Fourth of July Celebration

I love the Fourth of July, it's one of my favorite holidays!  We have the tradition of going to my parents for breakfast, and then watching the Layton Parade.  The kids then walked down to the Layton park where they have some booths set up with toys, clothes, sun glasses ect....  The Kids had been doing chores around the house so they could earn some money to buy a toy at the fair.  The boy's bought swords that light up, and make sounds, Kate did a edible sand art craft.  Then we went home and ate pizza, and let Jence, Ben, Mom and Dad take a nap.  The two older kids watched a movie.  Afterwards we went to the pool to swim.  Then we finished off the day watching the fireworks.  It was cute to watch Benjamin's reaction to the fireworks.  Past years he's always slept through them.  His eye's were so wide.  He said "wow, there as big as the planet".  Other cute things he would say was "Mommy these last so long".  It was a really long display, and the grand finale was very impressive.  I'd have to say it was one of the best fire works displays I've seen.  They did a really fantastic job.  It was a great day, and we all had a lot of fun.  Happy Fourth of July everybody.  We just celebrated our 237th year as a nation.  Current national debt is $16,745,392,197.44 which makes us the leader in percentage of world debt.  Makes you proud to be an American doesn't it!   We've been a nation for over two hundred years, and it only took two president's to make us the most debt ridden country in the world.  Wow, do I feel bad for our four kids.  The load of debt they will be burdened with because of our reckless spending in Washington is shameful.  Thanks for nothing you idiot politicians, just keep right on printing money,  maybe we will magically just spend our way out of debt.  With so much paper being printing in Washington maybe we should invest in lumber the price should go sky high. 

                                                        Breakfast at Grandma Black's

                                                               Layton City Parade

                                        Kid's with Grandma Woolsey at the fourth of July fair

                                                         Ben with his Knight sword

                                                              Kate with her sand art

                                                                      Ben swimming

                                                                    Jence Swimming

War on Warts

We've been at war the past few months.  We've declared war on Kirk's warts.  It's been an ongoing battle, sometimes I think we are finally winning, and the warts are on the retreat, almost defeated but then they make a ravenous comeback.  We've tried everything possible.  Over the counter medicines, apple cider vinegar, duct tape, crushed vitamin C made into a paste.  The Dermatologist has tried freezing them a few times, and lazering them.  These sucker's are the most stubborn viruses I've ever seen.  Each time we go into the dermatologist they really look like they are dying, then a couple of weeks latter they heal up and are there as good a new.  I really hope to get rid of them before school starts in the fall, Kirk has become self conscious about them.  If anybody has some thoughts, or had experience with this before please let me know.  I"ve tried everything I could find on the Internet.  Duct tape had the best results, but it irritated the skin around the wart, to the point that Kirk was crying.  We have discontinued that treatment.  Right now I'm just keeping some wart medicine on them until we go in to lazer them again on Monday. 

Sunday evening mountain hike

June 30, 2013

We love living close to the mountains.  There's a great trail just a few blocks from our house.  A fun family actvity that we like to do together is going for a Sunday evening hike.  We waited till it was later in the evening, and even still it was extremely HOT! I have a feeling it's going to be a scorching fourth of July.  I got some great photo's , but it was really bugging Kirk, he didn't want to stop to take the pictures he wanted to just keep hiking.  It was fun to watch Jence holding on to Dan's hand as they walked.  He is such a cute little guy and loved the walk.  He would point to things like the waterfalls, and such.  Benjamin had fun, but fell down a couple of times and got scratched up a bit.  The mountains are gorgeous, we just love them.  It's nice to raise the kids with opportunities to be close to nature.  They love seeing the animals.  On this walk they actually came acrossed a snake.  Well it's been a fun evening, and another perk of hiking is that the kids are easy to get to bed, they crashed pretty fast!

Farewell for now Grandpa Stevens

 Sadly we lost Dan's Grandfather on June 22, 2013.  Jay Hillman Stevens was Born on July 10, 1919. Our youngest son Jens if named after him, his middle name is Stevens.   

Dan was able to speak at the funeral he did a really great job.  It was nice to look back and reflect on the tremendous legacy this great man left behind.  I will never forget the kindness he showed towards our family.  He loved people, and he especially loved his family.  Dan has so many wonderful memories of his Grandfather and one of them is that his grandpa Stevens loved gardening.  Grandpa would grow gigantic produce.  Dan can remember weeding the tall rows of corn, and gaining an appreciation for gardening.  Dan still to this day loves working in the yard and always plants a garden.  One of the first things Dan did after we bought our first home was to get a garden started. 

 One of my memories of Grandpa Stevens, is that he always had pine nuts at his home.  I had never had pine nuts before, but discovered that they are really good.  We are so sad to loose this wonderful man.  He always had a positive and up beat attitude, and a bright smile.  I remember listening to all of his amazing stories, some where hilarious, and unbelievable, and others were historical.  Like the time when he was serving in WWII as an army cook.  He made peppermint ice cream to Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt. 

 Seeing his casket draped with our American flag gives me such a deep gratitude for our freedoms.  Each day that goes by we loose more and more Veterans from WWII.  These are the men who freed Europe from the Nazis.  These are the men who stood up to evil, and had the courage to defend liberty.  It is a tremendous loss, to see this generation pass away. They are some of the greatest Americans our country has known.  Being born in the great depression taught them thrift, and frugality.  Rising to the call of war taught them courage and selflessness.  The world was never the same after WWII. This is the generation who returned from the horrors of war, and went to work.  They made America into the economic and military power that it is today.  This generation showed that economic freedom and capitalism doesn't suppress, but provides opportunity. A chance to create greater prosperity for their children, and grandchildren.  Grandpa wasn't born rich in wealth, but he was born rich in love.  His parents taught him to have faith in God.  With that faith, and fortitude Grandpa leaves a great legacy.  One of his last dying wishes was to help fund the missions of his great grandchildren.  He leaves a deep foot print in our hearts. We love you Grandpa.  Your life and example has shaped our lives. May the spirit of peace fill our hearts until we can be with you again. 

Here is a photo of our kids with one of the military Veterans' who did the Honorable Military Burial.  He gave Kirk a bullet from the gun they shot in honor of Grandpa's military service.

Black Family trip to Bear Lake

My sister Kristen has come to visit this week.  It's been so much fun to hang out with her, and to have the kids play together.  We were able to go up to Bear Lake for a few days.  Bear Lake was gorgeous, and so peacefull.  We had our family, my parents, Kristens family, and Mike's family there.  Kyle wasn't able to make it but Sarah came up for one of the days. We had the best time.  The kids loved kyacking on the lake, and paddle boarding.  They also loved playing baseball, basketball, water gun fights, and jumping on the trampoline.  We ate yummy food, and the last night got rasberry shakes in Garden City.  The pictures tell it all gorgeous lake, with lots of fun family time toegether!

Kate's Ballet Recital 2013

Kate performed beautifully at her ballet recital this year.  She has grown into a beautiful ballet dancer.  She had a good experience this year with ballet.  She's really developed a love for it.  Her teacher Brandi has been amazing.  I wish I could have gotten a photo with her.  Kate has just idealized her.  For the recital this year Kate was a  blanket.  She did a very cute dance with a big blue blanket on stage.  Kate has loved ballet and has had the opportunity this summer to participate in a Ballet West Academy summer five week class.  I'll post some more photo's soon. 

Benjamin learns a money lesson

Interesting story, today Ben wanted to earn some money.  He made his bed and I told him I'd get him some money.  I got into our change jar  and fished out a quarter,but he got really upset.  He said he wanted a green one.  At first I was confused and told him that quarters only come in silver and they don't make green coins.  Then he said he wanted the green one with George Washington on it.  Then it dawned on me that he was referring to a dollar bill.  He wasn't interested in the change, just getting a dollar.  He must have seen his older siblings counting out their dollars.  Benjamin is a smart little guy.