Amy Went to Senior Ball

Amy Got Asked to Senior Ball with her good friend Scott.  They were so cute.  They made silly masks.   And Robert taught them both how to pin on a boutonniere.

Grateful for November 1

Brenda Came to visit with Rainey B.  We had a fun time.

Ben in Snow Canyon

Ben and RB in Snow Canyon

Cute@!

Maggie in the Pit Orchestra of Beauty and the Beast.  She plays oboe and English horn and it was dress up night

Halloween

We had an awesome Halloween.  Costumes started off with very little adjustments needed.  Amy is not pictured, but she was Annabeth from Percy Jackson Her costume was the most work what with satisfying the imagination of a Die Hard Fan.  Brenda brought Rainey B to go trick or treating with us.  That was great fun. Then yesterday we went out to lunch and to Snow Canyon.

Maggie Was Where's Wenda

Thor

Rapunzel

Scooby and Rapunzel take a turn around the school

Spring/ ASPEN GROVE

Since I haven't blogged forever, it may take some time to get back up to speed.
1.  In April I agreed to Be the President of our School's PTA.  I'm not sure what got into me, except that I wanted to be involved and they were desperate.  So I agreed to be the president.  And that Morning the School District announced that they would be switching principals around the district.  I didn't know what to expect from the new principal, but I like her very much and she is doing great things for our school

2.  In June we went to a fabulous family summer camp run by BYU called Aspen Grove and had a blast.  Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

Aspen Follies-- Fun family Games

 Maggie at the SLip and Slide.  Each day each kid would join their group and they would do Many, many age appropriate activities while Mom and Dad could do whatever they wanted-- attend lectures, go swimming, hiking, archery, shooting, and all kinds of super cool activities.

 Family Pictures on Sunday.  We had church there outside.  It was so Beautiful.

 Nate was so tired.  They kept the kids running from sun up to sun down.  This was on the edge of a gorgeous waterfall and creek.  Perfect for a nap.

 Hamming it up at the Old West Playground

 Right Before the Ropes Course which was the scariest ropes course I have Ever Done.

 Rob on the Ropes

Hiking to Stewart Falls

Other Stuff We did at Aspen Grove:  Pottery, Archery, Tennis Tournaments, Basketball Tournaments, and so many games, family cousin time.  It was incredibly fun.

On Facebook Fasts

As anyone who is inclined to read this knows by now, I've gone on a Facebook fast.  I was getting tired of telling my kids I didn't have time to play with them.  So I decided to get off of facebook. I'd rather chronicle my life on this blog and then publish it and have a record for my family.  I will still post photos for family members who prefer Facebook and I can do it directly from my computer.  But I won't be reading any posts.  If you need to reach me, please feel free to contact via this blog or my Email.

Bye! Bye! Baby!

This little dude turned 3 yesterday.

      

We are truly grateful for our little caboose.  He is Amaaaazing.  He is so much fun to have around.  He's more than a little bit adored.  We can't wait til his words begin to match his understanding.

Here's a small sampling of Ben-isms:

Hi:  A sister (presumably from having Katie wake him each morning with a sunshiny "HI"

Big Hi:  Amy, a.k.a.  Second mommy

Bee-yah:  A brother.  No idea of the origins, but we like to assume it is a derivative of BooYah, which is representative of the emotion his brothers engender in him every moment.

Big Daddy Roar:  Any animal or dinosaur capable of doing damage or harm to a person.  May refer to a lion, dinosaur, etc.

HooHoo:  dog.   Obvious origins— our favorite quote being, whenever he sees a yellow lab:  "Me Hoo Hoo Die"— Story will be given later when the pain of it all is less intense.

We look forward to three.  This year marks so many things:

No more baby

Potty Training

Preschool

Talking

We can't believe how fast it went.

Quakies

Aren't These Quaking Aspen so beautiful?  While living in the desert has its advantages, I am definitely a woods girl at heart.

Walking on Sunshine

We participated in an Eclipse Party to view the solar eclipse.  We had fancy glasses and it's a good thing or we wouldn't have even known it was happening.

Gratitude List— q1 and q2 2012

1.  Rob, after 6 years of being practically, if not legally, blind had cataract surgery (at a specialist in SLC because of all his issues) and now has 20/25 Vision in one eye. And the doctor thinks he will qualify for surgery in the other eye because of the discrepancy in prescriptions.  It is truly a miracle and we know we are blessed.

2.  Ben, because of his speech delays, has qualified for intense (4days a week) speech therapy/preschool.  Finally, he'll be getting the help he needs.

3.  We've had so many opportunities to be with family this summer.  We went to Aspen Grove (BYU Alumni Camp) for a week.  It was a pretty amazing setting and incredible fun.  Then Rob had Surgery, Then we went camping and had an awesome time.  Finally, the boys are at scout camp and we girls are drawing, painting, sewing, watching silly mormon movies and having a great girls week.

Aspen Grove — TONS Of FUN

Canoing on Barker Reservoir

Fish, fish, fish

I want to steer.  I have a license you know.

Swimming at Calf Creek Falls.  Very refreshing after a 3 mile hike in the 100+ weather

Which reminds me:

4.  Even though it is 100+ and has been for the past few weeks, Today and yesterday we were blessed with evening thunderstorms.  If you live here you know, you go outside and play in the rain because it's so rare.  It reminds me of the Ray Bradbury Story:  "All Summer In A Day"   If you google it, there's a free copy of it in doc form.  Read it and you'll see what I mean.

O, Remember, Remember

I'm old.  Not super old, mind you.  But old-er than most bloggers I see out there.  I keep looking for the blogs of women with children my age and you know what— they don't exist.   And I know why.  If they're anything like me they're split a hundred ways to Sunday going to drop off, pick up, drop off, do a load of laundry, spend hours shopping for Scout camp, getting sewer permits, poolhouse engineering, leaving on vacation 3 weeks in a row and Stuff like that.  There are no bloggers like me cause they haven't got the time.  And at the end of the day, they don't know what to say because, like me, they haven't taken the time to count the many ways that Heavenly Father has been manifest in their life.


The other Day I stumbled across this book:

 

It is written by a woman who truly desires to be grateful in her life and it reminds me how incredibly beautiful I've got it.  So whether anyone reads it or not.  Or cares. Or Not.  I will use this blog to thank Him. Each and Every Day.  Or maybe once a week.  :)

Happy Birthday to Me

Guess what I got for my birthday:  After 17 (almost 18) years of marriage, I have learned that leaving little things like what I want for my birthday up to chance is not the Best thing for any of us.  SO:  I dropped many a "Hint"— If you can call writing down all the specs a hint— and got this for my birthday.  Been waiting for this for many a year and was so glad when my wireless carrier decided to sell them. '

HAIL THE MIGHTY IPHONE!!!!!!

FEBRUARY: Gone too quickly

WHAT WE DID IN FEBRUARY!!!

Saw Some Beautiful Sunsets— This pic was taken while driving.  Thanks.  I like it too.

Watched Matt play a little Basketball.

Rode our ponies in our backwards fireman's hat.

Went to the spinny park

Did a little swingin'

Cute!

Dreamed about pools

Relived our childhoods

Tried to Relax a little.

My brother in law built a home in the Parade of Homes we loved it.

• Met with pool contractor
• Put off pool contractor way too many times because the bid was more than we wanted to spend, but have since been getting used to that number and want to get started before the summer's over :)
• Ben graduated from speech because he's too young to work on the stuff he needs help with and has technically met his goals with IHC speech— using 50 words or signs, and putting 3 or 4 words together.
• Celebrated Rob's 44th Birthday.— Which he spent ENTRENCHED in a case he's been working on for 6 years.  Basically, the first half of February consisted of Rob burning the midnight oil and Gail Single mommy-ing it for 3 full weeks.  Needless to say, we are glad to be done with that.  Due to a need to hook up to the court media system Robert had to upgrade to the iPad 2 and our iPad became mine alone.  and the kids.  etc.  Rob, however is over the moon and has spent the rest of the month learning his new "Tool" and maximizing his utilization of it.  
• 
  

Retro December Update

Because no one really reads this except me and it's more like a journal, I feel the need to update you with some minutiae anticipating the publishing I will inevitably do.

Playin' around with daddy's goggles

Hangin' out on temple square for the Sperry Weddings

Ben and Dad at the Reception

Grandma and MJ (Matthew Jr) Sperry

Taking Liberties.  I can assure you smacks were traded

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting, for mom and dad to be ready for presents

Impromptu mirror portrait

Ben is not super good with the Christmas line sign thing.

In the hats and scarves Virginia made us

Maggie takes over the Christmas sign responsibilities.

CHRISTMAS 2011: We drove to Salt Lake twice during Christmas vacation for our niece's weddings.  One before Christmas, one after.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with our cousins and exploring Historic Temple Square.