Called to serve

Today we get to hear Elliot speak one last time in his home ward before heading to the Phillipines to serve his mission. He has made a great decision in life. Devoting two years of his life to the Lord is a hard thing to do. Most of us work on this for our whole life. He will be missed by many. We will all be keeping BIG tabs on him. Hopefully he will be a good telecommunicator. Good luck Elliot and we LOVE you.

Happy Birthday BABY!

Today my loving husband is celebrating his birthday. He said its ok to have people over for his birthday. I guess there is a first for everything. Usually I hear it's just another day. So here it is "just another day list" of reasons I love him and would hate not having him around.


*He understands me

*Loves having his boys around

*He loves to be working on a project

*He is usually willing to do anything with me. Even chic flics

*Late night drives can take us anywhere

*You don't need to plan a huge vacation just to have fun

*Live music often fills our house

*Has given me a chance to try every kind of meat in a can.

*Is the best Laundry Fray EVER

*Likes to work in the kitchen with me

*Loves taking the tipi out for the weekend

* Sews right along side with me

* Humors me by chopping our tree down

* Loves my family & doing things with them

*Will go to the county fair for a date

*Loves spoiling me:)

*Can go from hippie to cowboy in less than 5

*Is very brave when it comes to coyotes in the canyon

*Hates mice more than I do

*Enjoys telling me stories

*Knows a little about a lot of things

*He sleeps late on weekends

*Will help in the yard

*Encourages me when I need it

*Tells me how "cute" the house is when I decorate

* Loves having the kids come and sleepover

* Knows where the great brunch spots are

* Takes date night seriously

* Changes the sheets on time

* Is the best about taking the small tv for football

* Puts up with me blogging from bed

* Is a great "read and discuss" buddy

* Will re arrange furniture with me

* Suffers through dinner at the table

* Listens to my crazy ideas

* Loves visiting

* Is a great Family Night Host

* Is the big masculine shoulder his sister-wives need

* Can always start the weed eater for me

* Will always mow over scooping

* Shares his work room with my decorations

* Loves shopping at DI when I am not with him

* Always brings "surprises" home

* Makes me laugh DAILY

* Loves telling me about what he and Skyler did today

* Visits Hyrum cemetery when ever I need to

* Thinks outside the box

* Makes coffee on Friday

* Likes the bar scene as much as I do

* Loves taking me shopping

* Will try anything once

* Loves going the Southern Utah

* Tells me I am beautiful

* Dreams with me

* Enjoys the simple side of life

A few to grow on

* Know where center streets are
* Loves watching the stars even on a work night
* Always remembers
* Writes "code" on my back about things others should not hear

This is your life....

I love you the mostest

There are a lot of things that happen daily that point out how much we love each other, If one of us tells the other I love you, the other replies with I love you more, then it's up to the first to find something to love the other the "mostest" about. This weekend John took the cake. Sklyer had been down camping with us. He had waited all day for a fire. That is the best part of camping. After a few dances at the ball we headed back to camp. Skyler was sitting on my lap by the fire on Saturday night. It was thundering and lightning and beginning to rain. Skyler and I were so comfortable that going in to get a blanket to snuggle was out of the question. 'Ampa saved the day and brought out the blank and the guitar. Skylers eyes got big and he whispered to me that 'Ampa was going to play for us. He snuggled back into the blanket and listened to grandpa sing. We watched lightning for a while and slipped soundly into never never land. After getting Skyler to bed the grownups sat around the fire for a bit longer. A few other folks came around and visited with us. After shutting down the camp and getting things buttoned up to head into bed I took a trip "around back" while John headed into bed. When I came to bed my pj's and my warm socks were waiting there for me with a head lamp and my book. What a thoughtful husband I have. There is nothing better than going in to get ready for bed and not having to do anything to be able to crawl under the buffalo to snuggle. Thanks honey, I love you MORE.

Thank goodness for three year olds

Today Skyler and I got to hang out together. It is so refreshing to spend the day with a three year old. Some times you forget that small and simple things are really what it's all about. Some times it would do my heart good to know it's ok to get so upset you are gonna blow just because the bowling pins are not all facing the right way, or mac and cheese and hot dogs are just as good as prime rib. Today we made up captions to put under neath all of the photos we took this weekend, made some crafts, had a nap on grandpa's bed, played with all of the toys down stairs, threw the rope for Bella, watered the flowers, changed kitties box, sorted laundry (Sky does laundry M's style. Maybe Grandpa should have been here for some of the day) found PBS kids, fed the dogs a treat, sang our ABC's, washed our hands, made lemonade, did dishes, and danced all of our sillies out. It was a lot of fun and I was as sad as Skyler was when 'Ampa pulled into the drive way and said it was time to go home. Reality is sometimes hard to handle. Just remember Skyler, we have to have another play day soon so we can use our tree house tickets:) Hugs and Smooches

Meet Sage John Garcia

What a great way to spend the weekend. Skyler got a new brother. Sage was born in the wee hours of the morning. Sage weighed in at a whoppingfour pounds. He is 17 inches long. He is so small and cute. He has a lot of brown hair and stayed awake for most of the visit. After we visited in the hospital Skyler got to come and hang out with Ampa and M. We chased shadows, played on the play ground, walked, talked and had a tea party. Skyler thinks it is a lot of fun to pour water out of the camp pot into the small cups and find something to eat with our drinks. He was a great helper and did find things for Sage. After a while Ampa asked Skyler where Sage was going to sleep when he comes home. Skyler replied, "not me house." After a while he found a yo-yo that he needed to buy for the baby. He was a trooper and helped Ampa and M pack stuff up and sang songs with M on the ride home.

Creepy Crawlies

This was a great way to keep the kids entertained for a while. They were having the time of their life catching the creepy crawly things. Uncle Gene was a great sport and let the fuzzy caterpillar crawl all over his face. It was supper funny when it was under his nose like he didn't already have enough fuzzy there. Then it started up the hole. That was enough. He gave it back to the kids.

While Nash was sitting on the grass enjoying the afternoon, a dragonfly decided his big toe was a great landing zone. It stayed there for quite a while. When it would fly off it would come right back and land on his toe. The kids thought this was a great pet utnil trying to catch it then he decided this was not a safe zone.

I MADE it. I LOVE to blog

So here it is blog #100. I started this blog last October so in one year I have told you 100 stories. When I first started blogging I didn't think I would get so hooked. Who knew. I do love logging on and keeping track of what we have done. It is really fun for us to look back on and see what we did through out the year. John thinks that I tell you all to much information. I on the other hand think I only share the BIG highlights of the month with you. Maybe next year I can do better about telling you all of the little stuff.
Some stories are not easy to tell. Others are so funny that I hope they make you laugh. Sometimes life gets to busy that when it slows down you are bombarded with a ton of posts all at once.

To those of you who are faithful followers I thank you for putting up with my silly sense of humor. I hope you at least chuckle while you are reading. It makes for fun conversation when we see each other in human. Sometimes I can't quite understand how you know about things before I tell you...I forget what I blog about.

To those of you who just check in once in a while. Thank you also. I hope you tune in when there is a great story.

And to those of you who just tune in for the music, stand by I will update it soon.

Here is to another year.

By the light of the moon

Thursday night we went for a very long drive. We took Nash out to work in Vernal. The going out was not the bad part. Coming home seemed to go on for ever. On our way out we all visited and kept each other company. On the way home the two of us talked for a long time but a 3 hour drive is a long time. As were leaving Vernal the moon was in quarter form. Most of you have seen a have moon or even a sliver of a moon. This was a quarter of a moon. I tried to get a picture but the street lights made it impossible. Coming out of Duchesne I needed to go to the bathroom. I told John he would have to stop for me, but I didn't want a rest stop. He said it was ok and pulled off of the side of the road into a "view point". He turned out the lights got out of the car and shut the door so the lights inside would go off. I was going to wait for him but then decided that I couldn't wait any longer. I too stepped out of the car but when I was going to shut the door so the lights went out I decided that I didn't want to be out in the dark here so I kept my door open. We finished up what needed to be done and got back in the car. John still can't figure out why I insisted on leaving the lights on. Every one could have seen me. Except that at 2:00am no one but the man in the moon is out to see you.

Paige, this one's for you

Here are a few shots of the head stone. Dad did a great job in creating and designing. He put a lot of time an effort into this project. It turned out spectacular. These pictures show you some of it but it is breath taking in real life.

A mountian man is born

Zack has been waiting since May to go to rendezvous with Uncle Gene. All summer long Zack has had one question for us when he sees us. "Is it Labor day yet?" A bit before we left to camp Uncle Gene and I had Zack come over and made him some mountain man clothes.
Well, Labor day finally got here and camping we did go. Zack was so excited and when we arrived at camp, he was the only little boy around. Thankfully, after being a great helper and getting camp set up, more little's came to camp. Zack was a quick learner that if he did more chores or helped out i n other peoples camps he may be able to earn money. He loved earning dollars so he could buy rock candy. After earning his first few dollars he asked Uncle Gene to help him make a neck bag so he had a place to keep his money. Grandma Monica built the kids a swing. That was the best entertainment on Earth. Zack and Uncle Gene found fire starting rocks. Those are really important rocks for little boys to have. When Zack was not around the fire pit, he was swinging on the swing. He met a new friend Jayden and had a great time sword fighting, hawk throwing, getting faces painted, and running wild through camp. He even enjoyed putting on his rendezvous clothes. He looked like he was a pro at this camping thing. He and M took Skyler out on the canoe. Skyler and Zack had a great time wrestling Nash to the ground. Zack even kept the little girls entertained when they wanted to play with dolls. All of the kids caught frogs and kept them in the wash tub. Zack and Skyler loved doing the dishes. Something about having to heat water on the fire that makes dishes so much fun to do. At night the camp fire was the place to be. He also liked going to the store on his OWN to buy his sucker. Listening to great music and enjoying getting cool enough to find a blank to snuggle with. After a full day of playing night is a great time to relax. Zack was a professional tipi sleeper. I don't think there are many people who move around in circles in their sleep. Good thing the tipi is round. On Sunday it was so hot we had a great water fight. Zack thought it was really funny to get Aunt Mandy really wet with great big hugs. This turned into both of them in the wash tub soaking wet. That night at council fire Zack was the big winner. He got a tin for a fire starting kit, a beaded medallion, and a journal. Uncle Gene let Zack wear a neck knife. He was really cute with it and made sure when he was playing around he took it off. A man asked Zack if he could see his knife. Zack showed it to him and the man commented that "Zacks dad must think he was really special to let him have such a nice knife." Zacks face beamed and he carefully put his knife away and went back to playing with the other kids. Smores and marshmallows were a must every night and spit baths in the morning and brushing teeth felt great.
Thanks Zack for coming to rendezvous with us and having a great time. We love YOU!!!!

Here's the story....

Yes we did it.

We took "professional" family photos. Bless the lady who spent a few hours with us while we were being our crazy selves. It was a lot of fun playing with the props and making each other laugh. Luckily for us Skyler was there so we could pretend like it was all for his amusement. I am not sure how my parents ever got all seven of us together for a family photo. Maybe that's why the last "real" photo we have was when Emily was 2. That was only 25 years ago or so. Hopefully, we can all get together in a year or so and do it again. Thanks guys for humoring me and getting photos done. Next time it's shorts and Hawaiian shirts.

There is always a first for everything.

Some of us got the white shirt memo:)

Daddy's taking us on VACATION

A few weekends ago we had the great pleasure of going on vacation with John's mom and dad. We went to Reno to visit Julia's brother, Bob. He and his daughter Jay live in Reno. We drove out early on Friday morning and got there around 2pm. We stayed in a beautiful hotel which made up for the last dive we stayed in. It was not far from Uncle Bob's so he came right over to get us. We went back to his house for dinner that night.

The next morning, Jay picked us up and took us to Virginia City. It was a fun place to visit. The whole town is set up like a tourist attraction. Everything from the "out West" We spent a lot of time looking around and going into all of the little shops on main street. John even met a new friend. Mr. Conductor or maybe he was the boss of the mine. This was a mining town back in its day. I am sure once upon a time Park City looked like this.

We got ice cream and drinks, gambled, and waited to go on the under ground mine tour. Albert and I took the walking tour. It was pretty neat. I don't think I would have made a very good miner because I couldn't wait to get out into the open space. 30 minutes was enough for me.

Saw the famous "Suicide Table" and spent all day in the "Red Light" district. Dad kept finding Tee shirts that he swore he would wear but he never found the right size:)

On the street below Main street or "A" street there is the pretty little Catholic church. St. may of the Mountain. It was beautiful. If it had not have been under construction I am sure we would have toured it.

At the end of the day, we all rode on the camel. If we would have been there for one more week we could have seen them race.

Julia and Jay rode first.

Then John & I rode. John wanted to feel like he had long hair again so we swapped places......

That's what friends are for

This weekend we went camping. There was a rendezvous held at Fort Beunaventura. It was a lot of fun. Last year at this same rendezvous I was caught with a tiny doll in my camp that one lady wanted to know if it was mine, how much it weighed, what it ate, what its name was...Not knowing what to say, I started making things up. Well, that was not the thing to do because she thought I was serious and it just kept going. She brought her dolls over to met my "baby". They had a bit of a conversation and shook hands. It kind of freaked me out and I swore if I ever had a girl child she would not be allowed to play with dolls.

This year two of the women that camped by us thought it would be funny to by me my own baby, "Tiny Tatonka". She is 4 months old, weighs 2 ounces, is 4 inches long, has really long hair, two braids to be exact,has a beany bottom, yes she takes after her father. The kids in camp thought this was the funniest thing. The little girls in camp were very interested in why she didn't have a bed, blanket, more than one pair of clothes. Well that brought on a whole new party to add to rendezvous. They held a baby shower in honor of Tiny Tatonka. There were a bunch of people gathered under our fly and here they came. Gifts in hand, a plate of treats, and big grins on their faces.

Baby Tatonka got the cutest crocheted blanket, a bunch of diapers, a necklace, a pillow, a doll, and the best a twinkie bed. The little girls took great care of her through the weekend. I only lost her one time. She was not really lost Tenley just picked her up to play with the other doll out in the yard. Here is our first family photo.