The Boys Backpacking in the Uintahs

 Ellie, our buddy Aidan, and I took the boys up to the Uintahs.  We dropped them off on a Wednesday and Papa Stan picked them back up on Sunday.  I was scared the whole time they were gone.  They had no phone reception and ended up getting lost once when the trail disappeared. 

 Right before they took off.

Policemen Ball

 This was the first year ever for a Policemen Ball.  I have been wondering why they don't ever do one.  The firefighter's have one, why not the cops?

 I am so glad that the Blackburns went with us. 

 We met new friends.  Jess and her husband, Officer Hercules.  No joke, their last name is Hercules. 

 Will and Connie Barnes organized the whole thing.  They did a great job.

Michael and Melanee Blackburn and us.  Can't wait for next year.

Daddy Daughter Date

Every once in awhile Allen likes to take Ellie out to a movie on a date.  This time he took her to see Into the Woods. She LOVED it and has been singing the songs ever since.  She got on the computer and tracked down the lyrics for all the songs and printed them off.  She also downloaded some of the songs.  Silly girl.  We sure love her and her musical abilities. 

Shop with a Cop and his wife

 Every year Allen and I get really excited for the Shop with a Cop program.  I started going with him a few years ago and he says it makes it more easy and fun for him.  Each year 100's of less fortunate kids get to come and spend $100 at Walmart.  We first start at Applebee's and have breakfast then all the kids get to ride in the front seat of a police car over to Walmart.  The get to control the lights and sirens and horns and talk on the intercoms.  Siblings talk to each other across the radios.  It is so fun.

 After breakfast all the cop cars follow each other to Walmart.  It is so crazy.  People driving by all stop and pull over.  They video tape us as we drive by and wave. 

 The police cars make a huge circle with plenty of room for Santa to land in his helicopter. 

 Our little friend this year made sure to buy gifts for her family members and a few things for herself.  I am always amazed that all the kids we shop with always remember to buy things for their family.  The money is suppose to be just for them.  It's amazing to me. 

Night of the Arts

 When Ellie ran her idea passed me for her Night of the Arts project my jaw dropped.  I was so impressed with the idea. I may have asked her if she heard the idea from someone else.  Bad mom.  The theme this year was Around the World.  She decided to use clay and make a 3D art project.  We bought a Styrofoam ball from Walmart and she covered it with the clay.  It hardened over night, but the next day it had cracked through the whole thing.  She ended up painting it again and that seemed to help a little.  She wanted a little girl that represented her to sit on top of the world.  It looked just like her, right down to the freckles. 

We had a book with all the continents in it.  She copied them and cut them out.  Then she rolled out some clay and used the copy of the continent as a stencil and cut out each one.  Then she used modge podge and adhered it to her globe.  Once they dried on she painted them each a different color.  Then she made a little person to represent each continent.  Her little girl represented North America.  She made a cute little girl, modeled after her Spanish teacher Mrs. Seminario, for South America.  An Ethiopian boy for Africa. For Antarctica she made a little boy wearing a big fluffy coat.  Asia was a little girl, she messed up on the eyes though.  Her words not mine.  Australia was a cowboy. Europe was a little girl that looked like a princess.  I knew she was going to win something. She spent so much time on it and it was amazing.  I am not just saying that because she is my daughter either.  I was so happy to show up and see she had won first place and the Best in Show Award!!  That ribbon was awesome.  So proud of our little artist.  Love you Ellie!

Veteran's Victory 5K

 This year the 5th graders at Wasatch Peak Academy were in charge of the Veteran's Victory 5K.  Ellie was so excited because she got to welcome everyone.  She is above on the right.  She spoke nice and loud into the microphone.

 Carson and I were the only two that ran in it from our family.  Ellie was too busy helping and Allen's back has been causing problems again.  My first ever 5K.  I did much better than I thought I would.  Carson kicked my butt with a 30 minute time.  He ran most of the way.

 I ran with my little buddy Derrick White.  We ran/walked it.  My time was 47 minutes.  I am just glad I came in under an hour.  I stopped right before the finish line so Derrick could cross before me. 

My friend Jen Gaerte runs these things all the time.  She ran with her 5 year old so we passed them at the beginning, but I made sure to post on FB that I kicked her trash.  She was a good sport and let me. 

Date Night

Every once in a blue moon Allen and I get to go on a date.  He is working from 3:30 p.m. until at least 2:30 a.m.  Worst shift ever.  We are hoping it will change soon.  I don't like to leave the kids alone too long so we just went to dinner at Kitty Pappa's.  It is in Woods Cross on Highway 89.  It was our first time eating there.  The food was good, the waiter was crazy hilarious, you can only pay with cash, and it hasn't been updated ever.  It's a few decades old.  I went to the bathroom and almost hit my head on the ceiling.  The toilet was so short it would be perfect for my preschoolers.  We had a good time.

WPA Halloween Parade

 This is the first year that WPA had a Halloween parade.  We have a new principal and I love that she did it.  We sat by Mindy and her boys, Dylan the pirate and Lucas the Bees baseball player.  I love those boys.  Look at that smirk on that kid.  Adorable.  Allen had to come in his uniform and had to leave right after Ellie walked by.  At least he made it.

 Dylan, Mindy and Lucas Moser

There she is.  Ellie AKA Rarity from My Little Pony. Brielle Hall, her best friend, was a monster.  Those two girls are hilarious together.  Brielle is so good for Ellie.  She doesn't let Ellie get away with any crap. 

Church Volleyball

 I am the Ward Sports Director for our ward.  I sort of feel obligated to go play all the sports.  Volleyball I like though.  You don't exert too much energy and it is fun playing with the other ladies. 

 We had a really good team this year and took third place.  We moved onto Region play and our first game was on a Wednesday.  Our two tall girls had mutual that night and I had Ellie's night of the Arts that I couldn't miss.  So, our Ward showed up with 5 players and didn't win. 

 Spike...well, sort of. 

 Follow through.

Overhand serve.  Haven't done that for years.  I have been working out everyday and I could really feel the difference during volleyball.  I feel great, but not losing any weight.  Bummer.  Allen was able to make it to the very last game and took these pictures.  I am glad he did. 

Choir Concert

Carson's first Choral concert.  Can you see him up on the top with his white dress shirt and tie?  He is so handsome.  We are proud of him for taking Choir this year.  He didn't really want to, but he did it and his teacher loves him.  So far he is the only baritone in the class.  Ha ha.  He even signed up for choir for next year.

Tomato overload

 This was one of the first tomatoes off of my plants this year.  Isn't he cute?  I could not bring myself to eat him though.  Ellie wanted to call him Olaf. 

I planted two plants this year and they exploded!  I couldn't even keep up with them.  They were a huge mess, but produced over 100 tomatoes!! I made salsa, spaghetti sauce, and canned tomatoes for my mom.  It was so fun learning how to do it.  Mindy Moser, Tarah King, and my mom came over to help.  I was nice and split the cans with them.   

What a week

Monday our neighbor's Melissa and Ryan brought down their trampoline to give us.  Ellie was thrilled!  She has been making slide shows and typing up presentations to show me of the many reasons we should buy a tramp for years.

Tuesday we took the Girl Scouts to Boondocks in Kaysville as our final Hoorah.  We played and ate then came home.  We all had a great time!  Before bed I looked out the back and saw that Ellie and her friends had left the backyard a huge mess.  Ellie and I went down to pick up and I thought I would show Ellie a few tricks I use to do when I was growing up.  As I went from my back to my knees on the tramp I felt a huge tear in my stomach on the right side.  My appendix burst!!!  or so I thought.  I immediately collapsed on the tramp and yelled at Ellie to not move.  I temporally passed out from the pain and then very slowly made my way off the tramp and upstairs.  Ellie ran to get the throw up bowl and I feared I was going to black out again.  After about 10 minutes I made a frantic call to Allen and the only words I could make out were 'Appedicts burst.'  He made it home in record time and drove like a wild man to LDS emergency room.  I think I need a punch pass there.  We were there for a few hours taking blood tests and a CT scan.  The CT technician took me back and started asking about my past health information.  She was concerned about my kidney creatine levels.  Oh crap.  My last nephrology appointment my levels were normal....like a normal person numbers.  That hasn't happened in years.  That was in October of last year.  Then I started imaging that it was my kidney's causing all the pain.  I do not want to have kidney failure again.  That was a very scary month.

Luckily, the CT scan came back normal. **breath normal now**  Everything else looked good.  Dr. Gilbert, the ER doctor, after hearing what I did to cause the pain, determined that I had strained my inner abdominal wall.  What?!  Sadly it was a let down for me.  Allen and my mom say I have a high tolerance for pain, so I figure it was a pretty bad strain.  They put me on morphine and zofran and then sent me home with Lortab which I have been trying to avoid.  Apparently it makes me a little slow and loopy. 

Wednesday was uneventful.  I doped up and slept most of the day.  I think it was good to relax the muscles. 

Thursday I did more relaxing and then we headed to my parents for a bbq and karaoke party.  Some of the boys met earlier and had a golf tournament.  I had signed up to play but after my trampoline incident I decided against it.  Carson won the furthest hit ball.  Tha ta boy! 
   

Somehow Sean and Tarah got Allen and I up to sing.  My dad has been trying to do that forever.

Friday came and we celebrated the life of a beautiful three year old named Garrett.  I will post just on that in a bit. 

Grantsville Camping

 We had our first family camping trip last weekend.  Allen took us up to Grantsville.  We were pulling the tent trailer with the van and I really thought that it was going to break down.  Moths kept us company and they were everywhere!  For breakfast one morning we made boiled omelets.  They were actually pretty good

Not too bad.

 

There was a 7 mile hike.  Ellie and I only made it about a mile then headed back with an exhausted dog.  Poor Molly.

When the moths were at there worst we hung out in the trailer and played games.  We are looking forward to many more trips this summer.

Carson's 6th Grade Graduation

 We are so proud of Carson.  He is such a good boy and polite.  We had some bad days throughout his 7 years at Wasatch Peak Academy but we made it.  Now onto Junior High.  Eeeekkkk...I am nervous.

 Grandma and Grandpa Miller came and spent the evening with us.

 Carson and his best friend since kindergarten Kaiden Laux.

He seemed so much more mature than some of the kids there.  We love you pookie boy!

Field Day

June 3rd was the kids' field day at school.  This was my 3rd year running it.  It really isn't that bad.  The worst part is getting volunteers to help that day.  The 6th graders get to be in the dunking tank.  Carson is up above waiting to go down.  It was a hot day and the water felt really good. 

 BFFAT.  What does the mean?  Brielle Hall and Ellie made that up.  Best friends forever and twins.  Even though Brielle is bi-racial and Ellie is as white as they come.  They are super cute together and I am glad they have each other.

 After school was over I let Ellie get in the dunk tank.  She loved it.

 Carson playing the sponge relay.  He is the 3rd one back with blue shorts and a gray and yellow swim top.

Fun was had by all!