We're back!

Well, we've been busy (I know, who hasn't?!) but I think it's time to get back to documenting my sweet family's fun life. We are on a year round school schedule, so we got out the first week of July, then went back July 27th. It was a crazy short summer, so over the next few days, I'll post the highlights!

Of course, no summer would be complete without a lemonade stand!
Zachary and Caeden joined forces with Jonathan and Aaron, some of our friends and neighbors, to create a lemonade stand.
"Buy Lemonade Today!
10 cents
We may have the worst stand, but we have the best Lemonade."


After a few days of this, they were up about $30.00, but I was out about that much in Crystal Light (the closest thing we had to lemonade), not to mention what Jonathan and Aaron's mom was out in Tang and cups, so we decided it was time for a distraction. We did the splash park one day,




set up a play date - away from the lemonade stand - the next day, and then went to the movies another afternoon. Thankfully school started the next week, and I'm hoping the lemonade stand will become a treasured childhood memory...

For your viewing enjoyment...

Quick update:
We have been so busy the last few weeks! We are rounding up the school year, and have been busy finishing projects, reports, and more projects. Caeden and Zach have both had field trips, Jordan went on his first mountain biking adventure, and I (Christie) ran my first 5K. (I set a goal last summer to do this, and it seemed unachievable at first - I could only run about 3 houses distance before I would have to stop and gasp for air - but I finished -- and ran the whole way! I came in 48th out of 88 women. I know, it's not really anything to brag about, but for me, I was so excited to be able to do this. Yay me!) Aaron just returned from a business trip to Spain and France - he went to choose stone to be quarried for the downtown projects; and to celebrate my brother-in-law's achievement of completing his 2nd year of medical school and finishing his board exams, we went "boarding" on the flowrider. (Click on the word flowrider and it will take you to a youtube video of a guy riding on the flowrider.) It was way fun! I'll post video or pictures as soon as I get them from my sister...
Anyway, sometimes when life gets busy, some things have to give. I'm afraid blogging is one of them... We've got some fun things coming up - Aaron and I get to serve at the Oquirrh temple open house this week, then we're going to Bear Lake for the 4th of July weekend. Afterwards, we'll unpack, wash, and re-pack, and head off to a family reunion in Illinois. Then we'll return home, send Jordan off to a week long scout camp, and then it's back to school. I'll try to post pictures as I get them, but just know that it will be sporadic at best the next month or so...
Meanwhile, for your viewing enjoyment, we'll present:

Warning - this will stick in your head for the next 30 years, just as it has in mine! Consider it as a gift that keeps on giving...

Phew, glad that's over with!

Every Spring, the boys' piano teacher has a recital at the "Piano Gallery." The boys have been working hard on their songs and were feeling prepared for their recital on Monday evening.Zach went first, and he played two songs: "In The Doghouse" (an arrangement of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" that his teacher arranged for her students) and "Indian Boy." He also had a classical piece by Mouret prepared, but he decided he liked the Indian sounding song better! He had it all memorized and did great!
Jordan played a song called "Take Five," which is a popular jazz-ish sounding number that Dave Brubeck made popular back in the 1960's-ish. He's been working on it for a while, and had a great performance, too!
Now we can sit back and take a break - for a few days until next week's lessons...

Fun weekend!

This past weekend we needed to get out of the house, so we decided to go up little cottonwood canyon and check out a camp site that Aaron had reserved for a scout camp out later this month. He had also chosen a trail up above the camp to hike and he wanted to find the trail head, so off we went. The campsite looked good, but the trail was still covered under snow (it was up above the Alta ski resort...). So we let the boys play on some logs in the Alta parking lot while Aaron tried to come up with a plan B.
Eventually we found another trail. The boys were itching to hike, so we had to find something short and easy - it was looking like rain. Lisa Falls was a short trail (less than a quarter mile round trip) with a waterfall at the top and rappelling lines coming down the face of the falls. I would have taken more pictures, but this is where my camera died. Bummer... Anyway, we made it back in just enough time to drive down in the rain! Perfect timing! Hope you had fun this weekend, too!

Happy Birthday Levi!!

Wow, can you believe our little Levi is 2!?! We love this little guy for all he brings to our family. He loves to love us, and gives the sweetest kisses. He loves to tease us (a genetic trait inherited from his Grandma Rigtrup). He has the greatest belly laugh and it usually takes just a silly face to get him from pouty to giggling. He loves to say goodnight to everyone before going to bed (I think it's his way to make sure that everyone is going to bed too, so he knows he's not missing out on any brotherly fun!), and is always eager to grab our hands - whether it's to show us something or just to walk beside us. Love this little guy! And we're so glad he was willing to join our crazy family! Here's a few of our favorites of Levi:

First week at home

First Parade (just under 2 months old)

He has always loved hanging with his brothers!

Hanging out in the grass (he loved it as long as his foot didn't touch the grass!)

He loves to be involved in whatever mom is doing... even if she's trying to get some stuff done on the computer...

Snack before church

"Don't worry, mom, I'll drive!"

Blow out the candles!
We love Levi and are so glad he is a part of our family!

I'm not going to take a nap!!!

Poor Jacob sometimes just refuses to take a nap, even when he is so stinkin' tired. Saturday the sweet boy pulled the "I'm not gonna" stunt, so we let it go (you gotta pick your battles sometimes) and went about our day. When it came time to get ready to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple tour (we got to go through early because Aaron works for the company that built it, and they let all the people who had a part in the building of the temple go through last Saturday. It was very awesome, and we got to go through with the group that included the architects, stone masons, and one of the muralists. But I digress...), Jacob got dressed, then promptly lay down in the hallway, pulled his blanket over his head, and fell asleep. It just made me laugh, I had to take a picture.

Macbeth #1

This year the 6th graders performed the play "MacBeth" for their end of the year production, and Jordan got one of the Macbeth roles. In order for everyone to have a part, they split up the roles - meaning there were 3 Macbeths, 3 sets of witches, 3 Lady Macbeths, 3 Banquos, 3 King Duncans... you get the idea. Jordan was Macbeth #1. He really enjoys being in front of people and had fun with the part. Now if I could only get him to tell me that he needs a costume sooner than the night before the dress rehearsal.
Jordan enters the stage, a worn and weary Macbeth back from battle, unaware of the 3 witches brewing up ahead...

King Duncan returns from the dead and gets revenge for Macbeth's murderous plot (OK, so this was after the play, but it was still pretty funny. ok, maybe you had to be there...)


After the play, we went out to eat - partly to celebrate Jordan's first starring role, and partly because his mom was late to the performance and she felt really bad about missing Jordan's entrance. (In my defense, if Jordan would have told me when the play was supposed to have begun, I wouldn't have been late!)
He did great, and didn't even have to "break a leg" to do it!

Let's hear it for warm weather!

And nights out in the backyard running around with nothing but shorts (or a diaper, depending on your age), and lunch in the back yard, and playing in the park, and turning on the hose and getting wet, and picnics with ice cream for dessert!

Summer... Bring it on!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NASCAR 6.0, NFL 5.1 and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed,

Desperate.



DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.HTML and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1.

Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.

Good Luck!

Tech Support

(Disclaimer: I love my husband, and am so grateful I get to be his and all, but I thought this was pretty funny...)

Wait, when did he grow up???

OK, when did this happen??? He's not supposed to grow up this fast! Last week, my little boy turned 12. Do you realize I only have 6, maybe 7 years left of him being home??? I thought, this is not that big of a deal. Another birthday, another pokemon cake... But as he graduated from Primary, and received the Priesthood, I realized that he's really growing up. dude, where does the time go...?
age 5

starting 1st grade

Baptism day with his dad

With his buddy, Alexander (2007)

Hiking the "Y"

first day of 6th grade!

So here's to Jordan, my first little man... Blow out those candles and wish that these next (too-few) years are as great as the last 12 have been! Oh, how we love you!