It Wouldn't Be Summer Without......

a few drives over to Bear Lake for a show at Pickleville!!!

We headed up in time for the dinner at 6:30.  Before that, though, we went to the box office to pick up our tickets.  There's such a thrill going up to a box office, isn't there??  I love the anticipation.

We've gone to the dinner in years past and loved it (hello, ribeye steak!), but they've revamped it this year and we were really happy about the changes.
We all got in line and prepared ourselves for the chaos that is dishing plates for 2 adults and 4 children ages 3-7.  We were so pleasantly surprised when we saw how they did the dishing.  The kids didn't have to hold their plates out, the servers just passed them on down the line and we only had to wrangle things from the end to our table.  No problem!  The kids had all sorts of options to choose from - chicken strips, ribs, french fries, chicken, baked potato...it was nice for everybody to get something they really liked.

 Chloe and Brigham both got the ribs and loved them.  Cannon and Lily each got chicken strips and Stanton and I both had the chicken.  Holy buckets (thanks Sheriff Jake Lawson...) that was great chicken.  Delish.

 Lily was super excited about the butter with an "x" in it.  It's the little things in life, isn't it?  Brigham enjoying the baked beans, Chloe, our rib lover, gave these the a-okay, Cannon enjoying his soda and dinner.

The black and white hides the food in those happy smiles and all over those happy faces.

Everybody's happy with their dinner!

Between the end of dinner and the beginning of the show, we had just enough time to walk around, throw rocks, visit the "Palace of Necessity," and take some pictures.

 The kids look for that sign every time we go to Bear Lake.  The "Palace of Necessity" (I didn't realize the collage cut the top of the sign off -- dang!).  The chuckwagon pavilion.  Great dinners served all summer!  The upstairs of the pavilion.  They have great country music playing during dinner -- from old to contemporary.  It's a great ambiance.

 We had a lot of fun blocking these stairs.  :)

 Had to take a picture by the Joseph sign -- Cannon LOVED that show.  Loved it.  He thought we were going to it again last night and was slightly disappointed.  Such are the disappointments of an almost 3 year old...

 

Chloe wanted a picture with her all-time favorite elf from the Pickleville Christmas show....Zippy.  He's in the Joseph cast and does lighting, I believe, for the Bandito production.  All the cast members are so great with kids -- so friendly and willing to take pictures, sign autographs, and chit chat.  You can't find a better group of actors.

Oooohhhh, I love when everyone starts lining up to go in the theatre.  You can feel the excitement in the air!

 We found our seats and got ready for the show to start.  I have to say a quick thing about the theatre...it's small.  You might think that's a criticism, but it is one of the best features of the whole deal.....we sat on the back row (our favorite seats) and had an awesome view.  There are really, truly, no bad seats in the whole theatre.  It's darn fun to be at the front, yes, because the cast definitely riffs and ad libs with the front rowers, but you have a great view no matter where you're sitting.  On this night, we were SO loving that we were on the back row....Cannon was being a bit of a maniac, so it was nice to be able to stand up and hold him, put him on our shoulders, etc., without bugging anyone else.
I wasn't able to take pictures during the show, but I'm going to talk about it anyway.  If you've never seen a Bandito production, first of all, let me offer my condolences.  Secondly, let me assure you that you don't have to worry that you won't know what's going on.  The shows from year to year are only very loosely connected.
This year's show is a lot of fun.  The cast all have strong voices and good comedic timing.  The heroine is charming, the hero is handsome and goofy, and the supporting cast (including the *real* villain, Marshall Shorty Short Pants, "The bigger the gun, the louder the Bang!....Pow!!") was just awesome.  Seriously.  
One of the great things about having the writer and composer of the shows double as the star (that would be TJ/Jaunito) is that they are invested in giving you the show of your life.  If there's a moment where the show doesn't feel like it's "clicking" just right, you can be sure that there is going to be some awesome ad-libbing about to happen.  It happened last night.  One particular moment comes to mind that I can't really re-create in blog form, but Dora the Explorer, the words "No," "Maybe," and "Swiper No Swiping," all played a part and it was golden.  It's so fun to be part of a moment that you know just won't ever happen again.  
Our kids were in heaven the entire time.  Chloe didn't take her eyes off the show for one moment...she got the jokes and loved the songs.  Lily and Brigham loved the songs, got most of the jokes, and enjoyed laughing with everyone else.  Cannon was a bit of an exhausted maniac, but he couldn't stop laughing after Bandito said, "Oh, Poop."  He kept repeating it over and over...laughing his head off every time.  He also loved the "princess" at the end.
The show was just fabulous.  We loved it -- the inside jokes, the clever songs, the now-expected rap that is truly awesome, and the perfect combination of talent and heart.


After the show was over, we hung around for pictures with the cast.  They are so sweet.  They make you feel like family.

Two of our faves -- Derek, who is one of Bandito's gang members...Domingo, oh, no...Steven.  He also stars as Joseph in the musical and is absolutely top-notch.  Such a sweet, genuine guy, too.  We love him!
And TJ, the writer.  The composer.  The director.  The star.  The heart.  The MAN.  He has been such a great friend and we are super glad he found his calling in the theatre instead of the dental chair (but why the dentist jokes, man...WHY?!).  He got a gift and we are so glad he shares it.

And this....this is Andrea.  She is the absolute heart and soul of it all.  Mom to TJ and Derek (and Whitney and Sharli the choreographer), wife to the late Ted (who we missed so much this year), and daughter to the founders of it all.  She has been doing Pickleville for 35 years.  She is honestly the heart and soul of the whole thing.  So much goodness.  


] I am so grateful that we have access to such wholesome, hilarious, perfect entertainment for our whole family.  And I love that it's fun to go even if we don't have our kids with us.  We are definitely Pickleville Superfans!  If you haven't been to a show.....GO!  If you just haven't been yet this summer...GO!  If you've already been.....don't you want to GO AGAIN?!  I know we do.

 ?We are muy, muy guapo, No?


  
Okay, one last picture to close out the post.....

Here's a link to their website....and they offer online ticketing now...finally!  Woot!!!  Go.  Go buy tickets.  You seriously will NOT regret it.
Pickleville Playhouse

Having problems.

I'm having trouble uploading the pictures from that last post. Grrrr


-From Blogpress for iPhone

I (Almost) Saw Another Angel Fly

We headed down to Brigham City to meet my cousin Lindsay and a bunch of our family to see the Angel Moroni hoisted up on the Brigham City temple. There was a really fun feeling of anticipation in the air as we walked to the temple grounds and waited...and waited.....and waited.....and waited...
Here are some pictures of us waiting:

We ended up waiting from 11:15 till 1:00. The statue was supposed to be raised at noon, but the winds were being really uncooperative. I looked at the weather report on my phone and it just didn't look like things were going to change any time soon. Add that to the fact that Chloe and Brigham both needed to potty and Lindsay's son Drake (who is just a year old) was out of snacks and hungry -- we made an executive decision to leave, have lunch as a family, and head back over to the temple afterward to see if they were going to put it up.
I'm sure you can guess the rest. We started to order our lunch and my cousin Whitney got a text from a friend that the angel was going up. Of course! I do feel like all the people who ended up seeing it should say thank you to us for putting Murphy's Law into action to their advantage.
I'm actually glad we left. Poor Chloe needed to potty so bad that by the time we got to Maddox (only about a 5 minute drive), she was in pain. We made it to the bathroom in time, thank goodness, and I learned that sometimes taking care of my family means more than creating what I think and hope will be a spiritual experience.
The kids did enjoy seeing the angel Moroni statue on the ground and seeing how huge it was. It was a really great experience even without seeing the statue be put on.
We enjoyed lunch together and then drove back over to the temple where we saw the workers securing the statue at the top. The kids were impressed at how small it looked once it was up on the temple.
It was really fun to go back over and see it from a different perspective.

It was a great day spent with family. I do love to see a new temple being built and look forward to taking the kids down to the open house next year before the dedication of this holy place.

Just a Heads Up, Mom

I have been back dating a few posts (I think 5 or so), so if you want to see some new stuff without Google Reader finding it for you, just scroll through the last several posts.  :)

Another fun day in the life. We did chores in the morning, went to the park in the mid-day, helped Judy with the float in the afternoon, and played with friends (while eating slushies) in the afternoon. All that before dinner and Family Home Evening. I love summer.




The boys playing outside in their 'cowboy' hats.




Pioneer children...






Summertime...and the livin' is easy....





My great friend, Abbie Anderson. Love this girl.

Cannon was wasted by the end of the day. 


-From the ol' iPhone

Another one gone!

Our Lil lost another tooth! No drama this time around. :)









-From the ol' iPhone

Celebrating

A week ago, when Chloe had her first two consecutive nights dry, she asked if she and I could get root beer floats by ourselves if she went 7 nights dry. I was a-okay with that!
We got everyone showered, got the dishes done, and then headed out the door. LaBeau's was the destination. We had root beer slush floats, French fries, and great conversation. We talked about Ivy League schools, what skills you have to learn to get to them, chef school, how Chloe is fantastic at pretty much everything she tries and so it's hard to decide what she wants to do as an adult (love this self-confidence!)-- will I dance? Will I be a chef? Will I be a math guy?

We talked about children and marriage and I embarrassed her/made her laugh her head off by singing "Somewhere Out There/Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at the top of my voice. Don't worry, we were outside. :)
We drove home with the wind blowing our hair in every direction. It was pretty much perfect.
















This young lady, in spite of the challenges that she has with her strong will, is absolutely delightful. She is intelligent, witty, kind, insightful, inquisitive, and a blessing to my life. I told her tonight about how I wanted to be a newscaster as a career and was pretty sure I wouldn't ever have kids because that would put a halt on my career aspirations. I expressed how grateful I was that I had abandoned that dream and replaced it with the real joy that can only come from family, children, and a foundation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the best decision I ever made.

I love Chloe so much. She is such a blessing to Stanton and I.

-From the ol' iPhone

YAY!!!!

We have a very excited 7 1/2 year old at our house!
A new tooth growing in (which is making that old one get really loose) and 7 nights completely dry!
What a great week!





















-From the ol' iPhone

Do Re Mi Dance

The girls made up a fun dance the other day. :)

-From the ol' iPhone

The Fun Just Doesn't Stop!!!

Matt & Sara and family are moving from Florida to China this month, so we have been spending every available second of time with them while they're home visiting.  We drove up to Blackfoot on Tuesday and Friday of last week and had some great time playing and visiting.  Stanton and I even got to go on a date to Rupe's with Matt & Sara on Friday night.  What a treat!

 What happens when you invite all 17 of your grandchildren to "pick a few peas" for a photo-op?  You get almost all of your not-quite-ready peas picked in mayhem!


You also get a pretty great photo-op.  :)

Brigham, Jack, Jordyn, Lily, Eva, Luke, Regan, Porter, Kamryn, Emma, Kaleb, Cannon, Kate, Gavin, Morgan, Chloe, & Todd.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for putting up with all the extra bodies for a few days!  And for the ribs...oh, the ribs.
We love you, Matt & Sara!  Good luck in China!

Fun Pictures....

 On of Brigham's latest requests for eye patch drawings: himself and Charlie.  Other recent requests:  pirate patch (colored all black with white skull and crossbones), Finn McMissile (from Cars 2), and the flaming golf ball on his t-shirt.  He is really stretching my drawing skills!!!

Stanton with his best buddy.  He. Loves. This. Dog.

Forget Man's Best Friend....

The 'Actual' 4th...

The 4th of July fell on a Monday this year, which meant that after all the fun extended family fun, we still had another day with Stanton home from work!  We didn't waste a single second of it.

We got up and had breakfast, then headed out to Green Canyon for a hike before it got too hot.  We got eaten alive by bugs within about 100 yards, so we ran back to the Jeep and (thankfully we had some on hand), sprayed everyone within an inch of their lives with Off.  That helped a ton.  We were able to hike about a mile and a half into a pretty little valley and then hike back out.  All of the kids did really well.  Lily started to complain less than halfway in, but with the promise of ice cream, she got her act together.  :)  I ended up carrying Cannon most of the way -- he wasn't quite able keep up with all the long-legged folks he was tagging along with.
The hike was really beautiful -- we live in the most amazing place.

Look how big they're all getting!  Well, except for Stanton....look how small he's getting!

We went to SubZero (a fun ice cream shop where they freeze your ice cream with liquid nitrogen right in front of you) for lunch.  Yep, that's right.  Ice cream for lunch.  :)

After ice cream, we headed home and spent the next several hours cleaning the house.  We also got chore charts together for the kids and had a nice little family home evening about responsibility.  After FHE, we went to dinner at Mandarin Garden.  How better to celebrate our Independence than by eating Chinese, right?!  It was actually SO fun.  I love going out to eat with our kids.  They are so enthusiastic and crazy and even mostly well-behaved.  They are just at awesome ages right now.  I love them!

After dinner, we bought an inexpensive pack of fireworks and went home to have what's becoming our annual daylight fireworks display.  The kids are so thrilled with any kind of firework, even dinky ones in broad daylight.  I love that about them.

Everyone got to bed on time and the day was pretty much perfect.

I love my little family.  I'm so thankful we live in this beautiful country and enjoy so much freedom and prosperity.  I get all teary eyed thinking about this nation and the hard fought freedom we enjoy.  I'm thankful to those who have sacrificed so much to make that a reality.

Continuing the Fun

Cindy and her kids stayed the weekend with us after the reunion.  It was so fun and crazy to have ten kids running around for the weekend.  And I love every minute I get to spend with Cindy.

We had a lot of fun.  We ended up renting a bounce house from the same guy who got us the water slide.  It was fun, but the day was really hot and the kids spent a lot of time running in and out of the house.  The sheer amount of dishes, cooking, tidying, etc that is required by 10 children is staggering.  Especially 10 children between 2 and 12.  Ha!  It was awesome.
Oh, we also went to Cars 2 on Saturday afternoon, too.  That was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went out to Park Valley for my cousin's (Bill) baby Wade's blessing.  It was so so neat to revisit that wonderful place where I spent my early years of life.  It's a community that doesn't experience a tremendous amount of change, which makes it all the more magical.  We had a great time at church and a great, and huge, luncheon afterward.  There is nothing like coming from a large family!

Pictures:::

We lit sparklers on Friday night.  I think the looks on everyone's faces do a great job explaining how fun that was.  :)

We cooked hot dogs on the grill and roasted marshmallows for s'mores on Saturday night.  Yay!  Another night with fire and burns.  haha!  We had a great time and only came away with a few minor burns over the 2 days.

No pictures from Park Valley, but it was wonderful!  Thank you, Cindy, for sticking around.  It was so great!

Rose Family Reunion

The last two weeks of my life can only be described as Heaven.  We have spent so much time with our extended family -- this time my side mostly -- and it has been absolutely glorious.  Summer is so wonderful for family reunions, traveling, and spending time with the people we love the most.

The first Friday in July was spent at our home hosting our Family Reunion.  We had every single member of our family there, which doesn't happen too often for us.  It couldn't have been better.

Cindy and I were the only ones who didn't have crazy travel or other duties the week before the party, so we split up the food assignments and everyone else pitched in for the cost.  It was a great way to go.  We made what we thought was a ton of food, but we were wrong!  We ended up throwing together 2 batches of brownies and 2 batches of Rice Krispies treats halfway through the day!

We rented a huge water slide from Checketts Amusements, which was such an enormous hit!  The kids ran between that, the sandbox, the swing set, and the trampoline the entire day.  They seemed to just run in a circle from one thing to the next, never wearing out!  It was so awesome and allowed for some great visiting between the adults.  Stanton and I both were so thrilled with how perfect our backyard ended up being for the party.  What a blessing to live where we live and enjoy our wonderful home with our absolute favorite people in the world.

Now, a million pictures to capture the magic:

Cousins Chris and Chrystal, and Aunt Christie all stopped by for a visit.  Love having them around!!!  Also, Grandma J was able to spend the day with us.  It has been the most amazing blessing in disguise to have her gall bladder issue.  It has made it so that we are all able to spend so much more time with her because she is living with my mom and dad.  We have loved the extra time spent with this wonderful woman!

Mega cousin time!  Is there anything better?  Top to Bottom, Left to Right on each row:  Gavin, Gavin (covered in sand), Porter (enjoying the chickens), Morgan and Luke on the trampoline.
Cannon in brownie batter heaven, Lily and Jordyn warming up, Brigham freezing, Brigham warming up.
Kaleb freezing, Chloe warming up in her jammies, Eva the beautiful!, Luke (so handsome!).

The pre-lunch treat table.  It was occupied the entire time.  Everyone enjoyed a LOT of food!

A view of the backyard set up.

Suntanning, sandbox playing, water sliding (and tossing!), and trampoline jumping.  So much fun!

Charlie was a good boy and lounged in his play area in between visits from the kids.  I think it is so funny to see dogs sleep like this.

This water slide deserves its own post.  It's not getting one, but it deserves one!  The kids (and Cindy and I) had a blast on it!!

Big enough for a million kids to go down together!  Hours, literally hours of fun -- perfect for a hot summer day.

I have to admit that it's really hard for me to post these pictures because I look like an ogre in them, but I've got to keep it real!  And Cindy looks too good NOT to post these pictures.  This was one of our fun trips down the slide with a million kids. It was a blast!

This is my second favorite picture from the day.  Haha!!!

And this is my very favorite one.  All of us together!  Matt & Sara, Lori & Brad, Mom & Dad, Stanton & me, DJ & Cindy.  (and Porter wanting his momma!).  This is the best family.  I am blessed.  Truly, deeply blessed.  And grateful.

I hope we have the party here again next year -- and extend it longer than a day!