Getting excited for Utah!

Yes, in two days I'm off to Utah! Why am I so excited? For one thing, do you know what these are? Yes, my friends, mountains! I'll even be camping for at least one night in the BEAUTIFUL peaks above Logan. (This is the view from my parent's deck (in December)).

Secondly, the karaoke/lip synch event. I can't wait. We set the bar last reunion with songs such as "I'm Too Sexy" by Derek, "Louisiana Saturday Night" by Brett, "I Will Survive" by Amy, a weird song about Mike Tyson which I think is sung by Adam Sandler by Wyatt and Derek, "Dance of the Cucumber" by Bob and Larry--I mean Andrea and Tim, and pictured here--Derek doing "I Love Rocky Road." (He's holding an icecream scoop in his other hand.)

We have selected two songs, one for Brett and I, and one for Brett and Jethro (cause Jethro has incredible moves that I cannot even describe how awesome they are). I can not tell you what the songs are, for some of my family may read this and they are to remain a secret until the very time of performance! Anyway, I'm sooo excited.

I have a funny honey. On Monday night I told him it was his turn to do FHE (always very fun to see what he comes up with spur-of-the-moment) and he decided to make a chore chart for everyone. It was nice and color-coded and everything. Well, on Tuesday night he goes off after dinner to look something up on the internet, and I come in after a minute and say, "Honey, on the chore chart it says you and Hazel are on cleaning up dinner." His face was hilarious as he tried to think of a way out of it...and he manages, "Well, it's more of a guideline...." haa haa ha.

Then, yesterday it was raining pretty good. We owned no umbrellas until a few days ago when I bought the kids a rainbow one at Once Upon a Child. In the morning I was surprised to see that Jethro wasn't out playing with it (he'd been waiting and waiting for it to rain since we bought it), but he said that Daddy took it to work. So when Brett got home I said, "So you took the kids' umbrella?" And he said "Yeah it was raining." And I looked at him and said, "You took a rainbow umbrella?" And he looked at me for a second, then pouted and said, "Pat made fun of me too." It was hilarious.

He made something to go in his Scout out of a compressor so that he no longer has to hand-crank veggie oil out, instead, he just lets the compressor turn on and it fills up. I don't know how he did this, but I thought I'd tell you in case any guys read this and think it is interesting. I filled the car the other day with biodiesel all by myself. It was a proud moment. I mean, we've been running on biodiesel for a long time, but I'd never actually filled up, out of our very own garage, until then. It made me proud.

Tuesday

I have nothing much to say, I'm just waiting for Brett to come in so we can go to bed, so here's a few pictures. Jethro's racecar cake I made him-- Brett made him a car too, at the shop at school but it's not painted yet so I'll take a picture later.

And Jethro got a bike for his birthday, so I'll have to take a picture of him actually riding the bike sometime, but for now, here's a cute picture of him in his cool helmet. (We got the bike at Goodwill for $6, and last night we found a girl bike on the side of the road--for free. Sweet--now Hazel's set too.)

Jethro watched the movie 'The Sign of the Beaver' today--it's about a boy who stays at the family's claim while his dad goes to collect the mom and sister and baby, and then they get sick etc. and stay away much longer than they had planned on, so the boy is alone except he gets saved by the Indians. Anyway, Jethro was so upset that he was about crying when he thought the family wasn't going to come back. And even at the happy ending (they get reunited of course) he was still soooo sad that the baby had died. Poor guy.

Jethro got a package in the mail for his birthday from Grandma Bell (thank you so much if you read this!) and inside was a bubble blower, so I wanted to try taking cool bubble pictures. They didn't turn out very well. Maybe I'll try again. Then again, maybe not.
I thought these were funny pictures.

I love Jethro!

Happy 5th birthday to Jethro yesterday! I can't believe he's five. sniff sniff.

Just a witto baby. 6 lb. 10 oz.

One year old. Cute little teeth.
Happy two-year-old.



3

5

More from Lindsay

Here's another post from this week's guest blogger. But, since she didn't have any pictures today, here's a BEAUTIFUL picture of my sweet Hazel. She is a sweetheart. And Ethne is so fun...I've been playing with her on the bed this morning and there is nothing sweeter than kissing her sweet cheeks and hands and tummy and hearing her happy little laugh and seeing her funny two-toothed grin. Happy babies are sooo joyful!

Now Lindsay:

'My hair grows to my toes.I never wears no clothes.I wraps my hair around my bareand down the road I goes.Daa daa daa daa dee daa daa. -Shel Silverstein

''The worms curled and uncurled in spasms of glee.'-A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears.

These are some favorite quotes of mine. I just thought I would share them. I would also like to share this message:

Everyone:Life is good so. Trying is all that matters when. It is very important to be. Work hard and you will earn. If at first, you don't succeed then. We are all working towards. And if we succeed we will. There are no exceptions to. Please be prepared for. If not, then there is no. Farewell.

I would also like to tell everyone to watch the movie Oscar, if they haven't previously. It is absolutely hilarious. But you have to be in a funny mood. It's one of those ones that you laugh out loud in. Another movie I find hilariously funny is Whats Up Doc? with Barbara Streisand. Hilarious. A kid told me the other day that if I found these two movies funny, then I should watch Waking Ned Divine. So if anyone has seen it---please let me know if it is worth watching.

Books: Recently I have been rereading the Harry Potter books because the seventh book is coming out----and much as I was disappointed in the last two books, I still thought I should remind myself what happened in the first couple of books so that I can understand the seventh book, and at least have a conclusion. If you have not read the Thief trilogy by ...oh I don't remember now...but if you haven't read it---put it on your to-do list! The first book is called the Thief, the second book is The Queen of Attolia, and the third book is the King of Attolia. Superb. I really haven't done a whole lot of reading for fun lately, and so I am not filled up with a whole lot of ideas. I was just given the book I Capture the Castle to reread, because I don't remember it too clearly from when I first read it. I remember a girl sitting in a sink.

Hmmm... I have no other news of note so I now bid adieu. Lindsay

Special Treat--Guest Blogger

Okay ladies and gents, we have a super duper treat today. My sister Lindsay agreed to be a guest blogger. Cause that will be so fun and exciting (and because that will make my blog seem ever so cool). Without further ado, here's Lindsay:

Lately I have been spending a lot more time at my sister Megan's house than at my own house. Although far away from mom's cooking (she haunts me by calling me and telling me all the yummy things they are eating out of their garden) there are some advantages. Sacrament meeting is definitely more noisy and there are more treats. At Megan's house there are more treats all the time. I don't get hassled to do my chores at all--usually I just play with the kids so Megan can get some work done. This picture is my nephew, Anders, who got his head painted by my niece Kiersten. Doesn't he look just like a leprechaun with his green outfit? When I put him in the tub he turned the entire bathwater pink. It's fun to be around nieces and nephews so much--sometimes. It's a good thing that I live here because I work in Morgan, and work gives me a break from kids. It's a good thing as well that you don't start a family with five kids---or I don't think I'd start!

Other than living at my sister's house, life this summer has been great. Recently I have been boating, hiking, and generally having a good time as much as possible inbetween the three jobs I'm working. One of the jobs I work is waitressing at Sherwood Hills(a resort in Logan Canyon). It is probably the most enjoyable job because I get free food as much as I want--and the cook loves me, and makes stuff just for me. Last time I worked he made churros that were absolutely divine. The joke there though, is that my name tag is always upside down. Granted, it usually is--but I swear it starts out right-side up! So the other day one of the maintenance boys was walking by and he pointed at my shirt, so I Iooked down and my name tag was right side up, so I told him that it was actually right this time! To which he replied that my shirt was buttoned up wrong. Haahaa. It was pretty funny. Really, all I do is work, and so there isn't a whole lot of exciting news.

Now it's me (Kayli) again--she forgot to mention that I made her go out with Brett's brother. Me and Brett have this fantasy that they'll get married. What could be cooler than one of our favorite girls marrying one of our favorite guys and we'll all be doubly related? Yeah. It was exciting. Lindsay, I hope you don't mind that I posted that, you know I've been bursting to. And, since you threw the sawhorse, we're even.

Jethro's 5th Birthday Pictures

We went out to some fun places to take pictures of Jethro since he's turning five on Saturday. I didn't really get any fabulous close-up shots, but we did have fun.

I asked Jethro a few questions about being five, and here's what he said:

What are five-year-olds like? Big brothers, good boys, boys that are smart
What can you do at five that you couldn’t do before? Go to school, go for a walk by yourself
What are you going to be when you grow up? Daddy and engineer

Although Jethro wasn't born in Indiana, he has spent 4 of his five years here, and so a by-the-corn shot was pretty obligatory.

It's hard to get a natural smile from Jethro. But his funny faces are funny!
Hazel sure loves her Daddy!
Who's this girl? She looks so big to me all of a sudden.



A favorite. Jethro was afraid that a train would come while we were on the tracks, and indeed one did come. We hopped down a ways and watched it go by, and Hazel grabbed my legs and held on SO tight with her arms and legs!

And this may be my favorite shot of the day. I just like it.

Boundary Waters

Here's some pictures from Boundary Waters. This is Brett with a fish.

This is Brett lifting up an over-turned canoe. It was this picture that was mentioned by a wife of another guy who went from our ward. She said that her husband said of Brett (and I quote) "He's a frickin' ox! I'll go camping with him anytime." (well, who wouldn't I'd like to know.)

Everybody. (Brett's front and center)

Oh, and this is (for any of you who may be interested) the NEW floor that Brett welded into the Scout. I posted the before picture somewhere. Smooth and shiny.

Derek

This is my brother Derek. But that picture kindof gives a skewed impression, because he's really a spaz, and usually looks something more like this:

or this:
This is him and 3 of his 4 kids. Sweet.

He really loves to call us and say crazy things in crazy high-pitched voices, such as "do you know the muffin man?" or "forgeddaboutit" (actually that one's usually in a low voice) and keeps saying it over and over, oblivious to any pleas to be serious, and then hangs up. If Brett answers the phone, he'll be like, "It was someone weird. Probably your brother Derek." Yep, probably. One time he called my sister Amy and said it was Brother Clark from the ward and could she please bring chicken wings to the ward Christmas party. He totally had her going (apparently there IS a Bro. Clark in her ward) and she said, "well, is it okay if I bring something else instead?" and he said, "icecream. Lots of icecream." She was pretty mad that she got taken when she realized it was Derek.

Speaking of icecream, he likes it. A lot. And that was a sad part about when he went on his mission. I could no longer happily snitch all the icecream I wanted without taking any of the blame.

He likes to have as little hair on his head as possible. When he was a teenager he buzzed his hair once around his hand, so he had a hand on his head, and one time he had an arrow.

This is me and Derek. I don't know why we were eating on the floor, but I'm glad my mom took a picture cause it's pretty cool.

I am six years younger than Derek so I had a little bit of the hero-worship thing going on. One time we were sledding and somehow a sawhorse got thrown down the hill in front of me, so I smashed against it and my lip was bleeding pretty good. My sister Amy picked me up and started yelling at whoever threw the sawhorse (why was there a sawhorse? I don't know) and so Derek grabbed me and carried me up the hill and into the house. It was pretty cool because none of us could walk up the hill--it was so slippery we had to crawl on our hands and knees, but he just hauled up it. That's how I remember it, anyway. :)

One night I somehow discovered that he and my brother Wyatt were kinda sneaking out of the house to go catch pigeons in our neighbour's cowshed so I demanded to be taken along. Which they tried to get out of (the rudies!) but couldn't really, so I got to come along and I felt so cool. Except they made me just hold the bag of pigeons. hmmph.

Derek LOVES basketball. Amen. And most sports, but especially basketball. I would be so proud when we would play catch together and Derek would compliment me on my arm. (I do have a good arm. Thank you very much.)

Derek went on his mission to Dominican Republic, and when he came home he pointed at things by puckering his lips toward them. Strange. Then, the real fun began. You see, this girl Brooke had been writing him on his mission, and since she talked about basketball he continued writing to her (see above para.) and when he got home he went to Canada with my mom to "visit family" for three days and held her hand on the first day, kissed her on the second, and proposed on the third. They got married what---a month and a half later? But, it was fun because as Brooke lived in Canada, Derek took ME ring shopping with him. It was so funny cause apparently some of the salespeople thought I was the actual bride and tried selling me some rings. I remember this one person was like "I can tell you like that one, your eyes sparkle when you see it." It was funny, and after that Derek was sure to say that this was his little sister. (I was 15 or something, it should have been obvious.) It was fun to have a love-sick brother around. (Like I said, I was 15. I was very excited by that sort of thing. Oh wait---I still am!) I remember the song was just out that goes "I wanna wake up where you are" (don't remember who sings it) and he'd always add "Brooke" to the end of that phrase.

Anyway, so they got married, he went to medical school in the Caribbean and now he's doing his residency in Family Practice.

So, a memory from my sister Amy is that one Valentine's Day, Derek came into Amy's room scrounging around for a gift for his girlfriend at the time, and Amy was like, "uh....you can't just give a used gift...clothes generally come with tags on them, etc." but Derek took a half-empty bottle of perfume, filled it full with water, and gave it to her. Nice.

My sister Andrea said that one time she was in a really bad mood (I can't remember the reason) and Derek was trying to cheer her up so he told her to come and play basketball with him, and she said, "No, you'll win," so he said, "We'll play to 10 and I'll let you start at 5," and she said, "No, you'll still win," and he said, "I'll let you start at 9--you only have to make one shot," and she said, "You'll still win." And he said, "Okay, you start at 10. You win!!!! You win!!!!" ha haa.

And finally, I asked his wife Brooke what she loved about Derek in 3 sentences or less, and she said, "He's just a big kid. He's fun."

Brett is home, all is well with the world.

Brett actually got home early--woohoo for me!! I guess they had a harder time catching fish, which they were relying on for food, than they thought they would, so the other leaders decided to come home. So Brett called me at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday and said he'd be home in 10 minutes so that I wouldn't get scared when he came in. He said he had a good time and wished he could've stayed. Poor guy forgot his sunscreen-chapstick in the van, and so his lips were burned pretty bad and were kinda blistered and peeling and it looked like on movies when somebody is stranded on a desert island for a while. His nose was also burned. I said, "You're peeling," and he said, "You're appealing too." :) He has some pictures on the other camera, so when they get developed maybe I'll post a few.

Later that morning we painted the outside of our house. Hazel and Jethro helped. The blue on the right is the new color and the blue on the left is the old color.

On the afternoon of the 4th we went to Seth's house (the nice guy that works with Brett) for a barbeque and to watch the fireworks. It was good times. When Seth intoduced us he said, "This is Brett, and his wife Kayli, and their plethora of kids." Hee hee. I didn't know we had reached plethora status.

This is Jethro and Haylee picking some baby ears of corn from the field. They're really tiny--you just eat the whole thing. I didn't like them too much, but Jethro thought they were awesome.