Where to begin?

I have pretty much sucked at keeping up with this blog this summer. I wish I could say it was because I was so busy doing fun and exciting things, but then that would be a lie. I am going to try and catch up on a few things that happened this summer, just so I can have a record of all that happened. I hope it doesn't get too lengthy and if it does, feel free to stop reading at any time, it won't hurt my feelings none.

In June my dear sweet nephew was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was coming home from a lake near Fresno and as he was going around a turn went into the other lane and had a head on collision with a vehicle. What a shake up for our family. I could never put into words how much I love this kid so I won't even try. Adam spent the week down there helping his sister out with all the planning and then the rest of us went for a few days for the funeral. He was a great kid and

will be greatly missed by our family.

Morgan and her family came down for the 4th and we had fun at the parade and the park. We then had a big friend and family bbq up at our house and then it started to rain and we had to move to eating in the garage. Nothing says red neck more than eating next to a stinky garbage can and a lawn mower. And I don't care what any body says....Fillmore has the best fire works ever!

This was a happy day in my life and a sad day in Mahala's. Yay she got a job. She works out at Burger King. I have always thought it is good for kids to get jobs just so they can see how hard it is to earn money and also it lets them learn at an early age how to manage money better. This is one little chicky that needs to learn the value of a dollar and her dollar not my dollar. Hooray for BK. That was my attempt at a poem. She was all smiles though holding that first pay check.

We went to California for a mini vacation. Adam had a work conference and so the family tagged along. It was the trip that almost didn't happen. Adam had been in the ER twice with bad

stomach troubles and got to feeling better right before we left. We didn't have any plans because we go to San Diego so much that we have done everything. I just wanted to spend the days in

the pool swimming and at the beach in the evenings. It was really fun and relaxing even if we did almost starve to death. (That's an inside joke) And I found out that Mahala is a lot braver than Nicklaus in all most everything. I'll just leave it as Mahala would have swam out a mile in the ocean if Adam wouldn't have been freaking out. Nicklaus well he's a happy just feeding the ducks kinda guy. It's all good.

As far as the yard goes. On the advice of our Bishop, I planted a garden. This is a big feat for me so I took it very small this year because I didn't want to put tons of money into it until I saw if I could do it. Everything is growing great and I did find out all you ever do need is one zucchini

plant. Yep it's true. And for the exciting thing we did, we put a pool in our back yard. We figured with all the land we had we might as well do something fun with it. As you can tell Nicklaus and Brielle have really enjoyed it. Feel free to come up swimming any time.

Mahala kept telling her dad that the ceiling was wet but I guess he never really thought it was that big of a deal until it went from this.....

To this... Yeah the pipe for the washing machine had been leaking and running down the wall and Mahala's room happens to be right under neath it. Hmmm I wonder how long we will be living with this hole in her ceiling? Well at least he got the pipe fixed.

Then Adam did have to have his gallbladder out. He had about four or five stones in it and it had started to deteriorate. I hope this puts an end to all his stomach troubles. He was down for a week or so but is feeling good now. I did have a picture of him in the hospital but I took it off for fear of my life. I can say though that he would be pretty entertaining if he ever did decided

to do drugs.

The last last big event of the summer was Mahala turned 17 on August 8th. But she can't settle for some nice little quiet birthday no she has to have it be a bang. And a boom. And a crash. And oh yeah a wreck. She had finally talked her dad into letting her drive over to Richfield with Shannon to do a little shopping. They almost made it too. Mahala looked down at the radio and when she looked up she was in the other lane. She would have been fine but she hit those little bumpy marks on the side that let you know that you are over too far and they kind of pulled her steering wheel to the right and it scared her and she over corrected and rolled the car at least four times down the median. They ended up upside down just hanging there. It was such a blessing that they were both okay and only had minor injuries. Now the vehicle on the other hand was a complete loss with no full coverage but that's okay...cars can always be replaced. It did however teach two girls and their families the importance of seat belts.

Well if you read this whole post completely your deserve a prize. Really you do. As you can see we had an eventful summer. Some good things happened along with some sad and life changing ones as well. It's those changes that make up the thing we call life. I am ready for a very happy fall. It couldn't be bad I have state high school golf, a wedding, a son coming home from a mission, and a new grandbaby coming all in one week. Wish me luck.

Nicko's Graduation

What a sad day for me today. My baby has graduated from middle school. I think I got more teary eyed during this ceremony than I did for my kids' high school graduation. I only have kids around for four more years and then it will be just Adam and I flying solo. That's kind of a scary thought. The graduation was the best ever. The top three students of the class got to speak and they all did really well but I would have to say the my favorite one was Amy's. She just did so well and she didn't acted scared like the other ones did, plus the fact that she is my favorite gal at the school doesn't hurt either. But I promise I am not being prejudiced at all. They served donuts and sprite afterwards in the lunch room. Grandpa Spencer, Granny, Morgan and Brielle along with Mahala, Adam and I were all there to help him celebrate. We took him out to lunch at Paradise afterwards. Nicklaus' grades have really shot up this year and I am so proud of him for realizing that he really is smart. I think it must have motivated him when I told him that to get a golf scholarship he not only needed to be a great golfer but he needed to be a great student as well. From that time forward he has been a mostly a straight A student. I am proud of ya bud.

They all went out side to release their balloons. Brielle thought that was the neat. She even got her own balloon to take home.

Nicklaus and the gang. I wish that Nicklaus' head wasn't covering up Dane, and hey whats with Austin being taller than Walker? A really fun group of boys.

Easter Time does not necessarily mean Spring

Is it ever going to be warm, I mean really warm? It seems like the last few years it has been miserable weather on Easter. We had decided to go out to Lehman's Caves for Easter and the whole Britt clan was going to go but slowly one by one they started dropping out. The party poopers. It was still fun even with our small group of 8. We had planned on having a wonderful picnic lunch and we had the yummiest food prepared. We got there and got everything set out on the table when it started turning black really fast. Adam said in five minutes it's going to be raining and that's about what we had only it wasn't rain it was hail. We ate fast and then spent some time in the gift shop before our scheduled tour. When you get to the caves you go through one door and down a man made tunnel and then there is another door that starts the caves. Before we could even get through the second door, Brie was protesting her presence there. She kept saying I don't want to be in the caves take me out. She was scared and wanted the lights on. At one point they turn all the lights off and lite a candle and by that point she was really wanting to go home. But as soon as they turned the lights back on she thought it was bright and loved it. Drops of water were hitting her from the top of the caves and they told her that she had been cave kissed. She thought that was funny. She was the best little "cave cadet" and earned a badge for being so good and not touching any of the walls. Well lets just say they didn't catch her touching any of the walls.

We decorated eggs on Saturday night and I must say that this is the yuckiest their hands have ever been. Morgan has the picture of their hands and so I hope she puts it on her blog. It was funny because Brielle would just reach into all the dye cups with her hands and not thinking a thing about it but when she was done and she realized her hands were so stained she didn't like it one bit and wanted her dad to wash them. Nobody thought they would come clean but Kyle worked some sort of voodoo magic because when she came out of the bathroom they were nice and clean.

The ole' Easter Bunny was pretty creative in his egg hiding and it took the kids some good hard searching to find the last of the eggs. Then there was Brielle who couldn't find her basket any where. We told her to go look out the window and she kept spotting all sorts of things outside that were hers but just couldn't find her stupid basket anywhere. It was right to the side of her the whole time she was looking out the window and grandpa finally moved the curtain a bit and then she giggled and said "oh there it is" You know little kids make Easter so much fun.

Then we start thinking of Nolan and it makes us miss him all the more but what a special place to be, on a mission, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. He is doing His work right now and I wouldn't have it any other way. But just so you know like the eggs says he only has five more months to go.

Roller Coaster of a Ride

I know I am late posting about State Drill Team, but in my defense I have been sick since the competition. This has been quite the year in drill team. First of all they got two new coaches, and second of all the school decided to let the girls try being on both drill and cheer if they wanted. Of course Mahala was all over that. She was doing both but found out quickly how hard it was on her body. On the advice of her Dr. (she has scoliosis) he told her just to pick one. It was hard for her to do because she loved them both but it came down to her thinking she was a better dancer than she was a cheerleader so she stuck with drill.

The year definitely had a lot of bumps and turns in the road that in the end made the girls nothing but stronger for all the challenges. Three weeks before state and two before region they changed all three routines and two of the uniforms. No one and I mean no one was expecting these girls to be able to pull it off. They had amazing senior captains who believed in the team the whole time. They just kept encouraging and pushing them to do it.

They headed to Kanab for region and boy were those cowboys shocked. Kanab so thought that they had it in the bag but when our girls took the floor it was amazing to see how far they had came in just two short weeks. These girls did in that short amount of time what other teams had been working on for 6 months. Their dances were not with out flaws but you could just tell they had their confidence back. They ended up taking first in region and the high light of the day was being mooned by the Kanab dancers, can you say great sportsmanship.

Here are a few of the pictures I took, they are not the greatest but atleast it's something. The start of the kick routine up at State.

This is their kick routine at Region.

This is their dance routine at Region.

The next week was State and although a little nervous you could just tell that they were ready. There were a total of five teams really in contention for the state title this year so it was any ones guess how it would all turn out. Our girls got out there and danced their hearts out. They took a second in each routine, which gave them enough points to finish first over all. Some of the other teams where saying that we didn't deserve it because we didn't take one first but these same teams are the ones who would take a first in one dance and then a fourth and fifth on the other two. Some teams didn't even place in one routine at all. People can talk and it doesn't matter. I wouldn't have cared if they wouldn't have won just to see how much these girls have learned and grown this year is better than any shiny trophy in a trophy case. These girls have learned lessons that they will take with them through out their whole lives. For that I am proud of all these girls.

Mahala is ninth from the left. Military at State
Mahala is the third one from the left on the middle row. Starting Military routine at State

Waiting to hear the results can be tortuous.

You just found out you won the State Championship, now what are you going to do?

SLEEP!

January Blues

I hate January. What good is January? It's cold, the snow is dirty, the kids track mud into the house because the snow starts melting, it is dark for too long, and it seems to last forever. There is nothing fun to plan for and January just makes me sad. Last year I decided we were going to do a small remodel (that turned into a much bigger remodel) to help me pass the time in January. It took us a lot longer than we thought to get finished so when I told Adam that I wanted to start on the kitchen now he about flipped. So I talked myself out of that one. I don't have anything fun to even post about. I will share a picture of what it looks it looks like in Mexico in the winter. Nolan loves the weather in Mexico. He loves the people, the food and the work. He will be home in 81/2 months. Can I just say, I can't wait to see green and Nolan again.

The Perfect Day

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house. We copied a friend and got the cutest pajamas ever. Morgan surprised me with my own matching pair. She didn't think her dad would go for the green and blue stripes so she opted for him a new pair of Utes basketball shorts. As usual all the kids were spoiled. I really did feel like we cut way back this year, having a missionary out and all, but in the end you couldn't tell. It was funny though because the last few presents left to be opened were for Brielle but she was just done by that time and didn't want to open any more, she just wanted to play with the ones she all ready had. Who could blame her though.

It was fun to get to talk with our missionary. It makes me miss him so much though. He did pretty good talking in English for us. His companion right now doesn't speak a lick of English. Nolan is doing really good except that his camera broke on him and now needs to buy another one, wouldn't you know it right at Christmas time. Here are a few pictures of our Christmas for you to enjoy or get a good laugh at, one or the other.

All of us ready for bed in our new Christmas jammies. Next year everyone is going to have matching though so watch out. This years treasure hunt to find their PJ's took them to some of my favorite Christmas decorations I have gathered up over the years. I must have made it too hard because there were a few that stumped them.

I love this little girl so much. It was so fun having her down for Christmas. Morgan said this year was their last year of coming down but I keep begging her for one more year. You know Nolan will be home for Christmas next year and I would LOVE to have my whole family together one last time. Brielle really got into opening the presents and it was so fun to see her excited for every thing. And yes I did feel kinda like a giant bottle of pepto. And I am glad I found some one who has way worse bed head then I do. Brielle you take the cake.

Mahala isn't a morning person....only on Christmas day, when she gets to open presents, then she is happy in the morning.



Brielle got the cutest little black and decker tool bench from my dad. She loved it and helped put together our brand new barbecue that Morgan and Kyle gave to Ad and I with her new tools. Is this the best present or what? I think they got it for us because they were scared to eat anything off our old barbecue for fear of catching some disease....yes it was that disgusting.

I guess Grandpa Spencer and Uncle Bones will never be old enough to get off the "kids" table. Brielle loved this new table and chairs but mostly because it has a dry erase top so she could color all over it and not get into trouble.


Nicklaus was really surprised when his grandpa gave him a new pellet gun. Watch out coyotes we now have a treat for you.

Hope every one else had as wonderful as Christmas as we did. I love having all my family around me. That's why Christmas is so special, that and your kids are extra good in fear of going on Santa's naughty list.

Snow Santa

Yesterday was a fun day. Tuesdays are normally my cleaning day BUT school was canceled because of all the snow we received and the power was out most of the night and into the next morning. But instead of cleaning Nicklaus and I decided to try our hand at a snow sculpture. It was a lot of work but so fun to be out there spending time with Nicklaus. He loves doing things like this so it was so worth freezing my hands and butt off. It looks so much better in person. His beard is all swirly and his nose and hat we spayed red. I guess if you don't know what to do with all 24 inches of snow that you have outside in your yard, now you do. Nicklaus wants to make a sea monster next. If you ask me I hope that there is not a next....only because I don't like snow very much.