Gratitude

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."
-Cicero, Ancient Roman Statesman and Philosopher

Pinkalicious-The Musical!

Was adorable! Thanks for inviting us to your birthday Clara! Very PINK!

The Rest of the Story . . . (see rooster video)

First Day of Schools

This sums up my life lately . . .

Gone Fishin'

Thank you to Charlie Harp for taking Ben, Delbert & Jeff on various fishing trips this summer. They had a blast! We have caught, filet, smoked, baked, and various other things with salmon this year. What an experience!!

Cone of Shame

She chewed her staples out from being spade last week, therefore . . .


THE CONE OF SHAME!

Jeff's reaction was, "We're not taking her out in public!"

The Rooster Who Pecked at Mom One to Many Times

My sister asked me to explain the situation here. The rooster was doing his job very well of protecting the hens. He just also protected them from me, the kids, and any stick we could find. He would attack us when we tried to give them food and water. He would use his spurs on the back of his heel, run up and try to get you in the face. SCARY!! He also would peck at us when opportunity arose. He was MEAN!! So, "off with his head"!! I run this brood, dude!!

Jeff has wanted to live off the land for awhile now. I told him to have at it. He enjoyed the experience and we're having rooster for dinner tonight. (some of us anyway)

The little kids came away unscathed. Jeff told Molly we were going to eat him and she shouted with glee, "I want some".

Read & See!!!!

I read "The Help" a few years ago, but I loved it!! READ IT!!! Then go see the movie. Fabulous!!

I recently read "Unbroken" and it is one of THE BEST BOOKS I have ever read. It's a true story about a Olympian, drafted into WWII as a bombadier, his plane crash lands in the Pacific. It's his story of endurance!! This is amazing. I heard it will be made into a movie. It is very well researched and amazingly written. READ IT!! READ IT!! READ IT!!

Mt. St. Helen's Adventure

I pulled a Joyce Dunlop Tuesday morning. I woke up and decided to go for an adventure with the kids. My mom use to do this with us all the time. I have been trying to get up to Mt. St. Helens with Ben, but there just isn't enough weekends in the summer. We loaded up and off we went; me, 4 kids and a puppy. It was great! We didn't hit it all, but enough to really appreciate the amazing event and the change it made. All the kids enjoyed some aspect of it; Jeff loves to be outside, Hannah loved the penny presses, Jack wanted the volcano to explode and demonstrated this over and over and over, Molly was just happy to be on the go. She sang countless times, "Go, go, go, on an adventure" from "Cat in the Hat". It was adorable. I loved just exploring! It is still amazing to see the effects of the blast, the landslide, the change in the landscape. Even 31 years later. It also made me want to climb to the summit again with Jeff. Maybe next year :)

The big kids did point out that we had been to 4 states in 3 weeks; OR, CO, UT, & WA!

SLC with the Big Kids

We took the big kids to BYU and SLC. It was a great weekend! Ben went to some continuing education classes for a couple days (He loved them!! He came out energized and ready to implement!), I attended the spouse lectures (There is nothing more thrilling than learning. I came home with so many ideas, encouragements, epiphanies, etc. LOVED IT!!), the kids were in the Adventure club and went to Lagoon and Seven Peaks (LOVED IT!!). We went up to SLC the last day and stayed at the Grand America and it is very GRAND!! Wow!! We toured Salt Lake Temple Square and enjoyed this amazing city. It was a quick trip and we all enjoyed our stay!! The little kids stayed with one of our sitters Annette and her new hubby Mark. Thanks you guys for looking after them. They had a blast.

Ben and I went to Sundance for dinner on Friday night. We love going up there! It is so beautiful and peaceful. I love the smell of the canyon. We finally did the scenic lift ride and it was amazing!! We got the kiddos suckers of course.

We took the kids around BYU and did the college "brain washing". We hit the creamery, the Y on the mountain, the bookstore, campus drive, the stadium, our old apartments and dorms, etc. It was just FUN!!! True blue, BYU!! We are still so grateful we got to attend school here. What a blessing!!!!!!!

The Grand America was sooooo fancy. Thank you Tammy for the suggestion. We had a blast! The elevators reminded us a bit like the Tower of Terror at Disney, so we did a little reinacting. We are so glad the Hamblins came over to swim. Happy Birthday Amy Lou!!

There is a very special feeling at Temple Square. We watched the Joseph Smith video and it was so powerful!! I cried of course. I loved talking to the sister missionaries. There are sooooo many of them. It was a beautiful day as well. I wish we had more time to explore. I'm so happy to share these adventures with my kids.

Dunlop Family Reunion in Denver

My sister's have posted most of the great pics, but here are a few from my camera that I love. Good times . . .

Little pyrotechnics right before bed. This is in Oregon right before we flew to CO. Noah, my nephew stayed with us for a week and a half. Jeff and Noah went to Scout camp. I'm so proud they got their swimming and lifesaving merit badges in 60 degree weather in a cold lake, WITH wetsuits. Way to go boys. Not so proud of the fact they almost got kicked out of camp for a trick their trusty LEADER showed them. How to get rid of wasp's nest with fire and bug repellent. Boys will be boys regardless how old they are.

This picture make me want to cry. He was in serious pain from this playground fun. Too funny!!

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