SEPTEMBER 2022 PHOTOS

 

August 2022

 CROSS COUNTRY CAMP
Said my goodbyes to the boys this morning.  I have to document the funny differences in their goodbyes :).  They were all so cute in the morning, doing their last minute stuff and with their clothing getting washed in time, etc.  I had to drop them off, run back home to get the meat I had cooked, take the meat, then come back home to get Brad's water, so when I got back up there, it was time to actually say goodbye!  I pulled up and Brad yells over to me, "Mom, wait!  I need to give you a hug!"  Runs over to the car, pulls me out of the car and gives me a giant hug!  Then Luke, while getting his chair out of the back, gave me a pretty good hug too, where nobody could see :).  Then I walked over toward Noah- he could see me- and finally requested his attention to which he said, "Oh, hi." and I said, I gotta hug you goodbye.  To which he puts his arm around me, sideways, for a quick little side hug :). HAHAHA!  I think he was a little embarrassed.  Funny differences in their ages.  He still hugged me though!!  Major points for that!  Especially since I hadn't showered or put on any makeup.  I sure love my boys!  They are such good kids.  I'm so proud of them and all that they have done to get to that camp.  They really worked hard!  Lots of dedication and pushing themselves to do hard things when they didn't always want to.  I hope they have fun!!  I miss them already!  8-1-22

WATERMELON INSPIRED CAKE
Charity's boss wanted a watermelon inspired cake and since she decided not to do the cupcakes after hearing that I would make the cake for $25 (with the cupcakes being $1 each), I picked the easiest possible "watermelon inspired smash cake" for her.  It turned out pretty cute and only took like an hour to make, so that was good.  I needed to get things all ready for girls camp!  8-1-22

DATE NIGHT ON A MONDAY
Nate and I missed our date last week and realized we won't get another one for a while, so we squeezed on in on a Monday night, just before FHE.  We went to Costco first, to get the stuff for Nate's catering order on Saturday (he's catering a wedding the day we get home from girls camp- this guy is amazing!).  Then we went to Twigs for dinner.  It was a great time.  We had an awesome evening together after FHE too.  So nice to get some time together.  8-1-22

FHE
Kelly taught us a lesson on Job using stuffed animals and dolls.  The kids loved the participation.  We were missing the boys, but made do.  We had donuts that Kelly had taken the kids to get while we were on our date, for the treat, and then watched the movie "Dolittle" for our activity.  Good times.  8-1-22

GETTING READY FOR GIRLS CAMP
We had a lot to do to get ready for girls camp and we saved most of it til Monday and Tuesday just because there was so much else going on before.  But I think we're good now!  8-2-22

ROCKETS
Jack got to go launch bottle rockets for his Adventure days.  Sis./Mrs. Johnson is the best!  He was so proud of his rocket and said he got second place!  8-2-22

GIRLS CAMP- HE IS THE HEALER
Girls camp was amazing this year!  I really can't express how much I loved it!  You had to be there.  We did so much and I got to visit with each of the girls individually which was really awesome.  So Wednesday, we met at Keeley's to load up the rest of the stuff in the trailer, pass out hoodies as we announce tent assignments, a devotional and then we all divided up into cars!  The car situation was interesting.  Because Cathie was sick we had one extra seat once Nate decided that he needed to drive his car up there to get back in time for his catering job.  I drove with Keeley in front, Erika, Kate, Cameron, Sadie, Raegan, Keren, Rachel, Molly, and Annika.  We had fun listening to music whenever we were in the car.  We got up to camp, ate lunches, set up camp and headed over to the pond for some fun in the water.  We canoed, swam, got tipped over in my canoe :).  It was a lot of fun tipping over the girls, and talking with them.  We had dinner, devotional, and sang around the fire and went to bed.  Thursday was our Teton National Park day.  We drove to the park, hiked to Hidden Falls and then grabbed DQ on the way home.  That was a fun day.  I loved the hike!  It wasn't too hard at all and with our little group of girls, we got some extra credit miles :).  The waterfall was AMAZING!!  I loved it!  Erika and I and a few other girls got to see a moose pretty close up on our way down.  That was awesome.  When we got back, we ate dinner, sang songs around the fire, did some crafts, then went to bed.  Friday was our rainy day.  It was supposed to be nice and we were supposed to go play at the pond, but we couldn't.  We totally made the most of the day though.  Kickball was my favorite part of this day.  The girls kept pretty busy playing in the creek, games, doing bracelets with the flat beads.  It was really fun.  I was proud of the girls for making the most of the day.  We got to play gaga ball- my first time- rope swing, made our own ice cream in a bag.  Then we ate dinner and got ready for the testimony meeting.  We had one of the girls give a little devotional and the Bishop said a few words and then opened it up to testimonies.  It was so great!  I loved it!!  Strange that all the leaders went first instead of the girls, but it was great.  In the morning we packed up camp, took some pictures and headed home.  It was a great camp.  The girls were so amazing.  No drama whatsoever.  Good stuff!  I was happy to see my cute kiddos again.  We were so grateful for Kelly.  With the older three boys all gone to Cross Country camp she was left as our main babysitter (and Charity and Grandma helped a little).  She did awesome!  She is gonna give me all the pictures so we can see all the fun they had. She went above and beyond!  8-3-22--8-6-22

NATE CATERING AFTER GIRLS CAMP
We had the coolest little miracle, as we were walking out of the Home Depot from purchasing our washer and dryer which was a huge expense while we are trying to recover from some other really huge expenses, Nate got a text from a previous customer asking if he could cater another child's wedding.  He had catered another one for them a while back.  After doing some calculations, this wedding brought in just over what we spent on the washer and dryer!  It was so cool!  Heavenly Father blesses us in the coolest ways.  Funny cuz I kind of had a feeling he would do that with all my begging and pleading.  He loves me.  Nate had Kelly do most of the work for the catering job that Saturday morning, she worked the meat, made the corn bread muffins, I think she even did the coleslaw- Marco helped.  They looked so cute all dressed up ready to go serve when I got home from Girls Camp.  They were so awesome to do so much!!  Nate took them and all the food up to Park City and they were gone most of the evening.  They gave a really nice tip so Nate surprised Marco and Kelly with some actual money for helping :).  Very cool.  This is the job when Nate had to make the Jack Fruit non meat.  Pretty impressed that he pulled that off!!  Way to go Nate!  8-6-22

BACKPACKING
Nate took Bradley, Luke, Noah, Erika, Jack and MOLLY this year!  They went up to the Grandaddy lakes and had an amazing time.  I wish I could do it all justice telling about it myself, but hopefully I can get someone to document something for us, since I wasn't there.  But I was so proud of everyone!  They all did so well!  Especially Molly!  What a trooper!  

Kelly, Sadie and I had a great time at home- not near as strenuous, but I did feel pretty worn out at the end of each day :).  We tried to stay busy.  At one point on Wednesday Sadie goes, "I wish Bingo was here and daddy was here."  HA!  All the impossibles.  Wednesday was the day I tried to potty train Sadie.  Totally failed.  It ended up just being a really lame day.  We did go on a little walk and the rain totally poured on us, luckily we had an umbrella, but kind of a crazy little downpour.  It actually rained and was pretty cloudy/gloomy all week!  I was so worried about the backpackers, but they said that most of the storms skipped over them!  I'm gonna call that a miracle.  I found out Sadie LOVES Toaster Strudels and eats them pretty well!  She had two one morning and requested a third!  Didn't eat the third because she had gotten busy doing something else during the long time in the toaster, but she was wanting it!  We didn't feel like doing a ton because the few times we tried to do something fun for Sadie, she didn't want to do it without someone with her.  Like the Chik-fil-a playground.  She wouldn't even go up in it for more than a few seconds cuz she wanted one of us with her.  We did eat lots of Chik-fil-a, and other yummy food- so much cheaper when there's just two and a half of us.  We visited Grandpa Hatch one of the days.  Kelly spent some time with friends the last evening, so Sadie and I went to Barnes Park to feed the ducks and play on the swings for hours!  I'm not even joking- I pushed her on the swing for an ENTIRE HOUR!  Not exaggerating!  Then she played on the playground and fed the ducks for another hour!  She did make a new friend there, and I got to talk to the new friend's mom so that was nice and passed the time.  Ty was there as well.  He's fun.  It was a good evening.  We did good :).  She slept so well that night.  It was interesting to see what it will be like this year with just Sadie and I home alone while everyone is at school.  We'll see how it goes.  I think we'll survive.  8-10-22--8-13-22

SUNDAY WAS PACKED
I had a lot of things Sunday.  Besides giving a talk which was so fun and so stressful at the same time!  I got to speak on Girls Camp and our theme, so that was cool.  I will have to copy and paste my talk in here.  But then I had choir practice and then my ministering interview with Merritt Jacox before heading up to the Family Meeting.  Crazy stuff!!  I was so happy we got to have Nate with us though!  He is off until the 20th so we are trying to make the most of that!  Here's my talk:

Sacrament Meeting talk- Girls Camp/He is the Healter- 8-14-22

I was the assistant Camp Director this year.  I LOVE girls camp.  It is one of my most favorite places.  This year did not disappoint. As much as I hate speaking in public, I am actually glad I get to talk about girls camp and the camp theme.  I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the times I have seen Christ’s healing power which has been really cool, eye opening experience.  But first I want to share some of the highlights of girls camp.

I loved all of the singing, I had DJ Camzizzle and lead vocalist Molly Nybo in my car, along with their talented back up singers and they totally made the drives shorter.  That was so fun!  Not to mention all the fun camp songs that I love having stuck in my head for weeks.

I was so amazed when we got there, that as soon as the girls were done with their sack lunches, they all jumped up and started putting up their tents.  There was no prompting from any adults, no help, the girls (all of them) put the tents up all by themselves- that was pretty amazing!  Shows you what an incredible group of girls we have.

Another highlight was seeing our YCL’s in action.  The planning meetings, their beautiful devotionals each night, their ability to unify the girls.  I think the younger girls had a great time and such great examples.  They were just such humble leaders.  Very impressive.

I saw so many examples of love and friendship from all of the girls.  It takes some pretty remarkable Young Women to pull off a girls camp where there is no drama the entire time.  I think this is the only ward where I have seen that happen at camp.  There really was just so much positivity, so many laughs and a lot of fun. 

I loved the pond- the girls tipping Leslie and I over in our giant metal canoe- very memorable.  

Playing gaga ball for the first time. 

Singing our song each night by the fire. 

The amazing food, of course!  Can’t forget that. Cutlers fed us well.

I loved seeing the girls’ creativity with the beads, how they entertained themselves and Sadie’s little reed flute.

Seeing the moose was pretty special.

But I think my FAVORITE thing at camp has to be playing kickball in the sprinkling rain.  Good sports, lots of laughs.  It was just so much fun!  

So, on our hike, some of us were pretty anxious to see a moose.  Nate had told us about this moose pond, and that we would most likely see one if we took a little detour off the main trail, so Nate, a handful of girls and I all took the Moose Pond Loop. We thought we saw a moose at one point and got really excited, but it was just a stump.  Then we kept following the trail thinking that because it was a loop, it would loop back up to the original trail, further up.  It never really felt like it was taking us back to the trail, it was going in the opposite direction, but we kept referring back to the word “loop”- it had to loop back around sometime.  We went pretty far out of the way, which was mostly my fault.  I didn’t mind the detour, we were having a nice time chatting probably a little distracted, but eventually we could see that our loop was actually looping back to the parking lot.  Kind of annoying, but we realized what had happened, (these awesome girls that were with us, didn’t utter a word of complaint!) turned around and pretty soon were back on the trail to Hidden Falls. 

The words from our song “you may think you’re too far gone” popped into my head while we were on our way back to the trail.  This reminded me so much of how it goes when we get off the straight and narrow.  We might think it’s going to be a quick detour.  We might even take a detour that we don’t realize is a detour, get much further from the path than we think and feel like there is no turning back.  But because of Christ’s Atoning sacrifice and His suffering for us, we have the opportunity to repent and come back.  It takes effort on our part.  We have to make the choice to turn around.  But there is no “point of no return”.  He wants us to turn around anytime.  He is standing there with His arms open wide.  Our journey doesn’t have to end in the parking lot.  He wants us to come back to Him and experience the rest of the hike WITH HIM.  We made it to the waterfall just 15 or so minutes behind the rest of our group, so it was almost like we’d never been gone.  This is a lot like the spiritual healing we can receive through Christ.

Another kind of healing that has been on my mind is Christ’s ability to heal us physically.  I have seen this healing and restoring power of the Priesthood many times.  Sick babies in the night, Nate’s lymphoma scare, aneurysms almost taking the lives of two of our friends, but them being miraculously healed.  Even for myself, when I was a teenager, I had endometriosis that caused so much pain I needed a Priesthood blessing from my dad pretty much every month.  Most of the time the blessings resulted in simple comfort and peace and the ability to sleep through the pain, but a few times I remember the pain going away completely, almost immediately following the blessing.  And I’m so grateful that I gained a testimony that Christ CAN heal physically.

It's helped me get through some of the challenges we’ve been going through lately.  Many of you know my daughter Kelly has been struggling for a year and a half with chronic nerve pain created by the stress fractures she got in both legs last year.  There have been so many prayers, we’ve fasted for her so many times, we’ve seen every doctor possible, and she has received a lot of Priesthood blessings.  Any one of these things could have brought her a one time, miraculous healing, but nothing has taken the pain away.  It’s been a challenge.  I know many of you have been through harder things, but this one has really thrown me.  It has been so hard to watch her suffer and not be able to fix it- I am a fixer.  I KNOW that Christ could heal her.  I know He could take all her pain away.  This knowledge has been a harsh reality, but also a comfort.  Christ knows her pain.  He has specifically felt the pain that Kelly feels in her arms, legs, jaw, exactly the way it feels to her.  He knows.  And even He with His infinite love and compassion doesn’t feel the need to take it away.  And that gives me the strength to allow things to happen in His time. 

The logo Kara designed for our hoodies has a cute little Bandaid that says, “He is the Healer”.  I loved this logo, because a lot of the time His healing looks a LOT like a Bandaid.  Often He doesn’t take away the wound completely and we are given something to cover up the pain until there is time for it to heal.  Something to keep the infection out and protect the wound.

That’s the kind of healing we have experienced in Kelly’s situation. Many times we were able to get in on cancellations to see doctors sooner than we thought possible.  We were blessed with a lot of little miracles that gave us little pieces of hope.  There were a few times people we trusted told us of doctors or methods of treatment and we were more comfortable branching out and trying some of these less familiar things. Eventually we were given a diagnosis, which even though they say it is uncurable, we felt relief knowing what it was.  It took such timing.  So many things were orchestrated so perfectly sometimes.  We were given patience when backed up labs took way longer than it should to get us results and with doctors who aren’t perfect and made mistakes.  We were prompted to avoid certain things.  Given little moments of joy when something went right.  Comfort when things were disappointing.  And finally, we were blessed to find a doctor who has actually brought Kelly’s pain down considerably.  So the wound is healing, it’s just taking a while as it often does, but we are so grateful for these Bandaids that have shown us that Christ heals us in the way that is best for us.  We have had to have so much faith in his timing.  As much as I would love to see Kelly pain free, it’s helpful to know there is a reason she isn’t. 

When I went to EFY as a teen, I ended up in the hospital with dehydration.  Brad Wilcox who was one of my biggest heroes at the time, was our session director and sacrificed time away from the session to come and see how I was doing in the hospital.  It was probably the coolest thing that could have happened to me at the time.  He gave me the most healing blessing ever.  Not a word about getting better or re-hydrated, but so many words that strengthened my testimony of my Heavenly Father’s love for me.  There is no way he could have known what was going on in my home life or what I had ahead, but blessed me with strength to endure some tough trials and some other very personal things that only Heavenly Father knew about.  It was so awesome.  Christ knew what I needed even when I didn’t and used this opportunity that felt so unexpected to create the perfect answer to many prayers and gave me an experience that took away so many worries and has been such a strength to my testimony carrying me through so much and healed my heart.

I think it’s important to realize that Christ can use each of us to heal the hearts of others as well.  I loved hearing the healing that came from a few of the parent letters up at camp.  Not only are there some awesome girls in this ward, but some really awesome parents too.  I was grateful they shared a few words in their testimonies. 

And a couple nights ago, I was laying next to my three year old, Sadie, waiting for her to fall asleep after an exceptionally exhausting day and I was saying a little prayer in my heart, asking for forgiveness for the kind of mom I had been that day.  I asked Him to please help me do better and be the mom that my kids deserve and right then a sleepy little Sadie flopped her arm over my neck and whispered, “I love you, mommy!”  She actually says that a lot as she’s going to bed, but this time it felt so healing.  I felt like I was enough for a minute.

Christ’s healing power often depends on our effort.  We need to show faith and ask, or seek out that Priesthood blessing, or recognize His hand in our lives.  He is there, waiting to bring that blessing of health back into our lives.  “He will fix every piece of our heart”.

I loved how healing this girls camp was for me.  I have such a strong testimony of girls camp.  It was such a blessing to be able to go and be removed from life, I think a lot of us felt that way up there, escaping the worries of the end of summer and what’s ahead like a little pep rally before we get back into life.  I really loved getting to know the young women and the adult women better and being able to chat with all of them a little.  Just such a blessing to have been in their presence those four days.

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ.  I know that he can heal and will heal us in the ways that we need.  He is there, He loves us.  He has given us His Power on earth for us to use and to share with those around us. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

VERNAL TRIP
For our very last fling for the summer, I wanted us to go and do something together.  Everyone had been all spread out all over the place all month, so I wanted to get us all back stuck in one vehicle/hotel room/ space, together, one last time.  It ended up being a really awesome trip!  I LOVED it!  So did Jack :).  We were in dinosaur land, how could he not.  Our schedule went like this:
Monday- Pack, load the car- I didn't stress everyone out to clean up the house this time!  Course it was mostly clean from the week of no people here anyway, but I was really proud of myself :).  
We dropped Hallie off at Grandma's house- she was kind enough to hedgehog sit for Erika. 
Then we stopped in Heber Junction for some things at Walmart.  
And then another stop in Duchesne for some Burger King.
Everyone was in a good mood, it was a pretty pleasant drive.  Only three hours or so.  We got to our hotel, then headed out to see the temple!  I was so bugged that we'd forgotten about the temple, so we didn't have clothes or recommends to go inside, but we did walk around and get some pictures of the outside- always cool.  This one is really interesting because of all the old, original stone and brick and stuff.  Very cool.  Then it was time to go to the McConkie Ranch to see some petroglyphs.  This was a cool little walk, hot, but very cool.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  We saw lots of cute little frongs in the tiny creek (like a drizzle of water, not hardley a creek even).  This was interesting.
Then we grabbed some Little Caesar's right next to the hotel and ate it in the lobby.  Nate and I ran over to get some Cafe Rio while the kids got ready to go swimmimng!  
We ate while the kids swam and then took turns getting dressed to swim.  This was a fun time.  Everyone was having so much fun together in the pool.  Lots of Marco Polo and some other fun games.  Reminded me of lifeguarding a little- kids are so creative!  Molly had really wanted me to teach her how to swim, so we got a little further on that.  She's pretty close to swimming.  I wish we had time to put her in swim lessons!  I need to figure something out.  She wants it so badly!  Sadie loved jumping in to daddy!  We all loved being together and had a lot of fun.  It's was a little tiring back in the hotel room, getting washed up and everything.  Would be nice to have an extra shower during all that.  And we didn't quite have enough places to sleep so some kids slept on the floor, but it was a good night!  We watched Star Wars as we drifted off to sleep.  
Tuesday- we had our free hotel breakfast- yummy!
Then we headed off to Dinosaur National Monument for the gift shop, shuttle up to the quarry/bone wall, and to see the bone wall.  This was probably the coolest thing I've seen that was dinosaur related.  The kids loved it.  Jack especially.  We got to ssee the full skeleton of the Allosaurus that was pulled out back in 1990- Jack was so impressed!  In awe!  
We drove along the car tour and saw some of the petroglyphs along the way, stopping at each of the little hikes up to them.  Those were really cool.  I was really wanting to see the lizard one.  Speaking of lizards, we saw TONS of them all over the place!  
We stopped at the Josie Basset Morris Ranch and saw her cabin- pretty cool.  Very historic.  
Then lunch at Antica Forma, a cute little Italian restuarant.  The kids seemed to enjoy this and were so well-behaved the entire time.  I was so proud of them!  Good food is good.  
Then we stopped at the hotel for a few things, swim suits and hiking shoes, and then headed out for Red Fleet State Park to go on the dinosaur Trackway.  We were very excited for this!  This hike was really cool- hiking on boulders, sand, and more boulders- very cool.  Then at the end of the hike we were pleased to find not only the cool dinosaur tracks and fossils, but a beautiful reservoir and a very fun cliff to jump off into the water!  We spent a good hour and a half, maybe two hours there, just jumping into the water and playing there.  So fun!!  Everyone was so brave!  This was a major highlight for everyone.  Very exhilarating for me- probably the most exhilarating thing I've done in a long time.  We hiked back to the car- Sadie fell asleep on Nate's shoulders.  
We debated where to go for dinner and decided quick fast food was best to give us the most time at the pool, then ended up sitting in the drive thru for Arby's for at least an hour to get our food- none of which was what we wanted when we started ordering because they were all out of roast beef, chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks!!  Weird.  I'm still wondering if they just didn't want to have to help a customer.  Thought they could get us to leave.  Who knows.  
We got back to the hotel, swam for a couple hours- so much fun again!  Everyone had so much energy there.  I loved showing off my swimming tricks to the kids :).  Kinda nerdy, but I loved it.  
Then we had some Ben and Jerrys while we watched nothing on tv.  Why can't hotels have good tv??  With all the streaming now days?  It's so weird.  I spent a good half hour taking care of Jack's little mishap.  Walking back and forth from the laundry to the front desk to get detergent and quarters.  So funny.  But all was well.  It was a great day!
Wednesday- we had our free breakfast and then just packed up to go.  
We stopped at the 7-11 Ranch on our way out of town to get souvenirs for everyone!  This was a lot of fun.  Kelly got a pink dinosaur, Brad got a pink dinosaur and a dino ducky in soap, Luke got some dinosaur socks, Noah got a hoodie, Erika got a hoodie also, Jack got some (big surprise) toy dinosaurs :), Molly got a stuffed horse and Sadie got the cutest, softest little stuffed bunny in a pink dress that I have ever seen!  SO CUTE!  Worth what it cost? That's debatable, but so so cute!  We got Charity a pink dinosaur too, and Nate surprised me with a wooden puzzle of a dinosaur scene.  So sweet!  It was fun.  
We made one stop for lunch on the way home, for some Panda Express, but other than that, just made our way home!  I was able to get everyone to answer some questions for tradition's sake- that was fun.  I will post all of those.  
The animals that we saw on this trip were: deer, horses, frogs, turkeys- even baby ones!, lizards, and lizards with blue tails!  So cool!  
We totally want to go back there sometime- if not for the green river campgound, then for the red fleet state park one!  So fun!!

QUESTIONNAIRE: (I let everyone pick a question instead of me finding a random one- I like this so much better!)
Question #1 (ERIKA): What is your favorite thing we did on this trip? 
Nate- lizard petroglyph
Erika- cliff jumping
Bradley- cliff jumping
me- cliff jumping
Luke- cliff jumping
Jack- dinosaur stuff (allosaurus skeleton)
Kelly- hike to the footprints
Noah- the lake
Molly- swimming in the pool
Sadie- swimming and the hotel room :)

Question #2 (BRADLEY):  What was the funniest moment on the trip?
Nate- Kelly getting locked out of the hotel room
Erika- Sadie in the closet playing her games calling us and stuff
Bradley- Sadie doing the "thank you for cleaning my toilet"
Kelly- playing Marco Polo
Jack- Noah not jumping in with Brad, saying, "wait wait wait!"
Luke- same as Jack's
Noah- made Brad jump in and we were gonna jump in together
Molly- when we were at the cliff (her giggle on the videos!)
Sadie- Gack's funny tricks "he so funny!"
me- hearing Brad's sotry about how when he was little he pooped in his swimsuit at the Rec Center, plopped the poop out on the floor and when he came back in there was a cone there. HA!

Question #3 (NATE):  What would you do differently next time we go to Vernal?
Nate- Arby's is out of the question (No roasst beef, no mozzarella sticks, no chicken strips)
Erika- woulda brought a hoodie for the night
Sadie- more swimming in the pool and new shoes cuz hers are dirty
Bradley- more durable swimsuit
Kelly- do something about my dumb noes and bring a blanket and pillow
Jack- jump off the cliff
Luke- bring a better water bottle
Noah- not wear flip flops everywhere
Molly- swimming more and bringing more toys (bring an extra sock on the hike)
me- camp right by the cliff

Question #4 (MOLLY):  What was your least favorite part of the trip?
Nate- gas prices
Erika- nothing, it was all awesome
Bradley- not being able to sleep in the car cuz it's too small
Sadie- the sand
Luke- none of it
Jack- nothing
Kelly- thinking I got locked out of the hotel room
Noah- when the car was super hot
Molly- getting hurt
me- Charity wasn't there

Question #5 (KELLY):  What dinosaur would you be and why?
Nate- a Utah Raptor because they like to hunt in failies
Bradley- Giganotosaurus because Jack said they're the biggest and the coolest
Erika- Carnatour kinda like what dad said, they always like to be with somebody
Sadie- Pink because I like pink
Luke- amongusaurus becuase they're the best
Jack- T-Rex because they are strong
Molly- Raptor because I really like them
Kelly- Long neck becaues everybody likes them and they're like giraffes
Noah- Raptor because they're fast
me- Mosasaurus because they swim (or a Baluga whale with sonar- inside joke with Brad's comment at the pool- hehe)

Question #6 (SADIE): What is your favorite animal?
Noah- cat
Molly- horse
Luke- dog
Jack- T-Rex
Kelly- giraffe
Erika- hedgehog or elephant
Sadie- bunny
Bradley- fish
Nate- shark
me- penguin

Question #7 (LUKE): What is your favorite restuarant?
Nate- Blue Fin
Noah- Panda Express
Molly- Panda Express
Luke- Panda Express
Jack- McDonalds
Sadie- chicken nuggets
Kelly- Olive Garden
Erika- Applebee's
Bunny- fries
Bradley- Mo Bettahs
me- Bajio (RIP)

Question #8 (JACK):  If you could only do one thing in Vernal what would you do?
Luke- cliff jumping
Noah- the lake
Molly- swim
Kelly- take pictures with all the dino statues
Bradley- bring home a fossil
Sadie- cupcakes
Erika- learn more about the petroglyphs
Nate- go to active dig site
Jack- museum
Me- go where Jack wants to go

Question #9 (NOAH): Top thing on your bucket list?
Nate- train a falcon
me- taking Jack to Jurassic Park ride
Bradley- go snorkeling in Australia
Sadie- eggs
Erika- go to somewhere where I can ride an elephant, Africa? 
Kelly- go to the lantern festival
Jack- become a paleontologist
Luke- be a millionaire
Noah- skydiving
Molly- swim with dolphins

Question #10 (ME): A spiritual experience that grew your testimony recently?
Erika- When we were on the paddle board in Marsh Lake and we were scared of lightning and thunder so we said a prayer and it stopped immediately and it was so cool to know that He's listening and took care of us.
Nate- Kings peak trip, I sat on a log and was grateful to still be alive and thanked Him for being there and he responded with "you know I'm always with you"
Bradley- King's Peak was so hard
Kelly- at my first proxy endowment session and thinking about it from another perspective.
Jack- no
Luke- Kings Peak
Noah- Kings Peak
Molly- church
me- Kelly's medical stuff and all the answers to prayers and little helps along the way.

Question #11 (ERIKA again): What is your favorite hobby?
Nate- fishing
Erika- running and doing art
Sadie- run
Bradley- basketball and fishing
bunny- spin
Kelly- playing spike ball and pickle ball
Luke- basketball
Noah- cross country
Molly- soccer
me- swimming, puzzles, having fun with my family

8-15-22--8-17-22

BEEHIVE CLOTHING WITH CHARITY

We came home from Vernal to Charity sitting in the living room :).  Such a pleasant surprise.  We got to take her to Beehive Clothing to get her garments, ceremony clothing, dress and bag. Very cool.  She is being so brave!  I know she is so nervous, but I know she will love this new adventure.  I can't wait to take her!  8-17-22

CAMP WRAP-UP
This was the shortest, weirdest camp wrap-up ever.  The YCL's did it.  Molly volunteered at the last minute to do the video and she did great!  Then they gave Keeley and I gifts and then Karen gave us flowers and then it was over :).  HAHA!!  No awards!  I was a little bummed.  I think the YCLs just forgot!  8-17-22

SCHOOL SHOPPING
We took all seven of the younger kids to go school shopping today!  Pretty brave/crazy!  We got all of it done though!  We are all set for school to start!  Go us!!  8-18-22

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT- COLUMBIA
We got to go back to Columbia to meet our new teachers!  So strange to have only two kids in the elementary school!  We met Miss Smith and Molly got to fill out a paper and do a little scavenger hunt for all the things in the room.  Then we went to Mrs. Moncur's room to talk with her and answer some questions.  She is excited to have yet another Maynes but said she will let Jack be Jack!  I love her!  I am so excited for Jack and Molly this year!!  I think they will love it!  8-18-22

YW LEADERSHIP DESSERT
Karen had us over for a little dessert to wrap up their time in the presidency.  Very cool.  I loved talking with Leslie.  It was fun that Nate was also invited- too bad I didn't know that to begin with :).  Details are not my specialty. 8-18-22

DATE NIGHT
Nate and I finally got a date night!  We were so happy about that.  We went to Slap Fish and then to see the movie Fall.  So creepy.  Not my favorite movie.  It was really funny because Kelly and Nate were talking about it before we went, she was planning on going to a different one and then when ours got done, I was thinking about texting her and saying, "Don't see the movie Fall!  So stressful!" but I didn't and then it turned out- she actually had gone to it and when she got home, couldn't stop talking about it!  So crazy!  She went and saw it again.  8-19-22

FERGUSON REUNION
I liked the reunion this year.  It was at Gailey Park.  We just brought potluck, which was fun and easy.  I got to talk to Kiera, Ike, Casey and Shannon and their families, Tammy McCrone, Bill and Carol, Jimmy and his wife whose name I cannot remember.  It was good.  I only wish Gloria was feeling more herself.  Heidi and her kids came and my dad came for about 20 minutes (and he was like 45 minutes late, but who's counting).  It was a good time! 8-20-22

NEW CALLING- SUNDAY SCHOOL
I got called to be the 16//17 Sunday school teacher with Shalane Wiberg.  I'm petty excited to be able to work with the youth.  Hopefully they don't hate having me as their teacher!  8-21-22

TREK FIRESIDE
The boys had the trek fireside this Sunday.  I went with them and got to hear all the talks and musical number and everything and that was nice.  When they split up into family groups I decided to leave.  But it was a nice evening.  I think the boys had fun.  Weird that they did it the day before school starts and so late after.  I'm so glad my boys got to go on trek though!  Such a great experience.  8-21-22

POTTY TRAIN- SADIE
I decided that this first week of school was the perfect time to potty train Sadie.  I was mostly just desperate for her to be done with diapers.  We've tried several times over the past year to get her interested, but the biggest problem is she had no idea when she was peeing or pooping and could hold it too long!  So this was a stretch thinking it would take, but I was SHOCKED when it actually did!!  We spent a lot of time in front of the TV, not super fun, but first day, she peed and was able to get to the potty on time with no accidents until we were at the park playing kickball!  We will see how the rest of the week goes!  8-22-22

FHE
We did Father's Blessings for Nate's lesson and while we were in the middle of blessings, the Primary Ice Cream Truck drove by!  That was a lot of fun.  Everyone got to pick the ice cream they wanted.  It was a lot of fun.  That was our treat!  Then we went over to the field and played kick ball for a few innings.  8-22-22

POTTY TRAIN
Another successful day of potty training!  I haven't changed a diaper in two days! She has even stayed dry over night! 8-23-22

SEMINARY DEVOTIONAL
The boys all got to go to a Seminary devotional Wednesday morning.  This was cool because it was Elder Holland and Elder Renlund.  They were so good to get up and go on their late start day!  Super proud of them!  They looked so handsome all dressed up even though they didn't have to.  Noah went to breakfast with some friends.  Brad and Luke came home to change.  8-24-22

FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGIST- KELLY
We had an awesome visit this week with Dr. Smith.  Kelly has had significant relief from her pain, she is only feeling it occasionally when she doesn't sleep really well.  He is going to help her with her nasal passages and do some more aggressive manipulations from here on out.  He asked about her headaches and she had actually gone three whole weeks without one.  This is huge since she was having those for at least a year before the CRPS started!!  So amazing!!  She did some new therapies this week, hand bike, neck thing, and then strapped to a machine thing... weird stuff, but she seemed to like all of it.  He did some chiropractic twisting and pulling of her back and she said it hurt, but seems to be okay!  I am so happy for her!!  This is so great!!  8-24-22

NEW YW LEADERS FOR ERIKA
We got new YW leaders on Sunday so this was their first activity with the new presidency.  I think Erika is liking just fine so far!  8-24-22

JACK'S 10TH BIRTHDAY
Jack's big day was finally here!!  He has been counting down for weeks!!  He had big expectations for his big day!!  I was so glad we met most of them.  He got crepes for breakfast after coming down to his amazing sign courtesy of Molly and me :).  He was happy to go to school, got to pass out candybars to his class (I couldn't believe I had forgotten about that until 3:00!  Mad dash to Smith's and we got them there at "the perfect time" according to Mrs. Moncur, but whew! thankfully Kelly had been with me or it would have never happened!).  His family party was right away (course I was already up at Layton Park for Brad, Luke and Noah's race), Nate took everyone else down to South Davis Rec, met up with my dad and Jo, Heidi and her kids and found out that the indoor pool is closed right now.  Big frown for Jack.  He was pretty sad, I guess, until he learned that the outdoor pool was a pool and not just a splash pad.  He ended up having a lot of fun- along with everyone else!  I was able to join them all after watching the race.  I got there around 5:30.  I decided not to bother swimming and just sat on the side of the pool.  Unfortunately, I sat on the end of a lawn chair and fell in the pool in my clothes.  Super embarrassing, but luckily I had Kelly and Heidi there to make it so much less embarrassing.  Huge eye roll!!!  Heavy on the sarcasm.  Sadie was cute with all of her tricks and Molly was demonstrating her swimming with her nose plugged skills.  Looks like all our lessons at the pool in Vernal paid off :).  Some more sarcasm, but really, she is doing much better!  Erika got dressed for her soccer practice and we took off to get her to soccer.  Nate brought everyone and the pizzas a little later and we had a fun little party here at home for Jack, complete with pizza, pulled pork, salad, and T-Rex/Jurassic Dominion cake.  I had slaved over this cake for only an hour and a half that morning, getting all but the silouettes done and was so proud of how fast I'd finished it, but then spent another TWO HOURS working on the silhouettes.  They were hard, but actually worth it :).  If I'm being honest.  Jack was spoiled rotten with gifts!  We had all these gifts we'd forgotten about and then a bunch of others!  All dinosaur things!!  Which he of course loved.  I think he had a great day!  Just a little down when he found out Charity was not coming, but he survived.  Good day.  Happy birthday, Jackie!!  We love you!!  8-25-22

PRE REGION- BRADLEY, LUKE, NOAH
We had our first cross country race Thursday!  This was big!  Unfortunately, it was the same day as Jack's birthday so we had to divide and conquer.  But I was there :).  Cheering them on the best that I know how!  They all did awesome!!  The first time they came around I saw Brad first, Luke, then Noah, but then the second time they all came it was Noah, Brad and then Luke :).  I thought this was pretty fun for Noah to come in first.  They all did really great though!!  So proud of them.  This was our base time for the season- it would be great to see some improvement.  8-25-22

KELLY MOVING DAY
Kelly moved back up to Logan Friday.  Super sad for me, but I know she's really happy about her A house and all the things she loves up there.  She and I brought most of her stuff up in her car, around 1:00 and then had some time to kill before heading over to the temple for Charity's big day.  Nate brought my mom and Kelly's bed and bigger furniture in the van.  It was fun unloading it all in the dark and showing her place to grandma Hatch.  We're gonna miss her, again.  8-26-22

CHARITY AND THE TEMPLE!
This was such an exciting way to spend our Friday night.  Kelly and I got up to the temple around 4:00 for some pictures of Charity.  She looked so beautiful!  It was exciting and nerve-wracking for her, but she was toughing that out.  Jen and Grandma Ruthie showed up and so we got some pictures with them too.  We headed into the temple right on time, found her assistant and got all ready!  I loved that we had the temple Matron again for her instruction time.  She was so funny to need to go to the bathroom right as we were about to go into the Endowment room.  Glad she did it then though.  What a neat time that was.  I was so proud of her and the decision she made to go.  She enjoyed it and felt stuffed with information afterwards :).  So much to take in.  She had invited a few friends from work along with Audrey Nybo and Aubrey McColley- which was really fun for us to see them as well.  Such a neat day and time to be just all about Charity!  Isaac even showed up when we came out and was in some of the pictures.  That was nice.  We all went to Costa Vida afterwards and had some fun little Gospel conversations.  I'm just so happy for Charity to have made this progress and hope she is able to go back a lot and learn even more.  Such a good girl!!  We got to see her place after, her room is so cute!  Good times!!  8-26-22

SOCCER GAMES- FIRST GAMES OF THE SEASON
Everyone won this week!  We were really happy about that- feels like we have some good teams this time around.  Molly learned that they are having goalies this year and got to play goalie for a while- she did great!  Erika took a minute to get into hers and realize that she could still score even though she's one of the younger ones on the team :).  Her team completely destroyed the other team.  It's going to be a fun season!  Fiiz for Erika and Molly after.  8-27-22

ERIKA'S TALK- CHILDREN ARE AN HERITAGE OF THE LORD
Erika did a fantastic job on her talk! I was so proud of her and her courage!  It is not easy to get up there- she was very nervous, but hardly looked it!  She gave a great talk.  Maybe I can get a copy of it.  She spoke about the examples set by her younger siblings.  Sadie changing her mood at Walmart the other day even though she didn't get the toy or treat she wanted.  Then she talked about Jack being so forgiving too.  She did a great job!  I was so proud of her!  8-28-22

YOGURT AND PUDDING
Poor Noah and Erika both had ortho appointments Monday and couldn't chew for a few days.  So hard to see them suffering.  8-29-22

FHE
Nate and Sadie taught our lesson this week.  We talked about music and the effect it has on us.  We played kickball for my activity and had star crunch for the treat :).  8-29-22

PICKLEBALL AT BARBARA'S
I got to go have my introduction to pickleball lesson at Barbara's on Tuesday.  Dave Noriega and Alan Last taught us some of the basics.  I'm excited to go back.  I feel like I did pretty well.  Leslie Perez and I might try to go together.  8-30-22