Viva St. George!

We are moving to St. George too... just kidding. We were just visiting for a fun weekend with Curtis and Kristin and their family.

We headed down on Friday and got to the hotel about the same time. Cousins galore!!!

Swimming and swimming and diving for fish, sharks, rings or torpedoes!
(Sorry I forgot the camera!)
 
Then we headed to Chuck -A-Rama for some much needed choco milk and nutrients. 

Boys Table with Jessie

The much calmer-Girls Table

Nap time was next for those wonderful dads that do all the driving.

Then it was off to see Mary Poppins at Tuachan. Jessie and Christian were having major melt downs from all the fun and no naps, but we made it to our seats just in time. It was wonderful! Super great singing. The set was amazing with smoke and fireworks and chimney sweeps walking the walls and ceilings! What a production! Thanks for inviting us guys.

Saturday we got up and ate some breakfast and swam some more. Then off to shop the outlets. After some lunch we went to visit Jacob Hamblin's home in Santa Clara.

"Though the arrival of Brigham Young in St. George meant the Mormons' efforts to colonize far southwestern Utah would endure, it was probably the peacekeeping and community building efforts of an Ohio man named Jacob Hamblin who made Young's arrival possible. Hamblin, known for the red bandanna he always wore, helped ease relations between Native Americans and settlers in southwestern Utah and across the region. The native tribes, themselves struggling with drought and heat, appreciated his arrival and obeyed the deals he struck."







Went to see the St. George Temple

The week after our little vacation the kids learned in Primary about the vision Wilford Woodruff had had of the Founding Fathers, while in the St. George Temple. They felt pretty special to have just been there at that temple.


We had a lovely visit with Mitzi, Jeff and Preston and the cows in beaver. Sorry I didn't get my camera out!

We visited Cove Fort on the way home

"On 12 April 1867 President Brigham Young wrote a letter to Ira Hinckley asking him to take charge of building a fort on Cove Creek, located in central Utah a day’s journey from the town of Fillmore on the north or the town of Beaver on the south. This Fort, built instead of a town because of the scarcity of water, was to be a way station for pioneers traveling along the “Mormon Corridor”—settlements stretching from Idaho to Nevada connected by a network of roads, telegraph lines and postal routes. Being a man of action, Ira left his home in Coalville, Utah, on April 17th for his new assignment, his family to come latter.

For years the Fort bustled with activity. News of the great, growing West throbbed over the lines into the telegraph office at the Fort and postal riders delivered the news of the new western empire to the post office. Daily, two stage coaches with a variety of weary travelers rumbled up to the Fort. Travelers unhitched their teams from their heavily loaded wagons and led the horses to the barn. Cowboys tended the tithing herds and a blacksmith fashioned metal into horseshoes with his hammer. Evening conversation was lively around the long table where each night a new variety of visitors joined the Hinckley family for dinner.

For more than twenty years the Fort served an important function, but as times changed so did the need for the Fort. By 1890 the Church leased out the Fort and after the turn of the century, sold it to the Otto Kesler family."
In talking with Uncle Jeff  he told us that the fort had been in a lengthy court battle and his uncle had been granted the property only to find out later that there were several back taxes due on the property. He then sold it to the church.

telegraph office

Brigham protecting the fort! This kid can make the best gun noises with his mouth!

Not sure if this is cool or gross, but this floral arrangement was made from human hair by the daughters of Ira Hinckley.

The cute missionary lady tried her hardest to feed us spiritually throughout our tour, but reverence was not to be. She ended up giving the kids some pioneer toys she had made and then things really got out of hand.

And Jess played in the dirt!

Glad we stopped! It is always amazing to hear of the hardship and sacrifice that the early saints experienced.

A pretty nice little weekend trip!

Bountiful All Stars Girls Softball

Go TIDAL WAVES!!!!
Amy tried out for the girl's all star team and made the A team! She was really nervous, but has done really well. She usually plays short stop or 2nd base! The All Star coach was so surprised she had only played softball for one year. He said she has a "great arm"!

Being on the All Star team has been a big commitment- more than 10 hours a week of practice! Amy is a trooper and never complains. She plays with a good group of girls that love softball too!

Way to go Amy!!

Paper Boy

Tyler was filling in for a friends on vacation. He did his friend's Davis Clipper Route for a couple of weeks.

Ty had lots of help and enjoyed it for the most part.

We know someone else that was a paper boy!

Mother Daughter "Flip Flop" night

Katelyn hauled me along to YW with her more a great activity a month or so ago. I had to dress as Katelyn and of course I wore a BYU t-shirt with a side ponytail. Katelyn wore one of my outfits with her hair down and we painted each others toe nails and had some yummy treats. It was a fun night!

The Tooth Fairy and Her helper (Dad)

Amy had been working on getting a molar out for quite a while and she had just about had enough! Sore tongue and all! So along came Dad.
He got that tooth right out of their and made Amy very happy. It was his first tooth he had pulled out and he was pretty excited too.

Our Graduate

Brigham will be moving onto 1st grade! He made leaps and bounds this year. At the beginning of Kindergarten he knew the letters B
& T and recognized the numbers 1 & 3. He could count to 11 and could write his name, but had no idea what the letters were besides the B. he learned so much and tried so hard to get to where is teacher wanted him to be by the end of the year. Now he is counting to 30 and knows all his letters and even some sight words. Brigham is a good student and a good friends to the kids on his class.

Way to go Briggy!

They had a lovely program prepared for their families to show all the things they had learned. Some real cute songs too.
"V is for volunteer- (shouting with excitement)parents & everyone!" The audience loved it!

Grandma and Grandpa Black were kind enough to join us in the HOT cafeteria for the program. Brigham loves their help and support! I do too!

Last Day of School!?!

First Day of School 2012

Last Day of School 2013

This last day of school was a little milestone for our family... this school year I had the most kids together in school for the first time. K-6th, A- 4th, Ty-2nd and B-K. For the rest of Katelyn's school career she will only be in school with Amy. She will never see the boys again at school. I told them this and said they should cherish this moment and they rolled their eyes at me. I suggested to Katelyn that she hold hands with Brigham and Tyler as she walked home with them and remember this time. She did a BIG sigh.

Following in his footsteps....

Tyler participated in his first 5K this morning to raise money for the children that live down at South Davis Hospital. He ran with some of his buddies and had a great time!

scales & tails

For field day this year Brigham and all the Kindergartners walked from the school to Rocket Park to meet some slimy, scaly friends!

The finale was this huge boa constrictor. The snake guy had it laying on the ground so all the kids could see it's length. Then he asked the kids and dads to help pick it up and put it back in its bin. Brigham just happened to be holding the snake's "bum" when there was a major blow out. Brigham was covered in white snake poop! He smelled like a hamster cage! Briggy is our germ-a-phobe so I was a bit worried when it all transpired, but there were some cute moms that jumped right in and said " Brigham that is so coooooll!". We even saw a grandma in the grocery store a week later that said, "Brigham I heard you were a rock star at school. You got pooped on by the snake! That is so awesome!"



Brigham the kid with the white streaked hair that was pooped on by a boa constrictor!

Amy's Mountain Man Rendezvous

Holy Cow! What an awesome event. I don't know where I was when Katelyn did this, but we were sure glad to be involved this year. I was the unofficial photographer so I will share a few out of the some 400 pics I took.



I know I am a little biased, but Amy was one of the cutest pioneer girls there!

They had this huge tub full of rainbow trout and Amy and Brigham got one of their own. Killed the fish and then a teacher gutted it and we have them in our freezer

We got to take some rides on the horse and Christian shared with Jess

Shooting marshmallows at pie tins!

Some of you might recognize this Mountain Man?-- Annie's dad

Amy feeding the horse

They had a kiddie pool filled with tree mulch and bark and then threw BB's in it and the kids "panned for gold"!

Annie's dad had a cool Tee Pee there set up with lots of guns and he shot several of them. The kids were so interested! The shots spooked the nearby horses a bit, but no one got hurt!

Some good old Pioneer games! Stick pull, sack races, Tug-o-war, "drop the pin in the bucket", ring toss

Yee Haw!! Do-si- Do! Line Dancing!

Helping clean up! It was a great, fun Day!!