willyjoeplumbfamily

2012-01-22T13:01:00.003-07:00

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS - 2012
I like to start each year with some goals. Last year among some other goals I vowed to run 1,000 miles. I'm happy to say that I completed that goal during Thanksgiving week. I ended up running just over 1100 miles by years end.
This year my 2012 goals are:
to run 1,000 miles,
do 25,000 sit ups and
become a spin instructor .
These are my physical goals that I am willing to share. I have many other goals that I keep track of on a daily basis that are personal. I encourage each of you to make goals, post them and track them DAILY. Otherwise 2013 will come and you'll still be doing the same things.

FINISHING UP THE YEAR

New Years Eve was spent playing Minute to Win It and blowing stuff up. While the boys were taping numerous fireworks together for a big bang we girls had our own fun with sparklers. We didn't plan this which is why we look so great. I'm in Talon's cowboy boots, Tina's jeans are rolled up to her thighs, Sherri's in her jammies and Annie looks great as usual.

Tina in a precarious pose trying to grab a paper bag just inches from the ground with only her feet touching the floor and her mouth on the bag.

Will - unsuccessful in his attempt to restack 3 full and 3 empty cans from hand to hand

Talon - also unsuccessful

Annie- blowing cards off a pizza pan so that only 4 kings were left touching it. Success!

Mom -stacking 3 freestanding golf balls

Pure focus

Trekking through Zions on a beautiful winter day in the dessert. Eli and B got down to their skivvies in an attempt to jump in the frigid Virgin River. E didn't make it past his toes, but B got in up to his waist. He's crazy!

Nana reading with some of the grandkids.

Smores at nana's house.

2012-01-18T22:34:00.003-07:00

OASIS OF THE SEAS
OCT. 2011

Will spent a lot of his time on the flo-rider, an on board surfing/boogie boarding ride. The last night on board our group rented out the flo-rider for 2 1/2 hours of private riding. It was awesome.

Yes - I went snorkeling with sharks. Yes, I was the last one in and the first one out.

Look at the focus. Overall we had a great time. It was fun to meet some great friends and to get a little time alone together.

2012-01-16T21:00:00.004-07:00

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2011

3 of my sisters, 3 brothers in law, 5 neices and 1 dog came and stayed at our house over Christmas break. It was wonderful. No one even threw up! We missed Amber and her family though.

We spent an afternoon relaxing at the Washington Rec Center's indoor water park. Mila loved it.

So did Evangeline (for a little while anyway)

My sis Tina. Aint she perty! Mother of 3 looking totally fab.

She didn't make it quite as long as the other cousins. It's tiring holding those cheeks up all day.

The Moreno's. We miss you already.

Aunt Sherri and Money Penny. Somehow I didn't get any pics of Brett, Talon or Addy :(

Nana played fun games with the kiddies on Christmas Eve. There's Addy back in the crner.

Brinly was in the 3rd grade Christmas play and was very please she was chosen for a speaking part. She is standing just to the right of the Christmas tree with the red bottom of her dress and black top.

Payton is part of the 4th grade choir. They are really quite good.

They were invited to sing at the St. George LDS tabernacle. It was quite an honor.

I also had the privilege of playing my flute with them during their Christmas program.

We went to San Diego for Thanksgiving and spent it with the Plumbs. Here's Warren.

Josh who is now known as the brother of Jared. Becca had baby Jared just in time for us to see him before we left.

The kids had fun playing Just Dance or something like that on the wii. They are such white boyz

Brinly and Ashlyn decided to show them how it's done.

We had fun talking around the Thanksgiving dinner table until the topic turned ugly.

Apparently we hadn't started talking about why earrings are evil as of yet. Ahh, gotta love dinner with the Plumbs.

Bronson has found that he loves taking things apart. Here he is working on a toaster we got from the second hand store.

He's working on a tough part.

2011-12-17T12:21:00.002-07:00

AMBITION AND CREATIVITY

Both things our country could use right now

My children have decided that they'd like some more of their own money. They know they have to work for it and that nothing comes for free as a handout. Hardwork, ingenuity and ambition is what made our country strong and will also teach my children many lessons. Payton and Brinly don't care for household jobs they can earn money for. Instead they decided to try and do something they love and still make some money. We will see if it pans out for them.

The kids named their business and created their own flyers. They agreed on a price to charge (which turned out to be the most difficult part of the process) Brinly wanted to charge $4 a day and Payton $12. They agreed on $8. They are currently out trying to sell their business. Hopefully someone will have pity on them and give them some work. If not, perhaps they can come up with another idea.

2011-11-08T08:48:00.010-07:00

SNOW CANYON HALF MARATHON
13.1 MILES

TIME: 1 HOUR 44 MINUTES

That's me in the gray just before the running center sign. Coming in for the home stretch! It was freezing. The temperatures were in the 30's with 15 mile per hour winds. My ears were killing me when I was done.If you notice the time don't let that fool you. We wore chips on our shoes that recorded our time from the moment we crossed the starting line until the moment we finished. I ran with some girls who were literally last in line for the porta potties at the start. They were threatening to shut down the starting clock just before we crossed it. We started almost 12 minutes after the official time started.

Hooray! I made it. I felt so good when I finished. I beat my best time by almost 9 minutes. I was feeling quite proud when I found my family until Bronson opened his mouth. The first thing he asked is "Mom, did you come in first?" Oh well. Payton was at his basketball game, that's why he's missing. FYI: He won the free throw contest among all the fourth graders in his school. He won a medal and a basketball! WHOOT WHOOT

HALLOWEEN

IRON MAN ELI - Same as last year - boring but that's what he wanted and it saved me some $

Bronson couldn't decide so he was Wolverine ( same as last year) at his school parade and Raphael the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle when he went trick or treating. Brinly knew right away that she wanted to be a vampire.

Payton was also pretty sure of what he wanted to be. He is so into watching football this year it is really fun.

Isn't he cute?!

We always head over to Jimmy and Holly's house for their big Halloween bash after trick or treating. Eli was so into all of their pirate decorations this year. He just stood and looked at everything in awe. It was fun. Thanks guys!

A sacry skeleton that opens the treasure chest and pops out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KARI

I have the best husband ever! He made us a wonderful roast beef dinner for my birthday and also a homemade carrot cake from scratch, including the cream cheese frosting. It was delicious. He also saved some money throughout the year and sent me on a shopping spree in Vegas. What a guy!
Nana and Grandpa Ray came for dinner and cake and we all had an enjoyable time.

#33

Birthday Hugs from B

It really ticks me off that my kids look so much like Will and hardly like me. HOWEVER, I really think Brinly and I are very similar in these 2 pictures. I don't know what we were doing that we both have the same faces, but I think she looks like my daughter. What do you think?

Like mother ... like daughter?

HEAVEN ON EARTH

Back in September, once the weather cooled, we took the kids to Zions for a day hike. We LOVE living here. We are so close to so many beautiful and wonderful places. We found this great trail where we could hike, play in the water and bring the dog with us. The weather ended up being in the 90's and we found this great beach spot where we parked ourselves for lunch and played in the water.

Look at the beauty surrounding us. How could you not be speechless? We love it here!

Sugar is getting bigger.

Most of the water was shallow but there were a few spots that were deep enough to jump into and swim. The kids and Will really enjoyed themselves in the water.

While I was sitting watching the kids playing and enjoying the fresh air I had such a wonderful moment. You know those moments in life when the spirit touches you and you feel the love of our Heavenly Father directly touching your life. It was such a peaceful wonderful feeling I actually just sat and cried for a few minutes. Life is so good. I am so blessed and thankful for my family and this beautiful place we live in.

2011-08-31T19:35:00.002-06:00

MEET... SUGAR

THAT'S SUGAR PLUMB OF COURSE!

SUGAR IS A 9 WEEK OLD AIREDALE TERRIER. WE ARE SO EXCITED TO HAVE HER.

SHE IS VERY SWEET. EVERYONE LOVES HER. EVEN WILL CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF HER SWEET LITTLE FACE.

2011-08-03T18:53:00.009-06:00

PIONEER TEMPLE TREK

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized in 1830. Since its founding, members were treated poorly because of their religious beliefs. Because of this the body of the church seemed to continually move from place to place to find relief from the incessant mobs. From New York, Ohio, Missouri and on to Illinois the church members built the city of Nauvoo. The Mormons endured endless suffering at the hands of their neighbors. They were expelled from the state of Missouri under an extermination order by the Governor, were beaten, had their homes burned, crops burned, cattle stolen, members were tarred and feathered and chased from their homes.

Finally after having suffered enough, the body of the church organized to move West to find Zion. This was a major undertaking as the members had lost most everything to the mobs who ran them out of each town. In 1847 the first company of pioneers headed west to find "Zion."

The Mormon pioneers settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24th, 1847. This has become known as Pioneer Day and is still celebrated each year in our State of UT. 70,000 pioneers made the trek west to settle this barren, uninhabited country. Many members of the church had no financial means to make the trek and many thousand more were converts coming to the states from Europe. Church resources were limited and leaders asked those who had money to help pay the emigration expenses of the poor.

The church came up with the handcart as a much less expensive way to make the trek across country rather than having to purchase a team of horses or oxen and a wagon. However travelling by handcart was much more difficult. The handcart was a small uncovered wagon that could be pulled or pushed by the immigrants themselves. Traveling by handcart instead of by wagon exposed them to the worst extremities. They dealt with snakes, wildfires, lightning, hail, torrential rain, mud, lack of food, blizzards, lack of water, starvation, death and all the natural elements one might encounter on a trek from the east coast to the Great Salt Lake.

We honor these pioneers and the legacy they have left for us and our families. To honor them our stake had a pioneer trek this year. The purpose was to help our youth (ages 14-18) understand and appreciate the pains and trials these early Mormons went through to settle this beautiful state we live in today.

Will and I had the privilege of being a "Ma and Pa" for the trek. There were about 500 youth and adults. We were split up into families, (we had 12 children), given handcarts and went on a pioneer trek. Situations were planned along the way to help us understand what these people went through. The purpose our Stake's trek was not only to understand the journey these people made, but also to realize that once they reached "home" there was nothing there. They had to work and build up the entire community.

We live 6 hours (driving) South of Salt Lake City in St. George UT. It was settled after Salt Lake. The Saints who settled St. George had to endure the harsh climate here and were ready to give up when Brigham Young asked them to build a temple here. Our trek focused around the building of this St. George Temple. The building of this temple united the Saints and saved this community, for which we will be forever grateful.

These are the handcarts we were able to "purchase" with $ they gave us. These are a bit smaller than the ones the real pioneers used, but not much. Obviously the pioneers couldn't take a whole lot with them to travel from east to west.

When we arrived at the trek site they immediately split us into our family units. They had a small town built where we had to go to the bank to get $ and then to different shops to purchase our supplies we would need for the trek.

This is our first picture taken with our family. 1 ma, 1 pa, 6 boys, 6 girls and a partridge in a pear tree. Actually is was a "chicken" we named Karll. Karll turned out to be a rooster. Karll did not live after waking up our camp at 4:30 the next morning. Will is the tall one in the back with the cowboy hat and I am on the left side white top, white skirt, brown belt behind the guy pulling the handcart in blue.

The wagon train moving out.

On the trail to Zion!

Pushing the handcarts was rough work. They had a lot of supplies in them and were heavy. Our trails were thankfully dry but had lots of big rocks. I can't imagine pulling these things alone or through the mud. Many women had to pull handcarts without their husbands. Many men were called away on missions to spread the gospel to those who would listen. Some men were also called into service for the war against Mexico. Those who enlisted were known as the Mormon Battalion.

To better understand what these women went through we had a womens pull. The men and boys were taken away and told to silently watch us struggle to pull the handcarts alone up a steep hill. It was a bit emotional.

When we reached a certain point along the way (pretty much when we thought we wouldn't make it up any further) boys from our family would come and silently take luggage and supplies from our carts to make our load lighter.

They were supposed to represent the many angels who undoubtedly helped those pioneers at their moments of sheer desperation. As you read pioneer journals there are innumerable accounts of pioneers being exhausted and ready to lay down and die when they feel their cart pushing them. When these pioneers look back they see no one, but understand that angels are helping along the way.

When we finally made it to camp we slept out under the stars. It got down to 30 degrees at least. We all woke up with frost all over us each morning. It was quite the experience. This is our family singing our rendition of "I wanna be a billionaire" or in our case "I wanna be a pioneer"

Some of our "kids"

The focus of the rest of our time at trek was on building this replica of the St. George temple. The completed temple is pictured above. The black and white one that says Apire Higher. It was pretty neat. So I won't get into all the detail of how they built the temple (you can google that) but this is a replica of the A frame they built that was used to hoist a 1600 pound cannon 40 feet into the air and then dropped onto lava rock to crush it to bits. This broken lava rock was then used as the foundation for the temple. We all got to try it. What a lot of work!

We then got to "fell trees." Which means we cut trees down and then used period tools to take off the bark and branches and prepare them for the lumber mills. Again, what a lot of work!
That's Will on the far right supervising teenage boys with a 2 man saw. They know how cautious Will is so they thought of him right away!

Here's me and some of my daughters carring lumber to the construction site.

There's Pa

Once we had the frame built we rolled some kind of plastic sheeting or canvas or something over the frame. The committee had already painted the exterior details on this sheeting.

It obviously took a little longer than we had planned to build the temple. Thankfully we had vehicles with lights. The pioneers did not. I'm sure they were thankful when it was too dark to work. We were exhausted. I can't imagine how they felt.

We were the Hyde family. Representing Orson Hyde and his family who were pioneers.

This picture was taken right before we left to trek back to the cars. Unfortunately the wind picked up and eventually the sheeting on the outside of the temple started being blown off the frame. It lasted long enough to get a picture of the whole company though.

There were many great experiences:

camping under the stars

dutch oven cooking

learning how to:

kill and cook a rooster
chisel rocks with old tools
drill holes in 12 inch beams with old tools

how to crush lava rock

how to move lava rock that weighs too much to lift

pioneer games

pioneer dances

pioneer songs

testimony meetings

sharing of pioneer stories

appreciate the temple we have inherited

Before we left for trek everyone carved a name into a leather wristband that we wore for the whole trek. This name was to be the name of a pioneer ancestor for whom we walked in their footsteps. The bracelet was to serve as a reminder the entire trek.

A pioneer is one who ventures into unknown territory to settle it. I chose the name Indrunas to represent my mother. While I do not have pioneer ancestry in the traditional sense of the word, I do have the blood of one who has gone before and ventured into unknown territory. I owe so much to my mother. She was the first to convert to the Mormon faith in our family and I owe her all that I have. She is such a great example to me and I have learned better to appreciate the life that I have inherited because of the steps she chose to take in her life.

Will chose the name Barney to represent Lewis Barney one of his ancestors. He was an incredible man who entered the Salt Lake Valley in the Vangard Company. Bronson's middle name is Barney after this great man.

The most special moment for me happened near the beginning of trek and then again at the end. There were a couple of children who travelled with us. While we were trekking these 2 children got the fever and "died." You can see their grave sites in front of the temple.

There was not a dry eye in the entire company as we all had to sit and watch this mother and father carry their children wrapped in blankets up the hill to be buried. The mother kept falling and sobbing uncontrollably. She would grab onto her husbands leg and collapse into his arms. We could all imagine these pioneers broken hearts as they lost and buried their loved ones along the way. They left their hats on the crosses so we would remember these children.

At the close of the trek, after the temple was completed, the entire group was gathered in front of the temple. There was beautiful music playing and we were all contemplating the things we had learned and remembered. All of a sudden, these 2 beautiful children all dressed in white came running from the temple yelling "mama, mama!"

This is their mama and papa running to be reunited with their children since their work had been completed in the temple.

It was so unexpected and so emotional that I am still crying just remembering it. What a powerful experience for me and especially for these youth. It was a perfect example of the importance of the temple. An example that none of us will soon forget.

I am so grateful we got to attend this trek. I am grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ and for his sacrifice for me and my family. Because of Him I can repent and be saved and live with Him again someday. I am grateful for the blessings of the temple and for the privilege I have had because of my pioneer ancestor to have an eternal family.

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

Thankfully all was well while we were gone on trek. Our real children were safely in the care of Amanda, one of Will's assistants at work. However as soon as we got home Bronson decided we needed some excitement.

He stepped into the pool backwards and smacked his upper teeth on the edge of the pool. Thankfully he had snorkel goggles on that covered his nose and eyes. As soon as his mouth hit the pool and then the googles it pushed his head backwards otherwise he probably would have had a broken nose and gashed forehead. Instead he just knocked all of his teeth wiggly.

As soon as he popped up out of the water blood was pouring and he was screaming. I lifted his lip and saw his 4 front teeth pointed backwards towards his throat. I yelled to the other kids to get into the car and wondered if I knew a good dentist.

He did great at Will's office. So did I (kinda). Will hoped to save all his teeth but he ended up having to pull one. Bronson had this big fat lip and was bloody but was all smiles when Will pulled that tooth. He yelled "hooray, the toof fairy can come!" That's his first lost tooth. Will was able to place all the other teeth properly by lifting his top gum up. Unfortunately that's when I was looking. When he lifted the gum, I could see all of Bronson's adult teeth just sitting up there. That's when I had to leave the room. Will sewed him up tight and now a couple weeks later he is as good as new.

FUN WITH FRIENDS

We are so lucky to live in St. George and have so many fun things to do close by. Our friends Shawn and Molly came into town and took us with them with some other friends boating.

Reunited and it feels so good! Seriously, I don't know what to say about this picture. This is why I have jealousy issues.

Will surfing off the wake from the back of the boat.

Skurfing.

It was so fun to see them. We miss them a ton! This is Molly and that mountain behind her is called Molly's nipple. Had to get the shot!

2011-06-16T22:18:00.004-06:00

DEAR STRYKER

Dear Stryker,
I wish you have a good day in Heaven. I wish you get a girlfriend. I wish you get good food. I wish you can have a good birthday in heaven. I wish you get good dog movies in Heaven. Thank you for being a nice dog. I miss you. Love, Eli

I love you Stryker. I loved to play with you. Thankyou for being a good dog. I was happy we could spend time together with eachother. I will miss you. Love, Bronson

Stryker,
You were the best dog. Thank you for protecting us from the pit bull. Thank you for being so playful, fun, funny and giving me the best experience I will ever have. Love, Payton

Dear Stryker,
Thank you for all the fun playful times you've given us with you. You were the best dog in the world. We will never forget you Stryker. Know that we will always love you. -Brinly

Dear Stryker,
One of Will's employees suggested that perhaps you were given to our family for such a short time simply to protect us from the pitbull. We like that thought. We believe you were a hero dog. You protected us and made us happy. We will always love you and always miss you.
Love, Kari and Will

2011-06-16T21:47:00.003-06:00

STRYKER
NOV. 17 2009 - JUNE 16 2011

Yesterday morning Will took Stryker on his weekly run. They've been doing it for almost a year now. Will rides his bike up a trail with his friend and Stryker and his friend run behind. Yesterday something went terribly wrong and Stryker collapsed along the way. Will figured Stryker was overheated and brought him home and carried him into the pool to cool him down. A bit later when the kids and I came home Stryker was still unresponsive, and needed to be taken to the vet. Thankfully we said goodbye before we left him there. We figured just in case... He died in the middle of the night last night.

The vet says it was triggered by being overheated but there was some underlying factor that contributed to him going down so quickly. They were trying to prevent kidney failure and brain swelling. Payton wanted to know if Stryker would be smarter if his brain swelled. Yesterday afternoon Stryker started convulsing and had to be sedated. In the middle of the night he started vomiting and having explosive bloody stool. He died shortly after that. The doctor said those extra things are not typical of heat stroke.

When we got the call early this morning that Stryker had passed we talked with the kids right away. There was lots of crying, lots of prayers and lots of hugs. We all walked around the house and cleaned up all of his toys, food, beds, etc. and packed it all away in the garage. We then decided to have each of the kids write a note to put with Strykers body. They are posted below.

The kids and I decided that we would like to ask Heavenly Father to have Grandpa Guy (my dad who passed away) take care of Stryker if he died. Grandpa Guy always said he wanted a big farm and big house in the next life. We like to imagine Stryker corraling the cows and running around with other animals. We just know dad will do a good job taking care of him for us. In fact the kids are worried that Grandpa won't want to give him back when we make it up to Heaven.

This morning the kids wanted to know what to tell people when they asked what happened to Stryker. I told them to tell people that he had been out running, got overheated and collapsed. It made me cry. That's how my dad died.

2011-05-25T08:23:00.011-06:00

HEAVEN ON EARTH

Will and I met the Christensens down at Hilton Head South Carolina for a long weekend back in Apri. We couldn't have asked for a better vacation. It was absolutely perfect.

The weather was warm, the water was warm-ish and it was perfectly sunny.

We practically had the beach to ourselves. It was the perfect amount of time to get away from it all. By the time we left the island I had just started missing my kids. I think Molly must be a better mom than me. She missed them from day 1.

Our daily schedule pretty much went something like this: Molly and I would wake up and get in a good run on the beach or on one of the many trails through the plantations. We'd then go back to the condo and go get breakfast with the boys. We'd spend a several hours down at the beach listening to music, eating snacks and playing frisbee and football. The boys went golfing a few times and we went shopping a few times. We'd meet for dinner and then head back to the condo at night where we'd talk, watch tv or hit the hay.

It was fun finding sand dollars, live star fish and lots of little shells. It was jelly fish mating season and so there were hundreds of jellyfish that had been brought ashore.

This is how we looked most every day. Perfect!

We reserved beach chairs and an umbrella each day that the lifeguards would have set up for us when we arrived on the beach in the morning.

A picture of the condo from the beach.

The boardwalk: from the condo, over the sand dunes, onto the beach.

Molly

kari

Finally together again - it's been too long

At the marina after a delicious Italian dinner. Yes, I am happy to be posing with Chuck Norris.

We were standing next to a statue of Neptune holding his trident which makes a sun dial during the day.

Shawn and Molly were determined to get the sun only on the spots they wanted it. They are strategically placed.

I brought fudgesicles down to the beach one day. Will decided to melt his into a beard.

And apparently chest and belly hair.

What a hot body!!!

II need to explain this picture. Those are Will's trunks. All 4 of us were in the water when Will jokingly suggested we all switch bottoms. I whispered to him that he should give me his trunks because the Christensen's didn't know that he had a speedo boxer on under his suit. He thought it would be really funny to pretend like he was nude out in the water while I had his bottoms. He didn't realize I was planning on stealing them and running them all the way back up to our beach chairs. The tide was out and it was quite a long walk from the water to our chairs. He decided that rather than be embarrassed he was going to strut his stuff in his speedo all the way up the beach. When he finally reached us he hit the ground and pushed out 10 push ups. It was hot and very memorable.

I get bored with my hair easily. I've been the same cut and color for awhile now. I'm not ready for a different cut yet so Molly and I experimented with color on my hair. We bought a black dye with blue undertones. I loved it so much that I've had it done permanently since I've returned home.

Heading out for church. We may not have gone had it not been for Shawn. Thankfully we did because it was great. We sat in a "chapel" with no pews, just chairs that had been set up and there was a basketball hoop over our heads. The stand could be sectioned off with room dividers when it wasn't sacrament meeting so that the space could be used for something else (like basketball.) It was a super small branch and it was testimony meeting. Those of you who are members know that this can be scary. I thought we should probably be prepared to share our testimonies because there was no way this little group was going to be able to take up the entire hour. I was wrong. It was awesome. There wasn't more than a minute that went by without someone on the stand. And none of them were strange or inappropriate. It was great. We quickly had to leave the church after sacrament though, because "we had some sinnin to do!" (Google: Jim Gaffigan on Catholic church in order to understand that quote better)

Just another day at the beach

Will decided to build a pyramid

With the help of Shawn of course.

After he completed the pyramid he decided to build a sphynx also.

He's posing as a sphynx as well.

We had been on the island a few days and Molly and I still hadn't seen any alligators. One night we decided to go on an alligator hunt. We trekked out onto one of the many golf courses.

This is Molly.

This is Molly. Unfortunately we did not find any gators that night, but it was still fun - except that Shawn got eaten alive.

Will posing in the parking garage.

There were such beautiful plants and flowers on the island. When you walked outside it smelled wonderful. Molly said it reminded her of Hawaii. I've never been there so it reminded me of HHI.

One day while the boys were golfing Molly and I rented some really hot bikes and took a tour around the island, hoping to find some gators.

We actually found our first gator by mistake. He was about 5 feet long not including the tail. We had pulled over into a parking lot to look at a map of the island and he was sunning himself right there.

This is Molly.

We rode on some really beautiful paved trails and also along the beach. This was on a bridge over some swamp. Lucky for us there were little baby turtles and a baby alligator right under us.

Two hot babes!

Apparently alligators don't eat turtles. The turtles kept swimming right in front of him and the gator would just nudge them out of his way with his jaws.

You can see the turtle kind of unde the water in the bottom of this pic.

This is Molly. Gosh I love that girl!

She just realized I'm taking her picture.

Outside a BBQ restraunt our last night at Hilton Head.

We love you guys. We miss you already. Thanks for a great weekend!

2011-05-19T19:41:00.014-06:00

BRINLY'S 8TH BIRTHDAY AND BAPTISM

Grandma and Grandpa Plumb - Thanks for coming for this special day!

Nana and Grandpa Ray -We appreciate you guys too!

Aunt Sherri and Addy - all the way from Montana

Aunt Becca and Josh

COUSINS BIRTHDAY PARTY IN SAN DIEGO

Brinly, Ashlyn and Claire all have birthdays within 2 days of each other. We had a big birthday party for the 3 of them while we were visiting the Chinese Herbalogist for Brinly in San Diego.

Hooray - Just what she wanted.

These next dozen or so pictures need a little explanation. Or maybe not. Perhaps just an introduction. This is Spencer - Will's big brother. It explains a lot!

Great Grandma has no clue

This is what we found on the seats after the cake and celebration.

Aunt Emily and the ever happy Warren

4 generations

I look so happy. I really am, probably just opened my eyes or something.

VISIT FROM CHRISTINA

Our adopted sibling from Buffalo. I babysat Christina as a little baby and she babysat our kids in Buffalo. Christina has come out to visit us twice. We love her and are so excited when she comes. She had never been to San Diego and we planned a trip there while she was here. Thankfully she was a lifesaver while Brinly was going through her tough times. I don't know what I would have done without her.

Payton: Take II

At the San Diego Zoo. This is the first picture ever where Will has looked small, or at least not huge.

Visiting the North Pole

We decided to drive by the San Diego bay, stop by the airport and watch some planes landing.

A VISIT FROM GRANDMA AND GRANDPA PLUMB

It's always fun to have company. We were happy to see Will's parents almost every week for a month. They came out for a visit one week, we went out to San Diego over another long weekend and then they came here again a week and a half later for Brin's baptism.

Bronson had fun trying to kick grandma's butt.

Super close!

SKI TRIP TO SALT LAKE CITY AND MIDWAY

Over Spring break we took a trip to SLC to visit our wonderful friends the Bonham's. We spent some time at their home in Holladay, went skiing at Brighton with 8 kids (super fun) and then spent the weekend at Em's parents condo in Midway. We love you guys. Thanks B and Em!

Payton and Josh are great buddies. They enjoy hanging out together.

Snowball fights up in Midway!

Bronson taking aim. Eli closing in.

That throw got Bronson off the ground.

Brinly and Becca

Kari and Emily.

Janie and Bronson. Is this a couple in the making? Hopefully for him. He'd be lucky:>)

2011-04-25T20:44:00.002-06:00

LIFE TURNED...SIDEWAYS

Brinly has been struggling with a health issue for a few months now. She has felt fine but has been dealing with lots of blood in her stool. It started out just as a little bit. Eventually after a few weeks large clots started coming out in the toilet. We took her to her pediatrician who told us to put her on fiber. We did and came back a week or two later because it had gotten worse. He said it probably wasn't anything to worry about and to keep her on fiber and come back in a few weeks. A couple of days later, (thankfully on the weekend and not at school) she thought she was passing gas and instead had several large clots come out in her underwear. As she was racing to the bathroom blood was just dripping down her legs.

Poor girl. She was scared and embarassed. I called the pediatrician the next day and told them I needed to be referred to a specialist. The specialists office told me they couldn't get her in until May 5th. It was the first week of April. After finally speaking with the specialists assistant she agreed to ask the doctor if he would see Brinly sooner. He wanted to see Brinly the next day.

After going over her symptoms with the doctor (blood and mucous only) he decided that he wanted to do a colonoscopy and upper GI. He made a list for me of all the health issues it could be and then listed why he thought it was or was not each particular problem. He told us what fit her symptom best especially with her age. We scheduled a colonoscopy for the next week.

Brinly did well going under with anesthesia. She handled it really well and wasn't cranky or anything when she came back around. The surgery itself took quite a bit longer than the Dr. had planned. He came out and talked with me in the waiting room while she was still coming to. He said it wasn't good news. He literally thought he was going to go in there and find polyps and get rid of them and have it be over with. Instead he found that most of her large intestine was torn up, raw and full of mucous.

He told me that he could not believe that she wasn't in pain. He said she should hardly be able to move with as raw as she was inside. What a blessing that she hasn't had any pain, although we perhaps would have found it sooner. The Dr. said the top 3 diagnosis would be ulcerative colitis, crohns disease or cancer. We had to wait another 9 days for biopsy results!

We really weren't too worried about cancer (although it was always on our mind) because Will's brother was diagnosed with Crohns disease about 13 years ago. Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis are very similar and are both genetic disorders. There is no cure, only treatment. While we were waiting for the results of her biopsy we went to San Diego to meet with a Chinese Herbalogisit that helped Will's brother Riley when he was sick. Since Riley worked with this Chinese Dr. he has not had any symptoms. We are hoping for the same results with Brinly.

The O.M.D. C.A.(Oriental Medical Dr.) has recommended that we severely restrict her diet and put her on an herbal tea twice a day. This tea is nasty! There are literally twigs, leaves, bark, mushrooms and strange things we don't even know what they are. We just steep those and then strain it. She just drinks the tea. Poor thing doesn't complain, just plugs her nose and drinks. We also have the whole family on this diet now. It's no sugar, no dairy, not meat besides fish or duck, no preservatives, no artificial flavorings and nothing spicy. Not fun, but it will hopefully reset her system and help her out.

We got the biopsy results on Friday. Brinly has been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. She has been on medication for almost 2 weeks now. After talking to her again on Friday the Dr. can't believe that she is perfectly normal. She doesn't look sick or act sick. Nothing hurts. He says he never would have guessed that she was the same girl whose colonoscopy he had done.

We are so blessed that Brinly is not experiencing any pain or discomfort (outside of drinking nasty tea nad not being able to eat what she wants.) Unfortunately this disease is not curable. The medicines she has been taking haven't started working yet. If they don't stop the bleeding in the next week or so then they want to start her on steroids. We are really praying that won't happen. She is currently taking 6 pills a day and 3 suppositories, plus the 2 teas. She's been quite the trooper.

Brinly turned 8 and is getting baptized on Wednesday. We are really hoping for a miracle this year and that she won't have to deal with this her whole life. We hope this diet will reset her digestive system and really cure her like it did Riley. It could have been so much worse and we are grateful for all the blessings we have in our lives. This has really been overwhelming and has turned our lives sideways. Not quite upside down yet, but halfway. Please keep Brinly in your prayers.

2011-03-16T16:50:00.003-06:00

RUNNING

To update my many blog fans on my new years resolution I have currently run a total of 226.5 miles so far this year. If I were running East toward my sister Tina's house in Summit NJ I would currently be in Kayenta AZ heading toward Teec Nos-Pos AZ. We'll see when I actually make it T. It should be sometime in 2013 at this pace.

I ran 87.5 miles in Jan. 89.5 in Feb. and am at 50 so far this month. I was a full week ahead of schedule until I got sick last week. I only ran 10 last week and used up half of my extra mileage. Oh well, guess that's what it's there for. Staying on track is going to get more difficult. We are busy the next 5 out of 8 weekends and after that the kids are home for summer. AHHH! What happened to my time?

I ran a race last week and will post the pics later along with the fun stuff we're doing this week while the kids are home for spring break. Yes, it's spring here. Sorry Buffalo!

2011-02-28T17:33:00.003-07:00

FUN WITH SCISSORS
Bronson had some fun with scissors last week. I came home from picking up pizza on Saturday to Will taking a movie of Bronson's new haircut. Needless to say I was not happy. This was 2 days after he came home from school having cut 3 large holes in his new Nike warm up suit.

I don't even know how he could cut so close to his scalp without injuring himself. Like mother like son I guess. At least when I was 5 I was smart enough to not cut my own hair! Sorry Annie... that makes up for one of the times you threw up on me. I still owe you like a dozen more.

This is what happens when dad gets to style your hair with the clippers.

Side view

Back view

Final outcome. Yes, my children do have a ridge on their heads like that. Have you met their grandfather Plumb. Those are some strong genes.

You can still see the lines in his head where he used the scissors. This was as short as we could get it without using a Bic. Hopefully he won't try that again. He was proud of himself and thought he wouldn't get into trouble because he had cut his hair over the trash can in his bathroom and didn't make a mess. Count my blessings I guess.

Stryker is not happy with Bronson.

GRANDPA RAY'S BIRTHDAY

We are so lucky to live close to mom and Ray. We had a nice dinner at our house on Sunday and celebrated his 29th birthday. It was a little late, but better late than never. Happy Birthday Ray!

PINE WOOD DERBY

Knowing Payton, can you guess which car is his? Is it the gold ringer, the alligator, the red racer
or the tank?

His alligator is lined up in the number 2 lane.

He is hopefully waiting for the winning run. He's taking no chances and using the double cross.

I was half a second late pushing the button on the camera. He is jumping for joy because his car won. You can see it's in the lead going backwards off the bumper. Horray!

2011-02-17T16:51:00.004-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIJAH!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Baby!!!

He had his party at an indoor bounce house place. He was very excited to invite his friends from church and school.

Blowing out the birthday cookie candles. Yes, my kids don't care for cake.

Oops, we forgot to get a picture of the "cake"

I took B and E out for lunch with Nana and Grandpa Ray at Red Robin. Eli couldn't decide if he wanted to Red Robin or Applebees. I didn't feel like Applebees so I promised him a shake at Red Robin. He enjoyed it!

Can you believe this is my baby?

2011-01-20T16:56:00.004-07:00

ALL IN A DAYS WORK

My neighbor and I spent the day clearing brush out of my driveway. We are tough women! The trailer was filled with brush higher than the top of the truck. We filled it and tied it down, tarped it and drove it to the dump.

The dump was awful. It was an actual landfill that we drove up to the top of and unloaded the truck. We got to wear these glow in the dark vests to make sure the huge bulldozer didnt run us over. We were literally standing on dirty diapers and milk cartons. It smelled like a pig or chicken farm. Maybe worse.

Anyway, we felt very capable by the time we were done. Who needs our husbands to do the yard work? I will say we received lots of looks from workers at the land fill and a few disgusted head shakes from men passing our overloaded trailer on the way to the dump.

One last thing, not a single branch fell off the trailer on the way. We are awesome! I won't be using hand sanitizer for the next month (because of all the cuts on my hands and arms) but we are still pretty awesome!

2011-01-13T16:44:00.002-07:00

NEW GOAL FOR A NEW YEAR

This year I've decided to run 1,000 miles. This breaks down to 20 miles a week with a 2 week grace period in case of injury, illness or laziness. So far so good, but then again, it's only January 13th. I'll keep you posted.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

2011-01-08T09:24:00.003-07:00

A VERY BAD DAY!

Rumors have been circulating that Stryker got into a fight at the park with another dog. That is NOT true! Stryker was attacked by a pit bull! Big Difference! Had you seen the horror you would understand.

It was by far the most traumatic thing I have ever witnessed. Let me tell the story...

Sherri (my sister), her 1 year old daughter Addy, Bronson , Eli, myself and Stryker all went to the park on Wednesday. We hadn't even been there for 5 minutes when a pit bull who was off his leash jumped up on Strykers shoulders. A snarling match is what ensued. I had Stryker on his leash and choke collar. The pit bull was biting Stryker all over his face and neck. I was pulling on Strykers leash trying to get him away from the pit bull. Unfortunately it took me a few minutes to realize that he couldn't defend himself with me tugging on him.

Sherri and I were kicking the pit bull and trying to get him off of Stryker. We were not in our right minds. The 3 kids were literally just feet away from a vicious dog attack. There were 3 boys (looked about 12) who had been at the park before us trying to help us get the pit bull off of Stryker. One of them called 911 and I frantically was screaming at the lady on the other end to get help to the park immediately. Blood was everywhere already.

When I finally let go of Strykers leash to let him defend himself I thought I'd try and go after the pit bull. What? Who do I think I am? Wonder Woman? What the heck was I going to do? Thankfully the Lord knew I was not thinking clearly and being an idiot. He intervened and a miracle happened. I reached down and grabbed the pit bulls choke collar. The chain literally broke in two pieces with one little tug. I just keep thinking what could have happened... Addy was a foot behind me. At that moment a woman got out of her car and was yellling at Sherri and me to get the kids in the car. I had that thought run through my head at that same moment. We turned to grab the kids, (this is several minutes into the fight) and it's the first time I notice Bronson who is screaming crying and witnessing this gruesome scene.

I yell to the 3 young boys who rode to the park on their bikes to lock themselves in the bathroom and not to come out until Animal Control arrived. They thankfully obeyed. Everyone else had already cleared their kids out of the park and into their cars. We loaded our kids into the car and locked ourselves inside as well.

Poor Stryker was trying to follow us and get away. Everytime he'd break away from the pit bull he'd run, but the pit bull would attack again. I was so proud of him. He never attacked, only defended. He was awesome. So here we are in the car. I'm hysterical, so is Bronson and thankfully Sherri has her wits about her. Addy is clueless and Eli wants to know if he can watch a movie. Thankfully he too was oblivious somehow to what was going on. I believe that was the Lord intervening again. The pit bull then proceeded to attack Stryker all around the outside of my car for the next 11 minutes until Stryker got free.

There was this awesome, semi-crazy woman who went to her car and got a rope and was trying to rope the pit bull. I yelled at her and told her to get in her car. None of us witnessing this had anything we could use to kill that dog. If only I had pepper spray, a baseball bat, a gun, SOMETHING, ANYTHING! I felt so helpless and terrified. It literally looked as if Stryker was being torn apart. Again the Lord had to be involved because Stryker is fine now. He's hurt, but I can't believe he isn't almost dead. Sherri too. We can't believe he isn't hurt worse.

The image that is still haunting me and kept me awake literally the entire night was me sitting in the car and the pit bull had stryker by the face. Stryker's eye was in the pit bulls mouth and Stryker was just looking at me sitting in the car with this look like on his face like, "please help!" It was awful.

That same lady who was trying to rope the pit bull had this idea to drive her car at the two attached dogs while holding her horn down. This didn't work until the 4th or 5th time, when it gave Stryker enough time to get away. I saw him in my rear view run up and I quick opened the driver door. He jumped up under the steering wheel. I kicked the pit bulls face out of my door and slammed it. Stryker is a big dog, but miraculously he had no problem fitting into the small space beneath the steering wheel to get away from the pit bull.

For the next 7 minutes or so until the cops arrived the pit bull kept jumping up on our car trying to get at Stryker. I was so freaked out that I turned the car on to try and get away from this dog. Thankfully Stryker was sitting on the gas pedal so we couldn't go anywhere. That's good because had we driven off the pit bull would have gotten away and probably not been found. Also, this was at the exact time that the elementary school across the street was being let out. If the pit bull had left the park who knows if he would have attacked any of the kids walking home.

I took Stryker straight to the vet. As we were in the waiting room I started rubbing his body (which was covered in blood) and realizing that the only places he had wounds were on his head and neck. The rest of the blood must have been from the other dog. I left him at the vet for several hours. They had to put him under to stitch him up and check him out.

He has to wear the "cone of shame" for the next 2 weeks. What a pain for him and for us! The pictures tell the rest of the story. It doesn't look nearly as bad as the attack actually was. I know this is because we were blessed. I am so grateful for family prayer. Each morning our family kneels in prayer and thanks our Heavenly Father. We ask him to bless us and protect our family throughout the day. I know He is mindful of us and loves each of us. He protected Stryker that day and He protected Sherri, myself and our 3 children. He protected everyone else at the park and all the children at that elementary school. I am grateful for miracles and for the lengths our Father in Heaven will go to to keep us from harm. I know He lives and that He hears our prayers.

When I took him to the vet the top lid of his right eye was flapping. He ended up getting stitched up. It stinks so bad. It's disgusting.

A piece of his ear was missing. The doc stitched what was there together.

Stryker should be okay in a couple of weeks. Bronson will probably take a little longer. He is doing pretty well now except that he won't talk about it and he is completely avoiding Stryker. I hope it will get better after he looks normal and doesn't smell so bad. I am able to sleep better now and it's no longer all I can picture when I close my eyes.

These are scratches under his ear.

Puncture wounds in his neck. There are several of those spots. What kind of dog only attacks head and neck? I really hope for the safety of the owners (whoever they are) and for the safety of everyone else that the pit bull gets put down.

Later that day in Will's office one of his patients that he had was an animal control officer. She said she had seen the report and that the pit bull was much worse off than Stryker. Stryker had apparently gotten ahold of the dogs jowels and just shredded it. I know that I saw a big gash under one of the dogs eyes as well. I'm a little ashamed to feel glad that the other dog is so hurt. I just hope they put him down. We will get the owners information from Animal control in the next few days.

2011-01-03T20:38:00.023-07:00

SNOW DAY!!!

Today was the last day of no school for the kids. We woke up to a white landscape. It was great. The kids had so much fun outside for a few hours. Here's a few shots of our morning.

A frozen pool!

Stryker and our next door neighbor dog Gerdie (or Gernie if you're Bronson)

The bottom of the snowman

Adding tomato eyes to the snow man

Eli got sick of making the snow man and decided to eat the veggies instead

A suburban sledding hill. Yes, that's a driveway

The finished product. Eli wanted to name him Frosty and Bronson wanted to call him Nic. We settled on Frosty Nic!

CHRISTMAS FUN

We received so many fun Christmas cards from all of our friends and family. I'm going to be so sad to take them all down.

It's like Where's Waldo, can you find your card?

We had a very quiet Christmas. No one stayed at our house on Christmas Eve or even Christmas day. The first time that we haven't stayed with someone or had someone stay with us. Will's parents came up from San Diego the day after Christmas for a visit. Barbara is a huge Pac Man fan. She once stayed up all night and flipped the game. True story.

Kids opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Plumb. Will's nipply because he hurt himself skiing that day. He'd been icing his back. It's still bothering him.

Christmas Day we went to Mom and Ray's for a delicious Prime Rib dinner and gifts. Lots of food, family and fun!

Payton opened a telescope!

Brinly got tons of craft stuff for Christmas. She doesn't really play with toys but really wanted a sewing machine. Santa thought a sewing machine might be a little premature, but lots of other crafty stuff came her way.

Eli asked for all different kinds of super hero's. He recieved lots of toy story guys, toy story cowboy boots and buzz lightyear seakers that light up and talk when you push a button.

Christmas morning started out wild. The kids started ripping their gifts apart as soon as we came down the stairs. We put a stop to that and "organized." The kids sorted all the gifts and then took turns opening their presents. Bronson looked at his pile of gifts and tried to not be disappointed and said "well it doesn't look like I got a bike. But I'll still be grateful." He found his bike behind the couch about 30 seconds later.

Will and I had a bet going as to who bought the other a better Christmas gift. The loser had to give a 20 minute back rub. I received a Michael Koors purse, work out clothing and some books. Will got Steve Madden shoes, a belt, an Adidas shirt, new dishes and tickets to the UFC fight in Vegas on New Years day. He didn't find the tickets until an hour or so after he opened the other gifts. He was totally gloating that he totally won the bet. He had to eat his words. However I still love my gifts, but haven't yet received my massage.

Each year the kids do secret santa gifts for each other. They each pick 1 name of a sibling. This year they decided to make the gift for their sibling. Payton made Eli a pillow case.

Brinly made a super warm double layered fleece blanket for Bron.

Eli made a necklace for Brinly.

Bronson painted a picture of Paytons favorite animal on canvas

Eli's Christmas party at his preschool. Can you tell who the Diva is?

Payton was in a school Christmas play and got to be the Grinch.

He had to sing and dance. He did great!

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

No ward Christmas party would be complete without one of santa's helpers. Payton asked for an ATV. When we convinced him he would never get that he changed his wish to Star Wars guys.

The kids sang rudolf and wore antlers. Pictures come later. Brinly asked for a sewing machine.

Eli asked for Blue beetle, iron man, joker, and spiderman.

Bronson asked for a new 2 wheeler (any color but pink)

Eli was so excited to go up and sing Rudolf with the primary kids. He's had a countdown going for over a month of how long until he's a sunbeam rather than having to go into Nursery. His wish finally came true this last Sunday. Can you believe I have no more kids in nursery?

Some kids are more excited than others. Payton really wanted a red nose.

The kids did a live manger scene. Brinly is Mary in the white vale and blue dress. She was tickled they asked her. The other kids sang songs in front of the scene.

PAYTON'S FIRST SWIM MEET

Payton participated in his first swim meet on his birthday. He is the swimmer in the center with his arms pointed straight down off the board. He participated in 5 races over 2 days.

This was him after his first length in his first race. As soon as he dove in his goggles came off. He was so nervous he didn't know what to do. He ended up taking them off after his first lap and throwing them out of the pool. He came in dead last in that first race. Out of 7 racers.

His second race he came in 2nd. The next day he had 3 races. He came in 1st in all three (kind of) He was actually disqualified in one race because he turned too soon on his first lap. The other races he didn't just win, he killed them. He was 30 seconds ahead of the next closest kid on one race and 3 minutes ahead of the last kid. I'm so glad he's enjoying himself and seems to be good at it. It's good for his self confidence.

HAIR CUT

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND BIRTHDAY

We travelled to San Diego to spend Thanksgiving with the Plumbs. We also attended Will's Grandmothers 90th birthday party. Over 200 people attended the celebration. Such fun.

Cousins playing in the sandbox.

Brinly holding cousin Warren. She was in heaven. So was he!

Spencer and Kim Brock and Jesse

Will and Emily

2010-12-12T22:10:00.002-07:00

PICTURES OF THE YEAR

Yup, that's my grandma on Halloween

Yup, that's my grandma and aunt. Perhaps you now understand my humor a little better.

2010-11-16T15:21:00.003-07:00

SNOW CANYON HALF MARATHON

I ran the Snow Canyon half marathon on the 6th of November. It was 13.1 miles of pure joy! Actually it was really fun. We started about 3 miles above Diamond Valley, ran on the trails through Snow Canyon and ended up finishing around 1 lap of the Snow Canyon High School track.

It was really special this time because Will and the kids were there to cheer me on. Even Arlene and Stephanie (our office manager and one of our dental assistants) came to watch. It was great seeing and hearing them in the bleachers as I ran that last lap. I felt good except my calves cramped and I felt like my toe was bleeding. When I got home and took off my shoe my toe was black and the toe nail was lifted away from the toe. Fun stuff. Time to retire these sneakers I think!

I ran my fastest race yet. I finished #417 out of almost 2000 racers. I crossed the line at 1:51:51. That's a 8 min. 30 sec. pace. I am proud and hope to keep improving. I'm really having fun. I just wish I had a sister who would train with me:(

2010-10-31T20:13:00.032-06:00

OCTOBER KETCHUP

October was filled with lots of fun. Lots of visits from family, a new dog and lots of fun field trips and parties. Bronson's preschool took a field trip to the pumpkin farm. Eli dressed up as Iron Man and had a preschool Halloween party. He was the black iron man because he is the evil one. Payton and Brinly were in their school Halloween parade outside on the track. Payton was a clone scout trooper and Brinly was Cleopatra.

We met King Henry the VIII and his Queen at Jimmy and Holly's house after trick or treating.

Aunt Cheryl came for a visit. She was here for only a week but we did so much that it felt much longer. This is the cave the kids and I almost got stuck in while hiking with Cheryl and Stryker.

The Uricks were also here for a visit. We all took a trip to the pumpkin farm.

These were the redneck trampolines. Yup. Those are mattresses and hay bales.

These 2 jackasses kept fighting and kicking each other. It was fun to watch:)

Pumping water through a gutter to have ducky races!

We did the corn maze after dark. It was great.

Will took the kids to the top of the hay bales at the end of the maze.

Our friend Kelli took us out on her boat again. It was great, but the time went too fast.

We took a day and hiked around Zions. We did the Emerald Pools trail. It was a perfect week and a perfect day.

I don't know if Aunt Cheryl will miss us or Stryker more.

2010-10-19T21:28:00.003-06:00

INTRODUCING...
The newest member of our family: STRYKER. He is our 10 month old, 97 pound, pure bred American Bulldog.

Excuse me...Bumblebee Tuna

He's really very happy to be here:)

2010-09-14T12:36:00.002-06:00

DETERMINATION

Since the day he was born Bronson Plumb has sucked his fingers. For 5 years he has sucked his fingers for more than 12 hours a day. WE tried to get him to stop but he just didn't want to.

On Bronson's Fifth birthday HE decided he was too old to suck his fingers. He went to bed and forgot and sucked his fingers. He went to nap the next day and forgot and sucked his fingers. He got up from nap the next day and asked if dad could draw him a picture to hang up on the wall next to his bed. He wanted a very specific picture of himself sucking his fingers with a circle around it and a line through it. He said it would help him remember to keep his fingers out of his mouth. Daddy drew it and hung it up that day.

Bronson did not sleep for 3 days but he has not sucked his fingers for over a month now. It is exceptional. Even in the middle of the night when I check on him he is not sucking his fingers. He is one determined little boy when he puts his mind to something. He has serious control over his body. When he was potty trained he one pee accident and one poop accident and that was it. After 1 day he was potty trained. The trick will be how to get him to want to do the thing we want him to do!

2010-08-17T15:26:00.002-06:00

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
My baby is off to preschool. He's so excited to not be left behind. Can you tell?

While others might find this day to be somewhat emotional or sentimental, not me I'm ecstatic. This means I will have 64 daytime hours during this school year that I will have no children at home! WOOP-WOOP! Not much sentimentality here. Shocking. I know.

What do people do in the middle of the morning for 2 hours?

2010-08-16T22:40:00.002-06:00

THE CURSE HAS LIFTED
After 11 lakes and more than 20 man hours Will finally caught a fish. We will feast for months!

ALMOST A HOLE IN ONE

Will played in a golf tournament a few weeks ago. They had a closest to the hole contest on one of the holes. It was a 167 yard par 3. Will won $40. He's such a man!

2010-08-16T21:25:00.005-06:00

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY BRONSON

Bron chose to make his own birthday cake this year.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

The sweet reward of being the one to make dessert

He couldn't wait to open his gifts. He was expecting cowboy gifts. He's obsessed. I told him that cowboy stuff is really expensive and asked if he would be happy even if he didn't get cowboy stuff. He said yes. I told him that no matter what he opened he should say: "thank you. It's just what I wanted."

Fortunately for him he got all cowboy stuff. Nana and grandpa Ray came through with real cowboy jeans, shirts, bandana, room decor, a cowboy book and a woody doll. He got cowboy boots, hat, belt and guns with holster from us. He couldn't be happier. It was very satisfying watching him enjoy his schtuff.

Doesn't he look happy?

Bronson made the cake. I frosted the cake and daddy decorated the cake. It was a team effort.

He tried to shoot the candles out.

When that failed he decided to blow them out. We ended up having to sing happy birthday twice. He was not satisfied with the original version. He asked us to sing:

Happy birthday to you

You live in a Rodeo

You look like a cowboy

and you smell like one too.

When we asked him to get his jammies on this is how we found him.

He decided to go to Fiesta Fun for his birthday party (just our family.) We went miniature golfing. This was obviously a long par 4 as you can tell by the swing.
We went go kart racing.

We went bumper boating. I got out of the boat early. There are waterspouts that soaked us and water guns on each boat to shoot eachother. Fun for the kids.

We took him to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The waitresses brough the saddle over and everyone in the restraunt gave him a big "YEE HAW" As you can tell he didn't really like it.

We ended the night with ice cream. Can't get much better than that! Happy Birthday Partner.

2010-07-28T17:39:00.008-06:00

SUMMER NIGHTS
The kids have been begging to go night swimming. They were so happy last night when it finally happened.

CEDAR MOUNTAIN

We are lucky enough to be neighbors and friends with connected people. Kelli and her husband who live next door invited us to go up to their family's cabin with them over Pioneer day. It was awesome. It took us about 2 hours to get there and was absolutely perfect. This is a partial view from the covered porch on the back of the cabin. What you can't see in the picture are the red rocks that jut out from above the pines. We weren't far from Bryce Canyon and that's exactly what the red rock reminded me of. The drippy looking sand castles that you build on the beach.

There was tons to do. That's Payton at the bottom of the super long zip line. It took a good 20 seconds to get from top to bottom. You're flying super fast while sitting on a trapeze type bar and holding on for dear life. When you get to the bottom the tires attached to the line create a rather abrupt stop for you. So much fun. We didn't want the little kids to miss out so we attached a plastic baby swing to the zip line and shot them on down. No injuries, only a few cases of whip lash!

This is a different zip line out over the pond. That's Bronson debating whether to drop now or wait.

The weather was perfect. Nice and warm but not super hot (like St. George) The water was a different story. 60's maybe. That's me holding up my feet and butt as long as I can. The swim back to the edge was cold if you dropped in the middle.

That's Kelli with Grant holding onto her leg. Payton and Jack are both 8 and double trouble. They're playing a wicked game of kick ball.

The kids also enjoyed paddle boating...

4-wheeling

...the sandy beach...

canoeing ...(yes that's Brinly pushing herself out into the pond) I was just sure little Pocahontas was going to capsize in the middle of the lake but she didn't. She paddled to the opposite shore to get into the kids clubhouse under the trees behind where Payton is standing in the red shirt. The clubhouse was huge and awesome. The kids cleared all the brush out from under a big canopy of branches, took chairs and had a blast
The kids had so much fun and so did we. We also went fishing, swung from a huge rope swing, had bon fires, cooked tin foil dinners, fed the horses that they have on the property, shot guns with a skeet shooter on their range and played lots of games.

Will and Payton went fishing super early in the morning. He went again in the afternoon. He went again in the evening. Still no fish for Will. Ed went also (our neighbor) Ed caught 5 fish.
We would have been a hungry pioneer family.

FAMILY PIONEER DAY

Pioneer day is celebrated on July 24 every year and is an actual holiday here in Utah. We celebrate the Mormon pioneers arrival into the Salt Lake Valley. About a week before the actual pioneer day we decided to have a day where our family lived like the pioneers. We went fishing, picked apricots at the church orchard, made homemade butter, homemade ice cream and homemade apricot jam.

It's a good thing we live now when we do. We didn't catch a single fish after hours of fishing in 110 degree heat. We could see the fish swimming around but none of them would even nibble. We tried all the different kinds of bait we had. No luck. That's when we decided to go to the orchard to pick our lunch. We didn't want to go hungry.

So not only were we fishless for lunch, but I forgot to add the pectin to the jam. Needless to say it never set. I didn't realize what went wrong until I made more homemade jam with my youth group at church. As we were stirring the pectin into the sugar mixture at the church I realized 2 days earlier I had forgotten that critical step. Oh well, that heavens for Smuckers!

Will was frustrated that he didn't catch any fish. He was determined to feed our family. He went out again at about 9:00 at night. Our neighbors saw him load up his poles and thought he was crazy. He is. He still came home without any fish.

YOUTH CONFERENCE AT LAKE POWELL

My calling at our church is to work with the young women ages 12-18. It's great. We have 43 young women that are all active and really fun. This year for youth conference we took the girls and boys to Lake Powell. It was my first time there and absolutely amazing. We stayed on a house boat. The girls slept up on the top deck and the boys slept on the beach. We had 38 kids and about a dozen leaders. We had this house boat and 5 ski boats. It was a blast.

A couple of the young men came up early the morning before we all came and helped some of the men set things up. The beach was on an incline. They dug out these level sections for food, sitting and sleeping.

Some of my young women.

That's me! I can actually wake board. My first time and I hopped right up. I gave one of the young women my camera to take a picture of me. When I got my camera back she had taken 48 pictures of me. Who does that?

2010-07-26T17:57:00.003-06:00

BRYCE CANYON HALF MARATHON

Ran the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon on July 17, 2010. My goal was to come in under 2 hours.

Crossed the line at 1:58:26.

I finished number 440 out of 1200 racers. I'll keep improving!

Me, Kelli and Lauren with our medals and shirts

Beautiful Bryce Canyon!

2010-07-07T21:53:00.018-06:00

FAMILY VISITS
Sherri and Addison came to visit. Sherri was here only 1 day before Will took out all 4 wisdom teeth. In actuality there were 9 wisdom teeth, they were turned sideways, roots going up through her brain. They were actually tusks coming out her nose. She was a walrus! Google Brian Regan and wisdom teeth if you don't know what I'm talking about.

I would like to title this picture like mother like daughter!

She actually got bigger the next day and then took a week to shrink back down to size. What a trooper. She hardly complained at all.

We ate so much food while everyone was in town. Sherri and Addy, Annie, Brett and Stanley and Amber, Lucas and Ayla all visited together. This was a homemade raspberry and peach pie.

Blueberry cobbler

Brinly wanted to make sure I didn't show anything in this picture that I shouldn't.

Ayla and Addy were into EVERYTHING. Ayla walks around and picks up everything. Addy crawls around (army crawl) and picks up everything. We discovered that they enjoyed the lazy susan cupboard that holds plastic kids dishes. They were constantly all over the floor.

Addy was not happy that I woke her up.

More good food. Annie and Brett made homemade pizza for us on the grill. It was awesome!

Ghost Annie. Annie was helping to learn new features on my camera. This is the ghost feature.

Uncle Lucas. The kids love to play with him.

Aunt Amber. The kids love to play with her.

Stanley's first swimming lesson.

He's ready to get out.

Proud parents of the aqua dog : Annie and Brett

Mom and Ray

Enough. Why do I keep posting pictures of ugly babies?

Stanley found a comfy spot in the shade. It's been a hot week. 103-110 all week. Thank heavens for the pool. No thanks to the air conditioner that went out!!

FOURTH OF JULY FUN
SMORES AT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA'S HOUSE

Who wouldn't want to sit around the fire on the fourth of July in 105 degree weather?

THE MANY FACES OF SMORES

FIREWORKS IN THE DRIVEWAY

Notice how sad Eli is that his sparkler went out

Amber is writing her name

The spinning flowers in the street were a hit

Comfy view of the fireworks in the driveway

PIPE SPRINGS

Mom and Ray took us to Pipe Springs about an hour from home. Its basically a fortress built by Mormon settlers right over the top of the natural spring that comes out of the ground here in the dessert.
The first family that moved here lived in this one room house with their 11 children. They built the house as a fortress to protect against the indian attacks. There's a lot of history you can look up if interested.

We took the tour and learned lots of valuable information.

Bronson is obsessed with cowboys. He was stuck looking at these signs about cowboy gear. he chose which outfits he wants for his birthday. That's all he's asking for: cowboy gear.

There were 2 long horn bulls. This is the smaller one. He got his head caught

This is the big one. He wasn't so nice. He butted the other one out of the way when Will was feeding the smaller one.

The kids had fun feeding the horse

We also had a chance to try and milk a cow. We weren't very good at it.

MOKI CAVE, KANAB UT

COWBOYS AND INDIANS

After seeing how good looking the Indians are Bronson decided he wants to be a cowboy

Eli was terrified of the indians. I told him if he didn't behave in the caves I would make him sit in time out by the Indians. He behaved.

Bronson is in his heaven here.

I did not tell him to pose. It just comes naturally to him. Cowboy up!

Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids at Houstons restraunt in Kanab UT in front of the famous cowboy.

2010-07-05T20:33:00.010-06:00

HAPPY 1/2 BIRTHDAY TO PAYTON
Payton has always wanted to have a swimming party for his birthday. Since we've lived in Buffalo this hasn't been possible because his birthday is in December. This year he's been waiting for 6 months to have his birthday. Unfortunately nobody called to respond to the invitation even the morning of. We quickly had to come up with a bunch of kids. We decided to call the Ashton family in our ward at church. They just had their 7th kids. Fortunately for us the 5 oldest kids came and the total number of guests = 7. Whew! That could have been ugly.

Payton had a great time and didn't care who the kids were that were there, just that there was someone there. This is Eli drinking his favorite drink - pink lemonade and sitting with his stash of candy from the pinata.

Brinly was happy to have the Ashtons come. It meant another girl for her. This is Brinly and Sadie.

My children don't care for birthday cakes or cupcakes so our tradition is birthday donuts. Bronson has some residual jelly filling on his face.

The Ashton twins

Payton, Eli and James in the hot tub

Will is having a great time supervising

Basking in the sun because we didn't heat the pool. It was still 80. Wimpy wimps

Daddy stealing the torpedo right out of Brinly's hands under water.

FISHING

We decided to take the kids fishing. We took a trip up to Kolob Resevoir about an hour away from our home. Since the kids haven't been for awhile we thought we'd practice casting in the swimming pool before heading out.

Bronson and Brinly did really well. Payton caught on and Eli pretty much just ran around. We had a fake little plastic fish that we attached to the poles for them to practice casting.

The one that got away!

Will's job after the fish took the bait and ran

It was a gorgeous ride up to Kolob Resevoir. It was about an hour until dusk and the bugs were out in full force. This is where Will spent the entire night. Hook the worm, cast the line, untangle lines, hook the worm...

It was in the 90's back in St. George but in the 50's at the Lake. The kids are so excited to catch all the amazing fish that are literally jumping out of the water! Awesome...

Hook the worm...

Still waiting for their turn with a fishing pole with a worm.

Brinly... no fish yet.

Sun is going down. Mommy and Eli - no fish yet.

Payton ... no fish yet. All those spots in the image are mosquitos. They were everywhere. We walked away without a single bite. From bugs or fish.

We thought maybe if we waited for the sun to go down we might catch a fish. If you notice there is no line cast off of Will's pole. He really did spend all of his time right in that spot hooking worms. I made him pick up the pole and pretend like he was fishing for the picture. Still no fish! It was very sad but we still had so much fun.

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!

Ice cream at Uncle Spencers house: Brinly, Sarah, Ashlyn

Bronson Barney

Grandpa Plumb and Becca

Grandma Plumb and baby Josh

Aunt Kim and all the cousins

SUMMER HAIRCUT DAY
Bronson in the middle of his haircut

Three boys with their summer haircuts

Big B

Big E

Paytony

GIRLS NIGHT OUT

Every year the boys all get to go to the Father and Sons campout. Brinly and I have made it a tradition to do a girls night out. This year she decided that she wanted to go to Lazer Mania first. We played arcade games and miniature golf. After working up our appetites we went to Olive Garden. I ordered my regular cheese ravioli's with marinara sauce and Brinly had grilled chicken with pasta and steamed broccoli. We wanted to go out for dessert but we weren't hungry yet so we decided to go shopping at Target. Brinly got a new dress and her new "little lady" shoes.

We left Target and went to Wingers and ordered a grasshopper pie to go. (we still weren't hungry.) We decided to go home and paint our finger and toe nails and try on new clothes.

After trying on her dress and shoes she said she felt like a "little lady." We now call them her little lady shoes.

This is the grasshopper pie we ordered from Wingers. Mint chocolate chip ice cream, oreo crust, caramel on top, tons of whipped cream and oreo crumbs on top. Delish!

TIME OUT

Strapped in his 5 point harness car seat in his closet is the only safe place I have found to put Eli for time out. Sounds worse than it is. His closet is huge and we always leave the door open and light on. He hates it, which is good when he's been a naughty boy.

2010-06-17T17:31:00.002-06:00

Signed, FRUSTRATED!

I still haven't picked up pace with posting. Eli is the reason why. In the last three days he has done 2 horrible things. I can't keep up with him. He's awful right now. I'm hoping this is just a phase but I'm about to pull my hair out. He's going to die one of these times.

3 days ago he sprained his foot somehow while jumping off a bed. He's been limping around for a few days now. Today he nearly strangled himself after jumping off a bed with the cord to the blinds wrapped around his neck. His guardian angel Payton saved him. He's got some lovely bruising on his neck now.

He is my only child to continually test no matter what the consequence. The others have all been smart enough to realize I am consistent and have given up. He's not there yet. He continually spends time strapped into his car seat in his room for time out. It may sound cruel but I know he will be safe there. I can't leave him alone for too long or you see what happens. He cannot sit still for 30 seconds much less 5 minutes in time out. Anyone have any suggestions? I thought I was a good mom but he's really throwing me for a loop...
Signed, Frustrated

2010-06-07T19:33:00.002-06:00

BUSY BUSY BUSY
Obviously I've been slacking on the blogging. Life has gotten busier than normal. Summer break has begun and 4 kids home is more than twice as busy as 2 kids home. Just thought I'd post a few quick quotes that have been heard around our house in the last little while:

"I'm so pissed out!" (Bronson venting his frustrations)

"I can give myself a nipple twist" (Eli)

Bronson waved the sacrament past our row because he was "just not hungry."

When asked what his name was he replied "my full name is Elijah."

Bronson was asking about what happens to our food after we eat it. I informed him about what happens and then told him that what our body doesn't need it gets rid of when we use the bathroom. He said " mom, my body doesn't need corn."

"My dream is to have a real dog that doesn't poop." (Brinly)

A note left on my pillow: "Dear mom, thanks for talking to me about how I can be a better kid. Love, Payton"

"Please bless Laman and Lemuel that they will make better choices." (Bronson during his prayer)

"I think I smell something burning." (Uncle Talon not so recently at a very inappropriate moment)

"Feed Jake, He's been a good dog. My best friend..." (Bronson and Eli sing this song often around the house. Somehow they learned this horrible country song while Will and I were out of town and the Uricks babysat.)

"Knock Knock: Who's there? Pile up: Pile up who? HAHAHAHAHA" (Will)

"I'm going to marry someone who looks just like you mom." (Bronson)

2010-04-28T19:13:00.003-06:00

Bragging Rights

I have to dedicate this post to my sister Tina. She is so amazing. These are flowers from her online etsy store called floresdelsol. If you've never been to her store before you've got to visit it. She's quite talented and has been featured in many online stores, blogs and sites. Take a few minutes to look at her stuff.
As a child Tina worried that she would never have a talent. Her creative juices took a bit to start flowing, but now they are overflowing. I have very talented sisters but I just wanted to take a moment to brag about her. You're awesome T!

2010-04-27T17:27:00.013-06:00

Cub Scout Space Derby

Payton raced his space derby last week. Will prepared him to have very low expectations.

They made his look like a shark.

This is him waiting for the go signal. His space shark won everytime. He was thrilled.

Brinly's 7th Birthday Party

Brinly chose to have her 7th birthday party at LazerMania. She invited all the girls from her class. They had fun playing mini golf, arcade games and Lazer tag. I didn't get pictures of anything but her with the cake because I was busy rounding up the herd the whole time. It was a fun party.

SAND HOLLOW

Our next door neighbor Kelli was itching to get out on the boat. Christina's visit was the perfect excuse for us to take it out on the lake. The boys didn't think we could do it by ourselves. Whatever!

Christina and Eli. It was a perfectly sunny day and the boys had tons of fun.

Bronson had fun playing captain.

We were even able to blow up a tube and take Bronson tubing. The water was 61 degrees. Thankfully Kelli took it easy on us and we only get wet from the wind spraying the water on us.

Brinly's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Ray's House
Grandma and Grandpa bought a delicious butterfinger Dairy Queen Ice cream cake to celebrate Brinly's birthday the day after. It was delicious.

ZIONS NATIONAL PARK
CAMPING
APRIL, 16-17 2010

The kids have been looking forward to camping since moving to St. George. We finally decided we'd go while Christina Weber was in town with us. She's a super sweet friend we used to use as our babysitter back in NY. We found a great camp site just outside the park on the Virgin River. Our camp spot was up above this little dirt beach about 10 feet. The kids had to climb down to get to this spot here.

We brought 2 tents. One for Will and the boys and one for me and the girls (Christina and Brinly.) Sherri and Talon joined us also and brought their own tent. The river is about directly behind Will. This was our camp site.

Before we even had a chance to set the tents up Will and I heard screaming. Not just screaming bloody murder screaming. It was Payton. I'm sorry to say I ran but not as fast as I could have. He's known to cry wolf. When I got to the edge of the cliff behind where they are pictured here, I saw Payton clinging to a branch of a tree in the water up to his waist. Brinly was standing up above on the rocks next to him soaking wet and crying. I climbed down the rocks and lifted him to safety.

The story goes that she was reaching for a stick that was floating by in the river when she lost her balance and fell in (up to her chest!) Payton being the hero that he is jumped in to save her and did. (He actually fell in saving her but jumping in sounds so much more awesome) They were in a spot where there were some small rapids and so he got stuck in the current and couldn't lift himself out... hence the sceaming. Later I asked Brinly why she wasn't screaming for help. She told me it's because there were other campers around and she was embarassed. Word to the wise. If you have children learn from my bad example. Teach your children to scream for their lives if they are in trouble. Brinly is a lot like me and I probably would've done the same thing. Will and I had some serious thankful prayers later. I'm so thankful for Paytons loud mouth and if it had been Eli or Bronson that had fallen in we would have lost them.

The water in the river is runoff from the snow melting in the mountains. It was somewhere in the 50's. Sherri and Talon had all our extra clothes packed in the back of their truck but didn't arrive until an hour later. Those two clowns had to hang out in their underwear in the car and wait for them.

We left the clothes and shoes out all night to dry. It worked. They were good as new in the morning.

Will finally got his man tent set up. This thing is GINORmous. He blew up a queen size blow up mattress for himself and Eli and let the other boys sleep on their bed rolls and sleeping bags next to them. When I peeked in the window at them in the morning Will had sunken into the middle of his blow up bed and Eli was on the ground. Apparently that one has a hole.

Talon was in charge of the fire. He did a great job. Much to his chagrin we had hotdogs for dinner. He had been at a Dodgers game in LA with Brett and his brother Matt the night before. They sat in the all you can eat section. Between the three of them they ate 14 hot dogs (not to mention the 7 plates of nachos, 19 drinks and bag of popcorn.) He managed.

Later on we made smores. These are Paytons shoes drying by the fire.

Each kid had to have a buddy to help them roast their marshmallows. Eli chose aunt Sherri.

We had hot chocolate and instant oatmeal for breakfast in the morning. We were all very warm at night until about 4:00 in the morning when the wind picked up. I (being the nervous nelly that I am) was worried that our things were blowing away outside. I had to go pull the clothes off the tree and try and get the fire out. Everytime I got it out and went to bed the wind would blow it back to life again. It was a long night! But so fun.

ANGELS LANDING

Talon slept well. He's ready for our big hike up Angels Landing!

It was Brinly's birthday. After our hot breakfast to warm us all up we drove and parked the cars. Grandma and Grandpa Ray met up with us (and Addison) and we all had a surprise birthday party for Brinly. Actually it was just surprise birthday donuts, but she was happy.

Happy 7th Birthday Brinly.

This was about a quarter of the way up our hike. You can see the train we just took all the way up. Will went ahead with Payton and Bronson, Talon with Addison and Sherri and Ray. Mom, Brinly, myself and Eli took it slow at Eli's pace. He did really well. He only dropped to his knees and refused to go any further one time.

A much needed respite in the scarce shade. That first half of the hike was HOT and SUNNY!
This is us with Christina at the halfway point. She was such a trooper to put up with us and all our kids for the week. It was fun to have her.

Halfway there.

If a tree falls in the woods and no-one is there to hear it does it make any noise?

Can you find Eli?

This part of the trail is called Walters Wiggles. It's 10 steep switchbacks. 1 right after the other. Eli was a trooper. The top was in sight.

The kids and Christina and I all made it to Scouts landing. It's 1500 feet from the floor of the canyon. A pretty awesome hike. We didn't dare take the kids the last little way. It's just not a smart thing to do with small ones. Will and Talon took it though. (shocking!)

Yes, that's my foot. I was dangling over the edge to get this good shot. JK. Refer to mom and Ray's blog to be on the inside of that joke.
We stopped at the top and ate the lunch that Will so lovingly carried up for us. I packed it up with Sherri's lunch and swore her to secrecy after it was in his pack. He carried up sandwiches packed in ice to keep them cool, mayonaise, mustard, sliced tomatoes, pudding snacks, 12 oranges, water bottles, 20 granola bars and tons of other stuff that really weighed him down. He's such a man though. He didn't complain until he unloaded his pack and saw everything I packed. Oops. I don't know if I'll be trusted to pack his bag again.

Is Addie adorable or what? Eli stole her hat.

Eli made it about 1/3 of the way down before he could go no further. He did awesome. I carried him the rest of the way down. I thought it would just be for a few minutes to give him a break, but then he fell asleep in my arms. My low back ached for days and I couldn't hardly lift my arms to wash my hair the next day. I guess that's payback for Will's backpack.

2010-04-13T11:33:00.008-06:00

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Monday night Family Home Evening ended as usual. In a wrestling match with someone crying. This week it was Eli. His eye landed on Will's knee. It bruised up immediately. This is what he looks like a week later. Bronson's happened later in the week.

Eli's preschool teacher asked me to sit quietly while he asked Eli about what happened to his eye. He explained to me that he needed to make sure child services didn't need to get involved. I was just grateful Bronson was not with me at that point.

If you ever need a babysitter I would not recommend Talon and Sherri. Last time they sat for me they lost Bronson. This time they gave him a grotesque black eye. Geesh! JK. Both of those things did actually happen but it wasn't their fault. When they babysat Bronson back in Buffalo they couldn't find him. They were running around the house yelling his name. They finally heard a little muffled voice saying "what?" They followed the voice to the pantry. He had shut himself in and was shoving his face full of teddy grahams. This week they babysat on Friday. Talon had Bronson and Eli on the trampoline and were playing steam roller. They tried to run away from Talon so he didn't steam roll them. Bronson was so intent on getting away from the steam roller. He ran around and around the trampoline and ended up running right out of the netting because it wasn't zipped closed. Oops!

Talon and Matt entertained us after FHE while eating caramel popcorn. They were going to play "Feed Jake" but Matt wasn't sure how it went. If you don't know the story about Feed Jake and the Christmas miracle you'll have to ask Brett. It was a tender mercy.

It has been fun to see Sherri and Addison also.

TOUGH LOVE
Our children have not been behaving. They have been mean, selfish, ungrateful and all around obnoxious. We had had enough. We decided it was time for some tough love. Will and I took ALL of their toys away. We left out books, coloring books and puzzles. That's it. We explained to them that the spirit was not in our home. The Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead. He can only be around good clean things. Just like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Our home had not been a good or welcoming place for the Holy Ghost. They cared more about their toys and their stuff than they did about Heavenly Father. We had a family council and decided the best way to not feel so attached to our stuff was to take it all away.

The children were not too fond of this idea. There were many tears. We just had to keep explaining that this was really a blessing for them. They would learn how to be kind again and stop murmuring. We reminded them that this is probably how Laman and Lemuel started out (brothers from the Book of Mormon who constantly argued and loved their belongings more than they loved God.) Laman and Lemuel got so bad that as adults they hated anything good and wanted to kill their father and brother because they were prophets of God and taught what was good and right. Will and I explained to the children that before they got as bad as Laman and Lemuel something had to be done. Standing in corners, spankings, etc. had stopped working. I informed them that there would be lots of work , service for others and creative playing to be done. You can see Payton vacuuming in the background of this picture.

This is all the toys packed away in our attic.

An interesting thing happened the last week without toys, television, wii, or x-box. WE HAD FUN!!! The kids were great. They loved each other, were creative about how to play and most importantly the spirit was able to be in our home again. We've all had a great week.

The kids discovered they could fit in these cupboards in the boys bedrooms now that they were empty. They asked if they could sleep there for the night. Will agreed under strict conditions. They had to stay in their cupboards, they couldn't open the doors and they couldn't talk. If they broke the rules they'd all have to return to their own beds. They didn't make it. It only took about 5 minutes.

One day the kids worked in teams to make 2 loaves of banana bread. Brinly and Bronson followed one recipe and Payton and Eli followed the other. They did a great job.

The homemade forts were a favorite during our week without toys. We used lots of paper and the kids read lots and lots of books in their forts. Surprisingly to us and the children they did well. Payton and Brinly admitted that it was a good lesson for them and they can see we weren't just being mean. They actually understand! Bronson and Eli just think we are mean. Will and I also took the tv away from ourselves for the week so we could reconnect and focus on being better parents. I tell you what...we would be really smart and really strong if we never watched tv. I read a lot and he worked out a lot. It was a great experience for our family. I would highly recommend it if you're at your wits end with your children. It was a lot of work and we didn't have a perfect week, but we've done well. We still haven't given all the toys back. They only have 3 small boxes of toys, but they are so appreciative and grateful for them.

Last night we allowed the children to watch tv for the first time (family movies) and they had dessert for the first time. Payton told me that I was the best mom. Matt (Talon's brother) didn't know what had been going on and thought our kids were very deprived. Little did he know.

EASTER CELEBRATIONS

It's family tradition to line up at the top of the stairs and wait for mom and dad to get cameras ready before being allowed down to hunt for eggs. They have to go down in order from youngest to oldest. The children are all dressed because they hadn't been behaving (this was the day we had our no toys family council) and so we made them wait until they could get along for 15 minutes before we could go downstairs. I think it took about an hour before we got to go downstairs.

Eli found his first egg. He was so cute and excited. He hardly found any eggs because he kept opening each egg up and eating its contents.

Still searching for their Easter baskets. Payton found his in the coat closet behind the ironing board, Brinly found hers on the top soap shelf of the basement shower, Bronson found his in the box of VHS tapes in the basement and Eli found his on a shelf behind a plant.

Enjoying the spoils. Eli ate almost his entire chocolate bunny before we could get it away from him. It's funny because the other three aren't interested in the chocolate as much as the candy.

Thanks for the Easter skirt and hat Nana and Grandpa Ray!

We spent most of the day at mom and Ray's house watching conference and eating. Ray fired up the smoker and spent 8 hours smoking the beef. It couldn't have turned out any better. Add that with his dutch oven baked bean recipe, dutch oven potatoes and dutch oven dessert and it was a delicious day. Thanks Grandpa! It was awesome.

The Monday night before Easter the city had it's annual Ducky Drop. The city of Washington UT has a huge indoor water park. They have a ducky drop each year where they fill the huge water dump bucket with hundreds of ducks. Each duck has a number on it and each number is assigned a prize. The kids had fun. They got to swim for a few hours before the drop.

The boys are enjoying huge sticks of Laffy Taffy

Payton won a boomerang. Later that week he threw it on the roof. Daddy made him go up and get it. It didn't end well.

2010-03-27T19:02:00.002-06:00

BASKETBALL WOES

We had a ward basketball casualty today. Our ward made it to the final four in the regional tournament. Unfortunately they lost by 1 point in that game...because Will wasn't there. He was being a dedicated daddy and coaching Brinly's soccer team. He helped them get to the final four in a game earlier in the morning. He took an elbow to the face. It cut him above the lip, went all the way through and left him fat and with a nice bruise. They also played last night and he got poked in the eye. He had blurry vision all night and his eye wouldn't constrict. It just stayed dilated. It was freaky. Hence the eye picture he asked me to document. He's getting old. You know if may be time to not take basketball so seriously when you start dosing on meds before you play because you know you're going to be hurting when you're done. Does that mean I'm getting older too?

TEAM STORM

Brinly is on team Storm this year for soccer. She's lucky enough to have daddy as her coach. She absolutely loves it. She's really good too. It's great bonding for her daddy to be with her. It really makes her happy.

Brinly is pictured above right in front of the ref in the white t-shirt and hat. She has on the pink soccer socks just to the left of center. She was team captain today. That was also very exciting for her.

They have 12 girls on their team. After each game they do a cheer for the other team. This is them huddling up getting ready to cheer.

Today was their 2nd game. Their 1st game last week they won 12-0. Brinly says todays team was much better. They were really good. Brinly's team won by a much smaller margin. 9-1. Either Will is a really good coach or he stacked the team. JK. He doesn't have anything to do with who's on his team. He's just lucky. They've got some great players. Fun stuff.

P STICKY a.k.a Payton

Last week our ward had a talent show. I found out that Payton & Brinly had signed themselves up for the talent show in primary. Brinly wanted to jump rope and Payton wanted to show his collection. Collection of what you might ask? Me too. Turns out he wanted to show his collection of "gold." The "gold" is actually spray painted pebbles he got at a pioneer day activity a few years ago.

After "much consideration" Will and I decided that our children would not be participating in the talent show until they had actually practiced a TALENT to show. Brinly couldn't have cared less but Payton (who loves the spotlight) was disappointed.

Attending the talent show did little to help his mood. He and Bronson became star struck with 2 primary boys who did a hip hop dance to the Big Bad Wolf Song. It's a Disney song about the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf put to rap music. Once they were done dancing Bronson ran up to their mother (his primary teacher) and asked her if she could "get him a recording of the song." Seriously. That's what he asked her.

Tonight after dinner Payton sat us all down to sing us a song that he wrote. It was great. I've included the text of his song below.

I ainT got Skill today

Oh, I aint got skill today,

I aint got skill tomorrow,

I aint got skill the next day on,

I got skill yesterday.

I aint got skill today,

Oh I aint got skill today

(repeat top)

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,

(tap feet 16 times)

I aint got,

I aint got skill todayyyyyyyyyyy

(play drums)

I AINT GOT SKILL TODAY YO (really loud)

Any of you who know Payton know that his life long dream is to be a white rapper. I think his dream just may come true. You can all say you knew him before P Sticky was famous!

2010-03-22T16:30:00.002-06:00

APPLE JUICE

We took apples to church for snack on Sunday. I the middle of sacrament meeting (where it's nice and quiet) Eli yells out HUH! THERE'S APPLE JUICE IN HERE!

2010-03-22T08:47:00.002-06:00

WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT!
There are times my life when I have a moment and think "this is what life is all about." These moments are usually brief and pass quickly, almost unrecognizable unless I'm paying attention. I had one of those moments yesterday. Annie and Brett and Stanley are in town and Mom and Ray came over for dinner with them at our house. It's so great to have family close again. After dinner Brett was being a kind uncle and occupying the kids on the trampoline while we cleaned up. Somehow Grandma and Grandpa ended up on the trampoline. It was such a great "moment." The kids had so much fun and I have a feeling grandma and grandpa did too. The rule for the kids was that they were not allowed to touch grandma, but she was allowed to touch them. They laughed and laughed as they jumped close to grandma without touching her and then she'd yell "don't touch me, don't touch me!" She would then proceed to poke and touch everyone jumping near her. So much fun! Turns out this was Grandpa's first time on a trampoline EVER! We got video footage for anyone interested. What a great Moment!

LET ME OUT!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH...

ZOOLANDER

A couple of days ago Bronson, myself and Eli went grocery shopping. After we parked the car Bronson got out of his door and I told him to wait at the back of the car for me. As I came around the back of the car he was posed on the bumper, standing all Rico Suave. He asked me if he looked cool. When I told him he did he said that the next time we go take pictures that's how he wanted to stand.

This is how he was posed on the back of the car bumper.
Seriously what is this kid looking at or watching. Do you think he has a future here?
I have no idea where he gets it... seriously.

2010-03-15T13:16:00.005-06:00

SAN DIEGO WILD ANIMAL PARK

The kids had spring break this week. I decided it was time for us to take a trip South to San Diego to visit the Plumbs. Will had to work so it was just me and the kids. We had a great time. They're such good travellers.
Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Bronson feeding the duck.

This is Bronson after feeding the duck.

Eli was in heaven at the Petting Zoo. Those poor animals tried to get away from him but he just loved them so much. He couldn't help himself.

My two warthogs!

Eli was not afraid of any of the animals. It was cute.

This is Bronson feeding the Lorakeets.

This is Bronson after feeding the Lorakeets. What a wuss! Good thing his dad wasn't there.

She didn't even get any poop on her. Lucky girl.

We got to watch the Cheetah sisters being fed. The animal trainer was talking and we all needed to be really quiet in order to hear him. I don't know I would've been in the same exhibit with these 3 girls and have my back turned on them.

It was bone day for the Cheetahs. They each had their own cow femur to munch on. Bon Appetite!

GRANDPA'S MOTORCYCLE

Each kid got to take a turn on Grandpa's bike. Eli rested his foot on one of the hot pipes and it left a wad of melted plastic on the pipe. The bottom of his sneaker was half gone.

This is after they got back. I think we may have to get some dirt bikes in a couple of years. I'm not ready for road bikes. Yikes!

2010-03-14T20:18:00.006-06:00

On Friday we packed up and headed to La Jolla Shores. Kim, Emily and me and our kids. My sister Annie drove down from up North to meet us as well. It was lots of fun.

We were warned just one time from a Swedish woman about how sever the undercurrent was there. She did not trust us. She saw our children in the ocean up to their mid calves and sought us mothers out. She confronted Brinly and asked where her mother was. She then proceeded to inform me that every day grown men in the water only up to their ankles are pulled out into the ocean by the rip tide. COoCOo!! I think I have a better chance of losing Brinly by talking to a stranger than by being ripped into the ocean by an under current when she is in only up to her ankles. Those looney Sweds!

Annie and Bronson have a special relationship. This is him pretending to yell at her after she kissed him. Disgusting!

Laura, Rachel and Eli

Payton, Eli showing his good side, Brinly,Claire and Eric

Big D

2010-03-06T09:24:00.008-07:00

BRIAN HEAD TUBING

The kids have been complaining that there's no snow in St. George. They are young enough to still miss the snow and not realize their blessing. We decided to take a day and go tubing up at Bryan Head Ski Resort. It was awesome! I can't believe I don't have any pictures of the actual tubing hill. We just got video of that part I guess.

It took us about an hour to drive up there. The kids and I all got in our snow gear as Will went to purchase our tubing passes. There was a big snow pile next to all the parked cars where the plows had piled all the snow. I seriously think we could have spent an hour on this mound of snow and called it good and everyone would have been happy.

They'd forgotten how fun it was to eat snow. There weren't a whole lot of untouched areas of snow so I'm just counting my blessings that none of them ended up sick after the amount of dirty snow they ate.

We paid $15 for a 2 hour tubing pass. Each of us got our own tubes with a leash attached. We pulled our tubes through the line and then sat in them as we were attached to the tow rope and pulled up the mountain. At the top of the hill there are 8 tubing runs. The little kids (under 50 lbs.) sit right in their tubes and get a SMALL push down the hill. I say SMALL because they cruise. I can't image how fast you could get going. Little Eli never had to leave his tube. It was perfect. The tubes were so easy to pull that he and Will would go down the hill at the same time on different runs and then Will would grab Eli's tube and pull him through the line, Eli would be towed up the hill and then they'd do it all over again. As I went down in the lane next to Eli a few times he had his eyes squeezed shut each time. It was scary but they loved it.

The adults had to lay on top of it and drag their feet. So did Payton and Brinly. At the end of the run there is a steep uphill slope with a whole line of rubber tubes protecting the top in case you don't stop and bump into them. It's like a runaway truck ramp. Everyone gets going so fast that you actually lose your stomach as you're coming back down the end of that ramp. My very first run down I got a hole punched in my pass and a stern warning that I had to drag my feet more. I tagged those tubes at the top of the ramp. I hit them so hard I though I'd flip over. It was a great outing.

Eli and Brinly got cold first and so we went in and got some hot chocolate. Payton followed a little bit later. Bronson had too much fun. He never did come inside. He just wanted to go again and again. It was nice because he could do it all by himself. Mr. Independent didn't need any help and could just keep returning to the line.

PINE WOOD DERBY DAY

This was our very first pinewood derby. The first of many I should say. Payton had a lot of fun with the other scouts. His car never won and never lost. In 8 races he was exactly in the middle.

It was quite the set up. Each car posted a score in seconds to the nearest one hundreth. Quite impressive. All the times were posted on a big screen hanging in the church gym.

This is Payont and his friend Jack (who lives next door.) Jack is waiting fot the go-ahead to push the "go" button to release the cars. They are anxious.

Paytons car is the green machine. He got the "muscle man car award." Jack's fish car came in second and Paytons third. The poor guy in 4th didn't even make the picture.

PAYTON'S BAPTISM
FEB. 10, 2010

Payton was baptized in the Quail Valley Ward. There was one little boy from our ward who went into the font before him. After he came up from the water he let out a strange little giggle. We thought it was a funny reaction to his baptism but didn't think too much of it. When Payton got in we realized why. The water was FREEZING. Those poor kids. The guy who filled it didn't realize there was a special way to fill it so as to make it semi warm. It will make for a memorable baptism I guess.

Always the comedian. It is Payton's day. Nice to see him front and center in the picture.

It was wonderful to have family down for the event. Will's parents and two of his brothers came. They were all going to come, but we had the stomach flu being passed from person to person in our home for 14 days prior to the event. Thankfully all the cousins stayed home (except for Mila, Raquel and Addy.) Riley and Kristin got sick that next week. Jesse had already had it a few weeks before and I'm not sure if he got it again.

Grandma and Grandpa Salley came and brought the Moreno girls because poor Tina was at their house with the flu. NOT FUN! Addy was the only one who didn't get it. What's up with that. You go girl.

Payton with Grandma and Grandpa Salley

Payton with Grandma and Grandpa Plumb

BEATLES ROCK BAND

Will's family came to town for Payton's baptism on Feb. 9. We had a few fun jam sessions of Beatles Rock Band. Ron taught Will everything he knows. Like father like son.

Ron is so diggin on this!

Riley and Kristin just announced that she is pregnant with their first child. Actually our 6 year old neice Sara announced it. Riley claims he is always the last to find out any significant news and that even then it's usually from Sarah. He told Sarah and had her call all of his family. It was sweet. Kristin is due in September. Just a week before Emily is due and just a week after her own sister is due.

Jessie and Cami alos announced big news. He just got accepted into the BYU MBA program. He will start there in the fall. Very exciting stuff. Now we will live in the same state as them but be further away. It was so nice having them in Vegas. We will miss the frequent visits.

2010-02-24T14:08:00.004-07:00

At Christmastime we spent a few days visiting the Plumbs in San Diego. This is the most recent photo of all the grandkids and Grandma and Grandpa.

Kim and Melanie

Emily with Claire and Laura. She is pregnant with baby #4 due sometime in September. We'll see if Brock can have a boy or if they'll go 0 for 4.

EZRA say What! When Jesse and Cami are looking for Ezra and calling his name he doesn't answer so they yell "Ezra, say what."

Payton and Daniel are not quite ready for babysitting yet. Henry does not look comfy.

Rachel, Sarah, Brinly and Ashlyn

P and D. So similar in likes, dislikes, and brains it's scary. Quite different in personality however.

Is this just about the cutest thing you've ever seen. The next several pics are from a few different hikes we've taken.

A short rest stop was called for. Can anyone say sword fights!

STANLEY!. He's quite the mountain dog. An excellent hiker

Tim Skaggs. Becca's husband and soon to be first time father.

Petroglyphs on the rocks just a few miles from our house. So fun to take hikes and look at these ancient drawings.

Becca Skaggs. She's a little bigger now. 2 weeks before baby's due.

The whole crew.

No Comment

From looking at the rest of these pictures see if you can figure out who wants to be a mountain climber in our family.

So cute! She wore her best climbing gear that day.

Bronson says that Diego wears sticky gloves when he rock climbs but he doesn't need them because he already has sticky hands.

He will not stand still while hiking.

2010-02-23T17:20:00.004-07:00

For Halloween the kids school had a parade outside on the track. This is angel Brinly and her friend Sophie the 50's poodle skirt girl.

Angel Brinly and Bobofet Payton. It's a star wars thing. Will says I don't think Star Wars is as awesome as he does because we are from "different generations."

Red Ranger is thrilled to be at our ward party. It was outside at the pavillion and it was FREEZING! This was the first week we had moved into our rental house and the first activity we went to with the ward. We didn't know anyone and were stuck outside the whole time. That's what happens when 3 wards share the same building and all want to plan activities at the same time of year.

Spider Man Eli

Watch out for his web slinging!

We have a much happier Mighty Morphin Red Power Ranger now that candy has started being handed out.

Eli could not stop web slinging. It was really cute. The mask covered up his stitches from the incident that happened a week previous.

This is Brinly in her class at the costume parade on Halloween. Some of those poor girls were frozen!

here comes Bobofet Payton. Princess Leah is following a few people back.

I've included a few other costumes that I thought were worth a peek. This girl was a peacock. She had a full feather rack on her back. It was really pretty.

This is the money you could be saving on Car Insurance. GEICO 15 minutes could save you 15% or more.

Here's smiley Payton

2010-02-23T16:59:00.002-07:00

While touring Boston with the Christensens in September of 2009 we decided to take a Duck Tour. If you've never been on a WWII Amphibeous vehicle it's well worth the ride. This is the second one we've been on. We also took a duck tour in Philly a few years back.

This is why it's called an amphibeous vehicle. It moves both on land and in the water. It's really fun.

Everytime we go on a trip with the Christensen's it's tradition that we all have to buy a hat from wherever we go. This is Molly's. Mine is the same only black. Will bought a RedSox baseball cap and a hideous skull cap at a ski hill in Vermont. Shawn... where's your hat?

This is the Holocaust memorial. 6 glass towers to represent the 6 milion Jews that were murdered.

This is a park that sits in downtown Boston. Very pretty. Interesting fact...You can actually bring your cattle to graze at this park legally because of old laws that are still in place.

We hit a great seafood restraunt in the evening. Crab legs are not the most romantic looking meal to eat.

Since we have some pictures of Will and I, I thought I'd post them. They are rare.

Shawn loves getting his picture taken. We were standing right here outside Fenway Park as Boston lost in the bottom of the ninth and were knocked out of the series. Oops. There were some not so happy Red Sox fans later that day.

I remember why I don't post pictures of me.

2010-02-23T16:46:00.002-07:00

Back in September just before we made our big move from East Coast to the West we took a trip to Vermont and Boston with our friends Shawn and Molly. We figured it was a good time to go since we had nothing else going on. We left Buffalo 2 weeks later. So sad to leave them:..(

We passed several covered bridges in Vermont. This was the one we decided to play on.

Surprisingly Shawn was the one climbing in the rafters instead of Will. They wear off on eachother.

2010-02-23T16:38:00.002-07:00

This picture was taken in San Diego. It's the most currently up to date picture of all the Plumb grandchildren in order of age. It will be outdated in 2 weeks when Becca has baby Josh. Emily is also pregnant but not due until September. From youngest to oldest: Lara (Emily's), Henry (Jesse's), Mel (Spencer's), Claire (Emily's), Eli, Ezra (Jesse's), Eric (Spencer's), Bronson, Ashlyn (Emily's), Sarah (Spencer's), Brinly, Payton, Daniel (Spencer's), Rachel (Spencer's.)