Water Back-Up

Well Saturday night, about 10:00, after all of the excitement in the yard with the trees, rained out soccer games, and a long day at work, I went downstairs to change laundry. Just as I got to the laundry room door, I sensed something was wrong. The next step I took was into soaking wet carpet. Just what we needed I thought, a problem with the washing machine and an overflow. Well, that is not what it was. We called our neighbor who is a plumber, and he came right over. After looking things over, he decided that we must have a backup in our drain pipe for the kitchen sink, and that the water had come up through the drain in the floor. Brian had washed potaoe peels down the sink when he was making dinner. So they clogged the pipes, and when he was doing the dishes after dinner, the water had no where to go. (Yes Brian made dinner, and did the dishes afterwards...I am so spoiled) So we got the drain cleaned out, and everything seems to be OK for now. Another example of the great neighbors that we have. They are willing to help even at 10:00 on Saturday night.

Trees Everywhere

This weekend we cut down all 4 pine trees in our yard! Other than a few branches Brian started trimming off that you see on the lawn, this is what the trees looked like that were in the front yard. It is only one tree, but years ago it split into two main trunks near the very bottom, so it is almost the size of 2 trees!

And these are the 3 trees in the backyard. They are not nearly as big, but we feel like they are way too much for our yard, and we have other things we want to do in that corner.

This is the big tree from the front yard on top of my new flowerbed that I just got in this year. I went to work this night and left the boys to take care of things. I hope my flowers aren't completely ruined, but I am grateful that it didn't go over on my house and all of our friends that came to help and to play with the chainsaws went home with 10 fingers, and there were no injuries.
This is what 4 pine trees looks like in a front yard!
This is the After picture with the pile of stumps from the front yard.
This is how tall the pile of branches is, you see my goofy husband so proud of what he did. He had lots of fun playing with the chain saw, and I think he is even more excited to have one sitting in the shed that he can use whenever he wants. If you know Brian, you know that he loves power tools....he must be related to the Simmons!

Here is the after picture of the backyard. I guess that one of the trees went down on the fence that divides us and the neighbor. She laughed and joked about it. Thank goodness for a good sense of humor and a cheap chain link fence. All that we are going to have to replace is the horizontal pole that supports the top of the fence. It seems as though they cleaned up the back yard much better than the front. Really though, we have a big dumpster being delivered today to put all the mess in I am sure that our neighbors will be relieved to see it show up. At this point, I'm sure they are wondering how we are going to be getting all of the mess out of here. I keep waiting for the city Code Enforcers to knock on our door and give me a citation for the mess in our yard.

Thank you to our awesome friends and neighbors who helped us with this project. We couldn't have done it without your help and know how! We truly appreciate you guys, We have a great neighborhood.

Les's spelling test

Wow, Les had his first spelling test yesterday! He got 100%! We worked hard on his words and I was so proud of him. he is getting to be a great reader. He is starting to recognize some of the hight frequency words when he sees them, instead of having to sound them out. He even started on his first chapter book. We are reading it together. All the words that he can sound out or that he knows the rules to figure them out, I let him do. Then I read the ones that are harder so that he doesn't get too frustrated and give up.

Amber is also doing amazing with her reading. She has to read AR books, and has to do the comprehension test on the computer when she is done. She gets a certain amount of points depending on the difficulty of the book. She is required to get 10 points a quarter. She currently has 25 points, and it is only mid-term. She amazes me. I don't even like to think about picking up a book. She is probably a much better reader than I am.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow, I can't believe how busy I seem to be since school started. I though that I would have some quiet time to stay home and get a few things done without the kids distracting me. I was very wrong. I have put more miles on my van in the last month, and gone through more gas than I did during the summer. I hope we all get into a schedule soon, so we can slow down a little. Soccer only goes for a few more weeks, and that will free up about 6 hours a week. I'm sure that it will be filled with something else. I seem to only update my blog with the weeks events on the weekends, instead of each day when something happens. Oh well, so is life when you have kids!

Father and Son Campout

Friday night was our Stake Father and Son Campout at our stake's property. Most "camped" in the lodge. We were one of the few that toughed it out and were in our little tent. The rain came down, the wind blew and the lightning and thunder went wild. We survived and only got a little wet. The boy's actually slept through most of the storm.

As with most campouts, The fire was the best part. They really liked the s'mores that our Bishop shared with us and thankfully someone told me(before we used them) that the sticks that I cut to cook the marshmellows on were dogwood and it could have made us sick.

Zak thought that we were really roughing it out there and thanked Heavenly Father for letting us be in the "Wilderness." You can see in the picture that we were really "back country" with the CRV parked next to our tent that was set up on grass. Not to mention the fact that we were only 300 yards from the highway and 15 minutes from Maverick. But hey, that is the wilderness to him!

We had a great time and we made it back from the wilderness in time for the busy day of soccer games, team pictures and canning fruit!

Pictures I've Taken

I entered this picture into the Roy City art show, and won an Honorable Mention this week. I thought that it was a great picture, and was excited to have it recognized at all.

Also, this was a picture that I took just Saturday as the storms rolled through. It isn't very often that you see a full double rainbow. I sent it to 2 News, and they also put it on their weather segment! That was pretty cool!

Primary Program

Well last week was the annual primary Sacrament Meeting Program at our ward. I'll admit that it isn't always the most spiritual Sunday for me. But last week, was different. The program started out with Amber singing a solo of I Am A Child of God. She did an amazing job. She obvioulsy gets her singing talent from the Simmons family....NOT me. Les said his part so clearly that he could be understood very well. Zak was a different story. He practiced and memorized his part, and amazed the Primary presidency when he said his part without any help in practice the previous week. But then during the program, he reverently waited for the Primary president to wisper the words in his ear, because that is what they did for everyone else. He is such a goofball.

All I Want For Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth

At last, Les has 1 of 2 front teeth. It is on the side where that deformed extra tooth was. It is such a relief to see that it is generally in the right place and pointing the right direction. It is hard to tell exactly where it will end up, but I don't think that the dentist expected it to be that close to the right position. I also don't think that the dentist was 100% sure that there was a real permanenet tooth there. It was hard to tell in the x-rays that they took. Now he should get that other one soon, and have a full set of teeth again. It has been almost exactly a year since he had them pulled.

Soccer Begins

Well, the soccer season has started at our house, and Saturdays are hectic. But Amber and Les are having a great time playing. The first game of the season was a little slow, but their second games were great.

I think that Amber is really enjoying playing this year, but she is not an aggressive personality, so we have had to work a little on that. She is going to be a good player with some practice.

I am not sure that she likes playing against her close friends though! She would much rather be on their same team.

Les is still loving the game of soccer, and is improving each game. He is quick, and more than anything he loves having 11 other boys all his age to "play" with each week.
Brian is coaching Les's team this year, and I think he enjoys it as much as Les does. He was very excited when the boys applied what he taught them at their last practice and improved dramatically in their second game.

I am glad that they are learning to love sports and having fun too. They all love to go to soccer practices and games, and love to practice in the back yard. It gets crazy trying to get to 2 games on 2 fields, sometimes at the same time, and coach one, but it has been fun to watch them play. And the season is just beginning. We play until May!

Zak turns 4!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAK!!!

Well today my Zak is a big 4 year old. I can't believe he is growing up so quick. We had a little birthday party with 3 of his friends, and he had the time of his life. I love when he is so entertained by simple, easy things. We had a great time. We love you Zakky!

What a Week

Wow, what a week we have had. Brian, Amber and Les started school, we have had all 3kids to the doctor, medicine for 2 of them, Amber to the dentist, and some really weird diagnosis. Les finally seems to be doing better, although not completly there yet. Zak just had a minor rash that is almost better now. Amber has a funny lump in her cheek. We took her to the dentist becuase we thought it might be a tooth problem, but he said there was nothing he could do for it. He said that it was behind her jaw, probably her parotid gland. So off we went to the medical doctor. He confirmed that it was her parotid gland that was swollen, but that there is no reason to know why. He put her on an antibiotic in case it was caused by a bacteria, but said that if it was caused by a virus or a plug, that wouldn't help...I guess we just wait and see. It is pretty tender for her. I only hope this isn't a sign of what the school year is going to bring for us. I still don't have pictures of the kids heading to school for this school year.

Zak will start school on Wednesday, and is very excited. Hopefully we won't have anymore stragne illnesses that keep him out.

Crazy Kids

Wow, I have funny kids. He must get it from his Daddy!

First Day of School

We have already had an eventful day today, and it is only 9:00 AM. It is the first day of school at our house! Les threw up before 8:00 this morning, I think he is really nervous about 1st grade. He almost started to cry when I told him good-bye. On the walk to school, Amber got a bloody nose, fortunately, it wasn't too bad. I didn't get pictures because I was worrying too much about wether or not I should let Les go to school since he has been sick anyway. I sure hope the day gets better from here.

Congratulations Scott & Tami

Scott and Tami added a new little one to their family on Thursday. This makes six kids for them! If I understand correctly, his name is Isaac Matheson Baird. I haven't seen him yet, but Mom says he has really thick black hair. Congratulations Scott & Tami!

My Pictures

I have spent the last few days moving all of my pictures off of my old computer before I lose them completely. I have put my favorites on the slideshow in the top right corner of this blog. Take a look, I'm sure that they won't mean the same to you as they do to me, but I decided to share them anyway.

We just got another picture of Amber with Corbin Bleu. She wanted it since the other one didn't look as much like him with his hat on!
He was signing her backstage pass!

Zak's been tagged!

OK, it was really Les that was tagged, but he didn't want anything to do with it, so he said Zak could do it.

1. What is something your mom/dad always says to you? “Clean your room” (unfortunately, it never seems to happen when mom says it)
2. What makes your mom/dad happy? “Cleaning our room”
3. What makes mom/dad sad? “Not telling the truth”
4. How does your mom/dad make you laugh? “Saying funny things”
5. What was your mom/dad like as a child? “Daddy was silly, and Mommy was silly too”
6. How old is your mom/dad? “Dad is 18, and Mom is 17”
7. How tall is your mom/dad? “Dad is long, and mom is short”
8. What is your mom/dad's favorite thing to do? “Not clean your room”
9. What does your mom/dad do when you're not around? “Make their beds”
10. If your mom/dad becomes famous, what would it be for? “Art” (WOW, he is obviously too young to realize that neither of us got any artistic ability)
11. What is your mom/dad really good at? “Daddy is good at yo-yo-ing and does a good job at it, and mom taking pictures” (I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brian yo-yo!)
12. What is your mom/dad not so good at? “I don’t know” (My kids think I’m perfect still!)
13. What does mom/dad do for a job? “Daddy makes staves, Mom works for Ben Franklin” (I can tell Daddy’s been out of school all summer. I don’t think Zak realizes that Daddy goes to school to teach, he thinks Dad goes to school like Amber and Les go to school as students every day.)
14. What is your mom/dad's favorite food? “What is your favorite food mom? You like to eat pizza, Daddy likes to eat corn on the cob”
15. What makes you proud of your mom/dad? “Make us dinner”
16. If your mom/dad was a cartoon character, who would they be? “Maybe Bob the Builder, he’s funny” (We’ve been remodeling the bathroom all summer)
17. What do you and your mom/dad do together? “Play games”
18. How are you and your mom/dad the same? “White skin” (He now realizes that Marsh, Mark and Ty’s skin is different)
19. How are you and mom/dad different? “You’re a mom, Dad’s a dad, and I’m a brother”
20. How do you know your mom/dad loves you? “Lets just do I don’t know”

Sunday Visitor

A funny thing happened Sunday afternoon at our house. We had a visitor in the Dining room.

He pecked a hole in the window screen and then got stuck between the window and the blinds. He kept trying to fly through the window, but of course that didn't work. Brian pulled out the screen to try to get him out the window without getting him any further into the house, but the blinds moved just enough that he fell to the floor, and Brian was able to pick him up!

Amber meets Corbin Bleu

The highlight of Amber's Month...Corbin Bleu. She was able to go to his concert at the Weber county fair, and get a backstage pass to meet him! (For those of you who don't know Corbin, he is one of the main stars of High School Musical.) Wow, now won't she be the envy of every tween girl! She had so much fun. She got her CD and backstage pass autographed, and Radio Disney was there with posters autographed by all of the High School Musical stars.

Woodbadge & Family Camp

Wow, what a week we had. Brain attended Woodbadge training, and the rest of us went to the Family Camp that our Council does once a year with Woodbadge.

Brian was assigned to the Eagle patrol, and had a great time in his training and with the others that he associated with. He learned a lot, and is looking forward to earning his beads. His goal is to have them about the time Saundra & Lynn return from their mission next spring.

Family camp had some amazing things planned for the spouses to do while our kids were off to their activities. Horseback riding was probably my favorite thing that I did, and I hope that when the pictures are available, there is some from that trip. I also got to go repelling, river running, and kayaking and canoeing on the lake. The repelling scared me to death, but I was proud of myself for doing it. I have never done anything like that, and I wish we would have had time to do more! I made some great friends, that I hope to keep in contact with. We'll see how that goes, I'm not very good at that.




Amber had a lot of fun at the Archery range. She enjoyed trying those new things. She was in the 8-9 year old girls group. Along with archery, she got to shoot BB guns, swim, go on the lake in the row boats, canoes and sail boat. She also got to go to the nature lodge at camp, and participate in Indian Lore and arts and crafts. She had fun meeting new girls her age and socializing with them. I don't know how many e-mail addresses she got, but I know there were several.

Les enjoyed having a few boys his age around. I don't think that it would have taken anything more than that to keep him happy. But to add to his fun he also got to participate in all the fun things that Amber did. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures, because I was off doing fun things while the kids were in their groups. But there were camp photographers whose job was to catch all the pictures we couldn't. So I am waiting on those pictures to be ready so that I can get some of them.

Zak was in the Small-Fry group it had a lot of 3-4 year olds in it. He had lots of fun doing pre-school type activities. He got to go to the Nature lodge, and participate in Indian Lore. Otherwise, that age group spent most of their time in their campsite playing on the playground that was brought in, watching movies, and exploring. Their favorite thing to do was play in the dirt...and there was plenty of that around. For their skit, they sang Five Little Monkeys..it was SO cute!

After we left Camp Bartlett, we went to Star Valley Wyoming so Brian could have some time to fish on the stream. We also took the kids fishing at the lake.

While Brain fished the stream, we stayed back at camp, and the kids played in a stream that went through the camp site.

While the kids fished at the lake in the evening, I got bored and took pictures.

Isn't it amazing the things that have been put on this earth by our Heavenly Father for us to Enjoy. I always love to go to the lake when we go with Brian on his fishing trips, and we are always grateful that he takes fishing seriously (family joke) enough to take us along. I know that we cut into his stream time, but I am glad that he wants us there.


It's no wonder the Simmons have been fishing here for so many years. It is a beautiful area, even if there are bears...hehehe.