We gave our kids about 4 days notice that Saturday was our day, we wanted them to be willing to work all day for us. We wanted to get all the siding off our house, prune our trees, mow the lawn, take out all of the plants in the garden, haul a load to the dump, weed the flowerbeds, clean out the horse stalls, blow off the driveway, sidewalks, and garage, and anything else we could think of. I always hold my breath... waiting for attitude from the kids, because at some point I always get it. But Saturday was different, they all helped out, they were happy, and actually got along really well. They worked all day, and didn't stop until we told them we were done.
I took these pictures, because Jessica said, "If I'm going to put this much work into the yard, you'd better have proof!" We still have a lot to do, there's one more side of the house to tear off, and the garden needs to be rototilled, but I'm so happy with how nice it looks.
One funny story, the day was just about over, Conner was loading my tomato plants into the back of the truck to take to the dump. Steve picked up an old pumpkin...it was a little bit soft, and threw it into the back of the truck. The problem was, he missed the back of the truck, and hit the side! This sent pumpkin mush flying everywhere! Conner's shirt and shoes were covered, along with the entire side of the truck. Conner was not happy with his dad! We all had a good laugh!
I know that when it comes to buying and selling things, my family is hard to follow, but bear with me. I know about a month ago I said our house was on the market... well it's not anymore. We tried for 3 months and only had two people walk through. Believe me I'm not upset at all, I love my home. Anyway, we have been trying for a year and a half to sell our boat. We bought it 2 1/2 years ago, but it bothers my back so much when we take it out, that I'm sore for days. I guess if I'm not in the boat, nobody wants to be in the boat. We found that we had a lot of interest, but a lot more people interrested in trading for something else. One man tried to trade us a Chevy Suburban. Have you ever seen a Suburban with a lift kit? It was so high, I'd need a step ladder to get in! Last week, we had a man approach us with a trade offer that we thought we could accept. He does stucco, and offered to stucco the sides and back of our house as a trade for our boat. Those of you who have been to our house know the front is done in stucco, but the sides and back are siding. We have pretty bad wind storms out here, and though we've only lost a small amount of siding one time, we decided it would be nice to upgrade to stucco.
The man asked us to remove all the siding, and he'll take care of the rest. It's quite a job, Steve and I started this yesterday, and the kids have promised us that they'll help with it all day Saturday. Hopefully in a couple of weeks, we'll have a lovely new home to show.
I'm only a little bit nervous! I think this will be really neat when it's done.
About 2 years ago, my sister in law, Molly gave Jessica a car. It was a Chevy Corsica. That car has been great. Each time it breaks down, we ask the mechanic if it's time to take it to the junk yard. Each time, the mechanic says no, it's a great little car. The first time we took it to the car wash, paint chips flew everywhere. From that day on, the car became known as "Chip". Jessica called from Logan last weekend and said Chip was having problems again. We had her bring it home and had our mechanic look at it. This time when the question was asked, "is it time to take it to the junk yard?" He said, "I'm afraid so." We didn't tell Jessica the news, we decided to surprise her with a new car this weekend.
It was actually pretty funny; we looked on KSL.com and the best car we could find for the money we wanted to spend was another Chevy Corsica. It is a 1995, and has automatic locks, and windows. It is silver and doesn't have any paint chipping off or any rust spots. We told Jessica that we wanted to spend some time with her running some errands. She was confused about where we were going, but was pleasantly surprised when she found out our errand was picking up her new car. Jessica was thrilled. As she drove it home she called us and said how nice it was to drive. She's in the lap of luxury now. 
Hopefully this car will last another five years. It seems like a really great little car!
Macey's, the local grocery store, is having their case lot sale, so I decided it would be a good time to look through my food storage and see what I needed to buy to finish up my year's supply. A couple of years ago, I started purchasing a little bit each month, and I felt like I was close to being done. I found out that if I purchase just 12 buckets of storage, I would be totally caught up.
This is the drive up Parley's canyon. As you can see, the leaves are chaning in the mountains. It was a little bit cool, but not cold. And it's getting SO pretty!
These two pictures are from our property, we woke up to the most beautiful sunrise this morning. There was rain all around us, and 2 rainbows to the West. Every time we go up there, I absolutely love it, the stars are so bright at night, the air is so crisp and clean, and it's so quiet.
Unfortunately, when we started hitching up the trailer, we realized that one of the trailer tires were flat, and because we were cutting it so close for time, we didn't have time to fix it and make it back for Conner's game. So we left it there for another week or two, until we can come up and repair the tire, and haul it.
Conner had a good game again. Cowboys won 42-13. Conner almost caught an interception. In fact, I thought he caught it, it was so close! He had one really good tackle by himself and at least 5 other assists. I got a really good picture of Conner running past me on a kick off.
Steve's uncle David passed away tragically last week, he was restoring an old victorian home and fell off the roof. We attended his funeral yesterday, he was an amazing man. He was a doctor (podiatrist), an entrepreneuer (he developed "photo cop"), and since retiring spent 3 years with his wife serving a mission to the Utah State Prison. He was a great example of hard work, and a great teacher to his children and grandchildren. We are saddened that he was taken so suddenly and our hearts and prayers go out to his family. It was good to see so many of Steve's aunts, uncles, and cousins; it's been such a long time since we were all together. It's just really sad that it had to be for a funeral.
I keep saying I'm done making memory quilts, but then special people have special days, and I can't help myself. Steve's grandpa had a birthday and we decided to celebrate! Only problem was, Grandpa was too tired to celebrate with us, he hasn't been feeling well lately. We ended up having his party at the hospital. There was cake and balloons, and a giant card for everyone who was there to sign.
I took pictures of all of his kids and grandkids and their families and put them together on a quilt. I thought it would be something nice to hang on the wall in the rest home while he's there. We had all of Grandpa's kids come (Steve's aunts and uncles) to the party, and a lot of grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I was really happy with how many people came on his special day. We hope Grandpa knows how much we love him.
Steve and I took off after a while of visiting, and then I'm told he woke up. I felt so bad we missed him when he was awake. I hope he got to taste some of his yummy cake. Happy Birthday Grandpa!! Thanks for copies of your pictures, Molly! I forgot my camera.
Now it's my turn to have them stay with me; it's been so much fun. They came on Tuesday and we went to lunch at Casa Del Rey in Grantsville. I'm learning that my dad is quite a flirt! The waitress thought he was really nice. 
After lunch we hung out at our favorite store in Tooele, Deseret Industries! That's kind of a tradition when mom comes into town. She and I have been going thrift store shopping since I was old enough to babysit and pay for my own bargains! Dad stayed in long enough to find a couple of books and shirts, then he went out in the car and read the book he'd found while the ladies kept shopping. We stopped at Walmart... can't go to Tooele and not stop at Walmart! Dad was feeling very generous, he bought each of us something. Erin and I got watches, and Jamie and mom got sunglasses. 
When Kaylea goes out of town for runs and Steve and I can't be there to take pictures, we take what we can get...I'm not sure why Kaylea doesn't take pictures of herself when she runs! On Friday the team went to Idaho Falls for a race. This is the only picture Kaylea took of herself, it's with her friend Andrew. I think in past races, Kaylea didn't think she could beat Michelle, who is the fastest girl on the Grantsville team, she came in first place one time and that was because Michelle wasn't there. On Friday Kaylea decided to just try and stay up with Michelle and then try and out sprint her at the end of the race. We were so shocked when she came home and said that her strategy WORKED!! Kaylea actually came in first on her team in Idaho Falls! We were so sad that we couldn't be there to see her win! I'm sure the next race will be tough, because those girls don't like to be beaten!
As most of you know BYU played UCLA on Saturday. Steve took my dad and Steve Jr. to the game. My parents are traveling through on their way to Washington state where they will spend the first few years of dad's retirement. Talk about a perfect game to take my dad to! It was amazing. I spent the day with my brother Jared, who had a party at his house. What some of you may not know is my other brother David, who lives in California, is a UCLA fan. He decided to sabotage Jared's house, when they got up Saturday morning, this is what they woke up to.
What you can't see is the UCLA confetti all over the driveway, front porch, and front walk way. I think Jared's lawn mower will be spitting out UCLA confetti for a long time. He had many people drive by and stop to read the banner. Others threatening to egg the house. It was pretty funny.
The best part about the whole day was being able to call David and rub in the final score of 59-0. UCLA couldn't even make a field goal! It was great. GO COUGARS!!
I know it seems like I blog the same things over and over, cross country and football, but right now that's my life. Kaylea has been running two races a week for the past few weeks. She has a couple of Grantsville girls who she tries to beat at each race. They go back and forth, one race Kaylea does better, the next race the other girl does better. Yesterday they raced again in Tooele, up Settlement Canyon, that's where her first race of the year was. Dad always times the races so she can keep track of how she does. For her race yesterday, Kaylea came in 3rd place again, but because of this little rivalry going on between the top runners she ran it really fast. Her time was 21:23 which is two full minutes faster than the last time she ran this course.
My friend gave me this today, I thought it was really cute!
If you're a bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts)
She'd kill me if she knew I posted this picture. I'm not sure what happened with the lighting, but her eyes look a little bit freaky.
Conner played against Bountiful today. They were a very strong team, we were a little nervous at first. Grantsville made a quick touchdown right at the beginning, and then Bountiful held them. Conner plays on the outside left edge on defense. (Obviously I don't know the technical terms for this stuff.) When the other team throws a pass, Conner is supposed to block the receiver, or intercept the pass. Whenever I see them throw a ball in Conner's direction my heart stops, I'm so nervous for him. Today Conner had two receivers coming in his direction, he blocked one and they threw the ball to the other one. Conner was alone, he left the boy he was blocking and tackled the receiver! The boy he tackled was so much bigger than Conner, I couldn't believe he took him down with no help! That was a turning point in the game. Grantsville came back and made another two touchdowns and won 21 to 0. It was a great day!
This is Conner at the end of the game. He almost didn't play today. Conner has been suffering from Osgood Schlader's disease, Jessica had it too when she was about this same age. His leg, just below his knee gets really sore, he's been complaining about it all week. This morning he was in so much pain he didn't even want to get up, which is rare for Conner on the day of a football game. I called his coach to tell him Conner wouldn't be playing and his coach said it was okay, but they might have to forfeit because two other players called with illness or injuries. Conner decided he'd tough it out. I think he's glad he did.
Kaylea ran her cross country race at Bear River yesterday. Dad took this picture with his blackberry. She's right in the center of the picture, the black shirt with red shorts. She's left of the tall girl. This is right at the beginning of the race. They ran at a golf course near Tremonton. She ran 3.5 miles in 23:35, and from what Jessica says, this is one of the hardest courses the team runs. She came in second on the Grantsville team! I think this is a sport Kaylea really loves.
Sundays can be pretty boring when mom won't let you play on the computer or watch TV. Conner and I have enjoyed playing dominoes for the past few Sundays. He doesn't like playing it the usual way, like chicken foot, or penny dominoes, he likes building the highest tower he can, or setting them up to knock over. The goal for the past two weeks has been to build a tower as high as the dining room light hangs. Yesterday Conner accomplished that goal! It was a pretty proud moment. You can't imagine how many towers fell before this one finally was made tall enough. 
