Aren't these guys cute? Luke loved this "rock". It's part of the great playground where we had our family reunion. Luke's shoulders were sore from climbing it so much.
4 months ago
Pope Kids
Family Reunion Frog
We just got back from the Pope Reunion in Vernal, UT. It was a great three days with about 65 awesome people. I have a lot of pictures to share in future posts, but here are the first. This cute frog was living in a little puddle near our pavilion. If you want one of these pictures to print, wait for a while and I'll give everyone all the high resolution files.
Hiking
I've been hiking three times in the past couple weeks. It's been so much fun! I have always liked to hike. I love all of the great moms and kids I've been able to go with so far. I have a lot more pictures I'd like to share, but here are a few to start with.
Amber, I need to call you to go hiking next. Maybe next week? If anyone else wants to go they can always come, just let me know and I'll tell you when we are going.
Cute Megan loves to hold hands and finds big and little hands to hold all through the hike.
Chocolate, Trains and the Cemetery
I wasn't sure how to title this post so I copied Mindee's title. Weird title mix isn't it? You can read about our day on her blog post. It was a lot of fun. 
I love how much Megan loves Mindee. It's so cute to see them talking. I don't blame Megan for liking Mindee so much. She is incredible.
We had a great time smashing some coins (mostly pennies). I only had the small camera so the picture is a bit blurry. Smashing pennies is one of the memories that really stands out to me from my childhood. My grandparents (or at least my Grandma Thorup) took us to ride the Heber Creeper and to smash pennies. I loved it and still have my penny glued in my journal. 
Going to the cemetery might seem a little strange to some, but I think it's neat. Mindee wanted to go to the SLC cemetery to see where some of our past prophets were buried and I was happy to go with her. We found President Hinkley's grave right across the street from my great grandparents. I never got to meet this grandpa, but I did get to know this great grandma. We called her Grandma Onie (own-ie). Apparently, we were told we could call her Grandma Leona, but Angie or I couldn't say her name right and it stuck as Grandma Onie. I only have a few memories of her. I remember she had a candy dish in her house in the front room. I also remember her in an assisted living place for a while. We got to sit in a wheelchair when we visited her there and I remember that being really exciting. I was only 6 when she died, so I don't remember much, but I'm glad I do remember her.
Jeep Show
I have *someone* really awesome in my life, who I know would prefer I didn't blog about him. So I'll blog about his favorite hobby instead :)
A couple weeks ago we went to a Teraflex Jeep Show in Tooele at the Miller Sports Park. Miller has created man made jeep obstacles. They are pretty cool, although walking the course scares me a bit because the ground feels like a cheese grater made out of sand paper. We are so lucky the kids never fell down.
Here are a few pictures from the day. I wasn't in the mood to take photos when we left the house so I only brought the small camera. My mood changed quickly when I saw all of the great photo opportunities and I wished I had my better camera.
The Herzogs. 
Notice the fourth wheel below...
Happy Father's Day to all of you amazing Dads out there. I'm very impressed with any dad who does his best to take care of his family. I love and appreciate all of the men in my life (grandpas, dad, father-in-law, uncles, brother, husband and brother-in-laws). I love so many of the qualities these men have. I love that they are masculine and tough yet kind and giving.
Summer
The kids and I have needed a break from activities so we haven't done much this summer yet. We have spent a LOT of time at home but we have had two (much to full) days of fun since school got out. Part of me feels like I'm wasting the summer, but the other part of me knows we needed the break.
Last week (or so) we spent a day:
Touring a chocolate factory
Eating at a fun diner
Smashing pennies on the railroad tracks
Exploring the cemetery (seriously)
Sitting in the car for HOURS because it broke down (bummer)
Today we spent the day:
Hiking to Donut Falls
Taking FrontRunner to Ogden (check out this deal if you live close)
20 minutes walking to and from the Treehouse Museum (only 30 minutes in the museum)
Making dinner for a friend (ugh! I am not made to cook, but happy to help)
A fun outdoor party with Polynesian dancers
The mountains are BREATHTAKING right now. They are so green from all of the rain we have had lately. I *MUST* get up there much more while it's so green and beautiful. My kids love to hike and so do I. We are so lucky to have so many great places close by.
I'll share pictures another day.
Thanks Amy!
Thanks for the "One Lovely Blog Award" Amy. You have some neat blogs in your list which makes it even funner to be on the list.
In order to accept this award I'm supposed to pass the award to 15 other blogs that I have discovered and love, but I'm going to be lame and change the rules.
Instead I'm going to post links to three of my favorite posts on Amy's blog.
1) The Big Three Three - This post perfectly charactorizes Amy's awesome personality! This post makes me so happy! I love it!
2) Recession Schmo-cession! - Such a fun idea. The main reason I like this post is because of the things Amy found. I can't dress or decorate like her. She is pretty incredible!
3) Beauty All Around - I love that Amy looks for beauty everywhere. Very cool!
New Templates and Quickpages
I created this layout from a template created by Lynette Wilkins. I love thes picture shapes! Her original layout is shown below. Hopefully you can see it well that small, because it's really cool. Lynette is so talented. We are selling some of her layouts on our website. Go here to look at them all. Use coupon code BIRTHDAY50 for 50% off on her layouts until June 22nd.
Megan's Song
This is hilarious. Megan asked me to write down the words to a song she was making up. As she dictated the words to me I had to do all I could not to laugh. Please don't read too much into this. I think she has been listening to "real" songs a bit too much. I don't think she really feels this.
There is nothing that I can't say in my heart
And I never feeled it in my heart.
I can't be nothing but I can be a human.
There is nothing I feel like I can be
And now there is something that I can feel in my heart.
I'm actually impressed, even though it's a bit strange. Haha. She is so cute.
Free Download if you are QUICK!
We are giving away a free download to anyone who gets to our website before 6:30 p.m. MST. Below are some pages I created with the kit. You may remember one of these from a previous post. Download the kit HERE. 
First Mountain Bike Race
A few weeks ago on Memorial Day weekend, the kids participated in their first mountain bike race. It was a race for kids under 9. The adults you see in the pictures are just there with their kids. The kids were really excited about the race, but it ended up being too tough for Luke. Megan did the race on training wheels. She actually had a great time and was really happy because Keith walked/ran next to her the whole way. I should have been running next to Luke but thought he would be ok and just rode my bike behind him. We have never actually taken the kids on a mountain bike course before and just assumed Luke would be ok. However, the skinny trail, branches, bumps and pressure for speed were pretty scary for him. Bummer. The trail we went on was really cool for kids. I'm definitely going to take the kids there again. I think Luke will love it when he gets some practice.
AWESOME!!!
Yesterday, my friend Susan, gave me the GREATEST gift anyone has ever made me before. Isn't this cake AMAZING? Wow! I'm so excited about it! The picture doesn't do it justice, unfortunately. It is so incredible in person.
I am absolutely amazed at the attention to detail. If the picture was good you would be able to see how the letters "celebrate" have a very similar design to the words on my website. Speaking of my website, look at it, then come back and view this cake again. Ahhhh!!! I can't stand it! This is too cool!
How in the world does she make the letters so perfect? The flower is so cool too! I thought it was a real flower and button until I looked at it a few times close up.
Susan, this cake means so much to me. It makes me feel so good you were willing to put in so much time on it, as well as drive it to my house. You are amazing!
Go to our message board for more information on June 15th.
There are challenges on our message board that are fun too! Throughout the month I will be giving away prizes to those who participate in the challenges. The prizes will be given away randomly at undisclosed times throughout the month.
Coupon Codes for this week (until June 15)
Code: Happy
40% off all orders over $50
Code: Birthday
20% off all orders
Also...
Adding to the post from yesterday...
The video from yesterday is only a minute and a half, so if you haven't watched it I hope you will. I love the music, pictures and extra words in it.
Here are is my favorite part of the video...
Creation is your opportunity in this life and the life to come.
Start small.
Creating does not require a brush, a pen or the keys of a piano.
Don’t let the voice of critics paralize you.
You will make the world a better place.
Improve
Beautify
Extend
Smile
Cultivate
Develop
The words, "in the life to come" are my favorite. About a year ago I was really frustrated with all the hobbies I didn't have time to do, but wanted to do or learn. Back at that time, the thought came to me that I will probably be able to do them in the next life. That thought was exciting to me. Hearing the same thing from an apostle of my church is especially comforting and exicting.
Create
My favorite church talk I have listened to in a while is this one by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I laughed so hard at the first part of the talk when he talks about the difference between his cooking and his wife's. I can't relate his wife in her quest for perfection with her cooking, but there are plenty of other things I don't give myself enough credit for. Last night I found this video which highlights part of his talk. I love it. It's message is beautiful on it's own, but I hope you will read the rest of the talk because the idea is stronger when you understand his entire thoughts on this subject.
Flashback
These pictures are from May 2008. I'm pretty proud of the pictures because I just took them in my backyard one day. When I created the scrapbook page, I didn't want to add any decorations because I didn't want to take the focus away from the pictures. A fun memory from this day was being invited over to our neighbor Skip's house. He is a retired police officer and is definitely a masculine tough guy. He shocked me when he said he loves Snow White and collects Snow White things. He has a beautiful Snow White collection in his house. It was fun to see and fun to learn more about him.
School is Out!
Megan is actually sad about being out of school. Luke is excited and so am I. I'm excited to not have to be tied to a routine for a while. When school starts next year, I have a feeling I'll look as excited as the kids do in this picture, but for now I'm really looking forward to having the kids home.
ETA: Kim and Kraig, do you recognize the stuffed animal Megan is holding? That's the dog you gave her a couple years ago. She still loves it.
Wild Billy
I made this poster to tease my grandpa. I created it last Sunday. Minutes after I finished it I got a call that my grandpa wasn't doing very well and needed to be picked up from church. I rushed and got him. He was ok, but not his best at all. Keith and I took him to the ER. It was a long night for grandpa but he was doing much better when the doctor came in to tell him the results of the tests. He apparently had an infection that caused him to get really sick. They decided to keep him overnight. My poor grandpa didn't want to stay and I know he wished I didn't make him go to the hospital. He ended up staying three nights which suprised us, but they just wanted to make sure they did all the testing they needed before releasing him. They were extra cautious because he lives alone.
My original plan with this poster was to take it to a care center he volunteers his time at. I'm still going to do that, but hung two of these up in his hospital room too. He got a really good kick out of it and that made me feel good.
He is home and doing great now.
The torn border on the digital paper above is on the Family CD which is on sale for only $5 this week during our birthday celebration. It's a huge CD that normally sells for $25. The border is square on the CD, but looks pretty good squished down this way. It can go over any digital paper and look really cool.
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