{memorial day @ farm country}

Many of our ideas for Memorial Day your drowned out by the rain that we had all day. We did make it to Farm Country in between storms to show Jace some animals. Aunt Lexi and Alma came with us. Jace was pretty excited to see the animals.

They had lots of baby animals. Jace would stick his finger through the fence to touch the baby goat and then pull it back really fast. He thought it was great.Jace let these goats eat corn out of the palm of his hand for awhile.Jace practicing his mutton bustin' skills. I think he might be ready for the rodeo!
Watching the chickens and turkeys with Daddy.Every time the peacock would yell Jace would yell back, "help!". After listening to the peacock more closely it did kind of sound like it was yelling help.Aunt Lexi and JaceDaddy and Jace in jail!Jace wasn't too sure about riding the pony. He kept switching back and forth between laughing and crying.

We spent the afternoon playing games and then bbq'ed some pork chops. Since it was raining we thought we would go to see "Horton Hears A Who" and apparently everyone in Utah County had the same idea. After three theaters and a few hours we were able to get in. It was a cute movie.

{bowling}

Last night we went bowling with friends and had a great time. Jace really likes bowling and even got to wear his own bowling shoes. After he would bowl he would sit down at the end of the lane to watch his ball hit the pins. It was a lot of fun!

{sunrise duathlon}

Jared raced in the West Jordan Sunrise Duathlon yesterday morning. He ran 3 miles, biked 20 miles and then ran another 3 miles. It would have been a beautiful day except for the freezing cold wind. Jace and I cheered him on and tried to stay warm. He did a great job and were proud of him for working so hard. Great job, Jared!

Jace was not happy when Jared ran past us and didn't stop to play. He ran after Jared yelling "Daddy, Daddy!"

Waiting for Jared and I like the color of the lockers.

{swimming}

We decided to take advantage of the 90 degree weather yesterday and hit the swimming pool. Good thing we did because today was cold and rainy. Jace is quite the little fish and loves being in the water. The pool we go to starts at 1 foot deep which is perfect for Jace to enjoy swimming on his own.

{camping}

We enjoyed our first camping trip of the season this past weekend. We went up beautiful American Fork canyon and enjoyed a couple of relaxing days with our friends, Matt, Shaunte & Carter. Jace loved being outside all day and all night. After a couple of hard falls off the picnic bench the first night he was accident free the rest of the time. We took his bike (trike) and moto (four wheeler) up for him to ride on the paved path by our campsite. He would ride down the hill then go back up and do it again. He liked his bike better because it would go faster (the four wheeler only goes 2 mph). He had a great time playing with Carter and throwing rocks into the river.

Shaunte and I tried out my dutch oven for the first time and were pleasantly surprised at how good we did. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Anyway, the days were warm and the nights were cold. The first night we figured out we had a whole in our air mattress when about half way through the night we woke up with rocks in our backs. Good thing we were only 20 minutes from civilization so Jared could run get us a patch.

It was great way to start off the summer. We are looking forward to a few more camping trips and lots of summer fun. Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

{MTC}

{Elder Devin Plowman and Jace}

Wednesday we dropped Devin off at the MTC. Jared and I barely got there on time (I locked my keys in my car) so didn't get a picture of everyone that was there. Devin was very excited to be there and start his mission. He will be in the MTC for 2 1/2 months learning Mongolian. This is missionary in Mongolian: mɪʃəneri.

{happy....}

So Sunday was full of Happy Mother's Day, Happy Birthday, and Happy Farewell! Devin's farewell was Sunday so most of the family was in Malad for Mother's Day. It was also Jacob's 12th birthday (and my Dad's was on the 12th, my sister Malynda's on the 14th and Devin's on the 15th)! We had 22 kids and 29 adults at the house to celebrate. Some people may not enjoy that many people but I think it is great. I love my family and love being with them. Jace had a great time being entertained. When one person would get tired of swinging or jumping he would just go to the next. Nobody would tell him no so he thought it was great.

Here is a picture of my immediate family that was there (it was too much to ask to have everyone smiling and looking at the camera all at once):These are the grandkids, nieces and nephews or cousins (whichever you would like to call them):

{Happy Anniversary}

Jared and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this past weekend. We sent Jace to Malad on Friday night with Aunt Lexi. After our ward party we went to see Iron Man which we loved and would highly recommend (except for the first 5 minutes). Saturday we headed to Heber for some breakfast at the Spicy Lady. Good food and fun atmosphere in an old saloon. After breakfast we rented some mountain bikes in Midway and enjoyed the scenery. Then we swam in the Homestead Crater. It was fun to have some "us" time and we enjoyed the day.

That evening we headed to Salt Lake for one of my best friends weddings. I love going inside the Salt Lake temple. It really is very beautiful. After the dinner we headed back to Malad for some family fun which I will save for the next post.

Me, Rachel Dilworth, Lisa Ashton

about

coming soon!

family
alma + alexis
josh + ginger
troy + shelly
neil + malynda
carson + shelly
taylor + jill
reggi + heidi
devin + melanie
jon + aubrey
jason + tae
brad + janet

friends
tim + meg
jason + becca
nate + lindsey
chas + teija
derek + emily
sam + kim
mana + annette
joe + sarah
jeff + autumn
clark + holly
harley + holli
ryan + robin
ryan + annie
matt + shaunte
mike + melissa
lawyer family
dujardin's
what a tripp
incredible 7
what can we say

{new camera. practice.}

A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a new digital slr camera! I absolutely love it and I'm having fun practicing and learning all that it can do. Here are a couple of pictures of Jace (he is getting better at posing for me).

{not so little anymore}

My little brother is not so little anymore. Yesterday he went received his endowments in the Ogden temple and in a week and a half he will be in the MTC. It is always great to be in the temple with family. Jared got babysitting duties yesterday so that I could be there with Devin. I'm so proud of Devin for setting such a great example for Jacob and his nephews. He is going to be a great missionary!{Jacob is really going to miss Devin}

{byu women's conference}

I had the pleasure of listening to my mother speak at Women's Conference today. She did a fabulous job! Her topic was: To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose: determining life's priorities.

The following is an excerpt from her talk: "It is intriguing how the Lord’s timetable is different than ours. I have learned that if I trust God to do what’s best and wait on His time, sooner or later, I will get something better than what I thought wanted in the first place. We need to be flexible and willing to change our priorities when the Lord sees fit to give us another season that we hadn’t planned on."

My Grandpa Call was kind enough to watch Jace for me while my mom spoke. I also got to listen to President Monson's closing session and feel his great spirit and love. Thursday night my mom, sister Shelly and I went to the concert at the Marriott Center. I loved the music that was performed and now want all of their cd's.

After my mom's session we headed down to the Creamery for some yummy hamburgers and ice cream. Jace had is first ice cream cone and thought it was great. He let out a "mmmm!" after almost every bite. Jace got to enjoy lots of time outside in the sun and even came home with a little sunburn.

I had a great time with my mom and sisters (too bad they couldn't all be here) and wished that we could have more days together like this.

{new job}

Jared started his new job yesterday and loved it! He knew it was the right job for him when they gave him a Nike golf shirt (Nike was the key word). He also got a new bag and a zip-up hoodie. The free stuff seriously never ends for him. They are also taking the employees golfing in a couple of weeks and are hosting an all expense paid (including all meals) camping trip at the end of May.

Besides all the perks he is really excited to be doing some engineer work rather than programming. He will be working on the Green River project (figuring out how to pump Utah's share out of the river instead of just letting Nevada use it).

{summertime. playtime.}

A list of things I would like to do this summer:

Red Butte Gardens
This Is The Place Heritage Park
Antelope Island
Kayak on the Great Salt Lake
Hike Ensign Peak
Museum of Church History and Art
Gilgal Gardens
Gateway Discovery
Clark Planetarium
Hogle Zoo
The Living Planet Aquarium
Thanksgiving Point (Petting Zoo, Dinosaur Museum, Gardens)
Trolley Square
Gardner Village
The Gateway
Timpanogos Cave
Lots of camping and hiking (in Utah County and in Southern Utah)
Bike rides
Art & Gift Shows/Boutiques
Antique Shops
Picnics & Parks
Lots of Swimming
Parades and Rodeos

There is so much to do around here and we are ready to get out and have some fun. Some we will do as a family and others will just be me and Jace. Anyone is welcome to join us - the more the merrier! And now we will just pray for warmer weather so that we can start our summer fun.