Corn Maze at Linder Farms

One thing that grows really well in our valley is CORN! We LOVE corn. It grows in a field behind our house and I was a bit nervous that one boy or another would go into the corn field and get lost. After taking them to a corn maze they know what it is like now. Our cub scouts sold discounted tickets to the Linder Farms Corn Maze (what a great fund raiser!). So we actually went to the corn maze as a family. It was an adventure we'll probably do again with a few adjustments. Dallin went with his friend a few days earlier so he was a bit unfun and bossy with his brothers--teenager time. He got in big trouble and did much better by the time we went to pick out pumpkins. So next time, he'll act better or we won't let him go with friends first. Thayne enjoyed the corn maze until the corn pollen or dust or something caused him to have an asthma attack. The poor guy could not breath and we didn't have an inhaler with us and we were as far in the corn maze as we could get. Next time: Thayne takes allergy meds before we go and we take an inhaler with us. He'll have much more fun when he can breath.

The rest of us had a great time. Hunter and Luke have an amazing sense of direction. They did really good getting us to the check points.

The boys loved the bridge between a couple of the mazes. Thayne, Bruce, and Hunter. We were just starting so Thayne still had some good smiles in him.
Hunter in the corn. After a few days people try to take short cuts through the maze, so the flags are put up to prevent cheating!
Bruce really had a great time finding the check points.


Here we are all together. I find it interesting that strangers volunteer to take a picture, but they don't look at the screen to see that most of our eyes are closed when it was taken. Poor Thayne. I can tell he doesn't feel too well in this picture.
Left to right: Melissa, Dallin, Lance, Hunter, Luke, Thayne and Bruce

After the maze we went on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our future jack o lanterns! Bruce was pretty happy and Luke was thrilled. Luke LOVES LOVES LOVES hay rides. He went on his first hay ride that he could remember on July 24th. Well, he went on several that day because he liked it so much. So we had to go on hay ride in October too!


After we picked our pumpkins, Lance asked anyone if they were hungry. Then he whipped out a loaf of pumpkin bread out of his trusty fanny pack! Okay, it wasn't a full sized loaf. It was out a 2/3 sized loaf. I was just shaking my head at him, but I was secretly grateful he brought food. Dallin was so funny! He took his chunk of pumpkin bread, looked at the pumpkins, and put his other hand up by his mouth to shield the pumpkins view of what he was eating and said, "I'm so sorry you have to see this, pumpkins."

Football Fever!

One reason fall is my favorite time of year is because it is football season! I have always loved watching football! So I am quite happy that Dallin really loves playing football. It is the best sport that he has tried. Soccer was fun to practice, but not too fun to play. He was a great goalie,but he didn't like running after the ball and he's a bit like his dad and not aggressive enough to steal the ball. That's okay--there were more sports to try. Basketball was the same as soccer. He only did one year of that. Baseball was better once Dallin figured out how to hit the ball--sometimes it's hard being a lefty. But baseball players really don't spend a lot of time at bat--they mostly spend a lot of time standing around--especially if you are in the out field during little league! So football. Okay. Dallin LOVES hitting people. He loves TACKLING. He loves playing DEFENSE! He doesn't even really mind doing up/downs (or down/ups) for conditioning. He is getting some serious muscles too!

The whole experience is made even better when you get to play on a team that won every game by A LOT! They had a great year and the Kuna 8th grade is the District III Champions. They ended up playing South Middle School, which is the team they lost to last year for the District Championship. So it was a really sweet game.

Through the season Dallin played on special teams for kick off. Which means, he got on the field lots since his team scored lots. I really should have kept track of their scores, but I didn't. Now I'm bummed. I have this number though plus or minus a few points--Over the session they scored something like 181 points and the defense only gave up 34 points! Impressive. I hope Dallin continues to play and that he works really hard at it and runs faster! Congratulations to KUNA 8TH GRADE FOOTBALL TEAM! GO KAVEMEN!

Dallin is #73. This is on a kick off against West Middle School.

Dallin is in his three point stance playing left defensive tackle against West Middle School.


Dallins says, "Football is AWESOME! It's the best sport in the world and I wish it didn't have to end."

Hunter's New Career

Hunter has always liked coloring and drawing. He really does have some pretty good skills. This past month he's had much success. I think he should make it a childhood career!

All the first graders at his school entered into a coloring contest at the Nampa Edwards theater. Hunter won 1st place in his class and he got two tickets to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He took me on a date there the beginning of October when we were out of school. It was a fun movie and Hunter had a great time. I really enjoy going to the nice theater and enjoyed the comfy chairs and nice smell (the cheap theaters have a scent to them that takes a few minutes to get over--but hey, I don't mind it since I spend less money.)
His picture was with the other winners in the lobby of the theater for a month. His picture is the top left corner.

The week of Halloween Hunter and Luke both colored pictures for a coloring contest at Paul's Market in Kuna. I got called on Halloween morning and told that he had won the contest for his age group. He won five dollars! Luke was bit bummed he didn't win too, but he got candy while he was there--so he was okay.
Hunter used his money at the book fair at school to buy a Sponge Bob book. The book only had black and white drawings in it, which he colored immediately!


So now I'm on the prowl for more coloring contest! Maybe he'll win a big prize sometime! I got a $75 saving bond from a fire prevention poster contest when I was in fourth grade. I cashed it out my freshman year of college for$72 and some change. It would have been one more year to reach full value--not worth it to me to wait--I needed a homecoming dress! I think Hunter enjoys the immediate rewards more! He's quite rich!

Trick or Treating Time

Lance and I dressed up this year for our couples party as Fred and Daphne. I think Lance looks great in the pictures, but I was not too photogenic this year. But I liked my costume--I felt like a cartoon character.

Yeah for Halloween on a Saturday! It was fun this year. Our neighbor, Alex Sawyer came with us around the neighborhoods. We do our street and a few places close by. The houses are pretty far apart so we drive. The boys get about 1/2 a bucket full of really good candy. They even scored some full sized candy bars too. We don't get many trick or treaters--about 7. I think I'll get some full sized candy bars for them next year too! The boys didn't even get ONE Tootsie roll. Yes, I'm complaining. I really like them.

Here's our cute younger boys as Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

We took them with us to Paul's Market in Kuna and they entered into a very casual costume contest. I think they won 2nd place--it was based on the applause of about 7 employees. They went for the little 1 year olds both times in pretty normal costumes. There were some really creative costumes there that were much better. The boys both got some candy from the service desk so they were really happy.

Thayne was much more excited about dressing up on Halloween night since Alex got to come with us. Bruce is on the left, then Alex, and Thayne is on the right. It's a good thing that they have different shoes!


Dallin, who had professed to be too old to trick or treat, stayed home to scare people coming to our house. He decorated the porch a few days before Halloween and he made a stuffed person to sit up on the porch. Then on Halloween night as we were getting ready to leave he brought the person in and started putting the clothes on! I had no idea he was planning to do this. He dressed up just like his stuffed person and sat in the same chair on the porch. It was great! Too bad for him we get so few trick or treaters. He sat out there for an hour. He did get to scare a couple of Alex's siblings when they came a bit after 7:00. The others didn't come until almost 9:00, and it was bit chilly by then.
Dallin's Trick: Sorry this is sideways--I forgot I was holding the camera that way.

Happy Halloween

The boys, except Dallin, seem to be super excited for Halloween this year. Luke has been asking since September, "When is Halloween?" I'd say, "Next month." "ugh! That's what you said last time!" Things got better when we got to October and I could say weeks.

Wednesday was Hunter's school party and the ward party, so we all got to dress up. Luke is the most excited of them all. He is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and so cute. He just bounces around all happy. I found him some brown valor sweats at Savers to turn into his costume. They have worked out very well. We added fur, ears, antlers and a tail. He didn't get a red nose for the school party, but he came and reminded me for the ward party.
(Hunter's 1st grade class & Luke --Miss Recanzone's class)



Hunter is Santa Claus. He has been trilled to team up with Luke. He has also put lots of people on the Naughty List. If anyone teased him about his costume or told him he had the wrong holiday, etc. he told them, "I'm putting you on the Naughty List!" It always brought a chuckle. Those that told him what they wanted for Christmas, asked if they could sit on his lap, or said "cool costume" he put them on the nice list.


Thayne and Bruce both wanted to be Ninjas. I just bought costumes and they were happy with that. They were even okay with the fact that they matched (I wasn't willing to spend and extra $10 for a different costume so they could have different ones--they got the matching cheapest ones I could find!) until it came time to get dressed Wednesday night. Thayne was refusing to match Bruce. He wanted to spray paint his a different color. We told him NO. Then he said he'd color it with a marker--still a NO. I finally told him if he didn't wear it I was going to make him pay me back for the costume out of his commission over the next month or so. He finally got dressed!

Dallin is TOO OLD to dress up this year! But, he still had fun at the ward party in the deacon's booth. They had a William Tell theme. A piece of plywood with three characters on it and holes for the deacon's faces. Then the kids got a toy bow and arrow with a large marshmallow dipped in pudding. Fun shooting those at the deacons! It didn't work out as good as they hoped, but the deacons all had a great time doing it. Eventually the kids just started throwing the marshmallows at them.

At the party I got to hang out with Luke the whole time. He really liked the donuts on a string. It was fun to watch. The wind was blowing enough that it was hard for the kids to get the donuts in their mouths (we were at the Nampa South Stake Center Outbuilding). I was actually relieved to not be working at that booth with the MiaMaids since I got released. I hope they had fun doing it, even though it was cold, since I gave them the idea. The Priest and Laurels did a spook alley in the huge winter scout tent. Luke was bouncing with excitement to go in. He was so brave and he looked for the jokes once he got in. He would be a little scared and nervous at first to touch the "brains" or "eyeballs" but then he laughed when he figured it out.

Next update will be a Halloween recap!

Lucky Luke

A few weeks ago, I had a night campout with the Young Women on a Wednesday night. I got very little sleep. When I got home Lance asked about how I slept, then he informed me his night was just as bad. Hunter threw up several times (on the carpet really good--had spaghetti for dinner--not pretty!) and Luke was up crying and fussing at his itchy feet.

His feet were looking really bad with eczema after running around in the grass bare foot (he's allergic to it we think) and two weeks of swimming lessons (chlorine irritates eczema too). But then the spots weren't just eczema and he got more up his legs and few on his belly. Lance thought maybe it was chicken pox. Nah! He's had both the shot and the booster! Well, maybe it is. I got on the Internet to check things out. The effectiveness of the shot numbers look like this: in 85-95% of vaccinated people it is effective against an outbreak 100 % of the time. So that means 15-5% of the people receiving the shot will have a case of the chicken pox, but the cases are usually very mild. I have 5 kids who all got the shot--so that is about right--one should get the chicken pox--Lucky Luke! After looking at pictures, a call to the doctor's office, and a chat with nurse, I was convinced. After several days of watching it progress there was no question. He really did have a mild case and never ran a fever. Lots on his feet and legs, a few on his torso and armpits, two on his hands and several on his head in his hair. None on his back, privates, face or mouth (those are the probably
the worst places to get them). He was pretty good about the whole experience. The hardest part was keeping kind of down and not letting him ride his bike, which he had just learned to do!

The Indoor Campout

For about a month we had planned to go camping August 8-10th. Menus were planned, spot was researched (I even tried to get reservations, but it was a first come campground), boys were excited, and then the weather report started looking really bad. Okay. I've camped in the rain. It stinks. Lance has camped in the rain. It's miserable. Wet. Cold. No getting warm. If it pours, you are in the tent. Imagine trying to keep five boys from touching the fabric of a tent so the water doesn't come in. That was enough right there to keep me home! Then Dallin woke up SICK Thursday morning. Poor guy, he really didn't feel good: coughing, then eventually throwing up, chills, low fever, weak. We stayed home and had an indoor campout.

Thursday we started the day out wet. Lance got drenched at a site meeting in Boise (he got to do a good mornings of work--that was worth being here!). While he was gone, Thayne and Bruce made rain gauges for a Bear arrow point activity. Eventually Thayne moved his rain gauge to see how much water he could catch under the rain gutter. It filled the can. By early afternoon we figured we had about 1/4 inch of rain. We had a lunch of Pasta Roni's White Cheddar Cheese and Shells and hot dogs. If we had been camping this would have been made at home and then made into a "tinfoil dinner" and heated up in camp fire coals (Thayne's request). Lance and I would have had regular tinfoil dinners, but we had leftovers instead.

We decided seeing a movie fit with staying home. Then the boys could eat some of the camping snacks on the way to the theater: handisnacks (cheese and crackers with little red cheese spreading things--Hunter's request) and Doritos! We went to see Monster vs. Aliens in 3D. So fun, even though it costs more than the $2 we thought we'd be spending. The $4 per person really was worth it. It was so fun to look down the row and see everyone in their nerdy looking 3D glasses. It was the first time for any of us to see a 3D movie. We really did jump as things flew right at us; I saw Luke reaching out with his hand trying to touch stuff (I think I may have done it too). Lance thought it was freaky when it looked like things were coming from behind us and I thought that was the COOLEST effect. I think we'll be doing that again.

We came home and had Root Beer Roast, Sour Cream Potatoes, and roasted marshmallows over candles at the kitchen table then made smores with fudge covered peanut butter cookies. Yummy. Then the boys, minus Dallin, all took their sleeping bags upstairs to sleep. Bruce and Luke both ended up in their beds before falling asleep. It POURED all night!

Friday we started the morning out with Mountain Man Breakfast in a Dutch oven and Hot Chocolate. Still very wet outside. Weather forcast--100 % chance of rain. After just hanging out some and kids riding down the stairs in their sleeping bags, we had a lunch of tuna sandwiches. Then we made trail mix with a choice of peanuts, raisins, yogurt covered peanuts, mini baking sized M&Ms, and pretzels. Packed hiking backpacks (another Bear activity) with trail mix, water bottles, and pudding cups. We headed up to park our van in a parking lot by 12th and the stop light going into Walmart, and we hiked the greenbelt. Where we started it is paved, but then the paving stopped and we had a hike through some mud along the Wilson Drain. It was a trail, but just really wet. Then after crossing Iowa the trail is paved for several miles. It just follows along the Wilson Drain. There are trees most of the way, so the drizzling rain didn't bug us too bad. We crossed several roads and got to us the fun orange pedestrian flags, we saw lots of ducks braving the "rapids of death," a cat that looked a LOT like Cali, a moose (wood cut out) and several really fun backyards. We hiked just to the westside of Midland Blvd. before turning around. One really cool highlight was the snails we found on the trail between Midland and Amity Road. We had no idea there were so many around Nampa. On the way back we took a street to avoid the mud after we crossed Iowa again. We hiked close to 4 miles. Then we took our wet selves to Albertson's to buy chicken for Dutch oven chicken and potatoes and rented The Pink Panther 2 for a evening movie. It rained 100% of the time during our hike.

The four younger boys all slept upstairs. They stayed up super late (after 12) watching another movie, but they were being very kind to each other and having lots of fun.

We slept in super late on Saturday (that never happens when I camp outdoors) and then we made bacon and eggs in a paper bag and muffins in an orange and more hot chocolate. The muffins in an orange turned out great! We really liked that and it's simple to do. Cut the top off an orange (we used small oranges) and scoop out the insides, fill the orange 2/3 full of muffin batter, wrap with tinfoil leaving room at the top for the muffin to rise, cook on hot coals for about 10-15 minutes. Dallin made all the orange pulp into orange juice for himself. The bacon and eggs were awful! They took a long time to cook and didn't taste good. The bacon stuck to the bottom of the bag and was soft instead of crisp--except for the parts that were burnt. We won't do that one again. I thought for sure that it was really good when I did it at Girls Camp as a Young Women years ago--nostalgia will do that to memories! The breakfast experience pretty much ended our campout. Then we went back to doing laundry and weekend jobs--bummer!

Independence Day in Melba!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Every year we go to Melba for the parade on the 4th of July. It's a fun small town just 7 miles south of us. I was feeling a bit of pressure to get my dresses done for our Martin's Cove/Rocky Ridge Trek, so I begged off going to the parade this year. Lance took pictures for me. The boys had a great time collecting candy and then getting treats from the vendors. Traditionally we got some potato chips which have been come known in our house as "Melba Chips." Thayne and Bruce opted for 14 inch corn dogs instead of "Melba Chips." I finished a lot of sewing!

Later that day we had the Rudds and Hellewells over for dinner and we played boucee ball. That is fun. Then we talked the boys into getting a movie and skipping the fireworks. I know that was so unpatriotic sounding! But we were exhausted, physically and emotionally, after our previous two weeks. We had been on vacation/reunion, came home, bought a piano, went to day camp, had my parents come stay with us so we could all go to my sweet Aunt Shirley's funeral on the 3rd, then we visited with lots of our Ricks family. That all lead up right into the 4th. We enjoyed staying home and watching Bolt (I even fell asleep for a few minutes during it) and then we looked outside to see the private fireworks going off around the valley and acroos the street--good displays! It was just enough! We enjoyed the freedom of staying home!

Cub Scout Day Camp

Cub Scout Day Camp was June 29 and 30th at Lake Lowell in Nampa. I have never been to day camp with any of my cubs before. This was my year. It was kind of fun, a bit warm, and very tiring! The boys all had a good time. The highlight of the day continues to be archery and bb gun shotting. They also did so fun rocket stuff. I got some video of the Rocket Stomp.



Here's a few fun pictures of my cubs, Thayne and Bruce.

Thayne practicing with a bow before using the arrow. (above)
Loading the arrows. Bruce is on the far end and Thayne is closest to the camera. (below)


Bruce with a BB gun (above)
Thayne with a BB gun (below)

The Life of a Piano

Way back in 1999 sometime, I decided I was really needing a piano. We were in Ft. Collins at the time and I was teaching flute lessons. I had decided that I was willing to spend about $100 on a simple keyboard or something so that my students could learn to play with accompaniment. Then early one Thursday morning Lance called me right after he got to work. He had picked up a Thrifty Nickle and looked at pianos. There was a piano listed for $100. I had not even told him that I wanted to start looking for one! He gave me the number to call. I called it right way because pianos for low prices sell very quickly. I left a message on the answering machine. Just a little while later the piano owner called me back. I told him I was interested in the piano, asked if every note worked, etc. He said everything worked, it was old, and in a room they needed to make into a bedroom. He said they listed the piano for $100, but they were willing to take half that. I said I'd take it--sight unseen. I arranged for several men to help move it to our house the next day. Because we only had a truck and some guys rode with Lance to get the piano, I stayed home and waited for it. When Lance first saw the piano he almost walked away from the deal because it was so dirty. I'm glad he didn't. I really needed it. After loading the piano up, he pulled out his wallet and took out 3 $20's. The man said he'd just take $40. Lance asked if he had change for a $20. The man insisted he'd just take $40. So we got the piano for $40. I cleaned it up good and filed down some of the pointy edges of the ivories, and glued on a few. Then I had the piano tuned for $60. It held its tune very well. Even though it was kinda ugly, I had a piano that worked!




I always wondered about my piano's life. It was built around 1905, most likely in Des Moines, Iowa. The hammers were deeply grooved so one could tell it had been played A LOT. At one time it was a player piano, but its guts had been removed sometime later. I bet a piano could tell good stories: How it ended up in Colorado, who played it, how many children learned to play the piano using its keys.

We moved it from Ft. Collins to our duplex in Nampa. Movers loaded it onto the truck and the elder's quorum moved it off the truck into our house. Then we used the elder's quorum and a rented piano dolly to move it to our house. I started teaching lessons again there. My students were tolerant of the piano. I started saving for a piano with lesson money, but after Sept. 11th I used piano money for food storage instead. When we moved to this house in 2006, we paid a piano mover--worth every penny. I had it tuned for the last time too. Last year the bass F started sticking. It was such a pain. Poor Andrew, a student, had to play his festival pieces up on octave every week. It stuck while I played flute accompaniments. The middle notes started have strange echoes to them and it sounded crazy. Even Lance noticed from the office upstairs. That's how you know it's bad, if Lance notices!

I started looking around on Craig's List. I knew I wanted at least another upright grand--they sound so good, full and rich or a baby grand. I saw several grands go for unbelievable prices, before I had any money. But one thing about a slow economy is people sell stuff they aren't using. So we finally got our taxes finished (well, not us, the old company finally finished their taxes so we could finish ours) and I looked again. I had been watching this piano for a few weeks and found it interesting. I sent a link to Lance. He called me and asked me if I wanted a new piano. I told him "I NEED a new piano." He couldn't disagree. It is my job. He even went to Dunkley Music in Boise to learn more about pianos before we started looking.

We looked at the piano in June and gave a deposit for it. Then later in June I took a check for the rest. It was delivered while I was at Cub Scout Day Camp. I literally just smile and clap my hands when I think about it. I love playing it. I think the boys do too. We had the old piano delivered to our new neighbors garage just up the street. They can use it until they find a good piano. Then maybe they'll pass it on to someone else too.

I wish I knew this piano's life too. The past several years, she has been a church piano. But the church only used it once a week for practice and once on Sundays. The church was given a smaller piano so they decided to sell this one. Before that it belonged to a divorced man. He and his wife had bought it from Gary about 10 years ago. Gary is the piano broker/tuner we bought it from. That man ended up with it in the divorce--then after a few years of sitting, he asked Gary to sell it. Gary sold it to the church. But that is only about 10 years of its life. It was built in the 1920's in New York on "piano row" where there were several piano manufacturers, including Steinway and Chickering--the two biggest piano names. William Bradbury started the piano company in the 1850's. He is not known for piano building as much as he is a composer. He wrote the music for "Jesus Loves Me," "Sweet Hour of Prayer," and "We Are All Enlisted," to name a few.



Now it is my piano. I hope for a long time! She needs a few new bass strings and the pedal adjusted from being moved, but she looks and sounds pretty. She has enough "life" on her already (scratches and dings) that I'm not nervous about my kids hurting her. Now the piano gets to help teach piano lessons and lots of kids get to practice on her too, hopefully almost everyday!

Warnick Festivus!

The last full week of June we spent in Island Park, Idaho with the Warnick family. Driving wise it was only one hour closer for us than the group of family coming from Hinckley, Utah. So we all had a trip to get there. I had never been to that part of our state. I only made it to the sand dunes in St. Anthony while I was at Ricks College.

We had a fun talent show on for the Family Home Evening activity. Our family did magic tricks and so did Ammon, Austin juggled (very well too), Sandra sang "Fried Ham" (thanks ;o), Grandpa, Darren, and Lillian sang, and Alan too, and William and Brayden did a puppet show, and Grandma read a funny story.








The "cabin" house was fun too. There were lots of bedrooms and several of the rooms had a loft in them with twin mattresses up there for sleeping. The older boys all got to share a room together, which I think is really fun for them. However, I don't know that it was that fun for Alan and Shelley who got to sleep in the room next to them. (Last time we gave our room up to the boys and ended up in the theater room next to them.)
We had fun meals together, games, a movie, and I got to go in the hot tub with lots of boys and Ashley. I'm so glad she came to keep me company! Several of the guys went fishing too.

We also we spent a couple days in Yellowstone and had a great time. Thayne and Bruce were a wealth of information about geysers, volcanoes, and Yellowstone: They got it all off a PBS kids show, "Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman" and they truly knew what they were talking about. So TV really is educational! We saw lots of animals. Luke would bound out of the van and bounce down the street to go check the animals out. All of us but Dallin got to see a bear. The first bear siting was when Dallin was with his cousin, Austin and family. They missed the bear that day. The second day going through the park, Dallin was with us and we didn't see anything, but Austin's family did. Poor Dallin. He'll have to go back again so other time to see a bear. We didn't find any moose, so we need to go back again someday too. Lance figured he's been about every 15 years. I don't want to what that long again, since I know my kids are old enough that they won't fall in the mud pots now.

Our Favorite Parts of the Family Reunion:

Bruce: playing with his cousins and the water fall
Thayne: playing with his cousins
Melissa: being with family, seeing a bear, getting a "Buffalo Chip" ice cream, and the water falls
Hunter: the Fried Ham song
Luke: "Doing magic with Dallin and me."
Dallin: "I don't know" (he must be 12!)
Lance: seeing the bear

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Shavonne's wedding and I like sushi-- a lot

We started this summer off by being out of school on May 30th! It is the first time we have not had any school in June at all. And we go back to school the last week of August--so it will be our longest summer ever. Lance is working from home and he says it is definitely more noisy with all the boys home. He locks himself (literally) in his office upstairs, but it is by the room where the boys play. Luckily Kuna has started a Boys and Girls Club and it only cost $10 per child for the whole summer so Thayne, Bruce, and Hunter can go there and play for hours (anytime between 11 and 6). It is only for grades 1-6 so Dallin and Luke get to hang out together. They have a blast and see friends from school. They will get to do that a few times a week.

In June, I flew down to my parents on June 2nd to help my mom with some wedding preparations for Shavonne and Joshua's wedding on the 6th. We got to go shopping for shirts and ties for the boys, make cake balls, mini cheese balls, and lots of cream cheese mints. Then I made corsages, bouiterres and Shavonne's bouquet. Their reception was very cool looking with fun colors of gerber daisies and the yellow and orange Shavonne loves. Lance and the boys all came on the Friday before. We got to stay at my sister Elisabeth's new house with Douglas and Shauna's family. Elisabeth hadn't even moved in yet--so it was just us and sleeping bags and a few air mattresses. The hot water heater was broken--so we got cold showers. She has gotten it fixed since she moved in, but it took a few days for that to happen too, so she got cold showers too. I figured it was easier to deal with the cold showers than to worry about fitting showers in at Mom and Dad's house with a bride getting ready and the other guest to their house. Lance forgot the camera, which is the only thing he forgot. Pretty good with five kids to bring.

We had a good time visiting everyone. The boys really just enjoyed seeing cousins. They all danced together at the wedding which was really cute. They loved going swimming together too. We missed seeing Joseph and Sasha and their girls, who still had school. We know it's hard to live far away from family at these times. They are lucky enough to live by her family though.

My brother, Douglas, is a chef at King's Seafood and he and Shauna took, me, Lance, Aunt Nancy, and Uncle Dana to eat at the restaurant in Las Vegas for lunch. I really miss eating fresh seafood. I used to order fish a lot when I went out to eat on a date in Mississippi, but not so much in Idaho! I tried sushi, I had had the sushi rolls with krab or tuna in them before and liked them (at my cousin's wedding reception) but never the "raw" sushi. Some of what I tried was raw, so sushi rolls are cooked. I like the ALL! The eel was my favorite, the tuna was really good too. One was spicy--very good stuff. Doug warned me to be careful because lots of restaurants will sell sushi, but it is not a good quality. I figured that would be the case. Lance got talapia (sp?). I liked it a lot! He liked it too and he didn't think he like fish. But since we live so far away from good fresh seafood, I doubt he'll be ordering any more fish for a while!

It's so good to visit family. We also got to go to Vegas in March for part of spring break. So the boys are feeling a bit more caught up with their cousins.

Pinewood Derby Cars and a recipe.

Bruce and his Pinewood Derby car. He went into the races hoping to have the faster car there, but he realized that every year is different. His car was fast again. The races were oh-so-close for so many of the boys. The best part of the derby was that at the end every boy got a really cool t-shirt with a design for the best car on the front and a racing hat from Napa Auto Parts.

Make a Smilebox recipe

Thayne's Pinewood Derby Car and another recipe. This is from my friend Heidi Mumford. She gave it to me years ago in Colorado and it is one of my favorites still, but ironically it is not one Thayne likes. He has a thing against spaghetti sauce! So I leave a few pieces of breaded chicken naked for him.

Make a Smilebox recipe

Pizza Dough

This is our favorite pizza dough recipe. I got it in college from Eileen ? (I think it is Mumford now) at Continental Apartments at USU. Anytime I'm feeling like just ordering pizza, I remind myself that this only takes 30 minutes to make a pizza and the cost is SO LOW. I've been working on a new recipe book as my Young Women value project (the 10 hours are LONG past! It'll be more like 100!). I'm going to share lots on my blog! So enjoy--you can print these out or email me and I'll send it to you as a picture.

Make a Smilebox recipe

To my husband: Why I Love You More 15 years Later

Lance and I have been married for 15 years now. It amazes me that as time goes by I don't feel older. I love Lance and like him even more than when we got married 15 years ago. On June 17th, 1994 we had so many adventures to look forward to together: finishing at USU, a real job, children, buying a house, church callings. We were ready to move on in life and do everything together. Our plans for the future were well grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ and our hopes were realistic; so, our 15 years together has looked a lot like our original hopes. Our hopes and dreams didn't have places or names assigned to them in 1994. Over the 15 years we added names to our hopes and plans. Lance got more schooling than we had hoped for, we saw more of the the great USA too. Happily we have ended up in a community our family can call home. Our boys fill our house with love and they help make it a home.

Fifteen years ago I loved Lance for lots of different reasons and why I love him more now:

To my husband and love, Lance,

• You were so cute!
• You still are--I love your blue eyes, profile, and how your hair has a smattering of gray in the temples--mmmm, very sexy.

• You had a plan for your professional life and you were working hard to reach your goals.
• I love that you think ahead, plan, study, and worse case scenario with your career--and then work like crazy. You are very good at your work. I think you are a favorite engineer for many the cities in the valley because you are honest and very thorough in your work.

• You had a job and you were working while in school. You grew up working and farming. I love that you already knew how to work and that you liked to work. I know you didn't necessarily like THE work, but you liked to work.
• I love that as my husband will do whatever you can to provide for our family. Thankfully, right now it is still work you love to do. And you are seeing success with your own company.
  
• I've love that you are extremely self-motivated. I don't worry that you are working from home. You stick to your work schedule and can rarely be tempted away (but it is worth it when we do tempt you away, huh?)
  
• I LOVE that you are a nerd--the best person in our marriage to take care of our money! Life has been so much more peaceful since you got us on the "Dave Ramsey Plan" and we got out of debt.
  
• I love working on goals with you. We make a good team. You keep me on track and realistic.
  

• When we were dating, I was always impressed that you were so kind to other people. You were always first to help shovel a sidewalk or offer your seat to a woman on the bus.
• You still do that stuff, even for me. I can always have the last of the ice cream or even the last potato chips--if I wanted them, but I usually let you have the potato chips because I know you love them.
  

• You're just smart--book smart, gospel smart, common sense smart
• You're even smarter now--and more experienced in life!
  

• Having a family was important to you. You came from a great family too. I just loved them then.
• I love your family even more.
  
• You're a really good dad. I don't even know how to quickly write about this--you just are
• You placed the Lord first in your life and you knew the gospel well.
• You still strive to do all that you are asked to do and we work as parents to teach our children the gospel. You teach by example.
• You attended the temple and could take me there
• We still go to the temple together and you've always remained worthy of that privilege
  

I am sure I can go on and on. But time is a factor now, and I have eternity to tell you these things. I know I need to be better at telling you. I hope you don't mind if I write it--that is so much easier for me. I love you.
Melissa

Third Grade Wax Museum

The third grade at Indian Creek Elementary has a wax museum every year. Each student gets a person to read a biography about. Then they create a poster with life facts on it and put together a script and costume to wear for the museum. Bruce was Wilbur Wright. He had so much fun preparing for it and the best part was that his best buddy, Tucker was Orville Wright. They got to stand next to each other for the museum and they looked pretty authentic, for third graders!



Thayne spent a lot of time getting together ideas for his costume for Paul Revere. He looked so good in his tri-corner hat and gold vest. His script, which he wrote, was practiced a lot at home, but I think he gets nervous for the camera! He's so cute though, I just want to hug him when I see this and his eyes moving around to remember everything.

Each class had their own time in the gym and different classes came around to visit the museum along with that classes parents. Thayne didn't have much time to just stand around--there was always someone new to come along and push his button!

This was a great project--I hope they keep it for my younger children!

Almost Old Enough

Dallin at twelve, almost 13, has been funny about upcoming growing older changes. He has teased me that he is growing armpit hair, but it is PINK! He's a bit happy that he's starting to get "guns" and he gets mad if I take the razor to his fuzzy face when I cut his hair. I mean, not every twelve 1/2 year old can grow a goatee!

Okay, okay, it is just pretend. Dallin really wanted to try on the fake goatee just to see what his Grandma and Grandpa would say when they got here for their visit in May. It does match his hair color very well and he is tall enough to pull it off. (He's over an inch taller than me now and his feet are huge!) He no longer wears glasses, but he thought he looked like Danny Goekey, from American Idol, with them on.

During spirit week at school, Dallin was pretty stoked to participate in crazy hair day. The only colors of hairspray we had were white and black--so a skunky do made perfect sense to us!

Luke at Four

Luke at FourOn May 5th our Luke turned four. He had been looking forward to his racecar cake for a while. We had a party for him with his Grandma and Grandpa Warnick on May 4th since they were here visiting. But even though we were having a party he would still tell people he was 3. The next morning when he got up I asked him how old he was and he said 4.

The past year he has changed so much. He talks all the time now and we understand a large part of it. He acts just like the big boys and wants to do everything they do: ride bikes, build with Legos, play pretend, color, write, and pretty much everything else, except work. He doesn't like to work and he tries to get out of it by saying "I'm too tired." He can write his name by himself (he likes it to look just right too) and he can write "mom." He gets his colors, but he can't remember their names. He identifies them by saying, "it's the color of a banana or it's the color of grass." My favorite was when he couldn't remember the color orange, but identified it by saying, "It's the color of an orange." One other funny language thing: He only uses the pronoun he/his/him even for girls. We don't use she/her very often at our house.

He's all BOY. At speech he refuses to say a few words that are just TOO girly for him. He won't say "fairy" and sometimes he won't say "ladybug." But his teacher asked the right questions at first and she could trick him into saying, "I won't say fairy." Sneaky, but it only lasted for a few weeks until he wised up to the trick!

Strangers talk to Luke about his hair color quite a bit. One lady was admiring it one day and asked, "Can I have your hair?" Luke, a bit indignantly said, "No, you have your own." She replied, "But it's not your color. How do I get it your color?" He just looked at her surprised she didn't know and said, "You eat a lot of carrots!" Luke does like carrots! He'll eat a huge carrot, unpeeled straight out of the fridge. He also says that his hair is "the color of carrots, red."

Luke loves vegetables and fruits. He is a blast to shop with in the produce section. He begs for avocados and kiwi like some kids beg for candy. He had me buy an eggplant because it was purple. He tells me when were out of "leaves" (spinach) and I need to buy more. Just a couple weeks ago, when the snack selection at our house was non-existent I found Luke and Hunter eating spinach right out of the bag like potato chips while they watched a TV show--proof that kids really eat what is in the house and parents have control of what is brought home.

A good bedtime story is still at the top of the list for Luke at bedtime. He is just like the rest of the boys that need their books. I won't be surprised if he tries reading this year.

When Luke grows up he wants to be an engineer just like dad (Luke drew some really good subdivision plans on the back of an old blue print sheet)
Favorite color: All the colors, but he likes blue the best today
Favorite TV show: Curious George
Favorite Fruit: Banana
Favorite Vegetable: eggplant
Favorite book: Library books--Nate the Great

Hunter Can Whistle...

Hunter's top front teeth got a little wiggly before Christmas. He kind of wanted to lose them before Christmas but we had to tell him they had to get much loser.

Early in February I got a call from the school saying Hunter had gotten hit with a jump rope during recess and his mouth was bleeding a little bit. So I had to talk to him for a minute. I couldn't resist asking him, "Don't you know you're supposed to jump rope with you feet, not your teeth?" He had actually been swinging the rope around over his head and the handle smacked him in the face. He must have been swinging it pretty fast because his gum was really red and a bit swollen. His tooth, that wasn't too lose yet, was really lose. So a couple days later he pulled it out all by himself so he could get money from the Tooth Fairy. He was very happy to finally have another tooth come out for the money!!

Then two days later, I'm in my room and I hear yelling and crying "Thayne pulled my tooth out of my head!" Oh, Hunter was mad about it. Thayne said he didn't really do it--I hear that way too often! Well, the real story was that Thayne was playing with an ACE bandage and was trailing it around. Hunter pretended to be a dog and bit the bandage and stopped Thayne from moving it, for a second anyway. Thayne just gave the bandage a big yank to get it out of Hunt's mouth and out it came along the the other lose tooth that flew across the family room! What a way to lose a tooth!

After Hunter got over the initial shock of his tooth popping out of his head, he can't stop grinning about his cute toothless grin! And that money from the Tooth Fairy sure helps too!