Daron, Melanie, Stephen, Kassie, and Kenny

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Stephen's first Missionary splits!

Inspired by his older cousins (Cannon on his mission in Arizona, and Sterling's recent trip to Trinidad with Uncle Sterling where he did missionary splits), Stephen told our elders about his cousins tonight at dinner, and they invited him out to do the same thing... AND HE DID! What a feeling -- watching him bike away with these 2 fine missionaries... very hard to express those emotions! We were so proud that he hopped right on his bike and took off.  I wanted to follow him in my car... 8-)  (I didn't)




Spending the night with Aunt Tiffer is the best -- Kas lost a tooth and forgot her contact case, but Tiff took care of it all...


right after she came and taught a missionary class to our YW! She rocks!

 
Loving going to HP with Dad for "Take kids to work Day"
 
 
CBAW:  Cousin Backyard Airsoft Wars


Nighttime conversation between Maxwell, Kenny, and Mel after they were in bed:
 
K: Mom, were you ever in the navy?
Mel: Nope, I sure wasn't. Why do you ask?
K: Well, it was one of my favorite things when we went to Nauvoo and I got to stand up with Papa when they thanked all the military people at the end of that show, and he was in the navy.
Maxwell: No Kenny, Grandpa spied on the Russians.
K: He did? What does that mean?
M: I just know that my Dad told me that he spied on Russians and couldn't tell anyone about it, and it was a big secret.
K: Hmmm. {pause} Mom, did Grandpa have a sad childhood? (Like, what was the connection there? Maybe that if he had a sad upbringing, he'd move into a delinquent career like spying??)
Mel: No! He was a great little kid, and grew up doing all kinds of fun things, and was a cool dad. I remember when I was younger, he raced me all the way from his office to the car one day and he totally beat me, and Grandma told me he was the strongest man she's ever known.
M & K: Wow. That's so cool.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Summer vacation to Nauvoo!

We may have set a new record with 2000 miles and 76 pics/videos in 4 days on our spontaneous trip to Nauvoo, Illinois this weekend!  Best way to start a roadtrip: just stop off at Aunt Jenny's house to pick up some CD's and get the royal treatment with dinner-to-go, car snacks and trip goodies! Thanks Jen!


Ahh, the memories of Oklahoma Quik Trips...
 

And after 17 hours of driving, we're in Carthage ~ great experience seeing Joseph Smith's Jail





Beautiful Nauvoo temple
 


Lucky us, to meet up with Mom and Dad there too!
 











 
Such fun shops... Blacksmith, schoolroom, brickyard...






 
 
Grandpa launching Kenny in the pool...
 

 
Then Kenny launching Grandpa!
 
 
It was fun to be in the car together for so long ~ it made us miss our weekend European adventures. But this was great too!

Friday, July 26, 2013

"Are you a professional swimmer?"


The power of a compliment... when a sweet lady asked me if I was a professional swimmer after I finished doing my laps at the gym, she had no idea how she made my day!  I told her it was probably just the googles, cap and flippers that earned me that look, and she said no - I wish I had your energy! Very, very, very nice to hear.  My butterfly is still rather weak, - it looks more like a dead butterfly - but atleast I'm trying. 8-)

Had a fun day at Old Towne Spring shopping with Beatrice's gang... Stephen's enjoying Cannon's rockin' boots while he's on his mission!

 
And we loved this ~

Cowboy 10 Commandments Tin Sign

Other fun summer activities ~ Zube park, Astros Game, & Wicked musical





 

Monday, July 8, 2013

Lovin' Summah-Time!!

From Cici's pizza with cousins to nighttime swimming... we're having a great summer!
 

At cub scout camp... 

 At YW Girls camp...

 
And dropping of Steevie at 3am for Scout camp!

 
Playing with our Swiss friends Benjamin and Sariah Stewart

4th of July partying!