New Smile for Josh

Josh got his braces off today.  He was pretty excited!

 Before the braces came off.

And after!  Handsome boy.  We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch to celebrate Josh's first braces-free meal.  Thanks Dr. Nord!

Happy Birthday Kaleb

Even though Kaleb passed away almost two months ago, we decided that his 16th birthday could not go unnoticed.  A bunch of friends of the Heaps family got together and we put on a birthday celebration for Kaleb and his family. Even though we had to move the party inside due to the weather, it was a big celebration of Kaleb and an outpouring of love to his family.

 We had a balloon launch with written messages to Kaleb.

 Thankfully we had a break in the weather.  It was a special night being with all the people that love Kaleb and his family.  Happy birthday Kaleb, our friend.

Top Golf

We were given a couple of gift cards to Top Golf and decided we needed to bring some friends along.  Our dear friends the Heaps moved from our neighborhood and we don't get to see them nearly enough so we called them up to come along with us.  It was a fun night!

Kayden taking a swing with the golf club.  It was fun no matter how much golf experience you have!

We took up two bays and had the younger crowd at one and the more mature crowd at the other.

The whole gang once our night was complete: Jeremy, Alec, me, McKenna, Kayden, Jarron, Jaxon, Josh, Jake, Brian and Tamra.  We are all itching to go back!

First Day of School 2018

Another school year is upon us.  It is sad to see summer go, but exciting to see what a new school year will bring.

 Kayden is in 5th grade this year and has Mrs. Clyde as a teacher.

 Jaxon is a Junior.

 

 Josh is in 8th grade this year.

Josh, Johnny, Eli, Matt, Parker and Ryan.  (Eli's mom snuck out to the bus stop for a quick photo.  Glad she shares!)

This photo sums up these good group of friends and their personalities.

Demolition Derby 2018

Last hoorah of the summer is attending the Demolition Derby.  It has become a family tradition that we look forward to each year.  This year was a good derby with lots of excitement and crashes!

Green Thumb

It's been a great harvest in the garden this year!

Share A Smile Triathalon

Jeremy's office participates in the Share A Smile triathlon every year.  They get geared up for it, have competitions and prizes.  This year they decided to go with an 80s theme.  They had a great time:

 The office participants and cheer squad.

 

 Jeremy made himself an MTV t-shirt and found a nice blonde mullet.  Along with his sweat bands he looked amazing!  He did a good job on the 5K.

 Jeremy and Darren both did the 5K.  Who wore the 80s better??  It was a fun morning for a good cause.

Happy Birthday McKay--In Peru

We can't not celebrate McKay's birthday even though he is a few thousand miles away serving his mission in Peru.  So we did a few things to celebrate as a family:

 I found a llama shirt and wore it proudly for McKay's birthday.

 We went to a Peruvian restaurant and ate Peruvian food.  It was tasty!

 We wrote to McKay about it and he laughed saying he would do just about anything for an American meal vs. Peruvian food.

Meanwhile in Peru,

 McKay was well taken care of.  A family in the ward held a surprise party for him. 

And his mission cook had a cake for him along with Inca Kola to go along with their dinner that night.

Happy 19th birthday Elder White!

19 Things we love about McKay:

1. He finished high school strong.  He took and passed 3 AP tests and did his best to avoid Senioritus.  He ended up graduated in the top 30 of his class!
2. He loves his brothers.  He and Jaxon have gotten especially close.
3. His dry sense of humor.
4. His love of the gospel.
5. His example to his brothers of hard work.
6. He is a great missionary!
7. He loves basketball.  He even designed and purchased some custom basketball shoes from Nike this last year.
8. He was a great Spanish Club president at school last year.  He even helped bring the trophy home from the Spanish Fair at BYU.  Spanish was his favorite class at at school.  His Spanish teacher even came to his mission farewell.
9. He still loves my cooking (probably more now than ever).
10. He is an exceptional journal keeper.  His posterity will love this about him as well!
11. He kept his job at Jiffy Lube even though he didn't like it.  He has saved all his money for his mission and some for school.
12. His love of family.  He enjoys being with everyone and creating memories with them.  He had fun doing that this year before leaving on his mission.
13. His ability to overcome hard things.  I like even more that he has asked his parents along the way for help.  It took a lot of humility!
14. His love for the people that he is serving.  You can feel the love he has for the people in Peru that he has only known for a short time.
15. His attitude of YOLO (You Only Live Once).  He as really applied this as he is living in a new country experiencing new things daily.
16. He is still a teenager and still has that teen sense of adventure.
17. Talk about living outside his comfort zone.  He went on a few dates before leaving to Peru.  Plus, HE'S IN PERU!
18.  He was a lot of fun to hang out with before leaving on his mission.  It was like he had  figured out what was important to him and he spent a lot of time with the family and was so pleasant!
19. We couldn't be prouder of McKay.  It has been a big year for him with lots of change and challenges.  He has embraced it and will continue to be great!

Oakley The Dog

I had a moment of weakness.  We have some friends that moved to Singapore for the next year or so.  They didn't have anyone to take their dog.  So in a moment of weakness I offered to take their dog while they are away.  Oakley sure has added a lot of personality to the household:

 Oakley and Suki figuring each other out.

Surfing Through Summer

Since all of our vacations and busyness was at the beginning of the summer, we have found new ways to stay busy.  We got a punch card to a nearby pool that has a surf rider.  Josh, Kayen and I decided to try our hand at surfing one day.  Thank goodness there are no pictures of me surfing.  I never lasted long and ended up on my rump at the top of the flo-rider (One time I nearly lost my swim trunks!).  Josh and Kayden were much more successful.  By the time our punch pass was punched-out at the end of the summer, Josh and Kayden were spinning 360s and even jumping the waves.  As for myself, I just had a nice tan.

Josh:

 

Kayden:

Timberline Scout Camp

Josh went with a few of his friends from his scout troop up to a week long scout camp at Timberline.  He had a great time and learned a lot!

At the beginning of the week: Ian, Josh, Johnny, Matt and Eli.

 Slightly dirtier at the end of the week: Eli, Johnny, Josh, Ian and Matt

Jeremy went and picked the boys up at the end of the week and attended the closing ceremony for the camp with the boys.  He likes being with these boys a lot since he is their scout master and has spent so much time with them. 

Everyone who attended the camp.  Josh was glad he went!