AAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

This is what I feel like today. Just found out my AC upstairs went out. It's 87 degrees up there right now. Last week my water heater had to be replaced; it rusted out the bottom. I've replaced two broken windows (due to golf balls), painted everything (but I'm going to have to start doing touch ups now), super duper cleaned carpets (and will probably clean some of them again), planted flowers twice (drought isn't flower friendly), replaced broken kitchen faucet, the shower faucet upstairs is mostly broken (just trying to hobble through), and bunches of other smaller repairs. And my lawn is nearly dead because of the drought and water restrictions. People who see the house want granite countertops (it's hard to compete with the new house's upgrades in our neighborhood so we'll probably change them out so we can better compete). How much more money do I need to spend before I can get out of this house? And I still need a new car. Just feeling a bit frustrated.

Favorite Movies: List 1

I love watching movies, all kinds of movies. Nate will watch a lot with me. But there are some genres that I will most likely watch even if no one else likes them. I just like to watch movies. So, this summer I'll be posting lists of some of my favorite movies in some of my favorite movie categories.



First category: Any movie with a horse in it:

Black Stallion,
Black Stallion Returns,

Flicka,
National Velvet,
Secretariat,
Horse Whisperer,
Sea Biscuit,
Phar Lap,
Lady Hawke,
The Horse in the Gray Flannnel Suit,
Danny,
Hidalgo,
Black Beauty,
Dreamers,

Man from Snowy River,
Return to Snowy River,

Touching Wild Horses,
Virginia's Run,
Long Shot,
Racing Stripes,
Derby Stallion,

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken,
Flash,
Running Free,
Gus,
My Friend Flicka,
Thunderhead Son of Flicka

I'm sure there are lots more that I have watched that I don't recall at the moment. But I love myself a nice horse movie. I dream of having horses and stables one day. I don't think my golf course neighbors would appreciate horses in my backyard. So it will most likely be awhile. So for now, I get my horse fix watching movies and daydreaming.

Aspen Grove Family Camp

We went to Aspen Grove Family Camp for Nate's family reunion this summer. It was so much fun. There were tons of activities for everyone. The weather was perfect and it was fun to hang with cousins and family.

There was rock climbing and dodgeball.

There was a really fun ropes course that we all did. Being so high on such a skinny cable was slightly nerve-wracking. But it was fun.

One night there were water games. I think everyone enjoyed playing this game with the giant blue ball: basically hot potato in the pool.


Each family stayed in these little cabins. There was lots of hiking and stairs involved the whole week.

There was still a lot of snow on Mt. Timpanogos. So we were unable to hike the peak. Instead, there were hikes to Stewart Falls and First Falls. Being from sea level, we got winded kind of quickly. But the kids were troopers.

One day the adults did paintball. I won the elimination round. But only because I had more ammo than anyone else and an awesome position in the fort. We have some nice bruises to show for our fun. It would definitely be fun to do again.

The kids swam in the (heated) pool everyday. It has super fun slides.

On family night, we participated in all these fun games. There was a potato sack race, a parachute,

steamroller,

there were these four person ski thingys, and then a contest where you had to fill a holey can with water. So Isaac and Alex got in (to lessen the amount of water we needed) and everyone else plugged the holes with their fingers. Then a couple other kids filled the can with buckets of very very cold water. Isaac and Alex were good sports.

There was a giant earth ball course on the hill.

The kids enjoyed making paper rockets and launching them with a compressed air launcher.

We also did arts and crafts, shuffleboard, mini golf, ping pong, horse shoes, geo caching and skits for FHE with the whole family, cheers and songs with the kids' age groups and their counselors, a music video with Aspen's group (which I am trying to get a copy of) and lots of other things I didn't get pictures of. It was a fun week. We really enjoyed our week up at Aspen Grove. We would go again in a heartbeat.

Nearly There

On Saturday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple as a family to do baptisms for the dead. Since we are so much closer to so many temples here in Utah, and Nate was here with us, and Isaac just turned 12, we took advantage of that and attended the temple together with Bryan and Cynthia (who has also recently turned 12).

The temple was beautiful, as always. And we enjoyed the peaceful feeling inside it. We were able to be baptized for 98 men and women. (Thanks for providing us with the names Aunt Joan).

It was an early day. But so beautiful (and bright) in the morning sun. Living so close to a temple would be such a blessing. We go as often as possible in Texas. But it was nice to be able to enjoy the nearness of the temple here. In 6 more years, we will be able to go to the temple with all of our children. Eternal families are such a great blessing. We are nearly there.

The Boys' Special Day

Yesterday was a special day for Toby and Isaac. Isaac turned 12, received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of deacon. Toby turned 16 a couple days ago and he was ordained a priest.

We were glad to be here in Utah with some family to participate and celebrate with us.

We were glad to have Earl (Grandpa) Brunner, uncles Jeremy, Bryan, and Felipe, and my mom's bishop, Bishop Redding, to be here with us. Of course there were lots of cousins and aunts and grandmas as well.

I am so proud of my boys. They are growing up so fast and are becoming valiant young men of faith.

Roadtripping

My kids have become professional road trippers. We have always done a lot of driving in our family. That's what happens when you live in the middle of nowhere I guess. We've done trips to Utah a lot. But also Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, New York City, Niagara Falls, Washington DC, Southern California, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kansas. Some years we have crossed the US two or three times.

This past month we have traveled more than 5000 miles. Here's that we've done so far:

400 miles Pflugerville to Mustang Island and back

626 miles Lawrence, KS to Nauvoo, IL and back to KS (Toby and Aspen at Youth Conference)

687 miles Lawrence, KS back to Texas

770 miles Pflugerville to South Padre Island and back

1310 miles Pflugerville to MN (the day after getting back from SPI) for Toby to go to Scout Camp at Boundary Waters

1259 miles Pflugerville to Aspen Grove Family Camp for a Brunner family reunion

That's a total of 5052 miles.

We'll log another 1300 miles to get back to Texas. That'll be 6300 miles.

The long miles are sometimes a bit daunting, especially since I do most of the driving by myself. But it is always worth the fun memories, being together, seeing new places, and visiting with all our family. There are still a lot of places on the list to visit. Maybe next year we'll get to some of the places we haven't been before. (Seattle, Chicago, Redwoods, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, most of the monuments and national parks in Utah).

Scout Camp

Isaac got to go to scout camp for the first time this year and he loved it. He passed off 5 merit badges, got mostly done on a sixth, and has 2 more ready now too. There was a family night the last night that he actually wanted us to come to, so we did.

My favorite comments when I arrived to see him at camp: "I haven't showered for 5 days!" and "I didn't wear sunscreen (that I sent and made him promise to use) at all and I didn't get burned!" Well, thank heavens for that.

When I went to do the laundry from his backpack, all the extra clothes I had so carefully folded for him were still folded. At least he went swimming everyday and kind of rinsed off.

Ahh, the joys of having a 12 year old boy.