Activity Days

I'm the Activity Days leader in my ward. What that basically means is I plan activities once every two weeks for the girls in my ward ages 8-11. It is a really fun calling.

Last night I planned to act out the Book of Mormon story of Samuel the Lamanite. I brought this to help us out:


The wall is made out of rice krispie treats, and all the people are pretzels and marshmellows. When we got to the part in the story where the people started throwing rocks, I let the girls throw marshmellows at Samuel. They were very careful and made sure that the "stones" didn't hit Samuel, just like it the story.

The whole thing only entertained them for 10 minutes, but oh well. It was fun anyway.

The Cutest Kids I Know

Another perk of the Kartchner family reunion is that we got to see all of our nieces and nephews. They are without a doubt the cutest kids I know. I apologize to all of the other kids I know, but these ones are really cute.

This is Jaron tubing in a creek close to the cabin. He always wears these sunglasses!


This is Rylee in front of a waterfall that they hiked to.



This is Brinley (Jaron's sister) taking her turn with the pinata.


This is Will (Rylee's brother) in a tube at Seven Peaks.



This is Tyler playing in the sand at the playground near the cabin.


This is Jace (Jaron's and Brinley' brother) sitting in his grandma's lap.


We were blown away because all of these kids have changed so much since we last saw them. You have to admit though, they are really cute kids.

Defending Lindsey's Honor

Jake thinks these pictures are hilarious, so he wanted them posted on our blog. I figured if I posted them then you'd get the truth about what is going on and not the story that Jake thinks is so funny.

This is Lindsey and Will.



It looks like Lindsey is drowning Will (which is the story Jake thinks is so funny). The truth is, Will is swimming and Lindsey is standing by in case he needs help. Lindsey, I defend your honor.

Kartchner Reunion

Jake's family also had a reunion last week. This one came at a better time for us, because it happened right when Jake finished up his finals and I was able to take some time off work. Jake's parents and his siblings came over and stayed in the "Kartchner's Kabin" in Provo Canyon. This is a picture of the entire family in front of the cabin.


While Jake's family was out here we did a lot of fun thing, including spending a day at Seven Peaks (notice my amazing farmer's tan),




and climbing Mt. Timpanogos. This was taken before the hike



and this one was at the top.



It was great to able to spend time with Jake's family, and to spend some time doing "summer activities," because we haven't been able to do much of those this summer.

Family Reunions

This month has been the month for family reunions. The first week in August there was a Brison reunion up in Oregon. Unfortunately, Jake and I couldn't get off work and school to get up there for that one. My dad and sister went and had an absolute blast. They came back with enough stories from it to make us all jealous.

After the Oregon trip Dad and Holly came to Utah where my mom was already visiting my grandma. Again the timing wasn't the best because Jake was working on his finals and I was busy with several work and school projects. Jeff and Erik (my brothers) couldn't make it out either. But, we did get the chance to see what family was here for a little bit. We went to a movie (Iron Man!) and went out to eat a few times.



This is us at dinner. Jake was locked away in the library during this. Dad and Holly also visited me at work.


It was fun to have some of my family out here in Utah!

Wedding Season

This summer several of our friends have gotten married, and there are several more that will be married soon. I wanted to post some pictures of me with the beautiful brides!

This is Cherie and me at her reception. Jake was the photographer for this one.



This is Tammy, Sarah, and me at Sarah's wedding. We're outside of the Mt. Timpanogos LDS temple right after Sarah's wedding ceremony.

What Are You Going to Take Out?

A few days ago, a group of us at work had to write a short proposal. Every time one of us would add a word to the proposal, one of my coworkers would say, “You added something--what are you going to take out?”

This stuck out to me because this motto seems to apply to people in our life as well. Perhaps that viewpoint is a bit dramatic, but this weekend, it really seemed to fit.

Last week, our friend Kenny was honorably released after serving his full-time LDS mission. I've consistently heard from Jake about how much he missed Kenny and how excited he was for Kenny to be back; luckily, we were able to join in on a party that Kenny's family threw him to welcome him home.



This is a picture of Jake, Kenny, and Connary who (although they don't look it) were ecstatic to see each other. Later that night, Kenny came and stayed the night at our apartment. Jake really enjoyed having him back.

Since we added someone, it appeared that we needed to take someone out.


This is a picture of Tammy and me. We've been friends and have worked together for the past year at the MPC (that hardly sums up the past year, but it's good enough). She recently graduated and is now moving on to bigger and better things, beginning with a trip to Asia. Even though I know she's moving on to more exciting things, it's still sad to see her leave. She is one of the most generous, loving, and caring people I've ever met, one of those people who makes you happy when you're with her. She will definitely be missed.

Overall, it's interesting how life has a way of balancing things out.