Hiking to Donut Falls

I have fallen behind in blogging again. I am going to do my best to catch up on the big stuff. A few weeks ago we hiked to Donut Falls up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We all had a great time, but we will be sure to go a month or so earlier next year to be able to see leaf colors at their peak. Even though we went on Oct. 18th, the weather was beautiful!
The boys hiked with Dave up to the top of the falls. I stayed behind with the girls. The rocks were a little too treacherous for them.

I sure love hiking. In making a list of my 100 life goals, a lot of them centered around hiking. I hope we can hike more next summer. It can only get easier and easier now that our kids are getting older. The four oldest are great hikers. Lindsay still gets tired easily, and wants help. We warned her as we started that she is a big girl, and we weren't carrying her or giving piggy-back rides to her. She did great, but Donut Falls is a very short and easy hike.

At the bottom of the falls, there are a bunch of small rocks to traverse to get to an area to sit and relax. The kids always love to slip off and get their feet soaked!

I will be sure to plan at least 4 or 5 new hikes for next year!

Jon Got His Mission Call!

The entire family has been waiting very impatiently for Jon's mission call to finally come. We knew it had been sent from church headquarters last week. My mom and dad were set to leave for Hong Kong on Wednesday, October 15th bright and early in the morning, so we were all crossing our fingers that they would still be around for this important event. I talked to my mom about 3 p.m. on Tuesday, October 14th, and she was pretty certain it wasn't going to come that day. She had talked to a post office worker that assured her that mission calls always came in on Thursday in Springville. Thanks goodness, it came! We all gathered at my parents' home in Springville to be with Jon as he opened his call.
He is going to the Chile Concepcion South Mission, and reports to the MTC on January 28th. I think he is really excited to be able to speak Spanish!
I am so excited for Jon! He is going to be an awesome missionary. I am so grateful for his example to my kids! He always shows genuine interest in them and always takes time to give them attention and play with them. We love you Jon and are so excited for you!

My Long Lost Brother

Chris came out to Utah this past weekend. It was really fun to see him, Cade, and Nathan. I had just talked to my dad a few days earlier where he mentioned how much Chris and I used to hang out together as kids. The funny thing, is I had just been thinking about that very same thing the day before.

Chris and I were the best of buddies growing up. I didn't hang out with Jared and Aaron nearly as much as I hung out with Chris even though he is 3 years younger than me. I loved being with Chris.

A few things we did together as kids: built forts, caught lizards, played pickle, swam in the pool, played marco polo, sat in the sauna, biked the neighborhood, collected junk from ravines in the neighborhood, swatted at bees, made trips to Thrifty for ice cream cones, called for rides back home so we didn't have to bike up the huge hill in Diamond Bar, boogie boarded at the beach, attended YMCA camps, played basketball and baseball, played pool, sang songs with the player piano, performed skits, imitated karate, shot bb guns, and went on a lot of long walks to explore. I wanted to post some pictures of us playing together as kids but I don't have any...so sad!

I feel bad looking back over the last 20+ years that we haven't stayed as close as I would have liked to. As I got into high school, I started going to my dad's house for less and less time. I had my friends and sports I was involved in. I started becoming less and less close to Chris; not that I didn't love him, just that we didn't spend as much time together anymore.

I feel bad that my kids know Chris mostly as #76 of the Steelers. Lindsay refused to sit next to "that guy" to eat her banana split. I told her "that guy" was Nathan, her cousin. She obviously didn't believe me, because she went to sit next to her cousin Jacob instead. I am so happy for Chris and all his success. His wife, Jaimee, is awesome. I only wish his family lived a little closer so we could spend more time together. We all have our fingers crossed, that eventually, Chris and his family may move out to Utah.
Some things I love about Chris:
1. His laugh! Dave and I were talking about being excited for Chris to come visit so we could here him laugh. His laugh is a deep hearty laugh, that makes me smile ear to ear every time I hear it.
2. He is scared of so many things you wouldn't think a 300 pound football player would be scared of...everything from mice to strange sounds in the house. One of my favorite memories of Chris is on our family vacation to Lake Powell nine years ago. A mouse, or some rodent had climbed aboard our houseboat, and Chris was squealing his head off while standing up on a chair. It was so funny!
3. He is sensitive to so many things! Chris is not afraid to let his emotions show.
4. I love talking to Chris. He is so personable and is so easy to talk to.

I love you Chris! I am going to work harder at building an adult relationship with my little "big" brother.

Jaron is 14!

Where in the world does time go? I can't believe my little boy is now 14 years old! I only have him 5 more short years until he leaves on his mission! Grandma and Grandpa Wakley and Goddard all came over for a little family party for Jaron.
This is Jaron's present from Lindsay. All the kids made him things.


Mmmm.... cheescake and ice cream.
A Few Things I Love About Jaron.....
1. He is a very good example to his younger brothers and sisters.
2. He always tells me thank you for dinner, and he never complains about what I make. If he doesn't particularly like something (mushrooms), he just moves them to the side of his plate.
3. He is very obedient. It is very nice to have such an awesome teenager.
4. He loves to tell me about all the things he did during the day, he asks lots of questions (of which most I don't know the answers to), and he is fun to talk to.
5. He looks out for other people, especially his siblings.
6. He is always up for playing a good board game or Dance, Dance Revolution.
7. He works really hard including doing well in school, scouts, and learning the clarinet. I never have to ask or tell him to practice the clarinet. He is constantly practicing just because he wants to improve.
8. He is working hard to develop a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. He works diligently to read his scriptures, and he is always so attentive in Sacrament meeting. All my other kids still love to color and read the church magazines in Sacrament meeting, but Jaron has been earnestly trying to listen for several years.
9. He is always willing to help out. He will take on a project, speak in church, teach a lesson, help someone with homework, hang out with those who need friends, and just do little things around the house without being asked.
10. He is a very good babysitter! The younger kids love that he takes time to play with them when Dave and I are away.
11. Jaron is very social, and a goof around his friends, but he knows when to be serious and not goof off.
12. Jaron is always excited to try knew things, and works hard to improve in the activities he undertakes.
13. Jaron genuinely loves each member of our family, and he shows it through hugs, play, compliments, and patience.
14. Jaron is an amazing young man! I couldn't be any prouder of him than I already am. He lives up to some very high standards he has set for himself. He is an amazing son and older brother, and he will make a wonderful missionary, husband, and father someday!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun Labor Day weekend filled with a lot of activity. The Gockens gave us some free tickets to the Children's Museum at the Gateway that expired on Saturday, so we decided to make a day of it. We headed up to the Gateway, and spent all morning and afternoon there. Here is Dave helping Natalie on the climbing wall.
Brayden seemed to have the most fun at the museum of all the kids. He was excited to try each thing out. He loved to see how things worked, and he has no qualms about dressing up in costume when Dave told him to. I am glad Brayden is not worried about acting too grown up yet. I love enjoying my boy!
Here is Brayden on the climbing wall. He climbed it many times.
After a couple hours at the museum, we were ready to move on to other activities. The kids were very excited to rideTrax, so we took Trax to Temple Square. The kids loved riding the "train." We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to check out when the show times were for the Legacy Theater. We were up in the waiting room, waiting to watch the Joseph Smith movie when a missionary came up and chatted with us for a little while. We asked him if Harold and Carolyn Asplund were still serving on temple square. He pulled out his little blue schedule, told us they were in the North Visitor Center for a little while longer, so we skipped the movie, and headed to see my aunt and uncle. It was fun to see them. I know I don't see enough of my dad's side of the family, because as I came up to talk to Carolyn she didn't seem too sure that she knew who I was. It was fun visiting with them for a little while. Carolyn reminds me so much of my Nanny, especially when she talks! We took the kids up to see the the statue of Christ and then headed back on Trax to the Gateway so we wouldn't miss the BYU football game! If you zoom in on this picture, you will see Natalie is not too happy. She really wanted to go back to the children's museum, and was upset with us that we weren't heading back.
We had big plans for Labor Day to go see "Kung Fu Panda" with my mom and dad and all the siblings and cousins. Somehow, none of us thought the movies would be crawling with people and sold out for all of the shows except for late at night. Since we couldn't get movie tickets, we finally decided to head to Riverwoods Park to play and hang out. We had a good time, and the weather warmed up enough where we were very comfortable. The boys and men played bocce ball, the kids played on the playground equipment and rolled down the big hill, and the rest of us sat around and talked. We finally planned to get our family study group up and running again, so I am very happy about that! We had a great weekend!

Lindsay's 1st Trip to the Zoo

Dave took Lindsay to the zoo for the first time while I was away at Education Week. They had a good time. Her reaction to the zoo was typical Lindsay... check each thing out for just a few seconds and move on. I have quizzed her about the animals several times, and each time she changes her mind about which animal she likes best. She keeps talking about the train she got to ride there. I think the train was her favorite part.

Education Week in a Nutshell

I went to Education Week with my mom this past week. I have been 8 or 9 times. I am not exactly sure. I love it, and I always come home renewed and ready to take on the new school year. This week was my favorite of all the Education Weeks I have attended. My husband is so awesome to take a week off work to be with our kids so I can go. I always stay in the dorms on campus, and it is a mini-vacation for me.

We went to Brick Oven twice, and Cafe Rio once, along with grabbing a sandwich here and there for lunch on campus. We do not believe in taking time off from class to stop and eat, so we are always eating on the run until we stop going to classes at 5:30 p.m. We also get to relax and play in the eveings. We spent our evenings going to Iron Man, The Hulk, and a musical production of Pride and Prejudice at BYU. One night we ate leftovers in the dorm and watched the Olympics on the TV in the lobby.

This year was my favorite because of the concrete ideas in my head and in my notes that I want to work on. I left very inspired.

Things I am Going to Concentrate on Now because of what I learned at Education Week... The Short List

1. I am going to create a list of 100 life goals. I had two different teachers talk about this. I know it may take a while to think of 100 different goals important enough to label as "life goals" but I am going to work at getting that list put together and keep it somewhere where I can be motivated by it.

2. My uncle, Wally Goddard, spoke at Education Week this year and he was probably the speaker that had the most profound effect upon me. He made the atonement come more alive and real for me. He also spoke of keeping a "Samuel" Journal where we record our spiritual feelings and experiences to show the Lord our gratitude of his hand in our lives. In 1 Samuel 3:19 it talks of Samuel not letting any of the Lord's words fall to the ground. I have tried to do this in the past, but not in a separate journal. Here is a picture of my new Samuel journal below.

3. Randal Wright actually made me feel fine about having not kept a journal all my life even though he said he was trying to make us feel guilty. He said that all experiences can be summarized into 3 words to help us recall the experience. He also mentioned that we could go back and record lessons that happened a long time ago. So I am going to record experiences into 3 word summaries to help me to recall them, and then I am going to write out the full experience when I can get to it.

4. Elder Robert D. Hales spoke on the Education Week theme "The Journey of Lifelong Learning." He said "The most important thing we gain from lifelong learning is not the degrees, recognitions, or jobs, but who it makes us become." "Nothing, absolutely nothing, could help a woman develop her talents more than being a mother." I just need to be more actively involved in learning and recognize the lessons I learn with my children and not just let life happen to me.

5. I didn't really attend a class on scripture study, but Wally taught the subjects for his classes using the scriptures. I felt inspired to find a scripture study program for myself and for my family that would make us yearn for our study time. I bought a book to help us in our family study. Dave looked at it one time, and said we need to buy the same books for all the other books of scripture (I just got the Book of Mormon one). After our first scripture study as a family, I have witnessed Lindsay trying to mark in her scriptures, and Bryce asking about important scriptures he can mark.

I can't wait to go again next year!

Back to School

I can't believe my kids are back in school already! I like getting back to a schedule, but I miss having the kids around a little more. Brayden started on August 15, with all the 7th graders. He seems to enjoy Jr. High.
Jaron is now in 8th grade. He has ended up having 2nd lunch both A and B days, so he is unable to hang out with Brayden and show him the ropes, but Brayden doesn't seem concerned by it.
Natalie and Bryce are in 1st and 3rd grade respectively. They are both very excited to get back to school and all their friends.
Bryce is the man in charge now. He is the oldest sibling at Harvest Elementary, so he is in charge of making sure he stays with Natalie and they both get to school and home together. Natalie is very excited to be able to ride her bike to school now. We were in a carpool when she was in kindergarten, so she wasn't able to ride a bike.
The kids didn't really want me to tag along to school, so I sent Brayden biking with them since he had no school that day. He made sure Natalie made it to class.
Everyone seems happy with their teachers, and are excited to be starting a new school year.

Johnson Family Reunion

The Johnson Family Reunion was the usual... catching up on everyone, eating food, and mixing in a few games at the end. We were up at Rock Canyon Park above the Provo temple. The kids ran a mile, but it wasn't much of a race... just running for fun.
The small group before they started running.
Go Bryce and Elise!
Dave was in charge of the horseshoe tournament. Jaron partnered with Jon and had fun competing.
Lindsay loved holding the snake that one of the cousins caught. She did not want to put it back in the box.

Natalie's Lost Tooth

Natalie had been working very hard wiggling her little tooth, trying to get it out. We had a barbeque with a few of our neighbors. Natalie was eating a chip, and chewed on something hard. She took out her tooth, looked at it and threw it in the grass, not sure what it was. It dawned on her in the next few seconds, that she just threw her tooth.We looked for that first lost tooth for quite a while with the help of friends, but didn't find it. Natalie seemed fine about it once we told her she could write a note to the tooth fairy and she would still come and leave money. Natalie wrote her own note, explaining the situation. This is Natalie right before she went to bed. She couldn't stop laughing and smiling. She loved touching where her tooth used to be with her tongue. She thought this was definitely cool.

Deer Creek with Papa

Deer Creek was a blast! We all had fun on the waverunners and being pulled in the tubes. Brayden and I especially enjoyed being pulled in the tube but I was so sore and tired for the next couple of days. Hanging out with all the family is always a lot of fun!

Dad's Visit

My dad, "Papa" to our kids, made a trip up to visit us last week all by himself, which meant we got to spend a lot of time with him. He lives in California, and has a 2nd home in Midway, so he comes up every few months; however, we don't see a lot of him unless he travels alone. When Cathy comes along, they always have a busy schedule and have a lot of things planned to do. I love it when he comes and we just get to hang out with him. All the grandkids love to crawl all over him. I have so much fun watching him interact with my kids because it reminds me of how he was with us growing up. He is such a tease! He came up Wednesday night, and the fun started at our house. We hung out and visited and watched "Nim's Island" on the side of our house. On Thursay, we went to a park out in Highland. Later that evening we went to Classic Skating. On Friday, we went to 7 Peaks. Saturday, we spent the day at Deer Creek. Here is my dad with Lindsay at 7 Peaks.
Here are a bunch of the cousins in the lazy river. When we woke up this morning, it was raining and overcast, and the forecast called for scattered thunderstorms all day. We made the decision to go to 7 Peaks anyway, and we are so glad we did! Even though it was a Friday, it was deserted! It was overcast for just a short time, and then it was beautiful the rest of the day.
Natalie put on her own sun screen and got a little too much!
Here is Tori and Natalie with Papa.
Lindsay couldn't get enough of Andrew (Kelli's youngest). She loved holding him and feeding him and making him smile.

I wish I had more pictures of the activities we did with my dad before 7 Peaks. My dad's visit happened to fall on the week that Jaron and Brayden were at Scout Camp, and Dave took the camera with him on Thurdsay. I'll post about our Deer Creek excursion soon.