Crawdad Fishing!!!!

This is the Saturday before school starts, and Scott was thinking that the kids might like to go crawdad fishing.  He asked everybody, and Polly and DeWitt are the only ones that wanted to go.  They caught 17 or so, but they only brought 4 home for us to see.

Polly's crawdad has one big pincher and one small.

DeWitt was trying to get them to fight.

The experiment.   To see if they would swim around and play or not.

They mostly just sunk to the bottom, and walked around, but it was fun to watch them.

DeWitt was hiding a crawdad behind his back, and when Allison sat down he scared her with it, but she really didn't get scared, and that's no fun.

In fact, Allison started to play with it.

Notice how far Lillian sits away from those with the crawdads

Ah, now this is fun, poor Lil.  I told her just don't act scared, and DeWitt will loose interest, but she can't act when it comes to creepy , crawly things. 

Polly wanted to swim with the crustaceans.  Brave girl

DeWitt and Polly were rough housing, and DeWitt picked Polly up and threw her on her bed, and then he landed on her and his shoulder hit her head.  He felt so bad.  He said sorry and sorry, but he really wanted to make it up to her.  So he said, OK Polly you think of anything you want to today and I'll do it with you.  She thought about going to the movie and going bowling, but then she settled on face painting and playing video games together.  So they each painted the other's face and then they played a video game.  DeWitt is such a wonderful big brother.

Now it's DeWitt's turn.

The finished product.  I asked them to smile, but they couldn't because their faces were too dry.  Too bad they look so scary.  They had fun though.

The American Red Cross and Us

One of the worst things I can think of to do, is to give blood.  My kids like doing it, Allison is a veteran, and they think that it is fun to ask me if I want to go with them.  It's hard to turn down a beautiful smile and puppy dog eyes, even for something I don't like to do.  So here we are Allison, Rebecca and DeWitt, helping out the American Red Cross.  If you look close Rachel is behind Allison.  She is crazy, because, she came all on her own accord.

This is my picture smile, I didn't put on the "I hate this" picture.  I made sure that I had the best needle poker ever.  He gave me his resume, and it included giving iv's to army boys while flying in a helicopter, so he won.

This is DeWitt's first time to give blood.  He had to get a parent permission, because he is not yet 18.  He was pretty funny.  He asked the nurse.  "Why am I giving you my blood for free, when if I need it back, you charge me a whole lot of money?"  The nurse was perplexed and just smiled.  He talked his whole time in the chair.

Brave Allison

I think this was the part that DeWitt liked the best.  Yummy snacks, cute girls.

Alright now that's all said and done, I do feel pretty tough.  It was a good thing to do with my kidos.  Now we all look like we are important people, you know giving of ourselves.

DeWitt's first timer button!! Good job DeWitt

Singing and Dancing in the Rain!!!!!

So we were folding laundry and watching Singing in the Rain, and just enjoying a lazy afternoon, when it just started to pour down rain.  The girls know for sure that it was because we were watching that movie, so now they say we have to watch it anytime we want it to rain.  They pushed the pause button so fast and headed outside to play.

First stop was the tennis court.  When it rains they always play here because it collects the water the best.

Allison, Lillian and Polly.  DeWitt was at a friends house and missed the fun.

Ahh now the backyard.  I'm safe and dry  on the balcony taking the pictures.  There was plenty of thunder so every time it would crack the girls would scream and jump around.

They can't miss the pool, it's funny to watch them run and play and be silly, you would think we never get rain here.

Lillian is jumping off the diving board.

One smart mama.

They were doing some kind of interpretive dance number and splashing in the puddles.  Silly, silly girls.  Love the goggles Allison.

Continuing on with the interpretive dance.  We are always so grateful when rain falls in our beautiful valley, and I'm so glad that my kids enjoy it so much.  They are so fun to watch.

Learing How to Can With Dad!!! 8-3-11

My dad is a canning wiz.  He loves to can, and he gets excited about learning how to can anything and everything.  Today he is teaching me the art of canning beef.  London broil was on sale at Thriftee so I bought 20 lbs, and cut it all up to smallish pieces.  We went to dad's who had sterilized my bottles in his dishwasher and he taught us how to put the right amount of salt and how to pack the meat just right into the bottles.

We cleaned off the edge of the bottles and then put on a preboiled lid.

Now the bottles go into the canner.

I was actually helping and not just taking pictures.

Now the waiting begins...........first you have to wait for the little steamer thing to steam, and then you have to wait for the dial to get to 14-15 lbs, and then you start the timer for 75 min.

Allison and grandpa learning more about Dixie State, and about St. George.

Still waiting.  (I didn't want it to blow up, dad said that it wouldn't, but I was watchful anyway)

Still waiting..........Dad is reassuring me that it won't blow up!

It's done!!!!  Dad showing me how to safely remove the yummy smelling, cooked meat.

Now it's my turn.

My proud mom looking on

WE DID IT!!!!!!  19 jars of fresh canned London broil, for us to enjoy for days to come.  I'm sure it won't last long.  Thanks dad for giving up your whole day to help us learn how to can.

Dallin Arrived In Argentina!! July 26, 2011

This is Dallin with his Mission President and his wife.  President and Sister Peterson.  They live in Neuquen, Argentina, but they are from Utah.  After Dallin arrived in Argentina I was waiting and hoping for a call from Sister Peterson it came on Thursday, and as much as I had been waiting for it, and watching over my phone to receive it, I missed her call.  I'm now glad that I did, because now I have her super great message to listen to over and over, and now the rest of the family can listen to it.  She said how much she enjoyed visiting with Elder Evans and how ready and excited he was for his mission.  Dallin has put his whole heart and his whole life into preparing for this mission and so I was so glad that she could see it right off.  He will be a perfect asset to this mission

Here we are, everyone had just talked to Dallin and now it was my turn, but dinner still had to made.

This is Dallin on the phone.

Lillian and Polly had figured out how to watch Dallin's airplane travel from Dallas to Buenos Aries.  This picture is off of Polly's I-Pod touch.  I was truly amazed.  Dallin called us from Dallas, TX where he had a short layover.  We got to talk for about 40 min.  I was so happy, and I held my tears for after word so that I could really talk.  We had been waiting all day on Monday July 25th hoping to receive this call, so everyone was around, and we were all able to talk for just a bit.

Here he is flying over the ocean, and this is about where we all went to bed.

When we woke up it showed that he had arrived.  His travel went something like this......He left the MTC in Provo, UT on Monday July 25, 2011 at 11:30 am.  He flew from the Salt Lake City, UT airport to Dallas, TX.  He arrived in Buenos Aries on Tuesday July 26th.  He traveled with several other missionaries, 3 from his mission.  They were picked up at the Buenos Aries airport and were driven around the city for awhile, so he got to site see a little bit.  He then was put on a nice bus and drove for 13 hours through the night to arrive at Neuquen, his mission, on July 27th.  He said that Pres. Peterson and the assistants greeted them at the bus and gave him a hug.  They took him to the mission home, fed him and sent him out tracting.  He did some training there, and worked out some paperwork for his visa and passport and then on the 28th of July they put him and his new trainer, companion on another bus and he drove for 10 hours to his district, Trelew, and to his first area, Puerto Maydr n.  He says that it is a coastal city and for his first P-day some of the other elders took them to look at the ocean and they saw a lot of whales.  He was amazed.  He also said that he challenged two people to baptism.  Also another set of missionaries invited Dallin and Elder Nelson over to their apartment for a "baby shower", where they ate tacos.   Dallin is considered the baby and Elder Nelson then is the dad, because he is Dallin's first trainer.

I took these whale photos from the internet, a site I found about Puerto Madryn.  Dallin said that he was watching the whales, so I thought it would be cool to show these, that were taken from the same area

Map of Argentina, I think Dallin's town is just above Rawson on the map.  He is in a ocean front town called Puerto Maydr n, and his trainer companion is Elder Nelson from Provo, Utah.

When I saw this cartoon, card at the bookstore I had to get it.  Three things that stood out in Dallin's first letter is that he was tired, cold and hungry.  They ate so  much in MTC and he said that he hadn't received his money allotment yet and his comp had given his food away to a needy member, so when he first got there he was hungry.  He was cold, because even though it is summer here in July, in Argentina it is winter, and they had a freak storm the first day he was there, and he said he nearly died.  Ugh. it's hard not being there and taking care of his every need.

Loved, loved this one for sure.  I know Dallin is truly being watched over.  He said that he has never been so grateful for a sleeping bag, to keep him warm, but he really doesn't know it too well, because as soon as he hits the pillow he is out cold.  They didn't give him any jet lag recovery.  They put him right to work, and he just has to adjust.  If anyone can handle this rutine it would be Dallin.  I am so grateful for his service.  There is no way I could let him do this without my own sure testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love the Lord so much that I want to share my son with him and with the good people of Argentina.