Ballet Recital

Kambria took Dance lessons this year.  She loved it.  She would get so excited each Monday, and would have so much fun.  She would never show me what she was learning, so I kinda hoped she was actually learning stuff.  She had her pre-school program on Thursday and then Dance recital on that Friday, so after how horrible she was at her program I was terrified for her recital.  She did great.  She knew her dance, had fun and I was so proud of her.  I want her to take gymnastics, so I suggested we switch to gymnastics and she disagreed and said she loves dance and wants to do it again!

Pre-School end of year program

Kambria went to Small Wonders this year for preschool.  She loved it!  She had a blast.  She loved her teacher, she learned a lot.  She made some great friends.  She is excited to go again this next school year.

She was so excited for her program.  She sings the songs everyday and knows all the words.  That night she sat up there and barely sang and had a onery face the entire time.  It was funny!  She is a funny little girl.

Happy Fathers Day Jake!!

I am a lucky girl.  I am really lucky to be married to such an incredible guy!  Jake is such a wonderful man who is full of service, kindness, sacrifice, giving, patience, love, humor and so much more.

He will be embarrassed that I write this, but here it goes.

A few days ago I stopped by Jake's work to bring something to him.  He just moved desks into an office, so Kambria and I went in and saw his new office and visited for a bit.  On our way out we passed the victim advocates office.  I said hello to her and noticed a small boy and girl in there coloring.  I said those aren't your grand kids are they.  I was then informed they were found by themselves.  It had been several hours and no one had called in looking for there missing kids.  I was so sad.  How could anyone not notice their kids were missing or not care.  They were so darling and so well behaved.  I said Hello to them and asked if they were having fun.  They were 2.5 yrs old I found out (twins).  They said yes and smiled so big.  Happy kids.  This isn't the first time this has happened.

I was angry; angry that the Mom has done this before and still has these kids.  What else do they go through.  I wanted to bring them home so bad.  I am loving, I would love more kids, why can't I give them the love they need?????  The day went on and they were still there.  Of course you have to be a foster parent so we weren't able to take them home, they would go to a foster center and then to a loving home from there.  I was so sad.  Well finally the grandpa decided he would take them, but he didn't know how he would cook for them and didn't have much money.  So Jake, being the person he is, went and got some money from the ATM.  He asked the grandpa, "How are you going to feed these kids?"  He said he would take them to McDonald's for the next few days or figure something out.  Jake asked if he had money, he said NO, but I'll figure it out.  Jake handed him some money and said take this, and feed the kids, make sure they get fed.  The grandpa refused to take it.  Jake begged him to take it, said he wanted to give it, he wanted to make sure they were fed.  But he wouldn't take it.

I was so happy to know that Jake is so willing to help anyone and everyone.  He doesn't know these people, he didn't need to offer to help them.  He left feeling horrible.  We both worried about these kids we don't even know, because those kids deserved to be smothered with love.  I hate knowing there are way too many kids that don't get smothered in love.

Anyway, I am glad I get to be a Mom and that our family is blessed with a home to live in, money to buy food and stuff we really don't need.  I hope that those kids are being taken care of.  It makes me want to look into foster care, because I felt helpless that day!!!!!  And again I am thankful for Jake, and that he is so caring and so nice to others.  He is never rude to criminals.  There are some that really are bad people and have no care for anyone, but Jake is still nice to them.  There are others that have made bad decisions but are still good people and he lets them know that.  His co-workers look up to him and watch him.  At work they call him bishop, because he is the only LDS person and they try and test him and he never fails.  They are amazed that he doesn't swear, that he wants to spend so much time with his family, that he is so giving.  They watch him and they like who Jake is and it shows.

Happy Fathers Day to you Jake, we love you and are so glad you are in our family.  You are the best Dad and Husband we could ever ask for!!!!

 Isn't he so cute!!!!  Your welcome for putting this photo Jake.  you look half demented, and we still love you!!!

Fairview 2013

May 24, 2013

Today we woke up at home, ate some egg salad sandwiches and hit the road to go camping!  It is Memorial Weekend and we wanted to go up to Fairview lakes.  We drove by 2 weeks ago and there was still a little bit of snow, so we were hoping that with the nice weather it would be melted.  Our campground is free from snow and the enitrie mountain up to it.  There is snow in the distnace and patches here and there, but today it was so warm we didn't even need our jakets.

We got up and set up the trailer, made some hoagies and then set up the campground.  We are the first ones to come up this year.  Jake brought up the chain saw just in case, and good thing he did because a tree had fallen over and was over the fire pit, so him and Marshall chopped it up!  We now have plenty of fire food, it was a big tree.  Grandma and Grandpa Cutright and Alison and her kids surprised us and came up for the day.  We had a lot of fun.  We went fishing, although no one caught anything, caught a frog and then just hung out around the camp fire.  Jake and Marshall went and shot the BB guns, Marshall made a target and stuck it to a tree with a pocket knife; he enjoyed shooting at the target.  Jake taught Marshall how to widdle and he really enjoyed that as well!

We have a tire swing up here, it is way fun, you glide in it.  The kids played in that forever as well.  For Dinner I made Dutch Oven BBQ Pork Ribs, Cheesy Potatoes in tin foil on the coals, rice and corn on the cob, it was yummy!  For dessert we had peach cobbler in the dutch oven, Yum-O!!!

I love this camping area, each time we come up I remember why I love it so much.  It is peaceful, there is no Cell phone service, so electronics are ZERO, it is beautiful and so so so relaxing.

 Saturday, May 25th

Last night was great.  We set the heater at 65 and it only had to kick on a few times, it was super quiet.  We woke up and it was a little chilly outside but not bad at all.  We made pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  For lunch we had walking tacos and calzones in the fire for dinner.  For snack this after noon we made something new.  You cut the top of the orange and peel out the orange.  You then fill it 1/2 way with brownie batter cover in tin foil and cook over the fire.  They were yummy, they had an orange taste to them, reminded me of Christmas chocolate oranges. 

After lunch we decided to take a drive up to skyline view.  Jake wanted to take the short cut.  All I can say is good thing for new tires.  Jake was in heaven, it was pure 4 wheeling through mud and snow.  We saw a ton of deer, it was beautiful.  I only had the most major anxiety attack of my life and convinced Jake we should turn around and go the long way because the top had a lot of deep snow still!  He gladly turned around and scared the crap out of me going back down.  I was a nervous wreck, and stated I would not like out family to all die today, so he laughed and continued being crazy Jake!  I haven't ever been to the top of Skyline dr, it was abosolutely beautiful!!!

Jake didn't feel so great for a bit so he took a small rest, the kids and I played " hit the Deck".  Kambria really wanted to play, and not help but play.  I let her, and that was a lot of patience, but she had so much fun and did a great job!  We then played phase 10; I explained how to play and Marshall did awesome, Kambria wore my patience thin with that game, and we decided it was time to venture out!

Later we went walking through the trees and pushed over several dead trees, they were quite hard this year to tip over!  We walked for hours looking for frogs and had no luck, I chose the route back and quietly said, PLEASE let us find a stinkin frog (the kids were super disappointed), and what happened next, we found 3 frogs.  Just goes to prove that Heavenly Father even listens to the silliest of prayers :)  The kids and Jake were estatic, they really wanted to catch a frog.  Kambria named her frog Sophia, and Marhsall was just excited to have two.  Before we left we got a bowl to put them in and then a big cup, and we cut holes in it so they could breathe, and put the cup over the frogs so they couldn't jump out of the bowl, worked like a charm!!

We came back, had ourselves some smores, washed up a little and now it is quiet and the kids are asleep, I am typing and I can hear Jake banging something around outside.  I am still in love with this joint, so peaceful, so beautiful, the snow that is here is melting so fast and more people are starting to arrive around the campground and cabins. 

Jake just called me out and we have a deer visitor, he is eating the grass right behind the trailer, he is super close, keeps looking at us and isn't scared at all!

On our walk to saw lots of deer prints, what looked like moutain lion prints, and elk prints (they were big).  We also found a skull that looked like a beaver, a tree shelter that someone must have made and a fire pit right next to it.  Jake and the kids loved hiking, me .... I get so nervous that I look all over looking for mtn lion, bear, deer, anything that may be lurking near us haha, I wish I wan't such a pansy.  I asked Jake, how do you like being the protector of the family?  How do you like that we rely on you to take care of us if the situation were to turn scary?  He said he likes it, then asked how I like to cook for our family all the time?  And I said I like it :)  Guess its good we have our roles figured out.

Sunday, May 26th

Last night was pretty nice.  Not too cold, everyone seemed to sleep well.  We woke up and ate some breakfast burritos, then we just chilled by the fire.  We then headed out to go shoot guns.  Marshall has really been wanting to shoot a gun, we haven't taken him to do that before.  We drove up the short cut that we had taken yesterday, a ton more snow had melted, we parked and walked way down the moutain side so we were down low shooting into the hill.  Jake went over gun safety with Marshall and then they set up some targets.  The first shot Jake's handgun.  Jake shot several, then Marshall (with jake's help) shot some, Kambria shot a few and then they moved onto the AR-15.  Afterwards we climbed back up the mountain, which was very steep, and I was pulling Kambria up behind me.  We got back to the top and I thought I was going to barf, I am sooo out of shape!!  Jake then decided he wanted to go a bit higher on the mountain, so we took the side road to avoid the deep pocket of snow.  It became too snowy so we turned around.  Jake decided he wanted to try and go through the snow, I asked him please not too, but a boy has got to do what a boy has got to do and he floored it; I closed my eyes out of fear and next thing I knew we were stopped.  I opened up my eyes and we were completley stuck in the snow!  We tried and tried to get out but we were high centered (the snow was deep).  A 4 wheeler cam by and offered to help, so He and Jake began to dig a little bit, put rocks and wood under tires and nothing helped.  The wife and I got more wood and we were all so muddy.  The helping family decided to ride down to their cabin and get some shovels so we could dig ourselves out.  In the meantime we were digging out with wood and a truck happened to come up, just on a drive.  he had a tow rope, so he hooked to us and gave us one big pull, but we were still stuck, he gave us another huge tug and the rope broke and the hook flew right into his front and broke a small piece off his truck (oops).  The family then was back with shovels and Jake, him, another two men and I dug and dug and dug until we were no longer hight centered and in front of us was not super high snow.  He then gave us another tug and we came right out.  I am so thankful there are still good people in this world that are willing to help.  They were all so kind.  Another group rode by and said you look stuck, if you are still there on our way down, then maybe we will help you.  On there way down we were still stuck and they just stopped and watched.  It was a good lessen for Marshall to see how being kind and helpful is the right thing to do!!

We then came back and ate lunch and now we are all dead!

Shooting

Marshall had a blast, he loves guns and thought it was so cool.  They are lucky because Jake is a great Dad and is so patient.  He taught Marshall and Kam all about gun safety and then helped them shoot.

Jakes family has been going to Fairview Lakes since he was a kid.  We have been going since we got married.  I love it up here.  It is so beautiful and so relaxing.  We had a wonderful time and hope to go again a few times this summer.