Live, Laugh, Love with the Cartwrights

First Day of School 2009-2010

2009-10-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

A HAPPY DAY FOR ALL...EVEN MOM!

Actually, I'm always sad when it is time for the girls to go back to school. I miss our relaxed summer schedule, all of our time together, all the fun, and all of the things that we didn't quite get to. This year was a different first day--the elementary school that Lainey and Halle attend caught on fire a month before school started so Halle's classroom is now at a different elementary school and Lainey is at the Junior High. They adapted well and there was so much community support to get things going again.

Riley started her sophomore year and her first year of cheerleading. She is taking her first college-level class and still participating in FFA. I finally let her give up piano lessons and she hasn't touched it for the last few months.

The biggest difference this year was Courtnee wasn't part of the first day festivities--she slept in, but spent the next few days getting ready for her move to BYU. I cried all the way to Provo on the day we moved her down, but I was so happy and excited for her. It was the first time I wasn't with her on the first day of school, but cell phones and the internet definitely help!

Courtnee with roomate--Sara.

Summer 2009--"Summer of Virtue"

2009-10-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

YOUNG WOMEN: "SUMMER OF VIRTUE"

What a great summer with the Young Women. We decided to focus on the new YW value, "Virtue," and things seemed to just fall into place all summer long. Our theme for camp was "Virtue Island" and we planned a tropical theme complete with a luau, a hula lesson, a Gilligan's Island skit, and lots of Hawaiian food--haystacks, coconut syrup, fresh pineapple, shish kabobs, coconut marshmallows and lots of other yummy stuff. We wore leis, took canoes to the lake, and the leaders shared their "virtuous" courtship stories. Some of the highlights were the Bishopric's Hakka, virtue flags, and a great testimony meeting.

"Virtue Island" Spa

After camp we attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house and had dinner at Rumbi's Island Grill. So good, so fun, so spiritual, and such a great reminder of the blessings of living a virtuous life.

Our Youth Conference theme was "Zion's Camp" and we planned our activities around training the future leaders of the church--an important part of which is living a virtuous life. We spent more time at the temple, doing service at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, and had a fun 3 days at Camp Williams.

The "Summer of Virtue" could not have ended any better if we had planned it...but we didn't! The youth went to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms for the dead, and when we came out of the temple, Elaine Dalton, the General YW President was right there. She originated the idea of the "virtue" value with a General Conference talk entitled, "A Return to Virtue." Sis. Dalton was wearing her gold "virtue" jacket and was very gracious, talking with the youth about the importance of virtue and sharing her love with us. What a great ending to our "Summer of Virtue."

Summer 2009--The Narrows

2009-10-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

CARTWRIGHT FAMILY SUMMER VACATION #2--ST. GEORGE AND THE NARROWS

Joe has wanted to hike The Narrows for the last few years and we took advantage of an unplanned weekend at the end of July--our only one for the summer--and went. We wanted to do it with Courtnee before she headed to college and Halle and Lainey are now old enough and big enough that we could all go. It happened to be the 100th Anniversary of Zion's National Park so as a bonus we got in for free! The Narrows is a hike through a canyon that the Virgin River runs through. Most of it is in the water, with some shore along the way. It is so incredibly beautiful that it is well worth braving the river.

We went early in the morning to avoid the crowds, but it was so COLD! Lainey and Halle were shaking so hard that I was worried that they were getting hypothermic. In some places, the water was almost to their chins. At one point, I slipped on a rock and started going with the current. The water was so cold that I forgot I was holding Halle's hand and I dragged her under with me and then I was afraid to let go of her and held on a bit too tight. When I finally got my footing, she was crying because her hand hurt and I was crying because I smacked my shin so hard and it was very swollen and sore--the orthopedist thinks I cracked it--and it was almost the same spot as my stress fracture. Anyway, at some point we all went in, but by the time we turned around and headed back, it had warmed up and we were really enjoying the cool water.

Despite everything, it was amazing and we were all glad we went--except Halle who says she is never going again!

Summer 2009--THE BOOT!

2009-10-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

TOO MUCH RUNNING=STRESS FRACTURE=TORTURE DEVICE!

After running an April marathon, I jumped back into running too hard and too soon and ended up with a stress fracture. It was painful, but after two trips to the PT he thought it was just a severe tendinitis so I trained for and ran the Wasatch Back, hiked to Timpanogos Cave and back, and ran a 5k on the 4th of July. By then, I knew something was REALLY wrong so I went to an orthopedist who x-rayed and diagnosed the fracture. The treatment was to wear a stabilizing boot and no running for at least 6 weeks. That meant 6 weeks of wearing a boot during the heat of the summer. It also meant a week at Girl's Camp, three days at Youth Conference, several days in St. George and hiking The Narrows at Zion's National Park. Add on back-to-school shopping and all of the usual stuff and it was a miracle that it healed, but it DID! The boot was hot, uncomfortable, heavy, and I am so glad I'm not wearing it anymore.

Summer 2009--Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-10-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

TEMPLES AND TURNERS

What an amazing blessing--another temple in the Salt Lake Valley! This temple was especially significant in our lives. My parents were asked to help coordinate the volunteer effort at the Temple Open House and spent many, many hours coordinating and training and volunteering at the temple. Courtnee and I spent an afternoon helping them--I helped guide visitors through the sealing rooms and Courtnee welcomed visitors at the entrance to the temple. A few weeks later the Turner family went to the Open House together and then to lunch at Chuck-a-Rama. It was a fun, spiritual, amazing thing to experience together. The icing on the cake--mom and dad were called to be ordinance workers at the temple and spend every week serving there.

Summer 2009--24th of July

2009-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

PIONEERS AND PAGEANTS

Our community hosted a huge 24th of July Celebration--dinner, kid's handcart trek, a carnival and two nights of a pageant celebrating the Utah pioneers and early LDS Church History. Our entire family signed on to participate in the pageant, but only Lainey, Halle, and Courtnee stuck it out. It was wonderful and Lainey immediately started talking about participating next year. By the last night, Lainey had put herself in several scenes that she wasn't originally a part of and she probably would have taken over the starring role if it hadn't been written for a 19 year-old boy. Courtnee was a seagull, but wasn't feeling great and so we didn't get pictures of her, but she really enjoyed getting back into a bit of dancing.

The Turner family came for dinner and to see the pageant and we had a fun time celebrating our pioneer heritage. For the first time in the last few years I did not make my family sit through the annual reading of John Thomas Lazenby's personal history, but I read it to myself and am still fascinated by him, his sense of humor, and his life experiences!

Summer 2009--Halle's Birthday

2009-10-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

HALLE IS 9!

Halle Jo turned 9 in July and had a fun friend party--they played in the water, ate, opened gifts, had FUN! As a typical last child, we forgot to take pictures, but the party was FABULOUS! Halle is just easy, happy, and full of funky fun. She LOVES to have her picture taken as much as Lainey!

Summer 2009--Lainey's Birthday

2009-10-07T13:31:00.000-07:00

LAINEY IS 11

Lainey turned 11 in July and has become a budding novelist. She LOVES to write fantasy stories and when she isn't writing she is thinking of new stories to write. She spent several months obsessively bouncing balls while thinking up new stories and she can't sleep at night because she is too busy creating new stories. She spends as much time as we will let her on the Farworld website, chatting with J. Scott Savage, one of her favorite authors. She is also quite passionate about Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven, and was thrilled when he came to her school and autographed her book. She also loves to take pictures (thank goodness for digital cameras), mostly of herself. My most recent "Laineyism" was: "When they create a memorial to me for my amazingness, I don't want it to be too big and I want it to be in a fountain." If only we all had her confidence!

Lainey with Brandon Mull and Jorjee

Summer 2009--4th of July

2009-10-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

FROGS, 5K, PARADE, AND KITTEN

Riley spent a few late nights before the 4th of July collecting frogs with the cheerleaders for their carnival fund raiser. I love the idea it is so "un-cheerleader-like!" She also spent time with her new kitten, Bubba, that Joe approved of during a weak moment while I was at Ragnar.

"Frog-huntin' Uniform"

Some of the frogs...and slimey things!

The morning of the 4th of July was the Ray Barrus 5k--Courtnee and I ran with my nephew Taylor and Riley performed with the cheerleaders at the flag ceremony. Next was the parade--Riley with the cheerleaders and Lainey and Halle with Grantsville Dance. After a quiet afternoon in air conditioning, we spent the afternoon and evening with the Turner family eating, talking, playing games, and enjoying fireworks. It was a great day!

Summer 2009--Lesley's Baby Shower

2009-10-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

Fun Family Baby Shower for Lesley:

THE FUTURE MOM

Her gifts (and Aunt June).

THE FOOD

Chicken salad taco bites, egg salad sandwiches, turkey and ham tortilla wraps--they look too good to eat, but we ate them anyway!

THE GUESTS
Jayci Jo

Halle Jo

Riley & Jayci

Summer 2009--Midway

2009-10-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

CARTWRIGHT FAMILY SUMMER VACATION #1--MIDWAY
Had some fun days in Midway at the end of June. We went on long walks, fished and ran at Wasatch State Park, water time at the pool and hot tub, ate yummy shakes at Dairy Keen, and hiked to Cascade Springs and Timpanogos Cave--FUN! FUN! FUN!

View from our deck.

Halle...being Halle!

Visiting the Homestead and the cottage where we honeymooned!

Kissing a frog...already found the prince!

Fishing...

...more fishing!

Lainey & Halle at the pool and hot tub.

Courtnee was there...we promise!

We LOVE Dairy Keen shakes in Heber City!

Lainey brought these books to read--in 3 days!

Getting ready to hike to the cave.

Taking a break!

Another break!

What a view--from the path to the cave.

Lainey

Riley in the cave!

It was an amazing hike! Courtnee and I were the only ones that had been there before and for me it had been about 35 years--I didn't remember anything except the cliffs along the path. There were a few places where I had to stare at the cliff and walk sideways--the heights are crazy scarey!

Summer 2009--Ragnar

2009-10-07T11:20:00.000-07:00

RAGNAR RELAY: WASATCH BACK 2009

This was a fun (but painful) adventure. I was on a team with 11 other people and we spent two days running through the mountains of Utah--190 miles. We each ran three legs of the relay--I was runner #3. I experienced a lot of new things: couldn't breathe because of allergies so had to use an inhaler, slept on a church parking lot (and actually slept), ran 18.5 miles on an undiagnosed stress fracture, ran with a headlamp and reflective vest, ran up and up and up, and after total discouragement from running slow (the sore leg) still found joy in running uphill through the rain! What a GREAT time! Seriously, I'm doing it again in November in Florida and again next June!

Pre-race with the official "Ragnar Van"

Me and my vanmates: Todd Castagno, Rosemary Micelli, Julie & Joe Tripp, Tracy Collings.

Finishing my first leg--can't breathe!

Courtnee also ran with a different team--her friends and coaches from Cross Country. Our teams started at the same time, but their younger legs finished faster. She decided to start the race with a climb on a new kind of treadmill. She stayed on forever, wore herself out, and almost won the treadmill, but had to settle for a shirt. She loved it, too, and can't wait for her next chance to run one.

At the start line--happy, rested, excited!

Sharing the "sweaty" love with Mom.

Courtnee's race before the race!

GREAT BOOK!

2009-08-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading Christopher Mcdougall's Born to Run and loved it! In fact, I couldn't put it down and as a result my house is a mess, I'm still in PJs and desperately need a shower, I'm not really sure what my daughters are doing, and it is 1:00 p.m. It was the best book on running I have ever read, but it was so much more than that. There was a real spiritual feel (in the mystic, evolutionary, natural sense) about it and I now understand better why I like to run and why I have to run.

That being said, I haven't ran one step for over six weeks due to a stress fracture and I can't wait to get started. Although after finishing this book, I'm tempted to run bare foot, eat nothing but beans and corn tortillas with salad for breakfast, and run an ultramarathon. It is definitely not the distance of the ultra that appeals to me, but the scenery! I already know I prefer trail runs and running outside of the crowd seems wonderful. I got a small taste of it at Ragnar, but would love a marathon on trails.

*Picture of Christopher Mcdougall running barefoot.

No Time to Catch Up!

2009-07-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Too much going on to get caught up--Wasatch Back and Midway Trip in June; birthdays for Lainey and Halle in July; a week at Girl's Camp with 36 teenage girls; the 24th of July Pageant; an upcoming trip to Zion's to hike the Narrows; next week swimming lessons and Youth Conference; next week anniversary trip; next week school starts and take Courtnee to BYU. Throw in some gardening and yard work, cleaning out the garage, the elementary school burning and Lainey and Halle at different schools for next year, and dealing with a crazy kitten. And don't forget--doing all of this with a stress fracture in my tibia and having to wear an insufferably uncomfortable and very hot "boot!" Especially don't forget--we just bought a new car: a Mini Cooper S!

Courtnee's Senior Pictures

2009-06-06T13:59:00.001-07:00

Courtnee spent a fun day modeling for Joe for her senior pictures. He took about 250 pictures and we whittled it down to our favorites. Joe did a great job and Courtnee had a lot of fun.

She is so BEAUTIFUL--inside and out!

The Many Faces of Riley

2009-06-06T12:53:00.001-07:00

While the rest of us were working on Courtnee's senior pictures, Riley waited in the car and had a photo session of her own.

Dancing at the Gateway

2009-06-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Riley, Lainey, and Halle had their final dance performance at the Gateway in SLC. It was a fun day with the performance, lunch at Rumbi's and an all-day photo session for Courtnee's senior pictures.

Springtime: Cotton balls and Cherry Blossoms

2009-06-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

We always know it is springtime at our house when the cottonwood trees shed and the ground turns pink from the cherry blossoms. The cotton blows into our courtyard which creates a nice little circular wind pattern and rolls the cotton into cute little balls.

Catching Up Soon!

2009-06-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to blog, but our laptop has been down for the last few weeks and I don't know how to put pictures on the desktop and Joe is always working on it or the kids are always doing homework on it and our other desktop is too slow! Technology drives me crazy!

An 8 year-olds Perspective on Life

2009-05-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

I found some pictures on my camera that I suspect Halle took. It's fun to see a piece of the world through her eyes.

Overcoming Life's Hurdles

2009-05-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

Courtnee has had a lot of experience lately in overcoming hurdles, or not overcoming them--literally. She decided it would be fun to jump a hurdle at track practice--she is NOT a hurdler. She didn't realize the hurdle was backwards so when her back foot hit the hurdle, it didn't bend. She straddled the hurdle, fell forward and caught herself with her right arm which BROKE. She broke the radial head on her elbow and did some damage to her wrist just in time to take her AP tests. I got to do her hair for the first time in years and Riley has been helping her a lot, too. The good part is no cast, but the hard part is remembering that it is broken and has to be treated like a broken bone. Her biggest concerns have been running Ragnar and doing her makeup and hair, but she has been working hard to overcome this hurdle.

BYU Women's Conference-2009

2009-05-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

My 14th consecutive year at Women's Conference and it was one of my favorite! We were all together this year--me, my mom, and all of my sisters and my pseudo-sister Cyleste and her mom. We even spent some time with my dad, Greg, and Brian who crashed a few of our dining moments. We stayed in Heritage Halls again, this time it was Harris Hall where Lynnette lived her first semester at BYU. Some of the highlights were: being back on BYU's campus, great classes, Sharing Station ideas, visiting Courtnee's future apartment, attending the temple together, a 5-mile run with Lynnette, great weather, lots of good food, a trip to Ikea, time on the computer in Lesley's office, and lots of time to talk (although it is never enough)! We ate at our usual places: Wednesday night at Los Hermanos, Friday night at the Brick Oven and we added a few places with the guys: lunch at Costa Vida and breakfast at Jim's. The Purdie girls, Aunt June and Amy, joined us for dinner at Los Hermanos and we missed Aunt Sharon who is on a mission and Cathy who was at the hospital with her sick daughter (who is doing much better now). I came home exhausted, as usual, but uplifted, motivated, full of new ideas, and soooo HAPPY! Thanks Mom and Dad for making this such an important priority in our lives--it has been one of my greatest blessings and makes for some of my best memories.

"Plant a Tree for Tomorrow..."

2009-04-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Lainey with her fellow winners, Mayor Byron Anderson,

Tree Specialist Gary Fawson, and Principal Jeff Wyatt

The 5th graders at Lainey's school competed in an essay contest for Arbor Day and Lainey was chosen as one of the three winners. Her essay was about...trees, of course, and talked about how trees are heroes. The mayor came to present her with a certificate, she read her essay to all of the 5th graders, and she also got to take home... a tree. She loves to write and is currently on page 37 of her latest story--a novel this time. How many 10 year-olds spend their down time writing novels? She is definitely one-of-a-kind and is hoping to become the next J.K. Rowling so that she can buy her own horse.

Our English Sterling Scholar

2009-04-28T21:06:00.001-07:00

Courtnee competed in the region Sterling Scholar Competition on April 21 in Vernal, UT. Her portfolio was amazing and chronicles all her achievements through high school: scholarship, leadership, community service, cross country, violin, and all of her specific English requirements. She has worked so hard and we are so proud of her. She is currently ranked 6th in her class and is the Salutatorian and on her way to BYU! Yeah, Courtnee!

More Braces for Riley

2009-04-28T21:03:00.001-07:00

Riley just got her top braces put back on. That poor girl has been going to the orthodontist for six years! We are all sick of it and hoping she is close to the end! This is how she feels about it:

Lainey's Latest...Pigs!

2009-04-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

We graduated from turkeys and are now moving on to pigs--Lainey and I will get our farm somehow. The pigs, thankfully, live at the neighbor's house where the turkeys did and Lainey is going to raise one for 4-H and sell it at the stock show in August. It will be an interesting (and stinky) project. Riley was also going to do it, but after 15 minutes with the pigs she said, "no way!"

"Dancing Queens"

2009-04-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Riley and Lainey had a dance competition at Taylorsville High School on Saturday. There were so many dancers there! The girls both did great--Riley's team took 3rd place and Lainey's team took 2nd place. It was a bit overwhelming for them both, but they looked great and performed well!

Riley's team did a futuristic, robot dance, hence all of the silver makeup.

Lainey's team danced to Route 66: they were so cute!

A Sunday Morning with Halle

2009-04-28T20:42:00.001-07:00

A Week of Rest?

2009-04-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Two days after the marathon--decided to do an easy run for 1 hour: foot very sore.
Three days after the marathon--decided to do weight training for 1 hour: foot more sore.
Four days after the marathon--laid on the couch most of the day: foot worse and so tired.
Five days after the marathon--went to the PT (he is an ultramarathoner) to get my foot taped, my orthotic tweaked, and permission to take a week off of running. (I wanted time off of everything!)

Here is what I did for my week of rest besides all of the usual stuff.

Monday--painful run, mom stuff, FHE.

Tuesday--7 hour round trip drive to Vernal for Sterling Scholar Competition with a pit stop at the BYU law library for a book Joe needed. It was a fun time with Joe and Courtnee. Courtnee did not win (of course she should have), but it really was an honor and great experience for her to be part of it. Joe and I always like car trips, although it is more fun for me because I can sleep and read. On the way home in the dark, I pulled a blanket over my head and read with a flashlight so Joe could see to drive.

Wednesday--arrived home from Vernal at 1:30 a.m. and got up at 2:30 a.m. to let cheerleaders in to take Riley for an early surprise breakfast. Back to bed at 3:30 a.m. after the cheerleaders came late. Awake again at 5:30 when Riley got home. Spent the rest of the day working on the computer and laying around on the couch.

Thursday--Lots of running around mom stuff, appointment with the PT, Stake Leadership Training for YW.

Friday--Drove Riley to the orthodontist in Tooele. Drove to GES to watch Lainey receive a special award for an Arbor Day essay she wrote. Drove back to the orthodontist to pick Riley up. Drove Riley back to school. Drove to GES to pick up Lainey and Halle. Drove to the store to help Lainey pick birthday gifts. Came home and made treats for Lainey's friend's birthday. Drove Lainey to the party. Drove Riley to a cheerleading party. Worked in the yard for three hours. Sat down for 1 hour to eat and watch movie with Joe, Courtnee, and Halle. Picked Riley up from cheerleading party at 11:00.

Saturday--6:30 a.m. wake up and prepare for meeting; 8:45 go to church and set up for meeting; 9:00 YW class presidency leadership training; 10:00 YW clean church; 11:00 go to Stake Center and play prelude and opening song for a baptism; 12:00 drive to SLC with Riley, Lainey, and Halle for dance competition; 3:00 take girls to eat 3:30 stop at Target to buy wedding gift; 5:15 home from SLC; 5:30 ward chili cookoff; 7:00 wedding reception; 9:30 BED! Sunday--11:00 church and YW stuff; 6:00 Youth Fireside; 7:30 class presidency meeting

I NEED A WEEK OFF FROM MY WEEK OFF!

Joe--the Multitasker!

2009-04-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

SLC Marathon--26.2 miles

2009-04-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

I finished the marathon with a new PR 4:42:44. I'm not real fast, but I have ran each marathon faster than the one before and that is even as I get older. If I keep going like this, I should be able to qualify for Boston by the time I'm 50 or 60!

I started this marathon with four of my neighbors and ward members--Brian Peterson, Julie Tripp, and Todd Castagno. We stayed together for about 13 miles and then split off and finished between 4:10 and 4:57. It seemed harder than my other marathons, but I hung in there. I prefer courses that are more open and not in the middle of the city, but it was a perfect spring day and there were lots of people there to cheer us on.

I finished my marathon experience by speaking in church on Sunday on "persistence" (the bishop thought that was real amusing). It actually was kind of a neat experience to evaluate what I had learned about persistence from running the marathon and how it applies to life. I even discovered that Nephi was a perfect marathoner! I'm afraid I was a bit "loopy" after all the physical, mental, and emotional strain from the day before, but hopefully it made sense.

My next "big" run will be the Wasatch Back relay in June with 11 other teammates. We will run 180 miles from Logan to Park City, all in the mountains. I'm really excited for it!

5th grade "Frog Olympics"

2009-04-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

Lainey and the 5th graders at her school just held a "Frog Olympics." The school librarian taught the kids how to make origami frogs and then they hold different contests. Lainey is entering one frog in the "beauty" contest and one in the "smallest" frog contest. It is so small you can hardly see it.

Lainey also made Halle a frog and she decorated hers as well.

My two favorite "Camillas"

2009-04-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

While at BYU, my roommates and I nicknamed one of our roommates "Camilla." Her real name is Carolyn Cannon, but she was such an amazingly good person that we started calling her Camilla because that was the name of the current LDS prophet's wife, Camilla Kimball. We actually called her that more than we called her by her real name. Since then, I have always associated that name with woman who are just extraordinarily good (almost perfect), and that are an important part of my life. Only a very few women have earned that title in my eyes, but I got to spend some time with two of them this month.

One is the original Camilla, Carolyn Cannon, who once again displayed her amazing "Camillaness" by taking time to have Courtnee and I come to her house and teach us how to digitally scrapbook. We had a fun visit and Cafe Rio lunch and then she helped us learn an entire program so that we could prepare Courtnee's Sterling Scholar portfolio. Besides that what makes her a "Camilla?" She is raising 4 incredible daughters, has served in YW multiple times, has supported her husband through 2 or 3 deployments to Afghanistan and numerous training trips in the National Guard, she runs marathons and gives and gives and gives. She is also a few years ahead of me in marriage and mothering so she has always been an amazing source of experience and advice. More than all that, though, she loves the Lord and you can see it in her face and in her eyes. She has an aura of "Camillaness!" I should mention that I've known her since I was 12 years-old and I have gone through school, Seminary Council, college dorms, engagement and lots of life with her and she has always been like that!

The other "Camilla" is Maria Whitworth, a friend in Grantsville that was in my ward when we first moved here and that has also been an amazing source of experience and advice. She is my "young woman's guide" and was the young women's president when we first moved here and I was called to work with her as an advisor. Since then I have spent about 5 1/2 years serving in the young women organization and I have turned to her so many times for advice. She is also my daughters' dance teacher, my co-worker at "This is the Place Heritage Park," my partner at summer swimming lessons, and one of my BFFs! I am a few years ahead of her in marriage and mothering so I get to give her all of Carolyn's advice, although Maria is much wiser than I am and I really learn more from her than she ever could from me. She is a "Camilla" because she just "gets it." She understands what is important in life and she lives it always. She also loves the Lord and carries that "Camilla aura" with her. Maria and I spent a day in Salt Lake at the General Young Women's Auxiliary Training. It was a great day filled with lots of ideas and inspiration and a yummy lunch at the Lion House Pantry (yes, I LOVE to go out to lunch)! The best part was getting to spend so much time talking with Maria on the drive there and out.

I am so grateful for the "Camillas" in my life. They give me guidance, inspiration, hope, and confidence that I can actually do what I need to! I'll never reach their level, but I can spend my life basking in their glow and I will be a satisfied and happy woman.

Flamingos sighted in Grantsville!

2009-04-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

We were "flocked," a cancer fundraiser, by our neighbor. I had seen similar flocks around town and was quite excited when a flock ended up in our yard! It is is great fund raiser idea and we paid our $20 and had the flock moved to a neighbor's house. The woman doing it is hoping to raise at least $1,000 and she said she will meet that easily.

We have been involved in at least one cancer fund raiser every year since Joe's sister Tari died from breast cancer and my Aunt Gay died from leukemia. I am doing my part to support the cause on April 18th when I run the SLC Marathon for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Last year several members of the Turner family participated in the 5k--including my dad who had only been cancer-free for a short time. This year I am the only runner, but I am running 1 mile in honor of each member of our Turner family: 26 miles and .2 for Baby Price. I'll be thinking about each of you with love, and gratitude that Dad is healthy and still leading our family!

Grantsville 175th "Old Folks Sociable, " March 28

2009-04-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

A wonderful tradition in Grantsville, the sociable brings the community together every year to socialize, share talents, enjoy a night out and honor those in the community that are 75+ years old. I think the best part about it is getting to know different people in the community through service on various committees. Joe and I have served on two different committees through our 7 years here--the 5k committee and the Children's Sociable committee (our favorite part of the Sociable). I have also displayed some of my quilts in the "Arts" section and this year Courtnee and I helped our friend, Annette Baird, put together a hall display on Homecoming. Joe and I went to the Sociable with our friends, Jason and Kelly Hill, and enjoyed the program and a nice dinner together.

The Children's Sociable is my favorite part of Sociable time. Children, 18 and younger, audition for the program and then perform five times. It is a long day, but a lot of fun. We have had one or more of our girls in the Children's Sociable every year...except this year. They usually perform with their dance or gymnastics group. Last year, Courtnee and two of her friends played an amazing violin number! This year, Lainey and two of her friends auditioned for a very cute piano trio, but they weren't chosen (although they were great!). Riley loves participating in it the most and even though she didn't perform this year, she did help with one of the groups so she got to be a part of it.

The Sociable is one of the things I LOVE about living in Grantsville!

Last Long Run--Yeah!!!

2009-03-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

I completed my last long run for this marathon series on Friday with running friends Julie Tripp and Tracy Collings. We ran 20 miles in about 3 hours and 20 minutes. The weather was perfect--cold, clear, and little wind! The conversation was great! My new shoes feel fabulous! I'm on track for my time goal! I earned another black toe!

Courtnee's Birthday: Happy and Sad

2009-03-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

Courtnee turned 18 on March 24. She is happy because she is officially an adult, she is closer to going to college, she is almost done with high school, and it is fun to get presents and cake and flowers and attention and spend the day eating your favorite foods and watching your favorite movies. I am happy because she is happy and has turned into such an amazing woman.

Flowers from Uncle Greg

I don't think she is really sad about being 18. I'm sad because this entire last year has held so many "last times," as in this might be the last time I get to fix Courtnee a birthday breakfast on her birthday. I'm also sad because my children getting older means I'm getting older. I don't feel older (I definitely look older), but if I have an 18 year-old daughter, than I AM getting older.

Runner's Black Toes!

2009-03-19T10:32:00.001-07:00

The latest casualties of marathon training. Marathon in 1 month--7.5 toes to go!

Disneyland or Bust: The Rest of the Trip

2009-03-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

WOW--that's just about all I can say, WOW! I am still recovering from all of the excitement! We arrived in California on Sunday, March 8 and had a great week there celebrating Courtnee's achievements and high school graduation in 2 months.

Sunday, March 8--We met up with some friends from Fresno that we haven't see for 13 years, the Taleisniks. Martin (pronounced Martine) and Joe went to law school together and Cindy and I became great friends because of Courtnee. Cindy loves kids and saw us at an early law school picnic with Courtnee and we became friends that day! The Taleisnik's are some of our most favorite people in the world. They were so good to us in Oregon and as Cindy says, Courtnee was the first baby for so many people. Cindy and Martin loved her and so did their parents who visited at the holidays and other times and always brought her gifts. Cindy's dad, a great photographer, always took lots of pictures of Courtnee and loved to hold and "kiss on her." We spent every law school Thanksgiving with Cindy and Martin and either the Taleisnik's, the Sawl's, or both, and of course everyone was there for graduation.

It was a bonus when they had Jordan at the beginning of the third year and we had another little girl to add to the mix. Riley was born on Cindy's birthday just two weeks after graduation and then they added Alexandra two years later. We added Lainey and Halle and now there are six girls between us that are 17, 15, 14, 12, 10, and 8.
I could have spent another week just getting caught up and a lifetime enjoying time with their family. The girls had fun together and it was great to get to know Jordan and Alexandra. They are beautiful, talented, smart, fun, amazing people--just like their parents!

Monday, March 9--We finished settling into our WorldMark condo on Katella Ave. about 1 1/2 miles from Disneyland. We were on the end of the 4th floor next to our often "private" elevator, but it was so slow that we usually took the stairs. The resort is only a year old and very nice--hot tubs on the roof and a view of the Disneyland fireworks and a big pool, two kiddie pools, and a hot tub on the ground level. The condo had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, washer and dryer, etc. Our groceries were delivered on Monday morning and we got everything put away for the week.

Monday was our California Adventure day and Joe dragged us all out of bed so we could get to the park before 9:00. That was the routine for the week--he got us all up and going and it made our days so much better! Joe waited in line for our tickets and the girls and I took pictures and then we hit "Soarin' Over California" for our first ride. Next was "The Tower of Terror" which Halle and I declined from going on--we are both still traumatized from our ride on it 4 years ago. (I think Lainey will decline next time because she spent the rest of the week traumatized by it.) We finished out the day on different rides, meeting Disney characters, visiting Bug's Land, watching the parade, and after a short break to eat at the condo we came back and went to Disneyland. The highlights of the day were the incredibly short lines and the excitement of being there. The lows of the day were waiting too long to eat dinner and "California Screamin'" for me. It is a wild roller coaster ride that goes from 0 to 60 mph in 2 seconds at the beginning of the ride. I felt like someone pulled my stomach out of my mouth, tied it behind the roller coaster, and then shoved it back in after. I was so sick--and I even took Meclazine that morning. That shot a lot of the rides for me for the rest of the day, but I felt better that evening and rode everything at Disneyland feeling only slightly queasy. I guess I am too old for roller coasters--that is so SAD!

Joe waiting under the "magic" tree.

The Cartwright girls at the shuttle.

"C" is for "California" and "Courtnee" and "Cartwright."

Riding the "Jelly Fish" in California Adventure.

Joe, Lainey, Riley, and Courtnee on the "Tower of Terror!"

Joe and Lori in 3D.

Goofy and his girls!

The "Incredibles!"

Tuesday, March 10--Disneyland day! We enjoy California Adventure, but we LOVE Disneyland! Rode lots of rides today--Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Toon Town, Small World, the train, the Monorail to Downtown Disney for lunch and back, visited Pixie Hollow and loved the show "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" in 3D. Picked up a few other rides along the way and then headed back to the condo around 3--we were exhausted after two full days! Joe took the girls swimming while Courtnee and I slept (I was tired all of the time from the Meclazine and really goofy--the girls thought I was hilarious)!

Halle and Lainey meet Tinkerbell...

...and Irridesca in Pixie Hollow.

Joe, Courtnee, and Lainey on Small World.

Resting in Minnie's house in Toon Town.

Meeting Mickey...

...and Minnie.

Courtnee's new car!!!

"Smiley, Riley" in Toon Town!

Joe gears up for one of his favorite rides--Indiana Jones.

Wednesday, March 11--Down Day! We slept late, swam, ran, read, ate and spent the afternoon at Laguna Beach. I loved the town and would enjoy spending a few days there visiting all of the art galleries and shops. The beach was cold, but that didn't stop Riley, Lainey, and Halle from enjoying the water. I went beach combing for some sand and shells to add to my beach bottle collection. It was a nice relaxing day...and night!

Thursday, March 12--Early entrance to Disneyland so we were there by 8:00 a.m. That is my favorite time at the park because it isn't as crowded and I can enjoy more of the sights of the park. I wanted to just leisurely stroll through the streets and shops, but I was overruled by 5 ride-crazy people! We spent the morning in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, lunch in Downtown Disney, and the afternoon in Adventureland. We also did some shopping today and all of the girls got Mickey Mouse ears. I finally got to go to the show at the Tiki Room (no "Tiki Room" meltdown this time) and I LOVED it! Lainey and I opted to visit Tom Sawyer's Island instead of go on Splash Mountian and The Haunted Mansion for the third time. It was fun to see and I decided that I would like to live there as long as we can move the island somewhere else and we can take a set of the restrooms with us. It is exactly the kind of place I would have loved as a child--I was such a tomboy!

A wild time on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride...

and the Teacups--is Riley okay?

Disneyland's oldest attraction--The Storybookland Canal boats (very cute)!

Had fun in the "tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room!"

Joe's favorite part--shopping! NOT!!!

We love Disneyland...and our mouse ears!

Friday, March 13--Our icing on the cake day. Spent our last day at both California Adventure and Disneyland. The 4th day was the warmest, but also the most crowded by far. We went on all of our favorite rides again and saw the Muppets in 3D show--those Muppets are so funny! We had lunch back at the condo and returned to the park for Thunder Mountain Railroad, more shopping, and to ride our favorites again. About an hour before the fireworks, Halle and I were done with rides so we had some down time eating, talking, and staking out a good fireworks watching spot. After the fireworks, Riley and Joe tried to ride Splash Mountain one more time, but it broke right as they headed up the BIG hill and they had to get off and walk down. We made it back to the condo around 11:00 p.m. and fell into bed.

Enjoying the "warm, California sun."

More "California sun."

Ice cream for dinner? Only in Disneyland: "where all your dreams come true."

Hangin' out with Halle on Main Street U.S.A.

Saturday, March 14--Plans: get up and run 7 miles, visit the American Girl Place in L.A. for lunch, visit the beach. Reality: sleep in, watch TV, read, movies, early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, swim, bed. We were over-tired, over-fed, and over-stimulated so we stayed around the condo and had a nice, relaxing day. Joe, Courtnee, and I walked to the Anaheim Garden Walk for a movie and Courtnee did some shopping while the three youngest watched a video at the condo. We all met up for dinner which was wonderful until Joe got a glass of ice water dumped on him--that always happens to him. We loved the food at the Cheesecake factory, except for the prices, and we all shared some cheesecake for dessert. It was a nice day.

Sunday, March 15--Time to head home. We packed up and headed back to St. George to pick up Bo, rest up, and see Joe's parents.

Monday, March 16--Back home and back to real life! I hate this part!

Today--still haven't finished unpacking, still tired, still adjusting!

"Disneland or Bust:" Day 2

2009-03-07T17:09:00.000-08:00

Spent the day in St. George. Cool and beautiful with lots of sunshine. I golfed 9 holes while Riley and Joe did some shopping (what a role reversal), and then Joe and I shopped for groceries on-line that will be delivered to our condo for FREE, how great is that. We got Courtnee's dorm application in and started getting her signed up for Freshman Academy at BYU. Joe worked a bit, Courtnee wrote some newspaper articles, the other girls played outside, and we all ate too much junk and enjoyed some down time.

"Disneyland or Bust"

2009-03-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

DAY 1--Left for St. George at 5:30 and drove through snow all the way to Cedar City. It took us 6 hours of "white-knuckle" driving and a few stops to scrape ice off of the windshield wiper blades. Joe did a great job of getting us safely here.

Haircut Time

2009-03-04T09:13:00.000-08:00

Time for spring haircuts and everyone went shorter this time. Lainey decided she had grown her hair long enough to donate to "Locks of Love" so she had 10 inches of hair cut off!!! It looks super cute and she is really enjoying not having to brush out tangles all of the time!

"I'm Proud to be an American"

2009-03-04T08:34:00.001-08:00

*Lainey is on the first row on the left with a blue bandanna.

Lainey's 5th grade Patriotic Program was last week and so good to see. Grandpa and Grandma Turner came with cousins Baylee and Mckenzie Clement. We had dinner at our house and then went to the program. It was wonderful--I always complain about how much school time they use practicing for the programs, but I'm always so glad that they do! I especially like this program because it coincides with everything they are learning about America--history, geography, politics, etc. It was fun for them to have the presidential election this year as well.

*Grandpa taking a picture of Baylee, Halle, Mckenzie, and Lainey.

Lainey had a speaking part and then the day before the program her teacher asked her to memorize another one for someone who was sick. No problem. She had it all memorized and performed it perfectly for the next four performances.

Speaking part #2.

*Doing the "Boot-skootin' Boogie"--Lainey is on the top row looking at the camera.

The songs are wonderful, the dancing is fun, the spoken parts are inspiring and they all recite the preamble to the Constitution from memory. One of my favorite parts is when they have special community helpers stand in the center circle and they sing to them--police officers, soldiers, doctors, nurses, vets, etc. This year was especially meaningful to me because we used a lot of those community helpers when I fell and hit my head last August: 2 EMTs, 2 Paramedics, 1 Police Officer, 2 Ambulance Drivers and all of the staff at the Emergency Room at the Hospital. So I add a big THANK YOU to all of those wonderful community helpers--especially teachers!!!

*Lainey and her 5th grade Teacher, Michelle May

Springtime is Coming!

2009-03-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Today I noticed our first crocuses have bloomed. I have mixed feelings--I love the flowers, green grass, leaves on the trees, etc., but it also means that it is time to add in yard work to my daily chores. I already see weeds and grass growing in the flower beds.

I guess that's how it works with everything--we have to take a few weeds with the flowers. And I guess that's okay because I would never want to miss out on the flowers.

Riley and FFA

2009-02-19T16:36:00.001-08:00

Riley is a great public speaker and just proved it by winning the FFA Creed Competition at the Region Level. She now goes on to compete in State in April. She had to memorize the creed and she recites it to the judges and then answers their questions about FFA. She looks so cute up there in her uniform that I think they can't resist--although she is very good at it!

Every time she practices for me I start to laugh because it is so NOT Riley. It is hard to believe someone is sincere when they say "I believe in the future of Agriculture," and they have on silver glitter eyeliner that matches their silver glitter Converse shoes! I'm proud of her for stepping outside her box and trying something new.

FFA Creed

I believe in the future of agriculture, with a faith born not of words, but of deeds -- achievements won by the present and past generations of agriculturists; in the promise of better days through better ways, even as the better things we now enjoy have come to us from the struggles of former years. I believe that to live and work on a good farm, or to be engaged in other agricultural pursuits, is pleasant as well as challenging; for I know the joys and discomforts of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations which, even in hours of discouragement, I cannot deny. I believe in leadership from ourselves and respect from others. I believe in my own ability to work efficiently and think clearly, with such knowledge and skill as I can secure, and in the ability of progressive agriculturists to serve our own and the public interest in producing and marketing the product of our toil. I believe in less dependence on begging and more power in bargaining; in the life abundant and enough honest wealth to help make it so - for others as well as well as myself; in less need for charity and more of it when needed; in being happy myself and playing square with those whose happiness depends upon me. I believe that American agriculture can and will hold true to the best traditions of our national life and that I can exert an influence in my home and community which will stand solid for my part in that inspiring task.

A New BYU Cougar!

2009-02-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

Courtnee received her acceptance letter to BYU on Friday, February 13, at 10:30 p.m. She is excited, relieved, overwhelmed, and soooooooooo grateful...and so are the rest of us. She is the third generation in the Turner family to attend BYU and the 10th member of our family (yes, I am counting the Leslie's...and the Brian's). I guess we could count her the fifth generation, once removed, or something. My great-grandma attended BYU Academy in 1905.

We are now working on scholarships--hopefully lots, housing--mom and dad insist on the dorms--and a job--Courtnee insists on the Religion Department. She would be the 4th "Turner" to work there. I worked there while I attended BYU and then I helped my sister Lynnette get a job there. She in turn helped my sister Lesley get a job and we are hoping Lesley can help Courtnee.

This whole experience is so exciting and surreal for me. I can't believe I have a daughter old enough to be going to college and I can't believe it has been 24 years since I was planning my freshman year at BYU! Joe's main concern is how soon can she purchase her football tickets!

CONGRATULATIONS COURTNEE! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Letter

12 Feb 2009

Courtnee Cartwright

363 E. Shelley LaneGrantsville, UT 84029

Dear Courtnee:

The Admissions Committee is delighted to inform you that you have been admitted to Brigham Young University to begin Fall 2009. Through your preparation and personal achievements you have distinguished yourself from a very strong group of applicants. We believe you will make a positive contribution to our BYU community. It is a great pleasure to welcome you to our campus to pursue your educational goals.Once you have determined whether or not you will attend BYU, indicate your decision on the "Accept Decision" tab below. If you change your mind, simply come back to this page and select the appropriate response again. You have 30 days from your original acceptance date to make your final decision. Please note that if you select "I will not attend," it will restrict you from registering for classes.Please click on the links below to find answers to frequently asked questions ranging from scholarships to housing. Please review this information carefully.Best wishes as you finish this school year. We encourage you to continue to excel in the classroom and to maintain the standards outlined in the University Honor Code.

Congratulations on your accomplishments!

Warmest regards,

R. Kirk StrongDirector of Admission Services

Farewell Elders

2009-02-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

Our good friends Elder Harbaugh (left) and Elder Rasmussen left our area last week--Elder Harbaugh to return to his home in Pennsylvania after two years of service, and Elder Rasmussen to his second area since arriving in the mission field. We will miss their visits, our religious discussions, and Elder Harbaugh's magic tricks.

Puma Cat

2009-02-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

Lainey's cat (she has changed the name about 10 times), Erin, has lately been climbing on top of everything. This week it was the piano so that she could chew on the leaves of the Valentine's flowers. Why do cats chew on leaves? I think she is pretending that she is a giant jungle cat in the African jungle--I guess we all need our fantasies, even cats!

Winter Running

2009-02-09T21:29:00.001-08:00

The Top 10 Things I LOVE about winter running:

1. Running any time of the day--it is never too hot!

2. Cold, clear days.

3. No snakes, badgers, skunks, grasshoppers--more deer and rabbits.

4. Running while it snows--MAGIC!

5. Layering.

6. No 5 a.m. runs--too dark, too cold, too slippery!

7. New Ipod playlists.

8. Running downhill.

9. The "Dog Wash."

10. Hot showers!

The Top 10 Things I HATE about winter running:

1. Wet, muddy feet.
2. Wet, muddy dog!
3. Running on ice.

4. Running through mud.

5. Running from mean dogs.

6. Hill work.

7. Running slow and sluggish.

8. Breathing hazy, toxic-looking air.

9. Sore, stiff muscles.

10. Not running as fast as I wish I could!

Draper Temple Open House

2009-02-09T20:52:00.000-08:00

The Draper Temple is so beautiful! We went to the open house on a foggy Saturday with the DeLeon family, our friends that were baptized in the summer. It was fun to spend time with them--even waiting in the church before. We waited for a long time because it was very crowded and one of the buses broke down. Thankfully, several of the missionaries there spoke Spanish and they spent a long time talking with Erwin and his family and answering their questions. Joe's Spanish is still good enough that he can communicate quite well with them, and their English is good enough that I can as well. The kids speak perfect Spanish and English and we have a lot of fun with them.

One of the twins, Erwin, and Cynthia

Courtnee, Cynthia, Cindy, Nancy and Erwin

Erwin, Kimberly, Armando

Trying to be patient!

As soon as we saw the bride's room in the temple, Courtnee and Riley both decided that they were going to get married there--Courtnee said in a few years and I told her at least 5 or 10!

The bus ride to the temple!

The temple was very beautiful and Joe was using his "photography" eye in an attempt to discern how the artwork had been brightened. I love the decorating--very serene and motifs carried throughout.

It was difficult to get an outside shot of the temple. You get off the bus and go right into tents and then you go from the temple to a church to the bus. Riley was the only one who would be in the picture and I had to hurry and get on the bus so it is a bit blurry.

We all went to dinner after and spent a lot of time talking and laughing. What a blessing to have good friends and the opportunity to share the temple with them. Joe really encouraged Erwin to make it their family goal to be sealed together in the temple.

"Low-key January!"

2009-02-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

I usually try to make January as low-key as possible--no projects, lots of reading, some movies and extra rest. This is getting harder and harder as my life seems to get busier and busier. This is what my low-key January was like:

Wife--worked on a new budget with Joe, vacation plans for March, and lunch dates and Office and Lost dates.

Mom--drove to multiple piano, dance, gymnastic, and horseback riding lessons; helped with multiple homework assignments and projects; drove to and from social activities; countless hours of "therapy" and encouragement and nagging; and all of the usual mom stuff.

Exercise--ran 50 miles; performed over 1,000 sit-ups and 500 push-ups; lifted 100s of pounds; several hours of yoga contortions and stretching!

Young Women--hours of meetings, besides Sunday meetings; made 60 cutesie handouts and 60 cutesie birthday gifts that took too long and were not thoroughly appreciated; prepared for and had New Beginnings for 40 Young Women and their parents; took 40 youth to SLC for an activity; spent countless hours worrying, visiting, and praying for girls.

House--put Christmas and snowmen away; planned, shopped for, and began a new project in the loft; cooked and cleaned up 80-100 meals; did over 100 loads of laundry; vacuumed, dusted, cleaned bathrooms, straightened up; shopped, ran errands, and planned menus, etc.

FUN--read some books, watched some movies, slept a little more!

Halle and Warm, Chocolate Melting Cake!

2009-01-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

Halle loves warm, chocolate melting cake! It is a dessert that they serve on Carnival Cruises and one she has talked about for almost the past two years. Every time I ask her what she wants to eat for any meal, she says, "warm, chocolate melting cake." I decided to surprise her and make it one night. Joe found a recipe on-line and they turned out fabulous. It is so rich that most of us can't finish one, but Halle did just fine with hers.

"I Need Something to Read!"

2009-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

This is the current stack on my nightstand and what I have been reading for the last three months! Most of them I have read at least twice and some more than that. Here's the list of the nightstand books:

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg
Lincoln by Gore Vidal
Dark Angel by Robert Kirby
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
A Joyful Mother of Children by Linda Eyre
New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community, ed. by Terry Tempest William's, William B. Smart, and Gibbs M. Smith
Heroines of the Restoration, ed. by Barbara B. Smith and Blythe Darlyn Thatcher
Joseph Smith and the Restoration by Ivan J. Barrett
Mary and Joseph by Robert Marcum
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones
Daughters of God: Scriptural Portraits by S. Michael Wilcox
A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes, ed. by Thomas Colchie
Stop Whining, Start Living by Dr. Laura Schlessinger

This is just a tiny portion of the books we own, but I am always reading and if I have any kind of a vacation, I have a stack of books with me. With this is mind, Joe gave me an amazing gift for Christmas--a Kindle. I had never heard of one, but it is amazing. It is an electronic device that uses cell phone technology to access over 200,000 books as well as newspapers, magazines. blogs, etc. Keep in mind that I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with electronic devices--love my Ipod and the bare mininum of my cell phone, hate cords, texting, and sleeping with Joe's PDA! But, I really like the Kindle. I read an entire book on it last Sunday, the Maytrees by Annie Dillard, and I kept trying to turn the pages because I forgot I wasn't holding an actual book. I think this is one electronic device I will love. And Joe will never have to hear me say, "I need something to read!"

Christmas Fun with the Cartwrights!

2009-01-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

The Christmas season was full of fun and tradition for us. Some things we took pictures of, and others we just enjoyed. Here are some of our favorite traditions:

1. Christmas Decorating:

Everyone loves the Christmas tree until it is time to put it up. We try to get it up at the beginning of December so that we can enjoy it for the whole month. The girls get a new ornament every year, Joe passes out the hooks, and we always have a treat to eat. This year Riley made spice cookies with peppermint chocolate on top--YUM! Despite the cookies, nobody lasted very long so we called it a night. I spent the next few days finishing the tree and the next few weeks decorating the rest of the house.
Note to self: less decorating next year!

The "worker (wo)men"--Lainey and Halle:

The "snowman:"

The "hook man:"

The "treat (wo)man"--Riley:

The "sleeping man"--Bo:

TA-DAH!!! TA-DAH!!! TA-DAH!!! TA-DAH!!! TA-DAH!!!

2. Christmas Guests:

We had lots of fun visitors over the holidays--especially as the "big day" got closer. I failed to take any pictures, but the DeLeon family came for lunch and present opening on December 20; our neighbors, the Knapps and the Hills, for Christmas Eve; the missionaries came for breakfast and computer access on Christmas morning; and various Turner family members for our annual New Year's Eve sleepover party and New Year's Day breakfast. We especially enjoyed a 6 day visit with Joe's sister, Monica, who came from St. George. She has spent the last several Christmases with us, and it wouldn't be Christmas without Aunt Monica!
*Note to self: pictures of guests next year!

3. Christmas Shopping & Dinner:

Dinner at the Olive Garden and shopping at the Gateway. The girls always get presents for each other and their friends and Joe and I go along to help make decisions and hide gifts. The girls got an added bonus this year--money from Gammy and Grandpa that they got to spend on whatever they wanted. Lainey and Halle spent theirs at Build-a-Bear. Courtnee and Riley spent theirs at The Body Shop.

*Note to self: We all love this tradition!

At the Olive Garden with Monica!

Lainey at Build-a-Bear with Krissy, Klaus, and Kringle.

Halle and Sparkle.

Riley and Courtnee--still smiling at the end!

4. Christmas Eve:

We had our annual Christmas Eve party and invited the Hills and the Knapps to come this year. This is our traditional menu:

Appetizers: stuffed mushrooms, cheese ball and crackers, shrimp

Salads: green salad and ribbon jello salad

Main Dish: clam chowder, rolls & French bread

Dessert: lots of Christmas goodies: fudge, cookies, breads, etc.

Beverage: Gammy's famous holiday drink

After dinner we have a program with each person participating--this is a family requirement, but optional for the neighbors. This year, Lainey played "Winter Wonderland," Halle sang "Winter Wonderland" with Bailee Hill, Courtnee and Riley played a violin and piano duet to "Where are you Christmas?" Joe told the original Christmas story, and I read a picture book. The Knapps and Hill's also participated with stories and testimonies.

*Note to self: less baking--remember the 2 lbs. of fudge you ended up throwing away!

5. Christmas gifts:

Of course, this is one of our favorite parts! We woke up at 6:30 and there was snow! The entire family was very relieved to see that Santa brought Riley the purple Ipod she had been talking about for weeks! Even Lainey and Halle were worried about what would happen if she didn't! There was lots of stuff and lots of wrapping paper, but so far nothing seems to have been inadvertently thrown away--a first! Another first was I actually forgot about a present I had bought for Halle and when I remembered two days later I couldn't find it. After a 12:30 a.m. search I gave up and spent the next morning looking until I found it. YEAH!

Favorite gifts:

Joe--an Ipod from all 5 of his girls, Christmas $, and Little Big Planet for the PS3.

Lori--a Kitchen Aid, a Kindle, and a new purse from her girls.

Courtnee--a new Ipod, silver glitter Converse, a BYU hoodie.

Riley--a PURPLE Ipod!

Lainey--riding helmet and boots and lots of plastic horses.

Halle--a Webkinz, American Girl doll stuff, snow boots.

Note to self: make note to self when hiding Christmas presents!

6. Christmas Day:

Had breakfast with the missionaries, played with new stuff, went to Grandpa and Grandma Turner's for dinner, more gift opening, games, and lots of talking! Lots of fun! Our favorite gift here was Lesley and Brian's gift to my parents: baby corn, Sugar Babies, and a Baby Ruth.

That's right they are having a BABY!!!

We were all so excited--Lainey screamed, I cried, and we all were excited to watch Lesley announce it to Lynnette over the webcam.

Note to self: the best gifts aren't things (a baby is not a thing)!

7. Christmas Vacation:

The girls had two entire weeks off from school and we have been so lazy! It has been wonderful to just shut down for a while. Of course, as all moms know, you never get to shut down entirely, but this is how my days have gone: sleep in, eat, read, laundry, dishes, read, eat, blog, laundry, dishes, watch a movie, play Little Big Planet or Rock Band, eat, sleep, etc. Throw in a couple of parties, a couple of movies at the movie theatre, and an increase the in the eating part and it was a great vacation. The girls spent their time doing the same with the exception of lots of time on Itunes, Club Penguin and Webkinz, time with friends, and a little bit of calculus and math. Joe is the only one who accomplished much. He worked and went to Ohio for 3 days for depositions.

Note to self: Remember you are a wife, a mom, and the YW president!

English Sterling Scholar!

2009-01-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

Courtnee was chosen as her school's English Sterling Scholar in December. The Sterling Scholar award is given to students that excel in particular subjects on a school, region, and state level. The competition was tough and just making it to this first level is a major achievement! She will go on to compete in region in April and then if she wins there, she will compete on the state level. An exciting part of winning for her was the cash award she received. An exciting part of her winning for me was watching her experience something I did 25 years ago when I was the English Sterling Scholar for my school. We pulled my old portfolio out to look at it and I realize that I could never have competed with her or any of her classmates! They are amazing! There are so many students with 4.o, high ACT scores, and incredible accomplishments. And they are all so well-rounded. They achieve great things in the arts, sports, scholarship, leadership, service. It is a great privilege for Courtnee to be a part of all that!

Cookie Rules from Kiora--Cookies Rule!!!

2008-12-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

Eat All the Christmas Cookies You Want...
RULES OF THE COOKIES

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you're making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you MUST sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calories free, rule #1 is yours also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five - one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!

7. Cookies eaten while watching "Miracle on 34Th Street" have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!

Christmas Fun--starring Courtnee, Riley, Lainey, and Halle Jo!

2008-12-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

*Click on this link to see some cute dancing Santas!

http://www.myfacelol.com/trackevents/direct-personalvideo.aspx?uid=494c2c0b160d96.41448012&referid=0&dt=no&m=conf&mid=2&h=1,494c2c0b160d96.414480121,2,494c2c0b160d96.414480122,3,494c2c0b160d96.414480123,4,494c2c0b160d96.414480124

Pre-Christmas Rush

2008-12-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

The first week of December was a little crazy for us. Besides the usual, here's what else we did:

December 1--Drove home from Thanksgiving in St. George & put tree up for FHE.

December 2--Took the YW to dinner and Temple Square (about 30 of us total).

December 3--Halle performed twice in the Nutcracker.

December 4--Halle performed twice in the Nutcracker; Grandpa and Grandma came to watch.

Courtnee left at 5:00 a.m. to travel to a national cross country race in CA.

December 5--Riley, Lainey, and Halle's Christmas dance recital; Grandpa and Grandma came.

RILEY

LAINEY

HALLE

December 6--10:00 a.m. Riley & Lainey's Christmas piano recital.
1:00 p.m. Lazenby Family Christmas party.

December 7--Usual church stuff (including 6:00 a.m. bishopric meeting for Joe).

10:00 p.m. Picked Courtnee and 3 friends up at Stansbury Park on their way home from race in CA.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-29T18:35:00.000-08:00

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving in St. George with Joe's parents and his sister Monica, her friend Jamie, and Jamie's daughter Jayden. We spent the first few days inside, out of the rain, and the last few days enjoying the beautiful weather! I had some good runs and we spent a day golfing--18 holes, but my score was about equal to 36 holes. Courtnee, Riley, and I "enjoyed" shopping on Black Friday and did not enjoy all of the traffic! Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful, especially our own "home-grown" turkey, all 32 lbs. of it. We are still eating leftovers! The best part, of course, was spending time with Joe's parents.

Scripture Reading...or Sleeping?

2008-11-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

We work hard to read our scriptures as a family before the girls go to school, but I'm not sure how effective it is some mornings--you be the judge!

BYU vs. U of U

2008-11-23T21:35:00.000-08:00

BYU football has been part of the Turner family forever! I grew up going to football games with my dad and watching them on TV. One of my first priorities as a BYU student was buying my season tickets and I had them every year that I was there, both as a single and married student. I've lost interest over the years, but this year we shared season tickets with the Clements and all of the girls got to go with their dad or their grandpa. I do enjoy the traditional BYU and UofU rivalry and we hosted the game viewing at our house--it was great on the big screen and it was in HD so the picture was great! The outcome wasn't good, but it was fun to spend the time together. Our fellow BYU fans that attended were: the Turner's--Mom and Dad, Greg and Danaka (and Danaka's friend Ashley), Tim, LeAnne, Taylor, Mckenzie, Bailee, Brian and Lesley, and the Neighbor's--Dolyn Knapp, Matt Peterson, Jason Hill.

Greg wins the prize for the most devoted fan!!!

Be Thankful You're not a TURKEY!

2008-11-23T20:59:00.000-08:00

As Thanksgiving approaches, our turkey project has come to an end! Lainey and Riley finished raising their turkeys, selected the ones they liked best, and attended the State and County auctions and sold their turkeys. Lainey was really good at catching the turkeys, the only one in our family that did, and the rest of us helped carry and weigh them before loading them in trailers to go to the processing plant.

The turkey shows were a lot of fun and the girls' first experience at an auction. They were thrilled with the outcome--they made over $500 each--and they've decided that it was worth the stinky smell and being scared of the big turkeys. My favorite turkey was the one I saw at Build-a-Bear and I couldn't resist. It even gobbles just like the real turkeys. Our favorite family turkey will be the one we eat on Thanksgiving day!

Lainey: the Vet

2008-11-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

Lainey got to practice being a vet (her future career of choice) on her cat, Erin. Erin was bit by our neighbor's cat who has decided that our courtyard is her territory and is constantly attacking our cats out there. The bite got infected and so we had to take a trip to the vet for antibiotics and then spent the next 5 days giving Erin pills and squeezing antibiotic ointment into the open wound. It is not fun to do all that why avoiding being clawed. Lainey cried at the vet's office, but she did great taking care of the cat at home, and Erin is finally better!

New Nephew--Wesley Gene French Jr.

2008-11-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

Joe's niece, Shonne and her husband Wes, just had their first baby and he is beautiful! Here are some of his pictures--Congratulations new parents--Shonne and Wes, new grandparents-- Corey and Sid, and new aunt--Jill!

Joe and I had a discussion about Wesley being our great-nephew and Joe his great-uncle. Joe refuses to believe it because he says it puts him on the same level as a great-grandparent. I think that is the correct title. Does anyone know for sure?

Election Time 2008!!!

2008-11-05T09:22:00.001-08:00

There has been a lot of discussion in our home these past few weeks about the election. Lainey's 5th grade class is studying America this year and their teacher has been great about bringing the election into their studies. Consequently, Lainey seems to know the most about the election process and has been explaining it to the rest of us. I guess Joe actually knows the most about it as our Political Science B.A., but Lainey has the most interest so she has asked him a lot of questions and then she explains it to us. Lainey had a test on the election and here is one of her questions and answers:

If you became president, how would you make your

inauguration ceremony unique?

I would make my ceremony very exciting so that people would like me. I would first make a grand entrance of parachuting, and then have a very funky dance. Last, I would give out puppies. Cassidy would be vice-president.

Wouldn't that be great! She definitely gets my vote!

Lainey also informed us of the latest elementary school rumors about presidential candidates. Because we are a Republican-dominated state, all of the rumors were about Obama:

-Obama is going to kill all the babies.

-Obama is going to make kids go to school for 10 hours a day and 1/2 the day on Saturday.

-Obama will be an "Obamanation."

-Obama is the devil.

Those are the only ones I remember, but there were many more! Lainey didn't say much in response, but she is afraid to tell her friends that one of her parents voted for Obama and the other one wish they did, but didn't have the guts. For her class election, Lainey wrote in her own name. Somehow I can see that happening, but Riley is determined that she will be the first woman president now that "that Clinton lady" isn't. Courtnee wrote an excellent editorial in the newspaper about the election and Halle is just riding the wave.

As for me, I am the gutless one, but I'm excited to see how the changes play out. Yesterday at the gym, I was ending my workout with some relaxing stretching and music and debating about who I would vote for. It struck me at that moment how incredibly blessed I am to get to vote. I wasn't working at a back-breaking job, my children aren't hungry, I have a healthy body, and I have a choice. What a wonderful country to live in and what a wonderful time to be alive!

Turner Halloween Party 2008

2008-11-05T08:34:00.000-08:00

The annual Turner family Halloween Party was a hit again! Lainey said before we left that it is her favorite part of Halloween--"even better than trick-or-treating!" We met at Mom and Dad's house for a costume display, a yummy dinner, a pumpkin-carving contest, and some trick-or-treating where we delivered treats to some of my parents elderly neighbors and the seniors at the nearby nursing home. We missed the "Georgia devils and angels" like crazy and I give a big "Howdy" to y'all! The best part of the party is the fun costume choices! Here is a glimpse of the Halloween gallery for 2008:

Dad, the Hawaiian tourist (someday soon!), doing the Hakka--

Dad, with Mom, the scary witch--
Joe and I are "black-eyed peas" (thanks to the Arthur's for the idea)--

Courtnee, a fairy?--
Riley and Taylor: Thing 1 and Thing 2--

Lainey, the Vet--

Halle, a 50s girl ("whatever that is")--
Jayci--the cutest kitten ever!--
I didn't get individuals of all of the kids, but they are in the group shot. Baylee is the cutest cat ever, Mackenzie is a vampire, and Danaka was a "Jaberwocky," from a dance show.

Lesley and Brian's costumes were my favorite! Can you guess who they are?--
That's right, Leonardo DaVinci painting the Mona Lisa. Isn't that great!

Happy Halloween from the Joe Cartwright family!

Turner Women Annual FUN DAY!

2008-11-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

The Turner Women had their annual "lunch and shopping" day the first Saturday of November. We have done this for several years now and it is a great day to spend together before the craziness of the holidays. It is also nice to do something together that involves no stress for anyone. We usually meet at Archibald's Restaurant in Gardner Village for lunch and then we browse through the shops and sometimes migrate to other places like Tai Pan Trading Co. I really look forward to time to catch up with some of my favorite women who just happen to be my relatives. This years attendees: myself, Mom, LeAnne-sister, Lesley-sister, Cyleste-sisterish, Aunt Sharon Turner, Brindey-cousin, Cathy-cousin.

We missed Lynnette-living in Georgia, Kara-living in Idaho, Wendy-living in Texas, and Aunt Sharon Yancey on a mission in Montana. Here are some of their pictures--you decide who is who!

Primary Program

2008-11-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Lainey and Halle recently performed their Primary Program and Grandpa and Grandma Turner came to watch. Halle had a long speaking part about baptism and preparing for a mission someday. Lainey sang a duet, "I am a Child of God" and Courtnee and a young man in our ward accompanied them on the violin. It was a beautiful, fun, and uplifting program about knowing that we are children of God.

Grandpa and Grandma stayed for dinner and pictures and it was good to spend part of the Sabbath with them. Thanks mom and dad for all of your love and support at our girls' important events!

End of GHS Cross Country Season--End of an Era

2008-11-05T07:55:00.000-08:00

Courtnee finished her final high school country season with a region run and an Academic All-State Award. The award is given to the top 10 boys and girls in the state who have excelled academically and athletically. She was sad that the season was over, but happy with her final race! She has done an excellent job with cross country. Although it might not have been the season she hoped for, I think it couldn't have been better. She has learned so many important lessons and built so many important relationships through her three years of cross country.

It is the end of an era for GHS cross country! Next year they are opening a new high school so a lot of the students at GHS will be moving to the new high school and so will the coach. He has been such an inspiration for the kids and for Courtnee. I think he is the biggest reason that they have such a large team. It has been an excellent program and a great experience for Courtnee!

Refrigerator Grafitti

2008-11-05T07:35:00.000-08:00

Like many of you, our refrigerator front gets used to post information, pictures, etc. Most of all, though, we use it as a display board for great family achievements. Last week I noticed that there was something on the family from each of the girls and I thought it would make a fun picture. Here's the latest in the Cartwright Hall of Fame:

>
Courtnee's latest newspaper editorial--

Riley's soccer award for "Most Improved Player" of the season--

Lainey's state capitals test-100%--

Halle's latest family picture--

A New Niece--Aurora Dibble

2008-10-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

I learned how to copy pictures (thanks again Tracy) so here are some great ones of new niece, Aurora. Technically she is a great-niece--I am getting old!

Cookies, FHE, and Growing Up!

2008-10-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

FHE is always interesting at our house. We usually have it, but it is usually put together at the last minute which means the treat is "whatever" and the activity is usually "going to bed." Halle gets the most upset if we don't give full attention to the activity and treat when she is in charge. I had one of those rare times when I actually thought about it ahead and so I "helped" Halle make lemonade cookies. She worked on them really hard after school and was so proud! We even had an official activity while we ate them--we played Scrabble.

2008-2009 School Year

2008-10-25T22:31:00.001-07:00

Another school year has begun--the first term actually ended this last week. The girls are busy getting good grades and participating in lots of extras. I spent the last two years juggling four different school schedules, but this year there are only two: Courtnee and Riley at the high school and Lainey and Halle at Grantsville Elementary School.

COURTNEE

Courtnee is really enjoying her last year as a senior, except for Calculus! She is the senior class historian, running cross country, taking college and AP classes, and interning at the local newspaper as a reporter. She actually has her easiest schedule ever, but the classes she does have are difficult--AP English, AP Calculus, and English 1010 (college). She also has Seminary, 2 intern classes, Student Government, and study hall. She is also busy with NHS and the Academic Olympiad team. Despite everything she has going on, she is having fun and seems less stressed than she has for a long time! Is it due to a certain boy? We will begin her college applications in November and her Sterling Scholar stuff in December.

RILEY

Riley is enjoying her first year of high school and trying out lots of different things to see what her niche is. Her core classes are Geometry, Biology, Honors English. Her electives (too many I think) are Floriculture, Seminary, Pottery, Foods, and Child Development. She took Floriculture because she is in FFA and needed an ag class. She has already done some judging, at Snow College, and did quite well considering she was a last minute entry and not prepared at all. She spent one weekend with a mechanical baby which was very interesting. It became somewhat real to all of us and I would find myself covering it with a blanket because it "looked cold." She spent a few sleepless nights "feeding, burping, changing, and rocking" the baby. She was glad when it went back! She just finished up her first season of high school soccer and is working really hard to get good grades.

LAINEY

Lainey is in 5th grade this year. Her teacher is Mrs. May. She is doing well and enjoying everything, as usual. She is a reading maniac (like her mom) and has to do a monthly book report on a specific kind of book. She is going to try and use horses in each one. The first month was a sports book so she read National Velvet, a book about horse racing. She is also writing like crazy and is getting really good! She wants to write a book so that she can earn enough money to buy a horse. The 5th graders learn about US History and present a US history program in the Spring so she is busy learning the geography of the US, mainly the states and their capitals. She loves four square and is not afraid to take on the boys! She is also taking piano and dance and will start horseback riding lessons soon.

HALLE JO

Halle's 3rd grade teacher is Mrs. Geldmacher and Halle is very proud that she can spell her name. It is a new elementary school for Halle this year and she likes riding the bus with Lainey again. She is reading, spelling and loving math still and will soon begin learning cursive writing (which I think is going to become a lost art). She and I finished up the last book in the Little House on the Prairie series and we are now reading all of the American Girl books. So far we have read all of the Felicity books and all but one of the Addy books. The 3rd graders do a Nutcracker program in December and she will be a "guest" at the party. She is excited about that because she gets to eat a cookie! She is getting really good at jump roping and even practices it without a rope! She is going to dance and tumbling and loves going to Activity Day with Lainey now that she is 8.

A Trip to Eden...Eden, Utah, that is.

2008-10-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

We spent our second UEA weekend at Wolfcreek Resort in Eden, Utah. It was 4 days that really felt like we were in THE Eden. The autumn weather was perfect-cool and crisp in the morning and evening, but warm enough during the day to spend a lot of time outside. After two years in a row at Wolfcreek, we have decided to make it an annual family trip. The best part of being there is all of the time that we get to spend together. We actually eat ALL of our meals together! We play games, watch movies, eat, talk, laugh, and enjoy every minute.

Some of our favorite things at Wolfcreek:

Playing games! We spent 3 days playing Lord of the Rings Risk and Riley was the champion!

Playing tennis! Joe is usually the winner here, but we all have fun running around the court.

Playing raquetball! My favorite! Joe is the winner on this court, too. Although this time he hit me with the ball, hard, and I had a big welt on my leg for the next two days. The little girls like raquetball, too, especially the goggles.

Tetherball!!!

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A 500 piece puzzle! Lainey and I worked on it for three days, but didn't quite finish before it was time to pack up.

Daily visits to the Koi pond to see Mo, the goldfish, and his family!

Things we (the girls) dislike about Wolf Creek.

Taking so many pictures! Besides my amateur candids, Joe took family, individual, and group portraits of us--twice. We missed the right lighting the first night so we had to do it all again the second night. I'm glad we did because the second night pictures were better. Joe got some good individuals at the golf course the first night and when we went back to do family ones the second night, we barely missed getting hit by a ball and we got kicked off the course by the Pro. Joe is still working on the photos, but I will post ASAP. There is a pretty funny series of Joe and I that Riley took. I'm going to attempt a slide show with all of them.

Coming Up!

2008-10-12T22:34:00.001-07:00

As a reminder to myself, I need to blog first day of school pictures, Homecoming, and pictures from my 20th anniversary cruise with Joe--I am waiting on him for pictures!

Courtnee: A Published Writer!

2008-10-12T22:16:00.001-07:00

Courtnee has been writing for the Tooele Transcipt, for the past couple of months. She submits a personal essay every other week and various articles that she is assigned. She prefers the essays because she can write about anything that she wants to. I am so impressed with her talent! I have given her a few ideas, but everything else is on her own. She was especially excited about her last article because her editor made no changes and he said that it was the best article he had published in the newspaper for a very long time. An added bonus for her was that it was all about the hero of the Twilight series, Edward.

All her articles are on the Tooele Transcript Website. Go to tooeletranscipt.com and do a search for Courtnee Cartwright. She has at least one article in each paper, sometimes even 2 or 3. First, Tooele--who knows what's next? Maybe...

"Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun!"

2008-10-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

I've enjoyed a lot of girl time these past couple of weeks! I haven't gotten a lot of pictures, but have had a lot of fun anyway! Now, keep in mind that most of my life is spent having girl time with my 4 daughters and their girl friends, my 40 young women and their leaders, my mom and my 3 sisters, and even our two cats are girls! But I've had lots of "special" girl time, lately.

September 26 was a definite "girl's day out!" My neighbor, Kelly Hill, and I spent the afternoon playing and it was so much fun! I don't remember the last time I have done that--I don't think that I have ever done that--at least without kids. We went to lunch, saw Mama Mia (my third time!), and got in some shopping at Ikea. To add to the "girl time," some wierdo was trying to hit on us on the freeway. You have got to be pretty despearate to try and pick-up on a 41 year-old mother of four in a minivan and her 9 month pregnant passenger--although Kelly is pretty hot! It was fun for me and the last time that Kelly will be out for a while without a baby. The baby was born on October 8 and yes, she is a girl, Brooke Paisley Hill.

September 27 was a "girl's night" with my mom and my sisters LeAnne and Lesley. We had a fabulous dinner at my mom's house and then watched the General RS Meeting together. It is always so nice to be together and to grow together, spiritually (and probably physically with all the food I ate). Lynnette joined us from Georgia by telephone and my mom made her pasta salad and "butt rolls" for dinner. I don't get to spend as much time with any of them as I would like and it was really great to have that evening together.

October 1 was a fun day with Joe's mom, Marilyn, and his niece Brandi and her two cute kids. We allowed Orion's presence, as the only boy, since he is only 2 and we had so much fun holding and looking at her new baby Aurora Tari Kathryn. She is named for Brandi's mom, Tari, and Dustin's mom, Kathryn, who are both deceased. Tari has been gone for two years now and it is so nice for her to have a namesake. Brandi is a wonderful mother--ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! She is also very busy helping her brother, Steve, prepare to leave for his mission in November.

Marilyn and I cooked them some meals to keep in the freezer and I got to play with Orion and hold Aurora. I love babies and she is a beauty. Way to go, again, Brandi and Dustin!

October 11 was bridal shower day--another wedding! My neighbor, Kira Knapp, is getting married in two weeks and I hosted a movie themed shower for her with my friend, Kathy Toone. Kathy made "movie ticket" invitations and each guest was asked to bring a gift related to a romantic movie. We served lunch and then we all trooped downstairs to the "Cartwright Theatre" where we opened gifts. I made little bags of Mother Goose popcorn and Kathy brought movie candy and we all laughed a lot as we saw the gifts she received. Some of my favorites were an ironing board from "Sleepless in Seattle; a bag of cotton items--balls, wipes, washcloths, and a curtain rod from "Gone with the Wind," and a box of apple pie making ingredients for "Twilight." I went a bit crazy with decorating, but it has been a LONG time since I got to do that. My favorite decorations were pumpkins that I spray painted cream and decorated with black beads and sequins--I even monogrammed two with a K and an M for Mark and Kira. I was too busy to take pictures.

Summer Fun!

2008-09-24T18:35:00.000-07:00

The TOP 10 things I did this summer instead of blogging:
*not counting Girl's Camp, Youth Conference, 4th of July, family reunions, volunteering as pioneers, etc.--some of the things I didn't take pictures of!

1. Ran the Ray Barrus 4th of July 5k. It was the first time that our whole family ran. Lainey and Halle ran the 1 mile and Halle took 3rd Place and Lainey 4th place in their age groups. The rest of us ran the 5k--it was one of my slower times, but I took 1st place in my age group.
2. Celebrated Lainey's 10th birthday with a horseback riding lesson with her friends and her favorite dinner--pasta! The horse's name was Candy--a very fitting name for her birthday ride because my friend Candie was the delivery nurse when Lainey was born.

3. Helped Lainey and Riley with their 4H and FFA project--raising turkeys at the Peterson's farm. This project will continue until November when it will be time to kiss the turkeys goodbye and have Thanksgiving dinner. They are getting uglier and meaner as they get older so it shouldn't be too hard to see them go.

4. Spent 2 weeks at swimming lessons with Lainey and Halle: Lainey learned to dive and Halle learned to swim...and loved every minute!

5. Missed the Turner family camping trip because we hit a deer about 4 miles from the campsite at Smith and Moorehouse. The deer didn't make it...and neither did the hood, front bumper, or the radiator. We made it back to Jeremy Ranch and then the car overheated. We had the car towed and we got a rental to make it home. About 2 weeks later we had our car back, minus the year-old chips on the hood--because the hood was new!
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6. Celebrated Halle's 8th birthday with a fun family dinner and strawberry cheesecake--Yum! The next week we celebrated her baptism with lots of family and friends. The Daybell's sent a beautiful fruit bouquet from Georgia for us to enjoy at a luncheon after the baptism.

Halle was so excited to get baptized! Joe baptized and confirmed her, her grandpa's spoke at the baptism and were the witnesses, grandma's gave the prayers, and the rest of us did the music--Courtnee played a beautiful violin solo.

7. Said good-bye to Lori's amazing Aunt Sharon Yancey who is serving in the Billings, Montana mission. She invited us to a fabulous dinner at her house along with my parents and my cousin, Jeff. We will miss her so much, but it has been so neat to see her prepare and dedicate this time to serving the Lord.

8. Grew a garden and some flowers. We discovered that praying mantis bugs pinch--HARD, tomato worms are big and squishy, and even a week of neglect means overgrown plants and lots of weeds. We have had a bumper crop of cucumbers and squash bugs, but we defeated the bugs and the zucchini and pumpkins survived!

We have about 7 varieties of tomatoes growing--the yellow pear tomatoes are the best!

9. Painted some outdoor furniture that Joe's dad built at the Lakehouse. We love the swing--Halle's favorite summer night activity was to sit on the swing with mom and eat a fudgesicle.

The table in the courtyard is our favorite dinner spot right now--it is also great for breakfast!

10. Painted and decorated Halle's bedroom. She wanted a pink garden room and that's what she got, complete with a picket fence, glowing flower lamps, and a magic tree with sparkles and bows.

WE LOVE WEDDINGS!

We celebrated another wedding! This time it was Joe's niece Micki who was married on September 6 in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple. It was a fun day with an Asian theme--lunch at P.F. Chang's and a beautiful outdoor reception with edamame, won tons, fried rice, and paper lanterns.

Joe's parents came from St. George, and Riley played with Orion, Joe's great-nephew, during the temple ceremony.

8-8-08 A LUCKY DAY IN CHINA, AN UNLUCKY DAY IN GRANTSVILLE!

As the world began celebrating the Olympics, I earned a gold medal for "stupid household accidents." While spackling holes in Halle's room, I fell off a 2 ft. high stool and hit my head. At least that's theoretically what I did--I don't remember any of it, but my head hurt and I had huge bruises behind my knees. I do remember that I had just come home from swimming lessons and sent Lainey and Halle to shower while I did some quick spackling. The next thing I remember is sitting in the hallway in my bathing suit and telling Joe that I felt funny. Things got worse when I became confused about why I was in the hallway, why I was painting Halle's room, etc. I began "looping"--asking Joe the same questions over and over with the same responses every time. As I became more agitated, he became more concerned and called 911. My neighbor, Scott Rowley is an EMT and he arrived first. I remembered him, but I didn't know my address, the date, year, etc. I did, however, remember that I was in my bathing suit and I hadn't shaved my legs that day and I apologized repeatedly for that. I also remembered that Scott's daughter, Brianna, was at my house hanging out with Riley, and I apologized profusely for that. I cried a lot, and I apologized profusely for that.

They strapped me to a gurney and took me to the hospital in the ambulance. By the time we got there, I was more coherent and my head didn't hurt much. I was dizzy and nauseated and had a really good concussion so they gave me a CAT scan, some Meclazine and Valium, and sent me home.

It took me a few weeks to feel totally normal, especially emotionally! Every time I saw Scott or talked about him being there, I started to cry. A few days after the event, I was raving about the miracle of life and healing and the apathy of human beings. I believe my exact words were, "Why aren't people falling on their knees in awe about the miracle of life and living?" After a few days of that, I resorted to just crying about every 30 minutes. It is all quite hilarious now, but I also realize how blessed I was. I could have been hurt much worse, even permanently--when the code went out over the radio I was classified one number higher than death. It was also a great blessing to have Scott there because he was able to answer my questions and I think that helped me start processing things earlier than I might have.

The funny moral to the story: don't spackle in your bathing suit with hairy legs--you never know when your neighbor is going to strap you to a gurney!

The serious moral to the story: things happen so quickly--your life can change in an instant so don't waste a minute, even if you have to spackle in your bathing suit with hairy legs!

New Family Members

2008-06-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

Time to add some new family members--this time kittens. We finally recovered from our black lab puppy, it took six months, and decided that cats are much easier to care for. They are so much fun right now and spend all of their time wrestling or sleeping. They both have collars with bells so that we always know where they are. Lainey's black kitten is named Hatley and Halle's calico kitten is named Alice. Both are girls and they will NOT be having kittens! Thanks to Aunt LeAnne's family for taking good care of them and their mom.

Cyleste and Ross Get Married

2008-06-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Cyleste Tucker, Lesley's friend and my 4th "sister," was married in the Bountiful Temple on June 6th to Ross Leslie (notice the last name). It was a beautiful marriage and they were so happy. It was a cold day for June, but everyone was so happy that we didn't notice. Okay, maybe a little bit! Congratulations Cyleste and Ross!

Time with the Turners--the Georgia Cousins are Here!

2008-06-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Daybells, Lori's sister and her family, are visiting from Georgia for their annual Snowbird trip. We were able to spend an afternoon with them at the movies and Grandpa and Grandma's house and some time at Cyleste's wedding. It is so much fun to watch them all together--although I think Grandpa and Grandma are relieved when it is over.
We took a fun "circle of cousins" picture (minus Courtnee, Danaka, and Jayci) and of course some of Zac.

Vacationing at Discovery Bay, WA

2008-06-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

We are now beginning part 2 of our vacation and we are happy to be "settled" in one place for the next week. Discovery Bay is located on the Washington Coast, north of Seattle. We are staying at the Worldmark resort and the bay is amazing. When you look out the windows, it looks just like looking across Bottle Bay on Lake Pend Oreille--the Lakehouse where Joe's parents lived in Northern Idaho and we spent many fun summers. Lots of evergreens, but the bay is salt water instead of fresh water. There are some harbor seals that live here and lots of sea creatures. We saw some enormous starfish and something that none of us knows what it was--some kind of alien jelly fish. The tide was very low this morning and we did some major beach combing and brought back lots of oyster shells. We left the dead crabs and sea weed behind.

Tonight the tide is high and the water is just below our lowest deck. There was a big raccoon climbing there earlier. Incidentally, the unit here is on 5 floors--master bedroom, bathroom, deck, and laundry on the bottom floor; entry on the 1st floor; living area, kitchen, and deck on the 2nd floor; bathroom on the 3rd floor; bedroom on the 4th floor. We are definitely getting our exercise, but Courtnee has been running the roads outside to get some hill work in for cross country. I passed on those.

Friday, June 13th--We are so lazy, today! We needed a down day and have spent most of our time indoors besides our morning beach combing and occasional trips to the deck. Joe took all four girls swimming for about an hour while I caught up on this blog--it only took me about 2 1/2 hours after all of the technical difficulties and mistakes. We have read, watched TV, made key chains for girl's camp and Father's Day presents, took naps, surfed the web, played Polly Pockets and Webkinz, and ate way too much!

Saturday, June 14th--Today we traveled to Port Townsend, a beautiful Victorian town on the coast. The GPS got messed up and so we went on a tour through the neighborhoods. Downtown is incredibly beautiful and full of fun shops and places to eat. The Farmer's Market was in full swing and there were street musicians all along main street. One of the shop owners told us that it is the first nice weekend they have had this year so there were lots of people out. We ate at a 50's style soda shop and we all had our first ice cream sodas--strawberry, pineapple, and chocolate. The spring flowers are in full bloom everywhere and the poppies are amazing. Courtnee and I went to some of the shops--my favorite was called "Tickled Pink" and hers was "Expressions." I would love to spend at least a week here exploring all of the shops and historical sites!

Sunday, June 15: FATHER'S DAY--What a great place to celebrate Father's Day. I only wish that Joe and I could have had our own dads with us--they both would absolutely love it here! We cooked a big and yummy breakfast for Joe, he opened some gifts and a card, and then we began the frantic frenzy of getting to church on time. We went to church in Sequim which we were told is pronounced, "Squim." I was excited to go with Courtnee and Riley to YW--I love to get new ideas for our YW program. However, Lainey and Halle refused to go to Primary and after Joe got his Father's Day candy bar, he was also ready to go. Sequim is a 30 minute drive from Discovery Bay, so I decided I would rather drive home with them than walk. We came home and made Joe dinner--barbequed Salmon, twice-baked potatoes, salad and strawberry shortcake (made just like his mom makes it!) After our dinner, we went to explore a really neat cemetery that Courtnee and I found on our latest run. On the way there, we saw a huge bald eagle that was quite close--so beautiful! The cemetery is old and very overgrown, but has had people buried there as recently as last year. There is also a grave for a woman who was born in the late 1700s. The flowers are beautiful there as well and it was a fun walk for all of us! On the way back we noticed that a passenger in a red jeep was definitely dressed for the weather! Happy Father's Day, Joe!

Monday, June 16--FORKS & LAPUSH, "SPARKLING VAMPIRE DAY": What a great day! We had a fabulous day and saw some amazing places. We left Discovery Bay in the morning and headed west on Highway 101 to Forks, WA, the setting of the famous Twilight book series by Stephanie Meyer. It was part 2 of Courtnee's pilgrimage trip. On the way, we stopped for a hike at Crescent Lake to Marymere Falls. It was such a beautiful hike through an old growth rain forest with these amazing old trees and neat hollows and stumps. There are ferns and moss everywhere and it looks like somewhere that fairies would live. We didn't find any fairies, but we did see a doe and her very new fawn. The doe would leap over these huge fallen trees and the fawn would try, but would only make it on top and then slide. Speaking of sliding, Halle slipped on a moss-covered rock and fell in the very cold stream, but was very happy the rest of the time. We could not keep Lainey on the path, and she told me that she was so happy because she loves being in nature. She is going to be our vegetarian environmentalist someday.

After Marymere Falls, we continued to Forks and arrived in time for lunch at Sully's burgers. I was brave and tried a "Bella Burger" with swiss cheese, pineapple, and special sauce with the burger. I'm not sure why those things are on the Bella Burger, but it was great. To add to our Twilight Tour, we drove past the high school, went to a few stops for T-shirts, and ended at the Chamber of Commerce. Who knew what a highlight that would be! As soon as we came in, the woman working there asked us if we liked Edward or Jacob better and told us that she has to be loyal to Jacob because she is Quileute, but who can resist someone like Edward who is all sparkly. She gave us lots of "Forks" pamphlets and told us some legends passed down from her grandfather about the ones in the woods with "red eyes." They also took our picture and posted them on their official web site.

We finished at Forks and headed to LaPush, the Quileute Reservation where Jacob Black "lives." We hiked to Second Beach which was another hike through an even older growth rain forest. It was cold at the beach, but low tide so we saw lots of star fish and anemones. There are some incredible stack rocks there and I climbed a small one and had an amazing view. Riley, Lainey, and Halle couldn't resist jumping some waves even though it was only 52 degrees, and apparently I couldn't either because I slipped on a kelp-covered rock, fell in, and cut my hand up on some barnacles. We were all cold when we came back to the car and immediately fell asleep as we warmed up. Luckily, Joe stayed awake for the two hour drive and we made it home for some soup, a warm fire, and bed.

Now, who do we like better? Edward or Jacob? Courtnee-Edward, Riley-Edward, Lori...Bella Burgers!

Tuesday, June 17--Down Day!!! Watched movies, ate junk, went swimming, more crafts, and Joe and I both finished The Host," enjoyed being together.

Wednesday, June 18--LAVENDAR DAY: Joe gave me a perfect day! I slept in and then he and I went to Sequim to tour some lavendar farms. We met some charming women at Port William's Lavendar Farm; the owner and her husband decided to start their lavendar farm on "a lark" about 8 years ago and they are still going strong. The lavendar is a few weeks behind because it has been so unusually cold and cloudy here, but there were some fun birdhouses, beautiful flowers, cute gift shop, and very friendly golden retrievers. Upon the owners recommendation, we went to Cedarbrook Lavendar and Herb Farm for lunch. Joe had yummy fish and chips, I had a mixed green salad with a lavendar/cranberry vinagrette; citrus vegetable soup, lavendar lemonade and we shared lavendar cheesecake for dessert. They also brought us some yummy, flaky rolls baked in terra cotta pots with herb butter--my favorite kind of lunch! We toured their gardens as well and they were full of wonderful smelling plants and lots of cats. On the counter in the gift shop was a sleeping cat that they mentioned has been at the farm for the last 17 years, spending most of its time sleeping on the counter. It was a delightful day--a feast for the senses! I am ready to pack up and open a lavendar farm in Squim. It is green, has an ocean view, and normally the temperatures are great.

Back at Discovery Bay, the girls hung out and we enjoyed some sunshine outside. The water has been very calm today and we have been watching the crabs and seals. We are all sad to leave and trying to enjoy every last minute of our vacation.

Vacationing in Victoria, B.C.

2008-06-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

As I post this, I am overlooking the inner harbor of Victoria on a cloudy June day. We have had a great trip so far and we are all in "chillaxing" mode (Riley's word) right now. I will add pictures when I can. Due to the internet connection here, it takes forever to upload Joe's pictures!

We are happy to be back in Victoria! It is my and Joe's second time in 10 months and it has been fun to introduce the girls to all the things that we loved when we were here in August. Even the grocery store in as adventure because all of the groceries have English and French names, and everything is measured with the metric system. It makes deciding what the speed limit is very interesting. Also, it was 8 degrees on Monday (Celsius) and we aren't really sure how many miles away anything is.

We are staying at the Worldmark resort on the inner harbor. (For those who have been to Victoria before, it is about a 10 minute walk to the Parliament Building and the Empress Hotel. For those who haven't, you are really missing something!) We also get to watch the ferry's come in, as well as the sea planes. It is fun during the day, but the planes are SOOOOO loud early in the morning. The harbor is beautiful at night with everything lit up, reflecting lights into the water. Courtnee and I had an amazing 5 mile run around the harbor last night--it reminded me a bit of the running paths I loved in Eugene.

Here is a brief synopsis of the trip so far:

Sunday, June 8th--leave early in the morning and work hard to remember that it is Sunday. Stopped at a rest stop in Idaho for lunch and one in Oregon for a break.

Ended at 6:00 in Pendleton and had a great visit with our friends from Heber, Bret and Karilee Barfuss and their four daughters. It was so good to see them and remember how nice it is to have good friends!
Monday, June 9th--leave really early so that we won't miss the ferry to Victoria! Didn't stop, but drove through some really beautiful areas! Almost got lost in Seattle because Mapquest wanted us to go one way and the GPS said another. The GPS won and we got our first ferry ride from Seattle to Port Townsend and then drove to Port Angeles where we arrived two hours early and 4th in line for the ferry. We ate some lunch and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the car while the rain poured. We drove onto the ferry which left at exactly 5:15 p.m. The crossing was very rough--even Joe felt sick. Amazingly, I was okay unless I tried to walk. Courtnee's solution to the queasiness was sleep. Riley, Lainey, and Halle's was running around on top of the ship and feeling the wind. We arrived safely in Victoria to unusually cold and windy weather. The torrential rain is not that unusual, but a bit unusual for this time of year. We drove about 5 minutes and checked into our room, ran 5 miles on the treadmill, ate a quick dinner, lit a fire, warmed up and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 10th--Halle woke everyone up because the planes and ferries woke her up. The girls laid around for a while while the boy (Joe) finished up a work deadline. Then we packed up (we had to switch rooms for the next two nights) and went to tour Hatley castle. Joe and I loved it when we went there and we were excited for the girls to see it. It was the first stop of Courtnee's pilgrimage trip. Her favorite TV series, Smallville, does some of its exterior shots there. For X-men fans, X-men 2 and 3 were filmed there--it was Professor Xavier's school for gifted children. It was a perfect castle-visiting day: cold, damp, cloudy, peacocks everywhere. We enjoyed touring the inside of the castle, and then the sun came out just as we went to tour the gardens. We spent a lot of time outside admiring the Italian, Japanese, and bog gardens and the three lakes.

After the castle, we stopped at the grocery store, checked into our new room, fixed dinner, ran 5 miles, sat in the hot tub on our deck, read books, slept.

Wednesday, June 11th--the planes woke us again, but it was so fun to listen to them and watch them. Joe took Lainey and Halle for a walk and I finished a great book called Buster Midnight's Cafe and Courtnee and Riley hung out. Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf for fish and chips and took a trip to Beacon Hill Children's Farm to see the animals and the petting zoo--who knew how cute and fun baby goats could be. Then, back to the room, into the hot tub, watched a movie, read books, Courtnee slept. We spent the evening exploring part of downtown Victoria--the inner harbor, the Empress Hotel, fun shops, and took a water taxi back to our room for nighttime stuff: dinner, hot tub, exercise, sleep.

Thursday, June 12th--our last day in Victoria was beautiful and sunny!

Joe, Riley and I took a walk along fisherman's wharf for breakfast and some alone with one daughter time. We saw three seals and watched people attempt to feed them--the seagulls would steal the fish right out of their hands.

The whole family packed up and then some of us took a trip to Victoria's second castle, Craigdarroch castle. Both Hatley and Craigdarroch were built by members of the Dunsmuir Family, prominent B.C. citizens in the 1800s and early 1900s.

After our visit to the castle, we went back to the ferry for a long wait, but a beautiful and sunny crossing. Lainey cried for all of us as we left and announced that she was definitely going to live in Victoria when she grows up.

GOODBYE VICTORIA!

"Smiley Riley"

2008-06-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Riley just finished her 8th grade year and is looking forward to high school next year. I told her that she wasn't allowed to go until she weighed at least 100 lbs., but she is barely over 80. She is only about 2 inches shorter than me, though so maybe she will start to put on some pounds. She has had a great year and finished with a bang!

Riley's 14th birthday was May 26 and we had a fun family celebration all day. We started with breakfast at Jim's and ended with her requested dinner: pasta with meat sauce, garlic cheese bread, and ceaser salad. We followed that with a made-from-scratch marble cake that we ate while we watched National Treasure 2. She and I went shopping the week before to get her new clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. and we gave her an I-Home, Stephanie Meyer's new book, The Host, and some CDs and a new church outfit to wear to church dances. She also had her friend, Abby Beazer, sleep over on Friday night and they "hung out" and ate lots of junk!

Besides her birthday, she also participated in the Jr. High track meet and got a 3rd place ribbon for her participation on the relay team. WAY TO GO!

Riley has LOVED the drama program this year and did a great job as an head Oompa Loompa in the Jr. High Musical where she got to sing, dance, and shine in the spotlight. SUPERSTAR RILEY!

She wrapped up her service as 8th grade class president by giving a welcome speech at graduation where she graduated and received an honor's award for having a cummulative GPA over 3.5. She also scored a 94% on the English section of her core test. SMARTY PANTS!

She finished all of this off by having her top braces removed the week after school--they will put them back on for a few months in about a year, after they have finished correcting her bite. SMILEY RILEY!

Joe's Winning Photo

2008-06-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

Joe's photographs just keep getting better! He just entered this photo in a contest for photos of sunrises and sunsets, and out of 61 entries, his won! He photographed the sunset from the deck of our cottage on Vancouver Island last August. He took a lot of shots, chose this one and did a bit of editing and it turned into this incredible picture. We have framed a 12x16 copy of it and the girls didn't believe that he had taken it. It is a hobby that he loves and that we all benefit from. He is looking forward to taking lots of pictures on our upcoming trip. I have hardly taken any pictures for the past 1 1/2 years because his are so good, but I have started taking a lot lately with our small digital for this blog. There is an obvious difference between my shots and his.

COURTNEE: Great Accomplishments, Important Life Lessons!

2008-05-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

As Courtnee wraps up the end of another school year, it is another streak of busyness and lots of good things. Through it all, she has developed some very important qualities and learned some great life lessons.

UYSO--Courtnee ended her 1st year in the Utah Youth Symphony at a final concert in Abravenal Hall. What an incredible opportunity and reward for 6 years of playing the violin. The concert was amazing and it has been a real privilege to watch her be a part of this organization. I am amazed when I see her up there playing that she is my daughter. I think she has learned the importance of SACRIFICE (getting up before 7 a.m. every Saturday morning) and DILLIGENCE (many hours or practice) through this experience.

SCHOOL--The hard work, stress, and late nights continues to pay off as Courtnee received top honors at GHS for her third consecutive year of a 4.0. What a great accomplishment! She has definitely learned the importance of HARD WORK. WAY TO GO COURTNEE!!!

ELECTIONS--Courtnee decided to do class elections, again, and she WON! She is now the Senior class Historian and looking forward to a year of student governmnet and many years of planning class reunions. An extra fun part will be working with her cousins, Jed and Kiley Jones. I think this experience has taught her that PERSISTANCE always pays off!

WISDOM TEETH--a not so fun thing this month was getting her wisdom teeth out. It has been three weeks and she now has a "golf-ball" looking lump on one side of her face and is back on antibiotics, ibuprofin, and warm packs for a secondary infection. The laying around and feeling gross is getting old really fast, but she is developing PATIENCE.

TRACK--track season is finally over and Courtnee is sooooo glad! This has been a difficult running year for her and she is looking forward to a fresh start with cross country starting in June. Despite the discouragement, she has stuck with it, been to some really great meets, and learned a lot about herself. I think I am the most proud of her for hanging in there with track because she has to work at it the hardest and it is not easy to stick with something when you don't feel very good about your performance. Hopefully, the lessons of HARD WORK, SACRIFICE, DILLIGENCE, PATIENCE, AND PERSISTANCE will carry her through a great year as a Senior!

2008-05-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Here are my answers to Tracy's Scattergories tag: I tag ANYONE who actually looks at this blog--Brandi, Mindi, Sid, Lesley...anyone out there?

What is your name: Lori

Four letter word: Life

Vehicle: Lexus

TV Show: Lost!

City: Loa

Boy's Name: Larry

Girl's Name: Lainey

Occupation: Lifeguard

Something You Wear: Lingerie

Food: Licorice

Something Found in a Bathroom: Lotion

Reason for Being Late: Laid in bed too long!

Something You Shout: Look out!

Women's Conference 2008

2008-05-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

What a great BYU Women's Conference! I realized that this is the 12th year that I have attended with my Mom and sisters, aunt and cousins and I think that we just about have it perfected. Here are the highlights:

*Favorite place to stay: dorms at Heritage or Helaman Halls (although it is always very surreal to be back and realize that it has been more than 20 years since I was a freshman at Gates Hall).

*Favorite places to eat: Wednesday night--Los Hermanos, Friday night--Brick Oven, Saturday morning--IHOP and all of the concessions on campus that sell mint brownies, chocolate-covered cinnamon bears, and cinnamon almonds.

*Favorite things to do: go to great classes, fun sharing stations, incredible concert, spend time with some of my favorite women, shop at the Bookstore, enjoy springtime on BYU campus, let loose like Lesley.

*Favorite "peeps" to go with this year: Mom, sisters-LeAnne and Lesley,
friend-Cyleste Tucker, aunt-Sharon Yancey, cousin-Cathy Sylvester.

*Highlights: stopping at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point and listening to a prophet of God, President Monson.

PROM! PROM! PROM! PROM! PROM!

2008-04-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

Courtnee & Trevor at Promenade
We all survived our first Grantsville High School Prom! Prom is a very big deal in our little community. Courtnee, and the rest of the Junior class spent two hours every weeknight for a month practicing for promenade. Parents, grandparents, and anyone in the community that wanted to come (and pay) assembled at the high school at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, to watch the juniors promenade. There were 90 couples and each boy and girl were announced by name and their parent's names. They then descended a staircase and met where the boys handed the girls a rose. They then descended another staircase together, walked to the center of the gym floor, performed a 3-point turn so that everyone could see them, stopped at a large urn for the girls to put their rose in and lined up at the end of the gym until every couple was announced. This took over an hour--Courtnee and her partner were #6 so they stood and waited for a very long time. After they were all announced they spread out on the floor and performed a choreographed dance that was quite spectacular. They went all around the room in small groups and large groups and did lots of neat movements. It was fun to see all of the beautiful dresses and the boys in their tuxedos. Then, they lined up on the opposite sides and did the entire dance again so that everyone in the gym could see everyone. I complained about all of the time it took to prepare, but the results really were amazing. Courtnee went to Promenade with Trevor Daniels, a fellow violin player, good friend, and a cute boy in our ward.

Courtnee & Nate
Courtnee's prom date started at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning with breakfast on top of Black Rock. She went to prom with another cute boy from our ward, Nate Isom, and 4 other couples. After breakfast, they went to the Gateway and played games and then each couple spent $4 on whatever they could find that would be the "coolest." Courtnee and Nate went to Discovery Gateway and bought a parachute guy and a "guts" ball. After they finished there, the guys went to work on some "surprises" and the girls came back to our house to watch The Notebook. (This was not part of the plan. Thanks to the Cartwright girls for the frantic cleaning!) The boys came back and got the girls at about 2:30 and took them to Stansbury Lake where they ate dinner on a floating gazebo--a steak dinner. After that, it was back home for the primping. We spent at least an hour curling Courtnee's hair, and twirling rhinestones into it. She looked amazing and was very excited. Nate picked her up around 6:30--in a U-Haul. She knew this was coming and she was worried about it, but it turned out really neat: the boys decorated it with flowers and lights and curtains and put couches in it with blankets and pillows. They also all lined up along the ramp and held roses each time the girls got in and out. After promenade, they stayed for the dance, and then had ice cream and rode around in the U-Haul which Courtnee said was a "blast." It was a long day, but she really had a great time. Thanks Trevor & Nate!

Getting to Know You

2008-04-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

WHAT IS YOUR SUBWAY SANDWICH?

Mine: 6" Chicken Teryaki
Honey-oat bread
Sweet onion sauce
Honey mustard-just a bit
Spinach-lots!
Tomatoes
Red onion-lots!
Salt and pepper

Living Like Laura, #2

2008-04-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

As Halle and I were reading about Laura and her family tonight, an experience she had brought up a reocurring gripe that I have. Laura and her Ma and sisters decided to make a pie to surprise their Pa with when he came back from hunting. He arrived late and was discouraged because there was nothing to hunt, but he was so thrilled with the pie that he and the rest of the family forgot all about the lack of meat. They were so excited about a PIE!

I can't even imagine my family noticing a pie. Instead I would receive comments like, "I don't like that kind of pie." "Is there whipped cream or ice cream? I can't eat pie without it." "Will this pie make me look fat?" Okay, maybe they would be surprised because I rarely make pie, but it wouldn't be that big of a deal.

I don't think that my family is greedy, ungrateful, or unusual in their comments. It is more that there is a sense of entitlement in society that causes many to assume that of course they will get something wonderful. My children receive so many extrinsic rewards at school, church, the doctor's office, the dentists office, the bank, music lessons, etc. that it takes a whole lot to thrill them at this point. I have tried very hard to avoid giving them rewards at home so they can learn the inner satisfaction of doing something (okay, except for potty training), but I feel sabotaged by almost everything else. I even had a daughter that got a reward in her 3rd grade class if she had to go to the bathroom, but she held it until recess. How did all of this come about and why?

I know that when I was a child, rewards were rare and so they really meant something! I wish that I could help my children see this. I wish that they would be excited by something as simple as a pie. Lesson #2, learn to be happy, excited, and appreciative of simple things.

2008-04-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Living Like Laura, #1

I love the Little House on the Prarie book series! I have been reading these books as long as I remember and I was so excited to have daughters to read them to that I started reading to Courtnee when she was only 4. Halle and I just finished By the Shores of Silver Lake, and we are ready to start on The Long Winter. I am drawn to these stories again and again and I get such a sense of comfort from reading them. I am somewhat envious of Laura's life in the American frontier and I have often wondered why a woman in the 21st century would be so envious of a girl that lived in the 19th century. What draws me so strongly to Laura?

I have concluded that most of that envy comes from the simplicity of the life Laura led. I know that life wasn't easy and I do not envy her the lack of plumbing, electricity, transportation, privacy or the fragility of life without medical care and good medicine. I do not envy her dependance on the weather for her farmer father's and husbands livlihood. But I do envy her the beauty of a simple life that
allowed time to experience life and not just watch it disappear. She lived in the moment. That is lesson #1 from Laura, learn to live more fully in the moment.

Team Turner at SLC Marathon

2008-04-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

We did it! Our Team Turner members competed in the SLC 5k on April 19, 2008. It was a perfect running day-a little bit windy, but sunny and cool. Courtnee was our winner, but Riley and Taylor and Lesley and Brian weren't far behind. Dad and I had a great walk together and it was fun to spend that time with just him--I don't get to do that very often. Later, we watched Baylee, on Tim's shoulders, and Mckenzie run the Kid's Marathon 1k--way to go girls! Tim, LeAnne, and Mom came to cheer us on and help shuttle us and Joe willingly stayed at home with a sick Lainey and Halle. Some of the highlights were: being together, supporting a good cause-the Huntsman Cancer Institute, watching spiderman run the 5k, the food at the end, watching the winning marathoners speed by, Courtnee's new friend--a man older than me who ran an amazingly fast 1/2 marathon at just over an hour and asked her, "so what do you do?"

After the race we went back to the Turner homestead to celebrate Mom's birthday on April 20. We ate, talked, laughed, looked at wedding pictures, opened present, and even discussed some politics and news. I planned on taking pictures to post, but when I tried to turn on the camera, I discovered that there was no memory card.

It was nice to be celebrating good health, a new marriage, a birthday! At this time last year, Dad was diagnosed with cancer. What a blessing to have him recovered, feeling good, and completing a 5k. Two years ago, we had just lost Tari to breast cancer and Grandma Turner passed away on April 19. It is nice to have a season of joy this year, instead of worry and sorrow.

Lesley & Brian's Wedding March 29, 2009

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Yeah, Lesley & Brian! My youngest sister Lesley, married Brian Price on March 29 in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a cold day, but clear and sunny. After the sealing, Brian's parents hosted an amazing wedding luncheon at the Joseph Smith
Memorial Building. There was a reception that night at the Aspen Landing Reception Center. It was all so beautiful, so much fun, and everyone was so happy! Joe was the unofficial photographer and took lots of pictures. Here are a few of our favorites.

New to Blogging!

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I'm so excited to have a blog! Hopefully it will help me to get our family lives and history more organized. At the very least, when I am tired and discouraged, I can look at all of the things that we are doing and realize that there is a reason I am tired, my house isn't as clean as I want, the weeds are still growing, and there is a bill somewhere that I forgot to pay. Living, laughing, and loving can be very busy, but very fulfilling as well.

Visiting Another Country--the DeLeon Baptism

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We had a fabulous experience on April 11. Our friends, the DeLeon-Gonzalez family were baptized. They attend a Spanish-speaking ward so everything was in Spanish: the prayers, the talks, the hymns, the baptisms, the conversations, the food. It was really amazing. Erwin, his wife Nancy, and their daughters Kimberly, Cindy, and Cynthia were all baptized (their twin boys are 7). Erwin asked Joe to baptize him and after he practiced a few times, he remembered how to do it in Spanish. We were happy for them and feel blessed to be a part of their lives

PROM! PROM! PROM! PROM! PROM!

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Junior Prom is April 26th and Courtnee has been getting ready for the past few months. Of course, prom is all about the dress and she found the perfect one when we were in St. George for Spring Break. Mom was happy to finally find a modest dress (once she got over the sticker shock), dad was happy to take 153 pictures of Courtnee in the dress, and Courtnee was just happy! She did have a fun "modeling session" on the top of a bluff in St. George just as the sun was setting.

Living, Laughing, Loving...and Laying around in April

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I have spent most of April laying around...sick! The first round was an exceptionally long and bad case of vertigo. I couldn't move my head in any direction for almost a week or I became extremely nauseated. I spent those days in the recliner in front of the projector watching movies that didn't move too fast and dragging myself to the bathroom every few hours. I couldn't even shower for 4 days (disgusting!), and my family got very tired of waiting on me, but they were amazing, especially Joe who would work all day and then take care of the kids, dinner, softball games, etc. all night. I finally decided I had an ear infection and started taking antibiotics and within a day and a half, I was better. After 3 days of feeling great, I got a rotten sinus infection. I can still drag myself around, a bit, but feel yucky all the time. I finally went to the doctor and got a new antibiotic and am on the mend. A few things I have learned:

Positives --catching up on movies and TV shows, being waited on, lots of rest and fluids, sympathy, high scores on Chuzzle, current with my email, lots of support and love from family, valid excuse for not getting things done!

Negatives--laundry, bills, housework piling up, no exercise, weight gain from laying around, sitting in a dark basement all day and night, missing out on life and good weather!