Birthday Reunions etc.....

We had a very busy weekend. Clayton turned 23 years old on Friday. We went to dinner at the Olive Garden and then went Turtle shopping. Clayton bought himself a turtle and her name is Rosemary. She is really cool. Makayla and I went to Utah to the Richardson reunion early Saturday morning and had a great time visiting with all of the aunts uncles cousins and even my own family. They had great games and great food. My mom and dad had the most great grand kids totalling 26 with one on the way and Kabrie was the oldest of that number at the reunion. By the way she cut all of her hair off and it is so cute. I love going to reunions and touching base with family that you only get to see every two years. Especially all of the new babies. I tried to take a turn holding each of them. It was very sad when they started talking about those that had passed away since last time which included David and Alan. It makes you appreciate your family even more. I brought Max and Carter home with me for the week. It should be lots of fun and exhausting since they are always so busy.
Today was my last Sunday to substitute teach the 14-17 year old Sunday school class(3 weeks). I really enjoyed interacting with all of the kids that hang out with Makayla and find out what strong testimonies that they really do have. The subject was a little awkward (sexual purity). I only hope that I was able to make them think things through.
School starts next Monday for Makayla and she is pretty excited to be back with her friends on a daily basis. Hopefully she will be as excited about school.
Well I need to be going now. bye now.

Latest News.

I finished Breaking Dawn over the weekend even with Susan Paige and Gabby visiting us. The book was great. I will not say more in case all of you have not finished it yet. I ended up at Walmart Friday night and it took me about 10 minutes to pick up the book and get home to start the read.
We are still waiting for our kitchen to be completed. The new guy who bought the business that is doing our kitchen is extremely slow and frustrating to work with. We called the rug guy and he is still out of town more frustration..... But I am able to use it and love everything that we did in the set up. It is so bright and new.
We are really enjoying our new dog. He is very well behaved and calm thank goodness since he is so big. Paul has taught him to go out and get his paper in the morning and deliver it to the place where Paul sits and reads it every morning. We found out this weekend that he is very tolerant of children since Paige would not leave him alone and she kept sitting on him and yelling at the dog. It was rather funny since she is such a little punker. McKinley keeps him running around the house because she wants Stetson to chase her and she giggles nonstop.
I finally got into my office to get it organized yesterday. It looked like a bomb had gone off in it. I got everything organized and put away. I also got rid of alot of stuff that I will be delivering to the DI.
Well I had better get to work. bye now.

Pictures of the Kitchen

These are not very good because my other camera is broken. But it gives you and idea.
The island is great for sitting at and working on the laptop we have. We also like to sit there for breakfast. It might have something to do with the fact that the dining room is still not finished. I love the little bench seat in the corner of the kitchen. there are cupboards underneath that I have decided to store pans in. But it is a real nice place to sit and visit with others who are in the kitchen. I am very excited to finish with getting all of the kitchen set up this weekend. It will be nice to have everything back upstairs.
Denise Jerry Paul and I are going to a Three Dog Night concert tomorrow. It should be lots of fun.
The following are pictures of the new addition to our family.
Stetson
12 months old
95 pounds

Isn't he cute. We love him already. Well I have to go and get some more grocery shopping done. bye now.
Clayton and Danielle----I hope you are having a great time.
love you all----bye now.

p.s. Vacation

We had a great vacation. We went camping up by Quake Lake in Montana for 10 days and stayed at Beaver Creek Campground. We went into West Yellowstone and saw "Hello Dolly" at the Playmill. Susan's kids came and stayed with us the last 4 days of vacation and it was wild. The mosquitos were really bad and it rained on us a few times and the kids were crazy as usual. Paige fell out of the camper and got a bonk on her forehead. It scared me half to death. But she loved camping and being outdoors. Gabby and Kabrie played and fought and Max and Carter kept Paul very busy between walks and scooter rides. Makayla just kept saying that she wanted to go home that she had enough of the camping thing. ( we did not have phone service at the campground) Overall it was fun. bye now.

News Update!

Clayton and Danielle are off to Oregon to a family reunion and they took our car. We will miss them but I hope that they have a great time. Danielle was so excited to see her family. I have been driving my scooter since Clayton took my car but I had to break down today and drive his car because it is so overcast and I did not want to get rained on. I love to ride my scooter around town.
Well they came and put in the rest of the countertops in the kitchen. I am still missing the doors for the island cabinets and the drawers. They told me one more week and then the guy who was going to cut my new rug for the dining room went on vacation so that will not be done for another week or so. I swear sometimes that I am jinxed. I have not even set up the kitchen yet. I started to bring up some of the food and the dishes. It is so wonderful to have a kitchen back in use. We went grocery shopping yesterday which I have not done for about two months. We had a huge load of groceries
We went to the 24th Celebration at our Stake. The food was really good and we had a great time visiting with everyone. All of the little kids were dressed up like pioneers and looked so cute.
We have added a new member to our family as of the 24th. We acquired a new dog. He is a labrador/golden retreiver mix. He is one year old and huge (95 lbs). We love him already. He is so loving and follows me everywhere. He was sad when I left for work this morning. I am so glad to have a dog back in our house. His name is Stetson. He already had the name and we kind of like it so it will stay. I will put pictures on later because my camera is not working.
bye now.

Vacation!!

Well so sorry that there are not photos of the new kitchen yet. They came and installed the countertops and the island countertop was not made right so they came and took it back out and are going to correct the problem. Paul finished connecting the water and I can now use my kitchen. We are working on getting the trim in the dining room and then it is all complete. I am supposed to be leaving town tomorrow to go camping and I am not even one bit ready. This kitchen project has really taken over our lives. We are trying to leave in the morning. I hope that we can get all of the packing and shopping done in order to get out of town. We really need the break. Well enough whining for now. Everyone have a great weekend. bye now.

Update!!!

Well what a crazy weekend. Amanda and kids came on Friday and visited. Sophie is so cute and cuddly and McKinley is so funny. Clayton and Danielle came later in the afternoon and we visited and watched the movie "The Bucket List". Excellent movie. It makes you want to cry one moment and the next be laughing. We played Wii and had a some really yummy burgers. We also invited Mrs Mickelsen over for a meal with us. She is such a nice women. We sat on the roof and watched the fireworks. Makayla went with the Fuhrimans and Clayton and Danielle went with some of their friends.
We started the sanding on the floor in the dining room and finished sanding Saturday morning. Susan and family came on Saturday. Carter cracked us up because he was chasing his shadow and trying to get rid of it all day. He kept looking over his shoulder to see if it was still there. I guess you had to be there to understand how funny he was. We had a great visit with all of the kids and it was crazy as usual trying to keep everyone out of the kitchen and off of the floor in the dining room. It was kind of hard to keep everyone fed withouth a kitchen, but we accomplished it. We put three coats of finish on the floor on Sunday and then our house smelled so strong of the finish that we ended up staying outside all day. But the floor is now finished and we only have to put on the trim in the dining room and the countertops will be installed this Tuesday. It will be so wonderful to have the kitchen back and to be able to cook meals.
Well I hope everyone had a great 4th. I will posting pictures of the finished kitchen this week. Have a great week. bye now.