Bracken and I took turns going to the temple today.  I thought a lot about the challenges and trials I have faced and what some of my friends are facing right now. Life can be rough. I'm grateful for the perspective that we have heavenly parents and the strength that provides.

I took the kids to the library while Bracken was at the temple. Hayes is getting a bit old for story time but he still is a good sport. I love reading and it's exciting to me to watch my kids love of reading/books grow. Their (and mine too) favorite book they checked out last time was "Chalk" by Bill Thomson. There are no words but the illustrations are amazing and tell a fun story.  The kids love how the dinosaur is defeated at the end.

Bracken donates blood whenever United Blood asks him too, they have given him free vouchers for ice cream and shows and now movie tickets! (Shh, don't tell that he'd do it for nothing, this has made our date night planning easier & cheaper!) We went to the latest Batman tonight.  After watching the HALF HOUR of movie previews I was already feeling a bit violenced out and the movie was super violent as well.  Here I am supporting more violent films by watching it.. Sometimes my economist head gets in the way of just enjoying something when I think about how consuming this product is a "vote" for more of it. ( in this case, violence) It was fun being with Bracken though! Kamri kept asking all day when the babysitter would get here.  I should be offended, she was way too excited to get us out of the house!

As we were going to bed, I asked Bracken why it seems most people that are for gun control aren't for harder ratings against violent video games/ movies. I know because it is free speech and the argument that watching violence doesn't make you violent but I wanted to hear his perspective. He asked me why I randomly brought that up. I replied "Oh, I was just thinking about Batman". You can imagine that in a dreamy voice and Bracken said that should be my favorite line of the day. In my defense, I was referring to the movie, not the man!

Thanks to all of you that left me your emails. I'll send you invites to my blog when I make it private tomorrow night.

I'm going private in the next couple days, if you'd like to keep reading my updates leave me your email address.

If you're too lazy to log in to view my blog, give me a call, i'd love to chat.

I might not keep it private forever but for the time being that's the way I'm going to roll.

Summit

This past week has been looming ahead for our family and now it is gone and over with.  It seems weird to have something over with so quick that we talked about and Bracken prepared for for so long. Bracken took the bar, climbed Mount Rainier, and I took the kids on a road trip from Las Vegas to Cache Valley.  The kids and I got home last night at midnight and Bracken flew in this morning. Now what we have been looking forward to-- a whole month of playing until he starts work!

Here is Bracken and Jeff Paul at the summit.  (those are clouds behind them!) He said it was well worth the time & money and I'm glad he got home safe. A successful climb!

Church was a bit crazy alone with three kids. They all decided they needed to be on my lap at the same time. Eliciting laughs from the seasoned mother sitting by me and looks of pity from the new mother in front of me as I jostled them on top of each other.  Bracken got home right after church and we were all so excited to see him. We went to Rod (my dad's cousin) & Cindy's for dinner. Hayes & Kamri love playing with their grandkids, I explained to them that they are their third cousin's so now they call Rod & Cindy their third grandparents. We are grateful they let us join their family for Sunday dinner!

The next Steve Erwin

minus the whole getting stabbed through the heart by a sting-ray.

Purple Glue, Mount Rainier & Olympics

Another day spent with cousins. My kids are to the point where they think life is all about fun, getting home tomorrow and back to a routine is going to be rough on them (and let's me honest, rough on me too!)

Bracken flew out after the bar exam last night to climb Mount Rainier.  He started climbing this morning and I won't hear from him until he is off the mountain Saturday night.  I'm excited he got this opportunity but nervous too.  I'll keep praying until I hear from him!

We watched the Olympic opening ceremonies, pretty amazing. I love the Olympics.  I found online a few weeks ago that NBC was streaming all the events live online. It was stoked! Then today I went online to look at the schedule and read that you have to be a cable/satellite subscriber to watch.  Darn. There is no such thing as a free lunch after all.

My favorite line today:  The kids were all laying quietly as I was sitting waiting for them to fall asleep. Suddenly Kamri sat up. "Mom, did you know there is such a thing as purple glue?!?!"  Yes Kamri, I did.  "My preschool has some!"    Then she laid back down, silent and asleep in two minutes.  random.

Bracken finished the bar exam!!! Now to wait until results in October and he's done with law school forever. Wahoo!

The kids spent the day playing with cousins and we drove a lot. That's tiring. I post too much about being tired. I should switch to posting in the morning, maybe that would help.

Good Life

You know you have a good life when the worst part of your day is throwing a fit because you can't ride the tube behind the boat anymore. (see Kamri's pic below)
Kamri had a perma-grin when she rode on the tube.
Hayes loved tubing and jumping off the boat to swim in the dam.
Lyla loved hanging out with Taggert on the boat. Eating twizzlers & cookies was a major plus. (that girl has had more sugar this trip than the rest of her life combined!)
Thanks Telly, Kristin & Kade for taking us boating!
We got to go see a few friends today too. Cache Valley is good to us!

Bracken had 6 hours of multiple choice testing today. I don't think he felt the good life too much today, I felt a bit guilty telling him about the fun we had. He has half a day of essays left tomorrow and then he is D-O-N-E!! :D