Sawyer

This has been my desktop wallpaper and now I have a new very wide monitor and it has distorted Sawyer! So I have to put him here on my blog. Who's excited for Lost's new season? It is still soooo far away!

Kansas City

My mother and I went on a fun trip to visit my brother Curt and his wife Kathy. They live just outside of Kansas City. We saw some church sites, ate some yummy barbeque, and enjoyed staying in Curt's beautiful home. One day, my Mom and I drove out to Fort Riley where we lived when I was little. It was so fun to see our old house, and amazing how familiar it all was for me! So my mom hasn't flown in about 40 years and she was a little anxious about it, but she did great! I think she's ready to go again!!

Here's Mom and a view of the city from the WWI memorial tower.


Mom, Curt and Kathy

Kansas was surprisingly lush and green, but very humid!

Curt's house is out in the country in a very nice neighborhood with a lake you can see from his deck. The train runs by at night, just close enough to sound pretty but not too noisy. The ice cream man comes by in his van, ringing his cowbell at 10:00 every night! That was a little weird.

Here's Mom by our old house. I lived there from age 5 to age 9, so lots of childhood memories!

More of our artistic side...

No, this is not a kit. Clint designed this pirate ship out of various Lego parts. I thought it was pretty creative. I couldn't have just designed a pirate ship out of my head like that! It's one to put on the shelf and not back in the Lego box I think. Incidentally, Clint wants to be a pirate when he grows up. hmmmm...

Amy and I made these flower pots to sit on our porches from a pattern that Amy had. We made witches a couple of years ago and we've wanted to do something else ever since because it's so fun to craft with someone, and it gave us a chance to learn how to use some tools. We did all of the cutting and dremeling ourselves. We added our own personalities too, it's fun to see how different they turned out from the pattern and from each other. Mine is the one on the left. Amy made the other two, one for herself and one for another friend. Aren't they cute? Thank you Amy!!

It is summer!

...or is it? We know summer is here when our sidewalk artists are out with their chalk. Unfortunately, these drawings only lasted for a while in between rainstorms. It has been a very rainy start of summer, especially here in Smithfield where we have had record rain and flooding. But I'm sure the sunshine is coming, and with it more sidewalk art!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

This is the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan. We took our Young Women to the open house and had a very fun day. I haven't been to a temple open house since I was a kid, so it was really cool and a neat thing to do with my daughter. The temple is sooooo gorgeous!!

Congrats, Grad!!

Here's our high school graduate! Colton, you have put in a lot of hard work, taken some challenges classes, and you've graduated with honors. We couldn't be more proud!

There were 446 graduates in the Sky View High School class of 2009. Graduation was held in the USU Spectrum. It was pretty cool to see Colton's face on the jumbotron as his name was called!

Proud grandparents Mike and Pauline came to see Colton. It was an exciting day.