The Cabin retreat

We had the BEST time with Cory and Katie at their families cabin. It really was not a cabin more like a luxury lodge. It was awesome.

These two dorks could not stop doing puzzles. I was also a dork reading the first two books of the Hunger Games non stop. Cory had a a real addiction and stayed up til three am alone finishing a puzzle of the city Manti. Wow.

The boys also fished in the stocked ponds on the property. It was so fun for the kids you just throw in fish food and the fish go crazy jumping, they loved it.

We took a quick trip to Vernal to see Corys sister and some dinasours.

I could not resist this picture of Katie workin away on her laptop. Awesome.

These two had an absolute love hate relationship. But pretty cute together.

There they are again looking pretty cute again.

Another big part of our cabin experience was eating, woah we ate a lot. Tons of good food. I no joke watched Cory put down five burritos one night. Pretty impressive. Thank you Harmons for inviting us we loved it.

Red Butte

Once the weather was cooler my friend Jamie and I decided to take our kids to Red Butte Gardens. I am kicking myself for not going all Summer. It was perfect. The kids ran around and played and we got to catch up. Deacon and cute Chase climbing on the lizards.

Loved this picture of Deacon and Chase sharing the drinking fountain, it looks like they were being sweet but really I caught the picture in a moment were the pushing each other was on hold.
The lizards were a popular spot for these two.

So was the fountain, they loved it. Jamies little guy Cohen was there as well but I guess I was too busy chatting and taking pictures of these two spazs. So much fun.

He is a Student

I really can not handle how big this boy is, going to preschool and being his own dude. So proud of him when he walked right up to the teacher and went into preschool with no lookin back. I shed one or two tears on my way home but mostly I just feel so proud of everything he is becoming.

A little Down picked me right up

Sometimes when I have a rough day or week something surprising cheers me up. Tonight I went with my friend Kimi up to Silver Lake up big Cottonwood canyon. It is beautiful and a perfect little walk for Deacon. Not to mention the Fall foliage is out of this world right now. No other season awakens my senses quite like Fall.

We were walking around the boardwalk and had stopped right by another family looking out on the water and looked at the ducks. The family had a son with down syndrome with them, probably 10 years old. He immediately took to Deacon and they were laughing and pointing at the ducks together.

When we turned to leave the boy stepped right in front of me and gave me a big hug. I walked away with tears in my eyes. Something about the hard week I had had and this sweet boys kindness filled my heart. It is going to be a good week.

Who wants a Deacon update?

I do! I can not forget all the hilarious things he is up to lately. He is so full of life and imagination and I laugh all day long.

1. One of my favorite things he does is if Curt and I are close together he will out an arm around each of our necks and say "mommy daddy!" And pull us in close for a hug.

2. He loves to try on every pair of underwear he owns all day everyday. Lots of times multiple pairs at at time.

3. The other morning at breakfast with my mom and Walker the restaurant was pretty empty and Deacon had everyone cracking up when he was running across the whole place yelling "it's a stampede!"

4. I have always sang James Taylor's Sweet Baby James to him, since he was born. (my mom sang it to us and I know my sister and brother sing it to their kids) but i never realized he knew almost every word to the "cowboy song" so the other night it was very cute when he sang along to the words "his horse and his cattle are his only companions" now I sing every few words and leave a word out for him to fill in.

5. He loves his friends Thomas and Will down the street. He asks all the time to walk down to their house. He also likes their mom Jenny. We pulled up to their house the other day and she stuck her head out of the car door and he said to me "Oh Jenny I like your hair!"

6. How to train your Dragon had a BIG impact on Deacon, he is constantly pretending to breathe fire and growling at you.

7. Deacon will think of an idea in his head and instead of asking you for something or to do something he presents it to you like it was your idea. For example he will say "Okay! I go get a candy for me!"

8. He never wakes up in the night crying ever anymore but every once in awhile you I will wake up in the middle of the night with his face right in front of mine and he will say something like "I need my squishy ball" Super important at 4 am.

9. Very good at the whole potty thing and is very proud of himself. The other day from the bathroom he yelled to our friend Matt to come see, um pass.

10. He will start preschool in a couple weeks and is very excited about it. Good thing it is only two hours at a time, I am going to miss him.

Sound asleep

I woke up a few nights ago to Deacon in my bed with his arms around me. I did not hear him come in I just woke up to him snuggling me. We are serious about our sleep in this house. Deacon has always been a great sleeper almost right off the bat. We trained him early to love his crib and sleep through the night. All that made it so much sweeter when he snuck into my bed and cuddled right up. Even sweeter was that after 30 minutes I felt him get up and walk back to his bed. Guess he just wanted to let me know he loved me at 4:00 am. Love you too Deacon.

Youth Conference 2010

The whole Gang, I was not super stoked about being responsible for these girls on the side of a huge mountain.
This prank the girls played the last night was hilarious. Just picture all these glow sticks in the pitch dark doing the robot, pretty good.
Daren thought we did not make enough BBQ beef, we showed him by making him eat all the leftovers out of Dave's Bare hands.
The goofy face picture.
Me and Chrissy. Love her.
Snowbird was so beautiful, the location could not have been more perfect.
This was a team game that made for some excellent pictures.
Can you believe I hike up that whole huge mountain? Whew!
Thank heavens for Lindsay who blew up this air mattress not once but Twice (after I left the cap open whoops!) for us to sleep on. Love her.
I conquered my fear of falling to my death of a ski lift.
I made sure to document my near death experience.
The YW who were there on top of the mountain.
Us on the tram on the way up. Talk about claustrophobia. I guess I have something with heights.

Youth conference was so awesome, I went in thinking I would have some fun but it was SO FUN. We camped up above snowbird and it was beautiful. We shared a campsite with a mom and baby moose (thought my Grandpa Orme would like to hear that!) and tons of wild flowers and flowing streams. It was the perfect setting. One night at 11:00 pm we hiked to Cecret lake and it is now one of my favorite things I have done, ever. I was so proud of all the kids that were able to come, they were so great. I loved staying up waaaaay to late every night with Chrissy Lindsay and Mary (I missed you Holly!) I am lucky to serve with people I enjoy so much.