football...beaver...ouch! call 911!

Okay...I took like 280 pictures between JV and Varsity and when I downloaded them I some how lost all but 6 pictures...and they were dumb! BOO! I was soo torked because even though we were seriously injured in this game...NO...I mean 5 players hurt...4 so bad they headed home to the hospital (one went to the hospital in beaver) any way....I had some great shots! One of the mom's of one of the injured players said maybe I was supose to loose them! Who knows...I felt bad for Rhett, the coaches and the team! They did play there guts out (literally!) and 3 of the 5 injured are out for the season and seriously the season has NOT even started! Geez! louise!...One has to have surgery on his shoulder, one messed up his knee good! and one broke the holy crap out of his hand (thumb in 3 places, pointer finger, middle finger and pinkie finger....thumb got pinned today!) TOTAL bummer...all starters for Varsity and 1 started Jv as well....Thankfully, this weeks game was canceled due to an out break of swine flu at Layton Christian...bad for those who have the flu...GOOD for us that really could use the time off to heal just a bit more so we can battle with those Parowan Rams next friday.....come suport your local HS football team. Go Dogs! (Hang in there babe! only 7 weeks to go!)

Back to School & Blessings....

Mrs. Larson and Dallin (who was also his 1st grade teacher)












Jentrie & Mrs. Donaldson












Mrs. Duke & Valerie












before school with dad.....

Well tomorrow is school and so it is time for the back to school father's blessings...
They were great and all the kids were a bit teary eyed about the things Rhett blessed them with...well except Peyton and he just wanted to belong and have a blessing too..lol! Such a funny boy...We have two really excited and ready kids to head off to school (dallin and jentrie) and 1 not so excited little 1st grader....a bit scared about all day and home work...leaving mom for the whole day!...not sure about the teacher....so unhappy and in horrible sad sobbing tears! Poor little cutie...hope she gets some good sleep and that all changes by morning! Happy back to school everyone! ... stay tuned!

The next day, Valerie said "Mom, school was the best!!! My teacher is so nice I could of stayed longer!"

Yay...good reports from all kids!

Sunday Dinner:

• Chicken (home grown!)
• Squash, our garden
• baby red potatoes...our garden

all soo yummy...even the chicken...I am totally a white meat girl so I thought that was great...wasn't such a fan of the dark meat though. Rhett soaked the chicken over night in buttermilk and hotsauce..yum and the breaded with flour and cornmeal...all spiced up! then fried in our deep frier that is located OUTSIDE! Thankfully because the first time heating the fire...a 9 year old was left in charge to watch the temp...not a good idea...by the time Dallin came into tell us it was up to temp...it was ON FREAKIN' FIRE! YES!! i was able to salvage the pan but I was a little worried about the garage there for a minute! Whew! It is all laughable now...but at the time...no so happy! I have pictures of the finished, plated dinner...still stuck on the camera! lol! Will post them soon!

TWINS!

Scott












Hannah

...Congrats to my good friend Mel and her hubby Randon along with their cute little girls and big sisters on the birth of their TWINS! Hannah (5/15) and Scott (6/11)..the were born yesterday (August 22nd) exactly 1 month early! You are amazing Mel and we are soooo excited for your cute little family that just became not so little! Love ya!

The Chickens (or as Peyton calls them...the Shickens!)

yesterday (Saturday) Rhett and the kids (not me!) butchered 2 more chickens. That is a total of 3 chickens disposed of .... 2 of them were roosters and 1 was a blind hen who was a sad lookin' thing...anyway! The first experience (on the 11th) was not a positive one for the kids due to a dull hatchet...(I know sounds bad huh!) well, it was...and the kids were sad because they felt the rooster suffered....bad deal. SO, this time daddy was nice and ready. The hatchet was super sharp so there was no suffering...and Rhett told the kids if they were going to cry they couldn't stay...so NO one cried ... which means they all stayed! ick! I have way to many childhood memeories of Grandpa Smokey killing the chickens...I don't need any more! lol!....before we knew it ...they were hangin and drainin'... i KNOW this sounds SO nasty! lol...but we are really trying to teach the kids that not everything comes from the store...and we had a great cove fort day a while back and talked about the role the children at the fort played...and on sunday's after church many of the young boys were in charge of killin the chicken for dinner...This time they all helped 'de-feather' the birds. And were pretty okay with it like it is everyday life....don't tell them...but I am SO glad it isn't! whew!

I took more pictures of Jentrie because she was the biggest face puller! Sooo funny!

Football......

total bummer! 21-44! ick!

back to work

(my hot hubby!)





sooo bummed it is time for Rhett to go back to work! I have been sooo spoiled having him home! Seriously...have just been able to hang out at home...be lazy with my man! (he did get a lot of things done this summer!) He finished SCHOOL! YAY all DONE!! and he did it with STRAIGHT A's! So stinkin' proud of him! Clear back in January of 1996 a former co~worker (and total idiot!) said to me when I came back to work after Christmas Vacation sporting a Diamond engagement ring "well, good luck on feeling as happy in 10 years as you do now" .... what a dork! Because through it all...after 13 years, starting the next chapter in our marriage (meaning ... no more babies...just raising the ones we have been blessed with) I love his man more NOW than I did when he asked me to be his wife! Baby you are amazing! I love you and I will miss you every hour you are at work! :( I am sooo grateful for a job that lets you hang out with us in the SUMMER! Baby you are the best!

STINKIN' CUTE KIDS!!!

Need I say more! I love my victims (I say victims because you would of thought this photo shoot was torture! Even though you can't tell through the smiles!) And I am loving my camera! Oh and playing with the pictures is fun too! I just need to figure out photo shop! if you know how I could use some pointers!

Hi Ho Hi Ho off to walk I go.....

Yay! This week has been more "walking" productive! Went Monday morning (but not that evening, I cleaned Rhett's classroom....I don't think it has been touched much all summer! a bit scary!!!), walked Tuesday am and 1 mile that night...sheesh, between my sore hip and my shin splints I a some what handicapped! Felt like such a slacker...but I did at least a mile and called it good! Wednesday I totally slept thru the alarm clock (oops!) but was able to pound out 4 miles in the evening! YAY! This morning, my legs didn't want to work and after the 1st mile, if JK wouldn't showed up when she did I would of probably left and went home! So THANKS to her perfect timing I was able to walk and talk away another 3 miles (yes I was keeping track!!) But the best news about my WHOLE week was weighing in! Seriously, not such a fun thing to want to do...but I have decided to weigh in every week (thursdays seem to be the "day") and I am MINUS 4 lbs! YAY!! So excited...seeing results on the scales motivates me to move more! SOO I will be ready and willing come 7:30 tonight to pound out a few more miles! I am actually even excited!

Purest Love of Christ

How cute are they! Elder Jackson & his #1 fan! Uncle Kirk...who would hardly leave Ty's side!



Clear back in the spring our nephew Tylan was called to the Oklahoma LDS Mission...well, just a few days before he was to leave, he jacked up his knee playing soccer on P~Day (personal day)...so he had to be released :( come back home :( and have surgery on his knee :( The first 6 weeks go by, then the next 6 weeks go by! He is kinda still a "missionary" but released...he could of just decided to be DONE...and stay home...but he didn't! He did what the Dr. said to do for his knee to heal, he became very close to his younger brother (s). The next one to him is a Jr. this year and they have really bonded...it was almost like Braden was his 'companion' (my opinion) the were together a lot!...walked his 5 miles with his dad (had to be pain free for 5 miles..no running!) Golfing with his mom, teasing Chan, lifting with Austin, going to Football practice with both brothers.....getting to know his nephew better, hanging with grandpa and grandma, going to the Temple with grandpa (so cool...family Temple work!) and many other amazing things!! Anyway...Ty grew a TON over the summer...became an even more AMAZING MAN! (soooo proud of him!) on Sunday (yesterday) he was set apart as an "Elder" at home...not your regular deal...you see he wasn't going back to the MTC...his family was going to get to take him straight to the airport for him to fly straight to Oklahoma! How totally cool to leave like this! I am telling you right now that any weakened testimony present in my brother and sister inlaw's house that was not strengthened...is just.....I just don't know what is wrong with you! (lol) Seriously, before he was set apart, the Bishop Brick were there as was the Stake Pres (I think that is who that was) anyway...people from his ward and stake. His mom and dad were asked to bare their Testimonies to Ty, along with the grandma's and grandpa's and Ty himself...so by the time Ty was set apart the Spirit in the room was sooooooooo strong and emotions were pretty high. Then the members from Ty's ward left and as a family, we had the pleasure of having a personal family testimony meeting where so many amazing things were said, Encouragement for Ty, love and appreciation for the support he has, AMAZING THINGS were said! Well, (sniff, sniff ~ sheesh) Rhett & Brenan's youngest brother, Kirk, who is mentally disabled due to a childhood illness (spinal meningitis) as a 5 month old baby :( which left him with quite a bit of brain damage. BUT this man is SO amazingly smart! And so close to the spirit. He has his own way of saying things...when you are around him long enough you learn to understand him. He is 13 months younger than Rhett, and so very close to all his brothers and mom & dad! He has been in a group home for as long as I have known him (almost 17ish years!). He has his things he likes and does...like hotdogs and radios, mickey mouse and M&M's, birthday parties, Santa...ect... Oh do we love Kirk....well...Kirk LOVES Jesus! In this family circle, the Testimonies had pretty much come to an end (it gets really personal here!) when Kirk said "Me"... Brenan asked him if he wanted to bare his testimony...Kirk said "Jesus", Brenan then said "Do you want Ty to teach about Jesus?", Kirk said again "Jesus" as he started to cry. You see Kirk doesn't cry. NONE of us has ever seen Kirk cry. We have seen him upset and irritated..excited and happy...but never have seen him cry. Even Afton (mom) said she couldn't remember the last time Kirk cried. The love in Kirk's face for our Savior Jesus Christ was so PURE. The spirit in that room was so strong! I have never in my whole life felt anything like it! For my sweet little kids to see how much "Jesus" meant to Uncle Kirk was so amazing. For my nieces and nephews who are still in middle/high school...for us as adults to see this 'Testimony' in the purest form was and is unexplainable...my heart was and still is FULL! Bursting FULL! I am so grateful for the Gospel. For the love of our Heavenly Father and our brother and Savior Jesus Christ. I know they love us! We are children of GOD and we have been sent here on earth for a specific purpose. I know that Elder Jackson will be AMAZING in Oklahoma! I know that he is a HUGE example to so many ~ his own brothers and sisters, my young family! To me! He could have made so many different choices this summer regarding his mission and he chose to GO! He said that HE knew that he needed to get 'out there' and get to work! How totally lucky he is to have that kind of 'farewell'! To go into the mission field with the purest testimony ever told! To know with out a doubt what he is doing right now is part of the plan Heavenly Father has for him! Thank you for including us in this most amazing day! One that will be held in my heart forever! And thank you Kirk for strengthening me! We love you! (if you want to know more click on the Temple in the right hand column)

Melting the fat.......still...

Okay! so I didn't post every day last week...but I did walk. The thing is ~ the week before I popped my hip out of socket getting off my bed and so it was really super sore by thursday so I didn't go, then wished I would of! Oh well...I did go Friday, but was turtle slow and only did 1.5 miles then later wished I wouldn't of...ouch! The hip is popped back in but really sore so I walk funny :P I am looking forward to getting shock therapy on it today! yay! SO...this morning....I arrived a bit late, but I did it..I walked an hour...but I have NO idea how many laps I did, we all (Kayla, Janakaye, Liz and I) talked a lot so I don't think we counted laps well. That is okay...as long as I am sweating....And I was! :) I know in the long run I will be glad that I am doing this. I really do want to be inshape and I know getting up at 5:30-6 will get me up and awake so I will be more productive during the day...(or that is what I keep telling myself!) Sorry these posts are boring....but they are for me. Stay tuned though I have some fun stuff to post soon! HAPPY WALKING!!!

Melting the Fat!.....

Yes! you heard me correctly! Maybe if I do a daily blog post on "Melting the FAT" I might, just might keep myself motivated and accountable for the "POUNDS" that I really and truly want to shed! SO ~ from hear on out, along with "Washing that gray right out of my hair!" I am gonna "Melt that fat right of my BUTT!" lol! (singing the tune of that silly old commercial - if you are under the 30ish age, you may not know this tune! lol!) I am in such a good mood tonight! I guess when you have a skinny mini to walk with that you need to keep up with (well except when she runs, because right now I would like pass out!) you kick out 3 miles in a big ole hurry! (Thanks Kayla!) I am really going to do my very best to be on the ball and walk in the evenings as often as I can and again in the VERY early mornings (like 5:30 AM) as often as I can! I am REFUSING to say "I am going to TRY" because many years ago, I went to a seminar where I learned a few things and I learned that "TRY" is the most NON-COMMITABLE word (is that a word even)...basically means...that it is easy to say "I will try and do this or that or be here or there when REALLY it means...pretty much not gonna happen! AND I really want this to HAPPEN! I want to get in shape, I want to be able to RUN and not be weary! No, seriously! With my new attitude on life (that I have really been working on since January!) I feel the need to change physically as well as emotionally and spiritually! SO bare with me all you blog readers! Don't let me drive you totally nuts with my post...or if you want just skip them that is okay! BUT by December, I want a better ME!

TONITE>>>> THREE miles! YAY ME!! (kayla did over 4 but have you seen her! someday I will do 4 too!) lol it might help though if I arrived on time! lol! Wish me luck for my 5:00 am wake up call! As you all know I don't do early nights or EARLY mornings! Haha! Night All!

Cove Fort Days....

Ward Party

fun! fun! fun! that is all that needs to be said! :) great food, great friends, great ward family! Fabulous entertainment! FUN! It was a perfect night!