Lucas is 5

On September 28 Lucas turned 5 years old. He had such a good day. He got to choose what he wanted to eat and do all day. Here is Lucas with his big gift from mom and dad. He is pretty proud of his new bike. Thanks to all those that gave gifts or sent money.

Gracie is in second grade!

Yep school has now started and Gracie is in second grade. She is really excited to be back in school.

SUMMER IN REVIEW 2010

Well we had a really great summer. Here are a few highlights of our summer 2010.

LAKE POWELL!


Rory surfing.

Rory sinking the canoe.

Tammy and Jesson.

Lucas and Auggie.

Quinn and Gracie.

Lake Powell during sunset and a rain storm.

SPENDING TIME WITH COUSINS.

Kids eating their candy stick at This is the Place Monument.


Lucas and Cole just hanging out.

PINTO REUNION

Parker, Gracie and Lucas playing in pinto.

OUR GARDEN

Children of the corn.

VIDEOS OF LAKE POWELL AND IDAHO

On the ski boat and Rory surfing.

Working on the barn in Idaho.

Yellowstones Bear World

This last weekend we went up to Idaho to visit my parents where they took us to Yellowstones Bear World. It was so much fun. We stayed in our car and drove around to see at least 30+ bears playing, sleeping and roaming. It was fun to see bears so close. We had one that actually walked right along our car with us. When you go inside the fenced in area they have baby bears that are so cute and fun to watch. You can even feed them their bottles. Along with bears we saw elk, deer, buffalo and moose. The kids loved the petting zoo with all different farm animals in it, Jesson really loved the goats. Of course to finish the day we had to enjoy the homemade huckleberry ice cream. What a great trip.

Entrance to Bear World, Pucker up Gracie!!!, Jesson loving the goats

Loving the homemade ice cream.

Gracies' a 2nd Grader

Well Gracie is officially a 2nd grader now. For their last expedition they learned all about bugs. We actually got to go to BYU's insect museum where they got to see all the insects they had been studying. There is nothing like being on a school bus with 40 something screaming 1st graders with 10 adults to try to wrangle all the chaos. Now that is an experience. At Gracies celebration of learning she got to show us her ladybug that she made out of clay and also her class mates and her got to perform songs and poems about insects for all their family members.

Gracie and her lady bug and her class mates.

This is Gracie with her teacher Mr. Dalton and her friends Miranda and Olyvia.

Rory's 32n'd Birthday!

Well yes it has come around again. Rory is 32! This year Rory chose to have a quiet birthday at home with the family. Instead of a cake we made cinnimon rolls. This was great. We all loved them, some more then others.

7th Birthday & 9th Anniversary & Mothers Day

On May 3rd Gracie turned 17 years old, oh I mean 7 years old. She is growing so big way to fast. For her birthday she was able to pick out her own outfit instead of mom doing it and surprising her. She also got to choose where she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner and of course Gracie loves steak so Sizzler was her place. She wanted to invite her best friend from school to come and enjoy her birthday dinner, cake and ice cream. She is definitely our little princes and we love her so much.
Gracie and her best friend Olyvia

On May 4th Rory and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. It has been a wonderful nine years to a great man. I'm glad the lord knew what he was doing when he put us together. I have been blessed to be his wife and best friend. I have been told so many times how lucky I am to be married to him and I fully agree with all my heart I got the better part of this deal :). Rory surprised me with roses and we got to enjoy a quiet dinner together (this means no kids) it was so nice. Thanks to the Brown family for watching our kids.

My anniversary flowers.

Mothers day was awesome. I got to spend the weekend with my family and my parents. Dad and mom came on Friday and spent the afternoon with the kids and I. We went to the local Nursery and got plants for our garden. After we got home Dad and I decided to go get some "good dirt" to put in our garden area. Saturday Rory, Lucas and I started working on our garden area and got it all ready for planting. While Jane, Mom and I went out to lunch and shopping Rory and the kids planted the tomatoes and peppers. Thank you mom and dad for taking good care of us and loving us so much. Mothers day was a little bit more stressful for me because it is on Sunday but it was still great. Rory made dinner, took care of the kids and cleaned everything up so that I could take a great nap. If you know me at all naps are what I look forward to on Sunday but these really don't happen any more since I've become Primary President, but that's just the way it goes. Over all it was a busy week but a great week.

Its about "time" Lucas

When Gracie slept in her room for a month Lucas also wanted to do something to earn a watch so he had to make his bed for a whole month without being told or without any complaints. Well he did it. Here is Lucas with his new watch. Of course as you can see Lucas loves the color orange. To bad he has had a hard time making his bed since. I guess it takes longer then a month to form a "good" habit.

Nauvoo or Bust

As many of you know Rory's parents John and Judy Sandstrom are on their mission in Nauvoo, Illinois. We were able to go over Gracie's spring break to visit them. We left the morning of Saturday, April 3 and came home Sunday, April 11. We had such a great time visiting with John and Jude. We really missed them and enjoyed spending the week with them. We left Saturday at about 3:30 a.m. to avoid a bad winter storm but ended up being in the middle of it. We never went faster then 30 mph all the way to Evanston, Wyoming. When we finally got there they closed the road (because of the storm) and had a good 3 hour wait until we could continue with our journey. We made it as far as Big Springs, Nebraska the first night. We woke to good weather Easter morning. This is a picture of the kids at a rest stop in Nebraska enjoying the sun.

We ended up in Nauvoo at about 10:00 that night. We were really excited to see John and Jude. They live in such a great place right next to the temple. We ended up staying with the Dickson's who are also serving a mission in Nauvoo. They are really great people. Our first day there we visited the areas around the temple and the visitors center. We found out we couldn't go anywhere without talking to every missionary after they found out we were Sandstroms coming to visit John and Jude. Here we are in front of the temple well at least the bottom part of the temple.The kids enjoyed all the area to run especially being cooped up in a car for two days. We just let them run and run. We had really good weather all week and visited all the sights around Nauvoo. It only rained on us on Wednesday which was our day for Rory and I to go to the temple and on the wagon ride with Judy narrating. Lucas just couldn't stay awake, thank goodness for big sister to help him stay in the wagon.Thursday was John and Jude's PDay and so we went to visit the Amish. We watched them make cheese and also got to get Amish hats thanks, John. The kids loved it. We also went to a big Amish store called the Dutchman that had so many fun things we looked like kids in a candy store, which we ended coming out with too. What a cute family in their Amish attire.Notice the shawl Gracie is wearing, John made it. I also got one. Gracie wears hers to school and is very proud of her grandpas talents. It was finally time to leave and can I say the week went by way to fast. We ended up getting up at 4:30 on Saturday to make it back to Big Springs, Nebraska and lets say we made it back in plenty of time. We ended up stopping at a big park there and just letting the kids play all they wanted. These are our little monkeys just having fun and again enjoying the sun.It was such a good week of warm weather, spending time with John and Jude, going to the temple and feeling the spirit everywhere you go and some how feeling like you were leaving home. It is definitely a special place to visit. Thank you John and Jude for making our week so fun. We are so blessed to have you serving your mission in such a great place. We love you!!!

April Fools

Mother Nature really knows how to play a great April Fools joke. We woke this morning to a lot of snow. Here we thought spring was on its way and boy were we fooled. Lucas, Jesson and I had to go and enjoy by having a snow ball fight with Sadie (the dog) and making a snow man. This was Jessons first experience with playing in the snow. As you can see in the picture by the time the snow man was done he also was done.

Sleeping with Poka Dots

One of our big projects this month was paining Gracie's room. She had to sleep down in her room for a whole month to get it painted in the colors she wanted and also in the way she wanted. She chose to have one wall painted bright pink and to add orange poka dots. She came up with the idea herself but of course mom and dad had to agree. It took a while to get he room done because of illness and lack of time but now that it is done we think it turned out really cute. She is now working on getting a manicure. She has to not bite her fingernails for a whole month and then she will get to have a mani with mom. This one has been a tad bit harder for her. It is really hard to break habits but this one we thought really needed some help. Nothing like a little incentive.

Princess & Cheer Camp

Gracie has had a very busy month. She was able to be part of Princess Camp and also Cheer Camp. At Princess Camp she learned all about princesses and how they have etiquette and use their manners. They also learned a dance and performed it at a recital. This is a picture of Gracie and her best friend Olyvia in their princess dresses and tiaras that they made. Cheer camp was also fun. She got to cheer at a West Jordan High basketball game along with being part of the half time entertainment where she was able to dance with all the "big cheerleaders." She also did this with her best friend Olyvia. She is also taking piano now and loving it. The new year has definitely kept her busy. What have my boys been doing during all of this. Well they are trying their hand at being "Kiss" impersonaters or if you like they just got into moms makeup. Never a dull moment in the Sandstrom house.

Keeping up with the Sandstroms

I know it has been a long time since my last blog (November) but who is counting. I thought I would do a quick update so here goes. Pictures do all the talking. We were busy with being sick, loosing teeth, putting up a Christmas tree, enjoying a new piano, making Christmas cookies with cousins, sleepover with cousins, Christmas pajamas with the Sandstrom side, sleeping and bathing. I'm really glad that we could fit in those last two!