Lake Powell

 We rented a house boat with the Granata and Stewart families this year.  We left on June 12th, the day after Garin and I ran the Utah Valley half marathon.  I was pretty beat and sore, but we managed to get packed up and to Antelope Point with no problems.  My niece Michelle also came.  She is leaving for her mission only a few days after we get back.  Also, David found out from his "jerk-boss" a few days before our trip that he wouldn't be able to take the week  off to come with us, so he will only be joining us for Friday and Saturday - BUMMER!

 We arrived to Antelope Point on Sunday evening and got the houseboat loaded and ready.  We were scheduled to leave the marina early the next morning.  Jake kept asking, "Mom, when are we going to set sail?"  

Josh ended up puking even before we left (thankfully into the water).  Maybe a bit of the stomach flu or maybe a nervous stomach.  He slept most of the first day and NOBODY else had any problem - thank goodness!

 Sarah and Michelle

 Ryan and Karin Stewart

 Most of our days were spent sun bathing on the top deck or swimming in the cove.  We all ended up with great tans!  This is Shanna Stewart, Michelle and Ray.

Sarah, Lauren, Rachel and Shanna

 Most evenings Michelle would take the kids up on the shore and have evening "work-outs" and "free-hug" clinics.  The girls had fun just being silly.

Ryan, Josh, Michelle, Shanna and Sarah

Playing cards and "hangin'"

Nail and body art.

Sarah is showing off her "sweet moves".  She is getting pretty good at wake boarding.  She even managed to get out of the wake without face planting.  Now getting back in is a whole other story!

 Dave finally made it up late on Thursday evening.  He and Karin's husband drove down the Stewart's boat because the Granata's ended up not working.

Jake requested that Dave bring the fishing gear.  Within minutes of casting his line into the water, he caught himself a HUGE stripped bass.  Unfortunately that was the only catch of the trip, but it sure made Jake's day!

Heather volunteered (the only one, in fact) to clean the fish.  She had it filleted and fried up in not time.  YUMMY!!!!

Heather and I lookin' HOT!!!!

The kids were POOPED every day from the heat and just playing hard.  Buried in the towels is BUBBA.

When we had boat troubles, we rented a wave runner.  The kids kept busy going for rides and tubing from the back.

 Me and Ray.

The "relaxation station" was a big hit the first couple days when we were boat-less.  Later it became the "washing station" where we shaved our legs and washed our hair.

Heather brought a bubble devise (I don't remember the fancy name for it, but it was super cool!)

Sarah, Jake, Mason, Dan and Ray chased bubbles all over the beach.

Another one bites the dust!

Sarah and London REALLY wanted a campfire to roast marshmallows.  I told them if they could find some wood to burn on our beach then we would.  They impressed us with quite the stick pile!

Mike was the "skipper" (somehow I ended up being the captain- I'm still not sure how) and safely got us to the best cove.  He brought a 2 foot drill bit to drill us into the rocks.  It was so much better than using the anchors that easily slip.  The water was rising at least a foot a day, maybe more.  We had to tighten and retie the boat down several times as day.

 This was our second day.  By the time we left, you couldn't even see the top of this arch on the rocks.

The favorite activity each day was to paddle out to "lizard rock".  It was named for all the little lizard scurrying around on it.  That is the bigger of the two rocks. By the end of the trip, there was only a little tiny bit above water.  The little rock was a great place to sun bath on.

 

Sometimes even "old ladies" can have some sweet moves!  I was way too chicken to do much more than just hang out in the wake.  I could get out if I did it fast enough at the beginning, but was too chicken to go back in.  Maybe next time!

The kids all got into fishing.

All-in-all it was a great trip.  The kids all got along, the weather was great and their were few "problems".   Now it's time to get planning for next year's trip!

Kindergarten Graduation

It was an EXCITING day at the Monson house: Rachel graduated from KINDERGARTEN.  Can you believe it?  The standard are set real high in our public school.  They have to know the alphabet and numbers to song, cut and color in the lines and even share!  WOW - I am soooo proud! 

Seriously, though.  Rachel is a great little student.  She is very smart and had a great time in her first year of REAL school.  She loved her teacher, Mrs. Barnes and did learn A LOT.

She is SOOOOO excited to go to first grade and EAT LUNCH at school with her big brothers!  I keep telling her that I think she should just stay in kindergarten another year, I am not ready for her to go to 1st grade - she is growing up way too fast.  She would have nothing to do with that.

Sunday Bread Baking

 Josh came home from church today and said immediately, "I want to make mini loaves of bread."  Who am I to say NO to that?  So, we got out the wheat grinder, the kitchen aide mixer and got busy.  The was his first time making bread and he did a great job!  He already knows how to make pancakes, cookies, quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches.  If you didn't notice, these are pretty much the only foods he likes to eat!  At least he won't starve when he lives on his own!!!

 He made 6 mini loaves (one for each of the family since David is away again) and a large loaf I took to the neighbor. 

 Josh ate his entire loaf in practically one bite all smothered with butter.

 Rachel choose a more insect form of eating and hollowed out the center and discarded the crust.

Sarah also decided to earn some extra credit for her cooking class at school and make yummy chicken rolls for dinner.  I slept through the whole process.  When I got up, I helped her get them baked and with the extra dough she made another loaf of bread.

My kids are quite talented in the kitchen!!!!

Spring Soccer

Yes - this was taken on April 30th, on a beautiful spring morning in Highland, Utah.  Josh's team is in the green and yellow.  Normally a game would be rescheduled in weather like this, but since the season is over, the tournament starts next week AND this game had already been rescheduled SEVERAL times due to bad weather, the team decided to play anyway. 

It was quite amusing watching the teams play.  The ball would be booted down the field and roll once or twice and then STOP.  It would start to accumulate snow like a snow ball and be too heavy to move anymore.  By the end of the game, everyone was drenched and freezing!  The snow was amazingly dry and would NOT melt even with the sun out.

 

Josh is the goalie.

EASTER Sunday

 I tried to skip the Easter egg hunt this year but I got out-voted.  Thankfully the weather cooperated for just a couple hours and we were able to have it outside. (We have had non-stop storms: rain, hail, sleet, snow, wind, etc) 

My kids are getting SOOO big and grown up.

 Most of the time was spent in making sure that everyone got an EQUAL amount of eggs.  Apparently equality is very IMPORTANT to my children.

David turns 40!!!

 While David went to choir Sunday afternoon, we planned an impromptu surprise party for him for his birthday.  I made a HUGE turkey dinner (one of his favorites) and we had the Chandlers over.  Stacy made a yummy coconut cake.  Sarah and the kids made a big sign that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY and we put up streamers and balloons.  For a Sunday, spur-of-the-moment party, it was actually not too lame.  When he came in from choir we all jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE."  At least he wasn't expecting anything.

For the guy that already has EVERYTHING, I got him a KINDLE.  He had been talking about how much he needed one.  I still can't figure it out since he already has an iPad, iPhone and an Audible account.  Maybe it is on the Y chromosome and I'll never understand.  I also got him a fancy-shmancy iron that he wanted.

We celebrated again the following Easter Sunday with the Monson clan.  Karen and Wes also had birthdays that week.  I made German chocolate cake and we had a huge ham dinner.  YUMMY!

Spring Break - April 2011

We went to Las Vegas for spring break this year to try and find some sunshine.  The only goal was for the kids to be able to swim until they couldn't take it any longer.    David had a business trip until Tuesday night so I drove the kids down Monday by myself.  The kids swam and swam and swam and swam.  I didn't get in the pool even once (it has to be REALLY hot for me to get wet) but I loved basking in the sun for hours and hours.

 CHEETOS - the lunch of champions!!!

 David and the boys tried to make a noodle raft.  I'm not sure that it was a success?

 Rachel and Afton Walstad (her BFF).

David's BFF from high school and his family met us down there on Wednesday.  The kids all got along great. 

 One of the nights we took the kids to an all-you-can-eat buffet that Vegas in known for.  They LOVED it.  Sarah ate a plateful of food from EVERY station!  She was impressive.  Jake ate several platefuls of ribs after nachos, pasta and several ice cream cones.  I was able to gag down a salad and some cake.  Buffets are NOT my favorite.

On the way home we stopped in St George to get slushie/ice creams and lunch.  Daniel got a mustache from the vending machine.

Cancun - Feb 2011

 Sadly, these are the only photos we have of our trip to Cancun.  David ended up WORKING the whole time and so I laid on the beach reading by myself.  Don't get me WRONG, I'm NOT COMPLAINING!!!!  I had a great time and read 5 books that week and got a great tan!

We also drove to Merida for a client meeting.  The town is beautiful and we had fun walking around the square.  The food was delicious, as well.  On our way back we stopped at Chichen Itza and saw the night time, cheese-ball light show.  David sort of enjoyed it (it was in Spanish) and I wondered what the point of it was.

At  a fancy-shmancy Argentine restaurant for dinner.

All in all, it was a nice break from the kids and the horrid, Utah weather.  I was able to warm my bones up before entering back into 4 more months of WINTER.

Arrow of Light

Josh, Connor, Cole

 Josh has been SO excited about getting his Arrow of Light from Cub Scouts and moving on to Boy Scouts.  He has always shown such enthusiasm and dedication to the cub scout program and even got ALL 20 of the Achievements possible in Webelos.  We are so proud of him and for working so hard at all he does.  He is such a blessing in our home, always making us laugh.  He is really growing up to be a great example to his siblings and such a handsome kid!

He was able to get his Arrow with his best friend Cole who will be advancing to Boy Scouts next month after his birthday.  Josh is excited to join his other BFF, Connor in Boy Scouts.

 Grandma and Grandpa Monson came up to help us honor Josh at his Arrow ceremony.

I made Josh this shadow box that shows most of the awards that he earned as a Boy Scout.

Josh turns 11

Josh asked for a chocolate-oreo cake for his birthday.  It turned out AWESOME!  We had fun smashing the oreos and squishing them into to frosting.

Josh got a memory foam mattress topper and the XBox Kinex for his birthday.  It has been very entertaining to watch the kids flail and jump about.  It's good there isn't a mirror in there or they might stop playing for looking so silly.
David also took him, Cole (his BFF), Jake and Tate skiing on Monday (it ended up being a day off from school) and we went as a family to the restaurant of his choice (Pizza Pie Cafe) for his birthday dinner.  All in all, it was a pretty good birthday!

 I had to threaten  Josh with his LIFE that he BETTER NOT take a bite out of the cake.  (Last year he did and thought it was pretty funny.)

/ˈæŋgri/ Show han-gry[hang-gree]–adjective, -gri·er, -gri·est.

feeling or showing anger  or strong resentment (usually followed by at, with,  or about ) because of intense hunger:  
Jodie was HANGRY that she was dieting during her own birthday party and couldn't have chocolate cake.

Sledding @ Mutual Dell

 Our ward has an annual sledding party at Mutual Dell each year.  It was super fun to watch the kids zipping down the hill.  The ward provided hot cocoa and doughnuts!   David was a "SUPER-DAD" and took the kids on many runs.  He even went down the steep road run.  I preferred to stay inside where it was warm and there was plenty of sugar to keep me company.

It was not easy to get these three to stop for a minute and pose for me.  It took "CRAZY MOM" yelling and threatening.  Good thing I am so good at it!!!  It takes years of practice and honing of this skill.