Summer Time Fun

June and July always seem jam packed with family reunions, holidays, birthdays, and other fun activities. I never seem to get enough of the hot summer days because there is so much to do and I hate picking what things I will have to miss. Here are some of the things that made the cut this year.

Our annual fourth of July trip to my parents and North Ogden (where Mark grew up). We loved seeing so many of his friends and neighbors from growing up. We also went to the parade in North Ogden which was great. It was an hour long (perfect length) and some great candy (banana popsicles. need I say more)! Then the b-b-q chicken and ribs at my parents for Grandma K and Nanny. AWESOME!!! With a light rain shower and then the kidde pool I think we all got cooled down.

Mark and Spencer went to a family reunion in Mt. Pleasant two weekends ago. Katherine and I stayed home for some R & R. Spencer had a blast and took a good long nap from staying up too late. Mark loved seeing his extended family.

We held a spaghetti lunch and clearance sale at our store last week. Usually we do this in the spring but we postponed it because Mark was in school. We did sell a few things and saw some old friends and customers which was great. Thanks Mary for helping cook and for watching Spencer while we prepped for the big event. Side note: if you need new lights we still have a ton we are clearance selling. Tell your firends!

Last Saturday we had the annual Elders Quorum Breakfast in our backyard. Potato pancakes, eggs, pancakes, bisquits and gravy, and orange juice. Yummy! Thanks to all who helped and came! What a way for Mark to go out with a BANG! He was released from Elders Quorum President Sunday. It is a bitter sweet ending. He is hoping for nursery or primary song leader.

I was able to go to the Relief Society Retreat last Wednesday (Yes. Last week was CRAZY!) It was up at a cabin at Brian Head which was wonderful. The potatoes and chicken from the dutch ovens was wonderful (no wonder I can't get in shape. All I do is go here and there and eat food). I learned a lot from the get to know you game (so thankful I have not been in a car accident like some of those ladies) and the games were funny.

I think that covers the big events. Coming up the next couple of weeks? Girls Camp tomorrow and Friday. Pioneer Day at home doing house work and yard work. Family reunion in Idaho next weekend. Miamaid B-B-Q for reaching our class goals. Family coming for visits. Mark goes back to school. Seriously, summer days are few and far between.

Lots To Do

(A view from where I spend most of my day, Mountain Lighting desk.) We have been keeping so busy with, well, anythig and everything. For example, today Mark is building our shed today. I would insert a picture here but all there is right now is 24' by 30' of concrete. While he does that, I played tetris with two houses of lights, camping gear, car seats, and food to take up to Salt Lake. My brother is a builder and lets us do the lights for his homes (THANKS TIM! WE APPRECIATE THE BUSINESS!!!) Then, we are sleeping over at Nanny and Papa's house tonight. Then tomorrow we are going to Strawberry Resevoir for a quick camping trip. Coming home late Saturday or early Sunday. Mark is staying home to build the shed and work Friday. Hopfully he gets some of the stuff done at work that I have been avoding all week.
(I love Spencer's smile in this picture and Katherine's expression is classic. He loves his sister.)Mark and I got new phones yesterday! In the words of Spencer "They. Are. Awesome." We got the brand new, not out to the public, HTC EVO 3D phones. I already loaded the scriptures to my phone. Now I can find a spare moment to read my scriptures and actually have them. This week was a small break for me in that I didn't have Young Womens. Youth Conference is this weekend and because I would have had to take Katherine with me they gave me a freebie this year (good thing too because last year I went with less than 30 days to go while prego with Katherine). So, instead of heading to the church Tuesday night we went to Dave and Joy's for dinner. Yummy! hamburgers and hot dogs with lots of family. I have been working on both kids' scrapbooks for their birthdays. I am doing most of it digitally on Studio J. The company I sell scrapbooking products for has THE BEST digital scrapbook program around. You don't pay for the software. That is free to use. You only pay if you want to buy the JPG file or scrapbook layouts. Saves time, mess, money and I can work on it at work. Basically, life is crazy. But, we like it that way.

Catch Up

Well, I have to play catch up again on my blog. I will not say sorry because I am actually living my life instead of goofing off on the computer.

For Mothers Day Mark didn't have an early meeting for Church. Best gift ever to have help getting the kids ready for 9am church. While getting ready Spencer came in my room said "Happy Mothers Day." and handed me a watch and new perfume.It smells delicious. At church we got a bath time "sundae." They were super cute. Imagine a 1950's diner shake and you get the idea. A Dairy Queen clear cup, filled with pink bath salts, a loofa to imitate whipping cream, all topped off with a cherry looking red bath smell good thing. Yep, I got to baths out of that one (in my big jetted tub which made it even better).

May 11 was my birthday. Mark took me out to dinner and a movie. The best present-no big birthday party in Cedar. Yep. I didn't have to clean the house to have people come over, feed them cake and ice cream and then clean after they all left. I did have a party with my family in Salt Lake a few days later. It was a combined party for Mother's Day and my birthday. It was at my parents house so I didn't have to do the cleaning and baking and organizing. Perfect kind of party.

Mark did Maymester at school. I think it was harder on me than it was on him. He was at school Monday thru Friday 9-3. I did a lot at work on my own, and he worked hard at work after school. We did go have lunch with him on campus a few times which was fun for Spencer, Katherine and me. He doesn't have any more classes until August and we are thrilled for the break.

Because Mark was at school all the time Spencer kept asking me if he could go to school. It broke my heart to say no so I have started teaching him mini-lessons at home almost every night. He loves to draw on the white board and do his homework (a page out of a workbook). His favorite lesson: rectangles (I think because I taught him how to draw a robot using just rectangles). He is learning so much so fast. He also loves to read at night with Mark. Every night as part of bedtime routine Mark reads Spencer a story and a poem. Spencer's vocabulary is growing leaps and bounds because of this.
Our annual Adams Family Camping trip was this past weekend. We went to Yuba Lake with my family. It was a great getaway! The kids loved going on the boat with Papa, the company was perfect, and the food was yummy. The only downside: Katherine was teething. So, the second night she got up 8 times. Rough on me but she was feeling better the next day. Now she is back to normal but the tooth went back into her gum instead of popping out. My mom packed her little pool for the grandkids and that was a huge success! Lots of fun and it was so good to see all of my family again.Both of these pictures are with Papa. My kids do miss Nanny and Papa so when they are around we take full advantage of them.











Not much but the normal life is happening. We are staying busy with work, church, and family. We are enjoying the good weather of spring/summer. Spencer's tan is better than mine. Mark planted a small garden this year but because of the crazy weather we are sure how well it will do. Our next big event coming up is a trip to Salt Lake for the 4th of July. Hopefully we keep on top of this blog. Until then...

Giveaways

Hey Y'all.
I was just doing some blog hopping and noticed a few giveaways. One is for Kiki Fashions, the other is for Deann's Gifts.
Go check it out:
www.babybrainstorm.blogspot.com

Thanks!

New Family Picture

We got this picture done the Saturday before Easter. Thanks Steph for snapping the photo. Thanks mom and dad for having a nice backyard. Thanks Spencer and Katherine for being so good for pictures.

Improvement

Hi Y'all (which is Dad, the occasional friend and sister)!
Are you impressed that I am already updating this and it has only been one week? If not you should be because I am.

Last night we had FHE with Mark's brother Dave and his family (Side note: Thanks for cooking dinner Dave. It was yummy and so much better than the leftovers we were going to have last night. Now we get to have leftovers tonight; which is not so fun, so, no thank you to that). For the lesson we talked about favorite stories and talked from General Conference. It was interesting to hear how different things stick out to each of us even though we all heard the same talks. It made me think of how I need to keep the enthusiasm for improvement every day. So, I started thinking about what improvements I have made since Sunday.

~Monday morning I read my scriptures. Didn't really study but I did read and ponder throughout the day.
~Monday at work I kept busy in the warehouse for two hours (thanks Carter for helping me palletize).
~We had an actual lesson for FHE (again, thank you Dave).
~Tuesday morning when I wanted a snack I grabbed an orange instead of the candy (this should count for two improvements because I actually remembered to bring the orange to work).
~I read Spencer 6 books in one sitting. Usually I only make time for one book.
~I am updating my blog after only one week.

So, there you have it. My improvements. Leave a comment with one thing you want to improve today. Let's all help each other.

ON THE RIGHT OF THIS BLOG IS A NEW SPOT FOR THE THINGS SPENCER SAYS. RIGHTFULLY CALLED "SPENCER SAYS..." I WILL TRY TO UPDATE THAT FREQUENTLY TOO.

We have been so busy! Not really with work (although we have bid a lot in the last week or so) but with life! I will not try to bore you with all the stuff we have been doing but here is a rundown.

March 4 one of Mark's best friends, Brigham, got married! It was a beautiful day and we spent a lot of time as a small family enjoiyng and remembering the true meaning of family. Congrats Brig! and welcome Ashley to the family!

For Spring Break we worked all week until Friday, March 18. We drove to Las Vegas and walked the Strip with the kiddos. The highlight of the evening was the water fountains at Bellagio. Spencer absolutely loved them! Saturday I was scrapbooking with my team and Mark and Spencer went to Bass Pro Shop and watched the BYU game. It was a great little trip.My dad came in town the next week. We didn't get to do much with him but it was still fun having Papa in town. Spencer loved going to Steph's house for shooting with the Wii. Of course Carter had to show us all up.

On the 25 (Saturday) we moved the family that was living in our house out. We spent the rest of the day cleaning and showing the basement apartment.
Sunday we went to church. Then we went upstairs to continue cleaning. However, God had different plans. A lady in our ward needed an apartment, called us, and wanted to move in Monday morning. Luckily Mark's brothers both live in our neighborhood so we literally moved in 16 hours (including getting a few hours of sleep). That is right WE ARE BACK IN OUR HOUSE!!! Not in a corner of the basement, not above our lighting store, but in our house; our home!!!
Monday we helped Ann move into the basement. The rest of the week was unpacking, arranging, and recouperating from moving three families in three days.

General Conference was awesome. Katherine slept during the morning sessions and Spencer slept during the afternoon sessions so that made it easier to listen. We have a renewed sense of purpose for life as a whole.

We have done lots of stuff with our church callings. I am helping prepare our Girls Camp fundraiser that is coming up at the end of the month. Mark had an Elders Quorum activity on March 25 that was a lot of fun. Katherine has a tooth! She has had her bottom tooth for almost two months.She has started eating rice cereal and loves it. Last Wednesday she rolled from her tummy to her back. It is hard to believe she is almost 7 months old already.