I Can't Wait!

Mark and I went with Shane and Heather (they are having a baby in two weeks- congrats!) to see The Dark Knight. I loved Batman Begins and this was just as good. It was non-stop action throughout the entire movie. It was almost 3 hours longs but well worth it. I'm going to have nightmares about the Joker for weeks. Creepy! Next in line for movies I can't wait for are Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Nov 21) and Twilight (Dec 12)!

Harry Potter: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi215810329/

Twilight: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1188823321/

Boys will be boys....

In June while Ashley was at Rough Camp, Adam got to go to Cub Country. He had so much fun up there especially at the trading post. Each day, he took up a little money to buy something he wanted. The first day, he came home with a whip. The second day, he came home with a pocketknife. Is this some kind of Webelos Militia they are forming? They are going to take over the world and use their Pinewood Derby cars (with pennies taped to them for weight at the front) to deliver their messages of taking over the world. It was really funny because I was joking with Mark that he would come home with some type of weapon and he ended up with two1 He practiced the whip for about a week after he bought it. He would put out an empty can and see if he could whip it- whip it good. Where's a picture of DEVO when you need it? Watch out Indiana Jones, you have some competition! Between both of my daredevil kids, I'm surprised I haven't spent more time in an emergency room. (knock on wood....)

Tibble Spork

Hi- on Tuesday night we all went canoeing at Tibble Fork with my parents and Matt's family. We stopped off for some KFC, and of course, the sporks were an added bonus. Not to mention the moist towelettes. The temperature at the lake was so great- it was so nice to be in the 70's instead of the constant high 90's and 100's that we've been at lately. I'm ready for fall! We took turns paddling around the lake and Adam tried a little fishing. He caught a fish with Mark and my dad while they were in the canoe. Nice job!! Ashley had a lot of fun in the canoe and spending time with her cute cousins. They all liked wading through the murky water. It's amazing the magnetizing effect water has on kids regardless of what type, of how gross the water is. haha....

tag- you're it

Melissa just tagged me so I guess I'm it. Here it goes. Post these rules on your blog. Answer these 15 questions about yourself on your blog. Tag five people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Here it is:

JOYS:
1- My family
2- losing weight- even .2 is a loss!!
3- My husband who can work miracles in our home. Honey, are you ready to re-do a bathroom yet? :)

FEARS:
1- Something happening to my kids.
2- Snakes, Bears, Sharks
3- Tornados and Earthquakes and Volcanos. Okay, so basically any major disaster.

GOALS:
1- Finally get to my goal weight.
2- Try to be better about exercise.
3- Get more organized. Things are stacking up lately around the house.

OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS:
1-Reading - usually anything will do, but I love mystery fiction types.
2- TV - I love Last Comic Standing and can't wait for the new season of House and Heros to start up again. Oh, and WipeOut is seriously the funniest thing out there right now.
3- The Olympics. I'll say it right now, I'm sure I will be glued to the TV watching whatever sport they are doing that day. And I cry everytime they come out for the opening and closing ceremonies. And when they are on the stand listening to their national anthem...basically, I'm a wreck for a few weeks. I have so much pride for people who have so much talent, determination and coordination. I can barely walk up the stairs without tripping. haha

RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT ME:
1- I am a closet Country Music lover. Okay, not that obssessed, but ever since Ashley has decided to go to the dark side (music-wise) I've found that there are some really good ones out there. Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw... I'll end the list there.
2-I can carry on a conversation with movie quotes. It won't win me the nobel peace prize, but it does help with conversations with Tina and Melissa. :)
3- Like Melissa, I had to take the BYU Correspondence in P.E. and also English. I learned about the Ultimate Bowling from Melissa and also went to the seedy Midvale alley to try to pick up a few spares. Not so good, but I finished it. Bowling is like golf where you want the lowest number, right? I had to go down to BYU to take my English test and while I was slaving away trying to remember i before e except after c, my dad was taking Tina to the BYU creamery for a shake. What did I get? A passing grade, but I would have preffered the creamy goodness of a shake.

Tag: You, you, you, you and you. Basically anyone who hasn't done one already. :)

Fun stuff!

I thought this looked fun from Kiley's blog, so I'm stealing the idea!
Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave a comment about you on my comments.

Our Maiden Voyage

We just got back from our first real camping trip with our new pop-up trailer. Our sleepover in the driveway last weekend really doesn't officially count. After hunting for a couple of months for a small trailer that would fit on the side of our house, but would also be comfortable for the four of us, we finally found one that we loved. It's a Rockwood 1980 model. No, no, it does not come with neon colors, a Duran Duran record or a copy of a John Hughes
movie on Beta, 1980 is just their model number. Oh, the 80's... good times, but I digress... the camper has everything we need. It even has a fridge and a furnace. It will be really nice on some 2 night trips. I grew up camping with my family and had so many great memories. My favorite campgrounds are The Spruces and Payson Lakes. Our campout was so much fun! My mom and dad went up to the Spruces campground on Thursday and lucked out with a great site. We weren't able to go up until Friday so it was nice to have a spot already set up. We played a lot of fun games, had some great food (dutch oven peach cobbler!) and especially enjoyed the outdoors. I think Adam enjoyed nature a little too much. He created a little trap to catch a chipmunk. After a lot of trial and error, he ended up tying a string to a stick so that he could pull it away and trap a chipmunk. His persistence paid off, but luckily the little critter was able to escape after a minute or two of us laughing and wondering who was going to let it out of the box. Hmm, who wants rabies? haha. Either way, that was the most still I've seen Adam in weeks! He was so focused on getting a new pet, but we ended up doing the catch-and-release method of catching chipmunks. Either way, the chipmunks will now be scheduling appointments with their doctors for some good cholesterol medications from all the Pringles and scrambled eggs they ate. We can't wait until our next trip! If we don't answer the phone on the weekends, it's because we're enjoying another adventure.

Here's my sign....

Okay, I realized I didn't mention one of my most embarassing moments that happened when we were at Wheeler Farm. I am willing to share to help someone else from making the same fateful mistake that I did. Call it community service if you will.
Picture this....the farm is full of new springtime animals. We were drawn to the baby calf that was very loudly mooing over and over and over. Mark and the kids were standing next to me by the fence, until I decided to turn and moo at the top of my lungs at Mark. Ummm, yeah, Mark had apparently mooved (sorry, bad one) and some man and his son were standing next to me instead. There was that akward moment where I just stood there with a deer-in-the-headlights look before I turned and walked away. It was the walk of shame, and of course, we ran into him about 6 more times that day. It's nice that I'm here to provide such entertainment for my family. It definitely should count towards community service.
That's almost as good as the time I ran over a deposit tube-thingy at the bank. Did you know those little suckers are strong? Well, they held up to the weight of a Dodge Shadow. :)

Yellowstone- Lucky kids!!!

This June my sister, Melissa, took the kids on a trip to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. They had so much fun!!! The first night they stayed in Jackson and then the next morning they went on a scenic river trip. The next couple of days were spent in Yellowstone looking at all the beautiful sights. They were amazed at Old Faithful and how quiet it was when it exploded. What an awesome sight! They loved looking for all the wildlife and especially the side trip on the way home to BearWorld. They loved how close the bears got right to the cars. Remember...your car is your cage! Luckily no bear maulings or gorings by buffalo on this trip. They had so much fun! Each time we ask them what their favorite part of the trip was, they think about it for a minute and just answer "Everything!". Thanks, Melissa, for taking them on this wonderful trip! The kids love the outdoors, so this was such an exciting trip for them. With the kids away, we got to enjoy a couple of free nights that we filled with dinners out (5 Guys Burgers and Fries is a lot like In-n-Out!) and we also saw The Hulk which I would highly recommend.

Silver Lake

One of our favorite (and free- see a pattern here?) places to visit is Silver Lake at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Within a few minutes, we are in the canyon. This trip, we brought up sandwiches and walked around the lake. There is still snow in some parts which means surprise snowball fights and the overwhelming urge for Adam and Ashley to climb all over it, regardless of the mud. Adam was on the hunt for little fish to take home. He actually found a few guppies, but they didn't survive in his tank once we got home. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. The spectactular mountains we have here were one of the main things we missed when we lived in CA. That would be second to missing family and friends, of course! :)

Wheeler Farm- Free Entertainment!

With the out of control gas prices it's a hard to find something for the family to do that costs less than the gas it takes to drive out there. Luckily, we live within walking distance to Wheeler Farm. We have spent so many hours over there. It's pretty sad, really. Although the signs say do not feed the animals, we routinely bring along carrots for Ashley's favorite- the horses. The big Clydesdale is amazing to stand next to. It makes you feel so small. I'm a little nervous around the big animals, but Ashley is right at home with them. They also have cute donkeys, sheep, pigs, and the occasional chicken that is running around. Yeah, Mark grabbed one and carried it over to the kids so they could pet it. One day we will be banned from the farm. I took a cute picture of the kids on a nice rustic wagon only to find out after the picture that it was filled with pig MANURE!!! I'm such a good mom, aren't I? Anything for a picture. It's fun to go in the springtime with all the new animals. There was a cute baby goat that was only a few days old. There are also some pretty demon geese and ducks there. On a trip with the kids and my nephew, Casey, we were swarmed by the geese. I was literally carrying Casey in one hand, and alternating throwing bread to distract them and trying to run them down with a stroller. Good times, but we made it out alive. Oh by the way, if anyone from Wheeler Farm or PETA corners me about the "alleged" animal feeding or duck incident, I'm denying it.

Ashley's baptism

This year Ashley decided it was the right time to get baptized. She was baptized and confirmed on May 24th by her Grandpa Garber. There were so many people that came, we were moved from the Relief Society room to the chapel. It was such a beautiful day and great to see what a wonderful network of family and friends that are always here to support us. We are so lucky! Thanks again to everyone that shared this day with Ashley!

Our New Kitchen!

In March, we took on the huge project of updating our kitchen. Thanks to IKEA's online kitchen designer, and a whole lot of muscle from Mark we finished the project in record time! In three days, the old cabinets were out, and the new ones were in. Adam and Ashley had fun with the demo of the old cabinets, and Adam helped Mark put together the new cabinets. It was then another week for the finishing touches like countertops, knob pulls, and installing the new floor. I still sit in the kitchen just staring at my beautiful new room. I'm so lucky that Mark is such a handy guy. If not, we'd be without a kitchen for months. I'm not a huge fan of cooking, but I definitely love my kitchen. I still even have a few cabinets that don't even have anything in them- there is so much space now. Yay!!!

Christmas in Georgia 2007

This Christmas, we had the opportunity to travel with Mark's parents and visit his sister, Michelle and her husband Derek in Woodstock, GA. We got to see our darling new nephew, Dylan, for the first time! We had a blast on our visit. We were able to do some sightseeing and visited a lot of great places. The Georgia Aquarium was amazing! I would recommend this to anyone who is headed out to Atlanta. We also toured the Coca-Cola museum. Our favorite part was the taste-tests with drinks from around the world. If you ever visit Italy, stay away from a drink called Beverly- it was the worst! Needless to say, we were all on a caffeine high that night. :) We also visitied the The Wild Animal Park in Pine Mountain, GA where animals come right up to the van to get fed. Adam was a little nervous at first with the big Texas longhorns but he warmed up quickly. Ashley had animal slobber all over her arm. Gross! Mark was also petting a bear. I was afraid he would come home without an arm, but I forget- he is Dr. Doolittle and the animals all love him. We also made an overnight trip to visit my Aunt Christy and Uncle Randall in Booneville, MS. It was so nice to see them and Kirk's family- it has been years since my last visit. Of course, no trip to Tupelo would be complete without the visit to Elvis's home. The entire Christmas trip seemed to fly by so quickly, but it was nice being with family and having a fun time being tourists since we had never been to Georgia before.