BIG DEALS

I LOVE this time of year and everything that goes on!  It seems like everything is a BIG deal, especially for the little ones!

Here are lots of pictures of our BIG summer deals:

BIG DEAL #1
Besides the normal Independence Day festivities our family gets an extra special celebration.  We get to celebrate LUKE'S birthday that day as well. It's pretty cool he gets to have the whole country celebrating right along with him with fireworks and all!

Happy birthday to our sweet, wise, 7 year old Luke!

We love him!!

BIG DEAL #2

At Lavendar Days they had a Wild West Shootout (I mentioned in a previous post).  The boys had the "bestest" idea ever!  They wanted to reenact it!

It was so darn cute and comical, especially the official cowboy duds they came up with.

Luke with his official cowboy kerchef and famous red felt cowboy hat.

Tanner/pirate/sailor/COWBOY

BIG DEAL #3

The Ute Stampede has always been one of the biggest deals of the summer, and this year was no exception.

The (cow) boys were so excited because they now considered themselves REAL COWBOYS and they couldn't wait to wear their cowboy clothes.  Exactly! The ones you saw in the pictures above!  Kaydee was sweating it! But Bampa (not knowing their plan) decided they needed a Ute Stampede shirt so he called Uncle Karson to do some shopping on his way home from Provo.  Of course they couldn't have a western shirt without a cool cowboy hat to go with it.

Tanner, Luke & Nixon

Nixon and Ellie enjoying the Ute Stampede too!

BIG DEAL #4

Just hanging out together in the backyard is a "big deal", even to me.  I love LAZY summer days!

Grandma Red showing Tanner the ins and outs of snorkling gear

      Escapees! They're on the run!

BIG DEAL #5

.  This year for our family campout we went to Cherry Hills, you know - "The Greatest Fun Spot You'll Ever Know, Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill!"

Our immediate family was low in numbers this year because Kylee, Conner and Nixon were in Seattle, Karson & Linzy were a little preoccupied (I'll address that later) and George and Launey were working. 

So Kaydee, the kids and I represented our family, and we did it well!

Tanner, posing with his favorite cute cousins, Jamileh and Talysha

DeAnn and I were in charge of this particular dinner.  We did a FRIED FOOD FEAST!

Chicken strips, onion rings, and french fries!  YUM!

Our deluxe accomodations! 

Trying to convince Ellie it was still nighttime at 6:00 am was a bit impossible in a tent.

BIG DEAL #6

Pioneer Day in Mona is a BIG DEAL! We started out with a movie night and sleepout in mom's back yard.

Kristy, DeAnn and Talysha gearing up for a late night movie

Brayden, Luke, Jaydon, Kamron & Tanner

Tanner still sleeping soundly

The big parade had some very special entries this year!

In case you don't know the story behind it you can click HERE for the story.

Kristy hooked us up with some lovely pioneer frocks with some modern flare!

Tevan & Kylee trying to perfect a duo long board stunt!

Luke, Nixon, Braydon, Rylan and Tanner

We wrapped up the night watching the BIG DEAL MONA FIREWORKS!!!  Truly this firework show is incredible!  It's a little known secret that is getting more and more known.  People are realizing it's the place to be!

THE BIGGEST DEAL OF ALL!!

Madden George Morgan was born on July 20th!

We're so excited to welcome him to our family and look forward to having him join in all the future BIG DEALS we share together.

We love you!!

PAIN, PLEASURE AND PROJECT...

PAIN:
I was happy that this year's 5k Lavender Run didn't interfer with the Ute Stampede Fun Run of which I feel loyalty to.  Despite the steep entry fee to run the race, it's a fun one because of the beautiful setting.  I wish I could say that as I ran through the pretty fields of LAVENDER I was simply breathing it all in and feeling it's calming effects.  Not quite the case for me!  Mention the word RACE and regardless of the fact that I KNOW I could NEVER win one, the anxiousness still sets in.  And sadly not even the LAVENDER could save me!  But in the end, when it's all said and done, it's something that I'm always glad I did. 

I told someone after they called me up to verify my age, that I don't mind being honest about my age in situations like that because I like the fact that I'm getting older and still able to FORCE myself to do things that cause me PAIN.  Sometimes it even pays off because there doesn't seem to be many women my age running and so that puts me in a good catagory for a chance at a prize.  I won a whooping $40 bucks at this race, so my entry fee didn't seem so bad after all!

Cute picture, I know!  I just had to show the apparent PAIN I must have went through so you'd understand.

PLEASURE:

The kids love hanging out at the farm and since there was a lot going there on Saturday we took a picnic lunch and just enjoyed hanging out. 

When the kids spotted Bampa, they ran to him for hugs!

                                    

                                                        Ellie, dancing with uncle Karson               

                                                

                                    

                                                                        

          A western gunfight, which the boys reinacted for us on Sunday afternoon.  HILLIARIOUS!!

It was Kaydee's 10 year class reunion Saturday night so we watched the kids.  We decided to take them to a benefit concert being held for a Santaquin family who's wife/mother, Amy Jackson, just passed away this past week. Check out THIS blog, for their story.  There was music for four straight hours, several local groups and singers, all of them VERY good and the concert concluded with one of my very favorites, Peter Breinholt. 

Although the kids did more running around and playing, it was such a nice night for a nice cause.  Amy's husband, Gary gave such a neat tribute.  It is so cool to see a community to come together and support one another in times like these. 

PROJECT:

I was in the mood for making SOMETHING, but not quite sure what.  I know that I've got several unfinished projects that are wanting my attention but that isn't what I was wanting to do.  Hopefully I can conjour up that desire soon.

I'm loving all the projects done with words, letters and numbers.  I ran across a tutorial for Subway Art on Studio 5 and decided to give it a try.

I had already bought these two large canvas prints from DI a while back so I figured they'd work out great.

                                      

                                                                  I painted them white.

I found a few sayings that I liked, all inspired from a sweet little book that my friend Tammy M. gave each of us last week, called "She..."

Then I printed them out, took them down to Remember Your Memories and had them enlarged.  After that I adhered them to contact paper and I cut them all out, AUGH!!!

I layed the letters out on my canvas and stuck them in place.

                                  

After that, I sprayed the entire piece black.

            

                                  

From there, I peeled off the lettering and Viola! 

 

                                  

I did a bad thing though, and didn't do the other one at the same time, other than cutting out the lettering.  Now I just have another UNFINISHED project to add to my ever growing stash. 

One Size Does NOT Fit All...

Us girls and dad on Father's Day

I've been wanting to do a blog post but I haven't really had anything to exciting to blog about lately. However, there are some BIG things coming up soon!  But until then I have decided to blog about my SISTERS!  I don't mean to sound like they are not BIG things, because in truth, they are VERY BIG things in my life.  I truly can't imagine life without them.  I feel very blessed that we have such  HIGHLY FUNCTIONING relationships between us.  You hear of so many families who just can't seem to get a long.  How sad would that be?
I've been thinking about this a bit, and I've decided that maybe things work our well for us because we are all a bit different, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.  It's those little individual differences that when put together in one unit that seem to strengthen us as a group.
I've been thinking about this all day and trying to pin point the differences in each one of my sisters, something that is uniquely them.  Here is what I came up with:

DEANN-She is they type of person who just quietly sits back and observes and then out of the blue will surprise/impress you with something she says or does.  She always has cute hair, blue eyes and a smile. She's funny even when she doesn't mean to be, and she's SKINNY!

KRISTY-To me, Kristy is the most sincere one of the bunch.  You know when she invites you to her house, it's because she REALLY wants you there!  She is truly compassionate.  She is artistic, whitty and has her own wacky fashion line of versitle odds and ends that she uses as lovely little accessories. They make her unique. She's a worrier who doesn't like to try new things, but has done things that none of the rest of us ever will.

RANAE-She's the ROCK of the family.  It scares me to think of where we would be without her.  She is SO good at making sure that we schedule in family time.  She's a planner!  And although we sometimes give her a hard time over it, I for one am grateful! Family always comes first to her. She is also SMART and has done a lot with her smarts! Not only did dad enjoy bragging about her, I did and still do!

MELINDA-The baby, what else can I say!  Everyone loves babies, and everyone loves Melinda!  She's a favorite aunt of the kids because she likes to have fun.  She's a botinist, or at least should be.  She's a collector of antiques, she's not a morning person, and she's a bit of a rebel!

    

Not only am I blessed to have them, but I'm also very fortunate to have a bonus sister as well, ANGIE.  She's an extra little something to our family and we all love her. 

Since I've only got one sister-in-law, I'm grateful I've got the one I do. CASIE is one of a kind!  She would do anything in the world for you!  She's tuff and a softie at the same time.  I love her to pieces! 

So there are just a few little things about them that make them unique and special to me.  Each one of us have our own individual differences that make us who we are. I wish I could say that I am just a good mix of all of the good in each of them.  That would make me a TOTAL PACKAGE!

I'm so thankful to have been blessed with such wonderful sisters.  I love them all so much.