S.S.S. Sam and Sam Stokes

Jason and Marie


The british brides maids

August 1st, Sam and Sam were married! What a story. Most of you know Girl Sam. She started spending summers with us when she was 15. Her dad Jason and John were mission companions is Scotland many years ago. They have remained friends and we have stayed in touch over the years. We have had the opportunity to have all three of their kids stay with us for extended periods of time.

About 5 years ago, there was a boy from South Weber named Sam Stokes. He was called to serve a mission in England. He went to the Chorley ward, and was invited often along with his companion to eat dinners at the Hunts home. Jason Hunt was serving as Bishop and he and his amazing wife Marie, often made these young missionaries feel at home. Sam Stokes returned to South Weber after his 2 year service. That was the first summer that Samantha Hunt stayed with us. She remembered Sam Stokes and let him know that she would be in the U.S. He and his buddies would drop by for visits. This went on for a couple of summers in a row. Samantha then attended BYU. It was this year that Sam Stokes and Samantha Hunt started dating. Their history went back several years by now. It didn't take long for them to realize that their futures would be spent together.

So now we have Sam and Sam Stokes. We often joke that during that first summer visit, we also had a dog named "Sam" So when all three Sam's were in the house, it made for a laugh or two. I realize that my postings are out of order, my intentions are good. Isn't she a beautiful bride?

CONGRATULATIONS Sam and Sam

Labor day OR "LABOR ON THE DAY?"

It was Fri. Night the start of Labor Day weekend. We received a notice of an emergency meeting to discuss the recent fire. I went with my neighbors Lisa, Sharon, and Cheri. The attendance was minimal, the message was horrifying!! The State Hydrologist opened the meeting by telling us that we were doomed. He flew over the burn scar on our mountain and determined that it was the "worst he had seen!" The guy explained that a burn scar is like a huge sheet of vortex or plastic that repels rain water and with lack of vegetation there is nowhere for it to go but down, (with momentum) He said we are at a high risk for flood damage, debris flow and mudslides. No bedside manor just said it the way he saw it. He was followed by a F.E.M.A. flood insurance specialist who strongly suggested we all add this policy. (doesn't cover mudslide, thats considered earth movement??) We heard from the Fire Chief, and the draper city emergency dude. Our house just happens to be one of the 100 at a high risk, we are in the direct path of a crevasse on the mountain that funnels the water right at us. Did I mention that I had already spent my day with a 3 alarm migraine, (3 prescription pills to get it under control, thats an overdose!) So now with my side effects from the migraine pills, and the info from the hydrologist guy, i wanted to throw up. I imagined riding my house like a skateboard all the way to the copper mine! Why the emergency meeting you ask?? Massive rain storm arriving on Sunday the magnitude of Niagara falls on our little neighborhood. What did this mean you ask??? Labor, sweat, lifting, sand in my toes, shirt, pants, hair, panic, organizing, saving, surviving...........................What did we do?? We pulled together, we organized with the fire chief who arranged to have 10 or more dump trucks full of sand delivered to our street, we brought shovels, and one by one filled thousands of sandbags. We started on Friday night and placed our last one on Sunday, just as the "rain came down and the sun didn't come up" We shored up windows with plywood, and helped out those who were out of town. Just as the weather guys promised a full on downpour. I had the 2 way radios with the NOAA weather channel and alert system in full effect. This is a protection in case there is an evacuation or danger in the middle of the night. My alert was going off like crazy. The panic and lack of feeling organized was heightened. By Saturday my 3 alarm migraine was now 6 alarm. I was in pure survival mode gutting out every min. We got important documents, pictures and John's entire autographed sports collection ready to move at a moments notice. (John's collection took up more space than just about everything else) I still had my jewelry in the "Save" pile.. again, gotta have the accessories to properly survive a disaster! Our neighborhood was like a war zone (again) the fire, police and draper city were in our neighborhood monitoring the mountain, rain fall and debris flow, they set up an emergency command center. Normally when it rains with a bit of lightning and thunder, I cozy up with hot chocolate and a blankie. This time I was in my rain gear, galoshes, and had 2 way radios clipped to my belt buckle. The rain storm was decent, we didn't really sleep well. At the end of it all we survived our labor day weekend. Our house is still sitting on it's foundation, although "Our" foundation has been significantly "Rocked". Danger lurks for the next 2 years. We need to be "Afraid" of rain and "Panic" if there is a thunderstorm. I will just try to be prepared and remember to save the family first and the "Stuff" if we can. And God willing, the vegetation will grow back and the danger will pass. We have great neighbors, we are not alone. I added flood and earthquake insurance, (takes 30 days for flood to kick in)
and after filling and lifting hundreds of DANG HEAVY sandbags, I think by biceps are bigger. See there is always a light at the end of the storm!!! Prayers for our safety are always welcome. Thanks..



In an emergency we need a cheerleader, syd put
on her "Chargers" jersey to cheer us on. "Charge ahead!"




This is one of the 4 window wells in our back yard, We also sandbagged
the neighbor's above us to divert the flow. that took a couple hundred
bags.

The news guy setting up a camera to cover our "Labor"


Now this is what I call "Team work" and community coming
together!!





Its a love hate thing....Love em if the save ya
hate em if you have to fill em, move em, and decorate
with them........

SPOTS!!!!

This was Day 1. By Day 2 "NO PICTURES MOM!"


The night of the fire, Connor barfed.....twice! once in the right place and the second time...as if I needed to clean that up! I thought it was smoke inhilation. 2 days later, covered in spots the Dr. said Hmmm. This is Chicken pox. NOOOO.

Chicken pox meant that Connor had to stay home for who knows how long. He was vaccinated and they thought perhaps luck would kick in and he would have a mild case and be back at it in no time. (Whatever) He had a decent breakout and missed his first week of school. Poor little connor was misserable. He was brave but the spots were in his mouth and hair and he was sooo itchy. So sorry bug.....:(

First day of Kindergarten "UP IN SMOKE"

m I in trouble???????

Sydnie is a pink cupcake with crystal sprinkles!

Her first homework.

"Mom how many more day's?" We started the countdown at 15. Sydnie was so anxious to start kindergarten. She is the only child that has expressed such enthusiasm. The buzz in the air was evident Aug.25th 2008. Sydnie knew she was hours away from her big day. She showered, had breakfast, got dressed and then posed for her "first day of kindergarten pictures." Ahhh finally... Sydnie is our smallest child. John and I are both tall, we wonder how she can never manage to move out of the 5th percentile for height and weight. Finding school uniforms was a challenge, but isn't she darling? She is in the 100th percentile when you evaluate and measure her personality. The "first day was really a 2 hour orientation. She didn't care, she was in kindergarten!! We left the school and I gazed at the mountain that we live on. It looked like a small controlled burn was in progress. We stopped at the grocery store for about 30 mins. and when we came out, this is what we saw..........

I couldn't drive fast enough, our house is somewhere in this smoky mess. The closer to home I got, the bigger the smoke became. It was clear that this was a wild fire not a controlled burn. John and Ashlee were in SanDiego. Within 5 min. of arriving at home, our neighborhood had all of the sights and sounds of a war zone. Helicopters, Fire engines, police cars, airplanes flying low. We stood at the bottom of our culdesac and watched the first day of Kindergarten go up in smoke. There was news of evacuating, I always thought I was prepared for this, NOT!!!

This is our roof line.

This plane was dropping fire retardant powder on the mountain. It was flying soooo low.

What did I grab???? My camera....If I couldn't save the house I would take lots of pictures of it burning down. (Duh!!) I was paralyzed. I didn't think our house would burn down but who am I to make that call? I spoke with John and he suggested I start loading the car in case we needed to evacuate. I found myself running in circles literally. I pulled it together and got pictures, laptop, external hard drive, estate planning docs. And my jewelry (can't survive an emergency without the bling!) It was a wake up call. I'm prepared for a disaster that would allow me to stay at home. But if I had to flee, our stuff is all over the house and it's impossible to remember every thing you would need to grab. "What I know for sure...." Things after all are only things. Its great to save pictures, they cannot be replaced. But everything else, well we live in America where we have more stuff to consume than is good for us. But, this was a great wake up call, and If I can save the sentimental's in the future, then its high time for me to be more organized. We survived the fire. We were safe and did not have to evacuate. WHEW!!! A shout out to all of our family and friends who were on stand by to help me out in a moments notice and who were calling to check on me every few mins. Thanks. I know that I am not alone even when John is out of town.

"Mom" I feel like a real Man!!

John and I went to Deer Valley for 3 day's. It was a long awaited break. John's Dad was kind enough to stay with our kids with Ashlee acting as his assistant. Between the 2 of them the goal was to keep Syd and Connor alive. I came home on Fri. and was warmly greeted by Syd, Ash, and Gpa. But Connor was not home. "Where is Connor" I ask. "Oh hes at the club house at the bottom of the culdesac" Hmnm. I don't know of the club house.. I walked all over the neighborhood knocking on doors, investigating back yards No boys, No club house, No Connor. That panic was setting in a bit. This is unusual behavior for Connor. He's easy to locate and never goes beyond the neighborhood boundaries. I couldn't contain the fear. Syd said that the club house was by the railroad tracks, near a park. That spot is way to far for him to wander and if he did................I had Ashlee get in her car with syd to go check out the park area. She called me and couldn't find him anywhere. It's now been a good 30 min. Do I call the police?? I tried to be cool, I asked syd again, she said by the railroad tracks. She seemed quite certain. I grabbed my neighbor and we headed in the direction of Mr. Glad's farm. Across a busy street towards a field, and abandoned railroad tracks. I yelled and screamed and heard nothing. Mr. Glad just so happened to be driving by and we flagged him down. "Have you seen our boys?" Oh yes, they had wood, Hammers, nails and power tools. He had that smile that comforted me. He knew these boys were just being boys, the old fashioned way that they don't get to be anymore. I said "where are they, where is their club house?" He said, " not sure, but if I were a little boy, I would be down in that field to the right under the Big tree!" As I'm walking toward the tree that seemed so far away, I had flashbacks to my childhood days growing up on a farm, with a field and trees all over. I remember leaving in the morning on adventures and being gone all day. I remembered building forts and palaces in trees and ditches. It brought back that age old feeling of good clean old fashioned (cant believe my childhood seems old fashioned) Fun. As we approached the tree, We spotted our boys. They built the best little tree house. They hammered wood and made a platform to sit on, it had a "lookout point" and a rope swing, one boy brought the R.I.P. headstones to scare off intruders. When I laid eyes on my boy, the feeling of wanting to yell at him melted away when I saw the layers of black dirt smeared all over his body. I could have carved on his cheek "Clean me" with my fingernail. It was a heartwarming find. We had a talk with the boys about safety and informing parents where they were. I gave connor the walkie talkies and our communication worries were all sorted. The next day Connor said,

"Mom, I feel like a real man!" "why ?" I said. "Because Ive never built anything before and now Ive built a tree house!" I'm thankful for the field in our suburbia. I'm glad that our boys could enjoy the outdoors and be creative! I'm glad I found Connor. I need to not worry so much!!

Fall runway fashion trend 2008

So our cute Sam (from England) had her bridal shower. The party was in south weber, but tragicaly on that very evening a Huge tanker rolled on the freeway closing all north bound traffic. It was evident that we would not make it and had to re-locate to a restraunt in down town salt Lake. It was great. They had a private room and got us in right away. The Problem..........It may have been 100 degrees outside, but in this private room it felt like 10 degrees below. FREEZING. We kindly requested a thermostat adjustment, but they argued it would mess up the entire restraunt. So we tried covering the vent with menu's but as you can see, It wasn't really working. We wandered into a stock room and found the checked table cloths, and all wrapped up in one. It was a funny sight. Now don't be shocked if you see this new look on the runways this fall. Watch out pashmina, checked table cloths are making a comeback!

Unplanned entertainment can be the best. It all worked out. And in typical Sam style, she went with the flow and didn't seem upset that the original plan was de-railed.

"May I have 2 toothpicks please"

I'ts a question Connor asks almost every waiter/waitress in every restraunt we go into. "may I have 2 toothpicks please?" This is a magic trick passed down from his big borther Ian. He loves
to impress on lookers with this impossible balancing trick.

Corrupted the sequel

My sister thought that her 18 month old daughter was corrupted when she found

her in the back yard holding a chicken. I argue that our corruption is worse, or just grosser!!

Grandpa Don LOVES fried pig skins. In fact, his favorite breakfast entree would be a plate of fried pigskins with melted cheese. We were at a Mexican fiesta for Johns sister, and part of the buffet included the largest skins ever. One of them had the FDA stamp fried right on it.. I'm kicking myself as we speak for not taking a picture of that one. Any of you who know me, understand that this is so gross to me. I can't imagine eating the deep fat fried skin of a pig. Imagine my horror when I found my "Girlie girl" gnawing on a pig skin almost as tall as her!! I prefer the more creative use "telescope" but still......she really liked it, so did connor. But I told them not to get used to it because it would not be found in their lunchbox any time soon. Grandpa Don and I joke around alot as he offers me a sampling of his pig skins. I wrinkle my nose and act disgusted, then we both laugh about it. So the jumbo, large pig, size skins made for a good picture moment, and offered "Corrupted the sequel"

"My most favrotist place on earth"

For Connor's 9th birthday, we told him he could choose any restraunt for dinner. He didn't hesitate when he said "Saweet Tomatoes!!!" "Why?" I asked, Because it's my most favoritist place on earth. "Sweet tomatoes it is then." Wonder why?? Let me break it down.

Appetizer....Dill pickles, croutons, boiled eggs. (all you can eat)

Main course....cheese pizza (a couple of slices will do)

But the Reason of all reasons..... Brace yourself,

DESSERT.....Chocolate brownie, followed by 2 icecream cones dipped in oreo cookie crumbs, and then just for fun, some old fashioned jello slurping. No fork required. Pucker your lips and suck really hard, those jello squares slide in to give you the final sugar surge. Aren't these the cravings of a pregnant woman??

Happy Birthday Bugs....We love you!!!!

True loves first kiss

Don't need to say much the pix speaks for its self. Johns Dad is so awesome and the kids just love him!!

A Big Heart

My dad gave us all quite a scare. He had symptoms of Heart trouble. After an iodine stress test, the doctors knew something was wrong. They scheduled him the next day for a procedure to go through the vein in his leg and scope out the arteries. They found 2 blockages. Gratefully they put in 2 stints and feel that it will greatly improve his quality of life. There is an aneurysm that is being watched. We are all so grateful for his darling wife Pat!! Her nursing skills and love nudged him into the doctors office and ultimately saved him! Thanks Pat. We love you both and are blessed that this procedure is making you feel better. Aren't they so cute!!!

Beauty ZZZZZZ"S

This is Syd. EVERY time we go somewhere in the car, she brings as much as she can carry in her little purse. The purse falls on the floor and all of the little things spill out. Needless to say, the floor of the car looks like the floor of the play-room. I swear I will make her take everything back in the house. Yeah it never happens. I have polly pocket bits, melted lipgloss in every flavor and color, we melted a whole box of crayons, that was a fine art project. I think I found skittles from the year 2000, way under the seat!!! She picked up this eye patch thing from a friend, It was on the ride to costco that she realized she would give it a try. If you ever wondered... They totally work. Check her out. I laughed so hard I cried when I turned around and found her snoozing.

Neighborhood Clean Up Canine

Meet "Duke" he is lovingly referred to as our neighborhood dog. Duke is the size of a small pony. He loves to invite himself to a BBQ. He really loves it when there is a birthday! He kindly thanks us for the impromptu visits by cleaning all of the garbage. He licks all of the frosting and BBQ sauce from every plate, and then proudly leaves the cleaned paper products all over the lawn to show how much he cares!! Its almost as though he thinks we can re-use them for next time. "Thanks Duke!" We love Ya!!

Happy 17th Birthday Ash!!