COURTNEY IS A TEENAGER!!

Courtney turned 13 on August 24th...She's so grown up now!

We had the "standard" BR ice-cream cake and presents with just our family.

Courtney asked for new bedding for her bedroom - which is "new" to her, because we moved her into Jessica's old room - it's bigger. She loves it...it's Black and White polka dot!

We love Courtney and the fun she brings to our family. She tries her best to keep us all in line and remembering to do the things we know we're supposed to be doing. She is a great example to all of us. She has grown up so pretty and she has so many new friends at Stapley - she is having a really fun year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY!!

Claiming Our Legacy of Faith - August 2008

Our ward did a Pioneer Trek for our youth a couple weeks ago. We have a great family in our ward that has a ranch just outside of Superior and they let our ward use it for the Trek.

Both Tyler and Courtney were able to go on the Trek. Chris and I were able to be a part of it also, by being on the food committee. Now, I know that we ALL had some pretty negative things to say about going on this trek. We knew it was going to be HOT...it was! We knew it was bad timing being the last weekend before school started...it was, but not as bad as we thought! We knew serving food to 130 people 3 times a day would be a lot of work...and it was! But, IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

Has anyone ever gone on a Pioneer Trek without having a few negative things to say before going? Not here in my house...But, we always come home with nothing but positive things to say about having gone. I guess that's the point, right?

The handcart pioneers had to deal with extreme cold weather and I know that I HATE cold weather, and in my opinion, there's nothing worse than being cold. But, having really hot weather for our Trek gave our kids sort of an idea of how awful it was for them to have had to deal with the bad weather. And they obviously didn't have all the resources we have now to deal with the medical conditions - we are very lucky. Although we did have a few people "go down" due to the heat. We played some fun water games where everyone got to get really wet to get their bodies cooled down. Both Courtney and Tyler had some really great things to say about going on the Trek. They were both put in awesome families with super ma's and pa's that looked out for them and took care of them. I know Courtney's Mawas pretty concerned about her, being that the wagon wheels were taller than she was and wondering if she would get decapitated by the front bar on the handcart! But, I know she helped her family - I watched her push that handcart up a huge steep hill on the women's pull with just four other girls in her family. And Tyler's family was so grateful to him - he was the biggest guy on their handcart (besides his pa) and he worked HARD the whole time. Still, a week later they keep stopping me in the halls to tell me how much they enjoyed having him as part of their family and how hard he worked. What a trooper! I'm so glad that they had the opportunity to do this Trek, I know that they now have a greater appreciation for the pioneers and more specifically our own ancestors who crossed the plains to get to the Salt Lake Valley and beyond, and that their testimony's have been strengthened through this experience.

At the house, before leaving and getting all dirty and grimy!

"Water Games"


This is Courtney's Ma & Pa here on the left! It was really hot!

After a good nights rest(?), and some breakfast, they're off for some more trekking...

All the "Men" leaving for The Mormon Battalion...The Women's Pull up "Rocky Ridge"

The Forrest Family

The Boehme Family

Cooling off after the last trek day!

BACK TO OUR HAPPY PLACE -- LAKE POWELL!

We had a great time at Lake Powell this summer. Chris, Jessica, Tyler, Dillon (& Dallin) got to start the week on Monday and Courtney and I joined them on Wednesday after she was finished at girls camp. Mike's family was also at the lake, so we got to see Rachel on the "lake-board" for her very first time! Everyone had a blast wakeboarding, wakeskating, tubing, cliff-jumping, and especially learning to use the new surfboard!

Courtney, Rachel & Dillon - holding on for dear life! When you ride with Chris in the driver's seat it can be kinda scary! Sorry Lachelle! Jessica "got him back" when he was on with Dillon!

Rachel's 1st time on the "lakeboard" woo hoo!

Courtney wakeboarding! (In WAY to big of a jacket)

She was exausted after camp, so it took a couple of days before she wanted to get out there except for on a tube....

Got my time in too - check that off the list!!

Jessica's bustin' out some "big fat air"

Chris too!

Not to mention all the "air" Dillon was getting!

Tyler's always flying through the air...sometimes on a board, sometimes off a cliff!

This one is Tyler's friend, our "other son" Dallin, he also thinks he can fly!

Dillon, Tyler and Dallin at the top before jumping, Tyler doing a back flip off, Dillon jumping (I could hardly watch) and Dallin doing a gainer...scary! and I don't know if they were trying to look like superman, in the last ones, but these are pretty funny!

We decided to try something new this year,wake-surfing! Everyone took to it really quick and they loved being able to throw the rope back in the boat and ride the wave without a rope! Sometimes for a really long time - the longest wave in history!!

It's not a Gatorade Ad...not yet anyway!

Another favorite is the wakeskate...for the boys at least.

Goofing off in the water and on the boat!

"The Richardson"