The talk

I think that my talk went well yesterday, at least I didn't have 45 minutes to fill like the week that Joe spoke.. The week he had to speak there were 2 youth speakers,1 adult speaker and a musical number all before his turn,and all of that was finished at 25 minutes to the hour.I'm sure glad that it is over and hopefully I won't have to do it again for a while!

Speaking in Sacrament Meeting

So our Bishop call our house Monday morning and asks for Joe. I hand the phone to Joe and he talks for a few minutes and then hands the phone to me and says "It's for you" The bishop forgot that Joe just spoke last month so instead of calling someone else he says to me" I see that the last time you spoke was 3 years ago, I forgot that Joe just spoke last month so would you be willing to speak this Sunday instead?" Of course I said yes, I'm not real excited about it but at least now I will have it over with and won't have to speak again for a while I hope! Hopefully I have prepared a pretty good talk. Wish me luck!

Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone yesterday, we only had one day, so we didn't get to see nearly everything, but we had a great time and are looking forward to going again really soon!


Our first stop was Norris Geyser Basin, some really nice lady offered to take a picture for us in front of the sign.

The boys thought that the geysers were really cool! I did hear a lot of what is that smell until they saw one of the geysers!


We saw a heard of Bison, some Elk and some Deer. We were really disappointed that we didn't see any Bears or any Moose.

I wonder if the view is any good from Dad's back? This is how Jena saw the park!

Of course we saw the main attraction! Old Faithful, the kids thought this was really awesome (so did their dad) Joe has only been in the back country of Yellowstone, so this was his first visit to the park, he told me after we saw Old Faithful erupt that he has waited 35 years for this experience and that everyone should be able to experience seeing Old Faithful at least once in their life!

The kids also did the Jr. Ranger program while we were in the park (we do this at every National Park we visit) This is them receiving their Jr. Ranger Badges. Good Job kids this one was a lot harder than the last one they did!

We had a great time and can't wait to go again, our only problem is finding a babysitter for our dog Rocky!

Salt Lake City

Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah with the Young women in my ward. We all loaded on a tour bus at 5:45 am to make the trek. We have been doing a couple of different service projects for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Humanitarian Center this summer, We have made 3 quits, made school bags and filledthem with supplies for school kits, and made file folder games. Yesterday we were able to deliver them and also tour the center, it is amazing the things that they provide for people who are in need all over the world!

We were also able to go to temple square while we were there!this was such a great opportunity for all of our young women, I hope that they all had a wonderful experience. I know that I did!

11 Months Old

11 months old where does the TIME GO?

This one keeps me on my toes! I have to constantly keep my eye on her, she fell into the bath tub head first the other day, it was a good thing that Jacey was in it and I was right there to pull her out!

Vacation

The kids and I spent a really fun week down in Utah visiting with my little sister and her family at my parents house.

We did lots of fun things while we were together:

We went to Weber State University to watch fireworks (the kids had lots of fun playing while we waited for it to get dark, we also got rained on before the fireworks started).

We took the younger kids to the treehouse museum to play (Jake and Josh went to their Grandma Burger's house to play with their Aunt Madison).

We went swimming, I think this was my kids favorite thing that we did while we were there!



Me, My Sister Rachel, and our Mom made these really super cute hair clips. We had to make them after we got all eight kids to bed (we didn't get finished until about 11:45 pm, but we had lots of fun talking and gettingthe giggles)!
The second picture is of our very favorite clips.

The kids also has some of their other cousins come and spend the day at Grandma's playing.

Joe came down on Friday afternoon, we were able to go to my Brother Ray's home for a 24th of July BBQ, and then on Saturday was our Cragun Family Reunion.

We had tons of fun while we were there!

THANKS MOM AND DAD FOR LETTING US INVADE YOUR HOME FOR A WEEK!

I love spending time with my family, I miss you tons Rachel I hate that yoiu live so far away
I had a blast !

Who needs a Walker when you have a Step Stool?

Jena is learning how to walk, I caught her pushing the step stool around the kitchen today. I thought it was really cute so here is a video of her doing it! Keep in mind that she is only 10 months old!

My baby looks like a rock star

We bought guitar hero world tour for our X Box 360 the other day, I guess Jena wants to play it just like everyone else!

Little Princesses

Jena has officially been recruited to play dress up with Jacey!

Fourth of July Activities

On the Fourth of July the kids and I decided to go to the Parade in Idaho Falls minus Joe who had to work.

Waiting and waiting for the parade

to start!

Waving the flags they got

at the parade!

After the Parade we went to Taco Bell for some taco's because we were in such a hurry to get to the parade that we didn't have breakfast and we were all starving! Then it was off to the mall to see dad! We ended up leaving the mall with a new X Box 360, the rest of the afternoon was spent playing X Box and watching movies until Joe got home from work.

In the evening we had a traditional Fourth of July Dinner of hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, deviled eggs and watermelon. (it's more fun with lots of family but no one wanted to come visit us for the fourth this year!)

After Dinner we headed to Freeman Park to watch fireworks. (We go to Freeman park instead of the Greenbelt because there are less people at the park).

Hanging out at the Park waiting for the fireworks to start. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks I was holding a sleeping Jena and Joe was holding a sleepy Jacey, but they were fantastic!

I do have to say we got a really good parking spot we got right out of the park and dind't get stuck in any traffic.

Sad for Josh :(

This morning was a sad morning for Josh, he went into his room to find that his pet anole lizard Jackie had died :( He had to take it out in the backyard to bury it, and then he cried a little because according to him it was his first real pet! I don't know why he doesn't think the dog is a real pet but whatever.

10 Months Old

Jena turned 10 months on the 28th of June, where is the time going? She is a chatter box, she can say Jacey, Mama, Dada, boys and rocky. She loves to yell for Jacey. I don't know what she is going to do when Jacey goes to school in the fall she absolutely adores her! She has her two bottom front teeth and she is cutting her two top front teeth, I think she may also be cutting one of her eye teeth. She is such a cutie and we love having her in our family!

Proud to be an American

Last night we went to see the Title of Liberty Flag display at Liberty Field in Idaho Falls. This is an awesome sight to behold, their goal this year was to have 1776 flags or more on display. This display is an awesome way to show that we are Proud to be Americans!

Look What is in our Apple Tree

We have know for quite a while that there was a nest in our apple tree. I told Joe yesterday that I thought there were some baby birds in it and sure enough there is. I think that the mama was getting mad that we were taking pictures of her babies. There are two in the nest that we can see. I think it is totally cool to have baby birds in our Apple Tree and so do the kids!

Fantastic DI Find

We had another fantastic DI find this week. (DI other wise known as Deseret Industries is a thrift store for those of you who may not know). I am normally not a big fan of the Idaho Falls DI, because they don't usually have anything that we want, I was feeling that way today as we were walking around the store until we found this: This is a 4 cycle Troy Built Gas Trimmer. We got it for $35. It retails at Lowe's for $174. This was a fantastic find. Joe has been wanting a gas trimmer for a long time, and I haven't wanted to spend the money to buy one, but how can you pass up a gas trimmer for $35? It is even a 2009 model, I am still amazed that we found it!