Shelby

This weekend was a sad one for our little family.  Our dog Shelby has had cancer in her leg for a couple of months and had been doing pretty well up until the last week.  It appears the cancer had spread to her brain and she was unable to walk and was in a lot of pain.  Mark and I decided it was time to have her put to sleep on Saturday.  Even though we knew it was coming, it was a lot sooner and harder than I had anticipated.  Shelby has been a part of our family since April 1999, over 9 1/2 years.  Neither Mark or I have ever had a pet that long.  She has been such a light in our life.  I think she had the biggest heart of any animal I've ever known.  She loves everyone!  Sometimes a little too much.  She has even loved our dozens of cats and bunnies that have come and gone through her time with us.  Sydney and Luke will miss her greatly since she is the one they always want to go see when they are mad at us.  Mark buried her under a tree on the river on the lot we hope to build our home one day.  We will miss her greatly and we are so thankful she has been a part of our lives.

Security Home Mortgage

Yesterday was our annual company photo. I have been with this company for over eight years and worked with some of these people for over a decade. They have become like my second family and have to put up with all of my annoying habits: (ie... my sarcasm, competitiveness and the disaster I like to keep my desk in.) I appreciate all their patience and all the fun times.

HALLOWEEN

The last couple of years Mark and I have started hosting a party on Halloween night.  It has been a lot of fun.  We have dinner and the kids all go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  It's been much easier than trying to get our kids to see everyone.  Of course Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays since it's also my birthday.  I still like to think everyone's out partying just for me.   We did have one small incident this year when Sherri and I volunteered to take the herd of younger children around the neighborhood alone.  We lost one.  But thanks to my dear friend Sharla and the luck that his babysitter lives nearby we recovered him without too much harm.  After that we implemented the buddy system.  I need to remember that for next year.  Thanks to both of our families for coming to play with us.

We were so excited this year when we came up with the idea of dressing the kids up as a BYU football player and cheerleader.  One because we already had Syd's outfit and a jersey for Luke. We also loved the idea because Luke loves to wear helmets so we figured after last years nightmare of wearing his Nemo costume for about 31/2 seconds this would be a big improvement.  So we spent two weeks searching for a BYU helmet and finally found one which we way overpaid for.  And then of course he wore it every second until 12:01a.m. Halloween morning and refused to wear it until the next day and hasn't taken it off since.  Hence the reason for the picture of Mark trying to force it on his head.  I swear, sometimes, I think he may just be the biggest tease on the entire planet. 

A few of the cousins:  Tooth Fairy (Emily), BYU Cheerleader (Sydney), Dorothy (Jenna), Minnie and Mickey (Ava and Jordan), BYU Football Player (Luke)

Sydney as Sharpay

Our family, OK Sydney, has been anxiously awaiting the release of High School Musical 3. We went opening weekend with Sherri and her girls. Sydney loved it and to be honest I thought it was pretty cute. Sydney has always loved Sharpay and has wanted to dress up as her for Halloween for a couple of years now so when we saw this costume it was a must.

LOGAN'S FAREWELL

Whitney, Parker, Logan, Jenna, David & Jada

Cousins: Ava, Allison, Luke, Logan, Jordan, Whit,

Sydney & Jenna

So, I'm so on the ball, that I'm just posting Logan's farewell pictures and he just flew out to Houston today.  The MTC has already come and gone.  He did a great job speaking at his farewell and seemed very anxious to go.  I just can't say it enough, we are so proud of these nephews setting such a good example for our kids.  

Thriller

I conned Sherri into going with me to Thriller.  It was a lot of fun.  We went and ate at Heaps and watched the show at the Covey Arts Center.  Of course I loved it, It's Halloween, my favorite.

MOAB

The Kids: Luke, Braden, Sydney, Carson, and 

Brandon (just missing Whitney)
Thanks to my mom and dad for letting us

borrow their 4-wheelers

Delicate Arch in background
After a wet hike to the windows.  Brandon, Matt, Mark, 

Luke, Sydney, Braden and Carson

We planned a quick weekend get-away with the Manookins to Moab.  We had so much fun and they were so great to show us around.  We were totally clueless.  I haven't been to Moab since I was 17 and Mark can't ever remember going.  Sydney was so excited to go with Carson and even more excited when he brought his friend Braden, a new crush for the week.  She goes through them about as fast as toilet paper.  We stayed in some pretty swanky KOA cabins.  They didn't have much, but the kids were extremely excited to stay in a log cabin with bunk beds.  Even though the weekend was pretty wet, we managed to get in a couple of short 4-wheeler rides to Gemini Bridges and Metal Masher and a few hikes to the arches.  I can't believe how much bigger Moab is than I remembered and there really is a LOT to do there.   We look forward to going again.

Mark's Job

Mark had to take my camera out on one of his jobs the other day since he left his at work.  Now I have 500 pictures of dirt, but I thought I would post a pic of what he works with.   Since I never have really understood what he does.  This is a track mounted screen plant he started up in Hanksville.  His job it to go out and show the people who rent their equipment how to run and maintain it.  He has really loved his job change.  He gets to meet a lot of people and loves it.  

SFHS Jr Drill

Sydney's cousin Allison is on the Spanish Fork Drill Team this year, so she got to teach Sydney, Emily and Josie for a couple of weeks to perform at a JV game. 

Camping in Payson Canyon

Nicole, Mason, Sydney, Aiden, Kalei, Ellie,

  Luke, Erika, Ryan and Sage                                           

My beautiful baby boy

We closed out the summer with a camping trip with my family or at least those who could make it.  (Clint's family, our family, Grandma, Grandpa, Dayna's kids and Sherri's kids)  The kids had a lot of fun building hut's, roasting marshmallows and walking around the lake.  We had great food and I learned a ton of different ways to make a tinfoil dinner.  Who knew??

Sydney or Sidnei

Sydney may look just like her dad, but she has her mothers attitude.  (This is not a good thing.)  From the day she entered this world she has had a mind of her own.  Sometimes it's a blessing.  She has been very independent.  We joke she could easily survive on her own if we just sent her some money.  Sometimes her stubbornness is a curse.  Picking clothes to wear, how to do her hair, where we are going, pretty much anything is a battle.  

But sometimes it just makes me laugh.  The other day she came home and told me that Sydney can be spelled different ways.  I asked her what other way it could be spelled.  She said with i's or ee's.  I said yes, but dad and I decided to spell your name Sydney and we love it spelled that way.  Well she said I like it with i's.   That was the end of the conversation.  

The other day she came home from school and I was looking at all of her work from school.  She had six pages she had spelled her name Sidnei.  I asked her why she was spelling it that way and she informed me that is how she will be spelling her name from now on.  (Pretty sure that no one has ever spelled Sydney that way.)

Now the one blessing to having a child with your exact personality is you know exactly how to manipulate them.  For me, it's guilt.  It works like a charm on her as well.  I told her it hurt my feelings that she didn't like the way I spelled her name, got a really sad look on my face and she's completely committed to keeping her name Sydney.... At least this week. 

Motacyca, voom, voom

Luke hopes one day to be a great motorcycle racer like his cousin Logan.  Everytime he sees one he goes on for an hour repeating.... Motacyca, voom, voom.  It's pretty funny!

Mark's brother, David, just built a motocross track in Mona set for it's grand opening in October.  This is Mark's latest claim to fame.  He's very proud.  It looks awesome and we are very excited for them.  Take a look at the website mountainwestmxpark.com

Mantis

This is our latest family pet.  We found this guy hanging out on our porch one day and the kids fell in love with him.  He ended up hanging out there for over a week.  Every day Luke would wake up asking for "Mantis".  He would go check on him almost every hour.  He has now finally left our house and has been greatly missed.  I'm not sure why my kids found him so entertaining I don't think he moved more than an inch for a week.  Apparently our house is so entertaining that we are upstaged by a crippled insect.

The Office

So Mark and I have been distracted the last couple of weeks after we borrowed Amanda's complete DVD collection of The Office.  We watch a few episodes every night after we put the kids to bed.  They are hilarious.  A few nights we have stayed up way too late laughing so hard we wake up the kids.  We just finished the last episode last night and now I have that same sad feeling I had when the Olympics ended and I finished the Twilight series.  I guess it's good these things aren't endless like I wish, or I would be the most unproductive person on the planet.  

Kim's Baby Shower

We had a baby shower for Kim with all the girls from work at the Pizza Factory on Friday.  It was a lot of fun.  I can't believe she's only a month away from the big day.  It has gone by fast.  And since I spend half my day begging her at work, I will do it officially on the blog..... Please come back!!!  She is just the most fabulous receptionist ever.  I don't know what we'll do without her.  

New School Year

Sydney started first grade this year.  I can't believe how sad I am about it.  She seems too young to be going to school all day.  But she loves it.  Her teacher is Miss Holt.  Sydney already loves her.  The first thing she said to me after I picked her up the first day was "Mom, do you know how many times I go to recess a day?"  How many?  "3 TIMES!!"  with her fingers waving the # in the air like someone had given her a million dollars.  

She was also selected as student of the week for the first full week of school.  We were able to make this poster all about Sydney for her special week.  She was so excited.  Let me tell she put some critical thought into selecting her favorite things.  

This is the list of what Sydney says are her favorites....

COLOR......PINK

MOVIE......HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 

SINGER....MARTINA MCBRIDE

PLACE......LAKE POWELL (It's better than Disneyland she says)

FOOD.......SPAGHETTI (I don't agree, she never eats it.  I would say shrimp is her favorite)

DESSERT...CHILI'S MOLTEN LAVA CAKE

LOVES school, playing T-Ball, Dancing, Gymnastics, playing with friends, stuffed animals, shopping and being a big sister.

Stitches

So Luke is only 2 years and 3 months old and has more trips to the emergency room than me, Mark or Sydney.  This time he was running around the house at his usual mock speed with a blow-up duck around his waist when he tripped and went head first into the barstool.  He took a deep gauge to his face.  It only required 3 stitches.  He cried the entire time we walked into the room until they were done.  It was heartbreaking.  It only took 3 of us to hold him down steady enough to do the stitches.  Who knew a 30 pound toddler could be so strong.  

MISSION UPDATE

                                                                             Logan and Jake
                                                 

                                                                        Luke, Jake and Sydney

                                                                     Jill, Mark, Jake, Bert and Julie

Our nephew Logan received his mission call a couple of weeks ago to Houston, Texas.  He will be leaving us in October.  Jake entered the MTC last week headed for Mexico.  It has been such a great opportunity for my kids to learn about mission work.  The photos are after Jake's setting apart.  

Family Reunion

My Aunt Diane hosted the whole Newitt family at her home this year to meet for dinner.   Ray's family was up from Arizona and most everyone came except for Norma's family in California.  It is so good to see all of them.  It's crazy I only get to see my cousins once a year and most of them live in the valley.  I didn't get many photos but I did get one with my two favorite cousins Chris and Christian.  They have spent their entire life harassing me and nothing has changed.  They still love to tease me, mostly because they know I can still kick their trash in a race just like when we were little.  The other photo is of our 3 little sisters.  It's crazy to think that we are the parents now.  It was great to see everyone and see how wonderful they all are doing.  

Girls Night Out

Sydney and I planned a special Girls Only night out.  We went to Martina McBride (Syd's favorite singer), stayed overnight at the Hampton Inn and met up with Sherri and her girls for a day of school shopping.  It was so much fun to spend a day just with her.  She was so excited all week about it.  She is growing up so fast.  She stood up and sang for over half the concert even when her old mom gave in and sat down.  She wanted to stay up all night and talk with me.  Sometimes I have to remember she's only 6 and not 16.  I lover her so much and love being around her.

Sydney was most excited about seeing Mryiam, my long lost co-worker and friend that moved to Tennesee a couple of years ago.   She went to the concert with us.   We both miss her like crazy.  She pretty much helped me raise Sydney her first few years of life while she lived at the office with me.  She has been such a good friend it almost makes me sad to see her and remember how much fun we used to have and what a great friend she has been to me and now I only get to see her once a year.   

If you're wondering what the boys did?  Wakeboarding at Utah Lake and Fishing at Schofield.  Of course no pictures,  They are boys......

Zoo Day

Mark's family has cousin day at the zoo once a year.  This year we planned it for a Saturday afternoon, which we usually try to avoid, and it was one of our best years yet.  It wasn't very crowded and the animals seemed a little more lively for some reason.  This year we finally hit the bird show and rode on the new carousel which made for the best zoo trip ever.  

Marylynn was up from San Francisco with the twins.  They are already 10 months old and this was the first we have gotten to see them with all of their time in the hospital.  They are adorable and I can't believe how big they are.  Sydney is fascinated with Mia.  Everyone tells her they look alike, so she thinks that means she's hers.   They are both so cute, but I don't know how she does it.  

Lake Powell II

     

                         

We returned to Lake Powell again on July 18 with my family or at least part of my family.  My parents, Dayna and kids, Matt and Tess, Sherri and her girls, Amanda, Mason and our family all made the trek.  We had a lot of fun.  My family has been going down at least once a year for over 20 years now so we've gotten pretty good at it.  My family likes to rough it.  We did take down our trailer this year which was nice to wash dishes and keep some items sand free but everyone else stays in tents.  We all throw a tarp out and sleep under the stars which I think has become everyone's favorite part of Lake Powell.  

The kids were so good and had lots of fun digging in the sand and going out for "family swim time" in the deep water.  Allie and Mason both learned to wakeboard and most of the adults got to ski and wakeboard this year.  

Highlights this year were the massive wind storm we slept in the first night,  Matt's belly-button shirt,  the small city of mice we found living in the tube, Tess and her PANTS, Amanda NOT getting sun-stroke (Hooray, for shade and sunscreen - who knew), Luke allowing me to leave him long enough to actually wakeboard, The big bus at Wal-Mart, the fact that being 36 and a father of 4 hasn't made Matt any less insane when skiing, the German McDonalds in Kanab, using a camp chair for the passenger seat of the boat - pretty red-neck, good food as always, and great neighbors.  

If any of you have stayed at Lone Rock Campground, you know the difference neighbors can make.  We camped next to the most awesome people ever this year.  The night we pulled in a group let us pull in the middle of them since they were leaving the next day, it ended up being a family that had moved from Spanish Fork that I had grown up with, the McConnells.  It is crazy how small the world is.  After they left, Dave and Flo moved in with there motor home.  They are the sweetest couple on the planet.  They helped save our camp while we were gone and let us camp right on top of them as well.  They camp there for the rest of the summer before heading to Arizona to stay for the winter.  I hope we didn't drive them to crazy, because they were definitely the highlight of our trip.  All the kids are still talking about them.  Part of me thought they were crazy to live together traveling in their motor home and living on a beach for a quarter of the year, but after staying by them, I'm very envious and hoping maybe one day Mark and I will be lucky enough to do the same thing.  They seemed like the happiest couple on earth.  

Stadium of Fire

Okay, so it's been forever since I blogged, I know.  Summer is flying by so fast.  It seems we are very busy doing nothing to productive, if that's possible.  For the 4th we went to the Stadium of Fire of course, after enduring much ridicule for wearing a wristband for a week to get tickets.  We went with Sherri's family and loved the show.  We're pretty easy to please, though.  We'd go just to see the flyover and parachuters.  We loved the Blue Man Group and have wanted to see them in Vegas for a long time so we figured it was a good compromise to take Syd to a shortened Miley Cyrus concert and get to see the Blue Man Group all in one sitting.

Lake Powell with the Hansen's

We had our annual trip to Lake Powell with the Hansen's the last week in June.  It is so much fun to go with Mark's family.  We had great weather and we were excited to have the cut open at Castle Rock this year which made it seem like a lot less boat traffic.  Half of the family stays in trailers and half stay in hotels.   We are the cheap half that camp on the beach.  That's right camp. But we have so much fun.  Our favorite part of the trip is sleeping out under the stars with everyones air mattresses piled in a big block and making each other laugh all night long.  Mark has some pretty funny siblings.  Marks parents even stayed and  slept out with us the last night and had us rolling pretty hard themselves.  This year was a little sad as well, since it will be the last year for the two oldest boys to come with us.  They will both be leaving on their missions this fall.  And let me tell you they will be missed, especially at Lake Powell.  They help do everything.  I don't know what Mark and Bert will do without their little errand boys.  They also do a great job of keeping us all entertained.  We will miss Jake and Logan a lot the next two years.   Luke and Sydney both rode the tube, no convincing them yet to wakeboard.  Mark's brother, Rich rented a pontoon boat which helped make the trip much more enjoyable for Mark and Bert.  They felt a lot of relief not trying to get everyone out on our little boat all the time.  And made it so most of us could head to one destination all together.  It ended up being quite a spunky boat to ride on.  Just kick up your heels and set to sea.   We can't wait to head down again in two weeks with my family.

Sydney was trooper of the year this trip.  She had been sick for a couple of days before we headed down, so I took her to the Dr. right before we left.  And of course my little girl that I always wait and wait to take to the doctor because she seems to act fine other than a little fever or something got me again when the doctor diagnosed her with Strep Throat and Hand, Mouth and Foot Disease.  She had a fever, sore throat, 20 cankers on her tongue another 10 inside her mouth, blisters on her hands.  It was so sad.  We would give her motrin to lower the fever and she'd go play for a few hour and then come back and lay down and the fever would return and we'd continue the cycle.  She kept trying to eat for 2 days and couldn't bite anything with her canker sores.  It broke everyone's heart.  I swear she lost 5 pounds in those 2 days.  And she never complained.  I always say she is the best sick person I know.  Then I really got to experience it.  I came down with the same symptoms right after we got back from Lake Powell.  I cried and stayed in my bed for 3 days and didn't move.  She was ten times tougher than me.  She is seriously my idol after this week.  I never want to be sick again.