Get Involved!

Come And Walk...Form A Team....Make A Donation...Volunteer...
As the 2011 Chairman for the Utah County Walk To End Alzheimer's, I want to invite all of you to get involved in our fundraiser we'll be having on September 24th at The Shops at Riverwoods.The money we earn, comes right back to families in Utah county and helps me to continue to help them by offering free counseling, support groups, education and respite services right here in our community! Thanks! Mindy
Go HERE to learn more.

2011 Car Show

Sometimes (my family would say ALL TIMES) I pack so much more than humanly possible into one little weekend. I'm so thankful for great kids and a wonderful husband who not only support all of my extra curricular activities, but who are the best helpers ever! This weekend was our annual Courtyard Classic Car Show. I think it was our best year ever and thanks to an awesome team that I work with, it was pretty stress free and just such a good time. We were able to raise near $1000.00 for the Alzheimer's Walk I'm in charge of in the fall. In addition to that, we just had a lot of fun!

The Summer Fun Just Never Ends

The Shops At Riverwoods...One of our Favorite FREE Friday Night Hang Outs! There's even outdoor concerts every Fridaynight in the Summer. I suggest you check THIS PLACE out!

Flashback Friday

Remember her? She's doing much better, I am happy to report. We even went out on the town with our men last night. She teased me about getting her walker in and out of the car for her. That's something I do a lot for people, so I felt right at home. WOW! I can't begin to tell you what a huge blessing these past few weeks have been for both of us. I love her so much, can't you just see? Thanks so much to everyone who has helped me support this miracle lady by offering their prayers, meals, kind deed and thoughts! She's well on the road to recovery now!

I Love This Story...

...that President Mckay gave. Someone shared it in Sunday school this past week. I think there's a little bit of "Dandy" in all of us. We should all be grateful for the peace that is brought into our lives by being obedient.

"I had great pleasure in training a well-bred colt. He had a good disposition, a clean, well-rounded eye, was well proportioned, and all in all, a choice animal. Under the saddle he was as willing, responsive, and cooperative as a horse could be. He and my dog Scotty were real companions. I liked the way he would go up to something of which he was afraid. He had confidence that if he would do as I bade him, he would not be injured.

But my horse Dandy resented restraint. He was ill contented when tied and would nibble at the tie rope until he was free. He would not run away; he just wanted to be free. Thinking other horses felt the same, he would proceed to untie their ropes. He hated to be confined in the pasture, and if he could find a place in the fence where there was only smooth wire, he would paw the wire carefully with his feet until he could step over to freedom. More than once my neighbors were kind enough to put him back in the field. He learned even to push open the gate. Though he often did damage that was provoking and sometimes expensive, I admired his intelligence and ingenuity.

But his curiosity and desire to explore the neighborhood led him and me into trouble. Once on the highway he was hit by an automobile, resulting in a demolished machine, injury to the horse, and slight, though not serious, injury to the driver.

Recovering from that, and still impelled with a feeling of wanderlust, he inspected the fence throughout the entire boundary. He found even the gates wired. So for a while we thought we had Dandy secure in the pasture.

One day, however, somebody left the gate unwired. Detecting this, Dandy unlatched it, took another horse with him, and together they visited the neighbor’s field. They went to an old house used for storage. Dandy’s curiosity prompted him to push open the door. There was a sack of grain. What a find! Yes, and what a tragedy! The grain was poison bait for rodents! In a few minutes Dandy and the other horse were in spasmodic pain, and shortly both were dead.

How like Dandy are many of you young people! You are not bad; you do not even intend to do wrong; but you are impulsive, full of life, full of curiosity, and long to do something. You too are restless under restraint, but if left to wander without direction, you all too frequently find yourselves in the environment of temptation and too often are entangled in the snares of evil."

He's Learning to Take Care of Himself....

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

We've Been Gettin' Our "BEACH" On

HOW

ABOUT

YOU???

Happy Independance Day

From Our House To Yours

Someone was a little sad :(
Maybe it's because the extra large running shoes she's wearing
(women's size 9 1/2 to be exact)

This is my favorite thing on July 4th. When I was a little girl, my dad would light a friendship pagoda for me every year. I would save it in my room on a special shelf until the next year would roll around.

When asked at dinner tonight what FREEDOM means to them, they thoughtfully replied:
Isaac-"It means we get to make our own choices."
Ethan-"It means I have the best life ever."
Abby-"It means no bad guys can get in."

FREEDOM means to me a thankful heart to our Father in Heaven for making all the wonders we share living in this country possible.

Stadium of Fire

Anyone who has ever been to Stadium of Fire, knows that IT IS THE PLACE TO BE for the 4th of July holiday. There's nothing like celebrating our freedom with 50,000 other people. There were great performers like David Archuleta and Brad Paisley, giant beachballs, skydivers and the biggest staudim fireworks show in the country! I have to give a special thanks to my sweetie who doesn't love country music for enduring and actually enjoying the show. The winner to the talent search I worked on was even announced. It was a great night!

Not Much Better...

Than spending the 4th of July weekend with cousins camping, swimming, and canoeing in the mountains!

This Is A True Story...

WARNING! This post may change the way you feel about us. After reading you may feel that we are crazy an experience some anxiety. What you are about to read is a true story. Within a 24 hour period we somehow ended up with a snake, 3 lizards and a bunny. Did I forget to mention 3 HAPPY kids also? We're not these parents who don't allow critters in our house. In fact through the years we've just about done it all: frogs, fish, crabs, snakes, rabbits, dogs, cats, and too many "pet" bugs to count. I feel confident that Justin and I can set up a habitat for just about any living thing at this point. If you see us building an ark soon in the backyard, think nothing of it!

As Charles Dickens Said:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
That has been this week.
This is my beautiful friend Rachael.
And when I say beautiful I mean
a beautiful most people lack. She's real. She's strong. She's always there for me.
It's my turn to be there for her. She needs your prayers. She had a aneurysm and hemorrhage in her brain a few days ago. Rachael is 24. She is a wife and a mother to a darling four year old. She's fighting. She's sexy bald...not everyone can pull that off. I love her. I cherish the late nights I have been able to spend in the hospital just talking about life these past few days. I'm so grateful that we can keep helping one another on this journey.

Sleeping Beauty

Someone was the cutest butterfly in the Sleeping Beauty performance at the Covey Center for the Arts last weekend. We are so proud of her hard work and great performance! We feel so lucky to have this little girl "fluttering" around in our lives.

Ethan's Birthday Recap...

It was ALOT of boys, fun and work. In the end, there was one boy who felt really special and so it was all worth it!

This is one of our neighbors that serves more as a grandma to us than anything. Ethan just loves his MaryLou.

The awesome threesome...these boys are going to be friends for a very long time.

Making a wish...that look in my eye says everything about how much I adore this guy!

I'm grateful for a husband who embraces my insanity!

Too bad no one had a good time :)

What goes best after hots dog, chips, cake and ice cream you ask? Oh, more sugar and junk food for sure!

We had a few boys hanging around...

Another family favorite, Miss Aubrey even stopped in!

We enjoyed a movie outdoors in our sleeping bags

Played night games and hid in the tents...

I think a good time was had by all..even the big kids!

And then the birthday boy fell asleep during his own party. I think that means AWESOME!

We even got to wake up with cousins.
I want to make a special shout out to these boys who slept over and kept all the boys quiet (NOT)
in their tents...sorry neighbors, no one SLEPT at the SLEEPOVER!