Witch Festival

 The girls and I went to the Witch Festival at Gardner Village,

 We had a great time and Deah met her dream guy, well something like that.

It was a lot of fun, but there were a ton of people there!

They did some fun set ups with Witches, I loved Witchy Poo!

Cole's Baptism

 Cole was baptized on October 8th! I can't believe he is actually old enough to be baptized and I am so glad I could be there to celebrate this special day with him.

We had a luncheon afterwards. There was candy on each table. As you can see, Josh creatively placed all the candy on his table in his pocket. Very smart!

Fun pictures with Kaitlyn, Alaria, and Saige. What a fun day! Congrats Cole!

4.2 Points, a Rudy Moment

So I found out this week that I did not pass the Utah State Bar Exam. You have to score 270, I scored 265.8. That's right, I missed it by 4.2 points. 

There is something to be learned from this. I have a special talent for retakes

Driving Test Utah - 2

High School Pictures - 2

ACT - 2

Driving Test Washington - 2

LSAT - 3

Ethics Test - 3

Utah State Bar - 2 (I hope)

In the movie Rudy, he practices with the team for years and only gets one play in the final game of the last season he is eligible. He keeps going, sometimes you just need to prove to yourself that you can do it. This is what I intend to do. 

Hiking

 Sarah and I decided to reattempt a hike to Doughnut Falls Yesterday. We tried it in May but there was too much snow.

 We made it this time with a few detours on the way, but it was well worth it!

A Change Will Do You Good....

...I just did not know they all needed to happen at once!

New house

New job

New roommate

New dog

New office space

New ward

New season of Parenthood and Sister Wives (coming soon)

New football season

and renewed exercise plan!

Phew-

Handwritten Letters and Greeting Cards

Sadly, I think we have lost something in the age of technology. I am getting ready to move and as I was cleaning out some things I found a box of letters and greeting cards from throughout my life.

I went through the box and found letters from brothers and brother-in-laws while on missions, greeting cards from grandparents here and some that have past away, cards from grade school friends and letters from my mom that I now cherish more than ever.

This card was written and mailed to me by my nephew. It makes me laugh, you can see so much about his age, personality, and the fact that his mom made him write it in the card (I don't know that for sure).

There is something to be said for writing things by hand and for receiving letters and cards written by hand. I am thankful that I was reminded of this.

Lark Rise to Candleford

Summer television is so lacking that I often look for shows at, you guessed it, the library.

My roommate was watching Lark Rise to Candleford one night on PBS. I checked out the first season and found the first episode a little slow. But the more I have watched the more I have enjoyed it.

It is nice to know there are still programs on television that are clean and fun to watch. This is definitely one of them.

Climb Every Mountain

We went on a hike to the first set of waterfalls on the way up Timp. It was hot but the kids were troopers!

Deah, Steph, and I went up with the kids and had a great time!

When we hit the waterfall there was still snow. Alysa decided to make a slide of it and we joined in.

Even I went down!

Of course coming down was a lot easier than going up and it was all worth it!

We got back to Aspen Grove and the rest of the family met us for an awesome dutch oven dinner by the Larsens and lots of fun!

Alaria took some great pictures of her dad.

We had so many friends, we ended up using all the tables and the benches as tables.

Claire stayed warm in a cute little sweater and Caleb got a wig stuck on his head, is that fun or what!

Fleas on Fred to Bugs in the Bed

I use to play Fleas on Fred with the Anderson kids all the time. Little did I know, this game was just a preview to a future event in my life. I think Salt Lake City is trying to give me a hint. First we have the fire in December 2008, and believe it or not, we just found out we have bed bugs. My roommate kindly kept this from me until the Bar Exam was over and I am so glad. I know there is a Bed Bugs game but I don't want to play it so we have decided to get our apartment treated and then move out. More news is coming soon....

Something I Have to Watch...

...as I continually bomb bar exam practice tests!

A

Great Summer Breaks

My life has been consumed by bar exam study, but I was not about to miss 4th of July fun with family that started with a backyard sleepover July 1st. Mom really liked the tent!

This is the first time in four years that the Lecheminants were able to join us. Avrey looked so cute in her P.J.s but she was sleeping inside.

Grandpa made snow cones for all the kids, which they loved!

Andy kindly took kids on motorcycle rides which Kaden loved!

We enjoyed Smores and family time in the backyard.

I woke everyone up at 6:00am the next morning to go to the balloon launch. They, as always did not like me waking them up but we loved the balloons this year!

The Darth Vader balloon was very cool. The kids liked having their picture with Darth but I think Kris enjoyed it the most.

Kris took a really "attractive" picture of me at 6:30am. But I thought it was really funny.

During the day, on July 2nd, it got really hot so the Hortons set up a huge slip and slide and the kids, including Kris, had a blast!

In the evening we had a BBQ before the Stadium of Fire fireworks. Kerri got a mix to make homemade Cream Soda which I put together with help from Avrey, who was fascinated with the dry ice.

We ate popcicles and waited for the fireworks.

On July 3rd we took family pictures because everyone was here. This is just Grandpa, Grandma and the 23 grand kids. Below are the parents getting them to smile. Too funny!

I took some pictures of my own, of the five oldest grand-daughters who are growing up way too fast!

Quincey and Kylie

Cory, Grandma, and Caleb

Dads and Daughters; Jeff and Avrey, Spencer and Afton.

The following weekend Andersons were in town so I headed back to Hortons for a sleepover where Quincey and Ali painted my nails.

Cory was talking lots a smack to me the whole time he was here and finally I let him have it. Needless to say the battle continued all weekend!

The kids enjoyed popcicles, then we headed to Spanish Fork to go see the remodel Larsens have been working on in their house. Ali found a nice wig at the Larsen house.

They have done so much work on their house and it looks great. Painting, flooring, and remodeling cabinets. So much work and all done by the Larsens.

Larsens took us to a shave ice place in Spanish Fork which was so good on a hot summer day! If I have not said it before, I have a great family!