Trek

Noah and Dallin were able to go on Trek to Martin's Cove and Sixth Crossing in Wyoming.

They left on July 29th and got home yesterday on the 1st.

I've really enjoyed listening to them tell about their time there.

They had some wonderful spiritual experiences that I know they will always cherish.
We heard great reports from the missionary couples who work there.

They had such nice things to say about our group of youth.
Many of the youth, including Noah and Dallin,

shared their experiences in fast and testimony meeting today.

I feel like it was one of the best testimony meetings I've attended.

The Spirit was so strong and the youth bore powerful witnesses!

Sub-Zero with Noah and Dallin

Took these two handsome guys out for some ice cream.

If you've never been to Sub-Zero, it's pretty cool (enjoy the pun)

They make your ice cream fresh right there and then freeze it with liquid nitrogen. 

Backyard Date

Noah invited Janna over for a backyard date last night.

We set things up in the afternoon, 

we strung lights in the tree and hooked up a speaker for some music so they could dance.

Then Noah cooked dinner for Janna.

(with supervision and little help here and there from me)

He made chicken parmigiana and they had sundaes for dessert.

Grace and Anna were happy to help out by serving them the food.

(and peeking out the window at them)

I wish I would've snapped a picture of them.

All in all, I think the date was a success.

No Candy For A Year...is Over!

Last year on June 1st I challenged the kids to try and go for a year without candy.

I told them they would get $100 if they could make it.

Everyone except for Anna agreed to try

(Anna said that candy was just too precious to her :) )

I told them if they messed up, then they could start their year over from the day the messed up.

Noah accidentally messed up on June20th when he was at Strawberry days, so he started over.

Grace made it for about a month and a half...but Girls Camp ended it for her.

Isaac lasted a few more months, but decided to end his try as well.
Noah, Dallin and I all made it.
(You might have noticed birthday wishes this year included eating candy, so I guess we each had one cheat day...though to be honest, on our cheat day we only ate one or two things.)

Noah and Dallin were excited to get their $100!
I'm proud of them for completing this challenge!

Below you can see the contract I had them sign.
As you can tell...there were still plenty of sweets they could have.
This was by no means a completely sweet free year!
But, it was still a challenge :)

Stand-in for Dad

The young women had a daddy daughter activity.

Since Mike is already gone, Noah willingly went with Grace.

Love that my kids love each other!

PG High Junior Prom

Love these pics I snapped of Noah primping before going to pick up his date :)

I know I'm his mom...but what a good lookin' kid!

Noah and his friend Marcus double dated to the Prom.

In fact Marcus wanted to double, but Noah didn't know who to ask.

Marcus suggested he ask his cousin Janna, 

so Noah asked her even though he didn't know her very well.
From what I heard, they had a great time!

They got the pictures back yesterday.

 Marcus with Skylee and Noah with Janna

Noah and Janna

Dressed up for Service - 50s Style

Our youth participated in a fun service activity with the special needs youth group.

It was a 50s theme activity night.

I think they look great!
Isaac told me that he kept getting compliments all night :)

Dressing up wasn't a requirement, but you could do it if you wanted to.
Dallin went to the activity too, but chose not to get dressed up so he didn't want to be in the picture.

I'm glad that my kids like to serve and help others (usually)
From the report I got after the activity, it sounds like they all had a great time!

Cinco De Mayo and Diecisiete De Noah

We spent time with family on the 4th and included some Cinco de Mayo fun!

Cousins are the best!

Little Levi had to get in on the sombrero action too :)

Then on the 5th Noah turned 17!

My kids are seriously growing up too fast!

Anyway, I think he had a great birthday.

He requested an omelet and some toast and homemade jam for breakfast.

He got a cool book called What if?

Some IBC cream soda and $50

Some of his wishes included...

No chores

Get out of school early

Drive dad's car

(I think this is one of his favorite birthday wishes ever!)

Five guys for lunch

(I didn't mind joining him for that wish, yum!)

Eat candy

To have the giant sugar cookie I bought the other day

(I think he was surprised that I granted that one :) I love those cookies)

Watch Avengers: Age of Ultron

(We all loved it!)

Stay up late

Eat ice cream out of the container

We did his cake brownies and ice cream on the 6th because of the movie

Got a video of him blowing out the candle...

We all think it's pretty funny...enjoy!

Noah's Ice Cream Challenge

Last night my brother challenged Noah to eat a carton of freezer burnt ice cream in 7 minutes.

There were several times when I thought he'd lose it in the trash can...

and I think he thought he might too :)

Ultimately, he did it and felt awful, but was glad to collect his winnings.

I think he got 7 dollars :)

Crazy kid!

Court of Honor - March 2015

So proud of these boys!

Isaac got the first aid and coin collecting merit badges and he got 2nd class and 1st class rank. 

Dallin got his Duty to God and Varsity letter and pin. 

Noah got a Varsity bar. For some reason Noah escaped getting a picture. I think it's because I took them at home and he didn't come home with us, he went to see a movie with friends. 

Noah Saved My Life

not literally...but it's a fun story anyway :)

So the other night while we were having family prayers a giant spider (probably really not very big) emerged from nowhere and started coming straight for me (at least that's my perspective.) Noah didn't hesitate, he smashed the spider with his bare hands. He save my life (yes I know my life wasn't actually in danger, but I don't really like spiders.)

I decided (to try and be funny) to show my gratitude for his selfless act. I made him some cookies and even gave him a bowl of cookie dough and a thank you note. I told him that any son who would put his own safety at risk to save his mother certainly earned a reward! He got a good laugh (and cookie dough) out of it!

Homecoming

Yesterday was the PG High Homecoming dance.

Out here they do day dates before the evening dances. 

Noah and his date Courtney went on a hike during the day, they went with some other friends.

I think Noah had a good time...I'm still trying to get used to him dating :)

High Jumping Kids and Comicon Boys!

While I was gone to visit my friend LeeAnn, Noah and Dallin went to Comicon and Mike took Isaac and Anna to Pleasant Grove Promenade. (Where was Grace...I don't know, probably hanging out with friends)

 They listened to a band called Bonne Nuit, most of the band members go to our church.

I think they had fun! 

Like I said, Noah and Dallin went to Comicon. They made their own costumes. They are characters from Magik the Gathering...don't ask me what their characters names are because I don't know.

 They had a great time! 

Noah even got me a sweet gift.

He met Cary Elwes and got me an autograph! I love it!

Sorry for the blurry picture of it, I'll have to try and get a better shot of it.

Noah Mows His Name

Noah was mowing my brother Greg's lawn and I got this picture sent to me from Greg.

Noah mowed his name into the side lawn, don't worry he didn't leave it like that :)

Prescreening Saints and Soldiers: The Void

I was able to get some free tickets to a prescreening of Saints and Soldiers: The Void on August 2nd. Mike was too tired to go so I took Noah with me, my mom and dad had tickets also so we all went together.

We watched the movie, which was really good and then we got to have a Q&A session with the writer and director and some of the actors.

We also got to meet them afterwords.

They gave everyone a poster that we could get autographed.

Noah was excited too because he won one of the prizes they had because he posted something on Instagram really fast. He got a copy of Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed.

It was pretty cool. I think we will try and support the movie and go see it when it comes out in theaters.

High Adventure

Noah and Dallin had a great time on their High Adventure trip with the scout group.

They went mountain biking and repelling among other things.

So glad they had fun!

They both had some good experiences. It was fun to hear them tell me all about their activities.

Noah conquered his fear of heights with the repelling

and Dallin had a lot of fun during the huge foam sword battle that they had.

(Noah went with Dallin's age group because he isn't sure he'll be able to get off work the dates that are scheduled for his age group.)

Great Grandpa's Ties

I've been helping out with some cleaning and stuff at my Grandma's house and my uncles house in Ogden. I was happy to have the chance to get some of my Grandpa Elmer's ties. My boys each wore one to church yesterday. They never got the chance to know him because he died when I was about 14. I always felt a closeness to him though because I was born on his birthday. He was such a great man.

My maternal grandpa George Wilford Elmer.

Dallin, Isaac and Noah wearing the ties.

I think they look great!

Noah's First Paycheck!

I think it would be an understatement to say that he is excited :)

Noah's First Job

My brother Greg works at KT Tape and he told Noah that he could get him a summer job there working in the warehouse. KT Tape is the official tape of the world cup so right now they are putting stickers on all their boxes to indicate that.

Noah is very excited to have a job and I think it's going to be great for him!

(Thanks Greg!)

Lacrosse

Noah made the PGHS Lacrosse team and started conditioning with them and quickly got shin splints and achilles tendonitis in both legs. Poor kid. He had to be on crutches for a little while and missed a lot of practices and even some games. He really didn't get to participate like he wanted to. I know he was bummed about all of that. 

Anyway, I made him let me take a picture of him in his uniform before he had to turn the jersey back in at the end of season banquet.

Hopefully next year will be better, if he choses to play again.