24th Weekend

For the 24th of July we went to East Zion where Grandpa and Grandma Wright have a cabin. We decided to make it a work weekend and try to get some things done on the cabin. Kory and I cleared brush and trimmed trees so they could eventually put in a circular drive way to the cabin. Kory, his dad and his brother, Tyler, got busy and finished the plumbing put in a sink (so now we have running water) sheet rocked the bathroom, layed tile, installed the water heater and hooked up the pump so that eventually there will be running water everywhere else in the cabin once they get to that point. While they were busy doing all that, the kids, Grandma Wright and I were busy doing this.This rock slide is the slide that RJ and I went down together on last year and we smashed heads together when we went in the water. And I got a doozer of a black eye. There were no double sliders this year!

What else do you do in the summer time? We just SWIM. . . and sleep!

RJ makes a friend!

The other day while swimming at the Hurricane city pool, RJ found a cute little girl and they became fast friends and played with each other almost the whole time she was there. This may not sound like such a big deal to most people but I was beginning to wonder if he was going to get along with anyone besides his cousin Porter. I know he is only three and he has a lot of years ahead of him but he is so stubborn and down right not so friendly. Anytime friends come over to play with the other kids he is not very nice and he spends his time following them around telling them to go home. So it did my heart good to see him find someone his age and start playing nice with them without any help from me! Come to find out RJ and her were born only a day apart at Dixie Regional. Perhaps they shared a few moments in the nursery together.

They would hold hands and jump off the edge together. It was so cute!

Here are few other pictures that I took from our day at the pool. We took Lindsey and Allison Kapcsos with us and they were so fun to have along!

Tanner and Lindsay attempting front flips off the diving board. They were brave just to give it a try!

Snow cones for everyone after our swim!

Family Home Evening at the gun range

To keep us "ON TARGET" as a forever family, we spent last Monday letting the



kids shoot the 22 (I have all kinds of activities that we throw a little spiritual twist on so we make ourselves feel better about calling it "family night".) The kids loved it and they even let their mom take a few shots. I don't know if they were impressed or not but they should have been if they weren't because dang it, I am a "dead eye".


Look at that form, and the coordinating orange shirts. We are a forever family! lol.
And of course the sharp shooter himself. I am not sure if he is going to be able to be part of our eternal family because he wouldn't put on his orange shirt so we could all match. (Hopefully he can repent)

Last minute trip to the rec center

On Monday we had a spur of the moment idea to spend the day at the rec center and we had fun doing other things besides just swimming.

A little game of Basketball

Luke showing off his passing skills.
Tanner, showing that he hasn't forgotten the technique Grandpa Turek taught him!
And Khloee the cheerleader doing push ups every time they made a basket.

Next we headed to the rock wall and it wasn't as easy as they thought is was going to be.

I am not sure why none of the pictures of RJ didn't work out but he also climbed the wall. But he mostly liked to just dangle there in his harness a few feet off the ground. He didn't care about how high up he climbed.

RJ has improved tons on his swimming skills. At the first of the summer he wouldn't let go of my arm no matter how shallow the water was. Now he does his own thing (as long as his toes can touch the bottom.)


And then there is Khloee who doesn't care if her head goes underwater or if she no longer can feel the bottom of the pool anymore. She is just happy to be in the water.

One funny thing that happened while we were there was there was about 10 moms sitting on the side of the pool right by the water slides watching there little ones play and trying to keep their hair dry. Until Tanner comes cruising through the shallow end running at his top speed and then right before he gets to the edge he just flops down into the water, sending this monsoon type wave washing over these cute little moms. I just sat on the other side of the pool laughing thinking, "whose kid is that anyway?"

This is a picture of the Nauvoo Temple where my parents are serving a Mission. I had the chance to go back to Nauvoo last year and experience Nauvoo the best I think anyone can experience it. Me and two of my sisters flew back there and stayed with the two best tour guides we could ever ask for. (my parents). We got to stay right down in the "hub" of Nauvoo. Where all the sights and pageant etc. are located. I learned so much and now that our Relief society lessons are on Joseph Smith they have a ton more meaning to me than they probably would have otherwise. Anyway, my little sister, Kandice and her husband are just returning from Nauvoo today and it makes me a want to go back and experience it one last time before my parents return home. It was such a good learning experience and so much easier to imagine when they talk about the experiences of the early saints. And now that we are coming up on the 24th of the July and the celebration of the saints arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, it brings such a greater appreciation for the trials that they experienced in Nauvoo and their journey west.

I had some great experiences in Nauvoo and one in particular that was a great realization that my Heavenly Father was aware of us and loves us no matter how small or insignificant we may feel about ourselves.

I can't wait to hear about all the adventures Kandice and Dave had in Nauvoo. And I am very glad that my parents had the chance to serve a mission in such a great historical spot so that my knowledge and testimony could be increased. Thank goodness for missionary work.

Speaking of Missionary work, Tanner, gave a talk today in Primary on Missionary work and he did such a good job! He had his talk all memorized and he stood up and gave it so cute and the primary kids listened to him so well. I was so proud of him and I couldn't help but think what a great missionary he will make some day!

Catch up

Here is a quick review of what has been going on around here. Since I haven't blogged for a while

A little camping (dirt included). . . .

a little Fishing. . . .

(Just not a whole lot of catching going on_

A little naked Slip-n-slide. (apparently you slide better that way)

And that brings us up to date!!

Oh, and Megan I saw that you tagged RJ and I appreciate you thinking of us but all I would get out of him is yup and nope. So I will leave it at that and not bore everyone to death.

I will end with one thought for me to remember.

Friends are fun and great to have

but a brother is better than any other.

My little family's motto for this week.

And I would like to remind my sisters of the girls weekend coming up, it is going to be super fun and worth the trip (Trudi and Cheri) so be positive and think of the good memories we will make and not how much gas is going to cost to get here! (Trudi, I can feel your doubt from here).

I better post this one last picture for fear Kory might read this and him think I don't appreciate his skills as an outdoors man

Someday his dream may come true and the prophet will "order us to the hills to live off the land."
And then I can really see his skills put to the test. I just hope he doesn't expect much from me cause the only thing I did to prepare for such a thing was marry him!

Should these two things go together?

Like oil and water, some things just don't mix. That, in a nut shell, is how the past week has been around here. First on the list. . . RJ and a sling shot!

Should these two things ever be together? I would say they shouldn't be brought within a two mile radius of each other, and yet, so far (knock on wood) it works. RJ has been entertained for hours with his rocks and sling shot and we have yet to replace a window or rush to the Dr. for stitches in someones head. As long as we gather the rocks that land on the grass before we mow the lawn we are good. And we might have a scientific breakthrough on this one, these two just might be able to coexist!

Next on the list of "non mixers", boy's and pollywog's. At first, you may think these two things go hand in hand. Not if you are the polliwog. Those poor little things didn't stand a chance with RJ's desire to hold them instead of being content to just watch them swim around in the cup. And once RJ had his own little pet to carry around in his hand then a few others thought they needed a pet as well. This was at the Toquerville park. The kids had a great time catching frogs and pollywog's as well as getting wet. Here is a little video for Grandma's sake. There isn't a lot going on but you can here there voices and Tanner teasing his brothers which is always precious. Listen for Porter's little "rockin' n rollin" it was so cute.

The last thing on the list of non mixers is me and the sports arena. This last week was summer games. I put together a volleyball team and then I was invited to play on a basketball team. It was so much fun and I love every minute of being in the gym, yet I fear that it is getting closer to being one of those things that just shouldn't be put together. Our basketball team didn't win a single game. Although, it was never frustrating to me it was just fun to get together and play. Our Volleyball team did pretty good but that was a little more frustrating because we should have definitely come home with a medal and we ended up taking 4Th. I had told Kory Friday night that "for sure we will win a medal, we are one of the best teams there, yadda, yadda, yadda". I spoke too soon and we dropped a few games that we should have won. I hate that! I know we were really the better team but we just couldn't pull it all together.

And so because of my love for the game, I will continue to force the issue and keep playing (for another year at least). I don't have any pictures but that is probably for the best.

I just thought of one more non mixer that happened this week. Never mix your face head first down into the sprinkler box.

Once again, RJ, apparently the star of this post. He was standing on one of our big landscape rocks and fell headfirst into the sprinkler box. His tooth went all the way through his lip. I was afraid we were going to have to go have a stitch or two put in it but the band aid seemed to make it all better he was back outside running around 15 minutes after it happened.(And no he wasn't shooting his sling shot at the time). We have got to find some things that RJ will mix with before we give him a complex. Wow, that was a long post! sorry if that put you to sleep, it made me kinda tired too. Good night!