Our Favorite Five!

We spent the first part of our week finishing up our first road trip of the summer. We had a great time. We probably would have stretched it out longer if Steve didn't need to be back at the school by Wednesday, but it was good to be home when we finally got here. Life continues to be busy, even during our "downtime" of summer, but the busy-ness is different. Like Steve's dad always says, 'the "rest" is in the change'. That is definitely our motto for this summer! Busy, but fun! Here are some of our favorites for this week.

FIVE- Mount Rushmore! It took five different strangers to be able to get this picture of our family in front of the mountain. One guy tried THREE times but kept cutting off the presidents! I didn't think that with the technology of today's camera that taking a picture would still be so hard for people! Luckily, we finally got this one, the best of the bunch. The boys were at the perfect age for this kind of experience, hiking the "Presidents Trail" and learning about Mount Rushmore. I didn't realize how much the boys were paying attention until they were given the "Junior Ranger" booklet to fill out as they walked around the museum. They had to answer little questions about Mount Rushmore and how it was carved and facts about the presidents. Lewis was so cute. He said, 'Mom, I am so good at social studies. I will be able to be a junior ranger for sure!' and then he got right to work on his little booklet. When we handed the booklet back to the ranger to retrieve the "junior ranger badge" for the boys, the ranger asked Lewis which president on Mount Rushmore was his favorite. I thought he would say George or Abe because they are the most famous, but he surprised me when he said Theodore Roosevelt. I asked him later why he chose that president and he said, 'because he had such a hard life when he was young and he worked really hard to become great.' Wow! What great insight! This was a great experience for our boys! I will post more pictures from the trip as soon as I have more than a millisecond to be on this computer. Until then, here is our best family pic of the day.



FOUR: Sunnie and Quincy are back! Sunnie is one of Steve's seven sisters. She and her husband Quincy have been in Colorado for a few years and we have missed them. We used to be roomates with them for awhile (remember that Sunnie) and she used to be my favorite hairstylist. But, then they moved and we've only been able to see them at reunions and weddings etc. It will be so great to get together more often now. It was fun to spend time with them up at Grandma's during our road trip this week. Little Quincy and the boys played for awhile and we got to visit with Sunnie and hold baby Amy a little. Yep. It is good to have them back!





THREE: Baseball Fever! One of the movies we watched on our little road trip was The Sandlot. This was one of my favorite movies during high school. I saw it at the dollar theatre at least three times with different friends and laughed my head off everytime. One of my favorite things about being a mom is being able to watch some of these oldy but goody movies with my kids and see their reaction! We have watched The Princess Bride and What About Bob and a few others with the kids and it is a riot! Well, needless to say, the boys LOVED The Sandlot! So much so that they are completely obsessed with baseball now! It is so cute! They get up every morning and get dressed (one day they even put on their baseball uniforms) and they head outside to play ball! They rope Steve into taking them over to the nearby school field to pitch for them in the evenings and they play for hours upon hours! They put a bunch of baseballs, mits and a bat into a WALMART SACK and ride their bikes over to the field! It is hilarious to watch them try to get it all together, but they are so determined! Luckily, the weather around here has been EXTREMELY mild and awesome too so they haven't had the heat to rain on their parade. They even talked Carter, our neighbor's grandson, into playing over at the field with them one day. He went right along with it and seemed to be having as much fun as Lewis and Conner! Anyway, I am grateful to the movie, The Sandlot, for teaching my boys that summer is all about going outside and getting dirty! I love that they are "into" baseball right now and I hope the baseball fever doesn't end anytime too soon.



Maybe I should invest in a little baseball bag for them so they don't have to use the Walmart sack!


TWO: Digital Scrapbooking! I had a "scanning" party at my house on Thursday night. A lady from the Heritage Makers company scanned all my old photos (from childhood, my wedding, ancestors etc.) and then showed us how to use the program to make tons of different digital creations! I am so stoked! I tried learning about photoshop a while back and I don't have the money or time right now to devote to that realm of digital scrapbooking, but this is SUPER easy and it will be a good way for me to get my foot in the door with digital. Plus, this company has a ton of extra bonus features that I had no idea! Anyway, here is a link to the website. Anyone who has been thinking about going digital should check it out. I was skeptical at first, but I am really sold now. Can't wait to start on some of my projects!
http://www.heritagemakers.com/



ONE: The Angela Johnson Sculpture Exhibit. WOW! Have you been to the Angela Johnson sculpture exhibit yet? It is in the temple visitor center until June 28th. DO NOT MISS IT! It is absolutely AMAZING! This woman started sculpting ten years ago just on a whim. She was a Soprano Opera singer for a long time and then just decided one day that she wanted to try something different. She had never taken a sculpting class before in her life, but felt inspired to buy some clay. She realized she has a natural talent and began creating unbeleivable sculptures. She has some of her creations on display right now and they will only be in three temple visitors centers total. I can't remember which ones. I recommend you call in advance and find out when Sister Parry will be there. She was our guide and did such an incredible job! I truly learned so much about the life of Christ and how it relates to my life through this exhibit. I went with some friends, but I am planning to take Steve and the boys to see it too. Definitely mark your calendars and head over there! AWESOME!!!!

Here is a link to her website, but ya gotta see these up close and in person!
Angela Johnson Sculptures