Skylar's 14th Birthday Party!

My pinyata masterpiece

The birthday boy and his twin.

Grampa Clair as the pinyata operator.

Spencer and his magic hit

Get the Candy!!

What as left of Skylar's pinyata head

All my candy treasures :-)

"Happy Birthday to You!"

It's his future

I cannot believe that my youngest brother is 14! I was just about 15 when he was born, now that is crazy to me. When Skylar was a baby he was more to me than a brother. I took him everywhere with me after I got my drivers license and I can't count how many times that me and him would be in public and people would ask me how old my son was! My family always celebrates birthdays so as usual we had our family party. Its been a new tradition this year that we have a pinyata and that we make it look like the person whose birthday it was. When it got closer to Sky's birthday he made sure to call my husband and remind us to make the pinyata. This was like a week before the party and I figured I had plenty of time to think of something. Well, day before party day and I had not ever started making it. So me and Dave got one going in a hurry. I was trying to think of a good way to make it look like Sky but I had no ideas. So as the day went on I was starting to get worried that I would not have it done in time and that it would look nothing like him. Then dawned on me that the one characteristic of not only Skylar but my dad and other brothers is that you rarely, rarely see them without a baseball hat on. So I tried to think of a good way that I could put a baseball hat on Skylar. I figured out that the easiest way would be spray paint. So I sprayed the top of the pinyata blue like a hat. I made a brim for it and a big "T" for our favorite team Timpanogos. Then I thought that instead of making the rest of it flesh color I decided to paint it like a baseball. So I made it in time for the party and everyone loved it. It turned out really good and we had fun breaking it open and gathering up the 450 pieces of candy I had put inside. Skylar also got some really great gifts also. My grandparents got his this adorable nut cracker that was a little old grampa in a baseball outfit. It was so dang cute so we told Skylar that was what he would look like in 70 years. He made a haul in the money department $40.00 which I guess is pry the best present. Me and Dave gave him a baseball book and some "jungle talk" as grama Sally says (cologne). I think that he had a really great birthday!

What's been new?

It has been quite awhile since my last post and the reason for this is that I don't really have to much to report. I can't believe that summer has come to an end (today is actually the first day of fall). I have to be totally honest with the fact that I am so not looking forward to winter coming. I do not like the cold but I do like the snow up until January 1st and then am ready for the summer to be here again. I guess it is the whole Christmas and Thanksgiving experience that gets me through. I actually wore my "winter" pajamas to bed last night for the first time. It was a cold night out.
I don't know if its the economy or what but the hair business has been really slow the last few months. Hopefully it will pick up soon. Aside from doing hair I did get a new job at East Shore High School as an office secretary and that has really been working out great for me. I have really enjoyed it so far and met some great new friends.
Dave and I have been just hanging out and relaxing when we can, which is usually all the time. Dave has been doing alot of riding both on his mountain bike and his motorcycle. Him and his friend Bones (Team Reecall) did a team motorcycle race this past weekend and took 1st place in their class and 9th overall. Great job guys! He had alot of fun. He has been going on lots of adventure rides up in the canyons and has gotten some great pictures and has had some great experiences. It makes me so happy to see him do all the things that he loves to do. He is also getting all geared up for ski season to get under way. We went to the Sheepdog competition up at Soldier Hollow a few weeks ago and what a great time we had. I'm a sucker for all those cute animals and they were so fun to watch. I was telling Dave when we came back home that watching those dogs do their thing rounding up the sheep and jumping into the pool it makes me really emotional. I know that it may sound funny to some but I really feel that I have a special connection to animals. I just see them or look into their sweet eyes and instantly I am in love. It is such a great feeling.
Other than that I have really just been enjoying each day as it comes and goes and I am sad to see the summer be done. The pool has closed, the Scera programs are done for the season and the corn stand is gone. I told Dave that when those 3 things are done, summer is over. I have been reading some really great books this summer as well. The Mysterious Benedict Society Series. Great books and I highly recommend them.
My little dogs have been having so much fun as well. They love to chase each other around the house and chew on all their toys and the cats. We always come home to stuffing from their stuffed animals shreaded all over the house so every week we have been going to the DI and I make sure that I get a few new ones each time. They are so funny and we love their little personalities that each one has.
Well just wanted to give a little recap on what has been going on in the past month or so. New pictures will be posted soon.

Family Camping Trip to Diamond Fork

Dave

Dave picking his nose

Me and Abby

Dave going for a motorcycle ride

Dave panning for gold

Spencer and his chain saw

Playing games

The treat table

Dave pretending to eat this gross bug

Dave and his balls!

Me and Dave

Me picking my nose

Abby REALLY picking her nose

Brad digging for some treasures

Spencer and his ax

Amber playing the golf ball game

Being silly

The camp fire

Amber trying to eat the gross bug

Me and Annie

Waking up in the van

Amber doin some diggin

Spencer getting up there!

My family went on a camping trip up Spanish Fork Canyon to Diamond Fork for the weekend and we had a blast! Me, Dave, Spencer, Amber, Abby and Brad all packed up our camping gear and headed out. We found a perfect spot and set up for the weekend. We had a great campfire and set up a canopy so we could play cards and board games. My parents and youngest brother Skylar came up on Saturday night for a BBQ and we played the golf ball game. My dad said whoever could get all six of the balls on the stand he would give $10.00 to. By the end of the night the pot was up to $20.00 and not one of us got it. I bet my dad was happy he wasn't out $20 bucks! We all did a picking our nose picture which in my family picking your nose, farting, burping or being gross is perfectly acceptable and hilarious...especially during dinner! We had a really fun time together and look forward to doing it again.

Our Party Barge!

Our Party Barge

Brrrr...Deer Creek is freezing!

Just Me

Me and my darling!

Several years ago Dave found this old pontoon boat for sale for $1500.00. It needed some TLC but we loved it and it looked like so much fun. So we purchased it and took it home. We painted it and put new carpet on it and made it our own. Every summer we look forward to taking the party barge out on the lake. It is big enough that we can camp on it, BBQ, suntan...the whole shebang! We hooked up a stereo system on it and can also take our dvd player and watch movies. We love our party barge! It is so much fun and we know that when we take it out people aren't looking at us cause they think our boat is weird, no no they are looking at us thinking what a sweet boat!

Kaiya's 1st Birthday!

The sweetest birthday face ever!

Opening her presents

So happy!

The party

Someone ate some cake

Silly!

What a mess!

Her smasher cake I made

The big party cake

One year ago I got to witness the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life and that was to see this little girl be born. My best pal Leona let me watch Kaiya be born and it was wonderful. When Kaiya was blessed, Leona asked me to be her Godmother and it meant the world to me. Now she is 1 year old and I cannot believe it. The whole time at her party I kept saying to Leona, "I can't believe she's 1!" She is walking all around and into everything. I made her her very own smasher cake that she could dig her little hands into and did she ever. By the time she was done the cake was destroyed and she was a mess. She had cake and frosting in her ear, her hair, up her nose, on her clothes and all over her face! She had such a fun time. She loved to open her own presents and when there was not a present in front of her to open she had a come apart! I love this little girl so much! Happy Birthday Kaiya!

Dave's golf ball game

The genius behind the fun

Me playing

Me

Dave doing some maintenance

Score!

Dave saw some people playing this golf ball game up the canyon the other day and decided to come home and make one of our own. Its a tower with 3 bars and rope with 2 golf balls attached to each end. You throw the golf ball rope and try to get it to go around one of the bars for points. We started playing each bar was worth a certain point amount but then Dave thought it would be better to get points by the amount of time the rope wraps around the bar. It made it much more challenging and exciting. We played out on our lawn the other night and we had so much fun! Good Job Dave!!!

My first squash from my garden

I grew this!

First squash from the garden

I'm so proud

Cutting one up to cook for dinner...YUMMY!

There it is.

Well, I finally got my first squash of the year out of my garden the other day. I was so proud and kept telling Dave, "I grew this!" It is so rewarding when I see the things I planted growing and then get to a point that I get to pick it and enjoy it. This one I picked was so delicious and we enjoyed it for dinner. It was definitly an exciting day!