Devynne Goes to EFY and Steve Heads to Idaho

This is a short posting with lots of pictures. Steve and his boys spent some time in Idaho with a friend while Devynne was at EFY in Salt Lake City. Steve and the boys did some hiking as you can see from the pictures and they had a ball. Devynne, too, had a great time. They did a service project coloring floor mats for kids which I included a picture of. Dakota spent the week in San Diego for Scout Camp. I don't have pictures of Dakota but he did have a great time and he earned 4 merit badges while he was there. He said the staff was awesome and he wanted to stay another week. I'm glad to have all my family home. :)

A Quickie

What?!! No, not what you think. I'm just taking a quick minute to update my blog. Saturday was busy with doing yard work (that never seems to be done), dropping Dakota off at his scout leader's home because they headed out for San Diego for scout camp and we ran errands. Steve played golf Saturday afternoon (Happy Father's Day)and I ran some Father's Day errands. Father's Day started out with Cinnabon cinnamon rolls (yummy) and then off to church where the primary children sang a Father's Day song with a few fathers singing with them (Steve was one of them) and I did shed a tear or two, of course. After church, Steve and Devynne headed to Salt Lake City for EFY. Steve will be with his kids this whole week, he and the boys will be spending some time with a friend of Steve's in Idaho. Steve, Devynne and Dakota will all be home this Saturday and hopefully I will have some pictures to post next week. Anyhoo, Dylan and I are just kickin it this week and I'm looking forward to everyone being home. :)

Skills, Drills and a Grill

This is the week that Dakota did the basketball camp at UNLV. He spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons learning and improving different basketball skills by running different drills. Dribbling, passing, shooting, offensive and defensive techniques and so on. Then they ended each day by playing 3 separate games since they were divided into 4 teams. The coach for his team was Steve "Chop" Jones and he was very animated and positive with the kids. I thought it was a great thing that they also focused on attitude and being a team player. Dakota had so much fun that he wants to do it again next year. He also made me promise that we would get a basketball hoop by the time school starts. So basketball was Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday was the day he got his braces on. Yay!!! He is very happy to have them on although he is now experiencing the "ow" part of it. He only has them on the top teeth right now but they are hurting a little. Thank goodness for Tylenol. Here are some pics (some are a little blurry however) of basketball camp and Dakota's grill. :)

Two Kinds of Driving

This post is about two kinds of driving. The first kind is when you play golf. When you tee off you can hit a long drive or a not so long drive. This past Saturday Steve and Dakota went to Boulder City and played a round of golf. It was Dakota's first time playing golf and he played a whole round of 18 holes. Steve and Dakota both had such a great time that they were still talking about it on Sunday. I will be going next time for sure. The next kind of driving is behind the wheel. Devynne took her driving test yesterday and passed!!!! She now is a licensed driver and I'm a nervous wreck. :) See, two kinds of driving, I'm so clever. :)

Last Day of School

Yesterday was the last day of school for my kids. Yippee!!! We now have a break from giving rides to seminary at 5:45 am and picking up kids at 1:00, 1:45 and 2:15 everyday. No more homework, tests and projects for a couple of months. Even though we have a busy summer planned it's all fun stuff. (well, except 3 weeks of summer school for Dylan to make up a Health class he hasn't taken yet and the ACT test for Devynne) Anyhoo, it's official, Devynne is a senior, Dylan is a junior and Dakota is a 7th grader. Crazy I say! :)

To celebrate we went to A&W for lunch.

Carson Had A Birthday!

Carson's birthday was May 16th and he is now 11 years old. Steve was in Utah this past weekend and for Carson's birthday he got to choose what they did for fun on Saturday. So they went to the movies and saw Night at the Museum (they said it was really good) and then they headed to Steve's cousin Mindy's place and goofed around and just hung out together for the whole weekend. Here are 11 things that make Carson.....well, Carson. :)

1. Witty
2. Smart
3. Kooky
4. Fun
5. Caring
6. Giving
7. Happy
8. Silly
9. Outgoing
10. Bouncy
11. And most of all, Loving

Dylan Time

Last week Dylan won an award for "outstanding leadership, performance, and dedication" for the education program at the East Career & Technical Academy (East Tech). Two students were selected from each program from the 4 technical schools and Dylan was one of the two for the education program at his school. It was very cool and we are very proud of him. He also has been swimming for the Eldorado swim team and their last meet was this past Saturday. He is now taking lifeguard certification classes for the next two weeks. He's hoping to find a lifeguard job for the summer. Dylan, too is very busy (if you read my last blog).

Dylan's principal presented his award.



Emily was the other student in the education program. (check out the foot)


They also anchor the news together in Broadcast Journalism.


With Mr. New the Broadcast Journalism teacher.


Dylan's principal, she's awesome.



He's a swimming.

All About Dakota

A week ago Dakota was in a Rock n Roll show at O'Callahan that was put on by the theater department. He was so awesome. They performed music throughout the decades starting with the 50's and ending with the 90's/2000's. Here are some pictures of him playing his air guitar. The crowd loved it. He also went to the Father and Sons overnight campout with Steve this past Friday. (Dylan couldn't go due to swim) Both Steve and Dakota had a great time and Steve said there was a really good turnout. I'm not sure why there aren't any pictures of Steve at the campout, I'll have to look into that.... Dakota also finished his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge and his Family Life merit badge. He's very close to finishing the Citizenship in the Community badge, too. (after scout camp in June, he'll have all the "required" merit badges for Eagle except for 2 and he's only 12!!!) He's been very busy the last couple of weeks and will continue to be busy, I'm sure. :)

Mortal Instruments Series

I just finished reading this series and I wanted to take a quick moment to say that I absolutely loved it. Not since the Twilight Series have I given Steve a play by play about a book until now. Loved it!!!