Summer Birthdays

Anders turns 14 and Hans turns 2.  It's so hard to believe on both accounts.  Anders is excited to go to a larger Jr. High next year.  A little nervous.  He does miss his Charter school friends and I think he realizes what a great opportunity that was to know so many kids and have the teachers and administrators know them so much as well.  He also loved his 8th grade core teacher and I'm sure he'll miss her teaching style.  It was perfect for Anders.  We appreciate the unique experiences he had there.  He looks so forward to the new chapter coming up in his life.  Every time I look at him I think he has grown.  My sweet and easy and peaceful little Hans has turned into me energetic, crazy bundle of energy.  WOW!  I thought I got off easy with my last one.  Either that or I thought I had perfected my parenting skills and had really done a number on this last one.  He has done what Elli did when she was 18 months old.  When Hans turned 18 months, almost to the day, he realized he had his own agenda and could enforce it.  It feels like he runs our household!  His eyes are always huge, like he just saw the greatest thing he has ever seen in his life-except he's that way all the time!!  He is completely excited about the world and enjoys every minute of it.  That also means he's into EVERYTHING!  I'm feeling old.  I can hardly keep up.  I absolutely crash into bed every night!  He loves animals, especially elephants and grandma and grandpa's horse Pepper.  He also LOVES tractors, loaders, back hoes etc.  Like Bret says, these 3 little boys will either keep us very young or cause us an early death!  We love them!

Miniature Golfing

School is about to start! Very bittersweet!  We decided to go miniature golfing for our Family Home Evening on monday.  Bret admitted it wasn't as he imagined.  Things are pretty chaotic with the 3 little boys.  It's a total free-for-all!  Anders and his new found, 14 year old, too cool attitude struggled to see the beauty in the little boys craziness and excitement, but oh well!  It was memorable and the crazies woke up the next morning talking about more golfing, or as Hans says, "more dolfing".

Gorgeous George!

Bret and I were so excited to have an opportunity to go see George Strait in concert.  We both absolutely LOVE him.  Not only do we love his music but what a classy guy!  We went with Bret's sister and husband, Keri and Jess and their friends Laura and Jonathon.  He did not disappoint!!  He sounds fantastic live and we all had a ball!  After the concert, we sat in the car for over 2 hours before we even moved a car length.  Perhaps USANA should do something about their parking situation.  That and the many inebriated groups around us had no effect on the overall excitement we felt at our first (and hopefully not last) George Strait concert!

Fishing With the Boys

The boys love to go fishing together.  Finn asks incessantly!  They finally found a few hours to go to Strawberry.  They had a ball!

The Salmon River

Bret and Anders went to the Salmon River with the 14 and 15 year old boys in our ward.  It was a challenging trip but one that stretched him tremendously.  They rafted and kayaked.  It was frightening to learn how to roll over and calmly find and pull the ripcord and pull the spray skirt (with you attached) off the kayak while holding your breath.  The first time for Anders was tricky and caused a bit of panic.  After some gentle coaxing, Anders tried again and felt comfortable enough to ride the rapids (class 2&3).  He did great and Bret said it was wonderful to see Anders get over fears and keep trying.  They rafted stage 4 rapids and several boys (and leaders for that matter) were bucked out.  What a great experience for an almost 14 year old boy.  These pictures are of the boys getting ready for their trip while we were at the ranch.

Welcome Hugh!!

Here is my new nephew, Hugh!  Congrats to my sister Shan and her husband Ogg!!!!!  Isn't he beautiful?  The problem, however, is they are all in Atlanta and I'm here in Utah.  I'm so excited for them but I'm feeling a little left out!  I want to hold him and get to know him.  Hopefully I can make it out to the blessing.  Miss you guys!!

Here's Anna's new project.  She has been baby sitting a lot this summer and she has decided to spend money on fabric (I love it!)  This is her quilt all laid out.  She has just started on a few of her squares.  This is actually her second quilt this summer.  I still have to bind her first one and then I'll post a picture with her snuggled up in it.  Elli has completed the top to her first quilt.  We made it just a strip quilt for her first one.  When I get my camera back from Bret, I'll show you that one too!  I love this!  As I previously mentioned, I dream about fabric now!

Bret, Anders and I arrived home from Trek last weekend.  We were gone for three days being a Ma & Pa to 9 kids who were assigned as our "family".  Thursday morning we got up early and headed up American Fork Canyon to get our handcarts situated before the youth arrived a couple hours later.  We packed our handcart and visited with the other 39 Mas and Pas.  The youth were dropped off quite a ways above our meadow where we were waiting.  They had to walk down into the meadow.  They knew the name of their family and 350 kids proceeded to look for their family flag.  We were so excited to meet our "kids".  We had their names and pictures that we had been studying so we could be familiar with them when they arrived.  My first thought as I met the 9 kids who we would be together with for the next three days was, "did we just get really lucky?"  I loved them instantly and felt like we were going to have such a successful trek.  I love watching Bret interact with the youth.  He doesn't try to be buddy-buddy with them even though kids always really like him.  He relates to them, gets along with them but also gets so much respect from them.  Our first day we only hiked 3 miles but it was uphill and tough.  Our handcart probably weighed 800+ lbs.  Our kids got along so well and some even seemed to have known each other forever even though they had just met.  They were such hard workers and never complained.  That night at camp, we cooked, ate and headed to the meadow for square dancing.  The first night it poured all night!!!  We woke to lots of clouds and were very grateful considering we were going 8 miles UPHILL!  It was a tough day but our family did not complain at all.  As one of our kids said-"it was all up here in our heads, though".  They sang and had a ball even though there were times we struggled.  After lunch they took our 2 oldest boys for the Mormon Battalian and we proceeded UPHILL without them for the rest of the day.  It felt so good to get there!  What an accomplishment and what great kids.  Once there, however, they wouldn't let our handcarts into the meadow where we camped so we had to carry everything down a ways to our campsite (tents, stove, sleeping gear, 5 gallon buckets etc.)  We immediately got on dinner and set off for family games.  Our family was so tired and enjoyed each other so much we felt like staying around our campsite and chatting and playing games but we knew we were supposed to be with the whole group.  The large family games were so fun though.  For a while we played separate girl and boy games that were typical of the Trek time period.  It was fun when the girls in our family saw Bret (or their Pa) in a stick pull with another Pa and started cheering him on, "Go PA!"  Too cute.  I also laughed harder than I had in months and months when our girls had trouble tossing the bean bag while holding dish rags.  Thanks Girls!  I smile just thinking about it!  After games they started an evening devotional when we started to get pounded by rain.  500 people ran for their tents.  Girls got in theirs, boys in theirs, Bret and I in ours and waited it out.  In between giggles from the girls we heard,"Pa, we're getting wet."  Bret braved the pelting rain and lightening to check the kids tents.  They were both getting wet.  When all was said and done, we had some wet sleeping bags and tents.  Anders came to visit us from his family and informed us he could wring out his sleeping bag and pad they were so wet.  I gave him my stuff and Bret and I had to both sleep on one very tiny pad covered by our fleeces and covered ourselves with one sleeping bag.  Our fleeces didn't do much for the rocks we were sleeping on so we ended up with about 45 minutes sleep.  The next morning was sooo muddy and soggy.  We did what we could but put most things in garbage bags and headed downhill.  It was gorgeous and easier to get down.  About a mile from our finish, we could here cheering.  Family had gathered to meet their children and cheer us through our last small river crossing.  What an incredible experience I hope to have the opportunity to do again!  

Myers Family Reunion