Double Trouble

Avignon, France

2012-02-15T17:25:00.005-07:00

Justin arrived in Geneva Switzerland on Valentine's day

The mission president and his wife picked them up at the airport

and brought them to the mission home for lunch

Elder Justin Adams

in Geneva Switzerland

at the Mission Home/Office

Elder Adams with President and Sister Murdock

Finding out who his trainer/companion is

Elder Justin Adams with his trainer companion, Elder Wolfart

Having breakfast at the mission home

then training with the president and assistants.

Then at least a 4 hr train ride to his new area -

Avignon, France

Its pronounced like Avinhon (from wikipedia)

or as Brooke said it "avinyone"

Airport Call

2012-02-14T21:27:00.003-07:00

Monday morning we were able to talk to Justin while he was waiting for the first of 3 flights he would take to get to his mission. Brooke, Jared and Kamryn all stayed home from school so they could talk to Justin (Taylor couldn't afford to miss school and figures he'll talk to Justin on Mother's Day :). Paul had to be at work but was conferenced in on the call. It was so great to hear his voice - sounds the same. We had him give of us some of the talk he gave the day before in his branch sacrament meeting - in French of course. His French sounds great to us. We were able to talk to him for about an hour before he had to get on his first flight to Chicago.

In Chicago he barely had any time at all before boarding his next flight to London. Luckily we'd sent him a pay as you go cell phone so he was able to text me when he was taking the shuttle from one terminal to the next. Their layover wasn't very long and they didn't even have time to get something to eat. Luckily they were flying on British Airways to London, which is a pretty swanky airlines. Justin said the plane was REALLY nice and the info online said they'd be getting a 3 course meal.

Hard Time

2012-02-14T21:04:00.002-07:00

I'm having a really hard time keeping up with all the things that need to be posted on - this blog, Justin's mission photo blog, his mission letter website, facebook, my written journal, email and written letters to Justin. Don't misunderstand - I want and like to do all those things, just trying to keep up with all of them is sometimes a challenge. I can't even remember what I've been meaning to post on here.

Volunteering

2012-01-23T08:24:00.003-07:00

Every Thursday I volunteer in jared and Kamryn's 1st grade class. I give spelling tests to 4 kids - each child in the class has their own spelling list each week. And then I do whatever the teacher asks me to do.

Last week I put up this bulletin board - which is in the main hall.

This is Kamryn's comic retell of "The Mitten"

This is Jared's comic retell of "The Mitten"

Jazz Game

2012-01-21T17:25:00.002-07:00

Last week Paul called from work to say he had 3 tickets to go to the Jazz game that night and would we like to go. Brooke volunteered to stay home with Jared and Kamryn. So Taylor and I got to go. The best part was we got to see the game from the Layton Suite. We had a great dinner and got to choose our desserts from the dessert cart :) Oh yeah, and watch the game, which the Jazz won.

Between

2012-01-12T14:42:00.003-07:00

I never remember to take the BEFORE picture on a big project.

So here is the BETWEEN picture.

This is the back half of our storage room. Its normally FILLED with lots of STUFF. I've decided that I want it finished so it can be my office/sewing/craft room. Its really a domino effect of decisions. Where all my office stuff is now is in the back half of our family room in the basement. It used to be a big open room where we had a ping pong table. With the addition of 2 more kids when we had the twins we needed more bedrooms and lost the ping pong room. Well, we'd like it back - especially for the teens to have a place to hang out. This was really prompted after Taylor and his friends spent about 8 hours playing ping pong at the cabin.

So, we've moved all the stuff from the storage room into Justin's room. I did most of the work in one day! The only stuff left in there is Paul's :) So, I'm giving us a year to get this project finished - that's the goal anyway. We've at least got to get the room cleaned out before Justin gets back.

Jared and Kamryn photos

2012-01-08T21:08:00.003-07:00

While we were at the cabin

Susan and Kierra braided Kamryn's hair in lots of braids

this is the results

it turned out really cute

and we think it made her look really grown up

jared in his super cool angry bird jammies

the pjs I got him for Christmas didn't fit so I was able to exchange for these

I scored big points when I brought these home

Jared had to go to the dentist last week

to have 2 teeth pulled and a cavity filled

he was very brave

didn't cry at all

and didn't ask for me to come back

he had to have the teeth pulled

because the 2 adult teeth were fully grown in

behind the baby teeth

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-03T19:08:00.004-07:00

We were very lucky to get the cabin for new years weekend. That is our favorite place to be for New Years Eve. We were up there with my parents and one of my sisters and her family and one of my brothers and his family. Paul and I were sad that Taylor and Brooke chose to not come and go to parties with their friends instead (but we understood). So it was just Jared and Kamryn up with us.

We were there from Friday to Monday (I even kept Jared and Kamryn out of school on Monday) and it was such a great weekend. We went to church up there and the best surprise was that they only had sacrament meeting since it was a New Years Day - what a great idea.

We enjoyed playing games, watching movies, eating lots of good food and just relaxing. Its such a wonderful place and we're so grateful to our parents for such a great getaway place.

There is not much snow but there's enough to go sledding.

Most of Monday was spent outside in the sun and snow.

what a fun train

susan is a great mom to sled with her kids

(luckily, I had the job to take pictures)

Even my dad took several runs down

the sledding road

Kamryn loved being outside in the sun

(jared chose to stay inside on Monday

and play video games with his cousin Jake)

katie

(who can resist this cute face)

Kierra and Kamryn

Kierra is such a great friend, cousin, big sister to Kamryn

while we were at the cabin someone asked Kamryn who her best friend is

and she said Kierra

What a great ride

they went down all the runs

over and over

this is mostly to prove that I was really there

A Wonderful Christmas

2011-12-27T12:31:00.005-07:00

It really was a wonderful Christmas. I think it was extra special for several reasons, the biggest thing was it being on Sunday this year. I honestly don't remember the last Sunday Christmas which I think was when Jared and Kamryn were 6 months old. I can see the pictures in my mind but don't remember a lot of that actual day.

On Christmas morning I woke up at 8:00 (after being up until 2, and why we were up so late, we didn't have anything to put together. We just don't do enough in advance) and was surprised it was that late and we hadn't heard anything from Jared and Kamryn. Paul and I both showered and got ready and at 9:00 we still hadn't heard from anyone. We were getting to the point that we didn't know if we'd get to do any Christmas before church.

At 9:30 I went down to Taylor's room to check on the kids again and they were all awake and just laying there in their beds. So they came upstairs and we all got ready for church and had some quick bowls of cereal. Then we finally got to go in the living room to see what Santa brought. Santa really spoiled us this year. Our family gifts were our trip to San Diego but there were still a lot of presents to open.

Jared by all of his Santa presents

its fun watching the kids go through their stockings

check out that big Santa present for Brooke

Kamryn with her new baby doll that Santa brought

Brooke, wearing her new gloves, intently reading the info

on the movie she got - Pride and Prejudice

what a cute little mommy

Jared checking out the Batcave Santa brought him

Taylor was very patient and waited until after church

to open most of his Santa presents

Baby Bella, Wulfy the Husky Webkinz, and Kamryn

Jared with his new bullfrog webkinz

he named him Super J

Paul opening some of his Santa presents

he didn't do too well guessing this year

Brooke with her new luggage

for her summer trip to Europe

Taylor with his iHome that Santa brought

Paul, so BadAwesome

WOW!!!

Big surprise from Santa

an iPad for the family

cheers

Brooke at the Shingleton family gathering Christmas night

Jared and Jaxon having a boxing match

with the socker boppers they both got

I got a great surprise too - a new iPhone! Now maybe I can be more organized and remember things better :)

The best present of all was a letter from Justin. It came as quite a surpise. We didn't expect anything but I just happened to be checking my email and there was an email from Justin. It was such a great letter and really long and full of info about his Christmas Eve and Christmas activities to that point. I read it out loud to everyone and teared up several times. Such a great gift and perfect end to our Christmas gift opening.

Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:10:00.003-07:00

Kamryn modeling her new pjs

Jared in his new jammies

They each got 2 new pair of jammies

(mostly cuz they really need them)

very typical picture of Paul

on Christmas eve

my mom at our house

on christmas eve

all the kids in their new christmas jammies

Hanging out in Taylor's newly cleaned room

pretending to be asleep

Jared and Kamryn decided they wanted to sleep in Taylor's room tonight.

Hope that works out ok

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Happy Festivus

2011-12-23T22:34:00.008-07:00

We've been having lots of fun this holiday season (shh, don't tell Justin).

Here are some photos of what we've been doing:

Brooke and her kindergarten friend

Taylor with his kindergarten friend, and buddy Matt

For our Christmas service project the youth in our ward use their own money to shop at the dollar store for gifts for these kindergarten kids. They wrap them and then this past Monday we all went to deliver them and spend the morning with the kindergarten class. Our youth did a few centers with the kids: making an ornament, frosting cookies, and reading books. Then they opened their presents and even had a special visit from Santa.

Kamryn at the quilting activity

Jared tossing in some tortillas

Kamryn driving the delivery truck

Kamryn taking a turn to do spanish dancing

Jared and Kamryn helped to build Nephi's boat

and then did some fishing

Taylor and Brooke trying to beat each other at the computer games

On Tuesday we went downtown to go to the Church's History Museum. We got the great idea from my friend Jenny. After looking at her pictures I thought it would be fun for us to go too. I was glad Brooke and Taylor were willing to come with us. We all enjoyed the fun activities they have on the children's floor.

Our friend, Barry Wallace

at the live nativity

Kathryn Ramirez at her market in Bethlehem

the luminaries lighting the way to the stable

three wise men

the nativity

the shepherds and the wise men visiting

the baby Jesus

the shepherds

(Taylor and his fellow young men)

My good friend, Desiree, is our stake's cultural arts specialist. She has had this vision to do a live nativity and she pulled it off this year. With lots of help and support the evening turned out so amazing. It was really neat to take our family back in time to visit Bethlehem.

Brooke, Kamryn and Jared frosting cookies

We always make sugar cookies for Christmas. This year we made them a few days early so we could fix up a package to take down to Justin and his district in the MTC. Everyone in our family helped to frost and decorate the cookies. I actually drove down to Provo yesterday so I could take advantage of the BYU same day delivery to the MTC that is so much cheaper than sending it from up here.

Taylor

Kamryn and Brooke playing tag

Kamryn playing at Bouncing Off the Walls

Group sing along with Santa

lots of the Jones cousins having fun with Santa

Taylor and Jadon

Jared and Kamryn waiting patiently to talk to Santa

Jared talking to santa

he told him he wanted some transformers

Kamryn talking to Santa

first she told him she wanted a real puppy

but mom said no way

so then she told Santa to surprise her

We even got Taylor to chat with Santa

he also requested a surprise

Jared going down the giant slide

Every year the extended Jones family party is at Bouncing Off the Walls. Its a lot of fun for everyone to play on the inflatables and then we have food and a visit from Santa.

Today we made an impromptu visit to Gardner Village (so I didn't have my camera with me). It was me and all 4 kids. We did the elf scavenger hunt and found all of the elves. Then we went to get the prize at Sweet Afton's. I highly recommend this activity, lots of fun for us.

Layton Companies Christmas Party

2011-12-18T09:02:00.003-07:00

We always enjoy going to Paul's work Christmas party. For the last couple of years it has been at the Show Barn at Thanksgiving Point. This year it was billed as Sweatermania or wear your favorite sweater. I think what they really meant was for it to be an ugly sweater party but it that wasn't clear so we didn't really know what to wear. Some people really went the ugly sweater route and some like us, just wore a sweater. The dinner was delicious. The entertainment was a duo called "The Dueling Pianos" They passed out request papers to everyone in the audience and then would play those requests. It was amazing what they could play. Of course they had a whole act to go with it and definitely got some employees up on stage to embarrass them. The best part was the photobooth set up for everyone to get their pictures taken. The company Funny Face Photo Booth was great and had the best set up I've seen so far (we've seen several at different weddings lately). They had tons of props we could choose from and gave us 3 copies of our photo strip and a free digital download code. Very fun night :)

Look who's got a Girlfriend

2011-12-17T08:52:00.002-07:00

This is Max. He's the elf on the shelf at our house. I can't remember if I've posted about him before. He started visiting our house last year and he's come back again this year. Jared and Kamryn were very anxious for him to come back and for the few days before Dec 1 they started looking around for him.

This year they got up early the first few days that Max was back and would stumble around, all bleary-eyed looking for Max. One day Max didn't make it to the North Pole during the night, but went instead while they were away at school all day.

Now it looks like he's gone and found himself a girlfriend !

The Big Day

2011-12-14T14:26:00.008-07:00

weighing in Wed morning

187 lbs

checking the weight on his big bag

over by about 7 lbs

dad checking the weight on the smaller bag

just under

all lined up, ready to go

last family photo in front of our house

(thanks Noel)

my great kids at the Provo Temple grounds

Kamryn with her missionary brother

Elder Adams with his brother Jared

Elder Adams and his brother Taylor

Elder Adams with his beautiful sister, Brooke

Elder Adams with his dad

Elder Adams with his mom

(notice she's trying to hold on tight)

Elder Adams with his very proud parents

Elder Adams

(I love the sound of that)

another family photo,

just before heading over to the MTC

time for hugs goodbye

the weather was cold and a little dreary

with little snowflakes falling down

heading to the car to go across the street to the MTC

she's really going to grow up while he's gone

I love this one

(but at the same time it really breaks my heart)

the drop off went so much better than I expected it would. This new system the MTC has in place is actually a good thing and so much easier, I'm sure. He was met by his host missionary - who's leaving to go to Germany the day after Christmas. We had a big family hug all together and then he was gone. For 2 years.

Setting Apart

2011-12-13T20:25:00.005-07:00

Justin's farewell dinner at Golden Corral

Missionaries get to eat for free there the day before they enter the MTC

My parents and Paul's dad were able to join us

a happy and satisfied Elder

hanging out

while Justin met with Pres Stringham

Justin's little angel sister

Jared catching a little snooze while we wait

the wonderful brethren

who were in the circle to set apart Justin

Justin with his Shingleton grandparents

Justin and Grandpa Adams

Two wonderful men

Justin with proud mama

Justin with his siblings

Justin with his very proud parents

We've been home just a little bit from Justin's setting apart and I'd like to jot down a few things to remember what was said and what happened tonight.

When we first got to the stake center Pres Stringham met with Justin in his office while I had a few moments to lose it. Then when we were all gathered together Pres Stringham counseled our family and gave us good advice and testimony. The spirit was very strong in the room and actually very comforting. Pres Stringham then called on several of us to say something. He called on Brooke, Grandpa Adams, Grandma Shingleton, Bishop Hinckley, Paul and me.

Brooke wasn't prepared to be called on and didn't say too much. We all know she's really going to miss her big brother.

Grandpa Adams talked about how proud he is of Justin and glad that he has chosen to serve a mission.

Grandma is also very proud of him and hopes that she will still be here to see him come home. She was a little emotional and that is not something my kids have probably ever seen.

The bishop talked about our family and how important our nightly scripture study and family prayers have been.

Dad told him how much we're going to miss him and that's been a great son and easy child to raise. He shared how important it was that Justin decided on his own and made his own decision to go on a mission.

I of course cried but really only to begin with. I talked about how much I'll miss him esp since we've spent so much time together the last 6 months. I talked about how funny he is and how much he makes me laugh. I commented on what a good companion he will be and I think he'll probably get some difficult companions because his president will find that he is very easy going and very laid back, in a good way.

Pres Stringham gave him a wonderful blessing when he set him apart. Some of the few things that I remember now:

he blessed him to have good health and be able to sleep
he blessed him to be able to learn the language
he talked a lot about the people who are being prepared to be taught the gospel by Elder Adams

All Done

2011-12-13T14:34:00.003-07:00

He's all done packing - by 1:30 on Tuesday! And there's room to spare - for all those books he's going to get at the MTC.

Packing

2011-12-13T09:45:00.002-07:00

Justin started packing yesterday and look who fits in his suitcases!

Justin's Farewell

2011-12-12T19:47:00.007-07:00

Elder Jordy Osborne

and

Elder Justin Adams

Sunday, Dec 11 was a combined farewell for Justin and Jordy. They've known each other since they were five but have only been in the same ward for the last 3 years, since our boundaries were realigned. Justin leaves on the 14th and Jordy leaves on Dec 28 so it worked out for them to have a combined farewell.

Both elders did such an amazing job on their talks. They both gave really good, well thought-out and prepared talks on the sermon on the mount. Brooke played a beautiful piano arrangement of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, with a little Lord of the Rings mixed in :)

After the meeting we had an open house at my parent's house. They were very nice to let us have it at their house, since we really don't have room to have that many people at our house.

It was so much fun to see so many good friends and have family there to support Justin and our family. Thanks so much to my sister Susan for being in charge of the kitchen and for all of her work. Thanks also to Julianne, Mackenzie and Jenny for helping in the kitchen. And thanks to all the wonderful people who brought food over for the yummy feast.

a very proud mom

with her handsome missionary son

check out all that good food

I love this shot of Jared and his cousins eating lunch

Kamryn, me and my mom

so fun to have so many great friends and family come

a tired daddy

susan was such an amazing help for the whole event

she helped me clean my mom's house, helped me set up and

worked hard all day making sure the open house ran smoothly

and kept everything stocked and organized

even at the end she made up goodie plates

with the desserts that were left

my wonderful 3 teenagers

although it is hard to get a good picture of all 3 of them

one of the hardest parts of thinking of Justin leaving

is the change that it is going to start in our family

its never going to be the same again :(

Trying to get Katie to give Justin a hug good-bye.

a picture was all we could get.

PS for more pictures check out the album on facebook

Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-11T00:06:00.003-07:00

some of our young men

"the serving crew"

waiting for the party to start

Paul and Kamryn

in the party spirit

Kamryn singing with the primary kids

(jared was sick and didn't want to go up and be by the other kids)

Kamryn as one of the angels in the Nativity play

Our ward party was tonight and for the first time in a long time it was a family affair. The theme was Christmas morning so everyone was invited to wear their pajamas - most of the kids did and a few adults did, including myself. We had breakfast food, sang carols, did some crafts at the tables and then watched the primary put on a nativity. It was very well attended and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Kamryn's Christmas Recital

2011-12-11T00:02:00.003-07:00

Kamryn's Christmas dance recital was last night. Her class did a ballet dance to celine Dion's "O Holy Night". Kamryn did a great job and look beautiful up there. She worked hard and did all the practicing at home that her teacher asked her to do.

Happy 70th to my Dad

2011-12-10T23:48:00.004-07:00

My dad's 70th birthday was on Dec 9th.

We hadn't planned a big birthday party like we did for his 60th.

We wanted to do something so the day before our regular fast Sunday dinner

we came up with something.

We got the idea on Pinterest

to do the 70 made up of pictures of my dad.

Amazingly, we got it all put together in one day.

And then decided to surprise our dad.

the girls table

each fast sunday we get together at my parents

for december we all had dinner there

so my dad had no idea we were planning anything

it was my sister's birthday that day

so we didn't say anything about dad's birthday during dinner

with over 30 people in the family

there's not enough room in the kitchen

so some of the grandkids get to eat in the TV room

while everyone was eating I snuck in the living room

to put up the 70 and then bring in the balloons

that we had all hidden downstairs.

then my sister snuck in and put up all the letters

everyone had written to my dad

he was really surprise when he came in the living room to visit after dinner

here he is with some of the grandkids

doesn't my dad look great ?!!

Baby its Cold Outside

2011-12-08T07:27:00.004-07:00

On tuesday night we all went down to Temple Square together to see the lights.

You wouldn't know it from the pictures, but Justin and I were both there. We both had the cameras so we weren't in the pictures.

It was pretty cold but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Some of us dressed in good layers and stayed pretty warm.

It was super crowded with lots of youth groups down there. We lost Kamryn one time and that was very scary. Luckily she stayed right where she was when she realized we'd gone on without her and I went back the way we'd come and found her. I asked her what happened and in a teary voice she said "I was just looking at the lights on this tree." It broke my heart.

We all had a good time, except for those that didn't dress warm enough and were freezing.

Happy Birthday Old Man

2011-12-07T23:35:00.002-07:00

today is paul's birthday

he is 45

i kid him that he's an old man

i was trying to get a picture of him this morning

before he headed off for work

every morning he eats the same thing

bran flakes

with some cheerios and kix mixed in

he was being very difficult about the picture thing

as you can see

It was a pretty low key birthday. Last week he told me to not spend a minute thinking about it or spend any money, so I didn't. I actually did make him an extra nice dinner and we ate together as a family. After his bishopric meeting we had pie and ice cream so that was something special.

He's a great husband and father and we're lucky to have him!

My Favorite Things

2011-12-05T12:51:00.004-07:00

Stacie's favorite - Harry & David cookies

(they are oh so YUMMY!)

I found this really cute idea for a party on Pinterest. You can read about it at this blog.

I suggested to my good friends that we try this for our annual Christmas party. We have been doing this party for at least 30 years and we've always rotated names and given one nice gift to one other person. Everyone was game to change it up this year and try the My Favorite Things party.

I sent out invitations on Evite (cuz its a busy time of year and they're easy) and gave everyone the info: bring 6 of your favorite thing, not spending more than $6 on the favorite item. And then you'll give everyone there one of your favorite things and at the end each person will have 6 favorite things from everyone at the party (I always feel like I don't explain this very well).

Since I suggested the change in format I also volunteered (or got volunteered) to host the party at my house. I was glad to do this (what a great way to make sure you get your house cleaned and decorated early for the holidays) and had fun setting a nice table and planning our dinner. I decided to keep it really simple and just have people bring their favorite salads, appetizer, drinks and dessert. I got my favorite Lion House rolls to go with the salads.

After dinner and lots of great relaxing and discussion, we exchanged our favorite things. Missing from the picture are the butterscotch squares that Charri brought because they were all eaten before I took this picture. And Stacie's cookies didn't get in this picture cuz I had the cookies hidden for me and then remembered to get them out for the picture. It was so fun to see what everyone brought and we all agreed we'd like to do it again (I already know what I want to do next).

This was what I shared for my favorite thing:

softlips (can't live without it)

Christmas memories sachet from Gardner Village

(it smells so good)

I actually gave out the Silver spruce sachet to my friends

(which also smells divine)

What a beautiful group of WONDERFUL ladies.

I am SO LUCKY to have such GREAT friends.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

New Christmas Favorites

2011-12-05T12:43:00.003-07:00

this is my little tree filled with ornaments that my mom has given me every year since Paul and I got married. its in a different spot every year - this year its right next to the front door. It was really fun decorating it with Jared, Kamryn and Taylor and telling them about each ornament and what it meant. There are ornaments from each year that my kids were born, some from when we lived far away and even one from the year I ran a marathon.

the ornament at the top of the tree is this years new ornament. When I opened it, it was just a little shocking to see BYU. If you look at the smaller print it says Aspen Grove, which is where we went on a family trip this summer. Thank goodness she gave us one with the red trim!

this is my new Christmas quilt. I made it over a year ago but just barely finished sewing on the binding so I could hang it up this year.

its hanging in the kitchen with my favorite snowmen :)

Our Thanksgiving GetAway

2011-11-30T23:11:00.006-07:00

watching cartoons at the airport at 5:00 am

waiting for our flight to San Diego at 6:00 am

tired but excited for our little family getaway

to San Diego

over the Thanksgiving break

First thing we did was head to Sea World.

Here we're at the Shamu show and

Justin and Jared are ducking from all the

attacking birds

only photo at Sea world of all the kids

made a stop at the

Mormon Battalion Visitors Center

in Old Town.

Taylor got to be a part of the show when

they dressed him like a soldier in the battalion

took Jared and Kamryn

to LegoLand

(the older kids went on an Old Town Trolley tour of SanDiego)

going in to see a 4D Lego movie

riding the Lego reindeer

Justin is quite the photographer these days

this is at a military cementary on PtLoma

Kamryn and Paul at the tide pools

Paul and Jared at the tide pools

our only family photo during the trip

at the tide pools on Pt Loma

love this temple

our version of the turkey bowl

was held at Carlsbad Beach

Justin and Jared

these 2 had a blast playing in the waves

Paul is CRAZY

out in the surf

in November

Brooke enjoying the beach

Jared at the San Diego Mission

Kamryn at the San Diego Mission

It was such a great trip for our family to be able to get away over the holiday. One benefit of Paul traveling a lot is all the points he racks up. We were able to all fly to San Diego for free. Our family dynamic is going to be changing so much over the next 2 years while Justin is gone on a mission and Brooke heads off to college that we wanted to take this one last trip just our little family. We all had loved heading off to sunnier and warmer San Diego for a few days. It was great to eat out on Thanksgiving :) And fun to explore and hang out together.

Check out this store

2011-11-20T22:40:00.003-07:00

welcome to Jared and Kamryn's store

They put this all together on Saturday

while we were all downstairs watching the Utah game

it was very clever

they had different sections

Kamryn is in front of the parents section in the above photo

This was the family section

Jared was the cashier, using LIFE money.

They gave each of us money so we could go shopping.

it was so fun to shop and buy back my own stuff.

We did it!

2011-11-18T07:32:00.002-07:00

My friend, Jenny Martin, and I have been exercising early in the morning since Sept. We go just after 6:00 am most mornings but have always missed a day or two each week. We were running outside until Nov when it got just too cold and now we've been going over to the rec center and using the treadmills and sometimes other cardio equipment. We've also done some weights and added in a workout routine of crunches, leg lifts, arm circles, plank, push-ups, etc. Well, for the first time we made it to work out all 5 days this week! We did it!

"The universe is against us"

2011-11-16T07:52:00.002-07:00

Everything has gone really well with getting Justin ready for his mission - up to yesterday. And not that it was anything terrible - the day just didn't go well. We were out on what was supposed to be our last day of errands and nothing went right. We went to get one pair of pants from his suit hemmed and we got to the place and the pants weren't with the rest of the suit. Then we went to buy the last few pair of garments he needs and they were totally out of stock of the tops he likes. Then we had to deal with a little snafu with Paul's dad where his piano got sold twice to 2 different people. At this point Justin says "the universe is against us today and we better go home."

"30 days left" or is it "30 days to go"

2011-11-14T23:11:00.003-07:00

The kids with Justin last night

A month from today is when Justin goes in the MTC. It is going to fly by way too fast!

As his mom I am having serious issues with this whole mission thing. It is the right thing to do and what I want him to go but at the same time I don't know how I am going to survive him being gone for 2 years! 2 years is a LONG time!!

We've been spending a lot of time together, especially more the last couple of weeks while we've been getting him ready to go. So that of course makes it even harder. We were out shopping today and he just makes me laugh and he's pretty chill to hang out with. He's helpful but at the same time still pretty obnoxious :) I'm really going to miss him - A LOT!!!

We are almost done with getting everything for his mission. When I have all the info gathered I'll post how much it takes to get a missionary ready to go out - and I'm just talking about the financial side of it. It takes a lot spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

Sillie Millie party

2011-11-08T07:57:00.002-07:00

Last Friday Jared and Kamryn were invited to a sillie millie party. Millie is a friend from their school class. There was no school on Friday and Millie's mom wanted to do something fun with friends so they had a silly party.

She told the kids to dress silly. And boy, did Jared and Kamryn get into that! They spent over 30 minutes getting dressed and changing and adding to their outfits. I think they had as much fun gettting ready for the party as the party itself.

At the party they breakfast food for lunch and played silly games. I think we'll have to do a repeat of this party sometime.

So Sweet

2011-11-07T12:29:00.002-07:00

This morning Jared was up very early and busy in the kitchen. He came in my room and said "come in the kitchen mom." When I walked in he said "surprise!" He was standing by the table and had made me oatmeal and toast for breakfast (with just a little help from Brooke). He was so excited. It was so cute.

Justin at 19

2011-11-05T22:51:00.003-06:00

Justin's 19th birthday has been pretty low key so far. We're stretching out the celebrating for several days. On his actual birthday i took him to lunch at this quaint little restaurant right by our house. We're still trying to find a time that our whole family will be together to give him some presents. Hopefully tomorrow after church.

Happy 19th Birthday to Justin

2011-11-04T11:00:00.009-06:00

Justin Paul Adams
born 19 years ago today

He was such a cute little boy

its been fun going down memory lane
finding these pictures

at 18 months
he was in a childhood study
that's why he has that big number taped on his clothes

his best friend and sister, Brooke

This is Justin at 1.
(I had these all in age order but when I loaded them up they got all messed up.)

super boy

in our backyard in Tucson

Justin loved to play dollhouse

for his 5th birthday we went to chuck e cheese

I think this is his 3 yr old picture
(no dates on any of these pictures)

doing summer homework books in the basement

6th birthday

1st time he hiked haystack mountain with his dad

Justin's 7th birthday

all dressed up for my brother's wedding

Justin was baptized on his 8th birthday

what a handsome young man

Christmas

He started wearing glasses in 4th grade

birthday tradition - breakfast in bed with your favorite sugar cereal

Justin his 4th grade class play
he played Mr Rogers

at Harry Potter Cub Country

10th birthday
at the special birthday desk
in 4th grade

he can be pretty silly sometimes

he loves to play soccer
and has played since he was 5

hanging out at our house in Phoenix

very first time he played risk and he won!

11th birthday

Arrow of Light ceremony

hiking in Phoenix desert

Happy birthday to my oldest child. He's been an easy one to parent (most of the time). He's a good example to his siblings and cousins. He's made good choices in his life. He's funny and SOOOOOOOO talented. We are going to miss him SOOOOOOOOOOO much but are also so proud of him. I love you!

"Now we really Look like Twins"

2011-11-03T09:32:00.003-06:00

This is how Jared and Kamryn dressed this morning to go to school and that was their comment. And they insisted I take their picture.

Temple Time

2011-11-01T22:07:00.004-06:00

Justin at the Jordan River Temple

Today we went with him on his first endowment session

he's really starting to look like a missionary

trying to take pictures like he does

my boys

can you tell that it was COLD ??

this was before we went in for the orientation and session

this was after the session

(it almost looks like we're at a haunted house or something

with that spotlight)

It was a very special experience to be at the temple with our son. I certainly don't feel old enough to be having a child going through the temple for the first time. The VERY NICE ladies working at the temple really made me feel good when several of them told me that I didn't look old enough to be the mother of the missionary.

Justin seemed to take it all in stride and the new matron and temple presidency member were very impressed with what a fine young man he is. It always feels good to hear from others about our wonderful children.

After the session we took him to dinner at Chili's.

More Halloween Happenings

2011-10-31T21:30:00.005-06:00

For 6 years now, Jared and Kamryn

have been going to their dad's work

for trick or treating

they get so much candy there

that they really don't need to go out to do the real thing.

but now that they're older they definitely wanted to go out in our neighborhood

Taylor as a nerd

with his hair like that he looks so much like his dad at the same age

Jared as a ninja

he wore this for the real trick o treating

cuz the other costumes he'd worn

were bothering his neck and chin

what fun!

Jared and Kamryn were out there for over 2 hours!

It was the most perfect weather ever

I felt like we were in AZ

Fall Break

2011-10-30T20:38:00.005-06:00

Silver Lake

what silly kids

almost every time we go to the cabin we try

to take a walk around Silver Lake

Kamryn loves to climb this big rock

I guess this is my birthday picture.

Kamryn

our jack-o-lanterns

we carved while at the cabin

Our little family was very lucky to have the cabin for fall break. We were there from Wed to Sunday and it was SO GREAT. We had awesome weather and such nice time together.

On Thursday all of us except Paul hiked to Donut Falls. It was really fun and perfect weather. It was a perfect hike for Jared and Kamryn.

Justin and Taylor were gone Fri and Sat for YM outing to Goblin Valley. Paul came up on Friday when he got back in town.

We had some friends come up on Friday for dinner and good times.

It was so nice to have some good quality time up at the cabin together with just our family, especially since Justin is going to be leaving pretty soon.

Go UTES!

2011-10-29T21:59:00.011-06:00

Justin told us at the start of the football season that he'd like to go to a Utah Pac-12 game this year. Luckily we have awesome friends who have season tickets that gave us tickets to the Utah vs Oregon State game. The debate was who got to go with Justin - his mom or dad. Well, lucky for me, Paul was out of town and wouldn't be back in time to go to the game. It was a 5:00 start and again, lucky for me, it was perfect weather for the game - blue skies, no wind and not too freezing cold.

We left in time to get there a little early and found a parking spot not too far from the stadium. After we got our stuff out of the car and started walking to the stadium all of a sudden it hits me - I FORGOT to bring the tickets!!!! I couldn't believe it - how stupid. And the crazy thing is that thought have never even crossed my mind the whole afternoon. Ususally I think about it all day and check a million times. So we immediately got back in the car and headed back home. I called Brooke and asked her to bring the tickets and meet us half way. This really stressed her out cuz she didn't really know how to get up to Foothill Drive but she did ok and met up with us. We made it back to the stadium, parked in a little bit closer place and got to the stadium while it was still the 1st quarter and less than an hour since I'd realized by big guffaw.

all of these cool photos are by Justin

trying to get a picture of us at the cabin

Justin doesn't trust anyone else to hold his camera

so we had to do the self portraits

it was a great game

final score - 27 to 8

Utah over Oregon State

this is the crowd

after the game trying to get out of the stadium

Halloween Party

2011-10-27T14:40:00.004-06:00

Jared - HULK

Kamryn - Dorothy

He's a scary guy

She makes a perfect Dorothy

Grace as Rapunzel

Jared as HULK

today was the school Halloween party and parade.

It was fun to see all of the costumes and watch the kids have fun.

Kamryn with some of her classmates

Mad Eye Moody

(Principal Shaw)

leading the parade

Jared and Kamryn's

1st grade class

The 1st graders got to go to a special show

"Witches Brew"

Watching the show

check out those Halloween eyes

Party at the Park

2011-10-26T12:05:00.004-06:00

Kamryn

loved climbing this big tree

she was up so high

and it made me so nervous

Jared and Kyson

having a good time

really?

who brings books to a park to read?

I'm just glad they came

at the end of September we met at sugarhouse park for an extended shingleton family party to celebrate my grandma's 95th birthday!

it was fun to see my cousins and catch up with them. my kids had a great time with their cousins and the older kids played some volleyball.

good times!

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

2011-10-26T10:18:00.005-06:00

Kamryn

Team: ZigZags

Jared

Team: Jaguars

We have 4 kids playing soccer this fall season and so that means at least practices during the week and 4 games on Saturdays. Crazy!

Luckily Justin and Taylor can get themselves to practices and games. We try to make most of their games. Its always fun to watch them play.

Jared and Kamryn have weekday practices for the first time and that has added more busyness to our lives. We have tried to make use of that practice time - while they are at practice Paul and I try to play tennis. that's been fun, mostly.

Taylor

team: TreeHuggers

This year Taylor has been playing keeper a lot. most of the game every week. He's doing a great job and has learned a lot. Definitely makes me stressed watching it.

he stopped this ball and prevented the goal!

directing the defense

No pictures from justin playing this year. I'll have to remember to bring my camera to his next game.

Taylor's Party

2011-10-26T09:54:00.004-06:00

Taylor on the giant slip n slide

for his party

everyone hanging out

having a good time

ben and taylor

2 of the 4 boys at the party

there were about 20 girls at the party

all had a great time

going down the slide

a few of taylor's friends

some more friends

Taylor has had some type of party almost every year for his birthday. This year he invited lots of friends to come over and try out our giant slip n slide. It was a great time. We had lots of pizza and treats to go along with the fun. It was fun to watch Taylor with all of his friends.

Taylor turns 14

2011-10-26T09:48:00.003-06:00

(just pretend this post was on Sept 13th)

Taylor turned 14 and it seems like he's older than that. Maybe cuz he's tall and most of his friends are in 9th grade. He's a great guy with a great smile. He has LOTS of friends, most of them girls. He likes to have fun and hang out with those friends. He's fun to hang it with him cuz he has a great laugh.

happy birthday!

It's Sad

2011-10-26T08:10:00.002-06:00

It's sad how far behind i am on my blog. Here's the posts that I've had ready to go in my mind but just haven't done yet:

Taylor's 14th birthday and party
YW Temple outing
Fall soccer pictures
Conference weekend
Fall Break
my birthday
Cabin
Working

Maybe I'll get a chance today to do some catch up.

Brooke's Homecoming Date

2011-09-18T16:18:00.003-06:00

Brooke

in her new dress

for Homecoming.

Brooke wasn't liking it very much

that I was trying to get a good picture of her.

In this one above she points out that Justin is coming home

and he can take the picture ...

She obviously is more happy when her brother is taking the picture.

Brooke with her date Matt.

They have been good friends for a long time.

It was so nice to see them leaving

and so comfortable with each other.

She said she had a good time.

Elder Justin Paul Adams

2011-09-08T21:23:00.003-06:00

When I got home on Wed from doing a 2nd grade substitute job, I noticed the mailman had just finished delivering the mail in our circle. The bishop was pretty sure the call would come on Wed but Steve Young, our stake exec secretary, thought it might be Thur due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

When I went in the house this is how I found Justin - working on my laptop. I asked him if he'd checked the mail yet and he hadn't. I had to urge him to go out and check the mail and luckily he humored me. Jared and Kamryn went with him while I followed along with the video camera.

Inside the mailbox, he found this big white envelope. There it was - the next 2 years of his life. He was so calm and mellow about it. He could've waited for days to open it, I think. Luckily for me, he only had to wait for a little less than 2 hours. Brooke and Taylor had dental appts and Paul didn't get home from work until just before 6. Paul brought his dad with him and we also had my parents over to join in the excitement.

Justin finally was ready to open his call and I started the video and it said "out of memory" so I had him stop so I could get a new memory card. When he started again, he was so calm and read slowly:

"Dear Elder Adams:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the France Lyon Mission."

We couldn't believe it. France!

He took 2 years of french in jr high so he has some French under his belt.

He continued:

"You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the French language."

We are all so excited!!!! Its so great to know where and when's he going. We spent a lot of time on the internet looking up info about his mission. I read through the whole packet and learned what we needed to do right away. Its going to be such a great experience for Justin and for our whole family.

Anniversary Getaway, THE CONCERT

2011-09-05T11:55:00.005-06:00

The MGM Grand Garden Arena

The whole reason we went to Las Vegas for our 20th Anniversary

was to see SADE in concert.

We are huge fans and were so glad she was finally

touring again, after 10 years since the last tour.

We'd never seen her live before and had waited a long time

for this night.

Paul and I at the arena

We got there right when the doors opened

so we could take in the whole experience.

It was such a great place to people watch

(wish we had some pictures to share)

In our seats

waiting for the concert to start

John Legend

opened the concert

he's got a great voice

and plays the piano while he sings - HOT!

me and SADE

during the concert there were lots

of cool graphics and videos

she is TIMELESS!

near the end of the concert

Sade in her 5th outfit, I think

she looked amazing in every single one

SADE up on this rising little platform

we were dying watching her up there

SADE was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE enjoyed every minute of the concert (except for the supremely rude and annoying girls behind us who wouldn't stop talking, after several confrontations with them and the people in our row, security escorted them out) and can't wait for the concert DVD to come out so we can watch it over and over.

Anniversary Getaway, part 4

2011-09-05T11:39:00.002-06:00

Las Vegas Temple

Saturday morning Paul and I got up early so we could go to the temple. Its terrible that it takes going out of town to get us to the temple. The Las Vegas temple is beautiful - inside and out. The celestial room is amazing. It was great to go and try to bring some spirituality to our weekend in sin city.

Anniversary Getaway, part 3

2011-09-05T11:30:00.004-06:00

cool towers at

City Center on the strip

amazing wall of fountains

at Aria

The Bellagio

chocolate fountains

at The Bellagio

The Paris

the fountains at The Bellagio

we love these fountain shows set to music

we watched 4 different ones and they are all amazing

inside the Venetian

the Grand Canale shops at The Venetian

(hopefully one day I'll go to the real Venice)

We know its called sin city but we really enjoy exploring around Vegas. After relaxing in our room for a bit, we went to dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe and then spent about 6 hours walking around the strip. There are some amazing things to see. By the time we got back to our room, I was exhausted but it was so much fun to see these cool hotels and stores.

Anniversary Getaway, part 2

2011-09-05T11:18:00.003-06:00

The Signature Towers

at MGM Grand

looking up from our room on the 25th floor

We were in Tower 2 of the 3 Towers

looking down from our room to the pools

goofing off in our room

Complimentary dessert

to celebrate our 20th anniversary

we went to this swanky mexican restaurant

Diego's at the MGM Grand

From our morning golf date, we drove to Las Vegas. the first thing we had to do was find a distribution center so Paul could buy some garments cuz he forgot to pack some :)

Then we went to check in to our hotel. Since it was our 20th anniversary we decided to splurge and stay somewhere really nice. I highly recommend The Signature Towers at MGM. It was an amazing place to stay and was super nice, esp since it was a non-gaming and non-smoking resort/hotel. When we checked in, Jacqueline-the front desk clerk, asked us about our stay and we told her we were there to celebrate our 20th anniversary. She upgraded our room and put us on the 25th floor with a great view. That room was much nicer than my house. It was huge and so comfy!

Anniversary Getaway, part 1

2011-09-05T10:53:00.004-06:00

Paul teeing off

at Casa Blanca Golf Course

(it was majorly brown & dusty)

Paul at Casa Blanca golf course

in Mesquite

This is actually the best looking part of the course right now

(they were closing the next day for overseeding)

Paul and I

after golfing 18 holes

in the desert heat

We set off on our getaway on Thursday afternoon, driving down to St George. We listened to the first half of the Utah game while we were driving. Then we went to Iggy's in St George and watched the second half of the game while we had dinner. Then on to Mesquite, where we stayed for the night.

Then early the next morning (but not quite early enough) we went to McDonalds for breakfast (it was conveniently located next to the hotel and was quick) and then on to golfing. I was really nervous to go again because we hadn't been for 2 years. Luckily we got to go out just us 2, which was quite a relief. We had a cart which always makes it fun for me. It all came back to me and I had some good hits. We had a great time even though it got pretty hot by the end. We golfed 18holes, which I've never done in my life, and i'm not really cut out for that much golf - I don't have the endurance or the attention span. But Paul was having a blast so I was good too.

Guess Where He's Going

2011-09-01T10:08:00.002-06:00

Justin has turned in his mission papers and they've been submitted to the missionary committee. He should get his call next week or the week after. We've put this big poster size wall map in our entry way and want to write everyone's guesses on it. I think this will be fun and especially good for Jared and Kamryn. So if you'd like to make your guess, please comment (if you commented on facebook, we'll put that up too).

20th Anniversary

2011-08-31T21:48:00.005-06:00

most of our dates were just hanging out at my house

fall '90

cabin party

fall '90

one of our dates

fall '90

temple date

fall '90

Our beautiful wedding day

Our engagement picture

Our 1st anniversary Aug '91

(why there isn't a picture of us together, I don't know)

Paul and I with his dog Annie Feb '92

Our 1st Christmas

Friend trip to ID Sept '01

My sister's wedding Aug 95

Trip to Laughlin

4th of July parade at Brighton 2000

Running Race for the Cure May 2001

Cancun March '97

Sedona April 2004

at a ward luau in May '99

at my sister's wedding Oct '98

These are just a few pictures of us together through the years. There aren't very many pictures of just us so it didn't take too long to gather these pictures. Most of our pictures are family pictures with our kids. It was sure fun to look at these pictures and remember many great times. I can't believe its been 20 years. I've been a very lucky girl to have such a great husband taking care of me for so long.

PS Sorry for the crazy looking post - I'm seriously challenged when it comes to uploading pictures.

PPS Well I went back and figured out how to scan the pictures better but I can't face going back to find all those pictures again. At least I know better for next time.

21 Years

2011-08-25T22:56:00.003-06:00

Paul and I at the Sundance Theater

21 years ago, almost to the day, Paul and I went on our first date to see Fiddler on the Roof at Sundance Theater. Its been an amazing 21 years!

This time we saw Sound of Music and it was so good. We were really lucky and got seats on the front row. It was really fun to be that close and really feel the emotion of that true story.

1st day of school

2011-08-24T11:43:00.001-06:00

My four school kids

Brooke - senior

Taylor - 8th grade

Jared & Kamryn - 1st grade

Jared and Kamryn at their school on their 1st day

They were very excited and got up 30 min earlier than they needed to.

They both brought lunch from home for the first day.

Kamryn in her class line waiting to go in.

Jared was so excited

all 4 of the 1st grade teachers lined up with their teachers.

it was quite the scene with all of the parents there

taking pictures

there was definitely some crying

both from the kids and the parents

1st Grade

2011-08-22T09:30:00.002-06:00

Jared and Kamryn with their new 1st grade teacher, Mrs Sorley.

Today was their assessment for 1st grade. They had the first 2 appointments of the day, starting at 8:30, so we had to be at the school just like a normal day. They both did great!!

Jared's new do

2011-08-15T13:53:00.003-06:00

Jared decided he wanted to try a buzz like his cousins have. I was really nervous to do it - what if he didn't look good?? Taylor urged me to just do it so I did. And I think he looks pretty good. And it'll be great for the start of the school year and getting up early to go to first grade.

Top of the World

2011-08-14T09:24:00.003-06:00

Justin (in yellow) and Taylor (in gray hoodie)

setting off with other scouts and leaders

from our ward to hike Kings Peak

the highest peak in Utah

a view of Kings Peak way in the distance

it was an 8 mile pack in with heavy packs

to their base camp

and then a 13 mile round trip hike to the summit

and then hike back out

30 miles total!!

taking break before the last push getting to the top

They made it!

on top of the world

in Utah anyway

the shortcut they took on the way back

CRaZy!!!

My Family

2011-08-11T21:22:00.004-06:00

Our Family at

Provo River Falls

its pretty difficult to get my family all together for a picture. They're not very agreeable or cooperative about it so I'll always take what I can get. My sister took this for us and it turned out pretty good, just hard to see Paul.

Too hard to choose

2011-08-10T08:06:00.011-06:00

Haystack Mountain

Playing games

Jenny posing for the camera

Checking out a dead fish they found in the lake

Taylor helping Katie across the rocks

Jared making his way across the rocky river bed

check out the big snow bank in August!

follow the leader

Jake decided it was just easier to walk right in the river

Most of our group

on the "dam" hike

(missing Paul and Brooke, Justin took the photo)

Kamryn on our hike

Playing with Katie

Kamryn warming up by the fire

Jared

Dale out with his kids

Paul out with his kids

love this one

Brooke crossing the bolder field to get to Rock Lake

Kamryn and Brooke at Rock Lake

the crazy boys out in Rock Lake

Justin's artsy camping photos

2011-08-10T07:51:00.004-06:00

Justin took over 500 pictures while we were camping. He's more of an artsy photographer and thinks people ruin pictures - j/k. These are some of my personal favorites that he took.

Washington Lake 2011

2011-08-10T07:07:00.002-06:00

We figured out that Paul has been going to Washington Lake since he was probably 8 years old (over 35 years) and we never get sick of going there. Its changed A LOT in those years and we still LOVE it.

Last week we spent most of the week up there. Justin, Taylor, Jared and Kamryn drove up with me on Tuesday. For I think the 2nd time in all of our camping up there we were able to reserve a spot. You have to do that 6 months in advance and its hard to remember and know that far ahead what our schedule is. We had #19 reserved and its the most perfect double spot.

We borrowed our friends Jeep and tent trailer. I couldn't face being up there for 4 nights sleeping in a tent on an air mattress that goes flat during the night. THANK YOU to the Swans for saving us with their trailer. It was especially nice to have it on this trip because the MOSQUITOS were SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Due to all the snow and rain this year the lake is really high and there's still so much muddy and swampy areas up there so the MOSQUITOS are HORRIBLE. We haven't had it that bad in 12 years. It was almost enough to make us go home but not quite.

Thanks to the Byers for going with us. The cousins all get along so well and have such a great time together.

Paul and Brooke were able to come up on Thursday. Paul said they would be there by 12 and they pulled up at 12:02, pretty impressive. Paul had to be out of town for work and Brooke had to work through Wed. She didn't even ask for it off but got Thur - Sat off and we called that divine intervention.

We did several hikes - that "dam" hike, Rock Lake, Provo River Falls, Paul took Jared and Kamryn to the top of Haystack Mountain, and then Paul and the teenagers did a new hike from our campsite to the Provo River Falls. That hike turned out to be their highlight of the trip.

Paul's favorite thing is going out on the lake in the rubber raft. He likes to fish and loves to take the kids with him. Jadon had a really good idea to take the rafts all the way to the end of Tail Lake when we were doing the Rock Lake hike and put all the younger kids in the boats to help out with length of that hike. Everyone in our group did the Rock Lake hike, including Katie who is 2 1/2 and Jenny, the Byers dog. It was great watching everyone climb over the big boulders getting to the lake, especially watching the bigger kids helping the younger kids.

We enjoyed nights around the campfire - roasting Starburst and making smores, playing "teradactyl" and checking out all the millions of stars. We only had rain one night and we were prepared for it. We enjoyed playing lots of games and just hanging out.

One of the funniest things was when Paul took Kamryn and Taylor out in the boat the last night we were there. They were out until it was dark and came in by the moonlight. Kamryn was being super funny/silly on the walkie talkie and we were all laughing.

It was a great camping trip and so many wonderful memories. I'm so glad my whole family was up there together for part of the time because who knows when that will happen again.

Pictures to follow.

Summer So Far

2011-07-31T23:05:00.002-06:00

So I'm pretty behind on blog posts for this summer and here's a little list of what we've done this summer:

Aspen Grove family trip (covered that)
Brooke's 17th birthday
girls camp - Happily Ever After was our theme and our ward was the princess Anastasia
Week at the cabin for the 4th of July
Chris Isaak concert at the baseball stadium
High Valley Soccer Tournament and staying at condo at Moose Hollow - Jared and Kamryn loved it and want to move there
Outing to Dinosaur Museum with friends
Family wedding - Paul's brother, Steve's daughter Emily got married to Stephen De Shazer in the Mt Timpanogos temple. It was great to have them out here visiting from Pennsylvania for the wedding.
Butlerville Days parade and super slip n slide at our house afterwards
Youth conference - at SUU in Cedar City and doing the narrows at Zions
Swimming lessons for Jared and Kamryn

Most of that was in July and definitely kept us very busy. I can't believe it will be August tomorrow and we only have 3 weeks left of this summer.

A new son

2011-07-31T15:52:00.003-06:00

BEFORE

AFTER

Justin had not had a haircut for a year! He was finally ready to cut it off and was tired of how long it took to wash it. (plus he had an appt with the bishop to start on his mission papers)

It ended up being quite a traumatic experience for me. I've always cut his hair but this time was tough. It was hard cutting off all those beautiful curls. I didn't even know where to start so I just stared cutting off big chunks of hair until most of it was gone and I could do a regular hair cut. Cutting it meant a lot of things and the hardest part was thinking about him being gone for 2 years. I'm excited for him to serve a mission but there sure are a lot of mixed feelings for me personally.

More Aspen Grove Favorites

2011-07-26T20:37:00.003-06:00

Family photo at Aspen Grove

The above photo we couldn't find Justin anywhere

Luckily for this one we found him

Definitely my favorite photo of the trip

Justin enjoyed the arts and crafts center

Taylor on the ropes course

I guess this is enough of Aspen Grove. It was such a great week with our family, immediate and extended. Hopefully we can go again someday.

(now maybe I can catch up on the rest of our summer activities)

Aspen Grove Favorites

2011-07-12T03:06:00.010-06:00

These are some of my favorite photos and activities from our family trip to Aspen Grove.

They are in no particular order, just ones I liked .

On Monday afternoon there were the Aspen Follies out on the big ball field. We competed as the whole Shingleton family against other family groups. We rotated around all the challenges and did all the games. We were timed against other family groups. Jared got soaked during the water challenge and LOVED it, although the above picture makes it hard to tell.

Cousin pictures. The kids had SO MUCH fun with their cousins and were so sad when it was time to go home.

One of the great activities during the Aspen Follies

Dodge ball competition between the adults and the young adults/teens. This was great fun and very competitive.

Hanging out with family was a blast!

More fun cousin time

Eating lunch outside. Eating at Aspen Grove was great - buffet style meals in the dining room. The kids loved eating with their cousins and getting to pick out what they wanted. The best part was that I didn't have to cook for a whole week.

PS I tried to do something different with the layout on this post and it didn't go very well.

Fantastic Fourth

2011-07-05T23:39:00.004-06:00

Paul and I with Jared and Kamryn

at Silver Lake on the 4th of July

We were lucky to be able to spend the 4th at the cabin this year.

It started out overcast and rainy, its like its May up there still.

Its been a tradition to go to the breakfast at the church and watch the parade for years.

This year we changed that up a little -

we did our own big breakfast at the cabin

and then went to the parade.

The kids loved watching the small town parade and getting lots of candy.

Thanks to my sister for taking this great picture

of Paul and Kamryn at Silver Lake.

We went over there after the parade and made our way around the lake

with the mud and snow on a lot of the trail.

Some of us that were there for the "hike"

around Silver Lake

The kids love to climb on this big rock!

My Personal Favorite

2011-06-22T21:19:00.004-06:00

Sue, the redneck

We're BAD

Parry, Dale, Lisa, Paul

Susan, Paul S and Justin

Warriors

Susan hurt her back so she just watched the 2nd battle

Took a few for the team

the paint went right through Paul's mask

On Monday at Aspen Grove we had the chance go paintballing! It was a BLAST! We were really lucky and got to do 3 rounds cuz no one was signed up after us. You had to be 18 so Justin was the only grandkid that got to do it. We all felt like kids again and would love to go again.

PS Thanks to Susan for the pictures.

Brooke's Belated Birthday

2011-06-21T15:11:00.003-06:00

Brooke in one of her new dresses

Showing off her other new dress

Brooke's 17th birthday was a crazy busy Friday - she was at Lagoon with a friend and the boys had a soccer tournament in Brigham City. Then we left the very next day for our Aspen Grove family vacation so we just celebrated today. She said she just wanted to get a new summery dress. So she and I went shopping at the mall today and found these 2 great dresses - isn't she beautiful. We actually found several dresses that she looked so cute in and it was hard to choose. I wished we could have gotten all of them.

Brooke is a beautiful girl - inside and out! She is a treasure and we are very lucky to have her in our family. She is very mellow and not into typical girl dramas. She's very responsible and works hard at home, school and her job. We love listening to her play the piano, its like we have a professional pianist in our home all the time.

WE LOVE YOU BROOKE !!!

We're Converting

2011-06-19T15:54:00.006-06:00

... 2 of them anyway.

Our family just spent an awesome week at Aspen Grove. There is so much to post about and over 600 pictures to go through that this is going to take a while to get more details on here.

Kindergarten Graduates

2011-06-08T13:26:00.003-06:00

Kamryn and silly Jared

on the last day of Kindergarten

The graduates

(self portraits with graduations caps)

I can't believe kindergarten has come to an end for my babies. They've had a great year with the MOST AWESOME teacher EVER! I'm sad I won't have any other kids for her to teach. I told her I'm still going to volunteer for her next year.

Jared and Kamryn have learned so much and are excited for first grade and eating lunch at school. They have made a countdown calendar for how many days until first grade. They are working on learning their lunch number already.

My 1st Graduate

2011-06-07T23:15:00.005-06:00

Justin, the morning of his graduation

he's a very casual graduate

he's a good sport too

letting his mom take lots of pictures

Justin with Kamryn and Jared

don't they look like great buddies

Congratulations!

Justin and Brooke

he makes her look so small

what great kids!

thanks to Justin for setting a great example

Justin decided he wanted to go to

The Cottonwood Cafe to celebrate his graduation

We went for lunch so that everyone could go

We also celebrated Brooke's 17th birthday

Justin opening cards from his grandparents

His Grandma and Grand-dad gave him $20-11 for graduation

(a $20 bill and 11 $1 bills)

Justin was pretty excited about our graduation present

that we gave him

a new camera!

Since this is our first graduate

we're newbies to the whole thing

justin was supposed to be there an hour early

so I was the only one there that early

we didn't realize that would be the only chance to do pictures

with him in his gown

Justin with his "wardy" friend, Mackenzie

good buddies

Justin walking in during the procession

all of the graduates

somewhere near 600

After graduation

Justin with his grandparents

add in his Dad

and his mom

Justin with his Honors Diploma

We are very proud of Justin and excited that he is done with high school and moving on to new adventures in his life. He is a great son and will do great things in his life!

Kindergarten Field Day

2011-06-07T09:35:00.005-06:00

Kamryn in the sack race

Jared doing bubble burst painting

Kamryn with her friend Gracie

doing a 3 legged race

Kamryn getting ready to start another 3 legged race

Jared playing Red Light, Green Light

Kamryn doing the sponge relay game

Kamryn with her friend Ellie

waiting for the turn on the obstacle course

Jared racing on red light, green light

Jared doing parts of the obstacle course

jared playing hot potato with water balloons

The two afternoon kindergarten classes

at the end of field day

with their popsicles

I usually dread helping with field day at school and haven't done it for years. But since I'm the room mother for the kindergarten class I had to help. The great thing at their school is field day is just by grade and not the whole school out there on the same day. It was so much better this way. Luckily there were enough mom's helping that there were 2 at each station and I just got to do the timer and blow the whistle when it was time to rotate. That's my kind of job :)

It was fun to watch the kids all have a great time outside and luckily the weather cooperated.

Girl Quake

2011-06-06T09:09:00.003-06:00

Kamryn

all dressed up

for her dance recital

Kamryn did a great job in her recital this year. She was in 2 dances and my favorite was to a song called "Girl Quake" I still need to take a picture of her in that costume and add it to this post. Her teachers, Miss Liz and Miss Chelsea, are the greatest teachers and make dance so much fun for Kamryn. It was so great to see Kamryn excited and smiling up on the stage. The best part was after the recital when she caming running out all happy and jumped up in her dad's arms.

Great Gardeners

2011-06-05T16:32:00.002-06:00

Since my flower gardens were so successful

last year I was really anxious

to get flowers planted again this year

We've had so much rain this spring

that's it been almost impossible to even

work outside.

I had a 2 day window with no rain

where I was able to get the areas

ready to plant

get the plants

and get them in the ground.

Jared and Kamryn were very anxious to help me plant

all the flowers.

They were great helpers

and it was fun to work outside with them.

They love to plant

but they also love

the bugs and worms

they would pick them up bare handed

and inspect them.

hopefully they continue to be interested

and help out through the whole summer

A Family Celebration

2011-06-03T22:29:00.002-06:00

Last week our family had a big celebration in honor of paying off our mortgage!

We've worked really hard and sacrificed a lot to do this. In the very beginning of our marriage Paul said his goal was to have our house paid off before our kids started college and going on missions. I admit I had a hard time with this and many times doubted us being able to do it.

Thanks to his vision and guidance we were able to do it - with time to spare before Justin leaves on a mission in the fall.

As we could see that we were going to be able to pay off the mortgage this year Paul started telling the kids that we were going to have a big celebration. He told them we were going to all go out to dinner somewhere nice and celebrate. We rarely go out to dinner as a family so this was a big deal. We decided to go to the Garden Restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building - mostly for the setting and location. The view of the temple is amazing from up there and Jared and Kamryn loved the fountain in the foyer too.

When it came time for ordering even this was special - drinks, appetizers and Dad saying "Get whatever you want." We were all so full by the end of dinner.

Kamryn

Jared

Justin and Brooke

Taylor and Paul

Lisa with Jared and Kamryn

Paul and Lisa

Taylor

Our whole family at the end of dinner

Kamryn leaning up against the glass

the girl has absolutely no fear

Jared

he has major fear -

it was so funny watching him very carefully

climb up on the ledge to take this picture

Our crazy kids at the temple

One of the best parts of the night was walking around temple square together. Everyone was in a good mood and we had such a great time. They were all very cooperative about taking pictures and were nice to each other. Justin's in a photography class at school and took a lot of cool pictures (that's a whole other post).

everyone but Dad who had to take the picture

Justin

Taylor

Kamryn

After spending time together downtown, Paul suggested we go get dessert!

Two restaurants in one night - now that's super extravagant.

We went to Leatherby's and had fun there too.

Kamryn getting a kiss from her brother

Justin enjoying his shake

Kamryn with her freeze

Jared with his brownie

he doesn't like ice cream ??

Paul and I shared a brownie sundae - YUM!

Brooke and Taylor sharing their shake

no one had to share - we were just still kind of full from dinner

It was a great evening and one we hope our kids will remember for a long time. I am very grateful to Paul for his wisdom and guidance in our family.

Seminary Graduate

2011-05-27T09:12:00.003-06:00

This is Justin before his Seminary Graduation.

The papers in his hand are his talk.

yes, this lucky man was asked to speak.

I am proud of him for graduating from seminary.

End of the Season

2011-05-23T07:59:00.003-06:00

Kamryn with her team

Purple Ponies

they were a fun little team to "coach"

PS I obviously love kamryn the most since I only took pictures of her team for the end of the season. (not really, I just forgot to take my camera to the other games, dumb me)

The Best Chaperone Job

2011-05-19T10:11:00.003-06:00

Brooke, Whitney & Tisa

One of the greatest gigs I've had as a chaperone is going to Lagoon with the high school physics students. I went with Justin and his classmates last year but it was rainy and cold.

This year I went with Brooke and her classmastes and it was GREAT! It was sunny and warm and a lot of fun. Brooke was with 2 friends so they needed me to tag along with them to even up their group. We went on all the big rides. I was feeling pretty old by the end of the day - warn out, with a headache and feeling a little sick. But it was still fun. And I'm glad my daughter is okay with me hanging out with her and her friends.

Their birthday celebration

2011-05-17T16:03:00.004-06:00

Since Jared and Kamryn had a huge friend party last year

I told them that we would just have a little family party

They decided they wanted to go swimming

So for family night last night

we invited grandma and grandpa

cousins, aunts and uncles

everyone had lots of fun

swimming

eating

playing

singing "happy birthday"

opening presents

the big 6 year old

with a HUGE piece of cake

Jared and Kyson

what cute cousins!

Jared with his cobra snake

one of his favorite presents