Get air

Our friends parents opened up a new trampoline park close by called Get Air. We have had the chance to go hang out a few times since it has been opened. This place is any kids dream. It is wall to wall trampolines. Ok don't let me fool you it is any grown up boys dream as well. My boys (husband included) spent hours playing around. They had so much fun. They played so hard that their faces were constantly red and covered in sweat. Here are a few highlights from our adventure:

Nelson doing crazy tricks into the pit:

Asher loved running up the wall and back flipping off it:

The kids and I hanging out after jumping into the pit:

Max spent lots of time on these tramps jumping into the pits:

I have been loving the summer and all the time we have been able to spend together. I am going to have a hard time letting my kids go back to school.

Have I missed out?

Some people have said that I am missing out not having a little girl in our family. They say "everyone needs a girl, who will take care of you when you are older." I have joked that I will train my boys what to do and they will always be around even when they are older. At this point I don't have much of a choice, this is what I have been blessed with and I would not have it any other way. I sure do love my rowdy, wild, crazy and rambunctious little boys.

Sure a little girl would be fun once we adjusted but I don't feel I am missing out. There is proof that I am not. Last night Asher sat and brushed my hair for about an hour. He even tried LOTS and LOTS of times to get a ponytail in. I am telling you boys have a mean grip when it comes to hair and twisting- ouch. Below is a picture of his final product. I kept it in all night but he was a little disappointed when I was not sporting the cool do to tumbling the next day. I am so grateful for my cute kids and the blessings they bring to our home!!

Our Journey

Over the past year Nelson and I kept having conversations about our Family. We had feelings that we needed to discuss if our family was complete or not. Everytime we talked about it nothing happened. We never had strong feelings that we needed to get pregnant and have another child. I would often indicate I did not think my body could handle a baby or being pregnant because of all the pain I deal with. We went 8-10 months with our random conversations never really going anywhere.

One day when I was driving to work a feeling came over me that we should look into adopting. I did not say anything to Nelson about it. That night at dinner time he said "I started looking into adoption." It just hit because neither one of us had talked about that before. We started praying and trying to figure out what needed to happen for our family. After fasting we had a strong feeling about it. We felt very lost, had no clue where to even begin. We started researching everywhere around. After we learned as much as we could we felt like going through Foster Care- but with adoption in mind was the best approach. We decided we are not necessarily looking for a baby but someone younger than Asher.

This has really caught us off guard and we are not sure where our journey will take us or where we will end. We have had a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts regarding this. We have gone into this with the mentatility that being pregnant and having your own child is not easy, so we should not expect this will be easy.

In order to look into adoption you have to take 32 hrs worth of class. This was the first road block we ran into. How do you find time for that when you husband is the Bishop and needs to committ time to the ward. He has awesome counselors and they have stepped up to bare the load so we can do this. There have been many things said in the class that have made us think- what the heck are we doing why are we doing this. It would be easier to just get pregnant and give birth to a child.
It then got even more challenging. Sitting in the classes for 4 hours straight was way to hard on my body. I could not handle it. I ended up being in so much pain and shed a lot of tears. I wanted to quit so bad because I could not take it. I found myself in a pretty low.

We decided to press through if we could. I have learned a few things from this. I really think Satan wanted to challenge me and see if I would give up(I have to admit I almost did, I was very discouraged). But because of this it forced me to go to the doctor again to start figuring out what is really going on with me and why I am in so much pain. Through x rays they found that I have degenerative disk disease in my vertebrate (arthritis basically). That is why my muscles are always so tight and always in pain. I had to look at it that if we did not have this experience then maybe we would not have found these things out.

We just finished our home study and continue to wait for the next step. At this point we not sure where our journey will take us or where we will end. We are just trying to have faith and move forward.

Summer Happenings (June)

I have had a hard time keeping up with what has been going on for the month. For some reason I thought life would slow down a bit with the summer but I have been proven wrong. June has been fun. We have gotten in plenty of playing mixed with a good share of chores. Here is what has been going on:

We were very blessed to be invited to a birthday celebration for Travis Poll. It was the one year anniversary of his passing with his birthday following the next day. It was a neat time being with the family celebrating Travis. We love them so much and feel very blessed to be their friends. They have been such examples of faith, courage and strength to me and my family. Needless to say when we sang happy birthday nothing more than the word happy came out of my mouth. Couldn't sing through the tears.


After a year we finally finished the kids fort in the back yard. The fort has been functional over the year but was never complete. We finally got all the brown trim and the front door put on. To us the fort is complete, but for some reason we don't have the kids on the same page as us. They are thinking that we now need to add a rock climbing wall and a crows nest. That may have to be next years project. It is time to move on and get something else completed. Here is the finished product.

We finally walked into a Krispy Kreme donut store for the first time in our lives. I am not a huge fan of donuts so have never really had a need to go to the donut store. We heard it was fun to go watch how the donuts were made so we decided to take a little trip. It was really cool watching the process the donuts go through. My kids loved it. They stayed there at the window for over thirty minutes watching the whole process. Even if I am not in love with donuts it was pretty neat. Max did think it was an added bonus that he got to eat 3 donuts that day. We won't be having a repeat of that too often, he ended up with a sugar overload.

Max had a little Birthday party for a few hours so we loaded up the bikes and headed to the mountains with Asher. It was his first time mountain biking and he did great. He scared me a bit on the down hills. He went as fast as he could and then would hit his brakes. Brakes and lose gravel are not the best combination. I was sure he was going to biff it. Good thing he did not on his first biking trip because I am not sure we would get him back out if he did. He had a great time and admitted he loved the downhills much more than going uphill. This is Asher and I up above Rainbow Gardens

Nelson was able to participate in another Olympic Triathlon at Hill Air Force Base. He has not been training for the swim but decided to go do it anyway. Luckily he is in good shape and is a good swimmer. He ended up doing great and enjoyed it. We usually go watch him but were not able to this time. I was sad not to be there to support him. Our good friends Kent and Diana were there and he was able to meet up with them and chat after the race. You can tell he just finished he looks a little tired. So glad I have a husband that loves to be active


The beginning of the month we did a little stay cation and went to Park City. We spent the day doing the things the kids wanted to do. Just wish we would have taken the camera to capture the fun at the alpine slides and coaster. It was crazy seeing all the snow on the mountain yet way fun riding the ski lift to the top, talking to the kids and enjoying the day. Here is Asher and I waiting to go on the slide:

Fathers Day Racing

This year for Father's day we celebrated with a different twist and flare. One of our friends set up a date night for the guys to go to Speed Street to go racing. It turned out being one of the best ideas ever. The guys had such a great time. I am sure it was a lot funner for Nelson to race with the guys then with me. I am not as daring in my old age, I don't have the courage to go as fast as they do. Nelson said that he could honestly race the whole night he had so much fun.

The group: Nate, Nelson, Todd, Tyler, Casey, Russ, Aaron & Barry

The girls sat out and watched them race the whole time. Some of those guys are serious. We did not chat with them much for the 2 1/2 hours we were there. If their time was not spent racing it was looking over the stats after each race and coming up with better strategies.

Turned out being such a great night celebrating our husbands and letting them just be wild and crazy for a few hours. Not sure we can top this next Fathers Day. My cute husband-

First Lost Tooth

One of the things that Asher has always admired from Max is his loose/lost teeth. Asher has always been a little jealous and could not wait until he could lose a tooth. As soon as Max found one loose Asher would wiggle one of his teeth convinced he had a loose one as well.
Asher finally has had his day- his front tooth was wiggly and he was determined to get it out. He even got so desperate to get it out that a week ago he asked his grandpa Bowen to pull it out with pliers. We declined that request pretty quick. Now that the tooth is gone he is so excited and has loved every minute of it. He can't stop smiling (so everyone will notice) and sticking his tongue through the new gap in his mouth. I am just grateful we made it to the point of him loosing the teeth and not knocking them out.

Fry Tasting Contest

Last Summer we saw the idea of a "french fry" tasting contest and we decided to try it. We drove to three different fast food restaurants and only ordered fries. We went to three places close together so the fries would not get cold. As soon as we purchased them all we ran home and started eating. Last year our choices were McDonald's (of course I have little kids), Wendy's and Artic Circle. The kids only had to eat a fry or two before they instantly knew what was their favorite. McDonald's was least favorite, Wendy's and then Artic Circle.

The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. It even worked to my benefit. Ever since we did this the kids never chose to go to McDonald's to eat,they say there are better places to eat.

This summer we decided we had better keep the contest going. Their choices were Warrens and Burger Bar. For a minute there they had a hard time choosing. Then I told them they had to make their decision without the fry sauce-that is hard to do. After a minute it was a hands down win to Burger Bar. The kids re-ranked the fries and here is the new order for best to worse:
Burger Bar, Artic Circle (tied in first), Warrens, Wendy's and McDonald's. We will have to get all the grease out of us before we do this one again. Asher said that in 2013 we are going to have to do a Chicken Nugget contest. I hope I remember.