2017- Week 34(Aug 21- Aug 27)

Monday was the total solar eclipse. This was a big deal for everyone but us. A bunch of my neighbors drove up to Idaho so they could see the totality. I had planned on making cereal viewing boxes but ran out of time because we were doing something much more important and that was getting Whitney's learner's permit. She has been putting off doing it because she was nervous about not passing the test. She has had friends that had to take it multiple times and she didn't want to do that. She has been studying for weeks so I finally decided to just make the appointment for her so she had to face her fears. Her studying paid off and she passed on the first try. She was super excited. I let her drive me to Old Navy for her first drive and she did great. Ashtyn was upset that I remained so calm with her though because sorry to say but I was a nervous wreck with Ashtyn. I told her that is the joy of being the first child- your parents do everything wrong and by the second child everything right- ha ha. We got home at 11:15 and the eclipse was in progress. We stood outside for a while to see if it got darker or colder or anything. It got barely darker but other then that nothing happened for us. Then when I jumped on Instagram later all these people were posting pictures of cool shadows they saw and how much colder they felt and I felt like I must have been watching it in another universe. I heard of people in Idaho actually crying because it was so cool- so I guess next time we will have to make a better effort to experience it in all it's glory.

Tuesday marked the first day of High School for Ashtyn and Whitney. I think I was more nervous then they were. They were so ready though and it was a great day. Ethan had back to school night and then a planning meeting for his camp this weekend.

 Junior Year

Sophomore Year

Ethan started the next day. He is in a new carpool this year with mostly kids he doesn't know so he was a little apprehensive. Luckily our neighbor was the first to drive and I picked up so it was fine.

8th Grade

We have been working super hard this week to complete the last few projects Whitney has to earn her Young Woman medallion. One of her goals had been to completely organize the house- which we have done little by little and the basement was the last part. I have absolutely no expectations that it will stay organized ha ha, but it looks great for now. I also have a huge pile of things to take to DI now. Another project she has been doing is making a book about our Nauvoo trip and writing about some of our ancestors that lived there. She should finish everything up this week- which will be awesome! Now to get Ethan his Eagle....

 Organized by genre.

Ethan heading off to camp

Brody and Brooklyn slept over on Friday. We went to Peterson Farms for the Food Truck rally and tried the Art City Donuts- mmmmm. Then we went to a park up in Daybreak and played for a while. Ethan was on a scout camp so Brody was a little bored. Brooklyn and I played Project Runway with the Barbies and competed in the unconventional materials challenge where we both designed dresses for our dolls out of garbage. Brooklyn actually did an awesome job on hers all by herself.

Mine on the left and hers on the right

Friday was also the first Bingham football game. They played East and won. Jeff's dad went because he claims that since he went to West he loves to see East get their butts kicked. The girls had a blast. Saturday was the first BYU game- I 'm going to try to embrace this season.

Sunday I taught sharing time again and we made a Sunday Sundae which represented keeping the Sabbath Day holy. We put in good toppings for good activities and bad toppings for bad- like sunscreen for going to the beach instead of to church, dirt and grass for playing in a soccer game, money for going shopping, bathroom spray for cleaning, pencil shavings for doing homework, and oil for boating. The kids loved it. We also had my family over for a party for Brody's birthday. He is 8. Where has the time gone? He is such a cute kid. The party had to end early so we could all get to bed for school and work.

2017- Week 33(Aug 14- Aug 20)

Monday was our 19th anniversary. There wasn't much excitement however because our focus was on our much anticipated camping trip with the whole Shaw crew. We spent the morning shopping for food and loading up the car and coolers. We left around 1 to head up to Pineview Reservoir in Ogden Canyon. It's a short little drive which made it nice because our car was stuffed to the gills. We barely had room for the kids- ha ha. Once we got to camp we unpacked and began setting up our tent. Our tent overlooked the reservoir and the view was spectacular. It's amazing how the second we step foot in nature our whole bodies relax, we can breath easier, we feel happier and we feel more alive- well at least Jeff and I do.

It was a magical and a blur of a week. Here are just a few of the highlights...

1. The view- Seriously I loved stepping out of my tent each day to see the view. I love water.
2. Sleeping in cozy quarters with my little family.
3. Not getting much sleep. The first night was windy and rainy and I barely slept. I worried all night we would get soaked or blow over.
4. The food- we ate like kings. Everyone was in charge of a meal and they were all so good. We had hamburgers, an oatmeal bar, sandwiches, power balls, lots and lots of butter finger muddy buddys, my new favorite Cheesy BBQ Trail Mix from Walmart, peanut butter M & M's, BBQ dutch oven chicken and baked potatoes, salad, stuffed french toast, tortilla pizzas- another new favorite, pancakes(Sharon and I tried cooking a marshmallow in a pancake and it melted and got all gooey- but then totally didn't taste good.), lots of smores and zucchini muffins
5. We played on the beach and got to ride wave runners that were borrowed. We also had kayaks, paddle boards and floats galore to frolic with.
6. The kids built sand castles and got all sandy.
7. Ashtyn led the girls in discovering the special mud located beneath the sand and they all had mud baths.
8. The boys proceeded to steal the special mud and make the girls scream.
9.  Campfires every night and talking about life around them.
10. Playing crazy bridge and the crazy bidding that goes along with it. Tom- repeatedly saying "take one for the team" trying to set people and yet when it helped him the "team" went out the window- ha ha.
11. The bathrooms- that were right next door and that at first were great but by the second day smelled like death and the smell would waft into our camp.
12. Scott telling us a story about visiting a morgue on his mission and the actual smell of death.
13. Sleeping snuggled up to Jeff all night to stay warm.
15. Girls sleepover in their own tent.
16. The boys and their fake fighting all over camp.
17. Secret Friends- mine was Maddie and she ended up having me too.
18. The kids watching movies in Paul and Kellies trailer. I actually wasn't fond of this because electronics have no place in the mountains but it was fun to see them all cuddled up together.
19. Baby Ruby- so fun to cuddle her and see all the cute things she says and does at this age.
20. Being all together- my favorite part for sure.
21. Ethan's awesome marshmallow roaster that could roast the perfect mallow every time.
22. Waking up to a fire.
23. No makeup or hair to worry about. No showers- which at first is fun but by the end not so much.
24. Meeting new people.
25. Playing cards on the beach.
26. A lady coming over and saying "this might sound weird but I think one of your kids is stuck out with their kayak and they can't get back." We all look and can't even figure out if it's one of our kids or not and then discover it's not when we see a mom swimming out to help them. This was not funny and then funny because we had so many kids- ha ha.
27. Lots and lots of sunscreen.
28. Learning about two of our ancestors that joined the church in England and came to America so we could have a better life. Elisha Peck and Henry Eccles.
29. Camping shirts.
30. Pali sandals with socks.
31. Clothes lines everywhere.
32. Living out of a box.
33. Ethan refusing to use the men's restroom because there was a wasp nest in it- so I had to stand out side the women's and "guard" the door.
34. The beach walk Jeff and I took for our anniversary- I planned a sunset kayak ride but it was too windy.
35. Another walk we stole away on and sat and watched the night skiers on the lake.
36. Seeing my special lake house. Jeff took me on a wave runner ride to get a closer look.
37. Double sleeping bags.

It was such a fun trip and went way too fast. Thursday we had to pack up and head home. When we got home and all unpacked we got In N Out for lunch and then showered and slept the day away. Camping is exhausting.

Friday night we had Porter and Fischer sleep over while Kristy and Miles went away for their anniversary so Ethan was in heaven that the fun got to last a little longer.

Saturday was a special day for Liz. She took out her endowments. It was neat to be part of it and Jeff got to take her up to do the prayer circle. Afterwards we went to Red Robin for lunch.

Sunday I taught sharing time again. We talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and I told them the story of the Israelites. We also had one last family dinner with Scott and Malia before they have to head home next week. When we are all together we are loud but it's also so fun. Grandma was there too. It was a great way to end the Summer. The kids all go back to school next week. Summer really flew by this year.

2017- Week 32(Aug 7- Aug 13)

I feel like I spent the whole week shopping for school, for family pictures and for our upcoming camping trip.

Jeff left for the High Adventure camp with the young men early Monday morning. Monday was also Sophomore orientation day for Whitney. They took their school pictures and gave them their ID cards. Then she got to check out where her classes will be. She is really excited for this year.

Tuesday was Junior day for Ashtyn- same deal all over again for her.

My sister Emily was in town and came to hang out with us on Tuesday. We went to Costco and did a little shopping and had lunch.

Wednesday we went swimming with my mom, Melinda and her kids and Emily. I had to leave early because Daisy had an appointment at the vet to get her annual shots. I thought it would be a quick in and out but they did blood work to check her for heart worm and other things. Something went wrong the first time so they had to draw it again before we could see the vet. Then she had her check up and got her shots. Jeff got home right as I was finishing up so I ran and picked him up and then headed to Pack Meeting. Ethan got invited to go to Lagoon with some friends so he was there.

Thursday we went with Emily and Melinda again to a fun new park in Bluffdale that has a huge slide and huge splash pad. The kids had fun running around in the water. When we were done we went and met my aunt Carolyn for lunch at Olive Garden. It had been a long time since we've seen her and it was fun to catch up.

Friday was our family picture day. We met at Murray Park and Kristy's friend Lynette took them for us. It was crazy last time and there were crying kids, but this time it was great. Lynette had to leave an hour later so she was quick and efficient. All the kids did amazing and listened and smiled and I am really excited to see how they turned out. Afterwards we grabbed dinner and then I went to my friend Tanya's 50th birthday party. Friday was also Daisy's 5th birthday. The kids insisted we throw her a party so I bought her a special red fire hydrant doggie cookie and sang to her. The next day I found her bed covered in red puke so it looks like she didn't like the cookie too much. She's a sweet dog and I can't believe we've already had her for five years.

  Of course these two were the stars of the show because we had all been dying to see them.

Saturday Jeff went golfing with his Dad and brothers. I went shopping for the camping trip and made food and got all the things we need layed out. When Jeff got home we went out for our anniversary that is next week during the camping trip. We went to Rodizio grill. The food was amazing but I didn't love getting interrupted by the waiters every two seconds to bring us more meat. After dinner we walked around Trolley Square and checked out the shops. They have a Pottery Barn and that is my favorite store. If I had unlimited resources that is where I would shop- it's totally my style. We also checked out a cooky store called Cabin Fever- that sells all kinds of fun novelties. They had a book there about parenting fails that had me laughing so hard I was crying. They also had some items that were a little inappropriate so maybe don't take your kids there. Then we drove to Memory Grove and took a walk in City Creek Canyon. It was gorgeous and so peaceful. There were tons of people with dogs and on our way back a wet dog came racing past us and splattered both of us in mud- which sucked but we went to the creek and used wet leaves to get cleaned up as best we could. After the creek we headed over to check out Hatch Family Chocolates. I use to watch their show on TV and have been dying to try their treats. We got a caramel apple to share which I told Jeff should become our new anniversary traditions because we both love them. We took it home to eat because we were both still stuffed from dinner. WOW! Best caramel apple I have ever had. It tasted so so good. On the way home we drove by Jeff's grandma Shaw's old house. It's been painted and the yard was a total dump. I love little old streets like that and I wish I could have seen it in it's hay day. It was a really fun night. We will be married for 19 years on Monday. I still love Jeff as much as the day I married him- way more in fact.