The Wright Spot

Photos of Grandma and Grandpa Black

2012-02-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

These are some photos that I took of the display table at the funeral last weekend. This is a beautiful frame that has hung in my Grandparents home as long as I can remember. You can see the high school grad photos of my uncles and my aunt and my Dad. My dad is the third on the left. My grandparents were married in the Salt Lake Temple 65 years ago.

These photos are from their younger days. Isn't it fun to see photos from when they were young?

Here are some more photos from when they were raising their family. I love these memories! Love you both!

My Grandma Black

2012-02-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

This last week my Grandma Black passed away. She was 89 years old and what an amazing life she had! She had health down till the last week or so of her life. She got pneumonia, followed by a stroke but before that she was fully functioning! She lived such a full life.

My grandpa misses her very much and I pray for him everyday. They were married for 65 years so that is a long time to be together and to separated now I know he is lonely. Luckily my parents live across town from my Grandpa so they can visit him and keep him company as he adjusts to being without Grandma. I love my Grandma and I sure will miss her. In the coming week I will be posting photos and details of her life in her remembrance. For now, this is the funeral program. I love this photo of my Grandma! She looks so young and happy!

Reindeer

2012-01-31T20:07:00.000-08:00

The kids enjoyed making Root Beer Reindeer with Grandma again this year!

I was pretty sick so I didn't take many photos at our belated Christmas Dinner. But here is the group that was gathered to celebrate!

More Family Photos

2012-01-31T12:12:00.000-08:00

Grandma holding Katie..the newest member of the family!

She is only about a month old here! So precious!

The girls opening gifts from Uncle Ryan and Aunt Laura!

Uncle Ryan introducing Tyler to play dough!!

Grandma and Abby!

Silly gooses having ice cream!

My kids pitched in to get Abby a Cookie Monster toy they just thought she HAD to have. It was cute to see how excited they were to give her something they had saved to purchase!! It has been a real hit..a cookie monster that eats the cookies!

Disney Wonder Again!

2012-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Gift for 2011 was a Disney Cruise with our family, this time taking my parents along with us. There was a promotion for kids sailing free for a few week period in January so we jumped right on the offer!!

Kaylie opened a paint palette (Animator's Palette, a favorite restaurant on the ship)

Cameron opens a container of sand and a water bottle...

Dallyn opens a beach blanket...another favorite restaurant on the cruise!

Kaylie holds the "I Wonder" balloon as the kids start to realize that we are indeed going on another cruise!! Yeahoo!! It sails in 2 1/2 weeks!!!

The kid's got Disney Dollars to spend on the ship too!

Here is the family each each holding part of their 'sail away kits". I made everyone matching pirate sashes, Disney cruise tshirts, packing lists, pirate night shirts and door magnets. It was really fun getting ready for the trip and putting together all the preparations!! Lots of work but lots of fun planning it out and figuring out how to surprise the kids!

Christmas Photos

2012-01-31T11:52:00.000-08:00

I know I am about a month behind. Here are some photos from our family that we took at Christmas Time! The kids...

The family....

The family and my parents too...

The kids trying to figure out the 'puzzle' that I gave them for Christmas.

Here they are with all the clues. "Would Grandma and Grandpa like to be a part of our family vacation this year?"

More Updates to Come! =0)

2012-01-24T09:45:00.000-08:00

Soft Seats!

2012-01-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

Loving this...what is it?

Right after Christmas this beautiful and comfortable piece of furniture joined our family! It's awesome! We love it! More photos to come!

Cam's Science Fair Project

2012-01-24T09:37:00.000-08:00

Scott and Cam worked hard to get the science fair project done before our trip. Here are some photos of Cam's project. Click on the photo for better close up views!

Yes Cam is quite the ham and always keeps us laughing!

Blog Update

2012-01-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have had some problems posting lately because I needed to buy more photo space on Blogger. So I did that today so that I am now able to start catching up on my blogging. So now I have room for lots more photos so you can now read our Christmas updates almost a month late!

Family Gifts

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

We went to church Christmas morning, Scott, Kaylie and I sang in the ward choir. It was great! Afterwards we came back to house and changed into our usual Christmas clothes (jammies) and had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast! Complete with cinnamon rolls, fruit, yummy juice, cheese and crackers and chocolate! Yummy!

First we opened up the homemade gifts everyone had to give. Dallyn made this amazing calendar in school...so cute!

Cameron made a fun spy kit for Dallyn as Dallyn loves to play spies. I am so grateful my kids are so kind to each other and so creative!

Cameron made me a birdhouse in Scouts!

Kaylie made me his great book of inspirational quotes she put together..I loved it!

Dallyn put together a scrapbook for me. (Yes I have passed some of my talent on to my children)

More photos to come another day...this is all I have time for today!

Christmas Morning

2012-01-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

The kids all ready to see what Santa Left them!

Kaylie got the duvet cover and sheet set she wanted from Pottery Barn Teen. She has been wanting to re-decorate her room for about a year now. I was hoping to hold out till she was a teenager officially but she has really wanted a new bedding set. The curtains are still on their way so we will post photos once the whole room is done. It is looking really cute! She got a new lamp and a few new accessories in the deep purple color and it is SOO cute! Mom approves of the bedding too! =)

Cameron got the Heroica board game he really wanted, a Harry Potter Lego Book and headphones so he can listen to his drum playing without waking up the whole house!!

Dallyn was excited to see that Santa had eaten the milk and cookies! He got an oversized body pillow with Cars 2 guys on it and a Cars 2 Lego Set.

Kyler got a race track...

Scott got a Kindle from his boss for an early Christmas gift. So for Christmas Santa brought him a Kindle case and a Yoda Ornament. He was soo excited about getting a kindle..he has wanted one for at least a year now..so getting one from the Christmas Work party was awesome!

I got what I wanted to! I wanted a new purse that was bigger and could hold all my winter goodies in it, hat, scarf, mittens, etc. as well as books for when I'm at Dr. apts etc. I had a Miche bag I loved but it was the classic style (great for summer). Santa brought me the Prima Bag, the big style, and it was the HEIDI bag! How appropriate is that? I am going to love this new purse!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

I took less photos this year as I was sick a good portion of the holiday vacation, but I will share some of what I have! Here is the traditional photo from Christmas Eve when the kids opened their 'elf' presents and this year everyone got new pajama pants! The boys are Star Wars and Kaylie's is monkeys. The kids really didn't need more Jammie shirts this year. Kaylie is wearing a t-shirt from when I was on the Jr. High basketball team and Cam is wearing one of Scott's old Water Polo shirts. (Yes we were going through keepsake boxes a few months back.)

Kaylie has been taking a sewing class and she made this fabulous--and very cozy--blanket in her class. She finished it right before Christmas and has been enjoying it immensely!

We acted out the Christmas Story with the children and my parents.

Here are the children acting it out!

We sang Christmas Carols, read the Christmas story, watched the Nativity story and enjoyed some hot chocolate together...a great evening!

GingerBread Houses

2012-01-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

This year some friends in the ward gave us some gingerbread houss they had baked and built! They were all ready to be decorated and they even donated the frosting bags and candy too! I surely didn't have energy for such an occasion this holiday season so I was thrilled when they offered these houses to our family.The kids sure loved to decorate them...we made it a family night activity. Kaylie's house...

Dallyn was super proud of his creation...and yes he and Kyler insisted on wearing their Jazz Jerseys to bed even though I thought it was super cold outside!!

Cam's house...complete with a roofer on top...as our neighbor fixed our roof for us after the crazy storm we had here in December!!

Kyler's House...

This year we did a different treat for our neighbors...instead of homemade goodies we "Whisked" our friends a Merry Kiss-miss and a "Happy Root Beer" when we caroled. We put together these whisks full of 'kisses' and then handed everyone a rootbeer as it coordinated with the song. Yes, we thought it was pretty clever although we didn't come up with the idea!

Our family getting ready to go caroling. No snow this Christmas but boy was it COLD!!!

Hard Chemo Days

2011-12-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't posted on here in awhile because I have been in bed with chemo side effects for several days. I am doing better today and hoping that I am on the upswing from this round of chemo. I have to take the good with the bad and although the bad days are no fun I am so grateful for the good days that I am blessed with!!

Other Fun Photos..

2011-11-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

Kaylie and I enjoyed attending Time Out for Women and girls with my sister on Friday night and Saturday. Kaylie had a great time at Time Out for Girls! It was a wonderful opportunity to be uplifted and rejuvenated!

Cameron has been swimming on team for a year now and we decided it was time to bite the bullet and get him a Speedo swimming backpack. He has been using a mesh bag that has a hard time fitting all his gear in it. Most of the kids on his team have Speedo packs and they are really nice. Cameron's pack is just huge though....its bigger than him almost but he is so excited about it!!

Another highlight of the week was having the Wangsgard family visit with us for a few hours. It's never long enough but we sure love seeing them when they come to town.

Here's the kids all together again. Cam and Brad are now braces buddies. We are so grateful for our great friends!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

It was great to be healthy enough to host Thanksgiving at my house again this year. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed time with each other. My brother Jason and his wife were out of town, but otherwise the rest of my family was together, even my parents came out from Utah and it was great! Here are some of our group photos...

We celebrated Austin's birthday and he got a great new pair of dress shoes which he was in desperate need of...holes letting water in his old shoes!

Mom's brother Mel and his family came by to visit..it was great to chat with them for a bit too.

Kyler enjoying the Turkey headband! =)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T14:12:00.000-08:00

I just had a get a photo with my sweet Hayley girl on Thanksgiving.

She had just given me a snuggle love right before we snapped this photo! It was so precious!

I had fun reading books with Abby girl too!

The cousins played together and had a great time...including lots of fun with puzzles.

Grandma spending time with the grandkids too!

Happy Birthday Hayley and Austin

2011-11-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hayley and Austin's birthdays are a day apart and Hayley turned one on Thanksgiving this year so we had to celebrate with a cake in addition to the holiday pies. Hayley loves Spot so Amy put Spot on her cake..well it was really Austin's cake..this is his favorite dessert from Costco! Yummy!

Here Hayley is opening her peek a boo card from Grandma and Grandpa, she was just loving that card!

She got some darling clothes!!

Here she is playing peek a boo with the card! So very fun to see how much she has grown! I can't believe she is one already! Seems like just yesterday we were visiting her at the hospital!

I gave her spot books, as you can see she may be more interested in ripping the tissue! =)

Ok, well maybe I am interested in the flaps in this book after all Auntie!

Abby is really excited about the "Spot" dog from Auntie....what does Hayley think of it?

It's ok, but this tissue is really a lot more fun!! =) Happy Birthday to my precious niece!

Laura's Baby Shower

2011-11-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

This was a busy week with a baby shower and Thanksgiving all in one week! Phew! We had some fun times though! Kaylie helped me decorate for the shower. We threw a shower for Laura just about 2 years ago when she was expecting Tyler. So this time it was fun to throw her a shower for her little girl, expected in a few weeks!

Here are some photos of Laura enjoying her time with her friends and family!

Darling outfits and a handmade blanket from Grandma Black!

Lots of cute shoes from her aunts and cousins....

Christmas clothes for next year from Aunt Heidi! =)

Group Photos

2011-11-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

Here are some more photos from the shower. It was great to have so many family members come to support Laura!

Here is a generation photo...Amy with her three girls, me with my one girl, my Mom, with her two girls, and my grandma with her oldest daughter (my mom). So we just had to take a generation photo which was super fun!

Another generation photo but this time with Laura and her "baby girl" expected in a few weeks!

Lots of people who love Laura!

Some of her new neighbors came too...it was great to have them here with us too!

Cousin Fun

2011-11-23T06:09:00.000-08:00

Amy's girls were here for Laura's baby shower the other night and I got some photos of the girls enjoying time at our home. They love to come visit and it is so fun to have them visit. Here is Cameron playing ball with Abby.

Cameron and Abby playing piano together! Look at that darling smile!

Bella and Abby both enjoying the piano at Auntie's house. =)

Tumor Update Mid November

2011-11-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday I met with 3 different doctors, I've added a new specialist to my team, he is a Neuro-Oncologist and he was brought in to help figure out what to do for me. Basically, after hours of meeting with doctors they still aren't sure what to do with me.

The reason being is that my brain tumor has continued to grow over the past 4 months. It is now to the point that I'm back on steroids because it is causing symptoms that interfere with my ability to drive, see, read, walk, etc. The only solution at present is for me to go back on the High Dose, intense oral chemotherapy that I was on in the spring when we saw the reduction in the size of the tumor.

The reason we changed my dosage after those amazing results was due to my quality of life. Although my tumor was responding, the treatment was killing me! I was so very sick and spent a lot of time in bed, sick with nausea or any number of issues. We have tried to avoid putting me back on such a regimen but my doctors decided, unanimously, that this is the only option that has a chance of helping control the growth at this time.

And so, I go back down the same road again....more drugs, naps, steroids (getting fat, not sleeping, being grumpy, etc), sore feet, upset stomach, cracked hands and palms, old lady digestive challenges and more.

If there is a sun in the cloud it is that I am still alive and trying to make the most that I can with each day with my children and husband. I truly am challenged beyond my capacity at times but I am also greatly blessed.

That's all for today....

Kyler Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Kyler just HAD to have a BYU pumpkin..it was very cute! He is quite the fan!

Dallyn Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Dallyn was really intent on doing a Frankenstein like he made on paper at school. He did a great job! =)

Dad helped Dallyn design it correctly.

After this he colored it with sharpie markers to show the hair, blood, etc. but I didn't get a photo of that!

Kaylie Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

So Funny her facial expressions!! =)

Cameron Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-08T10:35:00.000-08:00

Need I say more?

Halloween Frights!

2011-11-07T13:53:00.000-08:00

My darling Halloween frights!! =) Aren't they so fun? Jack Sparrow himself...

Our "he he ho ho" monkey!!

Look out for this green squid....

What a silly clown!

Yes Scott was a surfer guy with spiky hair, sunscreen on his nose and the whole "Hang Loose" attitude! We had a fun Halloween! Hope you all did too! =)

Halloween Party at Ryan's

2011-11-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to my brother Ryan's house for a family Halloween get together. It was so fun to spend time together and to visit and eat yummy food!

First we took photos of everyone in their Halloween costumes. Bella was a cat...she had a lot of friends in her hands too so its hard to see her costume!

Amy was a mommy monkey (hence the awesome hairdo) and Abby was a baby monkey! So precious!!

Abby was a spider..hard to get a photo of her as she was always on the go! Dallyn and Kyler have both used this costume before..we love this spider costume and the slippers!! =)

The Black Family....Ryan was a mad doctor, Kyler was a baby ninja and Laura had some awesome hair! She is a darling pregnant lady!!

Here's my cute clan...Jack Sparrow, a squid, a monkey and a clown! It's Halloween fun?

Then Bella decided that she wanted to be a spider too so she tried on Abby's costume and we got a cousins photo as they are special buddies!

The whole clan in front of Ryan's new house. It was so fun to visit with everyone and we missed Austin, Jason and Allison! Hope you guys can join us next time!!

On Halloween I got a knock at the door and these cute folks were on my doorstep! This time Tyler was a lion...such a cute costume!!

He was so cute when he was on my porch. He kept taking the tops off the pumpkins and trying to blow the candles out. It was very cute and it was so fun to have them stop by and visit!!

Silly Photos!

2011-11-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ryan had a great selection of Halloween tunes. Here are my kids doing the disco!

Scott spending quality time with Hayley girl!

She is super smiley!! =)

Cameron was SOO funny with his clown nose! He would make different sounds anytime the kids squeezed it and it would make the girls and Tyler laugh so hard! It was so cute!! I caught some good photos of this silly fun!

Tyler is such a darling boy! Look how much fun he is having with cousins!!

More fun with Abby and the clown nose!

Yummy Halloween Eats!

2011-11-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Ryan made homemade root beer with dry ice which the kids thought was really fun.

Here's Uncle Ryan and Kyler working on mixing up the root beer.

Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan made AWESOME authentic Colombian food! Laura made these yummy plantain chips! Who would know they were vegetables?? They were super yummy! Here's Kyler with Laura and his plantain! =)

Hayley had her own idea about what was yummy for lunch! She is wearing her darling monkey costume. Both her and Kyler were monkeys for Halloween!

Here's the cousins eating their yummy meal! Laura's soup was SOO yummy!

The other half of the cousins eating the Colombian feast! It was so fun to be together for good company and good food! =)

Fun Halloween Games and Crafts!

2011-11-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan planned some really fun Halloween games for the kids. Fishing for fun prizes was one of the games!

Bella taking her turn after Cameron...with Kaylie's help!

Kyler goes fishing...

Tyler even got a turn!

Here's everyone working on their crafts with Aunt Laura. Check out the cool black lights Uncle Ryan put in the kitchen to set the Halloween mood!!

Foam stickers can be SOO entertaining...Tyler and his Mommy...

Kaylie helping Bella...

Cameron's...

Abby was totally going to town with these! She had a great time!

Everyone with their finished projects and Uncle Ryan too!

What was Hayley doing during this time? She was hanging out with Uncle Scott so Amy could help her girls with the project. (Austin had to work today)

Scott's Mom turns 60!

2011-10-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went up to Logan for Scott's Mom's surprise birthday party. Here is the awesome cake that Robin, Scott's sister, made for her Mom. It was really cool and yes it had 60 candles on it!!

We went down early to the house while she was out of town and decorated everything in black. It was great! She was surprised!!

Zack used his own money to buy Grandma a gift!

Blake and Robin gave her a book she'd wanted to read. Brad gave her a gift certificate to a restaurant.

Cassidy wrote a book for her and so did Haven. They were both very creative and fun! Lara made homemade bread for her Mom and gave them to her in cute apple baskets.

Lisa's family gave her a new comforter set for her room and she loved the colors!

Scott organized (and I helped a LOT) putting together a scrapbook of memories from all of her kids. It also included photos from her childhood so Scott and I had fun scanning photos to make the album reflect her life. It was an endeavour but now Scott is a seasoned scrapbooker!! The album turned out really neat!! Here is grandma with all the grand kids that were there holding her album.

After we opened gifts the kids put on a little talent show of sorts with skits...

musical numbers and fun dance routines. Afterwards we had dinner. It was a fun celebration!

Hill Air Force Base Trip

2011-10-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

The kids had fall break last week and it was fun to have some time to spend as a family without all the usual commitments!! Since we were going to drive to Logan for Scott's Mom's party we decided to plan a trip to the Hill Air Force base museum. So we went a few hours earlier so we could spend time at the museum before heading to Logan. Here are some photos of my kids enjoying the museum.

He sure looks like a great fighter pilot!

I think that helmet is just a little too big for Kyler!

My kids had a great time and sometime when Kaylie and I are having a "Mother Daughter Date" Scott will bring the kids back so they can explore more!

Awesome Planes!

2011-10-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

The boys were SOO into these planes. Dallyn especially wanted to know everything there was to know about each plane. It was so funny seeing how excited they were. Especially when they saw the machine guns that came out of the bottom of the planes which reminded them of Star Wars. Definitely a boys place to visit!

Cameron amazed that this airplane tire was taller than he was.

I loved the stars on the bottom of the air force planes.

Cameron hanging on to a few of the machine guns...like I said..boy stuff.

Kyler really enjoyed collecting rocks and constantly wanted me to take photos of different ones, so I took many photos of rocks. Here is one I will share with you. =0)

Mom with the kids...=)

Kaylie with one of the retired Air Force One planes.

Kaylie and Kyler

2011-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Here's what Kaylie and Kyler have been up to....

Kaylie turned 12 and so she had the opportunity to decide about getting her ears pierced!! Here is the before...

And here is the after photo!! She looks so daring with earrings. She has to wear the same ones for about 6 weeks and then she can try on some new ones. She had a fun time shopping with Aunt Laura for jewelry for her birthday.

Kaylie has started working on her personal progress since she is in Young Women's now. She had Young Women's in Excellence the other day and she did her value focusing on scripture study...so this is a photo we took for her display board.

Kyler just finished his first sports event ever. He played on the "Green Lightsabers" team coached by his Dad! It was pretty fun to watch and Kyler sure had a great time. You sure would not miss them in theeir crazy green outfits! Here are some photos of Kyler in action.

Way to go Kyler!!

Mid October

2011-10-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ok so I need to take a break from our NY trip because I am so behind on blogging. So I'm going to update a bit of our 'current events' and then I'll go back to the rest of our New York trip.

October 11th we celebrated our 14th Anniversary! These are the pretty flowers I received from my love.

As a gift to Scott I made his favorite dinner..and it took me about all day. I did Thanksgiving dinner which isn't an easy task on weekday with all the crazy things going on!! Scott was definitely surprised since I really don't cook much these days!!

The real labor of love was making his favorite sugar cookies...wow my kitchen was such a mess and it is really a lot of work!! By the end of that day I remembered why I don't enjoy cooking!!! But I wanted to do something meaningful for our anniversary!

That same week Kaylie had a musical performance. She was Jessie in her musical theater concert and she sang the song "When somebody loved me". She has really developed her talent of singing. Here she is dressed up for her performance.

Cameron wanted me to take a photo of his creation the other day. He was making snack and was excited about his "smiley face" snack.

Kyler also loves to help in the kitchen. Using a smaller rolling pin he made a bunch of his own cookies for our anniversary dinner!

The Grandin Printing Press

2011-10-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

This was one of my favorite tours on our trip to Palmyra.

We went to the Grandin Print Shop where the first 5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. We had a fantastic tour there by a sister missionary.

Look at all the languages the Book of Mormon is now printed in!

I loved seeing the copies of the Book of Mormon there in the bookshop.

Scott and I at Grandin's Printing Press.

This is where the contract was signed for the printing of the Book of Mormon.

Original copies of the Book of Mormon..so neat!

The pages of the Book of Mormon were large before they were cut and they used to pull them up and down the different levels of the printing shop with pulleys and ropes!! It's amazing to see what they went through back in the day just to print the scriptures!

They demonstrated how these were inked up and used at the press for preparing the pages for printing.

Each of these cases was filled with lots of tiny trays of letters, what tedious work it would have been to line up the words letter by letter!! It's from the process of printing back in the late 1800's that we get the the phrase 'upper case' and 'lower case' because the letters were kept in either the upper or lower cases depending on which letter they were. I thought that was fun to learn!!

Scott standing in the printing press, it was really interesting to see how everything worked and how they would have made the pages back then!

This was the finished product...interesting how the lettering was not straight as they had to do each one individually and sometimes the worker didn't have the steadiest of hands. Boy how far things have come!!

Here they showed us how they bound the books, stretched the skins and put the leather covers on.

The process of binding them was so interesting. How they used string and their paper cutters of the day...its so amazing to me to see all that they did. An amazing effort and such a big job for a small town printing press in Palmyra. Scott and I were surprised, after all this time, how small and quaint Palmyra is even today!

Four Corner Churches

2011-10-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

We stood on the corner they call "The Four Corner Churches". There is a church on every corner here at this intersection. I should have gotten the names of each of the churches but I didn't. They are all beautiful. We had heard about this corner as we watched documentaries about Palmyra.

This was a school next to the churches. It was so quaint! I just loved it...the kids came out and played at recess and it was so old school, I just had to take a photo!

Peter Whitmer Farm--Upstate New York

2011-10-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go see the Peter Whitmer Farm to see where the church was organized in 1830.

The visitor's center was connected to a really beautiful chapel.

The three witnesses to the Book of Mormon.

I loved these charts from the visitor's center that showed how Jesus Christ is the head of our church with our modern day prophet and apostles to lead and direct the church. It was a neat chart that the sister missionary showed us during our tour.

This is the Peter Whitmer Farm.

We were surprised how small it was..and to think that the church was organized there! They sure had humble circumstances and they must have really squeezed people in there!

Here are some more photos from the tour of the home.

The upstairs bedrooms...

The American Museum of Natural History

2011-10-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

This museum has become more real to me since seeing the movie 'Night at the Museum'. So this was on my 'to do' list when we were in New York. This museum was unlike any other museum I have ever been to! Wow!

I liked the words on the top...

Teddy Roosevelt himself!!

The inside of the museum was just beautiful!

The elephant exhibit was fantastic! It was pretty dark in there so it was hard to get the full scope of how incredibly big and impressive the elephants were!

"Me want gum gum dum dum!!" Yes you have to see the movie to understand the significance of these photos!! =)

After 3 1/2 hours of being in the museum we only saw about 2/3 of the exhibit. It was fantastic but there was just so much on our 'to do' list so we prioritized and explored the most interesting parts of the museum.

The American Museum of Natual History Part 2

2011-10-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos from our trip to the Museum. I wish the light was better for this view of the Blue Whale...it was spectacular.

There were some great dinosaur exhibits..Iam only posting a few of the photos..it was the most extensive museum I have ever been to.

Here is Scott with Rex from "Night of the Museum"!!

They had some amazing animals..it just blew my mind!

Look at this spider crab!!! What in the world? It's bigger than me!

A giant Sting Ray...

A gigantic Squid...

One of my favorites....

Sights of New York City

2011-10-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our drive through Manhattan. The amazing skyline...it was surreal to be there! So cool!

I got a few glimpses of the Brooklyn bridge....

Here we are in the business district in New York City!!

A two story Mc Donald's, I guess that is how they do things in NY...we went there later just to use the restrooms and get a smoothie..its impossible to find restrooms in NY!!

Again..just like the movies...there were these little newsstands on many corners. It was just the way of life there. I felt so claustrophobic when I saw those people working in those tiny stands! I don't know how they could deal with that! Ugh! The grease stands were everywhere too.....like Taco Carts on wheels.....scary!! I looked at many of them and wondered how they passed NY health standards??

All of a sudden at one intersection Scott starts hollering at me...luckily the light turned red so we got to stop and take some photos. In the middle of all the hustle and bustle was the New York City Temple!! Wow! If you blink you might miss it.

There is the Angel Moroni!!

What a peaceful haven the temple must be in that bustling city!! I was so glad I got to get a glimpse of it!!

Wall Street & Ground Zero

2011-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

Given Scott's career in finance it was exciting for us to visit THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE! Wow...it was there, on Wall Street...it was amazing to see these places that I have read about or seen in movies. To actually walk on Wall Street was just cool!!

Here is Scott....on the corner of Wall Street! Cool!

This was a cool tree outside of the Trinity Church in NY. This was the church that was in the movie National Treasure, so we had to go see it. We like that movie and our older kids have seen it too so it was fun to see the church where the treasure is buried. (In the movie that is!)

The Trinity Church...really pretty in the middle of the busy city!

We were planning to go to the 9/11 Memorial while in NY. Scott thought it was similar to memorials he had been to in DC...however it was not. There was a 2 week waiting period for tickets and there was a lot of security so we couldn't even get close to it! Sad!! So instead I took a few photos of the new Freedom tower that is being built on Zero.

We drove by the Freedom Tower in our rental car later on so I got a more closeup photo.

It was humbling to be at Ground Zero and to think of the sacrifices made by so many that tragic day.

Lady Liberty

2011-10-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about visiting New York City was going to see the Statue of Liberty. It was awesome to be there in person...pretty surreal since I have never before been to New York and didn't know if I ever would..so this was very exciting!!! Here are some photos from Scott and my trip together!

This photo is me looking up at the statue from the observatory deck. Unless you had 'crown tickets' purchased 2 years in advance, you couldn't go up into the crown. So this was the highest that Scott and I were able to get. This viewpoint shows you the angle that I was at and the magnitude of the statue itself.

This is the view of the spiral staircase that crown ticket holders go up. It is very curvy!!

Statue of Liberty Part 1

2011-10-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

This was the original lamp that Lady Liberty held. It is now in the museum there. It was really neat!

This is the size of Lady Liberty's face! Wow! Such an amazing work of art, its amazing to think of all the time, effort, dedication and manpower that went into making this statue!

I liked this quote by the sculptor of the statue, Auguste Bartholdi.

Scott is chilling at Lady Liberty's feet..and yes those are true to size and copper, which is how they were before the elements weathered them and they became green.

They had a neat museum showing the process for making the different parts of the statue.

I was in awe of all the work that went into this great statue. It was inspiring to read and learn more about it.

While the statue was being built in France, the US was building the pedestal to prepare for the day that Lady Liberty would be brought to the United States of America!

Statue of Liberty Part 2

2011-10-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

There was a great view as we were leaving the harbor.

Scott with the New York City Skyline behind him! What a view!

Heidi..with Lady Liberty coming into view behind me!!

Scott with Lady Liberty! And more great views from our boat ride out to the island. It was so neat!!

The Beauty of Central Park!!

2011-10-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

I was not at all prepared for how beautiful Central Park is! I thought it was much more crazy and crowded, or at least that was how I pictured it. Now we were there on a rainy day, but it was still such a haven from the loud and busy streets adjacent to it. I just loved walking in the park and could have done so for hours...if we had had hours. =)

Here are some photos of our walk....

Beautiful Canopies of trees everywhere...

Really old stone bridges...they were so neat...i felt like we should be on a boat going under them!

Beautiful, calm lake views...

Scott taking a stroll through Central Park!!

This is my FAVORITE photo from our park day...look at how beautiful this is!! Like a postcard!!

We saw lots of critters, birds, squirrels and even this raccoon while meandering in the park!

It's hard to imagine that Central Park is as big as it is!! Bigger than the city I live in back home!! Wow! We saw so many people out enjoying the beauty of it...walking their dogs, running, biking, walking or on their way somewhere. It was really a fun part of our day and I am grateful for the new perspective it gave to me!

The Empire State Building

2011-10-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well since we had limited time in New York we had to schedule things when we could! So we planned to go to the top of the Empire State Building on Wed night after my flight landed. Unfortunately that night was 'limited visibility' because we were literally inside a cloud. It was very hard to see, but still SO very cool and we got some awesome glimpses of just how high we were..wow!

Here is a photo of us in the lobby afterwards..since we didn't get any photos of us up there...again..raining on us, freezing and foggy!

Here's a shot of Scott up there....isn't the visibility lovely??

There were times when the clouds would clear and we could see down. Scott said it was probably better for me that I couldn't see because of my fear of heights my stomach did a few flips when it could see! Yikes!

This is a view I got from the ground looking up before we went in...as you can see a good portion of the building is in the clouds.

This photo was taken from the observation deck on the 86th floor looking up!

Another view of the city....it was amazing...even with the limited view!

Scott just couldn't get enough of the sporadic views when the clouds would clear!

The elevator buttons made me laugh..i just had to take a photo to show my kids. It went from 2 to 68 and then there was a museum, educational area and then you would take another elevator up to the 86th floor. It was super neat! I couldn't believe how many line ropes they had set up! I guess it's worse than a Disneyland ride during the busy season...you can stand in line for hours to get up to the top. We didn't have that problem when we went though!

Scott videoing how fast the elevator climbed the floors!!

The next day as we were driving back into Manhattan we got a great view of the city...the fog had settled a bit!

Our Visit to Times Square

2011-10-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Right after landing in NY Scott picked me up about 8:30 pm and we went right to Times Square. (Hence why I am in my sweats that I wore on the airplane) Since I was on Utah time still I wasn't too tired so we decided to make use of the time that we had there. So we went through some stores and had dinner there and it was quite the experience!!

Broadway....it was amazing to see it!

These little bicycle driven carts, rickshaws, were all over new york..i only got a back view but they sure were cool!

More Broadway signs!

The fanciest Disneystore I have ever seen!!

Statue of Liberty Mickeys!!

Times Square

2011-10-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Time Square!! It is so crazy there! It's definitely worth visiting but I can't imagine living there. What a fast paced and busy life that would be!! Here are some photos from that night.

Scott worked for Ernst and Young for several years and they have quite the presence in Times Square.

We saw this bus come by us that said Ecuador on it..so we snapped a photo...that is where Scott served his mission!

Check out this hummer limo...we saw several of these in NYC.

There was quite a presence of police in NY...and its no wonder...so many people there!!

Someone dressed up as Elmo...yes, there are all types in NY!

Hard Rock Cafe

2011-10-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

We went to the ever popular Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square for dinner on our first night in the city. I just have to say that the food was so good!! And I even knew some of the lighter rock songs they played so that was fun!

Scott went around the restaurant and enjoyed looking at the guitars and drums played by famous musicians of the past that they had displayed there.

Scott loved the wall of guitars....such a cool look.

And of course, the classic photo from New York City!!

Toys R Us!

2011-10-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to go to the Toys R Us in Times Square. There was a gigantic Ferris Wheel inside the store. I have never seen anything quite like it! It was amazing!! What a store!

Look at some of the cute Ferris wheel cars!! So very fun, I am easily amused!! =)

A Megablocks car...

A little people bus..we had one just like this when my kids were little.

I had to take this photo for Kaylie because she is so into fruit candy....this nerds box was HUGE and it was $25!! Can you imagine spending $25 on nerds??

They had a great Candy Land display! It was like something out of Disneyland! So fun! Here I am holding some GIANT tootsie pops!

They had even had a full barbie house upstairs..it was out of control all the different displays they had for each type of toy!

There was a Jurassic Park land in the store too!

Of course Scott loved seeing the star wars displays and drooling over the real lightsabers! =)

Lego City in New York City

2011-10-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the Toys R Us store in New York and we were of course drawn to the Lego exhibits..wow! It was so very neat! Here are some photos from what we saw there!!

The Statue of Liberty

The Empire State Building

Some other cool buildings, I'm not sure what they are, but they sure were neat!

The Chrysler Building

Scott hanging with Jack Sparrow in Central Park...you don't see that everyday!

Rachel!

2011-09-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my dear friend Rachel came to visit on her way back from a Mother's Retreat! It was so good to see her!! She is a true fighter and an inspiration to me! We are breast cancer survivor buddies!! =)

Kaylie's 12th Party

2011-09-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

For Kaylie's 12th Birthday she had a fun Hot Tub Late Night Party. Scott rearranged the furniture to make room for 12 gabby girls!!

Kaylie sat up a candy bar with lots of yummy treats as well as brownies and kiss cookies since she is not a cake fan!

She had a fun guessing game with candy (she is such a candy nut!) and the friends who guessed closest to the right number got to keep the jar of candy!

We had quite a hot tub full of girls...yes it really is only designed for 8 but when you are just 12 and super silly you can fit even more in! Kaylie is in the front of this photo!

More fun with the girls...I should have taken a photo of all the girls in their jammies after for the 'movie night' but I didn't. I wasn't feeling very good so Scott took over the party after I went to lie down. And needless to say he is not a photo junkie. The girl's watched Princess Diaries and had a lot of laughs!

Kaylie with her friends singing to her!

Excited about cute little presents from her friends! We are so blessed to have so many great friends here in Centerville!!

GoodBye Tile!

2011-09-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

As I have posted before we have been working on putting hardwood in our house and it has been coming along slowly but surely! We decided that we didn't like the choppiness of too many different flooring styles on the main floor of our home. So we decided to bite the bullet and pull out the tile floor.

So here are some before photos!

This is before we finished the wood so we had some lovely plywood still showing under our hutch...as I said, its been quite a process but since our 'handyman' has a day job and can only work nights on the floor (Yes, its Scott) then I have to take it when I can...whenever he can work on the floor is great!

A few of the DURING photos and let me just say there was SO MUCH DUST!! Wow!

The finished entry way...

I love the wood all the way into the entryway now..it flows so much better and it is so much more warm and welcoming than the cold tile.

Love it!!

Babysitting Tyler

2011-09-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Kaylie babysat Tyler and she took some cute pictures of the fun times with their cousin. They sure dote on him and think it is so fun to have 'baby Tyler' come play!

Birthday Fun with Cousins

2011-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

We had a birthday lunch on Labor Day to celebrate Kaylie turning 12. Ryan's family, Amy's family and my family were all there and we had a great time. We went swimming at the rec center, had lunch in the backyard and enjoyed visiting and playing together. I'm so glad we live close enough to get together for these fun times! Here are some photos from our day together!

More of Kaylie's Birthday

2011-09-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan gave Kaylie a shopping date with Aunt Laura to go to the mall to pick out some jewelry and have ice cream. Kaylie is excited to have her date with Laura this weekend!!

Aunt Amy and Austin and the girlies were all there to celebrate with us too!

Kaylie on her birthday getting ready to eat her big breakfast of sugar cereal!!

Kaylie and Kyler with her gifts from Kyler...

Dallyn gave Kaylie new ipod earphones and some junior mint socks!

Cam gave her a sporty new watch for Junior High.

On Sunday she opened up her gift from Grandma and Grandpa Black while they were skyping with us.

She got the 12 year old special doll for her collection...this sure was a special birthday for Kate!

Since Monday was a holiday she got to have a 2-day birthday celebration and had sugar cereals for several days...what a lucky duck. We did some fun family activities that day which I will have to blog about soon!

Kaylie's Birthday Photos

2011-09-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

Kaylie wanted to have Hawaiian Haystacks for her birthday dinner. So here she is on Tuesday. She had to eat and run to her first Young Women's activity so that was fun for her too...then home to finish more homework...oh my the balancing act of Jr. High we are sure adjusting to.

Kaylie wanted birthday brownies and her brothers can always be counted on for some good laughs and funny faces.

I love Kaylie's facial expressions as she opens her presents..she is so animated.

Kaylie took a volleyball camp this summer and tried out for her school volleyball team. She didn't make the team but realized that she has a passion for volleyball and that she really wants to be on the team next year. So her Dad had the great idea to get her a volleyball for her birthday so she can go outside and practice while the weather is nice. I am proud of her for trying something new and being brave! She was nervous knowing she didn't have any athletic experience but she sure leaned a lot.

Kaylie got some great books from Mom that she had asked for..one about surviving middle school, written by the American girl folks. She got another book from her good friend that was also about surviving middle school by John Bytheway and she has enjoyed reading that too!

Kaylie loves teal and so I couldn't pass up the chance to get her this great Billabong sweatshirt in her favorite color...muted just a bit!

She has been asking for one of these for awhile and my thought was "WHERE?" are we going to put that? But she loves to sleep with it every night so now her room is even more crowded than before but she is a happy bday girl!

Kaylie all ready to go to school on her birthday and yes she is wearing my flip flops to school. They were teal and striped so she just had to borrow them. How is it she can wear some of my clothes already??? My big Jr. High girl!

Some More Firsts...

2011-09-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well this week was a memorable one for our family for a variety of reasons. First of call, Cameron started phase 1 of his braces treatment. Here is his darling before shot....

He looks so grown up with braces! He wasn't smiling so much by the second day, he had some swelling and was concerned that he wouldn't be able to eat a normal meal again! But I think he will get used to it soon!

He got slime green and black braces which he was excited about! He will have these braces for 15 months during which time he hopefully will lose some of the 6 baby teeth he still hasn't lost. He needs to make some serious room for some teeth so we are starting this phase and he'll have the second phase when he is 13 or so. At least he is a good sport about it and a lot of his friends are getting braces now (although they have all of their teeth already).

Today was a big milestone for Kaylie. She went to Young Women's today for the first time and she officially graduated from primary! She is growing up so much! Here she is in her darling new outfit

She got her Young Women necklace today and now she has a temple recommend too! She's excited to go to the temple with me. Lots of 'firsts' happening in our family recently!!

Bear Lake Triathlon

2011-09-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

So last weekend Scott and some friends were hoping to be a part of the Bear Lake Triathlon. However, by the time we looked into it the tri was all sold out. So, Scott decided to get creative and the end result was the Briarwood Bear Lake Triathlon which ended up being so much fun!

There was a Kids Tri in which kids of all ages participated...scroll down a few posts to see those photos.

This is Team triathlon group. The men each did the entire tri--kids like Cameron put together a team. So Cam did the swimming leg of the race. So here is the Triathlete group!

Off they go!!

Scott was the first one out of the water, no surprise there! =)

Off he goes on his new 'triathlete bike'...yes he is very spoiled but he got a GREAT deal on a 7 year old triathlon bike so he is in heaven. Only problem is that now he wants to do even more races!!

Cameron came out of the water in 2nd place behind his Dad...he even beat the other adults!! He is a little fish!!

Go Cameron!! =)

Dallyn was right near all the action cheering his Dad on.

How did you feel about your race Cameron?? =)

Scott transitioning from the bike to the run!

As he is crossing the finish line..yep he took first place in the group!! =) If Dave's bike chain hadn't fallen off Dave would have given Scott a better run for his money...we'll have to see how it lines up next time!

Trisha was part of a team and she did the swim...complete with a wetsuit, flippers and a snorkel!!

You are so fun Trish!! You keep us all smiling!!

The Kids Race

2011-09-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here's the kids as they are getting out into the water...their goal is to swim from the shore to the Wright's floating dock and back again.

In the lead of the kid's swim of course was Cameron, our little fish followed closely behind by McKenna Wright.

Here they are exiting the water...

Meanwhile Kyler is doing his 'running' portion of the race going along the shore. It was so fun watching him and Peter in the race!

Cameron crosses the finish line!

McKenna finishes the race!

Kyler is on his way up the beach...go Kyler!

Peter crosses the finish line just after Kyler did...what fun the boys had!

Here's our Kaylie on her run up the shore.

So Cameron did the 'swim' leg of the kids tri and Andrew did the bike leg and Brooke's daughter did the run. Cam's team did great, they placed 2nd overall! =)

Tubing Fun!

2011-09-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

The kids had a great time riding on this giant 4 person tube while we were at Bear Lake. Kaylie is riding in the front middle in the yellow life jacket. She had a blast and I loved the facial expressions!

Getting some air!!

Woa...what a bumpy ride!

Wow! Yep she is still smiling!

Scott and the little boys had a turn on the tube but at a much slower pace than Kaylie did. Dallyn was especially concerned about it since he had seen all the air they were getting. We assured him that the speed would be much slower for them and so they had a fun and relaxing time on the tube.

I was proud of my boys for trying it since I knew they were nervous at first!

Kyler's favorite thing to do was to just go riding on the boat. I don't think he even went on the seadoo all day, he just preferred to be in the boat while everyone else was skiing, etc.

We realized Cameron had been busy caoeoing, etc. and hadn't had chance on the tube yet so we went back to shore and gave him a shot at tubing. Kaylie and Emi jumped on too to enjoy the fun!

Cameron's waving and hollering, he sure had a whale of a time! =) Thanks to the (other) Wrights for letting us come up and spend the day with them and have so much fun!

Relaxing at Bear Lake

2011-09-01T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well as you know I am super behind on blogging so I will do just a smidgen today. Today I'm going to start with some photos from our weekend at Bear Lake. We had a great time up at the (other) Wright's cabin Friday and Saturday. Here are some photos of our fun, relaxing times. Triathlon photos to come this weekend..=)

Kyler couldn't wait to get in the water...it was too dark so he had to wait until Saturday.

Cameron would have been content to paddle for a long time on this surfboard!

Kyler playing on the beach...

Cameron going in the canoe with the boys...

I thought it was so funny how they used a tractor to launch the boat! It is so shallow there it's the only way to do it. I got a kick out of that so I just had to take a few photos!

And the boat is out... =)

Soccer Buddies

2011-08-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

My little boys had their first soccer games today...they were so excited. They are both green which they think is cool...

And they are both #2 which they also think is super cool! This is them showing you the numbers on their backs.

They wanted to show me one of their best kicks!

Dallyn is on the Green Eagles...

Kyler is on the "Green Lightsabers" with Dad as the coach..and yes Scott helped them come up with this name! =)

A Few Changes

2011-08-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided it was time to re-establish our children's temple picture in their rooms. When we lived in Elk Grove this was on our wall...

Last week I changed it to the night view photo of the Bountiful Temple. That is the one my children will grow up going to...so I want them to be used to that photo so we made the change this week!

One of the changes I have had to make since starting chemo is to really baby my hands and feet. Both get very, very sore with this chemo. Some times are worse than others but they always hurt. So Scott got me these new mats from Costco and they are great on my feet...wish I had had them all along!

Additionally, I have found best friends in these two products from Bath and Body Works. These products are made for people with super dry skin on their hands and feet. Now, they aren't really meant for chemo patients but they are the best thing I have found so far.

I wear the booties around the house a lot since my feet are much worse then my hands, but sometimes I also put the gloves on when I am lying in bed reading, etc. They are lined with a paraffin material that helps keep your hands and feet soft. I also have a creme that I put on my feet every day that is a lifesaver for me. Imagine how hard it would be to have your feet hurt all the time?? So these are some new changes in my life as of late!

The last change is my new haircut. I haven't cut my hair since November when I lost my hair to radiation and it all fell out. So I am back to my haircut from about 3 years ago...(sheez!), but at least I have enough hair, barely, to go without a wig now so I am grateful for that!! I am trying to get used to the new do!

Family Swim Party

2011-08-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

In Early August we had a family swim party at Amy's pool in Orem. It was great to be together with everyone. My kids took to the water like the fishes that they are...even Kyler was all over the deep end (with my or Scott's watchful eye of course!)

Kyler having a fun time playing fishes with Abby.

Austin took turns taking his girls for rides in the kiddie pool, they sure liked that!

Now it's Bella's turn!

Tyler was so funny...he LOVED to splash (Bella wasn't so sure about that) and he got a big kick out of Cam's goggles. What was the deal with those things on Cam's eyes?

Loving the water!!

Even Hayley got in on the fun...

Watch out Hayley, here comes the splashing monster!! =)

Family Celebrations!

2011-08-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we got together to celebrate some special times. One of the things we celebrated was Bella starting preschool. I found the cutest "Elmo" preschool card so that got the ball rolling for a back to school gift for Bella's first year in preschool!

She was really excited about the Dora sticker book. I'm hoping it will give her Mom some quiet moments when her sisters are sleeping and Bella will be entertained!

So Auntie Heidi has a thing for Turtles, Frogs and Monkeys! Every time I see little girl clothes that have monkeys on them I think of Bella. Combine that with a dancing ballerina Monkey and I just HAD to get her this shirt!!

A photo of Auntie and Bella with her special gifts.

In addition to celebrating Bella we also celebrated Jason's birthday (Belated) and Allison's birthday (Early). So here are the Newlyweds with their birthday gifts.

Aunt Allison made a super fun treat for our birthday celebration...here are Kaylie and Cameron with their treats...they thought it was so fun!

She made cupcakes with bears in life preservers on the sand and one of them didn't have an umbrella and so he got sunburned. Some were fully in the water and some had some water and some sand and then the cute beach umbrellas. It sure was creative and the kids enjoyed it! Thanks Allison for bringing those!

Letting my Baby Spread his wings!

2011-08-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well this has been an emotional time for me as I see my little Kyler turning 5 last month and now starting into Kindergarten. He is so excited to be like his big brothers and he sure loves school but it is hard for Mom to let go!

My three boys are all at Centerville Elementary now and they are the Centerville Eagles. As they say you need to spread your wings and fly which is what they are all doing!

Kyler's hook in the Kindergarten hallway...

Putting up his backpack for his first big day!

Sitting on the rug all ready to learn! How did my baby grow up so fast?? =) Love you Kyler K!

Back to School 2011

2011-08-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Time flies and all of a sudden it is back to school time again! Here are my kids on their first day back to school last week. Cameron got to pick out a fun sugar cereal for the occasion. It was a very busy but exciting day!

Kaylie started Jr. High at Centerville Jr. and so we have an earlier schedule now. It's been a pretty crazy week getting used to it all but we are trying to get into the routine of things! Here are the kids first thing the morning.

Kaylie all ready for her first day, excited and nervous about Jr. High. She is almost 12 I can't believe it! She has great teachers and friends at school and is really enjoying it so far!! Hopefully that will continue! =)

Here are the boys with their coordinating backpacks all ready to go to school. Cameron had his Darth Vader one last year and then this spring I got the Boba Fett one on sale at PBK so I was really excited. Then they decided to clearance out the Yoda small sized backpacks and I just couldn't resist!! So now the boys are all coordinating! It's great because Kyler's is smaller just right for his size!

Look at my coordinating boys! Love them! =)

what Kyler has been up to!

2011-08-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time visiting cousins down in Provo and Kyler loved making Abby laugh!

Any chance Kyler got he would spend it swimming at the rec center pool or any other chance he got! He sure loves swimming!

Kyler's siblings created a Wizards Lair down in the basement this summer and so Kyler learned some spells and Dad helped him create a neat magic wand..so that was fun!

This is Kyler participating in Dallyn's triathlon (see later post) by swimming on the swing. He used his arms to make swimming motions with his arms! How very creative he was...so cute! Kyler had a great summer and what was even better was that his siblings were all home to play with him!! He will miss them now that they are in school when he is home 1/2 day.

What Cameron has been up to!

2011-08-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well Cameron has been swimming and swimming and swimming some more this summer! He has been doing awesome! He's advanced to the Juniors team and is becoming quite the little fish. This past week he started doing what they call "dry land" for Juniors. That is where he does strength training type things and works on developing muscle and then he swims for 1 1/2 hours after that. Let's just say he is burning a lot of calories going to team!

Cameron spent his summer months keeping us smiling and laughing. He sure is the family comedian and he is sure to make me smile even in the worst circumstances. I'm so grateful for the balance Cameron brings to our family!! Love him!

This made me cry..he is just such a sweet boy. He decorated my door the other day after I had had a few rough days on chemo. You can read the cute signs he made for me. What a thoughtful son I have! I am so blessed!

Don't come in unless you are willing to be nice to Mom!!=) Cameron has had a great summer.....now back to the routine of school, etc!

What Dallyn has been up to!

2011-08-29T08:53:00.000-07:00

Dallyn has been up to learning to play the piano! He is taking lessons from Mom (me!) and has had just a few lessons so far. He is super motivated to learn music and is excited about what he can already play! It's been fun to teach him.

He has such a passion for everything he does in his life and piano is no exception! =)

Let me just say that Scott's training lately has rubbed off on Dallyn. He's be doing 'triathlons' in our backyard lately. Now, we don't have a pool so he can't do the true thing, but he runs a few laps around the yard, then he bikes around the yard and then back and forth again. He wanted Scott to take him to the rec center so he could do his laps in the pool! It was so very cute!

The boys have spent lots of time this summer building with legos and their newest excitement is playing with their Ningago spinners on the new hardwood floors! Let me just say I am ALWAYS stepping on legos now!!

What Kaylie's Been Up To!

2011-08-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well I am so very behind on my blogging it is really crazy. I am going to attempt to get caught up on some of the happenings of our family this summer. Here is an update on Kaylie. She enjoyed taking sewing classes this summer and made this darling book bag for school She sewed it herself!! Just looking at the bag overwhelms me! I'm grateful for her fabulous teachers that encouraged her!!

The back view..some fun vintage bicycles!

For the inside they put two pockets as well as a foamboard bottom support to support the heavy books she has to bring home sometimes. The front of the bag has a waterbottle pocket.

She learned how to program the machine to do her name so she has that embroidered on the front too. So very impressive!! She has just loved this class! Assuming she can keep her grades up during the school year we are going to let her take it year round since she has begged to do that and have a really great sewing school here in Centerville!

I was so very proud of Kaylie this year. She went out of her comfort zone and took a volleyball camp the last week of summer. It was put on by her new Jr. High school and she learned a lot!

The team was for 7-9th graders and most of the kids trying out had some sort of experience with sports or volleyball before. Kaylie didn't make the team but she grew through this experience and has decided that she wants to work towards playing in 8th grade by getting more experience in the coming year. I was so proud of her for trying something different from theater and voice which are her fortes!

Long Silence

2011-08-18T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hi all
Well I haven't blogged for awhile. I can't believe how busy life has been with my kids all out of school the past few months! We have been going 100 mph and when we haven't been its because I have been feeling sick, like this past week.

So, next week my kids all go to school and we will start some semblance of a normal routine again, so when we do that I will start blogging more regularly again!

And I'll get caught up on some of what we've been doing!!

Heidi

People I am grateful for!!

2011-08-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Going to CA was so fun even though I was not feeling so great. Connecting with great friends from our time living there was priceless!! Here are some monsters we met while at Six Flags!!

Oh wait....that's just Kaylie Monster, Sarah Monster and Isabelle Monster! Kaylie and her two best friends from CA!! She sure misses you girls!!

Monday night we got together with our good ol' friends the Rockwoods. Man we really go WAY back! I can't believe how much everyone has grown..it was fun to get together and catch up!!

Being silly...we miss you guys!!

I gathered with some friends that could make it for a birthday breakfast too while I was in town. We sure enjoyed getting caught up! Love you gals!!

We also got to connect with Kaylie and Cameron's favorite school teachers of all time..the Saakes!! Adrienne was Kaylie's 1st grade and 4th grade teacher and she taught Cameron in 1st grade. Ronni was team teachers with Adrienne and so she got to teach Kaylie in 4th grade too. We sure love them and it was so fun to see little Parker and how much he has grown. Thanks for taking the time to visit with us!!

Six Flags Marine World

2011-08-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

So back in July we had the opportunity to go to Six Flags with some of our friends while we were visiting in CA. They have season passes and got us 1/2 off tickets so that was awesome! Scott was working in Utah so Angee and I took the 8 kids and made a day of it.

I was on chemo that week so I wasn't feeling 100% but I lasted pretty well until about mid-day, considering all we did! Here are some fun photos from our time there. The kids and I went on this water drop ride...they LOVED it! I wish I hadn't gotten so wet but it was fun. Oh to be young and carefree again!!

DJ and Julia loved the teacups!

There was a killer whale named "Shooka" and we got to see his show. Not as amazing as SeaWorld, but it was still fun for the kids to watch.

I was a brave mom and let Kaylie go off with some of her friends and go on rides with them, so she isn't in this photo, but she had a great time too....here we are at the end of our fun (and tiring) day at Six Flags!

Kiddie Rides

2011-08-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

Kaylie and Cam thought the sting rays were pretty cool!

We spent a good amount of time going on kiddie rides with the little boys while the older kids did their ride thing. Here are the two BYU boys waiting for the train ride!

Kyler going on a rollercoaster by himself...I went on several with him but by this time in the day I was feeling DONE so he was brave and went by himself!!

The boys playing together...

They even enjoyed the merry-go-round...how grateful I am that they are still young enough to think those are exciting!! It's sad to see them grow up too much!!

Kyler LOVED the teacups type ride...no thanks! Just watching it made me sick!!

August Project!

2011-08-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

I know I am still behind on blogging but I have to just update you on our exciting project for August. Thanks to a great discount coupon at Costco and a very talented husband that is super handy....we are going to get a new floor in our family room and hall! Here is the BEFORE photo...

Now with all the furniture moved out...Scott is getting ready to pull the baseboards off...

Oh no...where oh where is the carpet going?? Ever since we bought this house 2 years ago we have wanted to put wood floors in. Well, for some reason I keep having medical bills to boot...and we have gone on some pretty amazing vacations (can't complain there) and so Scott and came to a compromise!! We are getting laminate hardwood (fraction of the cost) and Scott is doing the labor himself (again, saves on the cost!) I am really excited to get floors that look much better than this old carpet!! Yeah!

Mom's Birthday

2011-08-04T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well I am one year older and so grateful for that gift!! I'm so very blessed to have lived to be 34 years old. I truly feel humbled by this blessing!

Scott was away on business on my birthday so the kids were in charge of making my day special! Here's the beautiful scrapbook page card Kaylie made me. I loved that and the cards my boys made me too.

Notice the healthy cereals that the kids put out for me...and no, I didn't eat any pop tarts, but since the boys had both had them for their birthday they sure thought I should have some!!

That night my friend Cherise--in cahoots with Kaylie--surprised me with a birthday cake..cheesecake, my favorite!!

Making a wish....here's to turning 35!!! I never would have thought I would look forward to growing old so much!! Thanks for all the birthday well wishes!!

The morning after my birthday my Kaylie girl left to go to girls camp for 4 days! Here she is all ready to go!! I sure missed having her here, but she had a great time and really enjoyed herself!!

Boys Summer Fun!

2011-08-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

This summer the little boys took a sports class and had a great time there. Kyler took Itty Bitty ball for 4/5 year olds and he did a bunch of different sports at each class. On the last day of class they had a Water Party to celebrate the end of the class and Kyler had a great time!

I obviously didn't realize how much of a water party this would be, so here is my soaked boy having the time of his life...I should have sent him with his swimsuit!!

Kyler's coach gave them a really cute 'celebration' where they each got a medal, a certificate and a treat. Here's Kyler with his coach.

Dallyn did a sports class through the city rec dept. too...his was basketball for 7 year olds. Here's Dallyn after his last game. He wore his Jr. Jazz Jersey from his basketball season last year. He LOVES basketball!

Here Dallyn is before his first basketball practice. He is all decked out with his new bball shorts from G and G Black, his hoops shirt and his new basketball "high tops" from Mom. Each class day he would pack a gatorade and a sports bag..he really took it all seriously!!

Here's my two sporty boys! Next month Dallyn will start soccer -he didn't play at all in 1st grade so hopefully he can jump in with the kids his age and not feel too far behind. Kyler is also going to be on a soccer team in the U6 division. He is so little, I can't believe its time to start sports already!! Kyler is excited to have Daddy as his soccer coach and Dallyn is excited to have Coach Kevin who coached his baseball last spring too! Sports practices and games... here we come!

Kyler turns 5!

2011-08-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

How is it that my baby boy is turning 5? I can hardly believe it! I remember when Cameron turned 5..it seems like not that long ago! The kids sure grow up fast!! Here is Kyler with his special birthday breakfast!!

He was pretty excited about opening presents and he was happy to be able to choose some fun sugar cereals..yummy!!

Kyler is such a sweet boy and I feel so lucky to be his mom. I am so grateful that he was the caboose in our family...he has truly been a wonderful blessing in our family!

Present Time

2011-08-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the kids giving their gifts to each other. The boys with their mighty beans!

Kaylie gave Kyler some more Cars2 Cars..he is a matchbox crazed boy!

Keeping with the Cars 2 theme, Mom gave Kyler Cars Duplos! The boys have had so much fun playing with them.

Kyler and Dallyn eager to play with more CARS!

Swimming!!

2011-07-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to be able to go swimming at the Wangsgard's home last week. The kids sure loved it and they could have swam all day every day!! They had so much fun!! Here's some photos of all the fun!

Friends Fun!

2011-07-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos of the kids having a great time together!! How blessed we are to have such great friends!

Donner Lake

2011-07-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Scott did a race across Donner Lake in CA. This past week we were visiting there and our family got in the water this time instead of Scott. Don't you love the sign on the beach?? Hmm....I don't know about you but I had NO desire to get in that freezing water!!

Kids will be kids though and they were willing to brave the cold temperatures and they did! We got a photo to prove how brave (or crazy) they all were!!

The two K's before they decided to brave the cold water! Then after getting their clothes mostly wet we decided to change them into suits!

Hat girls....come on, we were camping...what else can you expect??

Donner Lake is a beautiful place!! We were grateful to be able to visit even for a short while....it's just beautiful up by Lake Tahoe!

Donner Lake Part 2

2011-07-27T16:31:00.000-07:00

So we also visited the memorial at Donner Lake. Here's the family photo....

This memorial was astonishing how tall it was! I couldn't even fathom what it would be like to have snow piled up that high! Wow! The monument was built as tall as the snow was that the Donner Party were trapped in. Wow!

Just the kids...

The Two K's together....

Cameron at the museum by the Jedediah Smith display. He learned about Jedediah in his 4th grade class when he learned about Mountain Men.

Homemade Teeter Totter!

Relaxing!!

2011-07-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

Can you see these two boys being sleepyheads the other morning? Cam and Brad shared a tent and they thought that was pretty fun!

Who are these sleeping beauties....??

Dad and Dallyn playing Othello together enjoying our time in the mountains!!

Sitting around the campfire in our jammies...just enjoying the morning!!

Yep...continuing in the relaxing mode...here we are playing games together in our jammies!! Dallyn taught me to play othello and he totally beat me!

More game playing fun...Angee gave me Disney Apples to Apples and we had a great time playing that too! Apples to Apples is a family favorite so getting the Disney version was just awesome!!

The two 7 year old buddies....our first camping trip together was when Julia was 3 months old and I was pregnant with Dallyn!! Wow...look how much they have grown!! We are so blessed to have such great friends!

Cam trying out his archery skills!

Camping Memories

2011-07-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

We had a great time camping with our dear friends..we had a tradition of going camping together and we just had to keep it up even though we live in Utah now!! So here are some photos from our trip together...

The little boys...K and K...

Cam just chilling....

Angee and I were pretty proud of our great tin foil dinners!! They turned out great even though we really weren't sure what we were doing!!

Look at these twinner BFF's...such darling girls!! They have been friends since they were in Sunbeams!! Wow...how time flies! They will both be turning twelve in a few months!!

Scott takes over with the tin foil dinners when he and Brian got back from taking the kids on a hike.

All the kids eating dinnner together...

We sure love camping....and silly photos!

June 22, 2011

2011-07-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

My youngest brother Jason was married on June 22nd to Allison Read in the Draper, Utah temple. Here are some photos from their special day.

Allison greeting one of her two brothers with a hug...

Great-Grandpa Black went walking with little Tyler while we were waiting for the bride and groom to come out. It was so cute so I had to snap a few photos of their interactions together!!

He sure kept Great Grandpa on his toes!! =)

Wedding Day Family Photos

2011-07-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Jason and Allison's wedding day...we took some candids while they were doing their family photos. So here are the three sister-in-laws in our pink blouses! Allison had pink and grey on her wedding announcements so we knew those were two of her favorite colors so we tried to coordinate!

I love this photo...Mom and Dad with the four kids...somewhere along the way we all grew up! Even little Jason! =) (I can say that since he was 8 when I left for BYU and 10 when I got married!! =) That must mean I am getting old! =)

The four siblings! I am so grateful for my wonderful family and for the privilege I have to have such a fantastic sister and two awesome brothers!!

We had to get mom in on the "girls' photo....we wanted Allison in it too, but she had already left to change before we had a chance to finish the post wedding candids! We missed you Allison!!

I like to take photos of our children at all the temples we go to visit. This was our first visit to Draper so here we are! We had bad sun angles so we took it on the side of the temple..what a pretty day it was!! =)

Last wedding day photos..

2011-07-26T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here's my last post of wedding day photos from Jason's wedding. Here are my parents with Jason and Allison.

This is a group photo of everyone there from the Black family.

The Newlyweds in front of the temple they were married in....Draper, Utah.

A photo of Amy's family on the wedding day...yes it was impossible to get everyone smiling and looking at the camera at once! =)

A few of Ryan and Laura and Tyler. =)

Phillies Baseball

2011-07-25T11:06:00.000-07:00

This year Dallyn played machine pitch baseball. He did a great job, especially since he didn't play at all in Kindergarten so he had taken a year off. He was happy to be playing again!

Here are some in-action shots of Dallyn!

I LOVE this one...I took this one through the chain link fence and you can see his stance...so cute...he did this every time he was in outfield. He certainly takes his sports seriously!! =)

Talking to Dad after he helped coach one of Dallyn's games...it's always fun to have Dad involved! =)

Kyler's Early Birthday

2011-07-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Kyler's birthday early while with Grandma and Grandpa Black in CA. Here he is opening his gift....

He LOVES Cars and Cars 2...so this card was PERFECT for Kyler!! =)

Yeah! He is so excited to get Luigi's Tire Shop for his Duplos Collection!! =)

Here he is building his set with Grandma and Grandpa!

Tumor Update & Father's Day

2011-07-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have so much to blog but am too busy to...so here is a quick update...MY BRAIN SCAN LOOKS GREAT!! Yahoo! They think my recent headache rampage is due to radiation changes from the traditional 6 months after surgery effects. So that is great news!! Hooray!! So I just have to hang in there with the headaches but I'll take that ANY day over tumor growth!!

So, on to Father's Day...here are some cute cards and letters the boys did for Scott!

A lego creation Cam made for Scott...

Kaylie gave Scott some great cards, very creatively made!!

The gift that Scott received from all of us was a LEGOS book that is really neat!! If I do say so myself!! =) It's one of the neatest collections I have ever seen and the kids are enjoying it as well as Scott. Sometime I want to sit down and read it myself. I had to pry them away from that book...they were so excited. So that's the update for now... =)