Storms and Sunsets

We had another thunderstorm last night. Travis and Ethan left to play games with Jeremy and Adam just before the storm started. The rest of us turned everything off to watch the storm in our family room. Two big dogs came to visit us during the storm. I felt really bad because they were sitting on my front porch and they looked cold and scared. One of the dogs turned our door knob to try to get in, luckily our door was locked because it scared Allison. When the storm started to calm, the kids noticed a bright glow coming from our side yard. I went to the back yard to check it out a saw a beautiful sunset. As the sun went down I watched the sky turn for bright orange to a soft purple. It was so pretty!

Glenn Beck's Common Sense Tour

Last night Travis and I went to see Glenn Beck's Common Sense Comedy. We paid $18 a person to see the show and it was so worth it. Glenn Beck was so funny! I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. His book is coming out in a couple weeks and I think everyone should read it. I don't know a whole lot about politics, but what I do know is that our freedoms are being taken away from us and we need to fight back. Glenn Beck says it all "There are people that are more liberal than you, more conservative than you. It doesn't matter. It is a space where you create it. You are the one. Don't get caught up, though, in hate and arguing back and forth and playing politics with it. Just go into your principles and follow your principles. Please. Common sense tells you that we're in trouble. Common sense tells you that we the people are responsible for it and we the people are the only ones to fix it. Not those people that we are paying and overpaying in Washington on both sides of the aisle, but we the people."

Allison Lee

Allison fell asleep the other night with Benji by her side. What a cutie!

On Allison's last day of school, they had a Hawaiian party and all the students were suppose to dress up. I thought she looked so cute all dressed up like a little Hawaiian girl. Allison was a little embarrassed to wear the flowered top to school but she did it. I can't believe my little Allison will be in the fourth grade next year. I feel so old! Lexie will be in middle school and Maddy will be in first grade. I will only have one child at home while everyone is in school. Crazy!

I was looking through my photos today and found this pictures of me and Travis in Kohler Wisconsin . The original picture was really dark so I pulled it up in photoshop and was able to fix it. I love this picture!

Faith

Yesterday in Primary we talked about Faith. I think I really needed to be reminded to have faith. We must exercise faith to take on life’s challenges and changes. It's how we learn and progress. Life’s challenges, can provide opportunities for us to grow as we exercise our agency in making righteous decisions. President Thomas S. Monson has counseled us that “faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, for one will dispel the other” In Moroni we read that “without faith there cannot be any hope” (Moroni 7:42). This is so true and I never really thought about it until yesterday. We can't have faith and doubt at the same time. Faith is a principle of action and power. Whenever we work toward a worthy goal, we exercise faith. We show our hope for something that we cannot yet see. I have faith that if we do the very best we can and follow Heavenly Father in faith, we will be happy and he will bless our lives.

This Little Piggy

Bryson has always loved the nursery rhyme This little Piggy. I have done this rhyme to his toes since he was a newborn baby. Bryson is two years old and still loves me to do This Little Piggy to him. When he's upset I just have to start doing the piggy rhyme and he's laughing and happy. I have a different way of saying it than most people.
This little piggy went to the market.
This little piggy stayed home.
This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none.
This little piggy said " Give me some roast beef!"
Where's the beef?
At the end of this rhyme Bryson laughs and laughs.
I will be sad when he grows out of This Little Piggy!

Cookie Cookie Cookie!!!

I love, love, love cookies! I have been craving Grandma's Fudge Chocolate Chip cookies lately. I can't seem to get enough of them. These soft, melt in your mouth cookies are the best! Travis always picks some up for me when he's out. What a sweetie! I use to eat Grandma's cookies when I was in High School and I find myself craving them all the time. I'm pretty sure Grandma's cookies were much bigger back when I was younger. It seems like everything is smaller and more expensive. So sad! All this cookie talk is making me hungry, gotta go and have a cookie!

Fun with Photoshop

For Mothers Day Travis surprised me with Photoshop Elements 7. This is a program I had been wanting for a long time. I have some friends who use this or programs like it for their photos and their pictures always look amazing. I was told that if I wanted to be a good photographer I needed to learn to work with Photoshop. I got Photoshop Elements 7 because It had great reviews and people said that it's very user friendly. When I got It I was so excited and then my excitement turned to frustration when I tried to use it. I went and bought a book for Dummies at Barnes and Noble hoping it would help, but I still was lost. I have been playing around on Photoshop trying to figure it out. I have learned a few things and my good friend Holly gave me some pointers that really helped. The pictures below are some of the pictures I played with. I hope that I can figure out how to use this program and have amazing pictures like my friends.

Love Notes

The last few nights, my Allison has been leaving little notes on my pillow. It makes me so happy after a long hard day of feeling unappreciated, to go in and see little love notes left for me by my girl. I love my kids so very much and am thankful for each and every one of them. I'm so blessed!

Happy Day!

Here is a picture of me on the the day I got my braces. My front teeth looked long because the teeth to the side of my front teeth were short. You can't see in this picture, but the reason I got braces is because when I got them the first time they put a permanent retainer on the back of my bottom front teeth. I didn't like it so I had my dentist remove it. Awhile after he removed my retainer my bottom front tooth popped up and was very high. Travis had a hard time with it. He kept telling me that one day I would wake up and find it on my pillow. Travis talked to Dr. West and Dr. West was nice enough to do trade with us and he put me in full braces. I was only suppose to have braces for six months but it ended up being ten. It hated having braces but I'm so happy I did and I love how my teeth look now. Thanks Dr. West, your the BEST!

Before

After Picture

Lexie's 6Th Grade Graduation

Today our little Lexie graduated from the 6th grade. Because Lone Pine has no gym they had the graduation at Lincoln Elementary. The last time I was in that school was when Lexie was in the second grade. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Now our sweet Lexie is in middle school. This picture shows just how petite Lexie is compared to her classmates.

Lexie and her best friend Jacqueline just after graduating

Our Dad's The Best!

Travis is such a great Dad! He is the one that all the kids want to go with when they have a field trip. They come to him when they need slivers taken out, finger nails clipped, ears cleaned, or just to cuddle up with for a bedtime story. He is always very loving and gentle with our kids and they love him so much.

A Thunderstorm In Medford?

On Sunday while I was driving home from our trip it started to rain. It was raining so hard I had a hard time seeing where I was going. Travis started to stroll down memory lane, back to the time when he was a boy living in Dutch John Utah and the amazing thunderstorms they had there. He told me that Medford doesn't have cool thunderstorms like Dutch John does. The rain stopped and we made it home safely. Then while we were relaxing from our long day, Travis got what he wanted. We had a huge thunderstorm in Medford and we all sat around the living room window in the dark watching it.

Camping With The Kings

Jeremy invited us to go camping with him and his kids at a lake near Redding California. This was the best camping trip I have ever had. Our kids were so good and the nights were really warm so we didn't freeze.


Our trip is four posts long, so keep scrolling down to see the rest of the pictures from our fun trip with the Kings.

Party Time

The Saturday we were there, we went and met Jeremy's family at a lake by his brother Jim's house and had a big birthday party for his nieces. At the party we played in the water toys and had a very yummy barbecue. Jeremy has a very nice family! We really enjoyed our visit with them.

Happy Feet

Bryson's happy little feet. He had such a fun time playing in the sand with his sand toys. He is old enough now to entertain himself without me being by his side.

It was nice to see Travis kicking back and having a good time! He didn't work or use his cell phone the whole time. It was a nice break from his busy life.


Here's proof that I was on the trip with my family. Because I'm the one taking pictures all the time, I'm not really in a lot of our vacation photos.

I'm So Bummed

I have more to post on our trip with the kings, but I can't post any more pictures because I have exceeded my total photo upload quota. I had to go in to Google and buy more space. I can't post any pictures for 24 hours. I never thought I would have to pay to blog :(.

Our Last Day at The Beach

This was our last day at the beach. The kids had so much fun chasing geese, playing with their sand toys and splashing around in the water. I think this was the most relaxing trip I have had with my kids. The water at the beach was shallow for a long ways out, so I able to relax and let them play. We are planning to go back and play again soon.

The Old Bank

When we were heading out, I made Travis stop by this old bank in Redding. I wanted to get more pictures of it with the family but we were in a hurry to get back home.