CAUTION!

It's that time of the year, when the unsuspecting girls of dating age need to be CAUTIOUS! Homecoming is a couple of weeks away, and the boys are asking for dates! Trevon just turned sixteen, which allows him to group date. He is not nearly as excited to date as Cari was. However, thanks to some encouragement from his good friends, he mustered up enough courage to go for it. This past week, he asked a girl to Homecoming!

He wanted a clever way to ask, and decided to ask with caution tape and his body outline taped to Lauren's living room floor. He made a poster to get across his point, and left his identity hidden behind a TOBLERONE candy bar. His friends were more than happy to help him in his quest for a date.

Now Trevon needs to be the cautious one, waiting for a reply. Hopefully this coming week, he'll get the answer that he's waiting for!

Watch out for these little boys! My neighbor and I switch off caring for our boys while we do parent helping at the elementary school. This past week as the boys were playing, I went outside to find one holding the hose, calling out to the other to "turn it on!" Dad had told them NOT to turn the water on....but they instantly forgot! These guys have a lot of fun together and I'm glad Corban has a friend nearby to play with.

Watch out for the chickens!!! In the morning we usually let the chickens out of their coop. They scratch around the orchard and hide in the bushes, and under the fishing boat in the shade. Today I found one sitting in the stroller! They have begun to lay eggs. We found one on Wednesday and one Friday. I'm sure that before long, we'll have them by the dozen. The rooster is waking us nicely each morning, but unfortunately he never takes a day off! Today I woke with a start bright and early! Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!

Birthday Fun

We celebrated two special birthdays this week. Trevon turned SIXTEEN which means he will have more privileges and responsibilities to face. He was so busy with school, Driver's Ed, Pep Band, and Cross Country that we hardly saw him on his birthday. Cari decorated his locker at school and I left something "sweet" in his room. At the very end of the day, we gathered for some homemade carrot cake and vanilla ice cream. A BIG thank you to Corban for his help with the cake...BOTH of them.

I spent a day making both Trevon's and Elise's birthday cakes. Elise had a Princess Party on Saturday and wanted a castle cake. I obliged. I also made a pinata for her party. Except for the few burns I ended up with from the glue gun I used...it turned out great. Again, Corban helped me with this project. Sadie too.

Elise believes that princesses have breakfast in bed. She requested that I make her pancakes and scrambled eggs that she could eat in her bed. Again, I obliged. It was her first breakfast in bed and she thoroughly enjoyed it! She even shared some with her brothers!

We made some final party preparations and then her princess friends arrived (looking quite beautiful in their dresses). We played with balloons. We played musical crowns, Don't eat the Princess!, a matching game, a guessing game, and hit the pinata.



The girls ate finger sandwiches with lemonade, and then had cake and ice cream. Elise enjoyed her party and the nice gifts she received too. Her friends were given a necklace, ring, bubbles, fruit snacks, fruit roll-ups, and a candy bar.

I was glad to have Mike home from work and our older children help too. We had fun working and playing together. Thankfully, I had some "royal" decorations saved from a princess party I gave for Cari MANY years ago. They added a nice touch!

Oklahoma Family

Thursday night we went to a wedding reception for Clay and Dallen Shumway. Clay is the son of Mike's cousin Bryant. We didn't realize Clay lived near us until we received his wedding announcement. It was soooooo fun to be able to attend the reception and meet up with our "OKIE" relatives. Mike especially enjoyed visiting with his uncle Dave, aunt Mocella, cousins Bryant, Kara and Jill. Dave is brother to Mike's mom.

At the reception, COLD STONE CREAMERY catered. They had a variety of ice cream flavors and toppings to chose from. It was a nice treat for a warm summer's night. Elise loves to dance and danced the night away...Corban joined her as we visited with our Oklahoma family.


As we left the reception, I couldn't help but think of how blessed we are to be a part of a wonderful extended family. It was great visiting with some of them!

Back to School

It is VERY quiet at our house these days! No more playing dress-up with friends, watching library movies or messing up the house! Well, mostly anyway. Corban still can mess up the house in no time with his books and toys.
Emilie and Elise dressed for a play they made up:

The kids are all officially back in school! They seem to like their schedules and teachers. It looks like it will be a great year for each of them. These photos are of their first day of school.

Corban keeps me company during the day - or am I keeping HIM company? Either way, we've enjoyed our time together. He loves to play in the sandbox and to blow bubbles. He also likes for me to read books to him. He's gone on a few rides in the stroller too. I'm going to be helping a neighbor by watching her three young children twice a week. I'm sure that will add to our fun.
Corban enjoys eating popsicles too:

This past week we said good-bye to Nanami. We gave some gifts to her that we thought she would enjoy. I made her an accordion picture book of her stay with us. We also gave her a Book of Mormon written in Japanese. She was excited to have this, as we would read this together every night in our family. We also gave her candy, gum, crackers, and other souvenirs. Trevon was gone running in a cross country meet.

There was a Sayonara Party on Wednesday night. All of the students stood and shared a speech in English about their stay in Utah. They also sang "It's a Small World" for us in English and Japanese. There were two really big toy lions that were won in Las Vegas on their visit there (Monday). The lions were not invited to go home with the group though. They didn't have airplane tickets! All of the kids at the Sayonara who were younger than eight were invited to play "rock-paper-scissors" for a chance at winning a big feline. Cameron won by using "paper." He said he thought most people would choose "rock" because it was hard. He was right. The kids have had fun playing with the lion and it will be a BIG reminder of our friend Nanami.

Thursday morning I dropped her off and Corban gave her a big hug goodbye. So did I.

Today I had Trevon practice his driving, in anticipation of his upcoming birthday and the big DRIVER's LICENSE privilege that comes with it. While we were gone Elise wrote me a sweet note. She currently likes to write in capitol letters. This is what her note looked like:

DER MOM I LUV YOU SO MUCH
WIN YOU LEV IM SAD
YOU R THE BEST MOM EVR
BKUS YOU R NOT MEN I LUV YOU

I'm glad she thinks I'm not "mean." I loved getting her sweet note of affection. In return, I gave her a BIG hug and counted her as one of my greatest blessings in the world. Being a mom is great!

Week in Review

We had a visit from my dad last week, and then from Papa and Grandma Beutler. It was wonderful to listen to Papa share his special experiences of missionary work with us. He is a great example to each one of us. Grandma made us some delicious peach cobbler Sunday night. All the peaches in the orchards around us are ripening now.

On Monday night we went out to dinner (at Bajio), had dessert at Costco, and watched a "movie" in Japanese at the temple visitor's center. It was a fun evening for all.

Papa brought us a small guitar and a ukulele on his visit. He gave Trevon some lessons too. Trevon picked it up quickly and has enjoyed learning to play some chords. I even caught him playing and singing "Hey, good lookin; what'chya got cookin..." just like Papa does!

Corban was Papa's buddy and enjoyed taking naps with him, playing and singing too.

Mid week, we enjoyed listening to Nanami play the piano and spending time with her. She will be heading home to Japan this next week and we will miss her. Cari is a member of the Youth City Council for Hurricane. She had a City Council meeting this week and sat in between two councilmen in front of the meeting. It was interesting for her to participate in the goings-on of the city and to hear her "report" of the meeting. She has an "official looking" shirt and attends regular meetings. The past week she has also helped with a city service project as part of her responsibilities. Mike, Trevon and I also got to participate by offering our muscle to the project. We "played" on Friday night at the Washington Recreation Center, at a patient appreciation night given by our orthodontist. It didn't even hurt when the big water bucket tipped over and poured out above me. Since then, we've enjoyed some rain in the area. The nights and mornings are cooling off and we're thankful for the beauty of where we live.