Colt's New Goal...

The other night as I tucked Colt into bed he asked if I'd noticed anything different about the day. I thought for a minute and couldn't think of anything inparticular, but told Colt I had noticed it had been a great day and there's wasn't much contention. He quickly said "Mom, this morning I decided I wouldn't tease or bug Wyatt anymore and this morning in my prayers I asked Heavenly Father to help me and it worked all day, so I'm going to do it again tomorrow and keep asking Heavenly Father to help me every day!!" My sweet, sweet boy! I love him more than life...I'm so proud of him deciding to do this all on his own. I told him I couldn't wait to tell daddy when we talk to him in the morning.

Garrett called late that night after the kids had fallen asleep and I told him about Colt's new goal...he was so impressed and kept saying "What a great son!" Colt and Wyatt are the light in their daddy's eyes...while at the cabin at Moon Lake the boys would ask him to come outside and light the fire in the fire pit and sit with them so they could play with fire sticks, or they would ask him to help them catch crawdads or lizards at the lake, or help them find the best rocks for throwing off the bridge into the river and he even taught them to pee off the bridge into the river below and Garrett's response every time with a smile in his eyes was "Mom, that's just what boys do!" I kept reminding him how lucky he is to have two amazing sons!

Right now Colt's hair is getting long and shaggy and again he's asking me to have it cut, especially with football starting on Monday, but I love my cute California surfer kid...

A Dozen Roses for Kenna...

Wow...this day came sooner than I ever imagined, but really I guess I never really thought about my first baby receiving roses from a boy, and today it happened and she is on cloud 9 and nothing can bring her down!!  She came home from being at a volleyball clinic all day, exhausted and ready to shower, and then she saw her roses!!  Connor is on a backpacking trip with his dad but planned to send these flowers to Kenna before he left...the note read:  McKenna, Happy Birthday, hope it's a great one!  Conner.  She is thrilled!!

McKenna...13 Years Old

 

 

 

A Disconnected Call...

Just a few hours ago I was a wreck...the kids and I came home from our weekend at Moon Lake on Monday night and Garrett stayed there and headed over to Falcon's Ledge for the remainder of the week to guide clients on the rivers around there.  Today was kind of different because early this morning he met a couple in Heber to fish with them on the Provo river.  We talked at about 2:30 when he finished with them and he told me he didn't need to be back to the lodge until 5:00 to meet the Orvis guys he's guiding tomorrow and that he might spend a little time on the river before heading back.  I told him about our busy week and then mid-sentence the phone went dead.  There's no cell service up Current Creek Canyon and other areas in Duschesne and I know that, but when it goes dead, Garrett usually tries to get to where there's service so he can call.  A few hours went by and I still couldn't reach him, I tried texting and still no response. 

To pass the time, Ashlyn and I rented the movie Charlie St. Cloud.  Not the best choice because it was about a little boy dying in a car crash.  I kept thinking he's just not in an area with service, but as it got to be 5:00 and still nothing, I became worried.  I called Falcon's and talked with the girls in the office and no one had seen Garrett, so I called Spencer, the head guide, and he too hadn't heard from him. 

Kenna's at Lagoon with Kat and Colt's hanging out with Seth, so Ashlyn, Wyatt and I knelt and offered a prayer that dad would be alright and then we cried a little...Ashlyn was so worried and I tried to comfort her the best I could while still being a little nervous myself.  After our prayer, Wyatt, Ashlyn and I went on a bike ride around the block (one of Wyatt's most favorite things ever!) and I felt a little more at peace, but I kept my phone in my hand the whole time we rode so as soon as he called I could answer.  He finally called around 5:30 and apologized for freaking me out...Spencer had gotten a hold of him and told him that he needed to call me immediately.  Garrett was in an area without service and did what he does best....fished and fished and caught some pretty nice ones, too I hear! 

I'm grateful for the spirit and grateful for impressions.  Just this morning I re-read Garrett's and my patriarchal blessing and again felt of the overwhelming love that our Heavenly Father has for us. One line in mine came to mind this evening as I waited to hear from G.  It reads 'you were set apart for a challenging life's mission'  What does this mean??  When will that happen?? Has it already??  I don't know, but I do know that I am blessed to have the Gospel, the good word, in my life. 

And tonight I was so very thankful to hear G's voice.

Lake Fork Cabin...

This summer has been a busy one...it seems we get home from a trip and pack for the next one and I love it!  We've been blessed to have family time and also for G and I to have some alone time, too. 

This weekend was all about our family and it was the best vacation we've had together in a long time.  Last Sunday, G gave some closing remarks at the end of  Tanner Purser's mission farewell.  He started by saying "I could talk about my job, but would probably put most of you to sleep, I can't talk about my family because I would just end up crying, so I'll talk to you about something else I love...fishing.  It made me smile.

This trip to the Lake Fork Cabin was perfect.  We got to the cabin Friday afternoon, after spending the morning at Lagoon, and settling in we watched the first Harry Potter movie.  We had decided that we would try to watch all 6 Harry Potter movies while at the cabin...a few weeks ago the 7th and final movie came out and Kenna, Ash and I saw the movie, but had missed 3, 4, 5 and 6 so we wanted to finally watch them and figured the boys would love them too even though some are PG-13.  My, how we are relaxing a little, as the kids are growing!! 

Saturday morning we watched another movie, rode horses in the back country, ate a picnic lunch and headed back to the cabin for another movie.  Saturday night as we prepared for Sunday, G told the kids we would be going to all three hours of church at the Moon Lake Ward...the kids moaned and moaned about having to stay for primary and young womens but after attending church there, the kids can't wait to go to all 3 hours of meeting everytime we are out of town.  They loved it and so did we...so different than our Syracuse ward, so, so much more casual :)  Sunday, after church and a little lunch back at the cabin, we drove to the Upper Stillwater Dam and this time the road leading to the lake up above was unlocked so we drove up for a picture.  Seeing all that water come over the dam was unbelievable.  Upper Stillwater Dam is the tallest dam in the world...even taller than Niagra Falls. Oh, and I can't forget that this is where dad let Wyatt to pee off the bridge.  He later told me it's what every boy dreams about!! Uh-huh.  Sunday night we also celebrated Kenna's 13th birthday while at the cabin because we knew dad would be gone for her real birthday...she is such a poser in these pictures.

Monday we drove to the other cabins at the Six Lakes property and walked to a waterfall and then took out the canoes and let the kids and Chopper swim.  Chopper loves to swim and was such a great dog to have along.  The kids also caught crawdads and Wyatt even caught a little lizard.  We ate at pizza at Pizarro's before the kids and I headed home and G headed over to Falcon's Ledge to guide for the week.  This was a fabulous family vacation!!

Lagoon with the Fam...

As the kids get older and have more summer commitments and with Garrett's responsibilities as Bishop of the ward, it's sometimes tricky to get-away as a family, so this year we decided we would get Lagoon passes and spent time close to home at Lagoon as a family and also with friends...it's been a great summer of Lagoon and Lagoon-a-Beach, which is probably my favorite!  This time we his Lagoon before heading out to the Lake Fork Cabin for the weekend.  I love the picture of G and Kenna looking at their phones...this is a common sight these days!  The kids loved being at Lagoon with dad because he will always ride all the crazy, scray rides with them and they love that!!  G did say that he would probably never ride Samurai again because it freaked him out :)

A Gift from Grandpa Nichol...

Whitney and I have taken the kids to Lagoon a lot this summer and we have had so much fun!! For Mother's Day, my mom and dad gave us money to buy something that would let us enjoy our kids.  We both purchased Lagoon passes for our families and we have had so much fun planning days to meet and hang out this summer. 

Jacob is in town for the summer while Steve and Mandy move to Vegas and while Mandy prepares to have baby #4, so today Whitney picked up Jacob from grandma and grandpa Nichol's and we met them for another fun day at Lagoon...grandpa Nichol even sent $10 for each of the grandkids to buy anything they wanted.  Ashlyn decided to save hers and put it towards a new camera she's saving for.  Kenna also saved hers, but later spent it on lunch with friends and the boys all spent it in the gift shop right outside Lagoon-a-Beach.  Colt and Tanner got the cutest monkeys, Wyatt and Jacob got sharks and Ethan fell in love with a black penguin...oooh, too cute!  The boys were in heaven.  What a fun memory from grandpa Nichol

Camp Fife with Ashlyn...

This year Ashlyn's activity day girls spent day camp at Camp Fife instead of the traditional Camp Kiesel...there were no canoes and water, but the girls loved the zip-line and dirt bikes.  We were there during what was scheduled to be one of the hottest days of the summer and there are NO trees at Camp Fife so we were prepared with lots of water, but luckily for us and I feel because prayers were answered, we had cloud coverage all day long and it was marvelous.  Ashlyn has so much fun in whatever she's doing...she is one cute girl!