On a Positive Note

June 3, 2011-River Walk and Rock Climbing

While I was gone to Youth Conference Tyler and the kids had some fun adventures.   They went on a River Walk.

They did some rock climbing of course.  Sami and Griff both love climbing just like their Dad!

June 7, 2011-Hiking Stansbury Island

The kids and Tyler do a lot of hiking together.  It’s such a great activity to do with Dad.  They had a fun day hiking on Stansbury Island.  They came home exhausted and full of bug bites from all the nasty bugs around the water but they still had a blast!

Tyler tried to get a picture of all of them at the top but it didn’t quite work out.

I don’t love posting pictures like this but I’m sure Tyler and Sami and Griff will love it.  I do love the perspective of it all though.  The snake looks huge with Griff!  I guess I should be happy my kids don’t run and scream from snakes but I would never hold one like this.  Yuck!

June 11, 2011- Last Day of Soccer

Griffin loved soccer this season.  We took a couple of summers of so he was ready to go by the time we got him signed up.  He was so energetic running around and attacking the ball.  He was so happy he got a medal too!

Sami played hard this season too but she was in the older soccer now where they actually have positions and she didn’t like it as much.  But she loved getting a medal too.  I told her I was going to put up this picture where she had two different socks on.  She couldn’t find her other black one so she walked out on the field with confidence and two different socks.  I thought it was great!  I love when she doesn’t care what others think.

June 18, 2011-Chalk Festival

We went to the Chalk Festival downtown and it was really fun!  You can walk through The Gateway and look at all kinds of amazing pictures that artists have drawn on the sidewalk with chalk.  We were amazed at what the artists can do!  They had booths all along the way too.

It was pretty cool to run into Hagrid there.  He was so tall and really looked the part!

There was a booth where they got to act like they were a news reporter on the news.  They read the cue cards and everything.  It was fun!

They had a section where you could make your own chalk art.  Griff drew his favorite Star Wars guys with their light sabers and Sami made her name so cute.  It was a great activity.

June 25, 2011-Rock Climbing as a Family

I have finally advanced in the climbing world.  Tyler taught me how to belay.  He also taught Sami that day.  It was fun to learn and I’m glad we can all go together now and I can belay Tyler, Sami and Griff when they climb.  I am terrified of heights so you won’t ever see me on the wall but I’m glad I can do something from the ground.

June 30, 2011-Hogle Zoo

My sister Kelly and her family came to visit from New Hampshire for a couple of weeks.  It was a great visit!  We went to the zoo all together one day.  Here we are waiting for the bird show to begin.

Ha!  This picture cracks me up.  We were trying to get a picture with the giraffe and he is hiding behind the pole.  Classic!

All of the cousins that were there that day piled onto the Dinosaur.  Griff wasn’t happy cause Sami got the head and not him but I threatened a little smile out of him.

It’s been an amazing few months around here!  I feel like it’s flown right by so I want to make sure and get our memories here on my blog.

April 2011-We went to the Saturday morning session of conference.  It was Griffin’s first time going so it was nice to be there as a family.  I think it’s great for our children to see how big our church is.  The gospel is spread throughout the world and we only see a small piece of it here.  It’s a good testimony builder.

April 2011-The Great Food Truck Race from Food Network came through Salt Lake City.  Tyler is always taking us on fun adventures so we had a good day visiting the trucks.  We tasted some yummy food too!

Sami loves to give Griff hugs.  He does pretty good at tolerating her most of the time because hugging isn’t his favorite from his sister, but pictures like this just make me want to squeeze them to pieces!

The Food Network was there filming while we were visiting the truck Devilicious.  On their menu was a peanut butter burger.  It was interesting.  They filmed our kids and Tyler eating it.  It had peanut butter and a fried egg on it.  We signed releases to be on television so we were excited when the new season began a few months ago.  Unfortunately we didn’t make the TV edit.  Oh well I guess we missed our 15 seconds on TV.  It was a fun experience though!

April 2011- My brother-in-law Juan graduated from BYU!  We were all so thrilled for him!  We got to go to his graduation and enjoy celebrating the day with him.

April 2011- Sami and Griff had their Spring pictures taken at school and they turned out so great!  I figured I’d better document it because good pictures from school don’t happen very often.  I just love these!

May 4, 2011 I was getting ready for a Young Women activity and Sami was outside riding on her skateboard.  Next thing I know she’s screaming, running into the house telling me she’s never leaving the house again because her teeth are broken.  She was hysterical but I figured she was overreacting.  When I finally got her calmed down enough to show me what happened I was a little shocked.  She really did break her teeth!  We were able to call and get her in to see our Dentist right away.

Two hours later her teeth were back to normal.  I was amazed at how quickly they got her fixed up.  She had pain for a few more days but it was such a blessing that the Dentist could get her right in!

May 7, 2011-Tyler ran his first official marathon!  May 7th marked one year since his climbing accident.  Tyler really wanted to conquer something big on this day.  He definitely succeeded!

He’s such an amazing man that inspires me daily because he never thinks he can’t do something.  It was great to be there and see all of the runners who work so hard to run a marathon.

Cami and Amelia came with us to celebrate when Tyler crossed the finish line.  We stopped by the Carl Bloch exhibit before and it was so cool.  I just loved seeing the original paintings that I have looked at my entire life at church.  It was a great experience!

May 30, 2011  Memorial Day- We went to my parents house for a BBQ and then we wanted to show the kids what Memorial Day was all about so we visited Brigham Young’s grave and then we went to see visit other former Presidents of our church graves at the Salt Lake City Cemetary.  I think it was a great activity to do to show Sami and Griff how grateful we are for those who have gone before us.

June 2, 2011-When Tyler has a night out with the kids he likes to take them to try new things.  He has helped our kids to love sushi.  They always have fun trying new things with Dad.

June 2011- Juan and Cami got a new moped for Juan to get around on.  Griff was so excited to climb on back and go for a ride.  Those of us watching were much more nervous than the kids that actually rode with Juan.  Obviously we aren’t daredevils in my family.

June 4, 2011- The Youth in our Stake went to Utah State for Youth Conference this year.  My counselor Heather Boone and I got to go as chaperones for our Young Women.  We had so much fun!  Here we are dancing to YMCA.

Our Young Women are so great!  They had me take a bunch of pictures of them jumping and we still never got one with all of them jumping at the same time.  It was cracking me up!

Here they are outside of our dorm rooms.  They loved that they got to stay in their own rooms together and live the life of a college student.   It was a lot of work chasing these girls around campus but it was still a very rewarding weekend.  A great way to start my summer!

I’m still going strong listing my favorite things that happened over the last 9 months.  Here we go for 2011:

December 7, 2010- I know this picture is yucky but it is needed to go along with the story of my amazing husband.  On June 7, 2010 Tyler had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on one of his kidneys.  We had a very skilled surgeon so he was able to save Tyler’s kidney and just remove the cancer.  We know Heavenly Father was watching over our family during that time.  It was hard.  One of the hardest things we have ever been through.  Tyler knew the day was coming that he would be 6 months cancer free!  He wanted to do something hard, something amazing!  On December 6th he decided he was going to run a marathon.  His marathon.  He drove 26.2 miles away from our home and began to run in the early morning hours of December 7th.   Tyler was doing great!  He knew it was going to be tough because he didn’t train to run, but he knew he would succeed.  He was making good time and feeling great until he got to an uneven part on the road and twisted his ankle.  He was only on mile 6.  He had over 20 miles to go!  Tyler knew a little sprained ankle wasn’t going to stop him.  He continued to run, it was a slower pace but he ran.  He wouldn’t stop and he finished his marathon!  I am so proud of him and I wish I had just half of his will power in me.  He is a great example of never giving up!

January 2011- Tyler decided to make his first climb since his accident last April, indoors.  I was a little nervous when he got up really high but he was very glad to get it over with and was anxious to feel comfortable climbing again.  He promises that he will wear a helmet when climbing mountains by the way.

January 2011-Tyler has definitely passed on his love of climbing.  Sami and Griff both do a great job!  Sami got a little more nervous with the heights this time but she pushed through and made it all the way to the top!  I’m grateful that my kids aren’t scared to death of heights like I am.  Another thing to thank Tyler for.

February 2011- We had another “Go With the Flow Day.”  We drove and saw an Elk farm.  When we got up there we realized that they only accepted cash so we didn’t have enough for me to go on the wagon ride.  It was ok though cause Tyler took lots of pics and Sami took a bunch with my camera too.  The kids really liked seeing so many elk in one spot.  It was a cool little adventure.

February 2011- We stopped at a little diner along the way.  We haven’t always had good food experiences on our “Go With the Flow” days.  Today was no exception.  These small diners are definitely hit or miss for the food.  But it’s all part of the adventure right?

February 2011- Tyler had to make a business trip to Las Vegas.  Sami had been sick all week so I said “Too bad we can’t come with you.”  Tyler said “Why can’t you?  Let’s go!”  It was a Thursday night and we packed up Tyler’s work van and took off!  We stayed at The Luxor hotel.  I’m not a huge fan of the strip so we just walked between The Luxor and The Excalibur Hotels.  We went swimming, explored and walked around a lot and ate some delicious food.  Tyler had to work most of the time but we had a great trip, especially when he was with us.

Las Vegas 2011-We went into this beautiful Japanese garden in the Bellagio Hotel.  We asked someone to take our picture and we just happened to pose in front of this creepy big rabbit.  When I was young my Dad watched a movie on TV called Killer Rabbits.  It was awful.  These huge rabbits would rip people apart with their two front teeth.  So anyway I am forever scarred when it comes to large rabbits, thanks Dad!

Las Vegas 2011- We ended up meeting up with Tyler’s brother David and his wife Stephanie and their friend Katie while we were in Vegas.  We at lunch off of the strip a little and found a really fun playground and maze for the kids to play on.  It was a great last stop before our drive home.

Las Vegas 2011- The one time we ventured out of The Excalibur we were hit up by this actor on the bridge.  He just grabbed Sami and said “Hey Mom take a picture!”  Then he grabbed Griff too.  They turned out to be fun pictures but unfortunately I wasn’t prepared and didn’t have any cash to give him.  He wasn’t very happy with me but we got some good pictures.  P.S. The parrot was real.

March 2011- From January to March each year during the Legislative Session Tyler spends a lot of time at the State Capital representing the PTA as their Trustlands Appointee.  It was the last night of the session so Tyler invited us to visit him.  It was a great experience for the kids and I.

March 2011- We had a very interesting night.  It was fun to see where Tyler does his work and also where our Legislators meet.  We also got to see a big rally going on outside and inside the capital.  Probably the most exciting night of the whole session I’m sure.  I’m glad we went.

March 14, 2011- This year marks 14 years of marriage for Tyler and I.  This is the picture that was on our wedding announcement.  We have a wonderful life now with two beautiful children.  I feel very blessed for all that my Heavenly Father has given me here on earth.  I’m so grateful to have an eternal marriage with my Tyler.

March 14, 2011- There was a Jazz game that night that Tyler was working at so he invited me to sit by him in the booth and watch him work.  It was really cool!  He gets a lot of pressure put on him to have the right images show up on the jumbotron on time.  He is a great multitasker!

14th Anniversary- Tyler put our names up on the jumbotron and everyone cheered for us!  It was really sweet.

14th Anniversary- When we got home that night Sami had laid out our pajamas for us and left us a sweet anniversary note.  It was so cute!

St. Patrick’s Day 2011- Sami and Griff made some cute little traps trying to catch a Leprechaun.  Griff used pipe cleaner to make a bridge from his bed to a little lego house that he built.  On his note he said “This is your new house!  Come in”  and then he would have them trapped.

Sami made a box yellow with duct tape so it would look like treasure at the end of the rainbow.  She only put a thin piece of tape over a hole in the top and put a little cookie on it.  Her note said “A yummy cookie for you.”  Then when the Leprechaun fell in they would be trapped.  I thought they were so clever!

March 2011- We went out to eat at The Mayan with one of my Young Women ShaNae.  She was not happy that I took this picture but she’s so pretty she needs to get used to good pictures like this.  It was a fun night!

March 2011- This is Landry.  She is a baby that I watch 2 weeks a month.  She is a sweet little baby.  My kids love her to pieces!

March 2011- Sami invited 3 close friends to go ice skating for her birthday celebration.  We went to the Olympic Oval and had such a fun time!  My friend Kristen and her girls came with us too.

March 2011- The girls decorated their own fruit pizza cookies at our house before we went skating.  They were yummy!

March 2011- There were people who worked at the rink available to teach the kids how to skate.  Griff is so cute.  He follows instructions very specifically.  He kept his arms out like this the majority of the time that he was skating.

March 2011- Tyler took us on an adventure to the Hari Krishnah Temple and we participated in the Festival of Colors.  They celebrate this day annually.  We bought bags of chalk and got to throw it all over eachother.  It was a new experience and we had a blast!

March 2011- Here is a close up of how messy we got.  The chalk didn’t come out easily.  Luckily we wore our old clothes.  Thanks for the adventure Tyler!

I’ve been trying to think of a way to get back on to my blog but not feel like I have to write a bunch of catch up posts.  Tyler came up with this idea to post pictures of my favorite things that have happened since last summer.  So here we go!

July 2010-Girl’s Camp with the 8th Ward Young Women.  It was such a great 4 days!  I celebrated my 34th birthday with these cute girls too.  It was a wonderful experience.  I love that we had no make-up and were just able to be ourselves up there.  It’s such a blessing to be able to serve with all of the women I serve with and with all of my young women too.  I can’t wait for camp this year!

August 2010-We went downtown with our playgroup friends and had a great day!  This was the view from on top of the Church Office Building.

August 2010- Our friends the Faber’s came to visit.  They used to live right next door to us but then they moved to Washington.  Sami and Griff had a blast playing with Logan and Kaylee.  It was so good to see all of them!

August 2010-We went camping with Tyler’s brothers and their families.  Tyler’s parents were here from Texas during that time too.  Sami and Jaylee built a little hideaway hut with Uncle Rich while we were there.  We made some good memories.

September 2010-We had another “Go with the Flow Day.”  We drove up to Nine Mile Canyon and looked at the hieroglyphics on the mountains.  It was really neat and like always it’s just the best when our kids start asking where we are or when we’ll be there we can just say “go with the flow!”

September 2010-Our handsome Griff turned 7 years old!  I can’t believe he’s so big!  He had a great day…I think.  No really this is why you are supposed to post sooner than 6 months later.  I can’t remember the details but we always have fun birthdays so that’s how I know it was great

October 2010- This is my beautiful niece Sadie and her Mom Rachelle.  The girls in our family that are in Utah all went out to eat at PF Changs to celebrate Sadie receiving her Young Womanhood Recognition Award.  She is such a wonderful Young Woman.  I’m so grateful for her example for my Sami.  It was a really nice evening.

October 2010-We got to watch my nephew Benjamin for a week while his Mom and Dad were out of town.  He is very attached to his parents so I was a little worried.  Each day when he would wake up from his nap and I would walk in he would started crying cause he realized his parents weren’t around.  But other than that he did really good.  He loved Sami and Griff.  This is our friend Munroe in the picture with Griff and Benjamin.

Halloween 2010- Sami was dressed as Athena, Griff went as Indiana Jones then our friends Munroe and Sienna went trick or treating with us.  When we first started we were right out in our driveway and all of the sudden these teenagers with masks on and chainsaws came up to our door.  Next thing we know one of the teenagers starts running right towards me and the kids.  It freaked the kids out!  Tyler was inside the house passing out candy and he saw him charge at us so he came out and got really upset at the kid.  That pretty much ruined the beginning of our trick or treating.  Sami and Griff were so upset and scared cause we could hear the chainsaws through the whole neighborhood.  We decided we needed to switch neighborhoods and everything got much better after that.

Halloween 2010-We have a party at my Mom’s every year for Halloween.  This year we had the kids eat doughnuts on a string.  My 15 year old nephew Christopher was so sweet and joined right in with the little kids.  It was great!  They all loved it!

November 2010-Ginger and Sam stayed at my parents for a bit after Sam graduated from school in Boston while they were waiting to see where he would get a job.  We loved having them so close again!  We went miniature golfing with them and had a great time like always!

November 2010-We had a NHOKA (No Husbands or Kids Allowed!) night in Park City with almost all of my sisters (we missed you Stephanie) and my Mom.  It was such a fun night of eating, shopping and playing games.  We are going to make it a yearly tradition.

November 2010- While Kelly was in town from New Hampshire we got together with my entire family at The Old Spaghetti Factory (my old stomping grounds where I worked as a hostess in high school).  It was so fun to be all together!  It doesn’t happen enough.  I love my family so much.  I’m so grateful to have them in my life!

November 2010- While Kelly was in town we spent some time at my parents house with her.  One night Griff got a hold of my camera and took this picture of himself.  He cracks me up!

November 2010-We spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  It was just a small gathering of us this year.  My Dad made the yummiest turkey and ham.  They are always so nice and cook a ham too because Tyler isn’t a big fan of turkey.

November 2010-Our day after Thanksgiving shopping began at 4:00 a.m.  It gets earlier and earlier each year.  We aren’t huge shoppers in our family so we always hit up Target first then Smith’s and Walmart.  Word to the wise NEVER attempt to shop at Kohl’s or Shopko or Old Navy on this morning.  The lines are a joke!  Luckily we learned that years ago.

December 2010-This is a month of traditions!  The first Saturday in December we go to the Santa Claus Parade in our town.  It’s a simple parade with lots of candy and Santa Claus.  The kids love it!

December 2010- We go to Winder Dairy for scones each year also.  Even though they used to have a live nativity and now they don’t we still go and enjoy our time together.

December 2010- Griff’s had his first grade Christmas program.  I got to teach the songs and lead the music this year.  I love volunteering at my kids school because I see how happy it makes my kids that I’m there.  I really enjoy it too!

December 2010- Griff was excited that all of us were there to watch him sing.  The little girl in the background hung around Ginger and Sam for a while so we wanted her in the picture.

December 2010-We celebrated Tyler’s birthday at Benihana’s this year.  It was the first time the kids had gone to a restaurant where they cook right in front of you.  They were very impressed.

December 2010-Grandpa and Grandma Slack surprised us last minute in December and decided to come for Christmas.  The kids were so excited to have them here.  We went to the sing-a-long at the Energy Solutions Arena.

December 2010-On the Eve before Christmas Eve we go to the Stokes Christmas Party.  We act out the Nativity there.  Sami and Griff are practicing their “Look!  There’s a star!” faces.

December 2010-We started some new Christmas Eve traditions this year.  We went to Temple Square to see the beautiful lights and then we ate dinner at Chin Wah’s for their delicious Phoenix Chicken.  I think this tradition will stick!

December 2010- Our Christmas Elves leave reindeer food for us to throw out on our lawn each year.  It’s full of glitter so Rudolph’s nose will find our house!

Christmas 2010-We had a wonderful Christmas day!  We spent the day together as a family and went to our traditional Christmas Day movie.  I love the holidays!

Life is getting back to normal for us after 2 months of chaos and it feels great!

Tyler started back to work last Monday.  He still hates his hour commute each way but he is grateful to be up and moving with minimal pain again.  The first 10 days after his surgery were the hardest.  Tyler would get these horrible pains in his side that he said felt like a huge charley horse on the inside.  It was so awful just having to sit by and watch him hurt.  I felt very helpless during those times.  Thank goodness for prayer.  We would pray and pray for Tyler to feel better and I know Heavenly Father helped him get through all of it.

Ten days after the surgery we decided to follow through with our camping plans that we had planned with a group of friends almost a year ago.  I was nervous getting all packed up and making sure Tyler was comfortable.  But I know how much Tyler loves the mountains so it was worth the risk.  I’m so grateful we went!  Tyler had a huge break through while we were camping.  He would sit outside in his chair overlooking the water and the beautiful scenery and it helped revive him.  Tyler had to work from his laptop most of the days but what a better place to do it in than the mountains?  By the time we left Tyler had color in his face and was eating again.  It was so great! We love getting together with our friends for our annual campout!   Here are some pictures:

Tyra and Sami together again!  These two were born on the same day an hour apart.  They love to play together but it doesn’t happen often enough.  They were so happy to have plenty of time to play.

It was such a nice campground.  It had a big pavilion with enough tables for each family to have their own.  With Tyler not feeling well he got to spend a lot of time with me around the fire!  It was nice.

One friend brought a Chinese jumprope.  Remember those?  Sami and Griff had fun playing with it.  Now I’ve got to find one for our house!  I remember playing with it all the time when I was little.  (Thanks for the pictures Erik!)

Last week Sami and Griff went to a basketball camp in the mornings.  They had a great time getting to know how to play the game.  I really like basketball so I was excited to see them try it out!

Sami in her team shirt!

Life is definitely feeling back to normal.  There is a lot going on this month!  Tyler and I are heading to Montana this weekend and leaving the kids with my family.  We are looking forward to the break.  Then Girl’s Camp is coming up right after that.  I haven’t been in 10 years so I can’t wait to have time with the amazing Young Women in my ward and enjoy all of the activities!  Lots of planning to do but it is so worth it!