EFY...Especially For Youth!!!

Bryndee and her friend Joselyn at their monday night

(family night) devotional

Wow we have had one busy month. This last week was EFY at BYU! Chad directs a session every summer. It's one of the best weeks of our summer. This year we got to have my cute niece Bryndee (my sister Andrea's daughter) come to our session. The week is always exhausting for not only Chad and I but for our family. Trying to run back and forth at least twice a day sometimes more and getting babysitters who mostly consisted of Raegan with help from inlaws...thank you by the way!!! For those of you who never attended EFY or know what it is. It is a week long program put on by the LDS Church for youth ages 14-18. The week consists of talks (given mostly by Chad, he had to give 11-50 minute talks), games, spiritual uplifting, flirting, dancing, making new friends, gaining more self worth, helping their testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and a whole lotta fun!!! The youth stay in the dorms for the week and have fabulous counselors and activities. It is definately an inspired program. The youth come away wanting to be better and help those around them be better friends and members of the church. I love EFY!!!

Chad and Cassie Chillin at Games Night.
We had to be the judges of the "cheer off".

Cassie TRYING to learn the EFY dance with the counselors.

(I need to quit thinking I am younger than I really am)

Megan, Cassie, Chad and Eric (our cooridinators)

Bryndee with her "new bestfriends"

There was a dance Tuesday night as well as Friday night.

Megan and Raegan (Raegan got to come and help judge in the cheer off)

More Waterfalls...

The Kiddos
Ellie and Andrew loved getting dirty and throwing rocks
Tyler
My sister Andrea and Cassie (see we do like each other)


Kalli
Raegan, Torie and Sadie
Raegan just got out of the waterfall, it was cold and came down hard
Abby and Sydney sitting pretty

We seriously live in a great place. We are lucky enough to all sorts of hiking and walking trails within minutes of our front door. Last Saturday Andrea and I took our kids to the waterfall just 20 minutes from our house. The kids had a blast.

Old Friends

This past weekend I was able to attend my friend from long ago, wedding reception. Sam Blackham came to visit his cousins Scott Martineau and Richard Wilson one summer. We all hung out quite a bit and had a great time. At this reception Scott and Richard were there. We had the chance to visit again. Living in Utah now I don't get to see old friends and neighbors that often, so this was fun. I can't believe how grown up we are but not really. Their personalities were the same. We all have spouses and lots of children but it was a lot of fun to talk about the lives we live now. It was fun to see these three guys again. (we didn't get to get a picture with Sam because he was in his wedding line having to be charming to all of the guest that he probably didn't even know very well but hey we've all been there it was Sam's turn now...FINALLY!)

Summer of the Monkeys...

Those Crazy Cousins!

Let's see, how many kids can we fit in a

little blow up swimming pool?

"Max you can't just SIT on a slip n slide!"

Wow our summer has been busy, we haven't traveled at all but we have kept plenty busy. Andrea and her children have been up here the whole month of July and will continue up here until July ends. It has been great! Constant slumber parties, mountain hikes, pizza, swimming and just a whole lotta fun cousin stuff. Yesterday we had a fun slip n slide at my mom and dad's house and cupcakes for Andrew's birthday.

Max is TRYING to get a drink from the Slip n Slide

Today we took all of the kids and met my other sister Stacey at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo and hiked the waterfall. The older kids went so high we couldn't even see them, they had a blast.

Raegan, Torie and Kylee

Sydney and Abby

Bridal Veil Falls

We still have another waterfall to hike later and EFY starts next week, Chad is directing and my niece Bryndee will be attending, we will have a blast, I will be posting lots of those pictures so get excited!!! Tomorrow Chad's sister Staci and her four kiddos are coming to stay with us for a week. It will be CRAZY but a whole lotta fun. Hey if you don't enjoy this crazyness now you will surely miss it later. (I know, such wise words) I am sure I will have lots more to post in the coming days so be sure and stay tuned...

Happy Happy Birthday Andrew!!!

Today is Andrew's birthday, he is four years old. Andrew is a great kid. He is one of my easiest (knock on wood). He is such a mellow, laid back guy. All of the kids love him. He is everyone's buddy. Andrew is funny because he doesn't love alot of commotion or crazyness (yes he is part of our family) If the kids are downstairs he is usually upstairs. He looks just like his dad but acts nothing like him (Chad is King of commotion). Andrew also loves to run. When our kids were practicing for our school's fun run, Andrew would run with them. He would run around the track without even loosing his breath. He ran around that track five times.

When Andrew was born, I brought him home just like normal but then that night he had a diaper full of blood. I took him to the Dr.s and they called for Life flight to take him up to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake. We were terrified, we got up there at 1:00am and me being totally exhausted from just have given birth I was a mess. They began running all sorts of tests on our little guy, I didn't want to leave but Chad was concerned for my well being. He asked the Dr.s if he could take me home so I could sleep, their reply was "absolutely not, we don't think this little guy will make it through the night." Well after lots of tests, prayers and blessings and a week stay at Primary's hospital we have a healthy four year old today. We are grateful for Andrew's life on a daily basis, he brings so much joy to our family. Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

UTAH, THIS IS THE PLACE...

"Utah, this is the place" at least that is what Brooke White told the audience last night at the American Idol Concert. Yes I got to go see my favorite Davids. Seriously I love those guys. David Archuleta brought down the house!!! No Joke! You could barely hear him because of the screams, he was bawling, it was really cool. He did an amazing performance as well as did David Cook. They both did awesome, though David Cook made the comment that it is sure hard to follow Archuleta. Brooke White did great too. I think she even learned how to dance...a little. Even Jason Casserole (as Kalli refers to him) did good, much better in person than on TV. The one that I was completely turned off by was Syesha...YUCK!!! She was completely falling out of her tiny little dress (if you know what I mean) As my mom would say she needed "lots of ruffles". I was completely disappointed with her, in fact I wouldn't even watch her, I was embarressed for all of the younger crowd who had to watch her. But she was the ONLY disappointment, the concert was great! In fact it sold out so quickly that they added another concert tonight and it sold out fast too. Utah loves their American Idols!!! Thanks so much to Brian Jones who bought tickets for Jessica, Lindsay and I for Jessica's birthday. We had a blast. When Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson came in concert a few years ago Jessica and I went there too, yes the two of us and all of the little teeny boppers. So the tradition continues! While at the concert I went up to buy drinks, well I didn't have cash. Apparently the E center only takes cash, so when I went to hand the concession my card they told me "sorry, cash only" just then the nicest man handed the lady a $20.00 dollar bill. I told him that he didn't need to do that. After we (Linday, Jess and I) scrambled some dollars together, I handed him back his money and thanked him. I took his picture and he told me that if we are ever in Logan, UT to go and visit Papa Kelsey's Pizza on Main street. So here is a plug for Papa Kelseys, the nicest man owns it and if you are ever in Logan, UT go and check it out!!! Thanks again Papa Kelsey and thanks Brian Jones!!!

The Hike To Timpagnogos Cave

One of the look out points during the hike.

Today Shelley (Chad's sister), Paul (her husband) and I took a group of kiddos up the mountain. We had such a great time. We hiked up to the Timpagnogos Caves. If you have ever done it, you know that it's a pretty tough hike. Well worth it though. The kids had a ball. And of course, the weather was beautiful. Once you get to the top you have to put on sweatshirts because inside the cave it's about 40 degrees all of the time. But the hike on the way up is simply breath taking. It took us 60 minutes to hike up (with small breaks of course) and about 40 minutes to get down. (Well it actually took Tyler and I about 30 minutes down because he had to go potty.) It was a wonderful day and now the big question is if I will be able to get my body out of bed tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Paul, Shellie and Cassie in our sweatshirts about to enter the cold cave We kind of look like we had some "happy drink" to get us up there.

Torie, Raegan and Hannah
Inside the cave

Kylee, Kalli, Hannah and Shelley. Man check out the view of American Fork Canyon in the background.

Tyler, Keslee, Hannah, Kalli, Torie, Kymber, Christian, Kylee and Raegan


Tyler wanted to get up there quick. I am not kidding he practically ran the whole way. He is like the energizer bunny, he never stops. We finally got him to stop to take a quick drink.

Keslee helped Kalli up the trail. I was extremely nervous about the steep cliffs and edges. ( I am horrified of heights)