Jack can't talk Thai.

But, the boy can sing! We bought tickets to the Jack Johnson concert back in April and have been anxiously waiting for last night to come. It was such a fun concert! We went with Jeremy "the Hillbilly" and Rochelle "the toothless wonder".

My favorite songs were "Do You Remember" and "Angel", they are now added to my play list for your listening enjoyment!

I was a little concerned that I might be getting high from the cloud of marijuana smoke that hung over the crowd, but other than that had a blast. We loved the fact that he brought over a local "sistah" to play the ukulele and sing a few songs with him, Jack even jammed on the uke for awhile too. If you get the chance to see him in concert you should! Did I mention he's easy on the eyes?

Here I go again...

I go through cycles of being Grinch-like. I've just come to accept this about myself. The past few weeks my temper has been gradually building. The fuel of my fire? My next-door neighbor. She is a nice enough person, but absolutely clueless in the manners department.

She runs a day-care out of her home. She has what seems to me a TON of children there. People are dropping their kids off at all hours of the day, and I think some actually have to spend the night at times. People absolutely rave about her, so she must be doing something right.

To make a long story short...she lets these kids out to play in the backyard at 7:15 every morning! One of the kids has the most annoying scream EVER and he doesn't know how to talk in a normal volume. They are always fighting over swings or slides or banging on things with a plastic baseball bat. At 7:15 AM these noises carry, and my bedroom windows don't even come close to blocking out the noise! Three or four times I've opened up my window and yelled at them to be quiet. I've even told them to go back in the house until it gets later, and they've listened to me.

You would think that my neighbor would get the hint, but they are back at it every morning. Lately I've been sleeping like crap, so 7:15 seems a lot earlier than it really is. This morning was the straw that broke the camel's back. I tried the yelling-out-the-window-route, but they just ignored me. When I couldn't get back to sleep, I got out of bed, stomped to my closet and got my sweats on, put my sleepiest look on my face, and glanced in the mirror to make sure my hair looked sufficiently messy, then continued to stomp out my front door.

My neighbor looked a little sheepish as she peeked out her cracked front door. I explained my concerns and asked if she could maybe keep the kids in the house a little longer in the morning. She agreed with me, so hopefully I'll be getting some better sleep tomorrow...I mean if we all know we shouldn't generally call people on the phone before 9am or after 9pm, we shouldn't let noisy kids bang around in the back yard during the 7 o'clock hour, unless you live out in the country and the only things you'll be waking up are the critters in the bushes!

Hopefully the Grinch inside me can go dormant for awhile now:)

influences

A couple of weeks ago our bishop gave an outstanding talk on all the different people who have influenced his life for the good. It really got me thinking about the many wonderful people who have touched my life: parents, grandparents, in-laws, siblings, step-parents, friends, church leaders, etc.


Yesterday I learned that one of those people, an influence for the good in my life, was killed tragically in a small plane crash, near the area in Utah that I grew up in. Kim Acton, 51, was my boss for about 5 summers, and during the school year after volleyball season. He was such a fun guy to be around. I learned so much from him...how to work hard, how to play hard, how to take jokes, and how to pull some pretty good pranks. He was a devoted husband, and father to 5 children. I loved watching him with his wife, Debbie. You could just see how much he absolutely adored her, by watching his face light up when she and the kids came in the restaurant to visit him. I felt honored that Kim and Debbie would take time from their busy schedules to come to St. George to be at my wedding.


One thing that sticks out in my head was that his was one of the only restaurants in our small town open on Sundays. We all had to take our turns working shifts, and would often beg him to close on Sundays. But, those were the busiest, most lucrative days we worked, so more often than not, we started begging to work Sundays because we knew we would make lots of tips those days. Finally, he decided to close on Sundays and soon after was called to be the Bishop of his ward. He would always joke that he was going to open the restaurant back up so they would release him:)


The kids from Blanding all loved Kim. Every home game during football season, he would feed the whole team lunch. The full-time missionaries in town knew that there was always a free meal waiting for them. I think he just made people feel so welcome and loved, that he was always surrounded by people who thought the world of him. He was such a genuine man! I hope that his wife and children (one of whom is on a mission right now) will find comfort during this hard time. My thoughts and prayers are with them.


Brian Bayles, 33, was a co-worker of mine at Kim's restaurant. He was also always happy and joking around. He was friends with everyone! He left behind a wife and 4 young children. Again, I hope that they will find some peace.


The other man, Eric Johnson, was older than me, so I didn't know him as well, but I knew his younger sisters. I know that he was a good man and loved his family. He also left behind a wife and 4 young children.


Growing up in Blanding, a small town of about 3,100 people, something this tragic impacts everyone. There are two stakes in the Blanding area, but all three of these men were in the same ward. I can't imagine how hard this time will be for their families. One thing I know for sure, is that they will be taken care of. It's times like these that I wish I didn't live so far away. I wish there was something more I could do to help out. Click here to view an article about these men and what happened.

Surfin' Safari

Our family's been surfin' lately. Now that the weather finally feels like summer again, we've been spending more time on the boat. On Monday, our friend Spencer, taught Logan how to get up on the surf board. He literally ran around the island pulling her! Of course, I forgot my camera that day, so the next day we brought the camera and she tried again. We are so proud of her! I think now that she's got a little courage in her, she'll tackle wake boarding next:)

I couldn't figure out how to get the video to work on my camera, so we just have the still shots. Jeremy figured it out after she was done, so next time we'll get the live action.
Our next little surfer was none other than Bronson! Kelly was out in the water and Bronson jumped in after him, so Kelly decided to try and surf with him. I was a nervous wreck having to drive the boat while my son was being dragged behind it, but Kelly did awesome! Bronson's head never even went under! Our talented, computer-nerd friend, Jeremy, made this awesome video. Thanks Jer!

Meet the new addition!

Our family has a new pet. His name is Bruce (we stole the name from my sister, Melanie's cat, who got the name from "Matilda"). He likes to run around and pant with his tongue hanging out. The girls love to play with him. He likes to sneak up on you and lick your legs. He's really good at playing fetch. And finally, he loves to eat. His favorite food is the caramel kettle corn we get at the concerts on the river front. Isn't he the cutest puppy you ever laid eyes on?? For me, he's the perfect kind of dog...someday he'll take himself on walks, feed himself, bathe himself, and he'll even go poop in the toilet. Someday. For now, we'll just enjoy our little Brucey!

Memories...

I saw this idea here (the funniest blog EVER!). I want to know what memories people have of me. It's also a good way for some of you "lurkers" out there to let me know you're looking. So bring on the memories! Be them good, bad, or ugly (just try to keep 'em PG rated)!

Fun with Grandma...

My mom was able to come up and spend a few days with us this past week. We had a lot of fun! We were able to spend some time on the boat, my kids were super impressed with Grandma's wake boarding skills! We played "Greed" with some friends. We had our very own "Indianna Jones Movie Marathon" I made a batch of regular popcorn, and a batch of Jenn's caramel popcorn each night...yummy!

The girls loved being able to ride their bikes beside Grandma while she went running (I'm mean and make them stay home while I exercise, it's my alone time). It's tradition for my mom to take the kids to McDonald's for breakfast. Nalani is a HUGE sausage fan and ate all the leftovers, for such a tiny little girl she can sure put the food away!

Maika was sick for a few days, running a pretty high fever, but the kicker was that she was complaining of back pain, so I caved and took her to the doctor. It turns out that she had a pretty bad UTI that started going up into her kidney. After a BIG shot in the bum and a prescription she's much better! It was sure nice to have Grandma here to stay with the other kids instead of dragging them all with me! Thanks mom!

The kids have been begging me to take them berry picking at a local farm, so we decided it would be the perfect activity to do while Grandma was here. We had so much fun! We picked four BIG buckets of raspberries (Bronson probably ate the equivalent of a bucket while we were in the fields. The evidence was ALL over his face, but he charmed the owners with his winning smile and they didn't charge us a penny for his spoils!). After our hard day working in the fields, we stopped by the fabric store so my mom could get some material for an apron, ate at Sonic and headed home.

While my mom worked on her apron, I worked on the raspberries! I made 22 containers of freezer jam after selling one of the buckets to Rochelle, and keeping one bucket of the fresh berries. The kitchen was a red, sticky mess with the help of Bronson and Nalani! Bronson thought I needed help mashing the berries, he likes to use his hands. Nalani thought 5 1/4 cups of sugar to 3 cups of fruit wasn't enough, so she liberally added more. Sheesh! I can't take my eyes off them for a second! All in all I think it was a successful day! Logan was a great helper and loves to learn about cooking.

We were sad to see Grandma leave, but were so happy she came to visit! We love you, Grandma! Come again soon!

p.s. In the background of this picture you can see the left-over caramel popcorn. I had this for the first time at Jenn's house and now it's my favorite! So here's the recipe:

Jenn's Caramel Popcorn

1 1/3 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. light Karo syrup

1/2 C. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, syrup, and butter over medium heat and bring to a boil. Let boil for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over popcorn and stir until evenly coated.

Note: I usually pop 3/4 C. of kernels for this recipe.

Now go watch a movie!