down and said she could only do it if she promised to have it done by tonight. Our washing machine is coming with a free delivery and free installation. I wanted to make sure I got my money's worth with the installation part :-).

Well, tonight, at 10:50PM she got it done. The picture doesn't do the work justice. it is the hottest laundry room I have seen, anyway! She also put up three shelves in the room, repaired and retextured a wall that had flooded when we first moved in. This is the earliest and most prolonged nesting period I have ever seen in a pregnant woman!

Amber is at it again!

On Monday our washing machine finally hit a straw that broke this camel's back. It has been leaking water with every run for a few weeks now. On Monday, Amber washed a load of clothes only to find the clothes soaked in mud and debris after the cycle was over.

We have spent a few hundred dollars in the past two years "fixing" the washing machine. We decided that it was time to buy a new one.

I went to Sears that very same day and bought a front loading one that was more expensive by about $300.00, but it is high capacity, uses 77% less electricity, 66% less water, spins twice as fast as top-loaders, and yields a $75.00 rebate from our utilities company. Amber really wanted to do less laundry, so it was the high capacity-ness of the machine that drove it home I guess.

Anyway, since the washing machine was out of the laundry room, and Amber has this "Manifest Destiny" of sorts regarding painting every room in our house, she called me on Tuesday to let me know that she was going to paint the Laundry room. I came home for lunch in time to move the dryer out for her to start the work.

By the end of the evening, Amber had the first coat all the way done. We're going to have a great looking laundry room!

Little Patriot

The other day I was putting our flag back up after our trip to Spokane. I asked who wanted to come and help me and Alayna ran to my aid. As I got to the pole, I had Alayna carry the flag. She looked so proud and happy to help with the flag that I couldn't help but snap this picture with my phone.

Should have looked at the weather report

It was Mom's last night here in Provo, so we stayed up late to visit with her. It sure has been good to have Mom down here for these few days. She and I took a drive in their newly purchased car and then the three of us had some ice cream sandwiches before calling it a night.

During the night, Aliece threw up and so Amber and I were up helping her and cleaning up the mess.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired this morning. I got up late, but in time to say goodbye to Mom. Then I showered, ate, and headed off to work on my motorcycle. As I rode to work I noticed how dark and brown it way outside. In my tired state, though, I just thought it was all of the smoke from Utah's largest fire in the state's history located just 90 miles south of here.

By the time I was half way to work I started to feel a rain drop or two. It escalated and by the time I got to work I was quite a site to see. I shot this picture from my office window to try to give you an idea of what it looked like outside.

The rain has come and gone already, I must have caught the brunt of it while I was out there. It has been an hour or so and I am about dry and almost descent looking again. Next time I think I'll slap myself a couple of times to wake up before I blinding select my mode of transportation.

A Harry Surprise

Yesterday I told Aylee and Johnathan that we were going on a date today. We arranged the time, but the kids wanted it to be a surprise so I didn't tell them what we were doing. Well, when the time came, Johnathan and I met up with Mom and Jake at the movie theater and watched the 3:15pm showing of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Aylee and Johnathan were really excited when I had them read their movie tickets.

We had a great time seeing Harry and his friends fight the death eaters. When it was all over I caught Johnathan with some wet eyes. When I questioned him about it he said that he wasn't crying, it was just that his eyes were a little wet. I didn't push it :-).

Aylee's Softball Season Ends

Aylee's team has had a good run of it this season with softball. They were undefeated in all of Provo, got second place in the city-wide tournaments, and then went to the State Championships. They won their first game in the state championships on Monday. However, their next two games on Tuesday were losses. However, Aylee was playing really well. Her coaches asked Amber if she would be playing again next year with them.

If you can't see this video link, Click Here.


Aylee got quite a few RBI's in yesterday's game, more than any of her team mates if I recall correctly. Jen, Chloe, and my Mom came to the state tournament games...it was fun to have them there. (Jen also came to several of Aylee's other games during the season, thanks Jen!). It has been a fun time watching both Aylee and Johnathan play the great American sport. However, with the high 90 - 100 degree heat wave, I can't say we will miss sitting on those metal bleachers in the mid-day scorching sun!

A 7 7 7 7 7 7 ... Birthday

Johnathan had his 7th birthday on 07/07/07.

legos, guns, toys, oh my!
John was sure in seven heaven on his 7th birthday, 7th day of the weak, which was on 7-7-O7.
John got shirts, socks, play armer, and lots more. We had 7-up, and went to Seven-Peaks.

John sure had a happy 7th birthday!!


---Posted by Aylee

It Happened

So it finally happened. I put all my trust in this little handy device called a GPS, and well I got lost. It is a sad day. Coming home from Bear Lake through Logan, I was fine till downtown Logan. I guess I don't go there often enough. I was following the little commands, and it took me on the very very wrong route. Needless to say, it was a good thing I did get gas, even though I thought I could get home on half a tank....lol Then to make things worse, after getting on the interstate there was construction after Tremonton. I know, its hard to believe, construction in Utah. My idea of making the trip shorter by not going up through Pocatello was cut short by a lovely man transporting sheep at 25 miles an hour for over 10 miles. Other than that the ride was pretty uneventful. Brad did get sick going through the canyon and Stetzon (my nephew) got sick and threw up on our very slow ride on the interstate. I still have yet to figure out why he got sick here.
Thanks for a great weekend everyone! I'd go again in a heart beat!!