ORGILL LOVE!

Left Hand Fork Camp out

2011-07-24T23:39:00.001-06:00

So with the summer ruling our life, we decided to take control and do something spontaneous for a change. After scoping out the perfect camp sight up Left Hand Fork near Hyrum, UT, we quickly packed up and headed up before our spot was snatched. We opted not to take the trailer, since there were so few spots available. We wanted to ensure we had room for all our 'stuff' so we decided to go with the bare minimum. The 4-wheeler was a necessity. There are 4-wheeler trails all over up there! Tent, sleeping bags, cooler full of food and drinks, clothes and pillow. That about fills up our truck, so we're off like a dirty shirt...
With a river running though our campsite and the out house right across the street, we were set. Although swimming suits were required, they were only used by the young and the fearless! Anti bacterial wipes, marshmallows and roasters and plenty of firewood, what more could you need? We even got to try out our super sweet new tent. It is bigger than our usual tent, and even has a front porch. We're living the high life here!
I have to admit, I was a bit of a grump all day, but that didn't stop the rest of the family from having a blast. Lexi and Zac explored the great outdoors, the woods, the river, the sweet 4-wheeler trails with dad and even some 'jumps'. Then to finish on a high note, we hit up the miraculous waterfall that sprung out of the ground. It was... cold... and magnificently beautiful! With all the gear packed in I decided not to bring my bike this time. :( I have been LOVING having a bicycle. I went on a 20 mile bike ride home from this area the first day we went exploring and I am anxious to do it again. It was a natural high and lasted for days! But alas, this trip was not for me, it was for the kids. They had a blast, all three of them (Ken included), and the dog too! And lucky for all of us, the world did not end. Ken certainly could have handled it by himself, but it would be better if I were not such a grump when that happens. Something about not having my morning coffee that just doesn't sit well with me. It's all about routine, yes I admit it, I am high maintenance and lucky to have a family who loves me anyway! Thanks everyone for a very memorable weekend.

2011

2011-02-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

So the cat is out of the bag!
Well, we said this year would be big, now we have a plan and sure enough, it's going to be big. We are planning on moving to Logan Utah! Yes I know, colder, worse winters, small Mormon community, no big town shopping, no friends or family close by, etc. etc. But look at the bright side, school will be within walking or biking distance for ALL of us, small Mormon community, long winter drives to work through the mountain, everything is within the free bus system, free rec center activities for USU attendees (and families) Education for everyone, and canyons, camping, parks galore! Housing is cheaper, roads are flatter (good for riding bikes and scooters). What an adventure this will be. Ken and I are excited to get our geek on and LEARN. What will we learn? Anything and everything. We are ready to be sponges and absorb as much as we can. We are ready to get back to basics and get an education, again! Life is about learning and growing, and when we are not doing these, we are not truly living! We have gotten to a place in our lives where we are not being fulfilled by all the playing and toys that we have let define us. These things do not push us to our limits and make us grow, so we are selling all our toys and dedicating the next two years to learning everything we can! Yes, Ken is going to school to get his MBA and I am hoping to earn an Associates degree. Meanwhile, Lexi will move on to junior high this fall (instead of Davis county where she would still be in elementary) and Zac will be in first grade. Ken will continue to work for Home Depot at the Ogden location. Yes his commute will be a little longer, but he says he is excited to do more driving in the mountains and snow! We are looking to move sometime before this coming Fall so that we can get settled before school starts. Not sure yet if we will sell our Farmington house, rent it out, or Lease to own. If you know of anyone in the market for one of these three options let us know!!! As for Logan, we thought it would be best to be close to school and it would help us focus more on our goals, education! So I think that about covers all our crazy plans, but feel free to call if you have more questions!
Much Love!
The Orgills

4-H service project

2011-01-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, last year Martin Luther King Jr Day was officially declared a national "Day of Service." In honor of the holiday, and since we had two days off school and needed something fun to occupy our time, we did a service project for our 4-H activity. Ashley and her kids have been allowing me to do 4-H with them. It is so much fun for me, especially since I have family ties with all the participants. Our 4-H club is focusing on dogs. We are hoping that we can incorporate dog shows for the older kids, and just a love and respect of dogs as well as better knowledge of dogs and all animals for the younger ones. Our service project was to make bandannas that say "Adopt Me" for the animal shelter to use for their dogs. After painting them we went to deliver them to the shelter and had a little tour of their facility. Zachary told me after leaving that he was so sad because the cats were so cute he didn't ever want to leave them. I think the cats were sad to see us go as well, I'm sure they do not get that much attention very often! Lexi dreamed of working with animals the whole way home and asked many questions pertaining to the subject. One of the things I am doing for the kids is trying to keep track of all the important things we do and learn. I have also been learning some photo shop tricks in a little class I am taking. I made the scrapbook pages for each of the kids to eventually be put in their 4-H log books. Hope you enjoy!

Sledding on Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

We had a fun week with lots of snow. Chance has gotten into quite the routine of pottying OUTSIDE! Hooray! He is a joy to have around, and even though it was cold, wet, and snowy outside, he could not resist checking out the sledding action once or twice. He enjoyed running down the hill, but was not at all interested in sledding. Instead he just participated by watching and showing off his amazing leaps and speed!
The kids on the other hand have been LOVING their new $5 sleds daddy bought for them. Our hill is just the right size to go down, and come back up without getting too exhausted. They can go for hours if we let them. I am just thankful I can participate by warming up hot chocolate and preparing a small snack for when they are finished! Ken on the other hand cannot resist a good sledding or two. He is a kid at heart. He wants to keep going almost as much as the kiddos do!

Chance

2010-10-09T22:56:00.003-06:00

We have been looking for a dog for some time now. Back in July or August we finally, after much consideration of what we wanted in a dog, found the perfect one.

chance at 5 months old

He is a purebred Italian Greyhound. Small, fast, loyal, comfort loving, obedient, and all the other qualities we wanted in a pet dog. His name is Chance. We have anticipated his arrival into our home now for 3 long months. The kids worked hard all summer to save their money so they could help pay for him. Ken and I made some modifications to our home. Now after all the time and preparation we finally have him. Here at last! He is perfect, we love to have him around and the kids do not want to do anything but admire, play with, sleep with, read books with, watch movies with, go places with, yes you named him, Chance. Basically, so long as Chance is involved we are all happy!

As you may know, this makes us an even number family again. We now have three cats, Tigger (boy), Kisses (girl), and Daisy (girl.) One dog, Chance (boy.) Two men, Ken and Zac, and two women Dawn and Lexi. So as you can see, we are four for four. Sounds like a good even number to me, I guess that means we are really done this time!!!

One of the fun things we got to do in preparation for Chance is to put "fake nails" on our girl cats. Neither of them have been declawed, and that was our other option. So, we decided to try out the fake nail thing, after all, Lexi and I like the pampering so why would't our girl cats like it too right? Ha! Kisses immediately tried to gnaw them off, only after Daisy let her know she could no longer boss her around. Then, Daisy was humbled when we turned around and did the same thing for her. I thought it might slow down the mouse hunt, but to my dismay, they still like to bring me their offerings. Kisses even brought home a pet snake one afternoon! Lexi thinks it is pretty cool to put colored nails on her kitties, and I think it is a less cruel thing than having their nail ripped out and their only defense outdoors completely taken from them. They won't let us dress them up in clothes after all, or for that matter even collars, so this is the next best thing. Lexi is amazing with all the animals. She has this deep love for all living beings and it really shines with her pets. She is considering entering in the Junior Showmanship shows with Chance, but we will have to take that one step at a time. It is a completely foreign language to me, which I am slowly picking up on with the help of our new dog and his previous caregiver. Lexi will need some training to prepare for such and event and obviously I am not the one to do it!

Another fun thing we did was put up a chain link fence in our back yard. This will act as Chance's safe house for potty and short breaks outside. Ken and I have never had any knowledge or experience in this field, but after this, we feel like pro's. We decided to rent an auger and a cement mixer for the occasion. Zac of course loved to help with the drilling for the post holes. Because we have so many trees in our yard we felt we needed to have some heavy duty machinery to do the majority of the manual labor. I guarantee it would not have gotten done otherwise. Even with all four of us leaning with all our might as it drilled down through the roots ken still had to get out his chain saw and saw off some of the bigger roots to get it to go. There were of course a few mistakes, and learning opportunities along the way, but in the end we feel we made a pretty swell little dog run. We even put up lattice under the deck, partly for Chance's safety and partly for aesthetics. In addition, we planted some new grass and put in some new sprinklers. The sprinkler lines that were there before had been broken somewhere along the way with all the growing roots around them so Ken had to dig them out and install new lines and heads to make it work. At the beginning of the summer we thought Ken's work bench would be the only major project we did this year to improve our house. Ha, were we wrong! Ken was happy to get to use his tools again. Although he always complains a bit during the project, it brings such a sense of accomplishment afterwards that he always goes back for more! I enjoy being his busty helper to hand him the tools and try to stay one step ahead of him as far as what he will need next. I try to do some of the manual labor sometimes, but after a few seconds of frustration he always steps in and does the "mans" work. Lucky me!!!

New sprinkler line

Ken tilling before we plant the grass seed

Filling in the gaps...

Ken and Zac digging holes

All lined out, ready for cement!

The hole, 2 feet deep through rocks, roots and dirt.

All done, time for BBQ!

Front gate

Lattice under deck

Back gate

So now after a lot of preparation on many levels, here we are, proud parents once again! We can hardly contain our excitement, just ask us and we'll tell you all about it, again and again if you let us!

chance at 8 months

his first visit to our home

chance at 10 months
first day at our house

One day living with us now,

He even lets us dress him up in silly costumes!

Our funny pets...

2010-08-17T20:59:00.000-06:00

So, as I was getting ready for the lake last week, I noticed that all three of my cats were posing under our little weeping willow tree out front. As you may know, I love this tree, Zachary loves this tree even more, and we got it from a start off Papa Duck's tree which he has grown from a start off the tree at the home Grandpa Kennard lived in before he died. Yes, it is a very special tree to us.
How odd, I thought, that all of them were staring right at the street like they were waiting for a picture. So, what do I do? Grab my camera of course!

After I took a couple shots, I realized there was something else in the picture as well. It may appear the cats were trying to be restful and take a late evening snooze under that young tree, but no, they were just playing! Kisses, being our little huntress, got up and moved closer to the edge of the grass. That is when I realized she had a friend.

At first I thought the friend was dead. I came in closer for a better look...

Yup, dead all right! Or is it?

Well, as you can see from this little video, clearly it WAS not dead!

Daisy sits confident that Kisses will bring her a prize,

And Tigger watches the action from the safety and comfort underneath the weeping willow.

What a life!

Echo with the Jensens

2010-08-06T23:27:00.000-06:00

So much fun to be had, so little time! We decided to hike up to the dam and check out the other side, along with our usual tubing, cliff jumping (off the front of our boat this time) and swimming galore! We also enjoyed the warmth from our camper as we got a sudden down poor, and immediately following some stunning rainbows. What a blast! Good food, better fun, and lots of smiles! Until next time...

Camping with the cousins

2010-07-08T23:46:00.001-06:00

When camping with our relatives, there is never a dull moment. Every one of my siblings was there, along with most of their families for at least some of the time. Out of 19 children we had at camp, this is most of the older ones. As you can see, Lexi and Zac LOVE their cousins. Too bad they don't all live closer! We had a great time with mostly only minor cuts and bruises to report. Ariel designed the t-shirts and the kids had fun wearing them on Monday. It was also fun for us adults to be able to see right where every child was at any given time with the bright orange glow! Brilliant, simply brilliant! We had free reign over all three group sites up at Tanner's Flat for most of the trip. There was a stream (not too scary or dangerous) a volleyball court (or rather huge sandbox for the kids to play in) an amphitheater, and many hiking and exploring opportunities to be had. Lexi and Zac came around camp only to fill their tummies, and sleep. Other than that we had to hunt them down to make sure they were having as much fun as they possibly could. Oh, and they were having fun! We brought our 2 bikes and my trike which were all only unoccupied during meals and bed time. And Ken thought that thing wouldn't get used!!! Even Nan spent almost a full day on it. It is expandable to fit just about any size. I am happy to know it was a good investment, as was our travel trailer. We had so much fun and thanks to the largeness of the trailer, we were stuck right in the middle of everything so as not to miss a second of the party. Thanks to Emily planning her baby blessing for Tommy right at the tail end of Elisse's visit, we get to host her for a night or two coming up soon. Another party for the Orgill's! It is so much fun to have her here. Lexi and Zac adore her kids, and I need to find a way to get Theo to open up to me. Right now he avoids me at all cost (unless I have my dog game going on my phone. It is always a winner with the little ones!)

We had crafts, and games, and hikes and food GALORE! The only thing that was missing was the Southam's (and a few Husbands who had other obligations! Work, I tell you, it is over rated!!!) We had so much fun we decided this should be an annual camping reunion. This is technically our first, but we also had a 4-H camp last year that might as well have been a family reunion since we were over half of the attendees! Thanks to Ashley for getting this ball rolling, we all had more fun than we imagined and came away with stories that will last forever!

Puppies, oh my!

2010-06-25T12:05:00.000-06:00

Five years ago we or so we bought a little dog for Lexi. His name was Toto. She loved him to death, and he loved her all the way to her poopy diapers (literally!) When I was pregnant with Zachary, we decided it would be too much for me to handle a dog and a new baby, especially with Toto's interest in diapers. So we sold Toto to a loving family we found on KSL. They had another much older dog, and a young girl about Lexi's age who is down syndrome and needed a fun energetic companion. We promised Lexi we would keep in touch with Toto, but failed in our promise. Lexi has never let us live that down. She misses Tot immensely and reminds us of him frequently. Now that Zac is getting ready for kindergarten, Ken and I are ready to take on the challenge once again of owning a dog. So, we made a deal with the kids that if they could earn half the money it would cost for a purebred dog (we are thinking of an Italian Greyhound) then we would pay the other half. Of course, we were thinking it could take years for them to save that much, since they both love to spend their money on instantly gratifying junk. Much to our dismay, they have almost got it covered. Lexi has got a plan and is working feverishly to make it happen. Well, I guess if it means that much to them we can not say no. I expect we will be a dog owner by the end of the summer, if not sooner. Thanks to everyone who contributed money to Lexi for her birthday! She has been putting every dollar she earns in the bank and making promises of helping pay for dog food and vet visits. She is determined to make it happen. We are so proud of Lexi and Zac for making a goal and sticking to it. It is amazing what you can do when you really want something! We'll be sure to post LOTS of pictures when the new arrival gets here.

Sunset in Farmington

2010-06-11T22:55:00.002-06:00

We love watching the sun go down as we skip back and forth between our pool, trampoline and hot tub. Yesterday i threw away all our old broken sandy squirt guns and bought the kids new ones. They have been loving them. Most of all, they just love being able to hang out with mom and dad in their favorite place, the water!

Friends from the past

2010-05-01T01:09:00.000-06:00

I had the most wonderful visit with my good friend Jen recently. She came to visit after so many years. The last time I saw her was a couple years ago when Ken and I went to her wedding in California. Before that, it had been several years. She and I have an amazing relationship. it is like we are soul sisters, even though we talk seldom, we are somhow always connected through our thoughts and feelings. I met her in Turnabout many years ago. She was my first real friend there. We shared the same counselor and many emotional moments. Now we share little, yet when we are together, it's like we never skipped a beat. It was so good to see her and get to know Barney. They are truly made for each other and I am so happy for her.

Barney and Ken connected immediately. Barney loves music, was in a band, and much more that is similar to Ken. This is a photo of the two of them singing karaoke into screwdrivers while listening to some good old fashioned 80's music! Good times!

Visiting Ken for lunch at the Union Grill

2010-04-28T10:38:00.001-06:00

We went to see Ken out of the blue. He was so happy to see us, he decided to take us somewhere special for lunch. The Union Grill. Zachy was so excited to see all the trains he could hardly eat lunch. When we finished eating, we went and explored all the old trains, inside and out. The kids had so much fun finding all the cool little hiding places and old broken down engines. What a good, unexpected surprise for us all! Thanks Daddy Ken for such a fun lunch outing.

Ken's Dream Workbench

2010-04-11T10:53:00.142-06:00

Ken has been dreaming of the perfect work bench since we moved in to this house. He has threatened to do it every summer. At first I did not see his vision, it just seemed like a waste of time and money. I mean, what purpose would it really serve? Everything he wanted to do he could do right from the perfectly functional workbench we already had. After all, some people don't even have a workbench and they do just fine.
Well, it occurred to me that maybe Ken would love it as much as I would love a new kitchen, or sewing/craft room. It might even inspire him to build and fix and make more really cool things for and around our house. If nothing else, it would add value to our house, and give Ken something to spin his wheels on. Ken is the type of person that LOVES to create with his hands, and always has to have something to keep him busy. Although he sometimes grumbles about the work around the yard and house, he always ends up with pride and extra knowledge he gained from the project. Well, with his love for brewing beer to perfection, and the need to expand from a small setup to one that was more suited for his needs, we decided it was time for his "dream workbench" to come to fruition.

First Ken and Zachary ripped, hammered, and smashed out the old workbench. Although it was fine, it seemed quite archaic compared to what ken had sketched up for the new work bench. The old one faced the wall on one side of the garage. The new one wraps around 3 walls with the garage window in the center of his main counter top. It was fun to take down the already half falling apart work bench. Zac loved the demolition, and I could tell Ken liked it too! Finally, his dream was coming to life. There was no turning back now...
With the old set up, we had boxes of tools everywhere. We could never find what we were looking for because it was hidden in some drawer or box somewhere. Granted we had many tool boxes for particular types of tools (electrical, plumbing, recreational, etc.,) but still, things were always missing or not where they "belonged."

Ken was so excited after ripping down the old, that he immediately filled our garage with all the new products he intended to use for the new work bench. When I first saw it all, I was worried we would never use our garage for cars again. He purchased all unfinished drawers and cabinets, unfinished hard wood flooring for the counter top, three large sheets of peg board for the walls, plywood, nails, screws, tools, shelving, faucets and an industrial sink, etc. I could not believe he actually thought he could do ALL that by himself. Install cabinets, add plumbing for his sink, rewire electrical for more outlets and lighting, lay flooring on his counter-top, and so much more. What was I thinking? Of course he could, and did! Much of this was new to him, but that didn't slow him dawn or intimidate him at all. Or if it did, he never let on. Luckily he has many acquaintances with many skills and all willing to give free advice, and even help.
It took him about 1 month of working every spare minute he had off from work, but he did it. He had a couple friends help with some of the work, even the kids chipped in where they could (and when he would let them!) Every day something new was finished and he would sit and admire his hard work before heading to bed, already dreaming of what he would accomplish tomorrow. For about a month we saw very little of anyone, but it has already been well worth the sacrifice. From setting the counters, to laying the hardwood flooring for the counter, to painting the pegboard, and staining the unfinished wood with 20 coats of stain, Ken did it all. I always say he is amazing, but this is truly more than I had envisioned and he made it with his own two hands! Yes, we now have a more updated and beautiful garage and workbench, than our kitchen. Ken did however promise he would do even better on our kitchen when we are ready to do that. My wheels are already turning with ideas!!!

Washington DC

2010-03-25T17:53:00.000-06:00

So, my computer is messed up and I need to send it in to get repaired. However, we have been doing so many fun things lately, I cannot help but share, just a little! You will all have to wait for Pictures on our last trip until my computer comes back and I can really sit down and go through them all. For now, here is a couple of Lexi and Ken in Washington DC. Ken took Lexi on his trip he won from his work. They are being treated like royalty for a couple of days with all expenses paid! It was really hard for me not to tag along, but I decided they needed the daddy daughter bonding so I let them go alone! Lexi calls me frequently to update me on all their adventures. She sounds so grown up talking to her like that. I guess she is almost in her double digits!

This is Ken and Lexi standing outside the front of the White House.

Ken promised to take her to Sushi (they both love it) so here they are!

Can't wait to hear all their details and see all their pictures. I'm sure it will be a memory Lexi will never forget!

Ken's Birthday at the Cabin

2010-02-04T23:41:00.011-07:00

Ken and I have always had a wonderful time up at Papa Duck's cabin. It is a place we can go to re-connect with each other. It is a place we find brings out the best in us and distracts us, even if temporarily, from this modern fast paced world. Our favorite thing to do there, besides hang out, watch movies, and play family games, is to go sledding. With the help of our 4-wheeler we are able to make many runs from the top of the road down to the gate. We like to race each other, and as the kids get more and more daring, we try to catch a little air! This year we figured out how to do 360's on our sled we brought from home. We also like testing out all the sledds we find at the cabin to see which one is faster. Ulimately we end up sticking to the toboggan (which is harder to stear, but holds more people, and our home sled. Here are a few photos of our adventures...

Cats!

2009-12-14T19:30:00.004-07:00

Many of you may know we have three cats. One is about 10 years old, the other two are about 2 years old. the younger ones are sisters. We took them both so that our kids would both have "their own" cats. Besides, it seemed so cruel to separate the runt from her bigger sister. Turns out the runt, Kisses, is the one always catching the mice to share with Daisy and Tigger, and warding off all the other neighborhood cats. I guess Daisy, the older of the two, would have been up a creek without Kisses! Tigger is a much nicer cat since the younger ones came along to make her soften up. He didn't like them much at first, but I think now really enjoys their company.

Kisses was named after her endearing way of kissing and cuddling everyone who will let her. She has been a cuddly little thing right from the beginning. She is not shy at all and sometimes a little too friendly! Although Zachy gave kisses her name, I think the current status is that Kisses belongs to Lexi and Daisy belongs to Zac. This changes frequently. Lexi is very influential over her brother when she decides she wants something!

Last night, as we were getting ready to go to Ken's store Christmas party, Lexi was playing Poptropica on the computer and Zac was getting bored watching. So he started playing with Daisy. He loves the cats SO much. Sometimes too much! Last night he loved her a little too much! She is sometimes a little feisty when he hugs her real tight, or pets her real hard, or locks her is strange places like under the covers or in the laundry basket etc. Usually she will make this horrible meow sound, or let him know she's serious by kneading him with her claws. There have been a few Small scratches, but nothing real serious. Last night however, I think she was entirely FED UP!

Zac, the day after the cat attack!

I was not in the room, but Lexi made sure I knew immediately. (I think Zac was in too much shock at first to make any noise.) I heard Lexi say "Mom, come quick, Zac is bleeding really bad!" What a horrifying thing to hear. I could tell from her voice that it was no joke. I ran in to the room and at the sight of me, Zachy lost his cool. It was a bloody murder screaming fest for about 20 minutes. Lexi finally calmed him down enough to let me clean it out by telling him that if I do not do it, the doctor will have to and they are much meaner than me. Zac consented to clean it himself, then after he realized it didn't hurt, he let me help. What a mess! and trying to find band aids to cover it was also fun. In the end, we are thankful for our Bactine, pain relieving cleansing spray.

The old fashioned hydrogen peroxide would have never made it past the first swipe or drip!

We made it to the work party only 1 hour late after dropping the kids off at Grandma's. Thanks Mom for taking care of our injured babes!

All bandaged up!

Lexi's Spelling Bee

2009-12-08T11:53:00.003-07:00

Had so much fun today watching Lexi's Spelling Bee. She is an amazing, brilliant little woman! Here is a little snip it of her excellent progress. Out of 30 students, she was in the top ten of which most were 6Th graders. We are so proud of her achievements in everything she does.

Oompa's Visit

2009-08-26T23:24:00.017-06:00

We had so much fun last weekend with Oompa Ken. He got in Thursday night and took us all out to dinner. Afterwards we came back to our house and just talked. It was great to get caught up. On Friday morning, we headed up to Echo Lake. Lexi brought her friend Cassidy, and Zachary had his friend/cousin Daxtin. Lindee and Kadin also came with us. It was a very fun, relaxing day at the lake. Some of the kids rode on the tube, and others played on it while we were afloat out in the lake. It was so much fun and it ended way too soon, at least that's what the kiddo's thought! That night we had BBQ chicken and a fun evening of hanging out with Lindee and Dad.

Saturday morning we left as early as we could to get up to the Uncle Uncanny's Concert where Travis and Stephanie and kids were anxiously awaiting our arrival. They were so kind and generous with there personal living space. To accommodate our lack of wanting to be awake all night, they let us sleep in their already small cabin. We were so grateful to have the extra sound barrier from all the noise going on around us.

At the concert/festival, Zachary made a new friend. He also played and played with his cousin Ashton. It was so much fun to romp around the grounds like they owned the place. And if you didn't think they owned the place, for sure you would have that impression of Alyssa and Lexi. Alyssa had a whole booth set up to sell her goods. She "hired" Lexi to help. I think it was a lot of fun for them to have that much independence. (However, the attitudes afterwards were not as fun!) They even actually made enough money to buy a small souvenir or two.

The concert was excellent. They had many great artists play at the show all day long. My favorite by far was Karl Denson's Tiny Universe. He gave a whole new meaning to playing the flute (which has a huge personal impact on me because I played in Jr. High.)

Sunday morning we all went over to Dave and Sandy Orgill's to mingle and eat. Sandy made some delicious meatballs, and of course the famous baked mac and cheese. Mm mm mm good! They even served up pie and ice cream afterwards. It was delicious and over filling. It was really good to see them as well as Grandma and Grandpa Lundquist. Also, Mike was in town from CA.

What a fun packed full weekend that was. The only things missing were the people Dad left home, Carolyn, Eldon and Maya. We missed them all weekend and decided it is high time we get out there to see them. Hopefully that will be the next trip we take!

Thanks for all the fun Dad!

AirVenture in Oshkosh

2009-08-07T20:26:00.028-06:00

Our journey began in Salt Lake City on July 29Th at 10:00 pm when we arrived at the SLC airport to check in for our flight. Zachary was already tired and had fallen asleep on the way to the airport. I was also tired, but mostly excited and nervous about how we would deal with the next day only having had 4 hours of sleep. Of course, we were both so excited, it would not be hard to stay awake.After our flight from Salt Lake to New York got in the air, they passed out these wonderful little sleep packs. Zachary (who is used to seeing his sister with her cute pink frilly eye masks) was excited to have a more manly version. He put it right on and was asleep in no time. He ended up wearing it most of the night. We had a full flight, but were lucky to be sleeping next to a very nice military man who was also flying standby. He shared with me how he has a child on the way, and was on his way home.

He was very kind when Zac repeatedly kicked him, until the last time when he did it really hard. Thankfully that was about the time we needed to wake up anyway.

We arrived in New York about 5:30 am Eastern time. (that means 3:30 am our time) We had to go out of security, re-check in and then back to security to catch our flight. Because we were on a special chartered flight for this event, they required us to go to a specific gate to check in. I was hoping we wouldn't have to go through the pain of security again, but I guess you win some you lose some huh! I took advantage of the 2 hours we had until our flight was scheduled to depart and went and primped myself. -Zachary told me after we got back home that next time he would only go with me if I left all my make-up at home. Apparently it embarrasses him!- While we were waiting for our flight, they had a whole buffet of yummy food for us to eat. It was great! The energy and excitement of everyone around us was overwhelming and contagious. We were seated on the flight next to one of the other winners from Salt Lake, (there were 3 from salt lake out of the 20 winners.) Her name is Dorothy Chandler. She was such a sweetie, she related with us on our flight here, from the screaming kids to the lack of sleep. It was great to have someone to talk to and relate with. The whole flight was like none I have ever been on before. Everyone was up and about, hobnobbing with each other during the entire flight. As for us, Zachary took a much needed nap, and Dorothy and I enjoyed each other's company.We had our CEO, Dave Barger, And two others on board. There was the CEO from Lufthansa, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, and the CEO from Aer Lingus, Christoph Mueller. Along with all the big wigs, their staff, and the 20 prize winners, there were also representatives from our other partners like Hertz, Cape Air, and I believe Amex and Hotels.com. They did a little introduction during the flight as to who was there, then Dave thanked everyone for being a part of it all. They read off a few of the more inspirational entries for the prize seats, and then proceeded to give away a bunch of tickets for all the different airlines represented on the flight. It was an awesome flight, so different than anything I have ever experienced. They also gave us these collector hats from JetBlue with EAA AirVenture on the side.

As we approached our destination, Zachary sat looking with anticipation. He was so excited for the whole adventure.

This was the first view we had of the Venue. Fields and fields of airplanes. It was amazing flying in to that. Each of these airplanes was flown by its owner to attend the shows. A lot of them had tents set out next to the airplane (like we would set it out next to our car.) They came from all over the United States. Simply AMAZING!

We flew right in to the middle of it all and parked our car, I mean airplane, dead center. We were greeted by the the President of the EAA AirVenture, Tom Poberezny, who welcomed us all and shook all of our hands as we exited the plane. It was like we were celebrities. How fun!

While the in flight crew had to stay behind and show and answer questions about our Airbus 320 and JetBlue in general, the rest of us got to venture off to see all there was to see.

They had arranged for us to bypass the line to look inside the Airbus 380 double-decker in test mode. It was amazing to see all the wires and everything that goes in to making it luxurious for us. They had it ripped out to the core so anything that needed tweaking would be easily accessed. It was the first time I have been on a double-decker plane, and the first time ever on a plane in test mode. Very exciting and interesting! To the right, you see the A380, on the left is our JetBlue A320 Beta Blue.

This is a picture of our friends Dorothy and Clint Chandler, shaking hands with Dave Barger.

This is a comparison of our A320 aircraft as well as the A380, to the rest of the smaller planes on display.

Shortly after we arrived, we heard these airplanes flying overhead. Everyone around us stopped to watch as this perfect formation passed overhead.

Not too long after that, another airplane spelled out EAA over head with smoke. It was awesome to hear Zachy spot it first as we were in line to test out a remote control robot. He said, "look mom, it a letter in Lexi's name" Sure enough, it was!

After we got our feel of the KidVenture area, and all the interactive things they had there, as well as all the airplane type souvenirs we could carry, we headed back to the main area near the water tower to find a place to watch the airshow. I expected a fireworks type show, with one great thing after another. Although they did start it off with some fire explosions and huge smoke clouds, it was much more slow going than I anticipated. they did however have one great thing after another. Like I said, it started with a huge fire explosion. From where we were sitting, all you could see was huge black smoke clouds.

One of my favorite things was when out of nowhere we noticed some parachutes coming down out of the sky. Each of them had a different flag hanging from their foot (or at least that's what it looked like to me.) It was so beautiful to watch as the wind blew the flag, and they turned it this way and that as it slowly came down out of the sky. I'd have to say, this was one of my favorites.

Liberty Parachute Team

One of Zachary's favorites was this enormous helicopter which flew around and dropped mass amounts of water. He thought that was pretty darn cool.

Both Zachary and I agreed on the pirate act to be very fun and probably our ultimate combined favorite. It was so amazing to see this plane come out with someone waiving to us from atop the wings. And then it flew up in to the air and did somersaults, and upside down tricks and all sorts of crazy amazing things, I had never even imagined to be possible. The whole time having someone doing aerobatic tricks on top of its wings. WOW! That's about the best way to describe it.

We did not see the ending of the show, our flight took off and we were actually happy to be going somewhere, anywhere where we could sleep. And did we sleep! We slept in until 11:00 am the next morning. But that's a story for another day!

4-H Camp

2009-07-22T20:48:00.011-06:00

This week we attended a 4-H camp. It was so much fun. I think the best part was that we had so many cousins to play with. None of us are officially involved in the organization, but we feel free to attend all of their great activities! They had organized hiking, games, and other activities, as well as free time to play, explore, and create memories to last a lifetime. What a blast! I had a wonderful time watching the kids have so much fun, and spending time with my sisters. Nathan even came up during the evenings and on Tuesday evening the rest of the husbands joined us for the show.

Yes, the show, that's what I said! They somehow convinced this really great magician to come and give us our own private show. I think there were maybe 75-100 people at our camp, 20+ of which were our own "Kennard Family Dragons," that's our 'club' name we made up. Because we were so much of the group, we were lucky to have at least one participant in most of the tricks the magician needed help with. I tried to capture the magic the best I could in these videos. Check it out on my facebook.

They took us to Silver Lake the second day for a walk around the lake. It is so beautiful there. I forgot how many wonderful places there are to explore up that canyon. Silver Lake is the lake my mother went in to labor with me, so it had a little extra meaning for me. It was so fun to see all the beautiful flowers and the Moose was definitely my favorite part. After the hike, we went across the street for games. We did hula hoops, sidewalk chalk, Frisbee, and other fun games. After that we went back to camp for lunch and some Geo caching. I organized a small waterballoon fight with our kids which was nice and refreshing! I think the kids had fun ganging up on me, but I got my sweet revenge when I remembered I had a water gun in my trunk!

After we were all packed up and ready to go, everyone chickened out for the hike to donut falls, except for Zac, Crispin Lexi and myself. We had a quick and beautiful hike and then turned right around to come home where they all fell asleep in the car.

By the time we got home, I was so wiped out all I could do was lounge around the house. I was grateful to have no obligations or plans for the rest of the evening. Now, I am getting ready for the next great adventure. This time to Oshkosh, WI to see the air venture show. I think I am finally rested enough to think about that!

Woodpecker's home

2009-07-15T18:13:00.006-06:00

So, last year we had a family of woodpecker's make a home in one of our trees. We enjoyed watching them come and go, and feed their young. We had hoped they would come back this year, but I'm sure our cat's scared them off. We would always catch the cats hanging around the base of that tree.

Our tree dried out and died over the last few years, so this year we decided to make good use of it for our new fire pit. I had Ken save the portion that the woodpecker's had built their home out of and we took it to the Utah house in Kaysville in hopes that they could make some good use of it. Here is the photo of the nest, and the birds we shared our space with for a brief moment in time. Also, I am including a photo of our fire pit we dug out in our back yard. Hope you enjoy!

Never say NEVER!

2009-07-14T15:46:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone, I am so excited I had to spread the news. I entered this contest that JetBlue was having, as I enter just about every contest they have! This one in particular I had to write a 50 word or less paragraph about why they should pick me. It went something like this: I have a four year old son who has been fascinated by aviation since he was born. It would be a dream come true if I could take him to this event. I laughed as I pushed the send button, thinking, yeah right, that'll never happen. Well, imagine my surprise and shock when I received a call yesterday to inform me that I was one of 18 winners and was I still interested? Yeah! Duh! Of course I am still interested. They are giving me confirmed seats to and from NY, chartering a flight for the 40 or so winners and guests directly in to OshKosh, WI plus tickets to the Air Venture event, and giving us a nights hotel in NY. I love freebies! Especially when they include some grand adventure that I would otherwise never have. Not sure Zachary fully appreciates this yet, but I am certain that it will be something he will never forget and he'll talk about it for years to come. Lexi is very jealous and tells me it's not fair! So sorry Lexi, life is not fair!

This reminds me of Zachary's first time at Lagoon, when he won an enormous stuffed dog from tossing a quarter and having it land on top of the glass jar. Practically impossible to do, but he did it. He is already proving to be a lucky little guy. I hope his faith and belief in all things good stays with him his whole life long. He is such a sweetheart!

I will be sure to post pictures and details after the event.

Owning a home!

2009-07-05T16:06:00.010-06:00

We are constantly being reminded of the joy of owning our own home. I hate it when ken is pouring out his blood and sweat to get yet another leaking sprinkler fixed after another 12 hr work day. He makes me feel so lousy, and at the same time, it motivates me to get off my butt! Already this summer we have done many projects around our house. Just when we think we will have a break for a bit, something else comes up that seems like it just can't wait any longer. Today, while ken juggles his store manager weekend captainship, and the kids begging to play with him, he is off to home depot to purchase more sprinkler parts. We have slowly been getting a larger and larger swamp in our front yard. Ken dug it out to where he thought it would be coming from, yet, no leak. He decided to tackle it again today, after his success with the back sprinkler, nothing could be any worse! So, digging down a foot and a half to the next set of pipes, he discovered one of the problems. Digging along the rusted, old, jimmy rigged, broken pipes. He discovered more. Off to Home Depot again! As if he doesn't get enough of that place! Well, the good thing is, after this is done, he can say he has replaced just about every pipe or sprinkler in our yard since we've been here. OK, maybe that's not such a good thing. But now he knows it is a quality job anyway!
Besides sprinklers, I have been trying to assist him in whatever way I can with... We have been busy this year, and can't wait for a vacation!!! Here are some of the projects we've tackled.

The deck remodel (we took out the railing and added some steps, it really opened our yard up nicely,) and of course you can't forget, we added a new hot tub!

The steps to the lower level of our yard (we used to have a dirt hill with very old, falling apart wood seperated sorta steps with rusty nails poking out everywhere.)

Cutting down dead trees, and of course the usual, weeding, lawn mowing, palnting and taking care of flowers, etc.

Digging out dead roots to make a fire pit on our upper level for year round enjoyment.

Fun with cousins

2009-06-28T21:22:00.013-06:00

So we have our cousins, Ben, Isaac, and Isabelle, in town from Wisconsin. Earl and Sariah took there family out there to go to dental school. Another year or two at least, and chances are they'll stay out of state for a while. We are trying to make sure we get as much time as possible with them before they go back home. This week already we have had a Birthday party for Grandpa John, a day at Lagoon, and a Parade we all got to ride in. After the parade we decided to keep it going and enjoy each other's company at our house while swimming and eating. What fun it is to have family around. We love you guys! Hope you enjoy some of these photos, I tried to capture as much of the fun as I could! However I am only adding my favorites.

Maple Grove

2009-06-17T09:50:00.011-06:00

2009-06-01T10:12:00.015-06:00

This was our first weekend out on the lake. Ken could not wait any longer. We have had our boat out and ready for at least a month now. Frankly, I am surprised he waited this long. Lexi was a little apprehensive when she heard there might be thunder storms. We had some pretty nasty ones in Lake Powell the last couple years. We took our boat out for about 1/2 hour the first day before we got wind/rain/thundered in. Thank goodness for the boat and its sound protection from the elements. This storm would not stop us from having fun! After it rolled over, she admitted that she was glad to be camping and happy we made her go, even though she thought she wouldn't have any fun. In fact, I think she said it was the "best camping trip ever!"

Zachy did not hesitate to get marshmallows, dirt and everything else all over his face as soon as we got there. He is a boy all the way. Any chance he has to make a mess he takes full advantage.

We enjoyed MANY marshmallows and S'mores this weekend. Lexi especially enjoyed them (a whole bag of them to herself!) Zachy liked it, but claims he doesn't like graham crackers, and especially doesn't like the sticky mess. That's why Lexi had to eat his share! She would have had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we would have allowed her to!

Some of Zachy's favorite things do are throw things. Anything really! He especially enjoys playing toss with Daddy and throwing rocks into the lake.

Ken also enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake. After seeing how much fun Zachy was having, he had to make sure everyone knew who the real "man of the family" is. Showing off his muscles, he began throwing even bigger rocks than Zac, just to prove his manhood!!!

Don't worry ken, we will always know you are the best, the biggest, and the strongest man around!

Here is yet another reason why I love my husband. There is nothing better than camping with the sweet sound of the guitar. Ken has been teaching himself some new songs, and sometimes I have the pleasure of waking up to the beautiful music in the morning. He is such an amazing person, with so much ambition and dedication. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, Lover, and friend. Thanks for all you do Ken!

Lexi and Zach both LOVE books. I love it that they love books! they enjoy reading them, or being read to. Our goal for the summer is to help Zachy start reading. I'm in for a big challenge!!! I would actually settle for him knowing, and recognizing his whole alphabet.

Heather and Greg came up to enjoy the warm weather with us. We all had big ambitions of wake boarding and tubing. But when it came down to it, the water was a huge deterrent. After much consideration and a little hesitation, we were able to get Zac on the tube with me. He asked me first, will it tip over? Will it go fast? Does Daddy want it to tip over? Do you want it to tip over? Of course my answer to all of these was "No!" He almost chickened out, but I picked him up and did it anyway. We went two times, the first was "a little bit fun" but the second time was too bumpy and splashy, so it wasn't any fun. The good news is, he didn't even fall off! He told me later, he doesn't want to fall off because he is not sure he could get back on it. I tried to assure him I would help him if he did, but it was no good. He still doesn't want to fall off! Hopefully by the end of the season, he will have the courage to want to fall off...

Much Love!

My Font

2009-05-27T18:36:00.005-06:00

So, I just did something really fun. I sent in my handwriting to www.bitsofivory.com to have them make me my very own font. What do you think? Pretty fun huh! Look what else she made for me, my very own doodles! Check ‘em out…

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Smile...

2009-04-18T19:17:00.001-06:00

For all your happiness comes from within!

~Dawn Orgill~
"Enjoy the little things for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

Easter Cuties

2009-04-13T16:44:00.009-06:00

Easter Egg Hunts.

1, 2, 3 ...

Wow! What a fun Easter! We were so spoiled with two Easter egg hunts (plus one for Lexi's birthday) and lots of good food and company. The best part for me was the people we saw. We had fun at Grandma Suzi's on Saturday. Just about everyone who is local was there. I think 12 kids, and about the same adults. We had some delicious food, a fun no stress Easter egg hunt, lots of time to play (even if Zachy tries to tell you otherwise,) and I even learned something new, how to knit a lace shawl. I'm sure my family is excited about that one! Thanks Chris, you're the best!!! And thanks Mom and Dad for hosting such a great party, and getting us all together. It's always fun, and I guess I agree with Zachy, it never seems like long enough. I think that's because it is such a treat, we wish it could last forever!

On Sunday we took the kids over to Grandma Vickie's and Grandpa Earl's. Grandma made a delicious ham and lots of other food. It was Divine as always! We had a small Easter egg hunt with their neighbors kids, played for hours, and much more! Grandma was out of town for Lexi's birthday so she made her another cake. She also spoiled her rotten with some souvenirs from Disney World and other birthday gifts. Thanks Grandma, Lexi had so much fun! She kept asking me during the egg hunt if it was time yet to open presents. Then, after the hunt when we all wanted to stay outside and play, Lexi could barely hold in her excitement. Somehow she managed to keep it all contained until the neighbors went home. Boy did she light up when it was finally time!

At the end of the day, Zachy came up with his most original phrase, "I didn't have enough fun!" He wanted it to keep on going all night long. He searched all the way behind the barn and everywhere he could think of. But to his dismay, no more eggs! Well, until next Easter...

2009-03-24T08:57:00.020-06:00

We had so much fun last week with all the Kennard/Southam family in town. It was one party after another. First, Ashley hosted a Birthday party for Emily/game night party. Although there were 30+ people there, this was only about half the family. It was great fun. We had games, food, and tons of fun!

That night, Sarah and Anna Davis came to our house to spend the next two nights with us. (Thanks Elisse and Garry for letting them come!)

The next day was Monday, Breanne's birthday.

Nan invited us to go swimming at the Bountiful Recreation Center. It was way so much fun. Zachy even got brave enough this time to go down the big slide. Once he did it, he didn't want to stop!

We went home and made Skookie pizza (our new favorite family night dinner, thanks Jimmy and Whitney!) Our friend Bryton came and had a sleep over with us. We stayed up late and did crafts, watched movies, and played until we could play no more! Lexi was all sorts of excited to look for Leprechauns the next day. Because of our guests and the excitement of St. Patrick's day, I let Lexi stay home from school. At our house every year, the leprechauns sneak in and leave a little treat for the kids. I don't know how they get in here, since I make sure to lock all the doors, but somehow they always do. Sometimes we even find evidence (like foot prints, etc.) that they were here. Anna claims she saw one of them out of the corner of her eye. I am not sure of that, but it is exciting none the less. Lexi woke up at 6:00 am and wanted so bad to wake everyone else when she saw the trail of leprechaun dust the leprechauns had left, but I made her wait until 8:00 am for my own sanity!

Lexi, Zac, Sarah, Anna and Bryton all had fun with their new found treasures. I made some green french toast and eggs for breakfast. Bryton was very unsure of the green eggs, but ended up eating them after she saw everyone else doing it. That night we went to Ashley's again for pi day fun and games. This time it was a much smaller crowd, but still with just 4 families there were about 20 people, most of whom were kids. We played all sorts of mathematical games, ate some pot pie, and had some pie eating contests to celebrate. It was so much fun!

Wednesday was a little more mellow. We all (Emily's sister's and friends) got to help Emily prepare for the big day by getting pedicure's. It was so relaxing and fun, and we all felt so beautiful afterwards. Thanks Buzz for including us on that one!!!

Thursday was the BIG day for Emily and Adam. Lexi stayed home from school to help me babysit at Emily's wedding. She didn't want to be left out of any of the fun, especially since Emily is like one of her favorite aunts! After the wedding and a few pictures, we headed over to Papa Duck's to spend some time with Elisse and her family. She let me do all her girls' hair for the wedding. It was FUN! Lexi very rarely lets me do that so I eat it up any time I have a chance!

The Wedding reception was all sorts of fun and beautiful. Lexi's favorite part was most definitely the carriage ride that Emily and Adam had arranged for the guests while they changed their clothes. Lexi said she felt like she was famous. It was really cool. She apparently has wanted to do that her whole life!

After the wedding, all the out of townees hit the road for home. They are crazy to want to drive after the exhaustion they must have felt from all the festivities.

Ken came home from his Manager's meeting early Friday afternoon. It was so good to have him home and be able to relax with no specific agenda. Having him gone for 3 nights make mereally appreciate all he does for us. Even just his presence makes a world of difference in my stress level! I LOVE YOU KEN!

Although I do love me some parties, it is always good when they are over and I get to re-center myself.

2009-02-21T22:43:00.010-07:00

February 14, 2009

Valentine's Day at the Cabin

We brought along our friends, Launi, Kevin and Bryton Morris.

Kevin is so determined to have Launi learn and love snowboarding that he pulled her up the mountain. What dedication!!! Launi was reluctant about the whole thing, but I think she will learn to love it if for no other reason than to make her hubby happy. I decided that I should give it a go too, the first time I have ever even attempted snowboarding. It was fun! and I was sore after only 4-5 attempts at a very small hill!

I think Launi did not fair as well when it comes to being sore afterwards! This was one of the less painful looking crashes. But even so, she is still smiling =)

Bryton stuck to the sledding.

Her favorite was the green "Blade" sled. After riding in the blue sled (which is definitely faster) I realized she must like it because your bottom is warmer when on the soft padding of the green sled. Once she realized you go much faster when a grownup is with you, she was perfectly content going with me on any sled. Especially if it meant we would beat Lexi down the hill. She is very athletically inclined and very motivated by competition.

I definitely think Zac's favorite part of the vacation was the 4-wheeler. Ken was kind enough to let him push the gas most of the time, which sometimes meant he didn't release it in time not to get stuck in the snow. But Ken was a good sport about it all, even when we all begged him to take us for just one more run when all he wanted to do was take a nap. Thanks Babe!

I guess however, that maybe the whole thing was a joy to Zac. He begged me to skip his valentine's day party at preschool in order to go up to the "Cavin" early. In the end, I think he was happy that he stayed home for the party, but was not at all ready to go home on Sunday when we had to leave. His favorite thing to say when he loves some place is "I wish I lived here." Bryton said the first night that "this cavin is cool!" I totally agree with her. The coolest part about it is there are little ways of connecting to the outside world, and you are almost forced to do things together for entertainment. It seems like we all get so busy these days, we forget how much fun it is to play games and do the more simple things in life.

Like having snowball fights, or building snowmen.

Lexi was an all out daredevil this trip. She was trying to be the fastest on the sled, of course, no one can outrun me, I am the master sledder extraordinaire! She even tried Daddy's snowboard. She was determined to show me and Launi how easy it is. She did pretty darn good for having a board that is twice as long as she needs, bindings that don't adjust to her size, and many other factors stacked up against her. Ken was very excited that we all loved it and said that maybe someday he will take us with him after all! He has been quite hesitant due to my known terror of speed and especially the velocity of my scream.

Maybe with this new found daredevil spirit Lexi has, she will actually try some of the fun water sports available to her this year. I'm not getting my hopes up too high though.

2009-01-26T10:21:00.003-07:00

Grandma Suzi gave me the custest lettering which I have been debating whether I want to put it directly on my wall, or make a plaque for it. Well, I finally got my act together and completed the first of 7. It is hanging in my front room, and I am very proud of it!!!

Camping in January

2009-01-26T09:55:00.003-07:00

CIMG4205 1.psd
Originally uploaded by Orgill Love

Last weekend, we had the outdoor bug. Since the weather was not warm enough to do it outside, we decided to go camping in our front room. The kids thought it was so cool. This is all Ken. I would have never thought of setting up the tent in our front room, but Ken never lacks imagination. I'm just waiting for the day he sets up the swimming pool inside. Zachary has been begging us to set it up since we took it down, he can't wait for summer again. I think he asks us at least once a week when we can put the swimming pool back up. We are all anxious to have this weather go away.

2009-01-16T09:30:00.003-07:00

This is the “adorable” Theo and his beautiful mother Elisse.

The Herd

2009-01-14T13:32:00.014-07:00

On our last day in Texas the Davis Kids took us to ‘The Herd’ in McKinney TX. It was awesome. Zachary was certain the dinosaurs would get him if he got too close. Never had he seen a real moving, breathing, roaring dinosaur before. He was absolutely fascinated (and a bit scared!) His favorite Dinosaur was the one with really long sharp claws, but he wouldn’t get too close when I tried to take his picture with it. After all, it’s good to be cautious of these things, even if Mom says they are just pretend. Lexi really loved the one that spit streams of water (?) as you passed. They loved playing in the cat free sand pit and digging for bones (or whatever other treasures they could find!) It was nice to be outside with no jackets in 58 degree weather.

Elisse and Garry spoiled us Sunday with the most delicious roast, and then as if that weren’t enough, Garry made Chocolate Mousse from scratch. Ooo La La! It was delicious, topped with cream, fruit and nuts, mmmm! Elisse was kind enough to share her brand new babe “Theo” with me for small intervals, he is SO adorable!

Anna’s Journey Home

2009-01-13T22:28:00.017-07:00

On Friday afternoon we decided to go home a bit early so I could have a few more hours with my sister and her family. Also, Lexi and Anna really wanted to visit the American Girl Doll store. We left for New York at 9 pm and finally got to Dallas about 5 pm the following evening. (When flying standby, you’ve sometimes got to do thing a little screwy!) Because it was an overnight flight, the kids and I slept most of the way. When we got to Dallas, we went straight to the American Girl Doll store where Lexi and Anna oogled and googled over all the cool things to see and buy. Anna mostly loved the different books, and Lexi (as always) was obsessed with trying to find the perfect animal for her Bitty Baby and American Girl Dolls. Unfortunately they were out of the one she wanted. She ended up settling for the babysitter guide. She spent all day Sunday reading it and organizing it.

Lexi’s Bitty Baby travelled with us, just for the occasion!

Anna's first few days...

2009-01-13T21:29:00.004-07:00

The Jensen’s came over on the snowiest day of the week (my bad, sorry again Ash) to play with Anna and the kids. We had a blast, even though we didn’t end up sledding like we thought we would. Their visit inspired us to do so the following day however, and Anna built a couple snowmen, one of her, and one of Lexi. She even made hair for them.

The next day, the Kennard’s were gracious enough to let us come invade their home and make still motion pictures (I think that’s what they’re called) while they had the repair men over fixin’ stuff. Chris and Ashley and I were able to sit and talk, at least for a few minutes!

Anna Thursday

2009-01-13T21:19:00.007-07:00

Lexi told me on Wednesday, as she was getting ready for school that she didn’t want to go because

she could not stop thinking about what she and Anna would do when she got home and it was causing her to get in trouble. She would not hear what the teacher said so she’d have to ask her friend, and then she’d get in trouble for talking. She has never been a trouble maker at school. In fact, her teacher’s have always told me that she is one of the top students, always helpful and kind and such a good listener. Hopefully it won’t be hard for her to get back in her routine now that Anna is not here to distract her! I decided to let her stay home on Friday since we were leaving early the next day.

On Thursday, we took Anna to have lunch at Lexi’s school. It was not long enough of a visit, Anna felt jipped that they were not able to play with all of Lexi’s friends, and Lexi was very upset to have to go back to school. It is funny to see Lexi beg me to check her out, when normally she is begging me not to ever be late, miss a day of school or leave early.

Then Mom and Dad invited us over and made the most delicious food, of course Mom’s cooking is always delicious! Anna, Lexi and Zac were happy to play and play in grandma’s wonderful new house and playroom while Ken and Dad installed a light and Mom and I observed! It is always fun for them to go to Grandma Suzi’s and Papa Duck’s house, and always hard for them to leave!

Anna Arrives

2009-01-13T21:11:00.009-07:00

Anna

We had a blast having Anna visit for 6 days. We did all sorts of fun things, from making floam creations to visiting everyone we thought Anna would like to see. It was hard to go to

bed at night, and hard not to wake up at 6am every morning, but somehow we managed!

2009-01-05T01:27:00.001-07:00

Zachary{zoomer

Just testing out some fonts I just downloaded. How totally fun

If you want to know more

or download your own, go to:

http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=804&nb_ppp=50

Most are free

and there are instructions on the site under help.

Hope you have as much fun as I am!!!

Dawn

For all you who are near and dear to us,

2008-12-31T19:50:00.002-07:00

We wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

We send you our warmest greetings during this holiday season.

May the Love, Peace, and Joy of Christmas be yours always.

2008-12-20T22:53:00.003-07:00

I thought you all might enjoy this little video in true Kristi and Stephanie fashion.

Girls Night Out

2008-12-20T21:13:00.011-07:00

Ken's mom, bless her heart, set up this wonderful night out for all us girls. It is the second annual girl's trip, and was such a wonderful time. We stayed up late talking, then lounged around and went to breakfast. After Breakfast we went to see Twilight. What a good movie. Kristi and Lindee are both reading the books, and Mom has already read them. Kristi filled us in on all the good details the movie left out. It was a great time. Afterwards we headed down to take advantage of some kid free shopping in the valley. We were all quickly over it and headed home. Shopping is no fun when there are hoards of people everywhere and little money to go around, kids or no kids!

Some of the highlights of our trip:

Kristi and Stephanie singing at breakfast.

Mom's driving

The movie
Bath and Body complimentary shampoos

Lindee and her sense of humor
Staying up late!

Being Together!

I'm already looking forward to next year. Tanks for the fun Mom, I love you!

2008-12-14T22:35:00.002-07:00

Some of you might recognize this little cradle from 20 (or so!) years ago when Ashley and I were consumed with playing dolls all day long. Lexi now plays with it, and as you can see, she is not the only one who loves it. Kisses has been attached to Lexi from the beginning. She is always trying to bring Lexi prizes (like dead, larger than life grasshoppers, and birds, and mice and, well, you get the idea!) She also has figured out a way to jump from the ground to the top bunk just so she can sleep with Lexi at night. When Lexi puts her babies to bed, Kisses gets jealous and climbs in bed with the babies. Most of Lexi's babies are small stuffed animals. She's not real fond of the big animals, and until recently has not really cared for person dolls. We have given her opportunities to play with Barbies, but they always get ignored and thrown away. She is an animal lover through and through. She even told me once that she wasn't going to eat meat any more. I always just smile and say OK. I know she loves meat way too much to ever give it up. She will eat almost a whole steak by herself.
This picture was taken today after Lexi insisted I go get my camera. She was right, it was well worth the effort. We love having our cats. They will always be a part of our family. It started out with Tigger, given to us by Kristi and renamed to match Lexi's short obsession with Winnie the Pooh. Then we tried the dog thing. It totally overwhelmed both Ken and I and we decided to help Toto find a new home before the new baby(Zac) came to ours. Lexi still cries about the loss of her dog. She is especially mad that we never take her to see him. Truth of the matter is, we can't remember where the people live or we would. About 1 1/2 years ago, we had a neighbors cat find its way into our house. The kids had so much fun playing with it that I realized how lethargic and non-social Tigger is, and how much fun they would have with a new cat. I was hoping it would take away the need for Toto or a replacement for Toto. Unfortunately, they still bug us for a dog. When I went looking for a new cat, I ended up finding two. They were the last two of the litter and one was a runt. I felt like it would be cruel to separate them, and besides, the kids would love to both have their own cats. Ken only agreed to it because I told him we could get rid of one after they grew up a bit. (I really did have the intention of doing just that.) There is no way we could ever get rid of any of them though. They have become as important to the family as anything. Lexi and Zac enjoy feeding them and taking care of them. They also enjoy having someone smaller to torture, and trap. I love being a pet owner, and cats are so low maintenance. We have ours trained to potty outside, meow at the door when they want in or out, and they even have a distinct meow for when they are hungry. One of these days we might teach them to potty in the toilet so we don't have to let them out at all!

2008-12-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across some pics from last year of Zachy's makeshift Birthday Party. We kinda took over the family party for a breif moment and gave Zac a minute to shine. It is so great to have such a large family so that even unplanned celebrations seem like huge parties! Thanks everyone for participating. The bottom right photo of Zac is actually from this year. He's lovin' this Christmas stuff!!!

2008-12-06T22:16:00.008-07:00

Breakfast with Santa

We went to our community Breakfast with Santa this year to ring in the holiday season. Zachary was one of the lucky few who was able to speak to Santa twice. He was not at all scared (as Ken and I thought he might be) and quickly gave Santa his Christmas list. He has been watching me make things and buy things for other people and he is so worried Santa will forget him this Christmas. Little does he know, he's sure to be spoiled rotten as always! He has his mind set on a few very inexpensive items. That is going to make it so much easier on us parents! Lexi on the other hand has an interesting list. She wants her own room (which would mean I'd have to give up my office) and she wants her friend Amanda to move back. Unfortunately I think neither of those will happen for Christmas. Lexi is always telling me that it is not about what you get, but about what you give to other's that makes Christmas. Although she says that, I know she is anxious to see what she will have under the Christmas Tree on Christmas Morning (aren't we all?) She is such a sweat heart, and Zachary is following right along in her footsteps. I am so dang proud of them!

The Zoo!

2008-12-06T20:55:00.015-07:00

We had such a good time at the Zoo last week. I don't know if I will ever be able to visit without renting a motorized chair again. I felt like I had a legitimate excuse this time, now I need to think of some quick painless debilitating injury so I have an excuse next time! Any ideas?
I always see the chairs at Walmart and other such places, and wish I could justify jumping on one and taking it for a cruise. Well, with everyone going to the Zoo, and me not wanting to miss the party, I decided to go for it. You may think it was a bit humiliating when I had 12 kids hanging from my basket and seat. Or when the perfectly able folk passing by would stare, and stare , and stare, almost in discuss. After all, on the outside I don't look like someone who needs this sort of luxury. Well, believe me, on the inside I sure felt like I needed the extra help! And I would have never made it without the chair. (Oh, and thanks for lending me the pillow Grandma S... it was a God sent!)
That is one thing I have learned working in the airline industry, if someone claims they have a disability, you never question them. What may not be a disability to you, could very well be to someone else. And that is how I was able to do it without feeling ashamed and embarrassed. In fact, I felt so justified, I even made sure to play the good aunt role of letting every child (under the age of 18) who was with us and wanted to, take a turn driving. Only if I would have had one more day with Abe and Breanne, I know they would have enjoyed it also. It is good though that their parents teach them not to talk to strangers! Too bad I was still a stranger at this point. =(
I think they did finally warm up to me after staying the night. They were so excited when I asked them if they wanted to come help me make breakfast. They even hollared out "I do Aunt Emily." Thank goodness they only heard my voice and didn't see my face. If they had, we would have had no breakfast!!! Thanks for the great idea of spending the night Aaron and Nan. Zac thought it was the coolest thing ever, and you know Lexi, she'll jump on the sleepover train any old time, no matter who it is, it's always a party!

Here's a few pictures of our favorite animals. It was fun to see the animals actually moving around. Even the penguins were out swimming. Thanks for the inviting us Nan, you are full of great ideas!!! Love you guys!

2008-11-26T00:43:00.005-07:00

Bryton's Birthday was a hit. She was a little hoop shooting princess! And her mom and dad did a wonderful job of making the perfect day for her. Everyone was so generous and kind. Thanks for inviting us Launi! We Love You guys!!!

My amazing sister

2008-11-22T17:24:00.004-07:00

So you may know my sister Emily, I brag about her every chance I can. She is my only tie to any fame after all! You may also know her from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Any how, she has just finished her music video of the song inspired by the movie/book Twilight. Her song is titled "Colliding," and her band is named Petal the Band. I have set up some links to go to in my blog. If you have a minute, you should check it out. It gave me goose bumps the first few times I heard it and now I can't get it out of my head. It is absolutely fabulous. If you are interested in owning a copy, I believe you can purchase it on iTunes, or through her website. Check it Out, and let me know how much you loved it too! (I borrowed some of your pictures Emily, I hope that was ok!)

Launi's wedding

2008-11-21T20:10:00.004-07:00

Launi sent me these pic's from her wedding. The black and white is one of my favorites. Thanks Launi!

Halloween 2008

2008-11-16T03:47:00.005-07:00

Ok, so back up a bit...

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

That's better! I totally forgot to finish off Halloween with the latest and Greatest! Ken won best Costume at the Halloween party we went to. (Thanks Heather and Greg!) What they didn't know is...
...it isn't a costume! No really, I think this is part of his secret identity. He enjoyed it way to much. In fact he has used it now already on 3 different occasions (not all Halloween either). He also says it has really helped his employees to open up to him. He works out in West Valley, I think they feel like he fits in there better now that they know the real Ken!

Well anyway, here is a small slide show of our Halloween festivities and costumes. I'd have to say the things I enjoyed most about October were, picking up a new hobby (face painting,) Engh Gardens with Zac and Crispin (it was totally spontaneous, I love that stuff!), and watching the kids -especially Zac- get so excited for Halloween. At the first of the month, Zachy would ask every night before bed how much more until Halloween. When I would tell him it was still a long ways away, he would start crying, "no, I don't want it to be that long" he'd say. He picked out his different costumes and decided from the beginning when he'd wear them and if you asked him what he was going to be, he'd respond with a list of what he would wear and for what event. (This one is for my school, this one is for Halloween, and this one is for trick-or-treating.) He thought our party was Halloween, and the anticipation of everything was so great, I don't think he even realized what was going on. By about 10 houses in to trick-or-treating, he was done and just wanted to go play.

Christmas is coming

2008-11-10T09:48:00.004-07:00

So, I have been anxious to get started on Christmas early this year, so I could avoid some of the stress and anxiety... Of course, I had to wait until Halloween was over because I was too stressed out about our Halloween party. I am now ready and excited to get started. So, where do I start? Well, here is a link to the site I found last year after Christmas and thought I'd try out this year. It basically gives an organized 6 week planner for Christmas with things to do each week. I am a bit behind and have some catching up to do!!!
http://organizedchristmas.com/christmas-countdown

We have a little bit of an odd Christmas around here. Not only do we have all the hustle bustle of Christmas, but it also happens to be Zachy's Birthday. We have tried to celebrate Zachy's birthday on his half birthday, but it just seems so awkward. So this year I am looking for new ideas. Any suggestions? We generally try to make each persons birthday a big deal. All day we do things that person enjoys (as much as possible with everyone's schedule anyway!) Then, at dinner, we open presents and have birthday cake. So, on Zac's birthday, (Christmas) we will have to some how make time in between visiting all our parents, opening our own Christmas presents, and doing all the normal Christmas stuff, to make Zachy feel extra special and celebrate his birthday. I don't want him to ever feel like he is less important than anyone else, or that he got jipped for a birthday. I have always thought it was the coolest thing that he is born on my favorite holiday. He is very unique in that way. Right now, he doesn't seem to even mind, I hope he feels the same as he gets older.

2008-11-03T20:45:00.005-07:00

Pirate rendezvous at Engh Gardens in Sandy, UT

2008-10-31T15:47:00.005-06:00

Zachary's first ever Halloween Parade was a hit! They sang some songs to us that were so cute. After every song, Zac would look over to make sure we were watching, then give us a huge grin. He was very proud! Here are the songs he sang, hope you enjoy!

(Witches Song)

(Ghosts go up and down)

(Three Scary Ghosts)

Face painting

2008-10-31T14:08:00.010-06:00

Here's my little Zachy's (Grim Reaper's) 2nd costume this year. He was only going to have 2, but then Chris made him this wonderful multi-functional cape, now he's got 3. His others are Spider man, and a Race car Driver. More pic's to come soon!

So as you heard in my last post, I have a new hobby!!! Here are a few of my Favorites (at least that I have pictures of.) I went to Lexi's class party on Thursday and painted almost 20 faces. Some more intricate than others. It is great fun, and instantly creates a fun game for the kids. They are all of a sudden transformed into whatever I've painted. They have fun making believe, and creating fun stories about their new face.

Halloween

2008-10-28T09:26:00.001-06:00

So I have a tradition of having a Halloween party each year. This year we had so many kids we were only able to play 1 of the games before it was time to move on. I was quickly overwhelmed and left the chaos for Ashley and the other adults to deal with while I snuck downstairs and practiced my new found mommy hobby with the younger kids. Yes, like all Kennards, I have constantly got to have something new on my plate. Ashley pointed this out to me, that all Kennards have a few projects or hobbies they are working on, we are never satisfied with sticking to just one thing! Anyhow, if you are wondering what my new hobby is, it is painting faces. The kids love it and want me to do it every chance they get! I love it too!
Zachary was Spider Man for our party. He was so funny, he hid in the bedroom for the first 30 minutes (I think he was being shy and embarrassed because his costume wasn't all the way finished.) As soon as I got his face painted (like spider man of course) he was much more social. Then, half way through the party, he came to me and pleaded to have his paint washed off. I was confused, but helped him anyway. Then when we were done washing it off, he revealed why it was so important. Ken's friend Elias had been telling him that he was spider man and that he didn't know where Zachy went. (Zachy has a very big need for everyone to know who he is, "Zachy Orgill". He even makes me tell him "I love you too, Zachy Orgill" most of the time when he tells me he loves me. If I don't get it right, he corrects me.) Well, we immediately went out and saw Elias to let him know that Zachy was right there the whole time! He was perfectly fine after that.
Thanks to Chris, who "accidentally" made a grim reaper cape too small for Elijah so she kindly gave it to us and made a new one for Elijah, Zachy will probably dress up as the grim reaper for trick -or-treating. He loves his cape and wears it almost daily. In fact, every time he plays he wants to be the bad guy and as soon as Lexi says OK, he rushes to have me help him put on his grim reaper cape. It is so much fun!
I love Halloween, and am so grateful to everyone who helped make this years party a success. I couldn't have done it without you all! Thanks!

Zachy's Dad

2008-08-03T23:52:00.001-06:00

I just had the cutest conversation with Zachy as he was fighting going to sleep.
He said "Mom, am I going to be a dad?"
"yes" I said " but not for many years."
"But when am I going to be a dad?" he said
"Well, first you have to go to school." I told him
"Then am I going to turn in to a dad?" he asked
"No, you have to go to many years of school first. [pause] First you go to preschool, then to kindergarten, then first grade, then second grade, then third grade, then fourth grade, then fifth grade then sixth grade, then seventh grade, then eighth grade then ninth grade, then tenth grade, then eleventh grade, then twelfth grade, then college for many many years. Then you will find someone you love and get married and then you will turn in to a dad." I explained
"Oh." he said as he tried to process all those many things I told him.
I let him think about it for a moment and then I asked him, " do you want to be a dad?"
"yeah" he said
"Is it because you like your dad so much?" I inquired
"no" he said matter of factly
"oh," I asked him, quite astonished at his reply "why do you want to be a dad?"
"Because I love him so much!" He replied and then he rolled over and fell right to sleep.

More on eat love pray...

2008-08-03T09:33:00.000-06:00

"L'Amour Che move il sole e l' altre stelle..." (I hope I spelled that correctly!) This is a quote from the book speaking about GOD. Translated it means "the love that moves the sun and the other stars." What a beautiful description! LOVE is the general keynote here! ...I have nothing else to say about that, other than I liked the quote and believe in love.
In her book Elizabeth keeps a private journal, or notebook, that she uses in times of need to converse with herself. I especially liked this because it reminds me of those times in my own life that I felt I had no one to talk to. Or maybe it is not that I had no one, but rather, what I wanted to discuss was private and not necessarily something I needed to say to someone else, but wish I could say none-the-less. She discovers through this practice that she will always be there for herself with love, insight, empowerment, and encouragement. Sometimes we do not need the advise of other's, but the answer is within us if we only ask the question. She also realizes that she is her own friend. she says" in an unguarded moment, you recognize yourself as a friend." I find this to be true. We are our own friend, with our best interests in mind. Sometimes I forget that I know myself so well, and that I really could answer my dilemas if only I would ask. I alone can know what my full potential is and guide myself to achieve that.
She speaks of enjoyment, and how to find it. I think often that I am overcome with all the duties I feel responsible for, all the people I feel I need to make happy, or all the responsibilities I feel other's think I need to accomplish. If I can focus more on what truely brings me pleasure then all else will fall in to place. This reverts back to the three things you want most in life. If you are aware of those, then what will bring you pleasure will also be in line with those three things. What brings me pleasure is really what I define as meaning in my life. Pleasure is sitting on the porche not thinking about the chores I must do that day, in fact, not thinking at all. Just enjoying the birds chirping in their own voice. Each bird different. The beautiful humm of the humming bird as it hover's around the trees. The steady, constant pecking of the woodpecker, as it builds itself a home in our dead aspen tree. The noises from the distant freeway, of all the cars passing by as they rush off to work. And here I sit in my own serenity, just listening and enjoying all that surrounds me. That is pleasure. Nothing, but so much all at once. It can be found anywhere you are, in anything you do, all you have to do is open yourself to the possibility of it. I find the same pleasure in listening to my children as they make believe with each other, as they create stories and scenarios that only their simple pure minds could create. I find that nature brings me to peace, it fills my mind with all that is beautiful and makes me want to create, want to enjoy every minute of life. Create the purest things that only that beauty of nature possesses. So complex and simple all at once. I attribute this peacful state of enjoyment to my father who would wake early in the morning any time we were at the cabin to go look for wild life. He could see the beauty in a tree, any ordinary tree, yet he could see and describe the beaty there. I often think of him when I am in the surroundings of nature. He would take us and teach us of the different foot prints in the sand (dirt). I remember him trying to get me interested in the different plants and animals that could be spied. I loved finding out and discovering new qualities about all those wonderous things. Dad had a song about everything (which is another of the simple pleasures of life, music!) , and I felt he was the most knowledgeable man on the planet. You would ask him anything and he would know the answer. Now I know, he does not have all the answers, but he does know how to find joy in everything. Thanks for showing me how to do that Dad! If only I could remember that ALL the time.

Books

2008-08-02T23:58:00.000-06:00

So I am reading this book titled " eat pray love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Emily let me read it on our resent trip to Snake river, I got 2 pages in and decided I would someday like to finish it, but not then. I meant to give it right back, but somehow it made it home with me. After 3 attempts to return the book to Emily before I ruin it, I have decided that there is some reason I should read it first. (Emily, I will buy you a new copy if it gets too badly damaged!)
Here are a few things I have taken from the book so far: (I'm only on chapter 15)
"God is an experience of supreme love" - I believe this to be the best way to describe "GOD"
It mentions that we should look at the world through our heart. I feel this is the best way to be honest with yourself and true to all you believe. Also, it allows for us to set aside judgments and see the good in all that surrounds us. After all, there is always good surrounding us, even when you don't immediately see it, even in those we don't think possess it.
Next, it suggests you write down the 3 things in life you want the most. If these things do not mesh, they cannot exist together and therefore you should re-evaluate what you want. It says we should live a life of single pointed focus. I like this!
Lastly, we are all deserving of the forces and energies of the universe. We all contribute to the overall well being of the world. If even one of us is out of harmony with our own needs, it will effect the rest of the world's well being. If there is something you desire, need, or feel you need help with, it is never to minuscule to petition the Universe, or God, for help. Make your case, believe it and at very least it will be considered.
Feel free to add your comments or remarks, I always tell myself that I should keep a pad of paper next to me when I read so I can write down the things I want to remember. That way I can really engrain them in my memory! So, here is my paper!

2008-07-30T09:00:00.002-06:00

This is my first attempt at blogging. Quite frankly, I don't get it! My main purpose for using this site is to be able to post some of my favorite pictures so that I can easily share them with everyone I know! I love taking pictures and frequently they involve more than just my own family. Some of them are decent photos that I think others might enjoy. So, if you see something you like, let me know. ...

11/16/08
So, This is pretty cool, I think I am starting to figure it out! Here are some of the photos I had added to my blog, but now want archived. I am adding them in retrospect so the timeline doesn't really match up, but it works!