Struggles (Lily)

This year for Lily's 3rd grade class her teacher Mrs Zellmer gave all the kids a white bag and asked them to put 3 things in it about them.  Lily picked some random things and wanted to include a picture of her birth family as well. I did not think anything of it as this is our life, she has two sets of parents who both love her very much.  I didn't think anything would come out of it.
So she went to school and shared her bag with the class.   This then generated tons of questions from all the kids at recess.  The kids wanted to know why she was taken away and exactly what happened.  THis ended up putting Lily in turmoil.  She didn't know how to respond to the kids without lying to them. She didn't necessarily want to tell them out her birth parents life style and what caused them to lose her.  This caused some serious thinking and processing for lily and has put her in a lot of turmoil.
It has caused her to regress, to have rages and completely fall apart with her behavior. She cant handle it.  It has been so sad to watch her try to process her life.  She has really struggled with it.  One thing we do keep reminding her is we do have these experiences to help us be stronger. SHe has gone through a ton of emotions such as being sad, mad at her birth parents and afraid that her life will turn out how theirs has. 
One thing that hasn't alarmed me so much is at this exact age passion went through similar things. She would just sit in her room and cry for about 3 hours.  They both have gone through this.
Sad to see the process these girls have to go through to help them process what has happened in their life.   They are very amazing and resilient girls who have had to become strong. 
It has been hard for us to figure out how to handle it and help her through it. Of course we have fallen short and have not always handled the "rages" right. But thankfully we have the Spirit and Heavenly Father to guide us and help us know what to do to work through these hard difficult situations.  

Hiking Subway

Our friends the Stewarts had some extra spots to go hike the Subway. This is something that has been on Nelson's to do list for some time.  We jumped on that chance as soon as we could.  We pulled Max out of school and spent a day hiking at the subway.  Was a few fun experience which pushed me out of my comfort zone. The water was freezing and there were somethings I just didn't want to do. It was good for me to push me out of my comfort zone.  Very fun trip, we want to do it with all of our kids next time.

  

Spartan Brekenridge

This year Nelson, Tyler and the boys went on a road trip to Colorado.  The guys have been wanting to do a Beast distance in the Spartan race. The best place was Breckenridge Colorado.  This is a 14-15 mile race with 30-35 obstacles placed in between (usually on a mountain face).  These guys have worked a bit to make sure they were ready and prepared for the race. Max and Cort are addicted and swear they are going to be professional Spartans one day. They guys did great and loved every minute of it.  Max and Cort beat their dads by almost an hour in time.  Awesome experience that they hope to repeat again.

Frog Hunting

Our kids have been bugging us to take them frog hunting back behind the Marriot Slaterville City offices.  We had gone a few times in the day, but didn't have much luck catching anything.  We did a little bit of research and found that it is best to go at night and shine a light in their eyes. It paralyzes them and allows you to catch them easier. We had success with that method and caught some super quick. No we didn't let the kids keep them but they thought it was pretty fun.  Always an adventure of some sort going on at our house
Asher (11) Passion (12)

Backpacking in Bechler River & Dunanda Falls

Nelsons good friend Tyler Dixon invited him last minute to go hiking up by Island Park.  nelson does not need to be asked twice to go backpacking, he is all over that.  The two guys loaded up 7 kids and headed out for an adventure.  They loved every minute of it, playing in the water, fishing, hiking with friends and most of all sleeping in their hammocks out in the mountains. They definitely could do without all the bugs, but enjoyed being out in the nature enjoying it's beauty. We definitely have some tough kids.

Crossing the River (Cort, Max, Gretel & other kids)

Fishing and hanging out on the logs (the group)

I am sure the water was freezing and Max & nelson loved it all.

Bear Lake Trips

It has been tradition since I was very little to spend some of our Summer up in Bear Lake.  My mom grew up on the Idaho side and my dad in Lake town.  I loved it up there and spending so much time around family.  The same is said for our kids.  We continue each year to spend time in Bear Lake with the Weston family and the Bowen Family.  With the Bowen family we always camp, ride paddle boards and Uncle Curts Sail boat. Totally different experience with each family.  This year Nelson's Aunt Darla brought up a foam machine to do on the beach. Everyone absolutely loved it.  Can never replace the memories and fun we have with our cousins and family.

Lot of the Bowen Family playing in the bubbles

Lily, Max, Asher & Passion 

Max, Brinley, Skyler, Passion & Crew

The day before the Weston Trip my family attended the funeral of our Cousin Tamie.  She was one of my favorite, whom I learned so much from.  While in bear lake my brother Mike shared something with me.  He said that while Tamie was fighting her cancer they made a pact to have more pictures with them in it. She had realized that she had a lot of pictures but nothing with her in them.  That totally hit me and made me realize I do want to capture all the moments with my family so we have the memories.  After he said this I made every single one of my siblings and my parents take a picture with me so I had it for the future.  Sure love the family time we are able to enjoy.

Nelson & I Running while max was doing the 5k

Max with Reagan & Casidy (they are 4 months apart)

Max High Adventure

For some reason Max got the chance to go on two High Adventures this year. Something that kid will never say no to .  He was able to go with our ward and a ward from Plain City.  With our Ward he went to Grand Teton and went mountain biking. Our young men's group is pretty small, but fun group of kids.  They had a great time exploring all the mountain ranges.

Logan, Weston, Gage & Max

These boys were on top of the world

For the second high adventure this was a lot more physical for the boys. They started at the bottom of Wheeler Canyon and ran to snowbasin.  From Snowbasin they jumped on bikes and road them to East Canyon.  They spent the night there and then the next day road into Wyoming. At each stop they were able to be uplifted and fed physically and spiritually. These boys had been training most the Spring to do this and Max hadn't because he was asked last minute to go.  Luckily he was in shape enough to do well and enjoy it all.

In Wyoming they were able to stay at Elder Petersens house and hear from two general authorities. They went fishing the next day.  Max said it was one of the most spiritual High Adventures he has been on. Grateful he was able to have both of these experiences.