Run-a-thon

I know that it has been awhile since I have updated. Don't worry we are still alive :). I will just fill in the basics. Travis got a new job and is now driving bus for the INL. Our local Nuclear Site. We are excited and happy to have a regular schedule start and a better job opportunity for him. Bodie is loving Kindergarten and Harlee is loving 3rd grade. I love Tuesdays and Thursdays with just Jax and me. I have started making bracelets again. I am loving it!! Travis was recently diagnosed ( I guess that is what ya call it) with a hernia. He has to go in for surgery in the next couple of weeks. Nothing serious, but it is painful. He is pretty sensitive to pain. It is an outpatient surgery and recovery time is about a week. He will be just fine, unless you ask him and he is pretty sure that he will die. He is a little dramatic when it comes to Dr's, pain, and surgery. I love the guy, he makes me laugh.
Anyway, this year for fund raisers for Harlee's school, they had a run-a-thon. They had to get pledges to run laps for the money for the school. I thought it was a pretty clever idea. Harlee had fun. They had to run/walk for an hour. It was great. Here she is running her heart out

Life is not measured by the number of Breaths we take, but by the Moments that take our Breath Away...

A peaceful moment. Harlee reading the boys a story. Precious!

"First Day of School!!First Day of School!!"

Ten points to whoever can tell me where my title is quoted from :). So, Harlee started school last week, but Bodie's first day was today. My little man is growing up. He was quite excited last night and concerned as to how he would wake up early enough to go to school. I assured him I would wake him up and help him get ready in time.

Here he is all ready to leave for the bus.

the walk to the bus is a long one.

Harlee and him ride the same bus to and from school. They go to different schools, so this was a relief to both Bodie and me.

The bus driver was nice enough to wait a sec so I could snap a pic of him off to school.

I have been excited for him. Not feeling a bit of sad. So how do you explain the tears running down my face all the way back up my driveway?!?

The Blessings of the Priesthood

At the beginning of each school year, Travis gives the kids a father's blessing. Harlee is old school to this by now, but this was Bodie's first experience entering the school year and Dad giving him a blessing to help start out. It was so touching. More so than I remember in years past.
The year that Travis was in Wyoming working, I really feel that it brought our family closer together. Travis really tries to do more family activities and play with the kids now that he is home. Well, back to these blessings. We were all doing fine, when Travis got to the end of Harlee's blessing and told her that Heavenly Father wanted her to know how much he loved her and how much her Mother and Father loved her, and we lost it.
Harlee was the first to get her blessing. It was hard for him or I to contain ourselves after that. The spirit was strong as he then blessed Bodie to have the confidence he needs and the desire to learn as he attends school this year. Trav thought he was done after Bodie, when Jax hopped up on the stool and said "my turn." So Travis gave him a blessing that Jax would form a strong bond with Mom while the kids were at school. That we would have a closer relationship. It was so precious as I peaked at my little guy, he was sitting so still with his daddy's hands on his head. It was as if he knew how important this moment was.
I love my husband so much and am grateful that he is worthy to hold the priesthood and use it in our home. I also love my little kids. They really do bring such happiness to our home. I was able to peak inside my husbands heart last night and it was such a special moment for me, I just wanted to share it with you all.

Summer Sum-Up

Well, I decided to just do a sum up rather than try to keep up. I really didn't take a whole lot of pics this summer, but well, that is the story of my life. Summers always start to get busy for us starting in July. So we started out with my big Phelps Reunion in Grantsville UT. It was a fun Weekend. We made crafts, ate, played games, and Rodeod ( I don't think that is a word :)). Then we went to the Gregersen reunion, a couple of weeks later. Meanwhile, my Sis came and visited us. She stayed for about 3 weeks. It was great to have her and her kids. We had fun visiting and the kids had a blast with there live in friends. It was fun. So, ya, the Gregersen Reunion, I didn't get any pics of, other than one of my camp-trailer all set up. It was our first weekend using it and it was fabulous!! We loved it!! Then we came home and had another reunion the following weekend with my bros and sis's and families. That was not documented in any way. Big regrets. It took place at my house. We played games, visited, went to the zoo, and had a lot of fun with everyone. Last but not least, we cleaned out all the branches and had a massive bon-fire!! That was Rad!! The kids thought so, Harlee and I sat up, once it died down some, and roasted a marshmallow. Good times! And that was our summer thus far. School starts next week, Bodie starts Kindergarten and Harlee in 3rd grade. I am anxious to get in the school routine, but am sad to see the fun warm summer go. That's my Summer Sum-up!

Hogle Zoo!!

After our Retreat that we attended, we went to get the kids from Heidi and Rumels (thank you so much for watching them guys!!) to take them to the Hogle Zoo. I hadn't been there since I was in grade school, so I was excited to go again =). Plus, I was real excited for the kids to experience it. They had a good time too =)

Here is Jax and Harlee and Heidi on the Carousel.
Jax was excited to ride the Tiger and Harlee was on a Gorilla

Here is Bodie and Heidi. He was pretty excited to find a tiger also, he got a little nervous with the up and down motion combined with the spinning carousel, but he pulled through okay. Thanks to Heidi for the help keeping the boys on their animals.

We saw lots of animals, but I only took a pic of a couple. Here are the penguins. The kids thought they were So cute.

There was a little craft booth and Harlee made this fun little head band.
This drinking fountain was fun :)

The kids were amazed by the giraffes. This one measured close to 12 feet tall. I think the one next to it that you can't see was close to 14 or 15 feet. I don't remember, but it was tall.

This little train was the highlight of the whole zoo for Jax. We decided to do it last on our way out the gate. Anytime Jax got sad or crabby we would use the Train as a bargaining tool. "Okay, be happy so we can go ride the train." It worked okay, he was still a little crabby. I think he had a heck of a party night with Heidi and Rumel. Anyway, so here we are on the train. Jax LOVED it and "choo-chooed" every minute or so. It was cute and fun!

You can barely see the small guys head. He wanted to sit by his daddy. He is Travis' little buddy. Much to the delight and dismay (depending on the circumstances, I am sure you all can relate) of Travis.

I love doing family things! It was such a fabulous weekend!

Mawiage.....Mawiage is what bwings us togever today......

This Last weekend we had the opportunity to attend a Marriage Retreat put together by Joy and Gary Lundberg. Gary is a family and marriage therapist and Joy is an LDS songwriter and Poet. She has done a lot of works with Janis Kapp Perry. The have borth co-authored a few marriage and relationship books too. The whole weekend was centered on going back to the beginning and remembering why you fell in love and then they went over how to keep it just as passionate as it was in the beginning. It was so awesome and spiritual. Travis and I attended this same thing about 6 years ago. It was just as good then as it was this last weekend. It's like church, depending on the stage of life you are in, or circumstances at the time, the same doctrine will apply differently. Gary and Joy are my Mom's aunt and uncle. It was great to see them and catch up some. They are wonderful people.

This is all of us after the last seminar. I forgot to mention that it was a family thing. We were all able to go together except for Clark and his wife, who had to work. Tiffani and Nathan ran back to there rooms, and so they are not pictured, but they were there. We had two wonderful meals there and swam in the pool and then there were two different seminars with activities, it was real inspiring and a good reminder of the important things. Loved Loved Loved it!