Top Ten

1. We've all started back to school!
2. Kaleb and I at USU. I will graduate in December and Kaleb the following May.
3. Maxwell is in 3rd grade and Jensen is in 2nd grade.
4. Maxwell wants to learn to play the cello and join the orchestra that they have at his school. We will go to a meeting this week and see if it can work into our budget and schedule.
5. The boys will have to go to after school club two days a week because my ceramics class doesn't get out until after they are already out of school. They are excited to go!
6. Kaleb has taken up scrapbooking! Really! For his weeds class they have to collect and press weeds and then organize them on papers.
7. Watch for pictures of my ceramics as the semester goes on, if they are any good.
8. We are all trying to get adjusted to our new schedule and work load.
9. Kaleb was able to quit working on-call maintence! Yeah!! We've been looking forward to this day for a long time! His summer job will continue through the year and the difference in pay will make it so we can survive without him being on call!
10. We finally got enough tomatoes to make salsa! One of our big canning events every fall. My whole purpose in planting a garden is having the ingredients I need to make salsa, tomatoes, onions, jalepenos, (I always buy garlic at the store). We love it and always have it all eaten before it's time to can again. I am hoping that all of the green tomatoes will ripen and I can make another batch in a few weeks.

Maxwell's Lego Party

Here's the cake:

The boys thought I did a good enough job that I could go on "Ace of Cakes"!

We had a Lego building contest.

Everyones cool creations!

Maxwell got some really cool presents! Can't you tell by the look on his face?

Maxwell has grown-up so fast and we can hardly believe that he will be 9 tomorrow! He has less than a foot to grow to be as tall as mom. We love having him and his awesome imagination in our family. He is super excited to move into the Bear den with mom and dad at Cub Scouts. Maxwell worked super hard and earned as many arrow points as his dad did when he was a cub scout, 8 total! Way to go Maxwell!! We love you!!

Antelope Island with People

We have been wanting to go to Antelope Island (K has never been even though he has lived in Utah his whole life!) and our library has a State Park pass that you can check out for one week and use to get in free to any of Utah's state parks. So the other day when we were at the library we were lucky enough and got to check it out. We called my sister, who lives about 10 minutes from the island, and invited them to go with us. We had a fun time and took way too many pictures to post them all, but here are a few:

The kids and the dads playing in the Great Salt Lake.

Cousins, Jakob and Becky, Jensen and Maxwell. (Maxwell thinks he needs to "pose" in every picture that we take!)

At the old ranch you can touch anything you want. So Maxwell climbed on this old tractor.

Of course Jensen wanted to climb on too! We had fun seeing all the old things at the ranch.

Maxwell and Jakob running down the boardwalk to the Great Salt Lake. They hardly stopped running the whole time we were there, but had a great time!

If you haven't been to Antelope Island, you should go. And check your local library and see if they have a state park pass.

Antelope Island

I had so much fun taking picutres when we went to Antelope Island a couple of weekends ago. Here are some of my favorites.

Taken at the old ranch on the south end of the island.

My favorite flower

At the ranch

At the ranch

The bison are free to roam the island.

More Lake Pictures

This turkey kept throwing rocks in the water while we were trying to take pictures!!

Maxwell, Kaleb, Jensen, and Alicia


My boys!

Kaleb and the boys, throwing rocks, looking for more rocks and testing the temperature of the water.

Kaleb trying to scare Jensen.

Bubba, trying to push this big rock into the water.

Hannah, in a perfect picture pose!

Da Weights

Jensen, throwing everything within his reach into the water.

The kids looking for rocks to skip.

Wyoming Trip -- Day 2

On the second day we decided to try and find the lake that the men had seen on the map. The men went in one car and the women in the other (so we could talk of course!!!)

It didn't take the kids long to start throwing rocks in. For the most part we were the only ones there. The sky looks really dark but it really only sprinkled on us when we were getting back in the cars to leave. Supposedly the far mountain is actually in Utah.


Kaleb teaching Maxwell how to skip a rock.

Love this picture of Ardis and Henry!!

Jensen had a hard time getting around as fast as the other kids and across all the rocks, but he still had a good time throwing stuff in!

He loved the water and I think he would have stayed there and thrown more rocks in if we had let him.

Hannah with her "camera" rock she found.

Love this one of the lake right before we left.

After dinner the second day we had to leave, though we really could have stayed longer. We had a fun, relaxing time with our bestest friends. As we were pulling out of the driveway Maxwell said, "Dad you need to get a job in Wyoming so we can move here!"

On the way home we stopped and took a picture of Devil's Slide.

Wyoming Trip -- Day 1

We drove to Wyoming the 24th of July to visit our bestest friends.
They warned us it was out in the middle of nowhere.

Out here they farm the wind. . . .

Their new house! We are SO jealous and can't wait to finish school so we can have a house!

Out on a walk to see how far we could see. Turns out you can see a LONG way!

The men wasted no time and got right to work on the yard.

The kids rode bikes, the moms visited, and the men worked on the yard. We experienced how fast the weather changes in Wyoming. Had a delicious dinner and even got so cold during the night that we had to close the window (quite a change from Logan).