"Too much of a good thing, can be wonderful!"

Many people wonder what I was thinking when I had 6 children. (Now, six children and 2 children-in-laws, which I love just like my own children.) I feel very blessed to have such wonderful children. I didn't say they were perfect, but they are all my kids and I love them dearly. And I feel blessed to be their mother. I love spending time with each of them. We have had great moments in our lives, some as a family, some just one-on-one times. But no matter what the occasion, I cherish them all. I love spending time with my kids whether we are playing games, eating dinner, working, or having heart to hearts. They are the best moments in my life. Today I had another chance to spend time with 2 of my daughters. Deron and Cameron went to the BYU football game again, and that left me, Kim and Halle home alone...we had 2 choices to make, to do the Saturday chores, or to not do the Saturday chores. After we got the most urgent things done, we decided to take the remainder of the day off and go to Vernal. We had nothing really to do over there, but we didn't want to spend the day working...again. So we cleaned ourselves up and out we went. I realized something profound today, that I think I have always known, but it hit me hard for some reason today. "Its not the destination that we necessarily enjoy in life, its the journey that makes the destination great!" (Yes, are you shocked? I do think deeply once in awhile!) As we traveled to and from Vernal we laughed, we talked, we listened and we spent quality time together as mom and daughters. I enjoy the journey with my kids. I love those times when we can just laugh, talk and be ourselves with each other. I enjoy the moments that we forget about the world, the work, the worries and take time for each other.  My family is the world to me and I am so glad that I get to take this journey with them. I have made many a mistakes along the way, but they make this life worth moving forward and taking time out to "smell the roses" and forget about the drudgeries of life~ long enough to laugh a little, smile a little and enjoy the very moment that I am in! 

Its a thought

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst, it is a spark that creates extraordinary results."

~Author Unknown

Deron has always loved birds. During our married life we have had many a creature in our house. The first bird we ever got, I received one year for Valentines day, 2 "love birds," AKA parakeets with the will to out chirp anything that was making noise at that given moment, whether it was the TV or the kids, they had to make more noise than that. They were messy and spit seeds all over. We ended up giving them away and I felt bad, but I just couldn't fall in "love" with them. Then we got a cockatail. His name was Pete. He was fun at first because he was quiet and the kids could carry him around on their shoulder and in the wagon and he was great fun. But then he started to SQUAK!! He put the parakeets to shame. He skreetched and squaked and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. So I locked him in a dark room and fed and watered him daily...there he kept quiet and the kids could still get him out and play with him when they wanted to, but then one day when we went to feed him, he was dead! Later I found out that they need light to live. (Opps!!) The kids said that I had killed him by locking him in "the dungeon." Poor Pete! Then Deron decided to get pigeons. (They weren't in the house.) The kids liked to help him feed them and watch the baby birds hatch and grow. On pet day at school, they each took one and showed them to their classmates and proudly told how their dad raced them and how they got to help feed and water and take care of them. Some of the birds had names and looked different than the others (I couldn't ever tell them apart). So the kids sort of claimed one as theirs and took ownership in it. Then one day Deron decided that he was tired of racing pigeons and moved on to another hobby that he would enjoy. The years went by, the hobbies passed and now we have come full circle and he has got back into pigeon racing. This time Cameron is doing it with him. They both love it. Their first big race is in 1 week and they can't wait. When we went to Mirror Lake this past weekend we took the birds and released them from there, since this is the place the first race will begin. The birds took off like they new what they were doing....and they made it home in excellent time. So their is hope that the birds will do the same in the upcoming race. Deron and Cameron have built lofts for the birds, trained and raised the babies and have had fun just spending time together doing something that they both are passionate about. They are close and Cameron thinks the world of his dad. As some wise person once said, "To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world!" And that holds true in this case! 

"The world is a book and those who don't travel read only a page"

Life is a highway...and we traveled it all Saturday long!!

We went up to Mirror Lake. By the way of.."over the river and through the woods". We started by traveling up through Tabiona and up over Wolf Creek. We went up over Soapstone Basin, which is a very dusty, bumpy, unpaved road, but beautiful none the less. It was so pretty. We stopped at several places along the way up and on the way back down. We finally arrived at the lake and had a picnic, city slicker style, with Subway Sandwiches and chips, packaged cookies and grapes. After being up there for about 5 minutes we thought that we should have brought stuff for hotdogs because everyone else's smelled so yummy. After we ate we walked clear around the lake. It isn't a giant lake but I bet it was close to a 2 mile walk. It wasn't steep or rough, most of it was on a wooden walkway so it was just a nice stroll. I couldn't believe how pretty it was. I took alot of scenery pictures because it just took my breath away. And yes, I know that a picture won't do it justice, but I will have the pictures to remind of how gorgeous it really was, especially when the earth is covered in that ugly white stuff. I had been to Mirror Lake a few times as a very small child but I don't have any memory of it, but I have seen pictures that prove that I really was there. On the way home we stopped at a look out on top of Bald Mountain. Cameron sat on the very edge of the cliff just so I could sweat a little and beg him to come back up. The Halle decided that she would be brave and sit there too. But the place she sat, had another big edge just below her, so it didn't scare me as bad. Then we stopped at a place called Provo River Falls (anyone been there?) Wow, I am sure that when the run off comes down that in the spring, it is a sight to see. We pretty much just took the day and wondered around as we came down the mountain. I am a witness...the leaves are changing colors. There are some that have even fallen to the ground and have left the tree naked. The colors are beautiful. We ended our day by eating at Canton City in Heber, yes we really know how to picnic. That way there were no dishes and no preparation in the food for the day. It was a great day. All 3 of the kids that are home with us were there, which was a first for our summer picnics. I loved it! 

Our BiG StAR!!

Can you guess which one is Cameron? He has become our lucky number this year...#74. He decided that he wanted to play football and he has been doing a super job. He is totally committed and dedicated to doing whatever it takes to succeed at it. He practices hard, plays hard and hits hard! At his first game he didn't play much, and then the next game he started JV and out hit everyone. He had alot of tackles and blocks and things that I don't even know what they are called, because this is all new to me. His coach told him if he continues to play like that he'll be on the varsity team. This past week at his game he was chosen to be one of the team captains!! We are so proud of him. He has been doing awesome. Although, he looks like he has been beaten almost to death. His arms are just full of bruises from hitting and being hit by his team mates and the opposing teams. But he is having fun (how, I don't know). Its been really fun watching him and seeing him hustle out on the field and having "boy fun" (because that isn't fun to girls...it doesn't include a Mall and lots of bags, it just couldn't be fun. ) He's a great kid with alot of athletic abilities and alot of drive!! Yah Cameron!!!! FYI...His next game is this Wednesday at 4:00 in Altamont for whoever wants to come. Its fun to watch him excel at something that no one else in our family has done. Both of the other boys have played basketball, but football is new to our little family. He also wrestles, which he also loves equally as much as football. And neither one of our other boys wrestled either. Although Uncle Aaron played football and was great at it and Uncle Jerod wrestled and excelled there. So I guess he gets his talent in those areas, from his extended family. But Cameron wants to try things and see what he likes and what he can do, not what everyone else has done necessarily. He is thinking "out of the box".

What to do...what to do...its labor day and Deron and Cameron went to the BYU football game with Grandpa Wilkerson so that left Kim and Halle and me wondering...what to do...what to do. Here it is the last big holiday weekend of the summer and we had no plans. As we went about our cleaning rituals we decided that we were going to bag the rest of the household chores and go on a hike and a picnic. We made sandwiches and packed things up and off we went. We went to Moon Lake, with 1 thousand other people, but we weren't camping so we didn't mind all the people. We hiked up the trail that takes you around the lake. We didn't get too far because Halle wasn't feeling well, so we sat on rocks and rested and talked. It was really fun. We talked about bears, only because you couldn't go anywhere without seeing a sign to warn you that bears were present in that area and what to do to keep them at bay, and we talked about what we would do if we encounter a bear. It was funny that we all had different things we planned on doing if we saw one. Kim said that she would scream really loud and run, I said that I would yell and make myself look big, and Halle, bless her heart, said she would probably stand there and pee her pants. We all laughed and were very glad that we didn't come upon any since we probably would have all done the wrong thing and got eaten. 

We walked along the beach and looked at all the nature things that you look at when you are in the mountains. I love the mountains. I love all they have to offer. It was so pretty up there and it makes me  feel close to my Heavenly Father when I am up in the mountains and see all that he created for us. We are so blessed to have so much to enjoy. Different parts of the world are created with such different things to look at and enjoy and I am thankful that I live in a part of the world that I can enjoy so much. 

We drove down the canyon a ways to eat our picnic because there were no available tables in the camp ground. We found this nice little spot with a grassy spot to throw out our blanket. We were eating and talking, when Kim felt something crawling over her leg, she looked down to see an extremely large spider making his home on her leg. Before any of us knew what happened she was up screaming and running around. Needless to say Halle and I were frantically looking to see where the spider ran off to so it didn't get on us. We found it and destroyed the 8 legged creature and finished our picnic in peace.  

After eating our picnic we headed home. We were tired and ready to be home. About 5 miles out of Duchesne we saw something very long and big laying across the road. After driving up to it, we discovered an extremly large snake. We figured it was about 6 feet long. Well, we stopped to look at it and take a picture because we knew that no one would believe that we saw such a large beast, well I guess I had run over his tail and he was trying to get it out from under the car. I went to grab my camera and Halle yells "Its climbing up the tire." Well it was headed up into the engine of the car. So we quickly sped off to keep it from making a home in the car. I looked in the rearview mirror to make sure that he was still on the road, hoping he was dead, but he wasn't. He was quickly crawling back to his desert home. We were just glad that we weren't taking him home with us. But you don't get to see a picture...you just have to take my word for it. Anyway, it was a really fun day and I am glad that I got to spend time once again with 2 of my daughters. 

Look...a NEW Look

After looking at all of the wonderful blogs you all display, mine felt a little drab to say the least. And since I am not very good at this yet, Dayna took pity on me and gave me a new look. I love it! She is very talented as well as very patient!! So.. I hope that you enjoy the new look!  

Todays thoughts...After a day of driving through miles of construction at speeds that could almost be classified as standing still, I have decided that I am going to take it all in stride, because as soon as the construction is over, so will the summer be gone as well. Last winter was such a long, cold, drawn out season that I don't think I have had my feel of summer, the heat or the fun that summer has to offer yet, (although~ construction is not one of my favorite things in the "fun category" of summer, it is part of it...but I try to avoid it as much a possible) because once summer is gone, its gone.  In comparison, the is no comparison...summer just out weighs winter...hands down!!