Summer 2010

We have had so much fun this past summer enjoying the outdoors, too bad I cant post any pictures because my computer at home with all the pictures won't let me log into blogger for some reason. It has been far too long since I blogged so I thought I would at least tell about all our adventures in the outdoors.
We have enjoyed having the trailer this year and have gotten plenty of use out of it. We have been to Strawberry Reservoir, Otter Creek State Park, Flaming Gorge and our last trip for the summer will be to Fish Lake this weekend before school starts. We have done plenty of fishing, hiking and even better lots of smores making.
I think the favorite trip would be Flaming Gorge. We rented a boat one day and fished all day, we were all excited about catching the huge lake trout. I caught one lake trout and then all our gear was out too far and hit bottom and we lost it all. We had fun exploring all the nooks and crannys and seeing how beautiful it is anyway. The next day we went over to the dam and did the dam tour. It was very fascinating to go inside the dam and down to the bottom. At the bottom they let you feed all the fish that hang out at the bottom of the dam, there are thousands and they all fight over the food, the kids loved it.
Last weekend Kaylans dads wife Linda came down for a visit for the 1 year anniversary of his dads death and to visit the gravesite so she could see the headstone now that it has been put in. It is beautiful and I cant believe it has been a year already. We had a family reunion with all his Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, As always it was a lot of fun with lots of food, baseball and of course a water fight.
On a sad note, Bradley got bit by his best friends dog about a week ago and will have to go back to school with bandages on his face but at least the cuts will heal and no major damage done.
We have all been sunburnt and dirty pretty much every weekend and have loved every minute of it.

Office Cruise Mexico

I have the best boss ever. This year because of a goal we met last year he took us on a cruise to the mexican riviera. We had sooooooo much fun. These pictures are in totally random order because I must be an idiot or something. We played the slot tournament and Dustie made it to the finals, that was a blast I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday on the boat and my wonderful husband even got me a cake, too bad I fell asleep before I even got a piece In Puerta Vallarta we did the zip line at the Predator Movie site, that was way fun.

Our New Toy

We are so excited to enjoy our new trailer this summer. We love going camping and fishing but I am so over sleeping in a tent. Now I can enjoy all the comforts of home on the road!

I have your answer! and Katies Decorating abilities

These are just a couple of things I thought I would share.
First - I have found the cure to all the hardwater problems in dishwashers. I thought that my dishes were so far gone because of hardwater spots that I was going to throw them out and get new ones until a friend told me about this amazing product. You put it in the dishwasher with some regular dish soap and voila. Your dishes look like new again and so does the inside of your dishwasher. Seriously though, my glass glasses were so foggy they looked just plain dirty. Now they look like the day we bought them 12 years ago. So go get this stuff. I have found it at Smiths Marketplace and Target(It was .60 cheaper at target).


Second- A couple of weeks ago Katie went to the Dr for her Kindergarten checkup. She was really worried about getting the shots so Grandma Mary told ther that if she was good she would buy her a prize. So after the Dr we headed to the store. Katie chose princess stickers that stick on the wall. We got home and she headed in to decorate her room and she insisted she do it by herself. When I went in to check on her, this is what I found not only had she hung the stickers up but had randomly taped other things to the wall.

A picture of Bradley and one she drew and her chain friends from school.

I honestly dont even know what this is, but it is taped to her wall.

This is a colored pencil and a drawing she did. I asked her why she taped a pencil to her wall and her answer was like duh mom "in case I want to color."

Her name tag from school and a little paper doll that came out of her last years valentines day card from my mom.

A fancy nancy card and some hearts she made.

I dont even dare try and take them all down yet, the only good thing is that her room is the one I have neglected painting so all that tape wont ruin anything.

Christmas at the Harris House

This year for Christmas we decided to spend the week at Kaylans moms house. We left Wednesday morning and came home Sunday. It was a fun filled week.

On Christmas eve we had a talent show that got renamed the Katie show because she is the only one that ended up participating. She quoted the verse from Luke about the Saviors birth and then sang Away in a manger. After that we had scones and hot cocoa and it was off to bed. The kids were all asleep by 8:00 and we went to work playing Santa. The next morning we were up at 5:00, I guess that's the down side of having them go to bed so early. Here they are waiting for all the parents to get downstairs.

The kids all got spoiled and between Santa,mom and dad and Grandma and Grandpa there was paper everywhere. Katie got the new bike she wanted, a cat that meows( it is eerily life-like),strawberry shortcake and her doll Katelyn that came with many accessories(like 10 pairs of shoes). Here she is posing with the new bike. This is only one of the many different poses she had me take of her on the new bike.

Bradley finally got his Nintendo DS( his dad finally caved, Kaylan hates video games), a couple of games, a remote control car and of course this is Bradley a new nerf gun.

We had a fabulous Christmas dinner consisting of Prime Rib, Ham, potatoes, salad and stuffing. It was so good, I ate so much dinner that I didn't even have any pie for dessert.

The next day Kaylans brother and his family joined us and the presents started all over again. We then spent hours out in the -5 degree weather enjoying the sunshine ;)

On Sunday we headed home, Sunday night we had dinner at my parents and once again the kids got spoiled. At the Murray house we decided this was the year of the snuggie. I got Sarah a leopard one, Sarah monogramed some for Brent and Cindy and Grandma got kids size snuggies for Katie and Bradley. The next night we went bowling and of course Grandma and Brent were the winners. Here are just a few pics from the evening. Kellie did bowl one game and then started cramping so she decided to stop. We do want to meet baby Gabe really bad but maybe not this early.

It was a great Christmas and New Years at our house, hope yours was just as swell!

Slacker

So I have totally been slacking on the blog end of things lately. In my defense I got called as the 1st counselor in the primary presidency a couple of weeks ago and that has made life a little busier. Bradley had his nineth birthday on monday, but we celebrated it last saturday with all his grandmas and grandpas.

Bradley got this sweet bike that his dad picked out for his birthday.

Katie had a dance performance for halloween at the Rec Center for the Spooktacular that they have every year. The rec center did a good job, You could take a scary canoe ride on the pool, bounce houses, big blow up slides and games. The only rip off was that you had to use three tickets to get into the performance, They made a killing off of all the family that came to see the kids dance. Katie did a good job and was super excited because it was the first time she got to do a dance in tap shoes. Bradley was suppose to perform but chickened out at the last minute. His class did thriller and did an awesome job to bad Bradley wasnt there to make it even better.

Halloween Costume pictures still to come, I bet you all cant wait!

Happy Birthday Katie!

On Thursday Katie turned 5! I cant believe how fast time flies. This year I let Katie have a birthday party with friends. She wanted to have a halloween party where the kids come in their costumes and we do Halloween things. We decorated bags to take trick or treating and painted pumpkins. We also ate donuts off of a string. Out of the 10 kids we invited only 2 came. Katie didnt even care she just had fun.

Here is Katie with Jackson and Sarah.


For her birthday she wanted her ears pierced. She chose little pink flowers(So Katie). She didnt even move when they did it although her eyes did just about pop out of her head.
She also got a barbie scooter and some clothes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!

Thunder!!

This morning the kids were listening to the radio and singing along so I decided to video tape them for a minute. Right in the middle of singing there was the loudest clap of thunder that freaked Katie out a bit so I thought I would share it. Its pretty funny.

Katies Big Accomplishment

So I have had the whole week off of work while Dr Smith is on a cruise and I vowed to myself to get so much done while I was at home and I havent accomplished one thing but cleaning the bathroom. Katie wanted to go outside to play and I suggested that she try to ride her bike again. We have tried and tried without the training wheels but she has had no balance whatsoever. I thought it was a lost cause but would at least give us something to do. After holding onto her for about 2 seconds she tells me to let go because she can do it herself. Sure enough she took off and never looked back. She had to run and get dad to watch her and call grandma to tell her. Grandma came and watched her ride for a minute and she was so excited to show off her new talent. My mom asked her if her dad watched her ride her bike yet and this is what katie told her. " Thats what dads are born to do watch tv and then come watch me ride my bike and then go watch tv again" She never fails to make me laugh even with the simplest of things.

3rd Grade

Bradley started 3rd grade yesterday. He is a little indifferent about starting school this year. He is excited though because his best friend is in his class. Up until now we had asked the school that they be in seperate classes because they are such a distraction to each other. We'll see how this year goes. Bradley pretty much lives at Hunters house if we are home and they have adopted him as their 4th boy. Bradley is such a fun loving, tender hearted little boy and I cant wait to see what this year brings us. For those of you just waiting on pins and needles for some video from hip hop class you will have to wait a while longer. He gets embarrased if I stay and watch. As soon as the teacher shows up he is pushing me out the door. I am trying to figure out how to video tape him because I want to see how well he is doing as well.

Update

Earlier this evening Kays dad passed away. He had to have surgery on a blockage in his intestines. They removed the blockage and part of his colon. He came out of surgery and when he was moved back into the intensive care he went into cardiac arrest. The doctors tried with no avail to bring him back. Kay jumped in the car and headed to Oregon once again. He has stayed pretty strong through this whole thing. I want him to know how much I love him and wish I could be with him in Oregon right now.

Kaylan Dad

Just thought I would let you know what has been going on in our family this week. On monday we got a call that Kays dad was in ICU in Oregon. He had been watersking the week before and had fell and landed really hard. His body really ached but he just thought he was sore. He started to get sick as well and was in extreme pain by Monday night so his wife took him to the Hospital. When he got there they discovered that he had a blood clot the size of your fist on his Kidney, Pneumonia and liver problems. They also found out that his heart was only working at about 50%. They decided to give him some blood thinners to see if that would shrink the clot, but because of the liver problems and the heart they had to really watch the amount so his liver would not start to bleed. Since being in the hospital he has gone into stage one kidney failure and developed MRSA in his blood and every organ but his heart. Things are not looking that good. They said that if you get MRSA in all of your organs your chance of survival is only 5%. Kaylan left on Wednesday to go up there. He is staying optimistic but its hard to tell by just conversations on the phone. He said that to go in and see him you have to completely gown up and wear a mask. He will stay until sunday and then come home. Who knows he might be returning to Oregon again shortly.

If you fight the knife the knife wins.

I was in the bathroom straightening my hair when I heard a blood curdling scream. Bradley comes running in with blood dripping everywhere. We tried to wash it off and put pressure with a towel but the bleeding wouldnt stop. So we grabbed Katie and headed to instacare. All the while trying to call Kay and tell him where we would be since we werent going to be home when we got there. We tried several times with no answer. The drive to instacare is literally two minutes from our house and i was relatively calm I could tell it wasnt a severe cut but we couldnt get the bleeding to stop by ourselves. Bradley on the other hand was in shock and he kept telling me the whole way there to hurry because "he was losing major blood here." We got to instacare and checked in. They seriously had us wait 20 min until kids care opened. I seriously was not happy about that I would have paid the extra $10 to just get right in but oh well. When we finally saw the doctor the bleeding had at least slowed and she was able to clean it off to see how deep it was. She said that she would put a couple of stitches in because he was an active boy that probably wouldnt keep still or keep it clean. The worst part was the numbing he cried pretty loud when she was doing that. After that he just laid on the table sucking the sucker they gave him not even moving. Both the doctor and the nurse commented on how well he was able to sit still. When we got out into the car Kay finally called and asked who had cut themselves, he was home know and there was blood all over. He said there must be something going on in our family because he had rear ended someone on the way home and that is why he didnt answer the phone. No injuries and little damage to either car so that was good. All the way home Bradley kept apologizing that he cut himself and telling me that hewouldn't play with knives again . He is so tender hearted. Katie on the other hand informed me that she wouldnt play with the sharp knives. Phew what a relief she will only play with the dull ones.

The pictures came up backwards but oh well. Kay had cleaned up all the blood really well by the time we had got home except I kept finding blood in all the wierdest places. This is at the very top of my kitchen cabinets almost to the ceiling.

I had to sneak a picture while he was sleeping because he would not let me take a picture of it. The nurse let him choose bteween a BYU OR UTAH bandage of course he chose Utah.

Fun In The Sun

We spent our 4th of July weekend in Spring City this year. It has become our favorite weekend getaway. We enjoy spending time with Mary, John and Andy and get to enjoy our favorite hobbies riding the four wheeler and target shooting. Kaylan has become very interested in antique guns and has done hours of research. His enthusiasm for guns has started to rub off on the rest of us as you will see.
The weekend started out at the Mountain Man Rendezvous in Mt Pleasant. They have many crafts, clothes and food from the pioneer days as well as a carnival and games set up for the kids.

Bradley was technically too big for this train but there was no one in line so the let him on. The poor train had a hard time even pulling him around the track.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the parade then in the afternoon we did some shooting. We shot all the guns ranging from the little 22 that is fun to shoot to the shotgun that will kick your butt. I have the marks on my shoulder to prove I even tried to shoot it.

Kaylan has been teaching Bradley how to shoot and how to safely handle guns. I am impressed with his ability so far and how well he handles the gun. I also go a little crazy as I watch him load the gun for himself and when he gets done shooting how he checks to make sure there are no bullets left and puts on the safety. He has definitely learned respect for what they can do and is very careful.

To carry on my worst mother of the year streak, Katie has her first sunburn. Apparently I put sunscreen everywhere but her back. Poor thing.

Here is our grand finale to the holiday weekend Bradley and Kaylan lighting the little package of fireworks that we bought. Bradley was so excited to fireworks the whole weekend and then when it came down to it was asleep by 9 o'clock each night. Saturday we actually woke him up when it started to get dark so we could light them off. We had a great weekend and Hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did.

Katies Dance Concert

So I am pretty much still the most horrible mother in the world. I did however have a camera with working batteries in it this time, but didnt realize that the video would only shoot for 1 min and then you had to press play again. So the dance is in two different frames. Katie did a little better this year still just a tad behind everyone. It was fun to watch though. She is third in from the left on the back row.

The next pictures I just threw in here because they are pretty funny. Katie had to have a picture with her and her dad for a fathers day project at school. She would not give us one normal smile. So Kay got a gift with Katie giving him funny looks.

Camping

We spent the weekend camping and fishing with Kaylans family at Strawberry Reservoir. We had so much fun fishing, chatting by the fire and especially making "real smores" Katie has never been camping that she remembers to make smores at the campfire. She had a blast.

We were at the lake all day on Saturday fishing. I have never caught so many fish in one day in my life. Kaylan and I even fished through a major thunderstorm and only left because the lightening was getting a little to close for comfort. I wish I had pictures to show you just how wet we were. It was so much fun.

Katie never did catch a fish she just didnt have the patience. When we got back with the fish we caught she wanted her picture taken with it even though she wasnt the one to catch it. It was so funny.