Piano Bench Finished!

David finished sanding, staining and coating my piano bench this past Saturday, and I am very pleased! Doesn't it look great? The only problem now, is that it really makes the nicks and scratches on the piano stand out. This old piano really needs some tender loving care (looks wise), but it still plays well and stays in tune like a champ! Oh well, another project for another day...

24th of July / Pioneer Days

The weekend before last we got to go up to Snowflake for my favorite holiday...the 24th of July/Pioneer Days celebration in Snowflake! David thinks it's hilarious that I get so excited for it, but I just love it, I can't help it! And it was even better this year, because my doctor wouldn't let me go last year (I was too far dilated with Josh).

Every year the William Jordan Flake (my great-great grandpa and one of the founders of Snowflake) family has a family reunion on Friday, and the town celebration is on Saturday. The family reunion includes a rodeo, a pot-luck luncheon, and a program.

David and I and Tyler's family were in charge of breakfast Friday morning, so we got up early to prepare biscuits and gravy and fruit for the crowd (the number was around 65, including babies, I think). Let me tell you, I made a LOT of biscuits, but since my mom has a Bosch, it wasn't too bad. After getting breakfast cleaned up, we went to the Flake Rodeo. I was sad that there weren't any bleachers at the rodeo grounds this year. Pretty much everyone just sat in the back of their trucks or under their own portable shade canopies, so I didn't really even get to see who else was there. It makes for a lot less visiting and catching up, but I still enjoyed watching all the events (even though I didn't participate in anything this year). Josh was pretty cranky towards the end of the rodeo and fell asleep way before we got home, so David stayed home with him while I went to the luncheon and program.

On Saturday our family did one final "campaign" float in the parade. Wynn had a great idea of doing a "Thanks From Jake" float to thank everyone for all they did for my Dad and for our family after he passed away. It worked out really nicely, because the Town had asked my mom to be the Grand Marshal for the parade, so our family's float was right behind her, and we still got to watch some of the rest of the parade after we were finished. Teresa, as usual, did a great job of putting the float together. After the parade most of us kids went to watch my mom speak in the Pioneer Program at the Main Street Chapel. The theme this year was "Women, the Heart and Soul of Pioneering" or something like that, and my mom gave a great talk about how the Lord has blessings in "store" for us, and compared those blessings to running out of something (food-wise). Just as you have to go to the store to get more of what you run out of, the Lord also expects us do do something in order to received the blessings he has for us. She said it much more eloquently than that. She also talked about her early married life when she and my dad lived on a ranch in Young, and how she often felt like a pioneer down there, because of all the little luxuries she had to do without (running water, electricity, etc.). My mom is amazing!

Saturday afternoon I went with Mindy, Kayla and some others and watched the "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" production. A couple of my nephews, Jayze and Noah, were in it (two of the brothers), and my sister-in-law Pam was in charge of the costumes for it. The play was very well done...it's amazing how much musical talent two small towns can produce! David again watched Josh while I was at the play (he was great about that), and after we got back he and some of the boys went up to the cedars to play paint ball.

Saturday night I went to the town rodeo to watch some of my brothers participate in a couple of events (Travis won the keg race, and Tyler/Brandon/Doug would have won the wild-cow milking contest had they not been disqualified for their roping technique). David came at the end, in time to watch the keg race. I'm going to make him into a rodeo fan yet! :)

All in all, I had a blast hanging out and visiting with my family, enjoying the cool weather, seeing a few friends who I don't get to see very often, and being in Snowflake. Here are some pictures:

Josh and I enjoying the Flake Rodeo from the back of our truck. Most of the pictures we took at the rodeo were on our video camera, so I don't really have any "action" shots here.

David and my mom enjoying the nice cool weather in the back yard.

Josh had a great time finding everyone's leftover cookies and cleaning up.

I don't know what Rachel is doing here but it looks a little questionable to me!


Here's a picture of Teresa's masterful float skills.

My mom, the Grand Marshal. She got to ride in the parade in the back of a convertible.

What a city-slicker...Josh is wearing shorts as he rides Tyler's pony, Mumble.

The float going down the parade route. Tyler is in front, on a horse, and Ashton is riding Mumble next to him. Celeste was able to get a sign made that looks like my dad's campaign signs did.

Josh and Mom after the parade.

Josh had a great time playing in Trey's Jeep. David is happy that he's a Jeep fan at such a young age and is excited for cooler weather so he can take him Jeeping for real!

4th of July

Here's another catch-up post. For the 4th of July weekend we had a family reunion with David's family in Shumway, which included a Wiltbank family reunion in Greer. Michael, Shannon & Rafe were able to come from NH and stayed at our house on Thursday night, then we all headed up to Shumway for the weekend to stay in the "vacation home" (David's parent's house that still hasn't sold...let me know if anyone is interested!).

We left later than planned on Friday (of course), because David was putting the final touches on the Jeep to be able to tow it up behind the truck, but we got up there in time to have a barbeque at Pioneer Park with David's mom's family. We ate good food, great home-made ice cream, played some ultimate frisbee and racquetball, and enjoyed the visiting and nice weather.

Saturday we went up to Greer for the family reunion, David and his brothers played paintball, and we and watched the Taylor fireworks from the deck of the house. That house has such a beautiful view! (On a side note, I guess they had a riderless horse at the Taylor rodeo in honor of my dad. That was really nice to hear.)

Sunday we went to church with Grandma Wiltbank and hung out, played Rook, etc.

Monday we got to play some frisbee golf on the course that Thomas and Daniel set up around the house, David did a little jeeping, we rode the quads, and then had to pack up and head home. David had to work the next day and I had a basketball game that night. (Speaking of basketball, we ended up getting 2nd place in the tournament--we lost to the red team with the MCC girl. That's for you, Deanne.)

Some of the other fun things we did while in Shumway:

• Played ping pong. I've still never beat David. I got really close the first game of the weekend, but progressively got worse as the weekend wore on.


• Ate really good food.


• Watched the 3 little boys play together. One time when Josh was sitting in the high chair eating and yelling, and Joseph was sitting nearby at the table Joseph suddenly said, "Joshie, chill out!" It was quite funny.

Here are some pictures:

Josh giving Rafe a ride on the "walker".

This time they are both pushing. It was nice that Rafe showed Josh how to turn it after running into something. Previous to this, Josh would push it in a straight line, run into something and start crying because he couldn't keep going.

Joseph, Rafe and Josh intently watching the action below the deck. I think David and his brothers were flying remote control airplains at the time. Cindi got the boys two sets of matching outfits with the hope that we could get some pictures taken of the three of them. They didn't want to cooperate by posing for us, so this is one of the best we got.

Josh blowing some sweet spit bubbles with Grandma during the family reunion up in Greer.

Josh playing with Aunt Jalayne's fun necklace...he always loves Jalayne's jewelry!

Me playing "frisbee horse shoes" with Daniel. The wind made it a little challenging. George and Ashlyn are playing this fun golfball game where you try to toss the strings with golfballs onto a rack with three levels.

Another shot of the 3 boys in their matching outfits.

Josh and Joseph trying to catch the goldfish in Grandpa's pond.

Michael striking a sweet post after throwing the frisbee with Thomas looking on, enviously.

And here is a video of Josh laughing in his sleep on the way home from Greer. He did it several times, but I was only able to catch a little of it on camera. He must have been having one funny dream!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Another Tag

My friend Kiri tagged me with another list of questions:

How long have you and your husband been together? It was 2 years in May when we started dating; our 2-year anniversary will be this October.

Who eats more? I hold my own sometimes, especially with ice cream, but it's usually David.

Who said I love you first? David did.

Who pays the bills? I do, but David always knows what's going on.

Who cooks dinner? Me usually, but David helps out a lot and will often cook Sunday dinner, or at least help with it.

Who is more stubborn? I guess it depends on the issue.

Who kissed who first? David kissed me first. Afterwards I went into the condo and Vicki, Tona and I went out for ice cream.

Who is more sensitive? Again, it depends on the issue, but generally me.

Who wears the pants? Probably David, but I think we're pretty equal.

What was I doing 10 years ago? Let's see, that would've been the summer before my senior year of high school. I would've been doing volleyball and basketball camps, working on the ranch and all that fun stuff.

What snacks do I enjoy? Hmm...today I've been snacking on some frozen cookie dough leftover from a couple weeks ago. I pretty much enjoy any junk food, especially ice cream.

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire? Pay tithing first (of course), buy a house (with a sweet garage/workshop for David and a big pantry and laundry room for me), probably buy a few clothes and save/invest the rest.

3 bad habits.

1. I worry too much.

2. Playing with my hair. I have lots of little new growth hair all the time, but I can't stop!

3. Being lazy. I did laundry today, but that's pretty much it (besides play with Josh).

5 things people don't know about me.

1. I got my nose broken the summer before my junior year while playing softball. I still don't breathe exactly right out of one side, so it's horrible when I get a cold.

2. I love to read but don't have a "favorite" book.

3. I was one class away from "getting" a minor in music at ASU. I couldn't fit the last class in my last semester, but decided it wasn't worth extending school for. Now I've forgotten most of my music theory stuff anyway.

4. Speaking of forgetting stuff...I have a good short-term memory (school-wise), so I was pretty good at cramming for tests. I was lucky that way, but I've probably forgotten way too much.

5. When I was little I wanted to be a cashier at the grocery store when I grew up, because I thought they got to keep all the money they took.

I tag Mindy, Jennifer (Brandon's) and Jewel... but I won't feel bad if you don't do it.

Rocky Point

I know I'm way behind, but In an effort to update the blog on all (or at least some) of our recent happenings, here we go:

June 18-21 David and I went to Rocky Point with some of my family. Notice how I didn't include Josh in there? Yes, David convinced me to leave him with David's parents while we were gone. I was a little nervous about it, but it all turned out wonderfully. Don't get me wrong, I missed him like crazy and was very excited to get him back, but he did just fine (according to David's parents) and came home like nothing had happened. The other people who went with us were: my mom and my niece Shelby (David and I drove down with them), Mindy & Chad and their kids + 2 of Chad's sisters, Haylee & Heather, Tyler & Jen and their kids, and Charlie & Tiffany Ballard and their kids + Tiffany's sister Kami Nichols.

We stayed in the Las Palomas condo resort. Chad's boss has a couple of condos that we were able to rent for a pretty good price. My mom & Shelby, David & I, and Mindy's family stayed in a 3 bedroom condo with an awesome view, and Tyler's family and the Ballards stayed in a 2 bedroom condo a few doors down. The resort was really nice because it was right on the beach, but it also had several pools, a lazy river and even a little water slide that the kids all loved after they got tired of playing in the ocean.

David and I forgot to take our camera with us. We did get a little disposable camera there, but I haven't gotten it developed yet (oh how I love digital cameras!), so all the pictures I'll be posting are some that Mindy took.

Spencer is jealous of my sweet ride.

What a hottie!

Riding the "Red Shark". From left to right: Tyler, Kami, me, Shelby, Heather, David. While we were riding we saw a few dolphins that were swimming really close!

David and me getting ready to parasail.

And we're off!

Ahh...how sweet!

Mindy & Kami are ready for their turn.

Having fun with Mindy's camera while they are up in the air. Don't mind the glistening faces!

In addition to those fun things, we had fun looking for cool seashells (I couldn't believe the difference between high tide and low tide), reading, eating (of course!), and shopping at the "dirt mall" that is now paved. Thanks Mindy and Chad for inviting us!