Geogia Brown Elementary is on the MAP!

This is my latest project. My elementary school wanted a map on their black top and I had three girls in mind to help. They needed to do a project for Personal Progress and so we combined our efforts along with 25 volunteers to create this amazing map.

After much planning, we began by cleaning the pavement then created a grid to help our amazing artists draw the map. We are thankful that we had two brilliant math guys to help us!

It was 108 degrees on the day we did this. The easy ups provided much needed shade, but did not help with the heat. It was really unbearable. I was amazed at how hard the girls and our volunteers worked. We started the map at 7 a.m. and finished at 4:30p.m. It was a long day, but really fun to do with the girls. When we were done I went home and took a cold bath.

This made it all worth it! I went early on Monday to watch the kids as they came to school. They were so excited to see the map. I am so proud of Camile, Shanna and Elizabeth for doing this as a service project. They could of chose something easier, but in doing this they were able to make a difference for many years to come.

On the Move....

E2 has finally decided to walk and he is loving it! I do not like the crawling stage, so having him wait until 16 mths to walk is a hard for me.... but now he is WALKING!! Yea!

School Days...

The kids are back in SCHOOL.... Words cannot express my gratitude! At first, I was sad at the loss of the unstructured do what you want summer, but now I am so HAPPY! Now there are times when I can even ask myself what I would like to do for the day, instead of planning around the little ones. Loving IT!!!!!

My boys... I cannot believe how big they are. K is now in 1st grade and E is in 3rd.

My S is in preschool and looooooves it!

Yellowstone National Park cont.... (Last One!)

I promise these are the last of the Yellowstone pics, but seriously.....everything was so beautiful that it is difficult not to share it all. This canyon is the view from one of the hikes that we were able to do. Amazing hugh!!

...S, Me, E, Emery (my new favorite nephew...so adorable) and Joel...

My guys at the top of the waterfall...

Fly Guy teaching K to Fly Fish... Look at that proud Papa!

S with her big catch of the day, thanks to Joel...

We spent one of the mornings fishing with all of the kids and E2 played with this little pole. He loved flinging the line all over the place. Fly Guy is teaching them early...

Our trip started off a bit rocky, but it is hard not to gain an eternal perspective when you are surrounded but such beauty.

Yellowstone National Park cont....

A few days into our trip the Flakes arrived.... need we say more! Our kids were so happy to see all of their cousins.

This was our cabin for the first couple of nights. It looks cute, but because we lost our blankets and other camping supplies in our accident it was not so great. I froze at night with very little to cover us. Beach towels do work well in a bind! I was happy when we were able to switch to nice hotel!!!!

It is not a camping trip without a good fire and lots and lots of smores. I had more than I can count.


Most of the cousins taking a break...

One of the highlights was visiting the Bear Habitat. All of the cousins six and up were able to see amazing bears and some wolves, but also feed them. They took the bears out of their outside areas and then allowed the kids to hide food under the rocks and logs. After, the kids were able to watch the bears return and see what food they could find. It was really fun!

Yellowstone National Park ...

Fly Guy has always dreamed of fishing in the Yellowstone area, so I gave him a guided fishing trip. Our good friends/family Tom and Jan came to join us. Tom and Fly Guy spent an entire day fishing.

Here is one of the areas they fished.

Grandma Jan and S at the paint pots. Jan & I took the kids to see the paint pots, a bunch of geysers and of course Old Faithful. I learned so much from her...she is always a wealth of knowledge.

The kids in their Yellowstone shirts from Grandma Jan.

One of the many areas at the paint pots. Below are the mud pots, which my kids loved.


On our way out of the park, we saw this Bison. The kids were in complete awe. I loved seeing them so excited!

Our Great Adventure...

After lots of anticipation and planning we were off to Yellowstone ....
All the children slept and were amazingly good in the car... Life was good, then *@#*!@*#@*!!!!..

This happened!! Our camping vacation halted! As we were driving through a very gusty area, the Trailer began to fish tail and we were stuck in the middle of several semi-trucks and could not straighten out. The trailer rolled and dragged us into the center divide(thank goodness there was one...i believe it saved us from rolling also). The whole experience was terrifying... I know Heavenly Father was watching out for our little family. Even in the mist of the madness, it is amazing how you can feel a sense of peace and comfort. All of us were safe, our car was in driving condition and we were able to recover most of our stuff.

I now have a new level of patience for traffic jams caused by accidents. We stopped traffic on the freeway for at least 45 minutes and even then traffic was down to only one lane. Those that smiled as they passed gave us a sense of comfort and I am grateful!

Our first call was to Fly Guy's parents (owners of the trailer) they were amazing...as usual. They were comforting, gave us great advice and showed that their only concern was about us. After the ordeal, we decided to continue on with the trip and drove to my parents in Provo. Words cannot express what they did for us. They literally put us back together both physically and emotionally. We love and appreciate our parents!

A couple of things we have learned:
-make sure whoever used the trailer before you emptied the "poop tank"...really important!
-look for your underwear first...better you find it than the highway patrol officers
-accept that your plan is not always Heavenly Father's plan
-stuff is not what your kids want, they just want to spend time with you...
-you can go on a 17 hour car ride without electronics and still have happy kids (our DVD player died and the leapsters were in the trailer!)
-We are so thankful for our Eternal Family!