NO Words Needed

Beaver Mountain

On our way home from Trina's wedding (yes,Trina got married on Thursday!)Mckenna and I's visit with Sharon and Diana and on our way to Cedar City for Kyler's Championship game, We had to stop in Beaver to tell Matt, Keith and Erik Halladay (Kole's dad,) that the championship game time had changed. So we got their early and when the boys arrived we gave them our message, Erik rushed off to family in Cedar to park his trailer and we took a break from driving by riding the ATV to the top of the mountain! It was beautiful, these are a few pictures that Mckenna and I took.

Yes, Dad! We have been very busy!!!!




 

Sisters!

 

Part 2 of Scenic Backway 12

Our drive on Scenic Backway 12

 
 
 
  

Lake Powell Fun

We went to Lake Powell during the week of the 4th of July. Except for a day excursion during our honeymoon, I had never been to Lake Powell! We went with Gary's family who was getting ready to move to Australia and send Aaron off on his mission to Montana. It was fun, but also trying at times when you are going with kids who complain that they don't like what they are eating- not my kids, they loved what I brought! The only reason I purchased food for everyone is that as I said above, Gary's family was getting ready to move across the continent and driving from Maryland to Utah is not the best way to pack food for your family. I didn't mind buying all the food, since they were going in half with us, but those kids are even more picky than mine and their mother didn't really do anything since she was exhausted and so I was cooking (with Matt's help,) and their kids are use to their mom doing every little thing for them and I am not like that! So, they started learning that if they wanted something, they could ask for it and then Aunt Sandi would tell them where it was and they had to get it for themself. Unless it was during a real meal time and then I served. I like to teach my kids to be INDEPENDANT (as the little elf on Rudolph use to say, and weren't we there during Indepenance day?.) And the youngest one Garrison (who is 9 and 24 hours younger than Mckenna,) was not independant at all, but he did start learning quick...

Bull Frog is 61/2 hours away from us and so not as close as Wahweep (the southern part of Lake Powell,) but we also heard that Bull Frog was more picturesque:


DO you love the man on the Rock?











The fourth of July was interesting. Powell didn't allow Fireworks of any sort and so we went firework free (well, one boater set off a few, but it wasn't like the year before where we saw reflections on the ocean and double fireworks going off in different towns within an area of 10 miles! That was really cool!) But I did try to make it fun with water guns, yummy marinaded steak, 4th sprinkled cookies, strawberry shortcake, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn on the cob! Yummy!!!!

Unfortunately for Kyler, Matt had to drive him to Cedar City on Thursday morning so that he could play his first game of the 12 year old All Star Tournament! So he only had 3 days of fun at Powell, but Matt stayed and watched the first game and they won 29 to 1! (Matt is such a trooper, Kyler could have stayed with his friend the whole week, but we really wanted him on our vacation and so matt drove the 5 hours each way, came back Friday morning and then we had to drive home Saturday afternoon.)
Friday he also has a game, but we will be missing that one too since we don't come home from powell until Saturday evening! But we wished him luck and he was happy to be staying at his friend Kole's house. Monday he will have another game unless they lose friday, but we are hoping that they keep going for the Championship! We'll see!!!

We spent a lot of time swimming, jet skiing and driving the house boat to new sites so that we could enjoy all the various surroundings!
Over all the Trip was fun, it was very hot at night and we all slept on the top of the boat instead of the statesrooms, it rained a few nights but the stars were amazing and so it made it all worth it!

Color Coding

During Youth Conference we had a workshop on Color coding personalities. This was based on a book by Taylor Hartman. "In The Color Code, Dr. Taylor Hartman, Ph.D., teaches us that we are all born with one of four basic, driving motives that influences our attitudes, our needs and wants, our strengths and limitations, and the way we deal with others. He identifies each of the four basic motivations by a color: RED, BLUE, WHITE, or YELLOW, and yes, a user-friendly Personality Profile that helps you identify your color in the book. I was asked to do a presentation on this book by the youth leaders of our ward. I didn't really think that the kids would really get into it because they ranged in age from 14 to 18 and I knew that some of the boys wouldn't give a care what their personality color was, but I made it as fun as I could and off they took the quiz to find out what color they were. Now, some of these kids had already done the test before in school and so they weren't surprised, but I had them try to guess before hand what they thought color they would be and most got it wrong!

I, of course, am a yellow, with a touch of blue! Matt is a red with a touch of white!
Yellow's are carefree, talkative, friendly and very irresponsible. The blue are very responsible but also moody. Red are managerial type personalities and want to control situations. White are peacemakers. So, I guess that I am a yellow with Blue responsibleness and Matt is a managerial peacemaker. What a polar couple we make, the manager and the laidback!

I wonder what everyone else in my family is? Devin took the test and he ofcourse is a yellow red. Kyler I have an idea is white and blue and Mckenna is probably yellow with blue. But what about the rest of you? Well, at the end of this blog is the test so that you can take the test yourself and then you can drop me a comment on what you are, won't that be fun? Well, okay, I tried to attach the test, but it won't so I am going to email to everyone, Okay?

Hope to hear from you all soon,
Sandi

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

AH! Finally I am at seeing the end of the tunnel of all this summer rushing!
I always grew up thinking that summer was like the COUNTRY TIME LEMONDADE commercial, floating lazily down the river with your drink in hand.
I remember laying on the grass listening to birds chirping and cars driving by and wondering what the people in those cars were rushing too, or seeing animals and weird shapes in the clouds and just vegging for no reason at all, or my favorites: reading under the front tree (or back for that matter,)and dreaming that I was Anne of Green gables, getting into all kinds of trouble; Meg with her sisters helping the sick; being in the secret garden with colin; solving mysteries with the bobbsey twins, or being in the band CHICAGO and singing my heart out to their records or on my little blue transistor radio on KSN 97.

Well, I guess that since I was a kid and believed it, it is only for kids to do. For the last month, I have been running kids to end of school year events, dance camps ,Planning and running our ward Youth Conference, and let me tell you, this is not what I believe summer should be like! Nor, do I believe that summer should be always in the mid 100*s! No, talk about not utilizing my covered porch! It is too hot outside! What we need is a ceiling fan on the front and back porch, to swirl the air, even the shade of the trees isn't giving any respite for the weary! We have 2 fans, Matt just needs to put them up.

BUT,In exactly 4 days, maybe, I will be able to do some of those things mentioned above and relax on the house boat that Matt's brother Gary and his family are sharing with us at Lake Powell, but until then I am in charge of the food, gear, and menu planning before I can relax!

What? Sunny Yellow personalities are not suppose to have so much responsibility (nor do I really want it,) but I guess that side of me that is blue is taking up all the slack! (for color coding - Youth conference, see my next blog.)

HIghlights to look forward to:

Kyler rushing from Lake Powell after 3 days for Little League ALL Star games in Cedar City (with NO taylorsville this year!!!!) and maybe a chance to play in California for the little league world series.

Mckenna Marie (M) starting her dance workshops with MADISON Marie(&M)taking with her(finally, here for good on July 8th.)

Devin playing baseball with the Varsity team today! HE is very excited. Building up on his 6 driving hours so that on November 20th he can take his driving test and get his license! (they have to have 35 hours AHHHHHHHHHH!!)

Matt's hard work with planning streetscapes for the last 5 years coming to fruitation next month and the bid for the New City hall coming in the next 2 weeks!

AND ME: Time for fun in the sun! Reading to my hearts delight while the kids play with friends, scrapbooking with Lisa (with the M&M's,) swimming with Andrea (with the kids,) going to Pine Valley or Zions with the kids to draw, paint and hike and school starting again(boo hoo, I like the kids home,) on August 14th. AND SHARON,RICH AND FAM coming in 1 WEEK!

Kenny Loggins

  

I absolutely love Kenny Loggins' music! His music brings me so many memories back to my mind from my teen years and it brings a smile to my face. A lot of those memories of course include Matt since it we met in the 80's, but my favorite song until this last concert was Footloose.
Who could have imagined that a little sleepy town off I-15, could become so famous and have a flour mill become even more a land mark that it already was? When we drive to Salt Lake, I look at the Lehi Flour mill and I remember what it was like when I was a teen and it makes me sad to think of how much the area has changed. The flour mill and the high school are not longer the most noticeable sites on the drive up, now it is Wendy's and the gas station, and all of the little strip malls on the edge of the freeway. I guess that all that open space will change just as time continues to move ahead and life comes at you faster than you planned, but sometimes you can dream that time will stand still, things will stay the same.
I guess that is what make music so great, you can have memories immortalized when Music continues to play on your radio as if you were a teen again. The DJ that was on KISN 97 in the afternoons when I was younger moved to St. George just a little while ago and is now Jocking the local 80's station, I was listening to him on his first morning show on that channel and he talked about how he was excited to be able to hear his favoirte oldes but goodies that he played when he was younger and starting out in radio. I was painting Mckenna's room before her new dresser came and I was jamming to the 80's, which made it really fun, and all the music made me think about growing up in Salt Lake in those years and the joys and the sorrows, that teens endure because of their peers. OOPS, so I digress, I have gotten off the subject of the blog, Kenny Loggins, sorry about that.

I think that my NOW favorite Kenny Loggins' song is 'Pooh Corner,' Matt asked me why everyone was so excited about that song, I know for me, it stirs precious childhood memories of my kids when they were little and I would read to them, not necessarily about Christopher Robin and Winnie ther Pooh,(even though, I did,) but just reading any story, and how the stories to a kid always feel as if the characters are real (which they still are that way for me, I mean come one, who gets made at Snape in Harry Potter for killing Dumbledore and refusing to watch the movie or read the book again because you are so disappointed in Snape for what he has done even though you really wanted him to be trust worthy as Dumbledore believes and you love his character in the movies? Me, that is who!)
I think about the end of the song where he talks about tucking his son in and Winnie the Pooh looking at him and saying- 'boy,Welcome home', that part of the song gets me everytime! it is just so touching.

Matt absolutely loved when Kenny started singing the theme song to 'Top Gun'. He had this great big smile and his eyes lit up like it was Christmas!

Matt and I have had so much fun these past two weekends with our little date night special excursions, that we have decided that the Richness of our lives is really not about baseball games, dance recitals (even though both of them are fun and have help create memories,), but about spending time with each other and enjoying each other's company with AND without the kids! Next week for our date night (which we have had sporadically for the last 4 months,) we are going to go see the DAVINCI CODE, I told matt that I would go with him ONLY when I finished the book again, since it was so long ago that I read it, and I can't remembe the whole story. Well, the book is done, after 3 days and I am now ready for the movie. Here's to another fun night with Matt!

The Georgie Awards and the predicament of dresses

Matt and I were given tickets to the SGMT "Georgie" Awards 2 weeks ago. It was a fundraiser benefiting St. George Musical Theater to help raise money for their new building that they have to start building by Jan. 2007. We went to the banquet and then to the 2nd annual awards show featuring all the 'best' scenes from the previous years shows. This year it was televised on KCSG and they had a live call for donations. We felt very fortunate to go because I was given a choice for Mother's day of tickets to this benefit ($125 a piece,) or tickets to see Kenny Loggins ( $49 a piece,) in concert in Mesquite, NV.

I really was in a quagmire, because I really wanted to support the theater, but at the price that they were asking for it seemed a little high for a one night thing. But really, I wanted to go see Kenny Loggins. I kept asking Matt if I could do both, even though I already knew the answer to that question. That was really, really too much money!

Well, I guess that the theater, didn't sell so many tickets and so one of the council members called Matt (who is a friend ,of the artistic director at the theater, Mrs. Jan Broberg Felt (the nosey neighbor in Mobsters and Mormons,)and told him that she had 2 extra tickets to the awards show since the theater wasn't full and how embarrassing it would be for the theater if the theater was half empty during a televised show. So Matt called me and told me how he had solved my problem and I could now go to both, the Georgie awards and Kenny loggins.

I was so excited, but also stressed because the Georgie awards was one day away, black tie dress and I had nothing to wear, well I did, but the dress was black and when I went to put it on, it was way to big for me since it was a size 12 and I wear a size 7 or 9 now!
So Matt and I had to go shopping and fast! I have loved to shop since I was a little girl (could it be because of the shop-a-holics that I lived with!? Does anyone know anyone of those 2 ladies?) and it hasn't changed at all, I really love to shop! Matt on the other had doesn't like to shop at all! But,he was really fun to take that day. He kept picking out dresses and having me try them on.
The one that I liked the most, was a cute white dress that had no sleeves or shoulder fabric. Matt thought it was very sophisticated, but when I tried it one, I felt it was not right, since it was the type that you would not be able to where garments with. So I started looking for a white shrug to cover it up, and the only thing that I could find was a shear shrug. So, I started looking for a new dress,and found a really nice black and white one. Matt kept telling me to get the white one, but I really felt that it was not modest and so to cut the shopping short, I bought both dresses, the shrug, and a shawl, and decided to have everyone vote on the dresses. (By the way the dresses were on clearance and so the total was like the price of one dress, that is the reasoning for buy both.) Well, when I got home, I got the brillant idea to put a capsleeve shirt under the white dress and then put the shrug on, it solved my problem with the immodest white dress. But everyone really like the black dress better, but since it is spring, I thought that I would wear the white and save the black one for the Phantom of the Opera in New York sometime the end of next month!

So that we didn't feel so cheap, we participated in the silent auction to the value of one ticket, we only won one of the auctions- an MP3 Player from Dell, that we paid $75 dollars for, I guess we ended up with the better end of the deal when it came to going to the awards! When we have saved a little more money, we will donate a little more,so that we don't feel really guilty for stiffing the theater!

 

A message from Me!

  

Professional Hair or not? You decide!

As some of you know, I am not very creative when it comes to the hair styles that Mckenna has for solo competition. So I usually take her to our hair dresser! Well, Provo was a long ways away and I didn't think that her hair would last during the ride, since all my kids fall asleep in the car on long drives. So I stressed for days, weeks and hours before the competition on what I was going to do about Mckenna's hair. Matt said to call Diana and see if we could get her hairdresser to do it, I though maybe we could chance it and have Carie do it in St. George and then make the drive, well, neither was an option after we (andrea and I,) decided to leave for Provo on Thursday so that we didn't have to drive (or stress,) on the day of their solo comp. Andrea is really good with hair, but even she didn't know if she could do Mckenna's hair. I ended up doing Mckenna's hair but can you tell me which one is done by the profession stylist and which one I did? This is kind of like a suave commercial. So take your guess..... but no fair if you look at the dates of the pictures, Here we go!!!!!
 
  

Tales of the snooping Bunny

Once upon a time there was a family that had a few bunnies that liked to eat the grass seed in thier backyard. When the bunnies ate the seed in April, a little girl named Mckenna was told that it was Peter Cottontail and his buddies watching to make sure that she was being good for Easter. Then the bunnies disappeared after Easter was over and this little girl was really sad! Her big brother's Devin and Kyler, told her that she would see them again next year, but only if she was really nice and sweet to everyone over the next year!

Well, May came along and low and behold the Bunnies came back! Mckenna's parents had tried to grow more grass in the places that the bunnies had eaten the seed and the bunnies thought it would be good for them to eat more seed. Mckenna decided that she must not be doing so well with being good if the bunnies had come back sooner than next year and decided to give her next few days a better try at being sweet to all. The bunnies disappeared(could it be that they are in their burrows in this 100* weather we are having?) Mckenna now knows that the bunnies didn't need to watch her anymore and is happy that she got to see the bunnies close up. The mother of the story keeps singing to the Father of the story " It'll come back, it'll come back, Matty don't be mad, God and the rain will bring it back!"

 

Correct, Correct, Correct

Yes, Diana and Sharon!

Mckenna did first Place First! Actually Queen would be the appropriate title for her!
This was her 2nd year at the Parowan Competition and so she competed in the intermediate level, won and next year she will have to be in the Professional level. We looked in the program this year and there were NO girls her age at that level, so we hope that next year there will be because the next level is for 6th through 9th grade! Little teeny Mckenna against 12 to 15 year olds? Who knows!

The Provo competition she also won Queen and did a great job, but not as clean as the ones before, she oopsed on the backbend lift, but did a great job of recovery! one judge gave her a score of 99.5! Mckenna was so excited about that one! She has never gotten so close to a perfect score before.

We are very proud of Mckenna but we are proud of her always, not because of her dancing capabilities, but because she is inheritantly a really nice girl! Not in any way bad, that she is CUTE too, right?














Kenna surrounded by her hip hop buddies;
Kyleigh on the right and
Kyler's ooohlala girl: Marrisa (he really likes her
and she really likes him! He begged to go to Provo,
but also asked to go to the Father and Son's camp out
too, so off he went camping since I told him he could
see her at school on Monday! I mean he is only 12!) 

words in pictures

Today is Mckenna's solo day again- she has one weekend of competitions left which are in Provo May 12-13th!

Q:What do you think the Drama Queen placed this time?

all answers will be appreciated and maybe even a little treat will be involved!

opps some of those beautiful flowers