Couples Retreat

Anyone that knows me, knows that I LOVE self-help activities. And this little activity fell right into combining my two loves....self help and Michael! He was sweet enough to go along with me and we invited another couple with us...Brandon and Jeanna.


The day was about learning to communicate and better understand each other. One of the activities they had us do was to blind fold our partner and put them in a game of freeze tag. The partner who was not blindfolded had to communicate to the blind one where to go to get away from the person that was it. That was really interesting and enlightening to see how much I trusted Michael not to lead me astray. I totally trusted him by the way!

So we did activities on the ground for half the day like that and the other half was doing some fun things in the trees!


The giant swing by far was the highlight of the day for me! It was so thrilling to be lifted into the air and then dropped to just swing back and forth until you are stopped. Totally fun and I would do it again 100 more times. (I know the picture does not show that but really I was having a blast.)


Next came the zip tie. This one was very scary! You had to climb forever up this tree and then when you get to the top you have to jump off! It then zips you down the the other end of the enclosure by a line. Very intense...one that I would need to do a few more times to really lighten up. The zipping was fine, the jumping off the stand was the hard part.

It was fun and I would do it all again. There is something so freeing about falling.

Here is my honey after one of our blindfold experiments. I put a blindfold on him and then led him to a tree where he had to feel it in order to distinguish anything that would stand out to him about it, because he had to try and find it without his blindfold on. He did it too!

The biggest discovery I made for the day was just realizing, even more, that Michael really does "have my back". If I can always remember, especially when there is conflict, that he loves me and that if we just communicate we can get out of any mess we are in.

Here is Brandon being wild and crazy and jumping off a little stand to reach a ring that was really far away! This was one that I didn't do. Maybe if we go back I'll have to give it a try. All in all great day.

Goodbye DIRT!

Since our last attempt at grass last fall we have patiently put up with the mud, dust, and other unpleasantries that go along with mass amounts of dirt right next to your home. But alas, the sod has arrived! This is a view of the work ahead of us.

(The picture does not do justice to the 19 pallets of sod to be rolled out!)


This lady is an amazing woman! She is our home teachers wife... Tammi. Very knowledgeable and a super hard worker. I tired my best to keep up with her.


This man is our home teacher and the best one we have ever had too! He has helped us out more than once, and we are always thankful for what he and his family does for us.

Not only did they show up first thing April 30th but we were able to reap the blessings of doing it on a ward service day so we had a few others helping too. I don't know what we would have done if people didn't show up. (Probably still trying to lay it today!)

I can't tell you what having grass does to liven up the place. When it gets really pretty and green I will have to post an after shot.

Easter 2011

This year's Easter was pretty fun. I wanted to make it more spiritual than it was but that didn't happen. I try to separate the Resurrection from the Easter bunny...at this age that is not always easy to do.

How we have attempted to do that is by teaching them about Jesus Christ's last days starting on Passover Sunday. And that whole week leading up to Easter Sunday we have a quick spiritual thought on what he did on that particular day. So this way it builds up to the miracle of the Resurrection. (This idea came from a fabulous book from Desert Book.) We do the Easter bunny thing on Saturday so we can leave Sunday for the real reason of the day. We were unable to do the whole week deal this year because Michael took me on a surprise vacation. (Later post on that.)

This was the second year we took the kids to Desert Peak on Saturday and let them do the hunt there. Later that day we had the Squires come over and we had our own little inside hunt for the kids here. (Cole chose to not be in the picture and was having a little episode in his room at this point.)



It is so fun to watch the excitement of the holidays on kids faces. I LOVE how Morgan was way into Easter this year.

I could kick myself for not getting an Easter picture of all of us that morning. We were in a hurry and the boys had to go on with out us girls that morning. We were running a little behind. I always underestimate how long it takes me to do Morgan's hair!


She was a vision in her cute little dress and her fuzzy little hair.

That day I was thankful that Christ went through with his hellish last days on earth for us mortals. I was thankful that he was strong enough, loved us enough, and never gave up on us, and finished what His Father sent Him to do. Because of Him I have the family that I do, because of Him I can progress and be better, because of him I can be with my family forever if I live right. What a blessing to know Him and feel his love!

Sweet Moments

Constant fighting, tattling, and hurt feelings are a norm around here it seems with the kids. I see it so often that when I see behavior that shows love and concern for one another it is the BEST feeling ever to witness and I want to treasure it always.

So Carson had to get some shots last week at the Dr.'s office to get him ready for Kindergarten. He was very brave about the whole situation until the nurse told him he would have to pull his pants down so she could stick him in the upper leg. At that point the situation deteriorated. It ended with him sitting in my lap crying very loudly and Morgan right by crying just as loudly. She did not like seeing him in pain at all. Once it was over they both settled down but it was sooooo cute to see her in pain over his pain.

Fast forward to today... we had some friends over and they have an older boy that was messing around with Cole and carrying him out to the backyard to throw him in the sprinklers. Once Morgan caught wind of what was going on she went running after them yelling, "Give me my brother", while crying. She was so upset over the situation. The older boy, Jared, pretended to hand him to her and she stretched out her hands ready and willing to carry him back to safety if she had too.

We all got such a kick out of seeing how sweet and protective she was that Jared decided to do it to Carson this time. Same reaction as last, crying and yelling after him, "Give me my brother."

I love seeing sweet moments like that where you see that the kids really do love each other, even though they fight 85% of the time. Ahhhh...the moments I live for.