Bear Hunting.....

My Nephew Drew shot a Bear Yesterday with a bow!
How cool is that.
I asked my brother Dan if he was bear hunting or just happened upon it.
He said he was bear hunting,
but if it had been an elk he would have been elk hunting!
Whatever that means..................
My dad was with him, and my dad will be here tomorrow
so I am excited to hear the story on this.
My Dad was hunting a few years ago for deer and just happened upon a bear
and shot it. He now has that Bear skin hanging on his wall.
I love that bear skin, and someday it will be mine.
As much as I love it though, I hope that someday is not soon..................

Congratulations to my nephew Drew!!

An old lady in a dress and tennis shoes.....

Everyone has been bugging me to post pictures from Oregon.
So, I am going to start by posting just a few at a time
or I may never post any.

We spent a Sunday at my sister Tammy's house.
The boys love it there because they think Tammy and Mark are fun.
Also they have a basketball standard.
Somehow talking about basketball got Tammy talking
about how she could beat anyone of them at a game of HORSE.
Of course the boys thought that was the funniest thing they had ever heard.
They have all seen me play basketball, and laughed hysterically...
Well, Tammy is nothing like me, they would soon find out.
She played in High School, and I think secretly goes out and practices shots to this day.

The whole time they were playing everyone would say,
"You are going to let an old lady in a dress and tennis shoes beat you?"

She played Noah first, and did beat him, he is only 8, but put up a good fight!

Next, she played Daniel.
Their game of HORSE lasted forever...............
they were matching each other shot for shot.
There was no way Daniel was going to let his aunt, in a dress, beat him.
He was sweating but he did win. BARELY.......
That would have been embarrassing.
By the time it was Hunters turn, he saw what he was up against
and gracefully declined.
I think he said he had a head ache!!!!!!

They had a lot of fun playing basketball with their
"Old Lady aunt, in a dress and tennis shoes"
Who knew she would be so good?
Actually I did! Tried to tell them........

When they were not playing basketball,
they were glued to facebook.
Sometimes chatting with the same girl at the same time.
Hunter hated that.
I feel bad for him because all of the girls his age that he likes
think his older brother is so hot!!
I think Hunter better just get use to it.
Kind of how it works in the real world!
All the girls like the older boys.
Just sad when your brother happens to be one of those older boys!

First day of 3rd Grade

Noah making his "Sad, I can't believe school is starting already", face!
Not to mention that he hates his new haircut!
But he does love his new shoes for school!!

Noah is starting 3rd grade and his teacher is Miss Warwood.
Hunter is in 8th grade this year,
and Daniel is a Sophomore at Lone Peak.
Autumn and Bobby will be continuing at UVU
and Mckenzie is continuing at Utah State until January.
She will then be attending BYU Hawaii and is so excited about that!
Too bad, I will have to make a trip or two out to visit her!
It will be tough!

It is hard to believe that summer is over and school is starting again.
Where did the summer go! Time does seem to have wings.
I have to admit though, I have been looking forward to this day since about the end of June!!

Autumn and Matts House

Sunday evening the whole family went to Autumn and Matts house
to check it out!
It is near completion. Just another week or so.
Just needs carpet, appliances, all of the touch ups, blinds,
and clean up.
It has turned out so nice and Autumn and Matt have put a lot of work into it.
Matt is there everyday working on it.

Over the week end they had been working on a water feature that
will drop down into the back yard.
In the above picture everyone is checking it out,
but I did not get a picture of it. I will post the finished project when it is done.

The back of their house and the deck that Matt and his dad built
with help from Daniel! He will be happy I included his name
because every time we are there he mentions that he helped build the deck!

Another view of the back of the house and deck!

The kitchen! Love the white cabinets!
They still need the handles put on and the fridge needs to be brought in.
It is a great kitchen and they have wood floors through out.

I loved this picture of Autumn and Hunter!
Hunter is a very cute boy when he is not making a face.

Summer and Noah by Autumns fireplace.
Take a good look at Noahs hair.
Shortly after this he got it all cut off! He was not happy about it!
And when he saw this picture, he missed his hair so much he almost cried!

The toilet in Autumns master bath is comfortable according to Summer!

From their family room they have stairs going upstairs to their bonus rooms!
I love how open it is in her kitchen family room area!

Bridger demonstrating why it is so great to be a boy!

Dakota and Bridger love the construction sights!
Give a boy a pile of dirt and a shovel and they are happy for hours!

I am so excited for all of my kids to have houses!
It has been an experience having them all building at the same time
but the end results are really great and they all seem happy.
Summers should be finished in September sometime.
I will post pictures soon!

Primary

At church I teach the 10 and 11 year olds.
I started out the year with 9 kids,
and it was already one of the biggest classes
and the class with some of the most difficult kids.
In the last 2 months we have had several new families move in
and of course each family happens to have a 10 or 11 year old.
My class is now at 15. Ouch!!
I do love these kids but it is a very difficult class to teach.
They are a tiny bit, well, a lot out of control.
Last week I told them that I did not think I could keep teaching them
because most of them never listened and I could not continue to talk over them.
(I do have about 4 that are really good and really want to listen)
Anyway I told them that I was going to let them start taking turns teaching the lessons.
Some of them thought that was a great idea,
until I told them how I was going to behave while they were teaching.
I told them I was going to lean back in my chair, sometimes falling over in it.
I was going to turn the lights on and off,
yell out answers when I was not asked, or better yet completely talk about something off of subject to someone clear across the room.
Beg for treats non stop. Ask to go get a drink and go to the bathroom a million times.
Tell them how stupid the lesson is.
And my favorite thing which I could hardly wait to do,
I was going to crawl in and out the window.
They all looked at me like I had lost my mind................
I am actually afraid that I just might lose my mind if things don't change!!

After class, Rachel Morrin handed me the note above!
What a sweet girl! I guess maybe I am not the worst teacher in the world after all.
I actually felt a little guilty for about losing it in class!

Today, primary went a little smoother.
Chairs were still knocked over, lights were still switched on and off,
and I don't think anybody really listened,
but at least nobody climbed out the window!!
And I managed to smile at all of their little antics and I gave them great treats!

Bobby and Rachels House.......

In just a little over two weeks Bobby and Rachel will be getting married!
Bobby mentioned the other day that he felt like they had been engaged
forever and he is now ready to get on with the rest of his life!
Well, that will be happening very soon!

Their new house in Saratoga Springs is now finished.
Just landscaping to finish,
but they have started moving somethings in.

I love their Kitchen!
They have the biggest pantry! Pretty sure they will not be able to fill it!

Another view of the kitchen along with the family room!
They are very excited about their new house and how it has turned out.
It has 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms.
And an unfinished basement for future growth!!
One room they have turned into a media room
with a big screen mounted on the wall!
So Bobby!!!

Unwanted Visitor.....

Found this friendly little neighbor on the pool cover this afternoon!
After cautiously removing him with a shovel,
I discovered he had probably been out on that pool cover a little too long in the sun
and had baked to death!
He was still soft and squishy, but he was very dead!!
Very happy about that, because I am not thrilled when I have to kill them!

Hunter attempting to be the suns next victim!

And just a bit of upcoming news.....
2 more weeks and school starts! Lately just the thought makes me smile!

Dinosaurs at the Zoo...........

Summer and I took the boys to the Zoo because this year they had Dinosaurs at the Zoo!
It was really fun, because in stead of having just one area where the Dinosaurs were,
they had them set up randomly all over the zoo.
It was so cool because they moved and made noises,
and some of them even spit!

These were the spitting ones!
No one seemed to mind being spit at because it was so hot,
and it was just water and cooled everyone off!

We also experienced the fun of the other animals in the Zoo!
Bridger was so cute and got excited over every animal that he saw!

Dakota t the famous Lion drinking fountain.
I have pictures of each one of my kids when they were younger
at some time or another drinking out of this fountain!

A lot of the Zoo has been redone to put animals more in their natural habitat.
They are in the process of redoing the area for the Polar Bears and penguins and stuff!
The boys had fun pretending like they were part of the construction crew.
Even Hunter!

I thought it was so cute that Bridger, who we got the wagon for
was pushing while Dakota was riding.
Bridger love walking and looking at everything,
whereas Dakota hates walking!

The Carousal!

Bridger of course picked the only animal that did not go up and down.
Summer was not sure if he noticed or not!

Dakota waited a whole other turn and rode by himself
just so that he could ride on the Praying Mantase.

I love watching the Gorillas.
They are fascinating to me because they are so big and scary!
This one was just disgusting.
First he threw up in his hand, and if that was not gross enough,
he then ate it! Yuck!
Then for whatever reason in typical guy fashion he played with himself!
Could have gone all day without seeing that!

We did have a fun.....very hot day at the Zoo!
I liked the Dinosaurs best!