Organized

I love the way Dave works.  He takes some time before the job to do some prep work that makes the rest of it so organized, easy and efficient.  It is how he built our house, how he writes a talk, how he does his job, everything.  We have been pressing hard to get the last few things that need to be done on our house.  A few weeks ago he got up early and spent almost 2 hours getting some jigs made.  We were getting our railings done.  After breakfast he took us all out to the garage and walked us through the whole process.

He had a stopper on the end of the saw so all the boards were the exact length with out needing to measure each time.  Really speed that up.

There was a box with a nail in the correct spot so we could just tap and make a nail hole.

A sanding station that held the boards in.

For the top and bottom rail he marked the first one, then we slid it over to a nail and kept drilling.  Slid to nail and drilled.  They were all perfectly measured.

We zipped through all of it so quickly.  By 11 we were ready to start putting it all together and painting.

We had a blast and traded jobs so we could try everything. 

Dave worked on routering the top railing and Blake set in all the screws.

After lunch it was a two man job.  Cora took the kids in to swim as Dave and I finished.  He had it all fit and painted by night fall.  We let it dry Sunday and hung it Monday after work.  It was awesome.  He had such a good system set up that early Monday before work, he moved a few jigs and rearranged just a few things.  Our back deck was a little different design.  The kids and I did it all and stained them while he was at work.  When he got home we put up the front and started on the back.  By Wednesday it was all done.  We are pretty proud of ourselves.  It looks fantastic.  My lawn is coming along nicely also.  There is still a lot of bare patches and some weeds, but we will keep spraying and it will fill in.  Nice to have a sorta lawn.

And the front railings.  I love it.  Can anyone spy Leah.  :)

Puzey Reunion

Last week was our Puzey Reunion.  Sadly I did not get many pictures.  We had a good time.  Dave wasn't able to be there for some of it, but everyone else came.  I had dinner for those coming in Wednesday night.  I didn't want those travelling in to have to worry about cooking.  Thursday was rainy all day.  They kids played games and we hung out in the house where it was dry.  Friday was a little nicer.  Cora took all old enough to the temple for baptisms and milkshakes.  They later meet us at the pool.

Good job taking those pictures girls.  :)

Blake and Dave racing.

Hanging out in the sun.  Poor Myrna broke her knee and is in a wheel chair.  I love this picture of her trying to help out.

Saturday the kids painted some treasure boxes Grandma had bought.  We packed a lunch and went to the beach.

Cora loves to water ski.  She is so good at it also.  Her arm strength from gymnastics is amazing and she can stay up forever.

Blake dug a big hole.  Cadence got right in and played with him.  This is another favorite picture of mine.

After the beach we had Jason's famous ribs and steak.  It was all so good.  The kids decorated their boxes, made kites, and had a silly string war.  To end it all we had a special program.  Myrna told some stories from our family history and some talents were displayed.  

During the week, Dave, Cora, Amber and I were all working on talks.  Amber was speaking here in our ward and we were going on assignment with Dave.  Myrna, Rachel, and Lalainia practiced singing the song that they were performing in our ward also.  So that was all kinda fun.  We came home after the program to put the finishing touches on our talks and get to bed early.  We left at 6 the next morning.  It was another fun get together.  Poor Myrna with her knee and Armin not feeling well and had a couple trips to the emergency room.  But we made, built some memories and cousins got to be together.  Hopefully all will be well for next year.

One Year Older...

We have spent a few days celebrating Blake's birthday.  Thursday Blake and I had dental appointments.  When we got back the girls had decorated the house for his birthday and made dinner.

We opened presents quickly before Cora took off for the fire department.

He was quite excited to get all those Eatmore bars.

Friday was his actual birthday.  He wanted to make his own dinner.  He made BBQ chicken pizza and fruit.  We were in a bit of a rush to make it to Shakespeare in the park. (That is why we opened presents Thursday.)

He did a good job.  He had requested a chocolate cake for his birthday.  I didn't have any candles so we lite a few matches and he blew quick.

Shakespeare in the Park was again a delight.  Cannon, Nicole, Kailey and Levi came this year.  They found some very long licorice and shared it with us.

Today we picked up some of his friends and went to the new water slides at the pool.  They had a really fun time.  It was so blazingly hot, I thought I was going to melt.  The line up for the slide was long, but they didn't mind.

After swimming we grabbed a frosty at Wendy's.

He said he has had a great birthday and was excited to do something this year.  He seems to have gotten gipped in the birthday party situation.  Last year we were in the middle of a family reunion and the two years before that we were camping.  So we promised him to be at home with nothing else but him this year.  He loved it.  Happy 11th Birthday Blake!

Especially For Youth

Especially For Youth is a week long camp that our church provides. It is an amazing spiritual experience for youth 14-18 years old.  There are not a lot of members in our area and it was wonderful for me to see how happy and excited Cora was when we picked her up.  And amazing for her to be surrounded by so many with the same standards and values.  Cora has talked to us for literally hours.  I can not possible express to you all that she experienced, so you get a whole lot of pictures and some of my favorite stories.

Everyone at EFY is given a T-shirt, bag, and book for notes.  Each day was started with a morningside and ended with a fireside.

They had four classes a day they would attend.  They would choose which classes they wanted to hear.

She loved everyone she attended.  Some of her favorite were Bro. Russell Wilcox, Sister Shupe, and Bro. Clint Ude.  Thursday was their 'church day'.  They wore church clothes all day and had a testimony meeting in the evening.

In one class they had everyone raise their hand.  The speaker started with with more than 500 members in your high school put down your hand.  He then went down and down, 400,300, till he was at 100. Around 150 most people had their hands down.  When he got to 80 a guy behind Cora mentioned he was surprised she was till up.  She told him to 'just wait for it'.  When they finally got to 3 there was only Cora and one other with hands still in the air.  She was amazed.  Cora didn't realize how many people have a great number of members in their school and how she really is standing alone.

She was also required to do a personal study each day.  Cora decided to study Joseph's first vision.  I liked her insight.  She talked about how Joseph was overcome with darkness before Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father appeared to him.  How Joseph had to push through that darkness.  Cora said that sometimes we don't feel like reading our scriptures or going to an activity, or even studying for a test and how that is our personal darkness that we need to push through to the light.

Sounds like she had a really fun group of guys in her company.  They had tons of fun together.

She got lots of girls and guys numbers and Instagram to keep in contact.  

Above is Becky, she loved everyone in her company and made lots of great memories, but Becky she seemed to bond the most with.

Cora joined the music club and tried out for a solo.  I was surprised when she told me that.  She said her confidence and testimony have definitely grown last week.

Each time the company went anywhere the boys escorted the girls.  On one escort she was trying to think of what to say to the guy. (this guy is not shown) She asked him if he played any sports.  He said yes, jiu jitsu.  Cora mentioned that she didn't know anything about that and he processed to give her an entire history of the sport.  Cora says she now know everything about it.  :)

One of them decided to lay on the ground... others then joined and started dabbing. Who know why.

 After the boy got their pictures it was the girls' turn. The leaders were trying to get pictures of the girls when the boys decided it would be cool to make this pose behind the photographers. Crazy boys.

These two pictures are among of my favorites.

       

I have been trying to write this post for an hour.  Cora has added some in here and there.  I honestly can not convey to you how wonderful this was for her.  The stories need to come from her so you can see it.  I just don't do it justice.  It was a fabulous experience and so worth the money and time.  I hope she can keep all she felt for a long time to come.