Happy Fourth of July!!!

I bet you thought I would never post again. It has been a few weeks. We have been busy playing with friends and enjoying summer.

This weeked was the 4th of July. My 2nd favorite holiday!! I love all the BBQ, fireworks and family fun. Our fun started on Thursday with the Riverton City Carnival. Jacob and Joshua rode the scrambler over and over. The kids had fun.





On Friday, it was the parade. We sat with some friends, the Allgaiers, and Hendricksons. We had fun. I love to sit and watch parades.



Saturday we stayed around the house and John got some odd jobs done. Then we set up the waterslide and it was soooo hot outside that John and I even joined in the fun. We had quite a few neighbors over as well.




After the waterslide we went to the Riverton Fireworks. We love their fireworks. They do a good job. This year, John got us an AWESOME!!! seat. We were right in front of where they shoot the fireworks off. In the video you can even see the caution tape. You could feel the vibration of the firworks blasts on your back as you laid on the ground. It was so awesome.




Today we woke up and we rode our bikes inthe neighborhood parade. My kids love this parade.

Then we went up to Timpanogos and hiked upto the caves and through the caves. It was fun. Wyatt did such a good job of walking. He made it almost to the top until we were almost there and then their came a huge rock slide and that scared him to death. There were like three rockslides right after each other. It was kind of scary. The caves were cool. We had a good time.





We then went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. They gave Gluten Free dishes and we had free kids meal coupons. It was fun.

We have had a great fourth of July.

Birthday Weekend

So this past weekend was John and Wyatt's birthday. We started our celebration on Saturday. John's parents showed up to give Wyatt and John their presents. On Sunday it was John's birthday. In our house the birthday person always gets to choose their favorite meal. So John chose carnitas and homemade new york Cheesecake. It was pretty good. Here is a picture of him pretending to blow out a candle because he didn'ty want to have 36 candles in his cake!!



Monday was Wyatt's birthday. He woke up and got to open his presents. He got a Thomas blanket for his bed and some water guns and darts for the dart gun. He was very excited.


He chose for dinner HOT DOGs. They are his very favorite meal ever. Then he wanted a Thomas cake. Can you tell he likes trains.




The highlight of Wyatt's day we went to the mall and rode the train. He loved it!




Happy birthday boys. I love you both very much!!

On our own . . . Here we come

Well, John did it. He has his company up and running. He now owns Atkinson Electrical Services LLC. He is licensed and insured. He will be quitting his current job with Chipping Electric by the end of March. So if any of you need any electrical work done, please let us know.

This is a scary adventure for me as I have always enjoyed having a reliable paycheck and I know exactly what we would be getting. Now all that is up in the air and it is a waiting game. But we are excited and feel very peaceful about this decision. I know the Lord has guided us to this point. So wish us luck.

Congratulations John!!

Congratulations to John!!!! He passed his Master Electrician test yesterday. Now comes the tough decision of what to do with his life. Does he stay working where he is now or start his own business . . . stay tuned and I will enlighten you on what he decides.

Birthday Weekend

This is our busy weekend of birthdays. First it was Johns. Happy Birthday! His Dad got a new gun, so John wanted to go to Kamas for his birthday to shoot guns. So after Abigail's last soccer game we headed to Kamas. Unfortunately it was very rainy and soggy. They only got to shoot for about 10 minutes. But had fun anyway. John's Mom made him a birthday dinner and I made him a coconut cream pie(his favorite).

Today was Wyatt's birthday. He is now two years old. I can't believe that my baby is already two. Wow! how time flies. He definately woke up with the two year old attitude. He had a good birthday. He got to go to nursery for his birthday. We had his favorite dinner tonight and he got to blow out his candles on his cake. He had fun. Of course he just LOVES everything Elmo, so he had to have an Elmo cake. I must say, this is the best birthday cake I have yet made.

Anniversary Weekend

This weekend was John and I's 11th anniversary. John took me downtown and we stayed at the Little America Hotel. I LOVE that hotel. It is great. I especially love the breakfast buffet. We had fun galavanting around downtown Salt Lake. It was a great break from the kids and life, and it was wonderful. John's parents came and stayed with our kids. They had a great time.

So being our anniversary weekend, I thought I would share how I met John.

We were in a University of Utah Singles Ward and I was the ward organist. John and his cousin had just moved into our ward, and he saw me walking (or rather he says "bouncing" up to play the organ. Then my friend Christin saw his cousin and thought he was so cute. So she talked me into making lemon bars (I don't know why she didn't bake them) and take them over to welcome them into the ward. Well the lemon bars didn't turn out they were very runny. But Christine was very persistent that we were going to take these lemon bars over the the Atkinson cousins. So off we went with very runny lemon bars. They ate every last one of them. They were not picky. Well, it seemed as if Christine really liked John's cousin and she kept dragging me with her every time she went over there. She kept setting things up for us all to go and do and John and I became very good friends. I remember telling one of my friends that I could tell John anything and he was a great listener. We used to talk on the phone for hours.

Then one crazy day John decided to ask me out on a real date!! I said yes and then I went home and called my mom and cried for an hour because I knew that I would marry him.

Well, the rest is history. We dated for 1 month(but had been friends for about 3 months) and got married in 4 months.

I love my husband and am so thankful that he chose me.

Christmas Week

One day last week, John, Abigail and Wyatt went outside to build a snowman. Their snowman was so tall, that I thought I would take a picture.



Then John buried Abigail in the snow.



They had a lot of fun playing in the snow.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Update on our Family

So it has been a very long time since I posted anything. Nothing of iterest has happended until this weekend. I think we packed a months worth of happenings in.

It all started on Thursday. Abigial's kindegarten class went to the zoo. Wyatt and I went along with her. We had a great time. We saw the baby elephant and the baby giraffe. They were sooooo cute!!



Then on Friday John took the kids all on a date (except Wyatt) and they went and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. They all had a good time. Then I went to our Super Saturday Make up day and painted until 11:00 p.m.

This year we have regional conference and our stake has been invited to go to the conference center. So Saturday morning John went down to the priesthood session and the kids and I went shopping. Then that afternoon we went to the Scarecrow Festival and Thanksgiving Point. I didn't quite know what to expect because the kids got free tickets from school. Wow!! We sure didn't plan enough time to spend there. There was tons of stuff. All kinds of bounce houses, games, food and pony rides.





Abigial waited in line for an hour to ride the pony. She has been waiting for years to ride a pony. This was here dream come true!!!




The kids got to ride these little bike racers as well.

Then after that we took my sister out dinner for her birthday. Her birthday is this coming week.

Today we went down to regional conference. It was so cool for my kids to see the conference center. It was really neat. The Prophet was there. It was so cool. My kids really enjoyed it. I am so proud of Jacob. He took notes and eveything. He is turning into quite the great boy.

After that we booked it up to Kamas and had dinner with Johns parents.

So after all that it is time to sleep ...

Pioneer Weekend

We are so thankful for our Pioneers. The faith and courage that they had to walk across the plains,and settle here is wonderful. I am so thankful.

This weekend has been a crazy one! It all started Thursday night, my kids and John slept out on the trampoline. Then on Friday we woke up and went to Grandma Atkinson's house. We went to the Fiesta Days. They had a car show and booths to look at. Then we went back to Grandma's house for some slip-n-slide fun with some cousins.




After that we wend to the Kamas parade. Much different from the Riverton parade, but still a parade. It was fun. Then Jacob, Abigial and Dad went to the Rodeo with Grandma and Grandpa, while Wyatt, Joshua and I stayed at Grandma's house.

On Saturday was the kids parade. Abigial wanted to be in it. So here she is dressed as a pioneer ready to ride the float.



Here is one of her on the float.



Then we had an Atkinson reunion and met lots of cousins. Wyatt by this point was melting down, so we left and came back to Grandma's house. That night, John and the boys went to the Derby while Wyatt and Abigail and I stayed at Grandma's house. Needless to say, Wyatt and Abigial were so tired they were so naughty!! Grandpa was there and I think we gave him a few more grey hairs with all the cyring! Thanks Grandpa for keeping your cool. We then came home. We arrived home about 11:00 p.m.

Whew! The weekend is over. Now comes the cleanup . . .

Andre Rieu Concert

So for Mother's Day John got me tickets to see Andre Rieu in concert at the USANA Ampitheather. The concert was last night. It was wonderful. If you don't know who Andre Rieu is he is a violin player and he gives wonderful concerts. He is on PBS a lot during their pledge times. It was the best concert I think I have ever been too. We got there and the wind was blowing so we had to wait 20 minutes for the wind to die down. Finally the concert got underway. It was the best two hours. He plays such happy music. If ever you are down and need a pick-me-up, listen to his music and you can't help but smile. The audience kept encoring him. He did about four encores. Then they finally shooed us away. It was amazing. Here is a picture of John and I waiting to the concert to begin. Here are a few video clips of the concert. I just loved it. Thank you John for a wonderful evening.