Family pictures (Feb 26, 2011)

  

I am very happy with our family pictures! I have been wanting to get them taken since Dave and I got married 6 years ago. It was harder than I thought it would be to get everybody together on the same day for pictures. Luckily it was well worth all the stress in the end. I got our family picture in a 24x36 for our wall. Dave and I are very, very happy to have a picture of our entire family up on our wall!

Golden Spike and Spiral Jetty (April 16, 2011)

 

Another requirement for the Citizenship in the Nation badge is to go to a National Historic Landmark. Will chose to go visit the Golden Spike. It was a lot of  fun to do this as a family. The historical information we learned (everybody learned something but Dave who already knew it all and who corrected our tour guide :) ) made us really grateful for the sacrifice others made. They compared the building of this railroad to us landing on the moon. In the summer they get the trains out and do a little demonstration with them, but that doesn't happen until May. So if you happen to go when they are in "storage, " they give you a tour of them in storage. They looked really neat, I would like to drive one :)

Will and Tyler running along the jetty

 

Tyler, Will and David at the end of the spiral

Dave took us to the Spiral Jetty which is right next to the Golden Spike. It was so beautiful! The lake looked nice and clear and if wasn't for the salty foam, it would be easy to forget it is a "salt" lake. It was a nice, scenic drive today. I enjoyed the time with my boys!

Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary David (April 15, 2011)

I adore my husband! I am so grateful the lord blessed me to find him. He brings so much joy to my life. I appreciate his unending patience, compassion and love. I hope some of your good traits are starting to rub off onto me! I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives and eternity together!

Jon and Mariana (April 11, 2011)

Mariana loves her Daddy! It is so cute to watch her watch him! We found a new way for her to drink her bottle the other night at our house. She is still just perfect and always as happy as can be! 

Dave and I found out that Jason and Kiersten are both expecting babies! Kiersten is due in September and the Marcy is due around October or November. Kiersten just found out that she is having a little boy, who will be named Kanyon. We are excited for both our new grand babies and can't wait to see them, hold them and love them! Our little family is growing a lot this year!

2011 Chess State Championship and Will scouts (March 19, 2011)

Will and Tyler at the end of year chess state championship. It was held at the University of Utah, so we had to get up early in the morning. It was an all day event. The boys had fun and I had fun sitting with my brother Kylie at the 4th grade table keeping track of who won and lost. Kylie made my day go by much faster and made it enjoyable. 

I am glad I have a good relationship with my brother Kylie and his family. Kylie and Clara have been helping Will earn his Eagle Scout Badge. They have been absolutely amazing! We would not be doing anywhere near as well without their help. This week Kylie and Mitch went with me and Will to a community council for his Citizenship of the Community badge. It was much more enjoyable going with Kylie. Although, we probably made fun of the lady who was trying to blame the city for her bad parenting a little too loudly. I am pretty sure she heard us, well I'm pretty sure everybody in the room heard us. It was fun though. 

Will and I just finished our 8 hours community service for his Citizenship of the Community badge. Those 8 hours were long hours, but I got to spend a lot of quality alone time with Will. It was nice working by his side. He did a great job and all the managers loved him! Will is working on all three of the Citizenship badges right now. For anybody who has earned these badges, they will know how hard that is. I am proud at how hard he working to accomplish these badges.

We went to the state capitol for Will's Citizenship in the Nation badge. That was fun as well. Somebody else in our tour group asked if we could go under the capitol to see the things put in place to save the historical building in an earthquake. I taught the boys that sometimes it pays to ask. The tour guy asked us how much extra we had and then took us to see it. It was really neat. 

Tyler's 10th family birthday party (Feb 26, 2011)

We went to Chuck E Cheese for Tyler's birthday. The boys had fun on all the different games. I personally used all my tokens on ski ball. I love that game! I had to remember to let little kids cut in and have a turn as well! For Tyler's birthday, he got rocks that are in clay that he digs out, a glass lizard, Discover gift card & 3 frogs. I am very grateful Tyler is in my family. I love his strength and personality. He brings a lot of joy to our family!

Tasha playing in the rug (Feb 21, 2011)

 

Tasha is so much fun! She loves to stick her head where ever she can! Which includes, bags, boxes, backpacks etc. . . Will got her to play with him under a rug. I am sure by time he was done playing with her, he was grateful she is de-clawed! 

Valentine Flowers (Feb 14, 2011)

Dave had these beautiful flowers delivered to my work on Valentines Day! The flowers were absolutely beautiful! The note he gave me with them is even better! I am so grateful for my wonderful husband! David, I love you! I couldn't ask for a better spouse! I cherish you more than you'll ever know.

Will 6th Grade Valentine dance (Feb 14, 2011)

 

 

 

Will let me chaperon his 6th grade valentines dance. I liked the way it was organized. The teachers pre-arranged all the dances to make sure all the kids had a dance partner for each dance. I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching my boy dance with a girl for the first time! All the kids made sure they were as far away from their partner as they could get! I wonder how many more years that will last :)

I am a business owner!!! (January 2011)

Dave and I are official business owners! I am the president of our company Buck Trucking. For years and years Dave ran his own payroll business. Right after we got married, he went working for his father's trucking company as a driver. We have had many talks about our financial future and the timing was just right for us to buy our own truck and start our own company. After shopping around for a truck, Dave's Dad asked us why we don't just buy the truck Dave is currently driving from him. That made it so Dave will get to keep the same truck that he has put a lot of time and sweat into, so that made him happy.

Dave is amazing and was able to file all the endless paper work to get us up and running! There is a lot that needs to be done to start up a business and Dave was great with all of it! Most people would have been overwhelmed and just paid somebody to file it for them.

It was very exciting the first trip that was "ours." It is a nice feeling that all your hard work and effort goes straight into helping you and your family. It has gone just as planned and I was able to cut back my hours at work! For me this is a life saver! I am not exhausted anymore and work is a lot more tolerable! I no longer fall asleep helping my kids with their homework. I also find I am a lot happier at work and at home. With Dave being gone all week, sometimes I get overwhelmed with work, the boys school, homework, scouts, piano lessons, chess club, etc. . . This gives me more time to get everything done.

Cutting back my hours at work has also allowed us to drop daycare. For the first time since my divorce, my kids are not in daycare!!! That made me so happy I cried! I never wanted them to have to be in daycare and it is a huge relief to have them home where they belong! I get to take them to school in the morning for the first time ever. It sounds silly, but means a great deal to me.

I feel so blessed and grateful Dave and I have this opportunity. Dave's parents have been absolutely amazing through it all. They have supported us every step in the way in starting up a separate business from them. Their love and support mean everything to me and Dave.