Maisie turns 13

I can not believe my little girl is 13. Maisie you are growing up way too fast. You have informed me that you are no longer a child and you are a "WOMAN".

For Maisie's big "13"I took her and her two friends (Aubery & Josie) and Parker to Downata Hot Springs for the evening. We stopped at La Tienda and had dinner. You will not get bored with three teenagers. They are such good friends. They stayed the night at our house and had a great time doing girl things. Such a fun age.

Parker turns 9

My baby is nine. How has the time flown by so fast? He was so excited for his birthday he could hardly stand it. Rather than buying and wrapping his presents, we went to Walmart and he got to pick out which Lego set he got. He didn't care that he didn't have a present to open. He is such a Lego fanatic. I am not sure what I am going to do with all these Lego's once he is over this stage.

Weekend Family Fun

Saturday, August 22, 2015

I am trying to enjoy the last few days before school starts. It has been so nice having a long break. I have had about five weeks off and it has been wonderful.

Eric and I went and picked up KFC for dinner and stopped and bought popcorn so I could make caramel popcorn. We picked up a couple of movies and spent the evening hanging out and watching movies. We watched Insurgent and Taken 3. Both were pretty good movies.


Sunday, August 23, 2015

We spent the day doing our usually stuff. Laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning the house. and Eric mowed the lawn. After dinner we went over to Sallie's and visited with her. It's fun just going over there and hanging out.


It was a great relaxing weekend. Only one more of those before I start school. Ugghhhh.

Maisie Cooking Dinner

Maisie has been begging to get a new phone. Her phone was not keeping a charge and was very frustrating to her. I kept thinking how I could get a new phone for her, but what could she do for me. Paying her cell phone bill is expensive. With me starting school again in a few weeks, I decided to make a deal with her. I told her if I was going to pay her phone bill, she was going to cook dinners for me. She agreed and thought this was fair. After all, she gets home at 2:30, so there is no reason why she can't cook dinner and have it ready at 5:30. This will be so helpful for me and totally worth it. Besides she is learning great home making skills.

I am so grateful for all of Maisie's help. I could not be going to school without her help. She helps me clean the house and now cook. For the most part, she enjoys it. It makes her feel grown up.

Grandma's (Mom) Classroom

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Misty text me Friday night asking if Maisie wanted to go with Madison to help my mom get her classroom ready for the school year. I can't imagine all the things teacher's have to do to get things ready for the year. I ended up staying and helpings and Misty came with her kids. We put everyone to work and we got a lot done. Laminating, cutting things out, hanging things up. We ordered pizza and enjoyed a little lunch on the classroom floor. We got a lot done and my mom was very grateful all our help.

EBLS Pool Party

Friday, August 21, 2015

What better way to start out the school year, than with a pool party. EBLS PTA hosts a pool party every year. I always try to take the kids, because they love swimming and I can't pass up a free entrance fee.

The party was from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. I don't know how the kids can swim once the sun goes down. I get cold just sitting on sidelines. My good friend, Krista, and I sit and watch the kids and take the opportunity to catch up. We don't get to visit much any more.

Parker's First Day of Third Grade

Once again, my baby is growing up way too fast. I can not believe Parker is in third grade. This year he is showing signs of being to old for mom. It started with taking our traditional photo on the front porch. He was so embarrassed. There happened to be a neighbor returning from her morning walk and Parker tried to hide. There was no way he was going to be seen standing on the stairs waiting for mom to take his pictures.

Then we we arrived at my work, he was very concerned about me walking him to school. "Mom, are there going to be other mom's with their kids?" Of course, I had to walk him over and try and take a picture by his locker. Had to be a fast one, so his friends didn't catch a glimpse of him posing.

He is growing up way too fast. I want my little boy to be my little boy forever. Here is to another great year.

Oh and Parker has Mrs. Nancy Stewart (my former co-worker, Frank) wife. She is a fabulous teacher and we are in for a great year.

Maisie Starts 7th Grade

My beautiful Maisie has started 7th Grade. I am too hung to have a 7th grader. She has grown into such a beautiful, strong, young lady. Believe me she can stand her ground and is not afraid to speak her mind. She claims at school that she is a lot shier, but at home, she is very confident in her opinions and thoughts.

Maisie had a great summer. She got to hang out with her new best friend, Aubrey, several different times. She loves having a close friend. This is one thing she has always voiced. All she wanted was a best friend. Aubrey is a great friend and I hope they can continue their friendship.

Maisie was looking forward to starting school, just so she could wear her new school clothes. She is all about style and beauty. She wants to look her best.

I wish her the best year ever. This is will be her last year at Spring Creek Middle School. She is excited to be the oldest in the school. She said that the sixth graders look so little. I had to remind her that she was that little last year.

Camping before school starts

Eric and I took a couple of extra days off to go on one more longer camping trip before the kids start school. It is always nice to have a little extra time to just sit around and relax and enjoy the mountains.

Thursday, August 6th I got up early so that I could finish packing and be all ready for when Eric got home at 7:30. By the time we got everything together, it was 8:00 when we were pulling out of the driveway. We went up to our favorite spot in Logan Canyon, Temple Peak.

(This is what our family drives consist of. Lots of singing from Alabama.)

It took us about an hour to get up there. They had smoothed the canyon road, so we could actually go a decent speed and didn't have to dodge all the pot holes. Once we got camp set up, we all decided to take a nap. I think we all slept from about noon to 2:00. I think we all needed it. When I woke up it felt like I had slept forever.

We didn't do much the rest of the day. The day Eric comes off of grave yards is always a rough day. I don't know how he does it.

Friday, we slept in. I cooked french toast for breakfast, which is one of our favorite breakfast meals while we are camping. We rode our bikes around camp, went for a drive and the kids looked for cans. It rained quite a bit on Friday, so other than the little bike rides and the drive for cans, which stayed in the trailer. When it started to rain we went in the trailer and played a game of Farkle.

(This is the view from what I believe is Temple Peak. You can see Bear Lake in the distance.)

Saturday, once again we slept in. One of the joys of camping in a trailer, we get to sleep in a comfy bed and don't have a lot of reasons to wake up early. The only bad thing is I get in the habit of getting close to 12 hours of sleep at night, than we I come back to reality I have a hard time adjusting. After breakfast we decided to take a drive to Bear Lake. What a joke! It was Raspberry Days and there were people everywhere. We went to a little convenience store just over the border in Idaho to get a couple of drinks and then we headed back up the hill to camp. We stopped at the Chevron to get shakes. They don't have as many shake flavors, but it beats standing in line for an hour to get one down at Bear Lake. When we got back to camp we started a fire. The nights have been cooler, so we like to enjoy the fire before it gets too cold. Eric made a Montana Oven. Something he read about in a book. It is two holes and a then a hole that goes between them for air flow. You build a fire in the one side and than cook on top of it. We decided to give it a try. Once the fire was down to coals we took the grate off the BBQ and cooked our steak on it. It turned out great. He was so proud of his Montana Oven. When it got to be chilly we went in the trailer and played a game of SkipBo. We've never really played it before and decided it was one of our favorite games we can play all together.

Sunday, another day of sleeping in. Eric wanted a shake again. We drove down to the gas station again and got two shakes to share. We need to remember that two is plenty for us to share. Maisie noticed that one of her friends from school was camping down the hill from us. Her friend's dad was nice enough that when they left to go on a family four wheeler ride, he let Maisie and Parker ride their little four wheeler that they were just going to leave at camp. M & P had the time of their life. They probably rode it around camp for two hours straight and decided that they just had to have one. Hopefully, one day we will own one, but probably not for a couple of years. My good friend Michelle, decided to come up for one night. Michelle and her kids got to camp about 5:30. We cooked hot dogs and left over steak for dinner. We enjoyed a nice evening around the fire. Michelle and I had a great time chatting. We are both so busy that we don't get a lot of time to catch up on life.

When we woke up Monday it was pouring rain. By the time we got everything put away it was about noon. The rest of the day was filled with putting everything away and getting laundry done. UGGGHHH!! Back to real life.

Hike to Wind Caves

We have talked about hiking to the Wind Caves for several years and finally decided to do it. Madison came home with us from the Bear River City 24th of July celebration and stayed until Sunday, so when Kyle and Misty came to pick up Maddy we headed for the hike. It was about a 2 mile hike up and then back down. The kids did really well. We had to do a little distracting to keep Tyson going, but he made it. It was a beautiful hike and I would definitely do it again.

July 4th, 2015

I think July is my favorite month of the year. It is a month that is filled with spending time with family and friends celebrating our country's freedoms. I love all the different events and BBQ's that happen. It's a time that there is not much expected other than spending time with family. There's no gifts expected, just maybe a side salad.

For the last couple of years, we have spent the 4th of July at my good friend, Michelle's, in Hyrum watching the Hyrum parade. This year Maisie got invited to be in the parade throwing candy for her Orthodontist (also our next door neighbor). She enjoyed it, but it was very hot. Madison and Michelle's daughter, M'Kenzie also threw candy.

We enjoyed a yummy BBQ at Michelle's after the parade.

Shopping for vacation

Misty and Maddy came over and spent most of the day going shopping for our vacation starting on Monday, July 6th. We went to Walmart, Pepperidge Farms, Theurer's in Lewiston, Sam's Club, Macey's, and Gossner's. Why do us woman have to make everything so complicating? We could have got everything at one store, but we like to make our shopping trips a day trip. We had a great time and can't wait for our vacation to Redfish Lake.

Hendrickson Family Reunion

June 30th and July 1st

I am so lucky to have grandparents that value the importance of getting together as a family. My Grandma and Grandpa Hendrickson have tried to have a family reunion about every other year. This year they rented the Sunrise Resort over at Bear Lake from June 29 to July 2nd. This place is amazing. It was so big that you would have never known there was over a 100 people staying there. At one time or another during the three days, 113 of the 125 were there. I love how much of my cousins and aunt and uncles make every effort to come.

Me and the kids went up Tuesday after work and stayed all day Wednesday. Tuesday night my family fixed Philly Cheese sandwiches. Everybody loved them. After dinner the kids went swimming in the pool. That night we stayed up late visiting with the cousins and watching movies in the big theater room.

Wednesday morning after breakfast some of the family went to Minnetonka Cave and some went to Bloomington Lake. All of the Julander family, and Crosby, and Trent's family went to Bloomington Lake and went off the rope swing. Maisie and Parker were to chicken to go off of it and I was completely fine with it. It freaked me out a little bit. We were there for a couple of hours. By the time we got back to the resort we were all starving. We had a quick lunch. The rest of the day we just hung out and visited with the family. A lot of the kids swam in the pool. Kids just can't get enough of swimming. After dinner we presented my grandparents with a large envelope of thank you cards that everyone had made for them. They loved them. Afterwards, the kids did a relay race out on the lawn. We left about 9:30 to head back home. We had a great time and I am so glad that we were able to go.

Maisie's at Girl's Camp

I can't believe I sent my baby girl to girl's camp. She is growing up way too fast. The girl's left Tuesday morning about 8:30. I went into work late, so that I could take her over to the church to meet up with the other girl's. Either Maisie is going to love it or hate it. We will see come Saturday. She said she would only go if her one friend who lives across the street would stick by her side.

Its been pretty quiet around our house with her gone. Parker is missing is big sister and has been sleeping in her bed. It will be nice to have her back.

Evening walk with Parker

Now-a-days I don't seem to get out much. I talked Parker into going for a walk/bike ride with me tonight. The evenings are so nice in the summer. There is a sidewalk that goes behind the church at the end of our street. It is a nice little walk. There is a cute little bench under a tree and on our way back Parker says, "Mom you want to sit on the bench and talk." Of course I wanted to talk. I love that he still wants to talk to his momma.

Had to take a quick selfie while sitting on the bench.

Bryce Canyon Vacation

We left Thursday, June 11th at about 8:00 a.m. Eric worked graveyards, so as soon as he got home we finished the last minute stuff and was on the road by about 8. Sallie came with us. Our first stop was in Payson, for a quick fill-up and potty break. Then we stopped at Big Rocky Candy Mountain. I had researched things to do before we left and one of the things I found was renting a ATV/UTV for the day. I wasn't sure if I could talk Eric into it, but threw the idea out there. I figured that we might run out of things to do in Bryce Canyon, so wanted to be sure I had a back up plan. We ended up reserving a six passenger Ranger for Sunday. We arrived at our campground, Paradise Rv Park, just outside of Panguitch at about 2:00. There was no body around, so we wanted for about a half hour before the guy showed up. Eric was getting very irritated. After all, he was going on no sleep and just wanted to set up camp and relax. Once we got situated we just hung out in the trailer and watched a movie.

Friday, June 12th, we cooked breakfast and then drove to Bryce Canyon, which was about 30 minutes away. We jumped on the shuttle bus that took us into the park. We hiked the Navajo Loop/Sunset Point hike which ended up being 2.9 miles. It was a great hike and the weather was perfect. I don't think it got hotter than 75 degrees. After the hike, we rode the shuttle back to the truck and had lunch and than walked into a few little shops. Then we headed back to the trailer. We cooked dinner and just hung out. We met a really nice couple, Brian and Nancy, that stay the whole summer at Paradise RV Park. I think they have convinced us to come back again next year. We will see if we can get our schedule to work out and come back for the Balloon festival.

Saturday, June 13th, we went to the tractor pulls in Panguitch. Sallie had never been to the tractor pulls. It was fun to attend a small town event. The sled broke towards the end, so we didn't get to watch the last couple of tractors. Then we went back to Bryce Canyon and went on the Mossy Cave trail. It was only a .8 mile hike. It was a perfect little hike that went up to a Mossy Cave and then to a little waterfall. Eric and the kids hiked up a steep hill to look over the hill. On the way down, Maisie was crossing the river and lost her flip flop. Thankfully it got stuck in a little cove before going down the waterfall and her dad was nice enough to retrieve it for her. She was a little upset and went storming off down the trail. I think she realized she should have listened do mom and dad and wore tennis shoes. Oh well, live and learn. On our way back to the trailer, we stopped at the little shops in Panguitch and walked through them. Not too exciting, but kind of fun to look at. They have a lot of antique shops. We hung out at camp, had dinner, and visited with our new friends.

Sunday, June 14th, we got up early, at 6:00 a.m. and cooked a quick breakfast and then packed up the trailer. We decided to move the trailer to Marysvale, since we were going to be renting the UTV and it was right there. Got is an hour closer to home too. We got the trailer situated and then went and picked up the UTV. Once we got lunch and drinks all packed, we headed out on the trail. We headed towards Monroe mountain. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the cabin. We cooked some hot dogs and had lunch and then headed down the other side of the mountain. Along the way, we went to Monroe Peak and Fitzgerald Park. We filled up the UTV with gas in Monroe and then went to the park to evaluate the map and see where we wanted to head next. We still had five hours left before we needed to return it.

Price - Monte Carlo

Saturday, May 30th - A couple of weeks ago Eric and Jerry decided they were going to make a fast trip to Price to pick up Eric's Monte Carlo. Jerry has wanted that car since he was nine. It was suppose to be a fast trip, but the weekend got closer, Eric decided he wanted to stay the night. In talking to Cody, we found out that a family friend was getting married that weekend, so we decided it would be fun to go down and stay the night. The boys, Eric, Parker, Jerry, and Mason got up early Saturday morning and headed to Price. Maisie stayed with me while I went and took pictures at a birthday party in Preston, ID. Maisie and I left straight from Preston a little after 3:00 and headed to Price. We got there about 7:00 p.m. The boys had the Monte Carlo all loaded and ready to go. Shortly afterward we arrived, we headed to the wedding reception. Bridget and her girls were there too. It was so nice to see them, since we don't get to see them very often. We stayed until about midnight and then headed to Cody and Lexi's. We visited until about 2 in the morning and then headed to bed. They were nice enough to put us up for the night. We put Jerry and Mason in the camp trailer and we stayed in their spare beds. In the morning, we went to breakfast at Balance Rock in Helper. We went back to Mary's and visited with her for a minute and then left about noon. It was a fast trip, but a fun one.

Memorial Weekend in Grace, Idaho

It's become an annual tradition to go to Grace Idaho for Memorial Weekend. We camp at the Caribou RV park. It's a smaller RV park/golf course with only 10 spots. We go as a group with my co-worker Shannon and Kyle and Misty's family has always joined us. This year there was five trailers in our group. There's not a whole lot to do, but it's a nice place to get away. Eric had to work the whole weekend, so I was brave and pulled the trailer all by myself. It's actually not too bad as long as I don't have to back it up. Saturday we went to Lava Hot Springs for a couple of hours. It was a little rainy, which was nice to soak in the hot tubs.

We cook meals as a group, so we end up only cooking one meal. We definitely don't go hungry the whole weekend. I cooked taco soup for dinner. Everyone loved it. We watched a few movies and just hung out.

Sunday, we let the kids hit golf balls. It was quite entertaining seeing the kids who have never golfed before. Lots of practice shots.

We left Monday about 11:30 and Kyle was nice enough to follow me home and back the trailer in. Thank goodness for nice brothers. 

A weekend of Lagoon and wedding's

Friday, May 15th was USU's Physics day at Lagoon. The four of us got to help out. Eric was a judge, I took pictures, and Maisie and Parker were miscellaneous helpers. It was a cold and rainy day, so we didn't get to enjoy much of Lagoon. After we were done helping with Physics day, they fed us lunch, and then we went and sat in the car for about an hour and warmed up. Parker decided he really needed to go to the bathroom, so we went back in the park and rode a couple of rides.

To kill some time, we went to Ruth's diner in Salt Lake City. We had our friend's David & Sherry's daughter's wedding, Erin, wedding reception in Salt Lake later that evening. We arrived at the reception at 7:00 and stayed until about 9:00. It was so good to see them. We haven't seen there girl's Erin and Ariel for 10 years.

Saturday, was Lexi's sister, Erin's wedding. We went to the reception in North Logan for just a few minutes and then went to their wedding dinner in Preston. We had a great time hanging out with them and Cody and Lexi. We don't see family near enough.

Maisie is an Honor Student

I can't believe that 6th grade is already over. This year has gone by so fast. Spring Creek had a Honor's breakfast for all the students who got straight A's. Maisie did so awesome this year. She was always so good to get her homework done and turn it in. Not always on time, but she focused on doing what she needed to to get an A. So nice that 6th grade is a transition year and eases them into working hard.