Only six more days left of our summer vacation. I’m sad–oh so sad. Collin is full-swing into football, weight lifting  and finishing his tree house (can’t wait to show you the final results). Brecken is working at Simply Splendid, practicing her guitar for a wedding she’ll be playing at tomorrow and living, breathing, sleeping volleyball. So it’s often just me and my little (big) Sage. My gal loves adventures and we’ve been going on some fun ones lately.

First of all, Sage is my crafty one. She spends hours in my scrapbook room. She made this cute tie-dyed shirt and head band (American Girl brand).

She also has become a lover of flowers and takes my camera on long walks just to take photos of flowers.

Here are two (of dozens) of Sage’s flower shots:

I’m going to miss having all my little chickens around full time. But that’s how life is–always changing. Only three more days until our German boy, Konstantin (Konsti), arrives. We can hardly wait!

Okay–so I possibly did the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life today. Let me back up. My husband surprised me with a road bike a few Christmases ago. I was so excited about it until I saw the pedals had clips. (This means your shoes are “locked” into your pedals and you have to snap your foot to get out of them.) After falling really bad several times and having bruises all over my entire body, I gave the bike up. This summer I decided to conquer my fears and I’ve learned to love road biking with clips. Until today. I got up early to go for a ride when I saw my dog, Maggie, longingly begging to go with me. And then I got a bright idea! My seasoned-biker neighbor takes his dog on a leash while biking. I decided to give it a whirl. All was well until I got a few blocks from my house and Maggie decided to stop suddenly for a drink in a puddle. The sudden jerk pulled me down on the road really hard and I was not able to clip out of my shoes to stop the fall. I was sprawled out in the middle of the road–dog loyally at my side–unable to get up because one of my shoes was still clipped in. After laying there for a few minutes, a neighbor rode by on his way to work and stopped to help. Embarrassing but I was oh so grateful. Tonight I’ve got major road rash and bruising on my body. What was I thinking?

Life is good! Life is super good! We’ve got a busy rest of the week. Tomorrow is a nephew’s wedding, tomorrow night I’m speaking about journaling to my pal, Loni Stevens, church congregation. Friday is Collin’s first varsity football game against my husband’s alma mater, and Saturday Konsti comes! We are welcoming him to the neighborhood with a backyard party with all the kids his age. Should be fun. (Hope he’ll be able to stay awake with all the jet lag.)

Have a great rest of the week.

Lisa

Last week was our wonderful “girls only” camping trip up American Fork Canyon. Can you believe the beauty of this place? The base of this canyon is only minutes from my house. Below is the normal gang–Kristy and Alex Banks; Kerri, Kassidy and Jordon Bradford; Lisa, Brecken and Sage Bearnson; Karla Libbey; and newcomer, Carrie–a friend of Alex.

This is one of my favorite summer traditions. We have so much fun! It’s total rest and relaxation with a hike thrown in here and there. We always eat great food, work on crafts (I brought the iRock and the girls decorated hats–a big hit), play lots of games, roast marshmallows and laugh really hard!

There were lots of these for the girls to pick and blow. It brought back fun childhood memories!

This week the girls and I went on another “girls only” adventure to our friend’s cabin and then I went to Chicago for a few days. I’ve been working on some cool things with the Memory Keeping Collection. I can hardly wait to show these items with you.

Collin has also been in three-a-day practices all week and Brecken started volleyball at Lone Peak High School this week. We are crazy busy. Oh–and our German foreign exchange student comes next week. Thanks for all your words of encouragement with becoming a host family. It sounds like it will be a great experience for our family.

I’ve also been reading two amazing books on the power of thoughts. One is a children’s book, “What are you Thinking?,” and is authored by a dear friend of mine, Valerie Ackley. It is a must-have in every family’s book collection.

I’ve been marking the book up like crazy and here are some of my favorite “Jones” oberservations:

• “Remember, what you focus on increases.”
• “It’s time to stop letting your history control your destiny.”
• “People are either in a crisis, coming out of one, or headed for one.”
• “Worry is just imagination used in an unproductive way.”
• “Wisdom is the ability to see the future consequences of our choices.”
• “Many of life’s treasures remain hidden because we never search for them.”
• “If you are still here, then you have not completed your life’s purpose.”
• “We often judge ourselves by our intentions but others by their actions.”
• “If you want folks to believe in you, then it really helps if they like you.”
• “Life is a little like dessert. Keep your fork; the best is yet to come!”
• “In desperate times, much more than anything else, folks need perspective.”

Both of these books are amazing! You can get them both on amazon.com and during the month of August, you can purchase “What are you Thinking?” at the American Fork Costco.

Happy Reading! Enjoy your last weeks of summer!

Lisa

Oh I’m so sad! Only three more weeks of summer vacation with my children. It has been such a fun, hectic summer. Before I tell you about my most recent adventures, guess what? Our family is embarking on a new adventure in two weeks! A German foreign-exchange student will be joining our family for over nine months! His name is Konstantin, he’s 16 and has been learning English for eight years. He seems like an awesome young man. He wants to eat french fries and hamburgers and go to basketball and football games with an American family. Well Konstantin–you’re coming to the right family. We are sports fanatics and love good ol’ greasy hamburgers and fries. A sweet side note. The entire family felt good about Konstantin living in our home. Collin’s response was priceless: “I’d love to have a new friend and welcome the challenge of showing him around the high school and introducing him to new friends.” Oh–how I love that Collin.

Guess what? Kade only has FIVE months left on his mission! He returns home in January! I can hardly wait. Collin will then leave on his mission in a year. Wow–it’s strange to see my children grow up!

Now about our adventures this past week. We’ve had friends here from Southern California and Orlando, Florida. It’s been fun to rediscover all the cool places right in our own backyard.

This was a favorite for everyone:

The Alpine Coaster (right next to the Alpine Slide) in Park City, Utah is definitely a huge thrill. It’s a big roller coaster that goes down the mountain slope. The great thing about it is you control your own speed. You can go as slow or fast as you want.

Another fun Utah tradition is going to the demolition derby. This one was in Heber City, Utah.

For those of you who don’t know what a demolition derby is, here’s the definition:

“A contest in which drivers crash old cars into each other until only one is left running.”

Other fun things we did this past week: “This is the Place” state park, Bingham Copper Mine, Temple Square, Boondocks and the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum:

This week I’m off on our “no boys allowed” all girls camping trip with Kristy Banks, Kerri Bradford and Karla Libbey. Wish us luck! Last year we had every mechanical problem in the world happen! We had no clue what was going on!

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Lisa

We are back from our family reunion. Really–if you’re from Utah or a surrounding area and need a great place for a family reunion, go to The Old Church in Joseph, Utah. It was truly so much fun. First of all, the renovated church is amazing–lots of bedrooms and bathrooms, a huge kitchen and HUGE home theater/recreation room. It’s located right next to a park which made it even better for basketball, volleyball and night games.

Thanks to these two people (with my cute Sage) who made this vacation possible for all of us:

Just a little side note. I get asked all the time how my parents are doing. My dad has been in poor health for some time now and my energetic mom hasn’t been feeling good for several weeks. I really hate this stage in life–watching parents in their elderly years struggling with health issues. I was so thankful they were able to come to the reunion and enjoy some time with their posterity. Question–my dad ALWAYS has glare on his glasses when I take photos. I try tilting them and it doesn’t really work. Any suggestions for this?

Back to the reunion.

White-water rafting on the Severe River at Big Rock Candy Mountain was a highlight for several of us. It was a total blast. (We only had the opportunity to take one photo and my sweet sister snapped the shot. I think she was using the rule of thirds .)

Also cruising around the town on these bikes was super fun too (and harder than you think). One more question–I know I have Sage in a lot of photos. To be honest with you, Brecken and Collin aren’t very cooperative in photos. Brecken says she’ll be better when she gets her braces off and Collin is just goofy. Any suggestions? I try taking pictures with my telephoto lens especially of Brecken but she usually spots me and turns away. I also have to hide my camera from her so she won’t delete the photos she’s in. I know this is just a stage but it’s super hard! Help!

Speaking of Brecken, just have to share with you what she’s doing this summer. She works at an adorable boutique where they serve lunch, sell amazing crafts and offer delicatessens like these Cake Pops (Brecken makes several different flavors):

If you’re ever in the Pleasant Grove, Utah area, stop in for lunch and to say hi to Brecken. Oh–and take your camera and try to get a photo of her for me ! The name of the boutique is Simply Spendid. Just an FYI: The card is from my Little Gifts, Big Hearts Gift Tag and Tag Kit.

We have lots of fun company here at our house–friends from Orange County, California and Orando. We are off to Park City for the day.

Hope you’re surviving the heat!

Lisa

Tomorrow we are on our way to Joseph, Utah for a Downs (my side of the family) reunion. I always enjoy time spent with all my sisters, brother-in-laws, nieces, nephews, hubby, my own children and of course dear ol’ Mom and Dad.

This year, my parents rented an old church that is now a beautiful renovated center for gatherings. We are going to play lots of games, eat yummy food, go on some bike rides and enjoy a white-water rafting trip on Saturday.

This priceless photo was taken last year at our family reunion in Park City:

My mom took three of her grandkids on a ride on the historic Heber Creeper train. This is truly a memory that will last forever with these children.

So grateful for the blessing of family. Something I will never take for granted.

Lisa