CERTainly a Surprise

I sent Jefferson off to a community training last night, and this is how he looked when he returned home:


I might have been upset or scared by his appearance if I hadn't known that this "injury" was a result of playing an earthquake victim in a CERT (community emergency response team) training. Don't they do a great job making it look realistic!

Jefferson had played a victim once before during our neighborhood training and LOVED it; he did such a good job that the CERT team requested him by name for this last exercise (the coordinator lives in our ward). I'm sure that Jefferson's natural flair for the dramatic helps him to be a convincing victim :)

We Survived!

The weather forecast for the week is in the 50 to 60 degree range, so I believe it's safe to say that the days of seeing 100+ heat are behind us for another six months. After living away from the heat for so long, we were concerned about how our family would "weather" our first Dixie summer......but I think we pulled through with flying colors!

How did we do it? By spending as much time as possible in the water! Swimming pools, lakes, and rivers became some of our favorite spots to visit from June to August.

Here are some pictures I found while going through my files which chronicles some of our water adventures; I have to confess that we had so much fun together, I'm actually looking FORWARD to the return of the hot weather so we can do it all again :)

Back Seat Driver

Someone in the family has been telling me how to drive lately:



Yes, my two year old has become a back seat driver.

As I was driving past our church yesterday, Mathison piped up, "You'd better slow down Mom, there's a stop sign up ahead!"

A few minutes later, we approached a stop light and my toddler gave me this additional advice, "The light is red now - we need to wait for it to turn green before we can go."

Good grief.

Next thing I know, he'll be telling me how fast/slow I should drive!

Livin' Las Vegas

As part of the recent UEA break, we decided to take the family for an overnight trip to Vegas. It was a lot of fun!

First, we visited my sister Leesha and her family on Sunday evening. We took a tour of their new house and played at a nearby park. We had a very nice time, but I didn't have my camera and didn't take any pictures of this part :(

Afterwards, we visited the Las Vegas strip.

The first stop was the Bellagio. We went inside and viewed the fall gardens:

We saw the world's largest chocolate fountain (which our hungry teenager looked at with longing):

Of course, we also took in a couple of water shows:

Mathison was captivated by the fountains!

The next morning we swam at our condo, then loaded up for some lunch and a bit of shopping. Afterwards, we went to the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. It was perfect; there were no crowds and plenty of rides for the big and little kids alike.

DEl and I taking a small break while the kids check out the attractions:

Mathison hamming it up for the camera:

Waiting in line for the bumper cars:

Krissia can make driving a bumper car look glamorous:

Jefferson finally gets his turn behind the wheel:

Traffic jam:

There were plenty of rides for Mathison to choose from; he loved them all!

The family favorite was the roller coaster:

The girls are ready:

DEl and Jefferson looking excited for their turn:

It was a perfect little getaway - we really enjoyed ourselves. I took several photos of our activities because sadly, times like this will become fewer as our childrn continue to grow older and busier. Already, Bronson often opts to stay home due to work and school; it makes me sad that our times of going places as an entire family are drawing to a close :(

Love at First Sight

This is our 12-year-old, Jefferson:

Isn't he cute? He attends Sunrise Ridge Intermediate School. While attending a Thunderbolt class at his school three weeks ago, Jefferson fell in love.

Madly. Deeply.

The first time they touched, Jefferson knew it was a match made in heaven. He's been unable to keep his hands to himself ever since:

Yes, Jefferson is in LOVE with the classical guitar.

Although he's been playing only a short time, Jefferson has already learned 7-8 chords. He is also using his fingers to strum the strings, rather than using a pick. His teacher is quite impressed with how quickly Jefferson is picking up the technique and has already begun to send music home for him to learn.

As soon as Jefferson gets home from school, he settles down in the living room to spend some quality time with his new-found love:

I hope this "love" is here to stay :)

A Hot Time at Warm Springs

The Beatty Family Reunion was held last Saturday at a place called Warm Springs, a church-owned property near Moapa, Nevada. Warm Springs is literally out in the middle of nowhere, and I was somewhat skeptical of what we were walking into until we arrived. It was charming! There were two natural spring pools, large fields of grass to run on, and streams meandering throughout a property ringed by huge palm trees.

We had a great time hanging out with family members, and here are some pictures showing how we spent our day:

Playing games in the pool:

Mathison loved his balloon:

Friendly competition with games:

Spending time with cousins:

Exploring the streams and "jungle" paths:


We had a wonderful time, and I can't wait to return!

Bathtime Buddies

Mathison enjoys hanging out with Jefferson, as he is the closest in age to him. Jefferson is usually very patient with his little brother - even though he can be a nuisance sometimes. Whenever Jefferson pays special attention to Mathison, it certainly makes his day.
This picture was taken Friday evening. Jefferson had just returned home from swimming at a friend's house and offered to let Mathison take a bath with him (Jefferson kept his swimming suit on). I got both boys situated in the gigantic master tub.....and the fun commenced. It was great to hear their laughter echoing upstairs as I hurried to fold some laundry during the few minutes before I needed to get Mathison out of the tub and ready for bed.

Suddenly, the laughter ceased. As I wondered what had caused the fun to come to such an abrupt halt, I heard Jefferson yell,"Oooh, Mathison - that's gross. We DON'T pee in the bathtub!"

I think Mathison may have lost his bath time buddy - at least until he's potty trained!

Second Time Around

Krissia competed once again in the Miss Utah's Outstanding Teen Pageant.

And once again, she took 2nd runner-up. Way to go, Kris!

There were more contestants this time, and some very stiff competition. Krissia did great; she was so poised on stage and looked absolutely stunning. She won a talent award this year for her piano piece and was given a huge trophy and $250 cash for this achievement. Krissia also won a $1500 scholarship for getting in the royalty.

Here are some pictures of Saturday night:Krissia was so happy that her Grandma Gubler and Aunt Nikki were able to come support her!

Jefferson has cheered for Krissia both years she's competed.

Krissia's cousin Halli was able to be her "little miss". She was adorable!

Krissia was lucky enough to have her best friend from Price, Meg, compete with her this year.

"Mr. Preteen Utah"

Krissia with our good friends Jesi Gurney (Miss CEU 2009) and Kayla Barcleigh (Miss Utah 2008)

Krissia's biggest fan....and sponsor :)

A big thanks to Martha, who was Krissia's backstage hostess, and to all of you who came and watched the pageant. We appreciate your support!

I Can't Believe I Did That!

One of the blogs I read regularly features a segment called "Not Me! Monday" where readers can share some of the "oops" moments they have had throughout the week. I read a few of the funny stories on Monday, thinking it had been some time since I had done anything stupid or acted like an airhead.

Little did I know that my turn to do something embarrassing was just around the corner.

I was in Wal-Mart, picking up some last-minute items before our trip. I was in the middle of the food section when I realized we needed some more string cheese (one of Mathison's favorite foods). I backtracked a few aisles, parked the cart, and grabbed several of the sticks before returning to my shopping. I had probably put another 3 or 4 items in the basket before realizing that I was pushing around somebody else's cart. I had totally grabbed the wrong cart after getting the cheese sticks and didn't even notice it for a good 7-10 minutes!

As I made my way back to the cheese section, I wondered if my cart would still be there. I wondered if my purse - and especially, WALLET - would be there. I wondered what the other shopper had done when they discovered their cart was missing.

To my relief, my cart was sitting right where I'd parked it - with my purse and wallet still inside. I'd begun transferring my items from the "stolen" cart to my cart when an older gentlemen approached and silently began to help me; apparently, it was his cart I'd just returned. I gave an embarrassed laugh and tried to make light of the situation by saying, "I just accidentally took your cart for a little joyride."

He did NOT think it was funny. Without saying one word or acknowledging me in any way, he grabbed his cart and headed in the other direction as fast as he could.

Maybe he thought I had taken his cart on purpose.

What makes this situation even more embarrassing is that fact that when I first walked up to the string cheese bin, I saw his cart (minus the shopper) next to it and thought that I really needed to be careful or I could end up grabbing the wrong cart by mistake when I was finished with the cheese.

Aaargh!