Updates on everyone...

The first summer month is almost over. Yikes!! We haven't even set up our pool yet! But of course, with all this rain it hasn't even been an OPTION.

We are trying to stay busy - so I, wait... I mean THE KIDS don't get board. Shannon joined a competitive soccer team out in Richmond and is loving it. They have 2 hour practices twice a week and she is required to practice AT LEAST 30 minutes every day but Sunday. She is thrilled!! We did find out (after spring soccer season ended) that she has a knee problem called Osgood Slaughter Disease: inflammation of the patellar tendon where the knee meets the top of the tibia (shinbone). The condition is caused by stress on the tendon that attaches the muscle at the front of the thigh to the tibia. She gets pretty sore after practice but with the help of ice packs and Ibprofen she is good. She is just growing up way too fast and her body can't keep up! The symptoms (swelling and tenderness) subside after treatment and rest and should go away after she stops growing.

Ellie is counting down the days to when the pool is finally up. She is quite the little swimmer and wants to see if she has graduated out of having to wear a life jacket (yes, I'm THAT paranoid). She is one of my biggest helpers around here and as of this week, has asked me to start calling her "Cinderella". I'm not quite sure what she means by that...

As for Shelby, where to begin?? We have little "incidences" every day. Multiple incidences actually... I think I just threw away all the markers in the house due to the last one.



Pictures are worth a thousand words.


She has learned to climb, which means I have had to do a mandatory re-decorating that involves all chairs, stools and benches. This added to all the dowels, locks, gates and other baby proofing items makes my house quite the Safety Zone. She is talking more and more every day (though I confess I can't always understand WHAT she is saying). We are at 17 months now and you know what that means... NURSERY is just around the corner!!

Christopher is still living at his dad's house in Payson. I see him every time I go down there. He loves hanging out with his friends and is the typical teenager: Texting, xbox, movies, friends, late nights, computer games... His voice is so low now that I don't recognize it when he answers the phone. KIDS GROW UP SO FAST. =(


Matt is still busy with school. Only two more classes to go!!!! We try to make the most of the weekends he does have off and the nights that he doesn't have to study. He works so hard and is doing really well. I'm so proud of him!!


I am busy with teaching, though the summer months are not quite as hectic as the school ones. I feel a more laid back pace lately, which I really am grateful for. Young Women's keeps me busy as well. We are getting ready to go to camp in two weeks and I don't have to take Shelby with me this year. YEAH!!! I'm speaking with the YW presidency in sacrament meeting this Sunday (I should be writing my TALK instead of updating the BLOG. Can you say, "PROCRASTINATION"?).

I found out this week that my foot is broken =( It's a long story... Back on May 1st when I was down at BYU's Women's Conference I rolled my foot off a curb as I was running to get to my first class. DUMB. It hurt like crazy and almost made me cry. ALMOST. But I limped my way through the day and the next and the next... It took a couple of weeks before the pain went away and I thought that I was better. But then I'd step on it wrong and it was like I was starting all over again. After awhile the aching and pain was so constant I couldn't stand it, so I finally drug myself to the Podiatrist. Apparently I was born with an "extra" bone in my foot called he accessory navicular. The way that I rolled my foot when I hurt it caused the accessory navicular to break off of where it had fused to the normal navicular bone. I'll have to wear a cast for 6 weeks and then see where the healing process is. Hopefully I'll be able to avoid surgery (they will have to remove the extra bone completely and reattach the tendon if the cast doesn't work). The cast itself isn't that bad - that is to say, it's annoying but it isn't slowing me down. : )

I'm off... it's Friday and after teaching 1 lesson (YES ONLY ONE) I'm playing with the kids for the rest of the day.

First summer camping trip

This past weekend we loaded up the camper and went SOUTH. Not too far though, just down past Delta to the land of DESERET. We stopped at the old Fort and there, we stayed. I don't know what the appeal was?? It could have been the big mud puddles...



Madi and Ellie taking a "mud bath" in the big mud puddle that developed after the first cloud burst. After this, they of course needed to take a dip in the canal that was close by.




Shannon cooling off/washing off the mud in the canal.




Shelby REALLY wanted to go swimming too. The water was pretty clean. No visible floaties. That means it's safe, right?



We went on multiple exploring trips with the 4-wheelers.

Shannon at the Great Stone Face which is said to resemble the profile of the prophet Joseph Smith.




Shelby was constantly climbing up on the pink 4 wheeler. I think she's trying to claim ownership....



One day we took a long ride out to an old volcano. We found a really cool trail that took us all the way up to the top.


Matt and Shelby going up the trail at Pahvant Butte.




Cool and very LARGE lizard that scurried under Matt's machine.




Inside a really cool abandoned cement building on top of Pahvant Butte. We later found out that it was originally constructed to be a windmill plant (back in the 1920's) that was to supply electricity to the local residents. It was never completed.




On the top of Pahvant Butte. This volcano erupted about 15,500 years ago. The explosion produced this crater on the south face of the mountain.




Matt and I on top of Pahvant Butte.




Shannon spent much of her time exploring and looking for lizards.



On our way home we stopped to tour through the museum in Delta (yes, museums are COOL). We also stopped to see the Morrison Charcoal ovens just outside of Leamington.





Inside the ovens.



We sort of got rained out which sent us in the direction of my sister's house in Santaquin. We stopped over there for a visit and they took us on a beautiful ride up Santaquin Canyon.


Chris, Brenda Matt and Shelby up Santaquin Canyon.




Shelby always falls fast asleep on these rides.


We had a great trip!! Went by way too fast, but I'm sure glad we were able to go.

Relay For Life

The Relay For Life (cancer fundraiser) was this past Friday. This was the night that I've been working towards for the last 5 months and it was AWESOME!!


"Lilium" Carey Heaton, Me and Dawn Garrett. My dad (the botanist) helped us choose our group name. Lilium is the Latin name for Lily - a 3 petal flower.


My brother-in-law asked me clear back in Jan/Feb if I would be willing to sing as part of the entertainment in the park for Relay's festivities. Heck, YES I said! I called up my girls, Dawn and Carey (my singing partners) and they were totally on board. Every time I went to Payson we rehearsed, we discussed song possibilites, parts, wrote parts and practiced-practiced-practiced. They came up here and we played... ahem, I mean practiced. We even got another gig to sing at The Peteetneet 2 weeks before the Relay (but I've been to busy and LAME to blog about it. Sorry. I really am gonna try to do better.)



In Front of the marque at The Peteetneet. We were pretty excited to see "Lilium in Concert". Made us feel special...



This shot made my thighs burn...


The Peteetneet concert was a good run-through for the real deal. We had everything covered, ready and under control for the Relay except... the weather.

Anyone living in Utah for the past 3 weeks can tell you, it has rained pretty much every day. EVERY DAY!!

Friday night was noooooooo different. We were supposed to go on stage at 8pm. But as luck would have it, they were running 30 minutes behind schedule. Kelly V (the performer right before us) got drenched when it started pouring rain right at 8 o'clock.

Dawn, Carey and I huddled under a canopy making some last minute costume adjustments... BLACK UMBRELLA'S. Oh yeah, we were going on NO. MATTER. WHAT.

Just as Kelly V finished up her last song it stopped raining. We got up there, wiped the water off our stools and music stands and away we went! It was so much fun!! I don't remember what song we were on (maybe Loathing from WICKED) when I thought to myself, "I love being up here!!! This is such a BLAST!!" It helped that the audience seemed to enjoy each of our songs and there were a few sweet fans (little girls on the front row) that kept our spirits up by saying things like, "YOU ROCK!!!!" or "I LOVE YOU!" or "YOU'RE THE BEST SINGERS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!". (I might have just imagined that last one.)



It was an amazing time. The crowd grew and grew (no, I'm NOT making that up!). In fact my brother-in-law later told me that they have never had such a big crowd stick around for the music before. (Insert BIG SMILE here) I loved every minute!! We weren't able to do our slide show due to the weather, but everything else went off without a hitch. It didn't rain a single drop our entire performance (PRAYER WORKS). 10 minutes after we left the stage... it was a DOWN POUR.






My dad (who is fighting Multiple Myeloma) holding Shelby in the audience.

The Relay was a HUGE success!! They raised over $34,000 dollars (last year it was onlt $14,000)!! I am so grateful that I got to be a part of it!!!