More Cans for Mission Dollars

Well, he did it again! He saved up and smashed enough cans to head down to the aluminum recyling shop. Grandma Z has a box at her office that friends will drop their cans into. Once we get the cans, Tyler has to smash them all down and then throw them into boxes until the boxes are full. Once he has enough cans, we load them up and take them down to the recyling shop.

It had been awhile since we last went, so Ty had quite a bit of cans this time.

The first time we went, Tyler brought a friend with him, and we figured out how everything worked. After hearing about the process and seeing how excited Tyler was about it all, Jen and Kate have been dying to come with us the next time. So when they heard we were going again, everyone piled in to the back of Dad's truck, and we all headed down to the metals shop. It was fun to see how excited the girls were for Ty and the support they were giving him.

First they pour all of the cans into the bottom of this conveyor belt. Tyler is looking at all of his cans before they sent them up the ramp.

Once the scale has been reset to ZERO, the cans are sent up and over the top where the weight of the cans is calculated. A receipt is printed out for Tyler to take to the office where he is given a card for their "ATM" machine outside.

Tyler takes the card outside to the machine, inserts the card and the money is withdrawn from the machine. Ty had a total of 33 pounds of aluminum this time! He made a little over $15.00! That's about double the amount he had last time.

As soon as we get back in the car, Tyler hands me the money and asks me to put it in his bank account. He's saving it for his mission. What a great kid. I'm so proud of Ty for working so hard and saving his money for serving a mission someday. He is going to be one awesome missionary!

The Down Side of Costa Rica this Year

Sunburn? Yep . . . only Extremely Bad!

Last year Bret came home from Costa Rica with a pretty bad sunburn on the back of his neck. It dried out and flaked off, and he was really uncomfortable for a few days.

So this year we geared up for the sun a little better (or so we thought). I bought bottles of sunscreen with SPF 50 and we made sure that he put it on before he headed out on the boat each morning to fish. Bret came home the first day and said, "I feel like I got fried, and I put sunscreen on 3 more times while I was out there." Even though the burn didn't look like much, he said it was really uncomfortable. After two days of this, he wore a long-sleeved shirt for the rest of the trip and a t-shirt on the top of his hat so he kind of looked like a sheik while he fished (wish I had a picture of that!). He stayed out of the sun as much as he could for the rest of the trip.

On the way home his arms started to get a little redder and they were dry and itchy. But still nothing really strange.

After being home for 2 days they were nearly unbearable. They were extremely HOT and it seemed like the area that was burned was spreading. The skin started to peel, and the raw skin underneath was bright red. The next 4-5 days were the worst. The cycle of red itchy skin, to peeling happened several times. A friend in our ward, who is a nurse at the hospital, came up to Bret at church and told him that she could tell that both of his arms had 2nd-degree burns because of the amount of skin he was loosing!

This picture shows how swollen both of his arms were. He couldn't straighten his arms all the way because of the pain and the inflamation. You couldn't even see his elbows when he tried to straighten them. To say the least he was miserable. He walked around all day with his arms bent and we all tried our best not to get too close.

Well after several days of walking around with his arms bent, Shawn looked up at Bret one day and said,

"Daddy, are you a Tyrannasaurus Rex?"

Being the good sport that Bret is he said, "Yes! Rarr!"

We've been home for about a week and a half now, and Bret's arms are doing much better. They are super itchy, dry and a little sore, but considering what they were like, he's doing great! (Halleluyah!)

Katy and Her Teeth

I'm slowly figuring out that my kids inherited some funky mouths. Putting Bret and I together resulted in little mouths with BIG teeth. When it happened to Jenny I just thought, "Man, she got screwed." But now that Tyler and Katy are experiencing the same problem, I realize that it's all coming our way.

When my kids have a permanent tooth that's ready to come in, they have to lose 2 baby ones in order to make room. And what usually happens is the permanent teeth start coming up behind the other ones because the second baby tooth doesn't know it needs to come out!

Well, Katy has probably had the problem worst of all. She has had 3 permanents come in without even starting to loosen the babies. And she is not the bravest about it. (Which surprises me, by the way.) I can't stand wiggly teeth so the kids are basically on their own(or we pay a special visit to Grandma Clark's -- she loves wiggling teeth). Bret on the other hand is determined to get them out of there and not pay $50 a tooth to have them pulled.

Well this last time, Katy was really sneaky about having another loose tooth because she didn't want Bret to wiggle it. She hadn't eaten very good for days because she couldn't and her smile was non-existent. She even hid the Orajel(numbing gel) from Bret because she didn't want him to use it while he did a little wiggle-wiggle. But it got to the point where the tooth was literally hanging out because it was so loose. Bret couldn't stand it, and he was bound and determined to get it out.

I headed downstairs one night to tuck everyone in bed, and I found Bret lying on Katy's bed with her all tucked in and telling stories.

After telling the story for a minute (and earning some trust) Bret got to wiggle the tooth a little bit. Sometimes she was brave and was a good sport . . .

. . . Other times she would scream and fight because she didn't want him to touch it. Then after a few minutes she would be calm again and listen to another part of the story. It was so cute to find Bret with her, all curled up in her bed, trying to help her get that tooth out! These two are quite a pair.

As you can see, Bret was successful. My Katy is back and she's eating again. There's nothing better then seeing Katy's smile back.

And the tooth fairy even came that night. (It's a miracle!)

Costa Rica 2010

Bret and I were lucky to be invited again this year on a fun trip to Costa Rica with some friends. As I started to post about our trip, I realized that I've never posted anything about past trips. So this post is a little bit long and has pictures from a couple years ago too.

We fly in to San Jose, Costa Rica and then drive for about 2 hours to our friend's condo. On the way to the condo we stopped on a bridge and looked out over this river. This river is a great spot for tourists because there are live crocodiles living in the water.

It was a little freaky to see these monsters right below us. The only thing Bret wished we had with us was a big piece of chicken that we could dangle (spelling?) down from a string so we could see the crocs jump to get a bite. Eek! It was freaky to think that they were wild and so close to the road we were traveling on.
This is a picture that I took from the balcony of the condo we were staying in. It's not the greatest picture, but if you could see past the tree line at the top . . . you would see the ocean. We're not very far away from the beach.


The location of the condo is really neat because it's right in the middle of a little "village". These are some pictures of the homes that people live in all around us.


This home was vacant this year . . . I don't know what happened to this family.


This house is right on the road that we walk down everyday to go to the beach. This family's swimming pool is filled with water everyday for a little swimming by the family members. Then each night they drain it.


This home is right at the bottom of the hill from our condo. This is the front of the home . . .

. . . and this is the back.

I was standing just out the front door of the condo we stayed in when I took this picture. Each day we would walk down this road (you can see the home at the bottom of the road that was in the above pictures) and then walk down the road to the beach.

After walking down this road we just turn right and the beach is about 100 yards away.

These Macaw birds are wild and they fly all over the place by the condo and along the beach. Their colors are so vivid and bright that they almost seem like they could be painted. They squawk like crazy as they fly and chase each other.

Every once in awhile we will drive to the nearest town that is about 15 minutes away called Jaco . This is a picture taken of the main road in town.

This year we went to one of the biggest tourist spots in Costa Rica. It's called Manuel Antonio. You start by walking through the jungle/forest for about 20 minutes and watch for all the wildlife that lives there. Then all of a sudden it opens up to a big ocean bay/cove. This is a picture of Bret walking out of the jungle after we spent the afternoon at the beach. While walking we saw . . .

Monkeys . . .

sloths . . .

and big lizard/iguanas! It was pretty cool to see their wildlife.

This is Bret on the beach after the big walk.

Us on the beach in Manuel Antonio!

Some of the funnest times were just talking with all the couples, late at night, outside in the warm air. These are just some funny pictures Bret and I took of each other . . . You can tell it was late and we were tired :)

Oh . . . Baby!

The last afternoon we were there, we headed down to the beach to boogie board one last time. I volunteered to take pictures while Bret went for the waves.

Of course, he was in heaven!

Why is he always the one to loose his shorts?

As the sun was setting, all of a sudden 5 horses came running down the beach. I couldn't get my camera fast enough before they were pretty far away, but it was cool.

This is the night before we left as the sun began to set.

(This picture is for Jamie!)

Isn't that beautiful?!

The sun was huge that night and absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you to everyone who helped us with the kids while we snuck away for a few days. It's so good to have Bret all to myself. We always have so much fun together. We love you all.

XOXOXOXO

Morning Sounds

There's nothing funner then finishing up the dishes in the morning, after the kids have left for school, and hearing giggles and screams coming from my room. Shawn climbs up in my bed to snuggle with Bret, and it always turns in to a mini war. I hear a little, "Thaaat's it, Thaaat's it" and then

off they go in a giggling / screaming match.

And I'll bet you can't guess who always "WINS"?!

Grandpa Clark's Birthday Celebration!

Well, it's the year of the big 6 - 0 for Grandpa Clark. Bret and I got to go out to eat with Kim, Jason, Matt and Grandma and Grandpa for the big day. We hit Texas Roadhouse for some yummy food and fun. After having a little salad, rolls, and a big juicy steak, the girls came out to sing to the birthday boy.

You will notice the saddle he was supposed to sit on to the left of him, but to all of our surprise he refused. So instead they "spotlighted" him and got the entire restaurant to say happy birthday. He was thrilled. . .

Some things we love about Grandpa :

He takes me for rides on the 4-wheeler -- Katy

He always turns us on a good movie -- Jenny

He gives me awesome back scratches -- Katy & Tyler

He takes good care of his mom -- Bret

He cracks funny jokes -- Katy

He lets me drive the 4-wheeler -- Tyler

He has a big heart -- Nic

He makes the best mashed potatoes -- Jenny
We roast marshmallows together -- Tyler

"He can call me a Doof" -- Shawn

We love you Grandpa!

Happy 60th Birthday!

A Day of Cross Country Skiing!

I had the funnest day of Cross Country Skiing with Jenny. Last year I didn't dare volunteer to help because I had never been cross country skiing before. But when she came home and told me about it I thought, "I could have done that." So this year when the parent sign ups came around, I was all over it.

This is Jenny with two of her cute friends, Chloe and Meg! I sure love these girls!
Here are the girls ready to go and Jenny's second time out. They split the kids into two groups and they took turns playing snow shoe games and then skiing. I was asked to ski the whole time and boy am i feeling it tonight! Jenny got to stay with me the whole time.
I even got the full experience by riding up on the bus and having a school sack lunch. There are some cute kids in her class. This is all of them right before we took off from the school. (Jenny's standing up on the right hand side with her tongue out!)

It was fun to get to know some of her friends that I've never met before. They have such fun personalities. They all looked out for one another and always waited for the one who was trailing behind. I was proud of Jenny for giving up her seat by me and sitting by a lonely friend on the bus.

By the end of the day we had taken off our gloves, hats and sweatshirts and arrived at the lodge with only our t-shirts and jeans. We really got a full workout out there.

Thank you Jen for the fun day! I had so much fun with you.

Thank you for waiting for me when I was helping the slow ones.

I love you!

Highlights:

Watching the bus driver rock out to the music

Falling down 3 times going down the first hill

Laughing so hard every time we went down

Mastering the last hill only to have Maddie SLAM into the back of me

Helping McKenzie?

Watching all your cute friends stick together

Being with Jenny!

Halloween 2009

The kids were so excited to take off this morning. They were dressed in a flash and out the door before I knew it. They were all so excited about their costumes and couldn't wait for the Halloween parties at school. Here are few pictures of each of them with some friends!

Jenny and her friends decided they wanted to be Hippy Ballerinas this year. All of us moms weren't sure what that meant exactly, but we went with it and I think they all turned out darling! Jenny got to tie-dye her shirt all by herself (which was something we had never done before) and she made her own Tutu. She was excited!

Tyler took forever to decide what he wanted to be this year. About three days ago his eyes finally sparkled when we said, "How about a Grandma?!" He couldn't wait! When he got to school this morning, he found out one of his friends was a Grandpa and their clothes even matched! It turned out pretty awesome considering we didn't plan it.

Katy's costume was probably the funnest for me this year. We found a picture of Lego online and Katy was sold. She knew she wanted to be a RED one. I had so much fun in Katy's class this morning. As I helped with some fun games, it was so fun to talk to each of the kids about what they were dressed as. I really don't love Halloween . . . But there is something magical about it for kids. Nothing funner then dressing up!

And this is Mr. Halloween himself. We lucked out this year and actually got a costume on him. For weeks he's been talking about how he was going to be a pumpkin and couldn't wait. And no matter how bad he's sweating, he won't let me take his hood/stem off for anything. He has had a lot of fun so far and can't wait for "Trick or Treating"!

Sign of a True-Blue Cougar fan!

Well, today was the big day!

Jenny got braces!

We took this picture before we went in for her appointment . . .
And we took this one an hour later when her braces were finally on! And if you look closely you will notice that she chose Blue and White bands. . . for BYU! (of course)
I love you, Jen!
You have a beautiful smile!

Close you's eyes, Opens you's hands

As Bret has traveled around the United States for various reasons, whether it be for In the Attic, Real Estate seminars or vacation, he has always made it a priority to bring home a little surprise for each of the kids. It has become his own special tradition. Each time Bret travels, comments heard around our house are, "How much longer until Dad's going to be home? I wonder what he's going to get us!" Phone calls at night from Dad, never end without questions like, "Have you got anything for us yet? How big is it? He says it's bigger than a feather but smaller than an Elephant!"

The moment he gets home, the first thing he says when he walks in the door is, "Everybody on the couch! Close your eyes and open your hands! NO PEEKING!"

Once they are seated with hands out front and eyes sealed, he proceeds to place something in each of their hands. Once he announces that they may open their eyes, the room is filled with excitement.. . . giant Jawbreakers, cups of slime, bags of gummi bears, screaming monkeys. . .

A while back, Katy came in with a surprise for me. With excitement in her voice she proceeded to tell me, "Close your eyes and open your hands." Upon feeling something in my hands, I opened my eyes to see our morning newspaper. "Thank you, Katy." I said, and off she went, proud as can be for being a good helper. Did I notice Shawn in the background watching this exchange?

A few days ago, as I was standing at the kitchen sink, I felt Shawn tug on my pant leg and I heard him say, "MOM! Close you's eyes, opens you's hands". And I turned to see this . . .

After doing as I was commanded, he presented me with one fresh raspberry he had picked off the raspberry bushes in our backyard. So proud! After waiting for me to eat the raspberry, he was gone.
Only a few minutes had passed when all of sudden he was back . . . "Close you's eyes, opens you's hands!" And I was presented with another. One by one the berries were picked and presented with pride.


Each day now I'm presented with raspberries, fresh off the bushes, one at a time. The magic for Shawn is in the picking and presenting (since he doesn't like to eat them himself). But the magic for me is to see the tradition and excitement pass on from one generation to another. I can only imagine the fun surprises that are still to come!