Summer Days with the Youngbergs

We are so blessed to have such incredible friends, the Youngberg family.  They are the most wonderful people and we love having them in our lives.  Our kids match up in ages almost exactly, Gavin and Hailey are 15 months apart, but everyone else is within a few months and are in the same grade.  What are the odds!

We have been lucky enough to spend some fun times with them this summer - Thanksgiving Point, zoo, park, Arctic Circle for shakes, running through the sprinkles, eating sno cones.  It's been a great summer!  Thanks, Youngbergs!

FHE Goals

Greg and I have been trying sooooo hard with family scripture study and family home evening.  I really hope we are getting blessing for making an effort and being consistent, because the reverence or quality isn't quite there yet.
We decided that too many of our family home evenings were revolving around being nice, helping around the house, etc., and while that isn't bad, we felt like we were missing a great opportunity to teach doctrines of the Gospel to our kids.  We hope all the other things will fall into place when our family understands Gospel principles better.  That's the hope - we are still waiting on that!
The goal (and now that I am making this public, I will have to do better!) is to base our family home evenings on what we are reading during family scripture study.  I really want my kids to understand and love the scriptures.  It is sometimes hard to love the scriptures at 6:45 in the morning when your brother is reading his verse in a completely monotone voice as fast as he can!  So, while we will push through the actual scriptures, we are supplementing it with lessons each week that discuss and delve deeper into what we are reading.  Wish us luck in this mighty adventure!
We are currently reading in Mosiah.   I love Mosiah!  I feel like it is one of the easier books to understand in the Book of Mormon.  And I love King Benjamin - he is one of my favorites! 
Our family home evening was two fold today.  We went on a field trip to the back yard.  We stood on the grass and listed all the things we could see as we slowly turned in a circle.  We then climbed into the play tower (like King Benjamin's tower) and did the same thing.  The kids were amazed at how much more they could see when they really paid attention.  We then talked about how much more the prophet can 'see' than we can.  That is why we follow the prophet even when it is hard, confusing or even easy.  He will guide us better than we can guide ourselves.
We followed this short lesson by talking about Mosiah 2:17 - serving others.  We gathered around the table and each person made a list of four things we could do that week to serve another person.  We came up with some great things.  For each item on our list we were able to add a section to our own King Benjamin tower.  The kids participated well, partly because they could eat their rice krispie tower when we were done.

It was great!  Next week will still be on King Benjamin because we are not moving through the scriptures too fast.  I'm hoping we can keep this up!

BBQ at the Steenecks

 

One of the best things about living in Lehi is having family so close.  We are so blessed to live near most of Greg's family.  Tonight, we got together with the Steenecks for a BBQ and horseback riding.  So fun!
Dinner was so yummy and Doug did a great job with the burgers, but it was the visiting and the horses that was the highlight.  Steenecks are so fun and energetic and we love talking to them.  The kids love them and Greg and I have always looked up to them.
After dinner, the kids had fun on the farm.  Guard found an egg in the chicken coup, Enoch explored the new improvements on the barn and Kate and Guard were able to ride the horses.

We had a wonderful time - a great way to end the summer.  Thanks, Steenecks!

"I got a poke in my eye."

 

Last night while I was doing the dishes, I heard Guard screaming in the backyard.  Greg soon came in carrying Guard, who was covering his eye with his hand.  He kept yelling, "I got a poke in my eye!"  What happened??  Apparently, Greg and Guard were play

 

ing magic wands with sticks while jumping on the trampoline.  Umm...what part of that is a good idea?  It didn't end well.
For the rest of the night, Guard wouldn't open his eye, or even move his hand that was covering his eye.  He was whimpering all evening and had a hard time falling asleep.  This is not like Guard - he has a very high pain tolerance.  I knew we would be going to the doctor the next morning.
After visiting with the pediatrician for 30 seconds, he send us to a child ophthalmologist.  The pediatrician said he could see a scratch right across his cornea and he didn't even want to touch it - we needed the expert.  That didn't sound good to me and I'll admit, it made me nervous.
Luckily, we found Dr. Price in American Fork who squeezed us in that afternoon.  After taking a picture of his eye ball (that was about as much fun as it sounds like!), the scratch was very obvious.  It was huge!
Dr. Price seemed very unconcerned though.  He told Greg and I that eyes heal very well and quickly, especially in children, and he thought the scratch would be healed in a matter of a few days.  What a relief!  Guard got a band-aid on his eye in the form on a contact - he was very excited to tell Gavin he had a contact just like his.  We also left with instructions for eye drops four times a day.

Guard did so well getting his contact in and letting Dr. Price look at his eye.  The entire office was so impressed with how well he behaved while his eye was being examined.  He did so great, Mom and Dad took him out for his favorite ice cream - orange with rainbow sprinkles from Sub Zero.

We visited Dr. Price three more times before the contact came out.  Not going to lie - the eye drops were a huge pain.  It took at least two of us, sometimes three to hold Guard down to put them in.  Greg put one in and said it really did sting for about 30 minutes, so I can understand why Guard fought them.
At our last visit, Dr. Price, said all looks great and he healed completely.  Thank goodness!
No more stick magic wands!

Scattered Thoughts

 

1.  Such a bad picture, but I love it anyway.  Kate is such a daddy's girl.  She still loves to snuggle on his lap and be with him.  Greg loves it too!

2.  In my Primary class today, we made crowns.  We took turns being the King or Queen and everyone else in the class said something nice about the King or Queen.  The kids loved it!  When Enoch saw Kate's simple crown after church, he decided he wanted one too.  But, he was going to make his own and make it cool.  Enoch knows how to do cool.  It turned out great.  Love the 3D!  Such a creative kid - where did he get it?!

3.  Band Camp is killing Gavin.  Eight to five, Monday to Friday, in the sun, marching.  He's exhausted.

The Rope Swing

When we were making the decision about buying our lot, we walked most of it, but honestly, we didn't cover every inch of it.  It's a big lot (.7 acres) and some of it is very wooded.  I know that it sounds crazy but we based our decision mostly on prayer and guidance from the Spirit and not the exact layout of the lot.
After the sale went through, we decided we needed to see what we got.  We put on our sneakers to avoid all the pokies and walked the whole thing.  After a few minutes of wandering, Enoch started yelling for all of us to come and see.  Just across our property and over the creek (that runs the entire length of our backyard), there was a rope swing.

The kids were so excited!  They were already making plans.

We had to remind them that even the swing in almost in our yard - its not.  It is in the park and it is public property.  That means they get to share.

Still - so much fun!  We are loving our lot!