What I've learned!

It really isn't fun to "Blog Blitz". I think the anticipation is the key! You anticipate an "occasional" post from me (and you know it tends to be more sporadic than occasional) and I anticipate an occasional comment from you. It works best that way! I guess I will just have to try to keep up on the blogging. It is still a fun way to keep up on all that is happening! Thanks for being good sports with my blogging lesson!

Warm Springs... Again!

We love this place!!!! We invited some families to join us this time. Everyone had a friend, including mom and dad! We thought that there was going to be around 600 other people there, so we decided to go in the morning, have lunch then leave when the crowds arrived. They never came and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

The teens played water basketball for a solid two hours, then we ate, played volleyball, ultimate frisbee, explored and swam some more! It was delightful.

Thanks to the Spendloves, Heatons, Fishers, and others who joined us!!

What are you doing for Spring Break?

Rototilling

As I mentioned before, we are doing some super duper remodeling of the backyard! (Don't even get Rick started on it... it just gets him all worked up). We had a rototiller break down, so Rick rented one for the day and he a Presten went at it like gangbusters. I think if the truth be told they were really having fun with a Big Boy Toy!

Getting Wood

We have been trying to get the whole family to go to the cabin so that we could enjoy the beautiful fall colors and also to clear some of the dead trees nearby, but the kids are so busy with school and "such", they can't go so Rick took the day off and we went with his mom and dad.

The boys did the cutting and the girls did the loading. We didn't do too badly either. Three loads in about 2 hours.

We ate a little bit of lunch then headed back down the mountain and got home right when the kids were coming home from school.

Now the kids get to do the splitting and the stacking!

Pumpkin Carving

We just held the traditional carving of the pumpkin family home evening with Uncle Trevor and Aunt Kim.

The kids all had their own pumpkins this year instead of buddying up. I think they all did a great job. There was lots of laughs, food, and pumpkins!

Presten's room

Now that Tia has moved out, the traditional room shuffle has begun. Presten decided to move into her room, but refused to deal with purple walls and yellow daisys.

Enter mom (and grandma Johnson) ... we spent the better part of two weeks scrapping paint off the walls, retexturing, priming, and painting.

We were smarter this time and painted the walls white (Presten wanted black and red... a Tiger room!). I did consent to paint one wall red. That was a trick... every sample we tried was either pink or orange. Presten was happy when we finally go it RED! Then I took an idea Denise sent to my college girl for using contact paper.

I just finished painting the contact paper stripes and got them up. They really helped to break up all of the white ( I love color!)

We still aren't done, but he's moved in and we'll keep working toward accessories and bedding in the future.

I think Presten is pretty happy about it.

Presten's Goal Wall!

Larson's does his own hair!

Larson has started doing his own hair in the morning. The funny thing is.... he gives each hair do a name. I have to admit he gets pretty creative on both the names and the style. Here's a small sample...



This one is... speed cruizer



other style names include: cockroach, frog legs, electrified, and praying mantis. The frog legs is my favorite because he makes two leg type things come down on his forehead. It's hilarious!

TTTIIIIMMMBBBEEERRR!!!

The cold weather is fast approaching and we really enjoy having a fire in the fireplace instead of using our gas heaters ,so we have been going up to the cabin and cutting down the dead trees around it so they won't fall on the cabin with all of the snow fall. We were finally able to get Presten to go with us (it goes so much faster with two men using chainsaws).

It was his first time to "fell" a tree and he was nervous (he didn't want it to fall on anything or harm anyone), but he was also very excited. (i.e. power saw, adrenalin, testosterone)

It was just the boys and I and we got 3 loads of wood. They are good workers! Austen's main goal for the day was to get as dirty as possible, so he really got into hauling the wood to the trailer. Larson's main goal for the day was to ask us what time it was every 2 minutes.:)

Eventually Presten's saw quit working, so Rick cut our pieces bigger (about 4-6 feet) and Austen and I were having a heck of a time lifting them into the truck. Presten took pity on us (we probably looked pathetic trying to lift them) and came over and just lifted the whole piece by himself. His new name is Hercules.

He kept asking me what I was going to do when he no longer lived at home. I told him I would pay him money to come home and help me! Of course by then Austen and Larson will be grown and then all three of them can pick up the pieces and load them while I sit back and drink lemonade and marvel at their strength!

Backyard S'mores

We have been doing some major overhauling on the backyard. Part of that has been cutting down trees and burning the stumps. One day we set the stumps on fire and then waited for some good coals, nothing like some yummy smores in your own backyard!

On our way to State!!??

The Tigers Football team is doing awesome. We enter our first round of play-offs this weekend. They are a bunch of dedicated and fun guys who have a dream of a state championship. It is going to be fun to follow them as they work to achieve their dream. We'll keep you posted on their progress toward a state football championship!!

Ballgames Galore!

(I love how Austen is resting his arm on the helmet of his teammate!)



If you can believe it... our family attended six different games in six days! Normally we don't do any extracurricular activities on Monday, but it was Austen's playoff game, so we held our family home evening activity at the stadium!! Austen caught the first TD of the night and had an awesome defensive tackle later. He's really getting the hang of blocking for the running backs too!

The next two nights were spent watching Larson play some awesome defense in the flag football league. Boy is he speedy! Next was a couple nights of football for Presten. He plays JV and Varsity, so that means two seperate nights of games! He does a great job. On the Friday night game we even got to be on the Fox News TV show. The helicopter flew in and there was all kinds of hoopla for the sports guy! It just made the game all the more fun to watch. The JV team ended their season undefeated. (more on the Varsity later).

Then on Saturday we caught part of Naomi's games as she battled for the border-league championship. Volleyball is pretty fun to watch, and she did fabulous! Whew! Six days of games! Guess what? I loved every minute of it!

Fireplace Therapy

We had a bit of cold weather sneek up on us a week ago. Rick was just waiting for me to give him permission to build a fire in the stove insert that we bought last winter. Well, I gave him the okay one night after sitting outside all afternoon (probably at a ballgame). It was so wonderful!!! We all just congregated in the living room and sat watching the fire.

It reminds me of the words John Denver sang on Grandma's Feather bed...

(except the spit and chew part) :)

"After supper we'd sit around the fire

The old folks'd spit and chew

Pa would talk about the farm and the war

And granny'd sing a ballad or two

I'd sit and listen and watch the fire

Til the cobwebs filled my head.....

That's exactly the feeling you get when you sit and stare at the fire. Rick loves to tell people about his new therapy program... build a fire and then sit and stare at it until you fall asleep on the couch. I love to watch him when he falls asleep there all relaxed! The kids are especially excited to have a fire to wake up to in the morning. Unfortunately the cold spell passed and we're back to days in the 80's. So the fire therapy has been postponed for a few more weeks! But we're anxiously awaiting the nights of therapy again.

BEWARE!!! Blogging Blitz about to Begin

I have been saving up on the blogs. Quite frankly life has been rather hectic these last few weeks. So I took time today to download photos from my camera and made a folder just for photos to post about. So watch out, I'm going to throw them at you all in one clump. Check back often to make sure that you don't miss any! Happy reading! (Did I get enough B's in the title?)

One Less Teenager In The House!!

Today was another milestone in our house. We have one less teen in the house. Ashli turned 20 years old today. It is amazing to me how young that seems. I guess it's because I'm getting older. (I'm also in denial that any of my children could possibly be that old.) We don't really get to see Ashli much these days, but let me fill you in on what a great young lady she has become.

She is currently in her second year of college and doing fantastic. She loves her Biology class as well as sign language. She is a Presidential Ambassador and gets to meet new people and continue to develop her leadership skills. She is currently pursuing a degree in Radiation Therapy.

Ashli is a very talented musician. Her passion is to compose music and she is good at it. She looks forward to coming home so she can play the piano. She is AMAZING!

Ashli has great qualities. She is incredibly friendly and loves to help others. She has a strong desire to succeed and has the Beatty family spirit of competition. She sets high goals and shows great determination as she strives to reach them.

She is such a ray of sunshine in our family and we're so grateful she's ours!

Happy Birthday Ashli!!

My Table is FULL!

No, I'm not talking about food. I'm talking about people. It was general conference weekend, tradionally we go to the cabin on Kolob and spend the day listening to conference. The rain put a damper on our plans and we didn't end up going. Tia still came down to be with us, she had a blast taking photos in the rain. (She is getting really good!) Sunday morning came and the kids were sleeping in. Rick and I sat there in the morning silence and both commented on how much we wished that Ashli would've come home to be with us for the weekend. (It's so hard when your kids grow up and aren't around for all of life's little traditions). As I was busy with breakfast in the kitchen, who should be standing at the door.... it was ASHLI!!!!! She must have heard our hearts calling for her to come home.



The most thrilling part of the day was when we all sat down to the table for lunch. Yes, we put the leaf back in and every seat was filled! (see Something is Missing post) Just like the good ole' days. We ate and laughed and visited. And just like old times Dad told a story and kept us all on the edge of our seats as he shared the skill required to sneek up on a deer while bow hunting! Hilarious!



It was awesome!!! My table was full..... with the people I love the most in this world.



Hope your table is full!