Kids are now in school-YEAH!!!

Well we are almost to the end of the first 2 weeks of school. So far so good. I have spent quite a bit of time with Emily's new teacher. I am room parenting her class this year. Both Lindy and Katie's teachers seem really good as well. So far I haven't had the chance to spend too much time with them. Hopefully when things start getting to a normal routine I'll get to spend time with them. They all seem to be fitting in well with the new language program. So far it is just review, but they seem to be doing well with their teachers. Haley started preschool and will begin gymnastics on Tues. It will start an hour before her preschool class, so she'll just go straight to her class afterwards. I'm so excited for her because this is the perfect way for her to vent out all her energy. I'm also excited for me because it means an extra hour by myself. I'm starting to adjust to having all 4 in school. It is quite strange, but I have kept myself very busy with work, school and wow I've actually had time to clean the house. I think I'm liking alone time. So far I haven't been bored at all! I'm hoping this will free up time to scrapbook again. Yeah, only time will tell!

Lindon Days Parade

Today our girls got to participate in the Lindon Days parade.Haley's new Preschool "My Smart World" had a train going through the parade and they invited all of the girls to join. It was really hot, but the girls had a lot of fun. They had clowns that traveled with them with squirt guns so the girls were able to stay COOL!

Our Cute Little Haley waving good-bye at the end of the parade!!!

Glenwood Springs

We took a trip with Norm last weekend to Glenwood Springs. He had to meet with an ad agency so we took advantage of the situation and went with him. We stayed at the hot springs lodge and mostly swam. We went on the water slides at the hot springs.

The car started making funny noises while Norm went to his meeting so he got it checked out. We needed a new air compressor on top of many other things adding up to $1400. This turned out to be quite an expensive trip, but we made the most of it. While we waited for the car to be fixed we went up to Glenwood Caverns
It was quite a sight. They take you up the mountain on an enclosed ski-lift and there is a cute little western town at the top. We went on an Alpine Roller Coaster and sifted for gemstones. The tour of the cavern was beautiful and quite cool. It was so hot up there that it was nice to be in a cold cave for a while. As you can see it was very scenic. We had a really great time!!

Our really difficult Summer

We seem to be getting bad news one right after another this summer. It has been quite difficult to stay focused on anything good lately. When you think nothing could possibly be worse than something bad happens again. Well some of which has been going on is this:

Just your everyday things seem to be going wrong lately. Little things that don't seem much until you pile them on to each other.

We just got news that our director Mr. Brooks is leaving our school. We have all been very fond of him. He was offered a job to run a school in Switzerland. It sounds like a really fun opportunity for him and his family, but sad that we will be losing him. We are a little afraid of the change but are open to see what comes. Sometimes change is the best thing.

Last Tues. we found out that our new house has been sold. The new owners will be moving in next week some time. This is devisating and heart breaking. Last Feburary we were very much directed by the spirit to build this new home and everything just went perfectly. About August things weren't feeling the same and we couldn't seem to sell our current home. In October when the house was done our loan fell apart. All around the country the loan market crashed and we suddenly found ourselves without any loan programs that existed for us. We've held on this far to hopefully get our dream home, but realizing that this was in the Lord's hands and not our own. Although we are very sad and not quite sure why we were told to build this home to begin with (We may never know, but we are more dependent on the Lord now for all of our decisions), we are relieved to be able to move on and not hold on to something we just don't know the outcome on. I went to the temple to hopefully get some direction and guidence on this so that I can focus on the good things. As I sat and waited for 45 minutes to get into the next session, I picked up the scriptures, opened them randomly, and read on. I kept being taken to a certain scripture that I know the Lord keep trying to direct me to. It is D&C 5:32: Yea, for this cause I have said: Stop, and stand still until I command thee, and I will provide means whereby thou mayest accomplish the thing which I have commanded thee. Even though this was told to Joseph Smith concerning the lost pages, We know now that the Lord wants us to stay put for a season (however long that may be). We both have strong faith and trust that the Lord has a great plan for us and we have to be patient (which I'm constinaly told I must be) and let him prepare the way for us as we prepare ourselves. It seems so dificult to see Gods plan the mist of all our earthly desires. It doesn't seem to far fetched to me to want a bigger home where my children can have room to grow and we can actually find room for things we want, have and need. But maybe our family needs to grow closer in these tight spaces that we currently have before we are allowed to expand our wings and have something bigger and more comfortable. Perhaps the place that the Lord needs us most isn't ready for us now, or are we ready for it. For now we will be content to stay in our small and cozy home.

We have decided to do some remodeling. Norm has torn up the downstairs bathroom. We are down to a bare concrete floor for now. He will soon be digging it up for plumbing. This is a good opportunity for us to learn new things and of course demolition does really help with the frustration. I know I really poured my heart out, this was very theriputic. For our family and friends, we want you to know that even though it does feel like life falls apart quite often, the Lord is aware of our every move and he is there to help us and direct us. We are never ALONE!!!

Girls off to Colorado

All 4 girls took a trip to Colorado to see Norm's grandparents on June 10-17. They went with Norm's 2 sisters Cheryl and Tina. They had a great time. They took one day and went to an alligator farm. Haley held a snake and petted a turanchala. They all got to hold an alligator. They also went to the sand dunes, which is a national park a little ways from Grandma Culler's house. They ran into Norm's old friend and surrogate brother Brad, his wife Kim and their 2 kids Matt and Hailey. Matt is now driving and Hailey although 4 months older than Katie is twice as big as her. Norm and I were quite jealous because we haven't seen them since Lindy was 4 months old. Norm and I had a great time alone for 8 days. It was really weird, but did make us realize that we are going to have a lot of fun when the kids are grown and gone. We spent the weekend up in Park City at the Hotel Park City. We had our own hot tub on the balcony that overlooked the golf course and had dinner at Ruth's Chris. YUMMY FOOD!!!

School Is Finally Out!!!!!!

Summer is Here at last!! I never thought I would be so excited that school was over and I get a summer home with the girls. With all the extras I've been doing at the school, I'm glad to have a break too. Friday was the last day. Emily received a kindergarten diploma and was the only one of the girls with straight A's. Yeah Emily!!!



Lindy recieved some awards as well and actually graduated from the 3rd grade. Watch out upper grade here comes Lindy.

Katie spent the day playing games with her teacher. Wow she's now in the 6th grade. Sad moment for mommy. She's getting so big so fast. This is her on the last day with her 5th grade teacher Mrs. Gulledge:

Update

Sorry I haven't been the best at keeping up our posts. Life has been really crazy lately. I'm looking forward to school being over in 2 weeks. Here's the latest on what we've been up to. Hope you enjoy.

Disneyland

We just got back from our trip to Disneyland. We were there for Rachel's 35th Birthday. We had a fantastic time. Click below on the picture to view our first 2 days there. We haven't yet downloaded the last 2 days. The green shirts were day 1 and the yellow shirts are day 2.

Disney run with Jenna

Here are a few vidoes of our trip as well.

This is Haley, Rachel and Emily on Gadget's Go Coaster. A small Roller Coaster one that Rachel can handle.



This is our sweet Haley on Casey Jr's Train (She was being sweet this day)


As you can see it was a really good trip. It was really hot and we made several trips to the swimming pool. Thurs. (Rachel's birthday) we left the park early and went to the Beach. We got there just as it was getting dark. There were several people with campfires on the beach and it was beautiful! Could'nt have asked for a better birthday. If you noticed we picked up a 5th girl on our trip. This is Katie's best friend Jenna. She had never been to Disneyland before and just loved it. We really enjoyed having her with us. It made for a new adventure to Disneyland. On the last day, Saturday we went to the Priate's Dinner Theatre.

It cost quit a bit but very worth it. When pictures are downloaded we will post them of the dinner. The girls, Katie, Jenna and Lindy got to be part of the show. We went back to disneyland right after and watched Fantasmic.

It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip. We will be returning soon in October with Ben, Robyn and Connor. Hopefully we will also be joined by Mom and Dad. Can't wait!!

Katie's 11th Birthday

Katie unfortunatly did not have the week off for her birthday so we spent the evening at the Lehi City pool. This is the first time we had ever been there and the girls had a blast. The pictures below are of the pool and not the girls. We didn't think to bring a camera that night but this pool was too good to not show it off.

Katie shared her family birthday party with Lindy the weekend before. She got her own icecream cake and lots of presents too. She got an MP3 player as well and an American Girl doll. She also got far too many things to list. I think that she had a great birthday as did her sister!!

Lindy's 9th Birthday

Lindy spend her birthday on Spring break and Norm was in Denver, so Tina, Cheryl and Rachel took the 4 girls to Hoogle Zoo for her birthday. She had a GREAT time. We went to Chili's for dinner afterwards. She had a family party on Sunday when Norm was back home. She got a camera, an MP3 player and many more gifts. Cheryl made her a funny cake that literaly broke her hands. (she sliced her finger and burned her hand). She had a great time! Cheryl and Lindy both took lots of pictures, Sorry we don't have them downloaded yet, but they will come soon.

13th Anniversary

For our 13th Anniversary we went to Anniversary Inn in Logan.

We ate at the Hamelton's Steak House. VERY Yummy Food!!! Then spend the night in the Sea Cave room. We had a great time!!

Sad News

The night before we left for our aniversary trip we got disturbing news. Our cat Hobbs who has been with us since the beggining was hit by a car. She was 13. She is very missed by all of us and her playmate Sparkles (who is just barely coming around to the idea of being an only pet).

Princess on ice

We took the girls to the Princess on Ice show in Salt Lake March 14th. Haley couldn't wait until they brought Cinderella out. Of course she was the last one. All the girls really enjoyed seeing their favorite princesses.

Church News

We Are Famous!!
Norm, Rachel and Emily are in the Church News!!
See us in March 8th issue. We are on page 6 in the article about the MTC. Emily spends alot of volunteer hours at the MTC and they took our picuture one Monday we dropped her off to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson. CHECK IT OUT!!!