In the Garden... again!

I took Moroni out to the garden while I was weeding. He loves being outside and the texture of the dirt. When we go to the pool I love to watch him in the sandbox, he just rubs and rubs his hands over it.

Tonight he played quite a bit in the dirt and ran his fingers through it. After a while his interest turned to some weeds that I had already pulled. He kept trying to put them back into the garden. What a fun game.

Say Cheese!

We didn't go to the pool today - Shock! Instead we drew self-portraits and the kids played with friends. We're going to watch movies with Daddy tonight. It's so weird not heading to the church for cub scouts tonight.

Bug Bites

Sunday Robert took Joseph and a bunch of other scouts up to Ed Bryant Scout Reservation for Boy Scout Summer camp. All he did was drive them up, help set up the tent and come home. He has over 70 mosquito bites from the hour that he was there. We're all just wondering what Joseph is going to look like when he comes home on Saturday. Robert looks like he has a plague from the short time he was there. (Check out his sexy legs.)

Yesterday for FHE we went swimming in Mount Horeb. Or at least some of us did. I forgot to bring Robert's swim suit with us, so he just waded into the kiddie pool a bit. We made up for it today (Robert brought his own suit) but due to lightning, they closed the pool early.

There's always tomorrow.

In the Garden

Yeah, yeah. I forgot to post yesterday. I guess I was just so exhausted that it slipped my brain.

Like our Green Tomato? Rebekah and I were weeding the tomato plants in the back (a lot of weeds can grow in a month) and Ruth came out to help us. She got so excited when she found a fruit growing on the vine and said, "Mommy, I see an apple!" How fun!

We then explained to her that they were tomatoes and tried to make sure she understood to leave it there. I can just see her picking it and tasting!

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy day. We got to sleep in and watch movies with the kids. Ruth helped Moroni get some ice cream. Tomorrow we won't be so lucky with all of the work that needs to be done.

Today we went to the pool in Mount Horeb. We haven't been there since we returned. It was a lot of fun and quite a stress reliever. Robert even met us there after work and the kids were so excited to see daddy at the pool. He told them that we could go tomorrow and that he would even swim with them.

We're supposed to get our big van back tomorrow. That day I skipped writing? Well we were on our way back from Colorado and within 4 miles of home, we hit a deer. Or rather, the deer hit us. Irony: it knocked out our air conditioner which we almost paid $3k to have fixed two weeks ago. Now we only have to pay the $500 deductible to get it fixed and have a new front end on the car. Should have hit that deer a month ago, huh?

It's nice to get routines back together after being gone for a month.

Moroni is getting more and more daring. He is even starting to stand himself up and last night he even attempted a couple of steps. He won't give up trying, that's for sure.

I took Joseph to scouts tonight. It was really weird not going to Cub Scouts myself. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it.

Take Your Child to Work Day

Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, and Mary all accompanied Daddy to work today. They learned quickly that attending meetings is boring and, like Daddy, did everything they could to get out of going. Preferring instead to stay in Daddy's office coloring, decorating the whiteboard, staring out the window, and ingesting copious amounts of soda and snackies.

We leave for Wisconsin in the morning. It'll be nice to sleep in our own beds.

In the picture Emily, Abby, Ruth and Orion were all playing and looking out the window together. Hopefully they will continue to be close as they grow up.

We took our van into the dealership this morning and got it back, good as new, this afternoon! The attendant said that it's good to go to Wisconsin and back, but I told him we weren't coming back, that we miss our daddy too much.

We also picked up Rebekah this evening. She's been at Hope's house for the last couple of weeks (did you notice that she wasn't in any of the pictures?) We have missed her sorely and it is great to have her back.

Our family just isn't the same with any one of our kids gone. We all better be together forever!

This morning we headed to the Temple. At first the kids didn't want to go with us, but after they were all in the car they elected to go.

While Mom and Hannah were in the temple, Cherstin, Felicia and I took the kids to Burger King for a snack and then to a park to play. When Mom and Hannah were done at the Temple we went to Deseret Book. I told the kids that if they let me look at the books, then I would go with them individually to see what discoveries they uncovered at the bookstore. I really liked the time to look for myself... but they also saw a lot they wanted. It took FOREVER to get out of the bookstore.

After the bookstore we hauled everyone to Red Robin. Most of my kids had never eaten there before, but they all new the Red Robin jingle. After all the food was served and the kids were eating Ben said, "Now I know why mom's never taken us here. This place is AWESOME!" I'm sure he didn't mean it the way it sounded.

After we returned home Cherstin and I took the big van in for an oil change in preparation for our trip home on Saturday. Unfortunately we got bad news. Our rear seal is bad and we have to get it replaced. So no trip to Wisconsin on Saturday. Talk about dissappointment all around. I think we're all just homesick.

Robert was absolutely amazing and just suggested that maybe there's a reason we're going to be in Colorado a few more days. We all miss him so.

Doesn't Moroni look like Joseph?!!!!

Today started out with us going to the pool. Joseph has been working on his swimming merit badge.

After swimming we went back to Desi's and just before we left we happened upon some previous neighbors who were returning home. It was sooo nice to see Don and Angela and just awesome to share our children with them.

We got back home in time for pizza and board games. We have stayed up quite laying playing board games just about every night this week. It's been a lot of fun just being together. Poor Moroni has been staying up with us, he has been quite the trooper.

What a wonderful day! Joseph learned how to dive off of the diving board (instead of just jumping) and Mary and Ben got to jump off into the deep end for the first time.

This morning we got to help make quilts for the Westminster Stake's Humanitarian effort. What a wonderful thing to be a part of.

Today we cleaned out the Big Van after our long trips. We even shampooed the carpet! It is so nice to have a clean vehicle. We gathered up the kids and went through a car wash. Look out fun, here we come!!!

We then rewarded ourselves with swimming at Aunt Desi's neighborhood pool. It also helped us escape the heat.

When we got back to Aunt Desi's house, the older kids had fun fitting their handprints in from when we poured the cement 7 years ago.

We drove from Utah to Colorado. It was a nice break to go to McD's and move our legs. Even Moroni needed to crawl around.

This morning we went to sacrament meeting with Grandpa Pehrson. He's in the Branch Presidency at St Joseph's Villa, a senior care facility. It's special to see how kind and caring many brethren are there. The sacrament talk encouraged us to serve others.

After sacrament and lunch, we went to Temple Square. We got to tour the conference center and then we went to the North Visitor's Center. It's nice to be able to wee the temple with my children. We don't get to visit it too often in Wisconsin since our temple is the Chicago Temple and it's 2 1/2 hours away.

"[Mothers] know that if they are not pointing their children to the temple, they are not pointing them toward desired eternal goals."
Julie B. Beck, “Mothers Who Know,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 76–78

Today we woke up and went to Kennecott Copper Mine. The kids were fascinated about the minerals they were getting out of the mine. Sam loved watching all of the huge trucks, especially the large scooper that could fit a truck in it's shovel. When we got back out of the visitor's center, Sam saw one down in the mine and pointed it out, "Hey Mom! There's the truck from the movie."

After the copper mine, we went to the Great Salt Lake, which the kids had all been wanting to go there the whole trip. The Salt Lake is down so far, however, that we had a half mile hike till we got to the water. Sam, lost a flip flop in a hot mud hole and flipped out, and that's where it all started.

By the time we got to the water's edge, Mary was having a heart-attack over all the sand flies at her feet (if she'd gone out further into the water, they would have stopped). Rachel was distraught with how the salt water was stinging her legs, and Sam couldn't quite recover from the hot mud hole.

I sent them all back to the beach and took Ruth and Moroni with them back towards the car. I left Joseph and Ben with Grandma to have fun in the lake. After we started our trek back, I noticed that Cherstin was working her way back with her two kids. I went back to lend support and sent Rachel on with everyone else. I ended up walking back with Moroni and Emmett. I had glimpses of the pioneers just trying to make it across the hot plains while watching their children up ahead of them carrying on.

I wish we could say that we did something really fun and cool afterwards, but we came home, showered, had dinner and got ready for the sabbath. hehe The good news is that it was a memorable experience. Ben enjoyed the Great Salt Lake and even got to float in it.

Good news: we survived!!!

Today we met Grams and Papa at Murray Park. They had so much fun playing again. You can tell because by the end of the visit everyone is asking for sleep overs at 2 in the afternoon!

After the park, we left for the canyon for our evening picnic. We had so much fun playing in the creek and starting the fire. They loved collecting the firewood and roasting hot dogs and s'mores. Joseph had a lot of fun making triple decker s'mores. They also had a lot of fun exploring and playing "No Bears are Out Tonight."

Grandma picked the watermelon out of the creek and cut into it. It was so tasty. Everyone had a huge slice and we all got sticky. Joseph has been complaining that I don't have a picture of him on the blog yet, so here's one of him... face deep into a watermelon.

We got home and they all had to have baths. We all reeked of bug repellent and campfire smoke. I'd like to say that after all that hard play they were sleeping soundly, but it's almost midnight and Ruth and Moroni are up and wired. Maybe they'll go to bed soon ;)

Tonight we went to The Gateway and met Grams and Papa and Joey, Kelly and Brady for Ice Cream and running through the fountains. It is so nice to see the kids play so well together and enjoying the short time we have in Utah with family. The picture is Mary, Kelly and Rachel all wet after running through the water spurts. What a wonderful opportunity to build relationships.

We started the day by picking Aunt Hannah and Orion up from Downtown Salt Lake City. Ruth sure was excited to talk to Orion. It's relieving to know that she will be there to help me drive home. It sure was a long 16 hours from Wisconsin to Denver a few weeks ago. Just having that extra person for backup will be nice.

After we picked up Hannah we went and had lunch (Burger King) and then off to the Distribution center. That is sure a place I can get into trouble to and spend lots of money. I just see so many good things.

The kids were hot, so we went to City Creek and let the kids play in the creek. They had so much fun! Ben wanted to build a dam. He asked me, "Mom, is it swearing if you say the word but it doesn't mean the swear word, but something else?" I said, "It's okay Ben. You can say that you're building a dam. It's not the same word even though it sounds the same." Then he tried to rope everyone else into building a dam with him.

Today we went to Promontory Point (where East met West). We had so much fun watching the trains. The whistles were both exciting and scary. We stayed to watch them retire for the evening. Samuel loves trains and I think he was the most interested. Of course, Moroni tried to eat the rocks!

Benjamin asked the conductor what happened to the golden spike. Imagine his disappointment when he was told that as soon as the spike was driven in, it was also removed and went home with the gentleman in his pocket and is now displayed at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

After Promontory Point, we met Melissa and her kids (Joey, Kelly and Brady) at a park for dinner. The kids really had a lot of fun running with their cousins. So much fun that Melissa even took three of them home for the night.

We've been visiting in Utah. While we were helping Great-Grandpa Pehrson weed, Moroni loved trying the dirt clods. You would think they taste gross, but he keeps eating.