Jake's Birthday Party!

For Jake's birthday party he invited two of his friends to sleep over and then Matt took them to Logandale to go riding in the Rhino.
This is Jake and his 2 best buddies. They came over Friday night and ate pizza, a lot of pizza. Later they had rootbeer floats and homemade doughtnuts per Jake's request. They stayed in Jake's room most of the night hanging out and playing with the new toys the boys gave him for his birthday. It made for a quiet evening.

As I mentioned Jake wanted homemade doughnuts instead of cake. So I made them for him and then I had to figure out how to put 8 candles into a pile of doughnuts. Here is how it turned out.

I missed taking a picture when he blew out his candles so I ask Jake to recreate the moment for me. I think he made it quite believable. What do you think?

Saturday morning the boys were up by 6:45am. So we got up and made them breakfast, packed their lunch and snacks and got things packed up in the truck.

They actually saw a tortosie walking in the sand when they were out riding. The boys thought that was pretty cool. There was also a lot of rock throwing and rolling down sandy hills. You know the usual boy stuff.
This is the boys ready to get going standing in front of the Rhino.

They got home around 4pm. After dropping of his friends Jake and Matt quickly got cleaned up and headed out to buy Jake his new bike. He has been saving up for quite some time to pay for half of his bike. As soon as they got home he and Matt made a few adjustments to the bike and Jake rode it until alomost 9pm when we told him he had to come in the house.

Here he is with his new sweet ride.

I asked Jake "How was your birthday?" His response was "I loved it. It was awesome. It was the best birthday ever!"

I say "Mission accomplished".

Jake turns 8!!

For Jake's birthday this year I thought I would post some pictures of him in his younger years and some fun memories. (Again none before 2005 when our digital world began.)

This picture was taken at the L.A. Zoo. Jake is standing near the flamingos and judging by his facial expression he does not like the smell. We laugh about this picture all the time.

This is one of my favorites. He was so proud of himself learning to write his name and sound words out. It says "I LF U MOM" That means "I love you mom". In case you couldn't figure it out.

A handsome little man on Easter.


This picture is from his 4th birthday party. As you can see it is a Batman party. Jake wanted to send his Grandpa's invitations even though he knew they could not come. My dad lived in Utah 8 hours away and Matt's dad was in Iraq. My dad came anyway without telling us and surprised us. We answered the door and there stood my awesome dad dressed as Batman. The best part was when we asked Jake "Who is that?" (thinking he would say Grandpa) he said "It's Batman!!"

The next picture is of Jake riding his quad with all his riding gear. He loves to ride.
Random picture of his silliness.
Jake and I at his Kindergarten "Mother's Day Tea Party" He had to draw a picture of what I look like and fill out a form about my favorite things.
A picture of him at the beach one summer. He really liked going to the beach even though we didn't go very often.


This is Jake on his 7th birthday loving his new LEGOS. Notice the missing tooth.

My handsome son!!

It is truly hard to believe that Jake is 8 years old. It seems like just a short time ago he was colicky and not sleeping through the night. He has turned into a little man. He is so smart and really enjoys learning new things and hanging out with his dad. He is a good big brother to Brandon and more often than not he and Emma have a lot of fun together.

Lately he has been noticing other kids who need a friend and trying to make them feel special even if no one else does. I love watching him be mindful of others. Jake is always ready to give me a hug and loves to share his day at school with me. He is a great son and we are truly blessed to have him in our family. As we say in our house "Jake makes my heart happy."

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!

"Helping" Dad with the Rhino

Last night Matt was in the garage working on the Rhino to get it ready for Jake's birthday on Saturday. Matt is taking Jake and 2 of his friends to Logandale to go riding for the day. The kids wanted to all help. So Matt had them help change the tires.
The impact wrench Matt was using was too loud for Brandon so when he was "helping" he closed his eyes.

Emma using all her muscles to work the jack.
Taking the old tire off.Jake posing with the impact wrench. That is a pretty awesome tool for an almost 8 year old.Jake using the impact wrench all by himself.

I like watching Matt let the kids help him with projects like this. It reminds me of all the times when I was little and I got to help my dad. I have changed the oil in cars, changed spark plugs and changed brake pads to name a few. I hope the kids have fond memories of working along side their dad too.

Emma does it again!!

Emma recieved the Citizen of the Month award last Friday. This is an award that is voted on by her classmates. Her class decided she was the one deserving of the Citizen of the Month award. I think that is quite a compliment for Emma.

You will notice from this picture of Emma and her teacher that she has a fun teacher this year. We are looking forward to another great year. Way to go Emma!!

Emma "Paula Deen" Summers

So Emma has been working on one of her goals in the Faith in God book. She had to plan and prepare 5 meals for our family. She did a great job and of course she had a blast doing it. She loves to cook anyway and frequently helps me out in the kitchen. It was an interesting experience for me to give up command of my kitchen so to speak. I don't share my kitchen very well so I had to just let things go that I would normally want to "fix". It was strange having to figure out how to tell a 10 year old how to cut tomatoes or make a white sauce.

Emma made BBQ beef cups, taco salad, mini-pizzas, pork roast and homemade rolls for Sunday dinner, and chicken alfredo. She also made dessert pizzas, and they were yummy. Fortunately for Emma I am a very simple cook so all my recipes are very easy to follow and make. Plus Emma does take direction very well. I do think though now that she has had this experience she will want to be spending more time in MY kitchen now that she is "experienced". I guess I am going to have to get used to sharing my kitchen with my sweet and talented daughter.

Here are a few pictures of the cook in action.




Doesn't she look like a pro? I really did have fun cooking with her and teaching her the little that I know about cooking and baking. Actually I really do have fun doing all kinds of things with Emma. She is a sweetheart and a real joy to have in our family. Not to mention all the great food she makes.

Boys, Tools and Bugs!!!

On Labor Day weekend, Jake and I drove to Southern California to see his best friend Jarrod Dean get baptized. We left at 6:30am and arrived at 10:oo am. We visited with my dearest friend Niccole, had lunch and then went to the baptism. Jarrod's family had an open house afterwards and a lot of the members from my old ward were there and it was so fun to see so many people. Jake had a blast hanging out with all the BOYS from our old ward. Sunday we got up and went to sacrament mtg and headed back to Las Vegas by 10:45am. It was nice to get home early enough to enjoy the rest of the day with Matt, Emma and Brandon. Although I did have fun just hanging out with Jake for the day.

This is Jake and his best buddy Jarrod Dean.

On Monday, Labor day we were busy cleaning out our office and under the stairs to better utilize all the space.

This is Matt and Jake with the TOOLS working on fixing a hole in the closet under the stairs.

Friday night Matt found a praying mantis outside. So he put it in Emma's ecodome and the kids checked out the BUG for awhile. Well, Emma and Jake checked it out Brandon didn't really want to have anything to do with it.

Here is a picture of the lovely praying mantis. I actually do think they are pretty cool.

Goodbye for now Grandpa Farrell Summers

Matt's sweet Grandfather passed away last Thursday night. We got a phone call about 3am from Matt's dad to tell us the news. So we packed everyone up and drove to Northern Utah, Tremonton to be exact, on Friday. We spent most of our time at Grandma and Grandpa's house talking with Grandma Summers and with other family that stopped by. We helped with getting things ready for the funeral also.

It broke my heart every time I saw Grandma Summers cry. She loved Grandpa Summers so much and already missed him so much it hurt. If I have my numbers correct they were married for over 65 years. What a life they had together. Not to mention all their posterity. They had 6 children, 33 grandchilren and I can't count the great granchildren but there was a lot. At the funeral just the family filled up almost the entire chapel if that gives you a better idea. The number of people that came to the viewing the night before the funeral was amazing. The viewing was to be from 6-8pm. It went well past 8:30pm and the line never had a break. It was so neat to see all the people whose lives have been touched in one way or another by Grandpa Summers. He was the only Grandfather I ever really knew. He is a wonderful grandfather to have. I will miss his laughter, his hugs and his stories of his beloved family.

We were able to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Summers in July this summer. I took this picture of them, aren't they so darling. I love that they are holding hands. Grandma Summers told me a few times this weekend that Grandpa would always say, "We could have a million dollars, but if we didn't have family we wouldn't have anything." Grandpa Summers will truly be missed.