Temples and Haircuts

Friday night the Crane's and Ashton's headed down to Central Utah to watch the Mormon Miracle Manti Pagent. The JW Foutz's went down earlier and saved us some seats. Caleb and the "Three Muskateers" made themselves comfortable and we started out on our journey.



Since the boys were starving and on their last breath of life we stopped in Payson at MickyD's. All 4 boys were able to recieve the coveted "Chicken Joe" toy from the movie "Surf's Up".


Even before we got to the city you could see the temple way far off in the distance, letting us know that we were finally almost there. As we approached the little town there arose one of the most wonderful buildings around. I'd never seen the Manti Temple before and was marveled at how amazingly beautiful it was. The unique architecture and lovely golden brick were definatly a site to behold.




Here we are with our snacks and blankets waiting for the show to start. Picture taking was prohibited during the preformance so that is why I don't have any. The pagent was enjoyable although being a late starting time of 9:30, Nicholas and Andrew did fall asleep and missed the last half of the show. They did see the Lamenite/Nephite battle and really liked that alot.


Saturday afternoon our neighbors got out the slip and slide and pool and we all enjoyed some time playing in the water to stay cool. I got into a water gun fight with the neighbor boy and all of the boys took turns making sure the mom's stayed wet and cool in the heat of the sun. Here is Nicholas relaxing in the pool.


Saturday afternoon Mom and Dad graceously agreed to tend the boys while I attended the temple. Since the Jordan River Temple, which I usually go to was closed for cleaning, I went down to Utah County and enjoyed the simple elegance of the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. I love the different textures of glass and splashes of color in the windows. It truly is a beautiful temple.


While I was in the temple Dad gave the boys a much needed hair cut. Here are the cheesy grins showing off their summer cuts.

Not More Pictures, Mom

This weekend started off by mom thoroughly torturing her children. I wanted to get a good updated picture of the boys to give their dad for a father's day present. We all know how much children love to have their picture taken, so I had to bring out the bribe. Nicholas and Andrew have been saving their allowance for the last several months for the coveted TMNT video game. As of Wednesday they finally had enough. So being the clever mom that I am, I agreed to take them to the store after work on Thursday if they were good and posed for some pictures. They actually did fairly good and what is even more amazing, after the purchase of their game they waited until Friday morning to play it because they know they can't play games on the days that mom works. I didn't even have to discuss it with them. But of course 6:30 am Friday morning Nicholas was up ready to play. Here are the pictures taken in the Murray park across the street from where we live. The first one is the one chosen as the gift for their dad.







Here it is, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle video game.

Friday night our stake sponsored a Father/Son camp out. Grandpa Foutz was gracious enough to take the boys. They all seemed to have a good time and the boys especially enjoyed chopping wood and roasting marshmallows. While the boys were out roughing it I went out with my mom and my sister Carmen. The girls enjoyed each others company and ate a wonderful meal at Red Lobster. I indulged on fried shrimp and scampi, Mom enjoyed the fried shrimp and all of you who know Carmen you guessed it, enjoyed the crab legs. It was all very yummy.

We then headed to the theater and watched the latest installment of the Ocean's series, Ocean's 13. It was very good. I really enjoyed it alot.

Saturday afternoon, the neighbors set up their slip and slide and invited the boys to join in on the fun. All of the kids had a great time and since it was so hot were able to stay cool.






This suit was given to us a few years ago and I got it out to see if it would fit Nicholas so he could wear it to his baptism. I had it cleaned this week and being so excited Nicholas couldn't wait until August to wear it, so here he is sporting his new to him suit.

Rubberband and Surfing

This weekend we kept busy doing lots of fun things, but unfortunately I forgot my camera for most of the activities so I borrowed a couple off of the Internet so this entry won't look so boring. Anyway we started off the weekend by attending a BBQ sponsored by mom and dad's stake. We ate delicious hamburgers and yummy ice cream sandwiches. They had lots of games for the children to play which the boys really enjoyed. Carmen and her boys joined us as well. We then loaded up and met at the Sandy Amphitheater where we attended the Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band concert. For those who are not familiar with this band, they are a LDS bluegrass, country, rock style band who play all different kinds of instruments. They are all very talented and very very entertaining. I absolutely thoroughly had a major blast. I loved it. The boys I know enjoyed it some but it ran a little long for them and ended kind of late, so their review isn't as optimistic. The concert was very well done and I'm so glad to have been able to go. You can visit their website and check out their music at www.shupe.net.


Saturday morning Nicholas, Andrew and I participated in a stake primary activity. The children were split up into different groups and went to four stations where they did activities which helped them to understand the story of Alma hiding from King Noah and teaching the people in the wilderness. The activity was well done and all of the children seemed to really have a fun time. Saturday evening Carmen and I took our boys to watch the new penguin movie "Surf's Up". It was an interesting approach to a movie in that most of the movie was an interview with all of the characters. The main story line is about a penguin surfer from Antarctica who goes to a tropical island and competes in a surf contest and learns what is really most important in life. I thought it was good and the boys enjoyed it as well. The highlight for me was neither Nicholas nor Andrew had go take a bathroom break so I actually saw the whole movie.





This is Nicholas' newest and latest "trick". I'm not sure how he can do this without getting a huge headache, but he seems to be fine because he does it all of the time now.

Nicholas taking a picture of himself.

He's not mad at the hot dog he just didn't want me to take his picture. Shh, don't tell anyone I took this picture of Andrew, he doesn't know.

CHEESE! Burying my feet in the sand.


CHEESE!

CHEESE AGAIN! Burying my feet in the sand.

Nicholas' shadow

Nicholas and Andrew with their friend, Michael, from the ward. Michael comes over on occasion to help the boys with one of their video games. Michael has already completed this particular game so he can help the boys in places where they can't figure what to do next. Michael is a good kid and loves to be idolized by Nicholas and Andrew.

YES! Summer Vacation Has Arrived

One of my goals has been to update my blog. I have toiled over and over about how to do it without being totally overwhelmed and came up with just starting with what we are doing now instead of trying to backtrack. So here we are with summer vacation starting. The boys finished school on Thursday May 31 and I decided to start it off with a bang by going to LAGOON, Utah's very own amusement park. I was a little nervous to take them on my own so I asked their dad to accompany us and he agreed to do so. I thought Friday June 1st would be a good day to go since many of the other schools were still in session and the really hot weather isn't quite here yet. We did have an amazingly fun day and hopefully will be well remembered. So here are some of the fun things we did at LAGOON.

Here the boys are riding on the Carousel that was built 110 years ago.




Nicholas and Andrew on the swing ride called Turn of the Century



Bumper Cars




Flying Aces Ride




While in the Pioneer Village of course we had to stop in honor of Mom.






Train Museum in the Pioneer Village



After we got thoroughly soaked riding Rattlesnake Rapids