Pink & Green Notebooks

Tonight after celebrating a birthday with some friends, Zac informed me that he needed a 5 subject notebook for TOMORROW!!  These are times where I have a really hard time being calm. But somehow I was pretty calm, even though I just got in my pajamas and was all ready for bed. I just got dressed and ran over to Walmart. I looked through that whole store. I found tons of 1 subject notebooks. Then I found a pile of 3 subject note books there were yellow and green. So I grabbed the green one and thought that he could take it tomorrow and explain that his mom couldn’t find a 5 subject but we’d check again. Then I tried one more spot, back in the office supplies area.

Wahaaaa!! There it was!!  A 5 subject note book, just like he needed!!  Only. . . . . . it was PINK. I stood there and laughed right out loud, “It’s pink, oh dear, it’s pink. How funny, now I don’t know what to do.”  There was a guy standing next to me. He was trying not to look at me but I’m sure he was thinking I was a kook!!

Well, I bought it and decided to let Zac decide. The green 3 subject note book or the pink 5 subject one. He said that he’d take the pink one. It would be fine, it would go great with his pink composition notebook that they gave him for science. I laughed and asked him why pink, he was told that’s what they found. I explained that’s all I could find and I was sorry. He was really fine with it. I thought that was really cool of him.

Scouts and Soccer

Tonight my scouts learned about the american flag. They learned how to fold it and respect it. They also learned about our state flag. I learned a few things myself. I don’t know if I don’t remember or if I just never knew, but our state motto is INDUSTRY. I think that is an awesome motto and I’m worried that we’ve forgotten that.

Then the boys were supposed to learn the rules of bowling. We were also supposed to teach them how to play one other game, flag football, soccer or baseball.  Since, I’m the assistant leader I was asked to teach them bowling rules and another game. I know soccer that’s the sport of choice around here. So, that’s we played. It went over great, the boys were very excited and we played with the bears too. I was glad to know one of those sports and be able to sort of know how to coach it too. I think I’ll get the hang of this scout calling after all.

First Day of Middle School

Zac and Josh started Middle School today. I planned on getting up early and making them breakfast. Apparently, even though I woke up at 6:20a, I didn’t wake up early enough. Boo :( I’ll try again tomorrow.  I did take them to school early with plenty of time to spare. They both were prepared and ready to go quickly and without event.

They really like their schedules and their classes. They saw each other at school and Zac did say hi to Josh and Josh said hi to Zac ~ WOW!!  That made me smile. They even found each other after school and walked home together. L♡VE that!!

Hope the rest of the year goes that smoothly.

A girl can hope right! Ü

White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

Okay so I didn’t have any white chocolate chips so I broke up some of our dipping chocolates and put those in. These cookies turned out so yummy!!  The chocolate pieces were melty for a long time. They were so good.

Thanks to Jamie Cooks it Up! love her blog. She really has fun things on there and yummy desserts too.

Hanging With Friends

Zac loves to hang out with friends. He’s a good friend. I’ve been impressed with the friends he’s chosen too. His friends are good friends too. The only thing, is he seems to be constantly at someone else’s house. Sometimes I wish he hung out here more. How do I make our house more friend worthy. They can hang out in the back yard, downstairs, he has his own room, we always have snacks in the house. He has video games and Netflix, movies upon movies and we usually only check on him to see if he wants snacks. I asked Zac this question and he said we need Xbox, Playstation or a bigger computer.

Well, apparently we don’t have the right media equipment. Blah, I think I’ll put in a exercise equipment, a hot tub or a swimming pool instead, maybe that will do the trick!!

More School Shopping = More New Clothes

Sorry for another picture shopping, but that’s the BIG news this week. Zac has really enjoyed it too.  We have a new hobby we can do together. It’s tricky to let him pick out his own clothes. I’ve found that we have very different tastes. I do want him to have his own look, his own style, but sometimes I just can’t do it. I’m trying really hard though and sometimes I just don’t look - it’s better that way. Sometimes I do my shopping and he does his, that’s easier and fun too :D

Helping A Younger Brother

Zac was none too thrilled today to come with Josh and I to Ft. Herriman Middle School. I asked him to come with me to help me figure out Josh’s schedule. He thought that was dumb. He didn’t need to go, he knew the school. I explained that Josh didn’t know the school and neither did I. After that explanation, he said yes. He came and did what I asked him to do and I could take that.

He was nice to Josh and nice to me. When I told him I was going to take his picture too, I almost lost him, but some how he humored me and suffered through. He helped a younger brother to feel a lot more comfortable about going to school tomorrow for his first day.

Thank you Zac! I’m glad you were willing to do what your mom asked - and thanks for humoring me with the pictures too :)  Love you! ♡

Zac Likes Shopping

Recently discovered that Zac actually likes shopping. He told me that’s the best thing about going back to school or starting a new school year. Well, he told me it’s the new clothes he’s getting.

I realized though that he’d rather shop by himself. I wondered if I’d ever let that happen. I tried to accommodate that desire by shopping in another part of the store or waiting patiently outside the dressing room.

This picture was one of those embarrassing moments for him. There was actually another mom standing in the isle waiting for her son.

LOL, sorry for the fuzzy picture - it’s on my phone.

An Acoustic One

This year as one of Zac's electives, he signed up for guitar. We then found out that he can't learn on his electric on it needs to be an acoustic one. Oh boy!! So. . . we had to get him a new guitar to take to the class. I think this kid is a little spoiled. This is the one he picked - when we played one of the other guitars there in the Guitar Shop he liked it better. The sound was so nice a lot better. But for now, this one is good enough to practice on and if he chooses acoustic over his electric he can buy one that's better later on.

It does have pretty good sound and it's all black (which he loves). I just hope he learns A LOT in school and keeps it up. He's been slackin' this summer and couldn't even remember his cords :(

Hope it comes back fast.

Sunday Story

This is where we find Zachary most of the time on Sunday afternoons. When asked what he's doing his response is always, "working on my story." He's been writing this story for years now. I think he started it in 5th or 6th grade. That means he's been working on it now for about 3 or 4 years.  I've heard it's turned a little violent and maybe a little sexy. He said if it were turned into a movie it might have to be rated R. What???!!!  I guess I need to edit it for him.

I told him to edit it so it's not so violent - he said he'd try.

Happy Hiker

Today we went to Timpanogos Cave and Hayden was quite a trooper. He didn’t even complain at all - on the way up that is. Going down was a little bit harder I guess. He like the cave though he had a great time, but I guess it got a little too cold in there for him. He also had to “go” on the way down which made it hard to keep walking because with each step it was shaking him and felt like it was going to come out. Oh dear :D  Well, decided to sing a little song, music usually makes me feel happy pretty fast and it worked with Hayden too. After I finished my song, he shared a couple of songs with me. He had learned them at school this past week. He even did some actions to the song. We were the last one off the hill and I have to admit that bugged me a bit, I hate being last. But he and I made some cute memories coming down the hillside together, it was hard to be bugged for too long.

This smile melts my heart :D

Hayden’s Morning Spot

I think this might just be where I find Hayden in the mornings from now on. He's been getting ready so fast, he has time to spare. I think it must have a lot to do with the fact that besides me, he’s the only one getting ready in the morning. Maybe it has something to do with him being all on his own too.  Either way, it’s awesome! The other day he asked me if he can have breakfast downstairs in the living room and watch TV until it’s time to go.

This is normally not allowed in our house. Mind-numbing t.v. BEFORE school?  I think not. But I could hardly resist with him being ready so fast. I decided, at least for these next two weeks, it will be okay.

Gotta love this picture -eh?

First Day of Homework

I would love this to be a standard for the rest of the year but I bet you his teacher is just starting out slowly. Today was Hayden’s first day of homework. Oh yah! I could get use to this! It was only one little math sheet.

He actually had it done before I got back with the camera to take this picture, but he posed for me anyway.

Pinewood Derby Weigh-In

Tonight for Pack Activity, it was the weigh in of the Pinewood Derby cars. I would love to say that Hayden's been working on the car with his dad all week, but it's really not true. His dad on the other hand, has been working on his car all week long. Hayden did try his hand at spray painting, but it was a little tricky. He did pick out the color - metallic blue - like his scout shirt color. Hayden also helped with the style of the car. He was given a few options and he chose this very slim, sleek look. His design turned out to be very original. He was happy about that. He does want to spice up the paint job though. Maybe add a sticker or two or a fun paint stripe or two he said.

Hayden’s car only weighed in at 4.92 ounces. Just so you know, the car can weigh 5.0 ounces. So I guess you know what we’ll be figuring out by next week.  How to get .08 ounces more on the car. Yep we will. :)

First Day of 4th Grade

Today was Hayden's first day of 4th grade. His teacher this year is Mr. Jordan Oswald. He goes to Herriman Elementary. He's the only one in our family that's in elementary school this year. That is different.

I asked him how his first day went. The big thing he wanted to talk to me about was how different lunch time was. He was so bugged that he had to go to recess BEFORE lunch. He said he had to wait in line forever!!! I told him to give it a try. I told him that I love the idea, it’s going to make him eat more instead of hurrying through his lunch to get outside to play. He said he’d try but it was sooooo hard.

Trying to get him off the lunch subject, I asked him if he had friends in his class from last year and he does. I asked him if he liked his teacher and he said ya he’s good. He thinks it's pretty cool that he “finally has a boy teacher.” He said that his teacher is pretty nice. Mr. Oswald likes to work with wood and he made a stand that has bendy/twisty sticks to put beads on when he does good things.

Hayden’s favorite color this year is sky blue. His favorite food is Chicken Alfredo. His best friends are Alec Godfrey, Skyler Letham and Isaac Peterson.. He is 4’ 2½” tall and he weighs 52 lbs. His favorite hobby is playing video games with his brothers and friends.

I love that Hayden is the youngest in our family. We often call him our little Nephi. He is the first one to do what he's told when he's been in trouble. He's the first one to say sorry. He never lets us forget about family prayer and wants everyone to do what's right. He needs lots of loves. He still wants me to tuck him in bed at night. I've noticed how much he is listening and learning in church too and I love it! I've noticed him feeling the spirit. He has a very loving heart. We love him so much and are grateful he’s part of our family.

Sweet Hayden

Sometimes it still surprises me when my boys are good through sacrament meeting. Today was one of those Sundays that surprised me. It was ward conference Sunday and that means instead of just an hour in Sacrament Meeting it was an hour and a half. I’m not sure why that made me so nervous, but it did. There was no need to be nervous my boys were great. They actually listened too. Hayden laid on my lap several times. Which makes me think he’s not really listening, but he was. Lately I’ve been telling him he needs to start sitting up through the whole meeting. He’s 9 now and he needs to be sitting up straight so he can listen. Looks like that theory was wrong. lol :)

The thing is, I’ve decided I’m going to let him “be little or act younger than he maybe should" as long as he wants to, because all too soon it will change. I need to feel loved by him as long as I can. Being the lame, uncool mom is coming all too soon.

I hope my Hayden stays my sweet boy for a LONG, LONG time. I don’t want him to grow up too fast.

Josh’s Schedule

Josh got his schedule for Middle School in the mail today. It was a very exciting moment in our house! He’s excited about it, and sort of nervous too because that means school is getting closer.

He got the classes he asked for and a big surprise class too. Do you see it? He got HONORS Math!!  Wow we are super impressed with that. Did you know they place them in their math classes? Ya, they do. The school looks at his past test scores and places them in their math classes. That means, Josh ROCKS in math!!  Zac was impressed too (in a sort of jealous sounding kinda way ;)

Josh also has Beginning Theatre which I think will be awesome. I think he might end up really liking it. I hope he will. He is often very dramatic and he loves to be goofy. I’m glad he asked me if he could give it a try. I hope it ends up being a great choice.

Jumpy Josh

Something we’ve discovered about Josh is that he loves jumping on a trampoline. Loves it!!

I’ve said it before, but jumping makes you happy. Try it! Do you need a happiness boost, stop right now and go jump up and down a few times or skip and jump. It’s fun isn’t it. It’s an instant happiness boost.

I’ve noticed that Josh becomes pretty fearless on the trampoline. He really likes it. We both wish we had room in our backyard for one. I love anything that’s fun and full of exercise too. You can’t get much better than that in my opinion. For now, we’ll have to settle for playing on the tramp when we’re over with friends.

Tonight they put a sprinkler underneath and jumped in their suits. They had a blast!!

Fun Friend

This week Josh and Spencer have been inseparable. They have been together nearly all day long. Today he didn’t come home until 9:00p. That was a little too long, but I’m glad that he’s making his summer happy with a fun friend. That’s one of the things I remember most about summers as a kid. The time spent with fun friends and the fun summer vacations with family.

I only wish this picture was of the two of them outside - but for now it will have to do :D

Happy Helping

Something I’ve noticed about Josh more and more lately is that he’s becoming a great helper around the house. I still have to ask him, but he does it quickly. He even seems like he’s happy helping.

Before he could go and play with friends today, he was asked to do the dishes. This is not one of his favorite jobs. Today, however, he did it gladly. Without a complaint. I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I love it!! It’s almost funny how much happiness it brought me :) 

Josh's DS Spot

This is Josh’s DS Spot. You’ll often find him sitting here playing his DS. He loves video games and he loves his DS. It’s probably one of his favorite hobbies. I think it makes him happy. I like some of his other hobbies a lot better though. Like when he's riding his bike outside or playing "level" games with his friends. It feels much better when he’s active to me.

I do remember how fun it was to just sit and play a video game for hours too. I'm not that old yet.

7th Grade Shoes

I took the boys shoe shopping tonight. We went to Shoe Carnival, Famous Footwear and Zumiez. Can I just tell you, and each year I think this, shoes are expensive!

Trying to make myself feel better about it, I thought, most of the time the kids make it through the whole year with only two pairs of shoes. I guess they each have boots and crocs or sandals too, but I'm not counting that right now. Just looking at shoes, it's usually only two pair and so when you divide the cost of this shoe out by 12 months it's only about $5/mo, that's not so bad after all. Ü

These were Josh's choice for his 7th grade shoes - hope they're cool enough Ü

Deacon Responsibilities Done

Josh is officially a deacon. He discovered and completed a lot of new responsibilities. He accomplished a lot of firsts today.

This morning around 10:50a he got a call to come help with collecting fast offerings. Right as we pulled up to the church he asked me "mom, what do I do?" I told him quickly that he will be the one at the door waiting for me to write out a check and give it back to him in an envelope. He seemed really nervous, but he was willing to get ready quickly when he was called and he just went right in to the church ready to go and do what he'd been asked to do. I have to tell you I was really impressed with that. Josh isn’t the quickest of the Quick family (haha) and he often drags his feet a bit. But today he responded quickly and I was super impressed. Ü

Next off was at church today. He was asking me all morning if he was going to be passing the sacrament today. I told him I wasn't sure. They might ask him, and they might give him until next week where he didn't even get to practice. I told him to be prepared as best as he can. He'd watched the young men in our ward pass the sacrament a lot and he really will just have to do it to learn.

Well, when we got to church, sure enough they expected him to pass the sacrament. He looked at me like, “really!?!” So, I made a point of asking him if he was okay or did he want to try next week? He said he was fine. Again, I was impressed with his willingness to do what was asked of him. They had him in "Position 1." Which means he takes the sacrament to the Bishop and his Counselors and everyone on the stand and then down the north side of the church. He did great. He didn't really even seem nervous until he was finished and had to wait for the rest of the young men to finish. I thought he did a great job for his first time.

I actually got all choked up watching him. I did that with Zac too. I think I feel the spirit telling me this is good. It's that kind of feeling you get when you  have your family with you at the temple together. Just joy and happiness that you are holding tight to the rod right now and you might just make it through this crazy world.

Then after church today he was asked to help clean up the ward house a bit. I’m still not sure what he did, I need to ask him. So, with his deacon responsibilities done, at least for today, he accomplished lots of "firsts" and it made me feel happy. I was so proud of him and all that he was willing to do. It was so neat to see him sort of grow up right in front of my eyes. These are the moments I want to keep close to my heart and always remember.

Park City Shopping

Today we went shopping in Park City trying to find some deals and get a few new things for our wardrobe. They don’t have as many outlets there anymore, so the deals are few and far between.

Can you believe I didn’t stop to take one single picture ~ oh dear I did it again. So. . . I’m borrowing this picture from the web. I know I’m cheating a little again, but this represents the “big” happy thing we did today. It ends up that I’m the only one that found a few deals. I got four new shirts and a new pair of dress pants.  Jeff didn’t get a single thing.

But don’t you worry, he made up for it at REI.  On the way home we stopped at the “big” REI on 39th. Where he scored! A new jacket, rope and four new shirts! Yay!!

Amaretti Cookies :)

I came home to these yummy little cookies. I was lucky to have one - most of them were gone or given away. Jeffrey made these delicious little cookies. They are made with almond & nectarine kernels ground into a paste and made into a cookie batter. Then they are rolled in sugar! Oh man they are so yummy!  


Did you know that apricots are an amazing fruit?  The kernel of the apricot is high in vitamin B-17. 


So, what is B-17 good for?

Well, if a person has enough B-17 they will never get cancer. So eat 7 to 10 apricot kernels every day.

Dehydrated Fruit = Yummy Food Storage ☺

Lookee what Jeff has been working on. He's been drying apricots all week. Berneen's trees were just full this year and she's been giving her apricots away. Jeff ♥LOVES♥ dried apricots. It's one of his favorite snacks. Member how he researched how to keep them pretty instead of turning brown? Well it worked! ☺

So, he decided to try a pineapple. So far so good! They have to air dry for at least 24 hours still but I think it worked out great. These dried apricots and pineapple will make great fruit food storage. Today I’m so glad Jeff likes to do things like this and that it's important to him. I ♥ it! They look so pretty and they’re turning out really yummy too.

Strawberry Freezer Jam ~ With Purple Lids

Jeff and I made Apricot Jam today during my lunch break. I only had time to help him with one batch and then he made another one after I went back to work.

He got me in the mood and then I had to try freezer jam one more time. I made it years ago but it turned out gritty. Boo :(

I tried again tonight. I hope it works. Tomorrow will tell.

Rec Center Fun

I’m very grateful for moments like these. When these brothers get along they are the best of friends. I love it. I hope they stay good friends for a long time. They had a lot of fun today. Together and apart.


We took the Chapman’s to the J.L. Sorenson Recreation Center today. We finally got in! Yay! I have to say it was fun! They have a fun kids area with shallow areas where Hayden could stand with his head above the water. He practiced jumping in over and over again with a friend that was there too. They have a fun lazy river and Josh & Mikaela enjoyed going around and around again and again. Then they have the deep end where they have lap pools and diving boards. Zac & Isaac seemed to like that area the best. Then they have a fun kids area with a Nemo slide and stair way with lots of spray stuff. It took Callista some time before she finally decided that it was super fun to go down the slides. She made a few fast friends and they played and played together. I think it was a big success.

Pretty Pink Toes

Today I got to paint a cute little girl's toe nails. You don't hear me say that every day! It was fun having some more girls around here to do "girly" things with. When Calli saw my toes she told me they were pretty pink toes.

I have to admit that it’s also been a little extra moody around here too :)  Girls need to be spoken to with much delicacy and sensitivity. So when Calli was having a “moody moment," I asked her if she wanted me to paint her toenails and she became happy super fast. Wish that would work with my boys :D