Fourth of July

We celebrated the 4th of July on the third.  We had a yummy dinner, followed by playing Rummikub (with AJ coming out the winner) and believe me he let us all know it....and basketball, hot tubbing, and then fireworks.  By the time the fireworks were over it was only Carter and Elsie left of the kids and the guys plus me.  The others watched out the window. It was so much fun to be with family. I'm so glad to be living in this land where we enjoy so many freedoms and we are truly blessed. I love my country.

Carter's Birthday

July 1st was Carter's fifth birthday. This year Tara decided to have a friend party during the day and then invited the grandparents over for cake and ice cream that evening.  Carter had a great time with all of his friends...he is still into Buzz Lightyear and with Toy Story 3 being out...he got all toy story gifts and not one of them the same...pretty amazing.  He was so excited and happy. 

Tara made this Buzz Lightyear Cake

Mount Timpanogus & Fishing

Last week AJ took off work and with Carter, Cory and Tyler they hiked up toMt. Timpanogus Caves.  They had a great time.  They were the first group of the day and it was only them along with their guide.  Afterwards they hiked back down and went up to Tibble Creek Fork and had a picnic and fished.

Father's Day

We had everyone over for dessert Sunday evening to celebrate Father's day. Here's a picture of AJ with the grandkids minus Talon.  They love their Grandpa.

Carter's Preschool Graduation

On Monday, June 14th was Carter Preschool Graduation Program....it was so cute and he did such a great job of singing all the songs they learned throughout the year....and then to finish off the evening we enjoyed ice cream at Artic Circle.

Judson Turns TWO

On Saturday we celebrated Judson's birthday. Because of the weather we had to have it in our basement....Megan's theme was from the BOLT movie....Judson loves that movie and will sit and watch it. The kids played games and we had a great lunch and then Judson opened his presents. We had a lot of fun.

Ava's 3rd Birthday

On Friday we celebrated Ava's third birthday by having a princess party.  Tara made a delicious lunch and the girls played a few games, made a bracelet and then Ava opened her presents.  AJ picked Carter up from preschool and took him to McDonalds...(but not long enough) It was certainly interesting to see the dynamics change after Carter got home. It was a very fun afternoon.

They're Here!

Well, Megan, Tyler and Judson are finally here.  Megan and Judson flew here with Wendy on May 24th got in around 12:30 am and Tyler and his dad  drove across the country stopping for two baseball games...one in Kansas City and the other in Denver, then the drove all night and arrived here on Wednesday morning, May 26th.  So that evening everyone came over and helped unpack their truck.  Megan and Tyler went to Las Vegas for a few days and now are back and getting settled. They are going to live in our basement for several months.  Tyler has had several interviews including working interviews where he goes and works for a dentist all day.  He's been offered several jobs the problem is he also wants to set up his own practice and they have a distance clause in their contracts...so they have some decisions to make.  We love having Judson in our home...he is so much fun.  And he enjoys being around all his cousins.  It's great!

 

The reason for this picture of our old couch....we had this couch for 30 years.  In our other home it was our living room couch... since moving to this home it spent half of its life in our basement family room...with the finishing of our new family room I wanted new furniture....however, with Megan and Tyler coming I wanted to wait until they move out.  So we are using their couch and loveseat until they are gone.  So it headed off to DI for some other family to enjoy.

May Happenings

Back in April the Relief Society asked if they could have a retreat at our house and we of course said yes.  So it was planned for May 7-8th unfortunately that's when my father was put on Hospice and passed away on May 8th.  However, the event went on and was very successful.  We had hamburgers and hotdogs and had a great evening with lots of games and dutch oven cobbler.  Some girls spent the night some went home and returned in the morning for a great breakfast and to help with our humanitarian service project.  I knew we could leave them and they would take charge and clean up and lock up so that AJ & I could be with my dad his last day.                                                                                                  

Our ward activity this month was a dinner and movie outside.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and so we had to move it inside.  It still turned out to be a great evening.  We had Carter and Ava spend the night with us and the movie the showed was UP which they totally enjoyed.  They were so excited to get to sleep in the new playhouse in our basement they both slept up in the loft totally believing AJ was sleeping down below.  By the time they woke up he was already reading in his office and so they'll never know.

For FHE we weeded and planted flowers in front of the Institute Building located at the Jordan SLCC Campus. We had twenty flats of flowers to plant and with all the amazing help it only took 45 minutes to get it all done.

This year Carter wanted to play T-Ball so Cory and Tara signed him up and we went to watch him play one evening.  After every game Carter will tell you which team won his or the other team.  (funny....cause they don't keep score) but he knows and it's not always his team.  The first time Carter hit the ball he ran and picked it up and ran to first base.  He was safe (tie goes to the runner).  I'm so glad that we never put Cory in T-Ball....his parents are much more patient than I would ever be...which is surprising because his dad is such a competitor. Ava takes her pom poms to every game and is the cheerleader.

Mother's Day

This was not the Mother's Day I was expecting.  On Wednesday we got a call from the Hospice nurse that my dad was probably not going to make it and so I called all the kids and we went up there to see him. Well he actually was sitting in the dining room when we got there so we weren't to concerned.  On Friday morning they called again and didn't think he would make it through the day so AJ and I headed up there to be with him his breathing was quite labored...we stayed until 4 pm and informed them that we had to leave because we had a Relief Society Retreat planned to take place at our home which included a sleepover that night and so they were to let us know of any changes through the night luckily we never got a phone call so we were able to have a Barbeque and have the girls come and enjoy fellowshipping  one another.  So after we fed them breakfast on  Saturday morning we excused ourselves and let them stay so they could do their service project and we headed back up to Sunrise, his breathing had definitely changed and my dad Jack Douglas at the age of 92 passed away peacefully Saturday afternoon, May 8, 2010.   AJ was such a comfort and help to me... So to my surprise I woke up Sunday morning to these beautiful flowers and a lovely poem (which I actually think is one of his best ones) that helped me get through today. 

                             The hands of a woman
                             A mother and wife
                            Who cares for us all
                            As we journey through life

                            The role that she fills
                            With her hands and her heart
                            Blessing us all
                            And she's doing her part

                           A daughter of God
                           With hands to fulfill
                           The task of each day
                           With courage and will

                            The hands that reach down
                            To care for each child
                            The mothering love
                            So tender and mild

                           A mother's days done
                           But never quite through
                          The worries she has
                          May never come through

                          She cares for us all
                         Whether young or quite old
                         Not thinking of self
                         Is more precious than gold

                         The joys of this life
                         As we journey below
                         Are cared for each day
                         By a mother we know

                         Her hands may get old
                         And her back it may bend
                        But her heart keeps on giving
                        In life through the end

                        So the blessings we get
                        By the hands of our mom
                        Are all that we need
                        To bring us back home.

                              Love AJ - Mother's Day 5/9/10

Talon's Baby Blessing

On Sunday we had Talon Court Jones' baby blessing at Krin and Court's ward and then everyone came over to enjoy good food and company.  We missed Megan, Tyler and Judson but they will be here in three weeks...can't wait.

TALON COURT JONES