Cookie

We are a family that loves having a dog. We've always had a dog at one point or another in our marriage. We got our first dog from Frank and MiAnna. We were visiting them or first year we were married. They had puppy Britney spaniels and we couldn't resist. We named her Titan. She lived until our first year in our new house. Sadly she had an accent with her zip line and passed away.

Shortly after that we got it next puppy, a red healer we named Millie. She was so fun. tragicly,s got ran over by a car a few weeks later

Then we had a hard time finding another dog that we liked.... We had a Blue healer named ________ I can't even remember his name. He was a little bitey so we got rid of him.

Then we got Dusty. She was a puppy we got from Brett's cousin Ashley. We got her when you was about 10 months old. We had Dusty crawl into bed with Ethan. And they hit it off. We named her Dusty because she was a black lab and she liked to go in the shop with Brett. She would get so dusty that the name just stuck. We had her for about 10 years. She just got old and died in May.

We missed having Dusty around and the back years didn't seem to be the same without her. So, we decided we needed to find our next dog. Brett works with a friend who breeds dogs, and they had lots of puppies to choose from. We choose a burnadoodle. A Bernese mountain dog and a poodle mixed together. Our kids had so much fun picking out or new puppy.   We named her Cookie because she looked like an Oreo cookie. We were going to name her Oreo but we decided to go with cookie. She has been a lot of fun. She is growing big so fast. Which is frustrating to Carrie, she can't hold the leash anymore because cookie takes off and Carrie is not strong enough to hold her back.  She had been a lot of fun to have around. Todd thrives with puppies and let's cookie wrestle around with him. We hope Cookie will be around for many years.

Last week we had a really fun week and had a fun week with  filour cousins. Phil and Shelley went to Boston and Claire and Raylene watched their kids while they were away. Raylene is really good at creating fun things for her grandkids. Monday we all went up to Payson lakes and played on the water. Raquel and Joda, Darcy and a few of the cousins all came and we had a picnic. The kids all had a blast playing in the water while I worked a little bit on my suntan. Another day raylene took the boys to see the new Aladdin movie. On the 4th of July we had everyone over for a barbecue. Adrie came over and helped me make star sugar cookies and our traditional gummie kabobs. the year we went to see Mom and Dad on their first mission Brett in Palmyra, Mom and I went to an adorable Amish store. They were selling these gummy kabobs and I thought they were so fun. The week after we got home was the 4th of July and we are then while we watched fireworks. So, we've had them every year while we watch fireworks since. Brett was able to come home from Chicago that evening around 5. It was so nice having him home and there for the party.

Brett only ended up to be in Chicago for a week and a half which was a great surprise and a huge relief . The week with just the kids was actually surprising. We went to the pool a couple times , had  a fun day at the Salem park, played at the memorial Park and just made sure we had something to do everyday.

Hiya

Ethan has been signed up for Karate for the last few months. The other day he had his first belt graduation and he graduated from a white belt to a yellow belt. He has had so much fun learning the karate moves, getting new friends and improving his physical strength. Has been so fun to see him be interested in his muscles and he has improved his running speed. It will be interesting to see how much he has improved for soccer season.

another thing that's been fun with soccer is Ethan's cousin James is also signed up at the same Karate studio. It has been fun for them to learn together and improve their bond.

Girls camp "JOY" serving Jesus, others and yourself

I was able to go to girls camp this year and spend a week a few days with the girls in our Ward. We wanted to go down to the manti pageant because it's the last year the pageant will be presented.

We had so much fun. We hiked, toward the manti Tabernacle (which was really cool and it actually functions as a church)h the girls had fun in the swimming pool and I enjoyed having a break from all my motherly duties 😀

As fun as it was it was sure nice to come home and sleep in my own bed again.

Parade of homes

Last weekend was the Utah valley parade of homes. Brett got tickets from City council so we thought we'd take our family and go see the houses that were around our area. I was worried the kids would get bored and think it would be terrible but I was pleasantly surprised. My kids really enjoyed exploring each home and seeing all the different ideas. One house Carrie fell absolutely in love with there was a playroom in the little girl's room and it was painted pink was every girl's favorite Dream.

Till we meet again

My sweet Grandmother Hill passed away on Father's Day. The following Saturday we spent the day recalling the legacy she created. I'm forever grateful for Her sweet, kind heart and the many ways she made an impact on my life. I'll always cherish my memories of Her. My favorite memories are sitting on the piano bench listening to her play Once Upon A Dream, her incredible way of keeping a home, many times playing games like Hand and Foot, Rook and Sorry. I will miss seeing her sweet face and enjoying her loving embrace. I'm so grateful that families are forever.

Summer

Hello again.

Summer is always a rough time for me. Trying to keep my children happy, teach them to be independent and be able to self manage themselves is quite a bit of work. So to say the least I desperately find ways to keep them busy.

For Ethan, this summer has started off with a stem camp at the ALC in Salem. He has had a blast coding, making model airplanes, and looking forward to the airplane simulator. All of these this are right up his alley.

So, while he's away. Todd, Carrie and I have had such a good time doing things that Ethan does not want to do. Such as going to the library for storytime and a craft, going to the park, going on walks, and just having a good time together.

Another thing that makes Summer hard is Brett often will go away for work for weeks at a time. On Friday he's supposed to leave to go to Chicago again to work on the remodel of the temple. For the past few years he has been doing fire sprinklers be Chicago temple and this should be the last year for the shutdown. While Brett is away it's really difficult for me to keep things going smoothly. I often wonder how single mothers do anyting. So, while he is away I plan on trying to find a way to have something to look forward each day. I would like to invite Clair Wade and Rowen over to decorate a cake, go to the swimming pool another day, take the kids to the new toy story 4 movie and maybe something else that will fill the days while he's away.  I sure hope and pray that it will go well.