12 Years Already?!

Our little buddy is 12 today (oh, after midnight already? Make that yesterday!). I can hardly believe it! His big day started with presents before dad left for work (his dreams came true when he got a unicycle!).

His siblings made the traditional birthday breakfast in bed, which somehow was eaten at the table instead of actually in bed.

He registered for middle school - yikes! Don't you think if kids can actually fit in the lockers they should have breathing vents and emergency releases inside?

We were fleeced by George Lucas, er sorry, we went and saw Clone Wars, had his suit fitted for alterations, and finished the day with his request for dinner - peppery steak done by dad.

Nixon has always been our old soul, the man in the little boy's body. He can't wait for Sunday - he and his best friend Wade, who also just had a birthday - get to speak in church together, get ordained to the priesthood at the same time, and we'll have a BBQ with our families and friends together. Love you kiddo!

Is My Neck Glowing?

'Cause it feels a little red! These red neck symptoms have arisen due to a recent outing to the Summit County Fair Demolition Derby and the fact that it may have been one of the highlights of my sons' young lives!

Those drivers are crazy! Naturally, Nixon and Easton are already planning their entries into the demolition derby as soon as they are old enough.

We went with our fun friends - love you guys! Some other friends were driving one of the tow trucks, so the kids all hopped in for a while. They loved it!

In other fair news, the kids made some sweet cash off of their fine arts entries - in fact - everyone in my house brought home at least one Judges Choice - great job!

We already can't wait for next year!

Give Me a Break!

This is why I'm paying over $80.00 to fill the tank on my mini-van. Yes, my MINI VAN. I think this article says a lot about what is REALLY behind our high gas prices. You can't even buy a Natural Gas car yet in Utah, but believe me, our family will be getting one at our earliest opportunity.

Big Oil posts its biggest quarter ever

Profits of 6 top firms jumped to $51.5 billion on surge in crude price
Aug 02, 2008 04:30 AM

New York–Chevron Corp said yesterday record oil prices drove second-quarter earnings up 11 per cent to its highest-ever profit, but weak margins from gasoline production led to a big loss at its refining operations.
U.S. oil prices averaged slightly less than $125 (U.S.) a barrel in the quarter, nearly double the average from a year earlier. But gasoline prices only rose 25 per cent during that same period, resulting in weak profit margins for the fuel.
Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, said net income rose to $5.98 billion, or $2.90 a share, from $5.38 billion, or $2.52 a share, last year.
Analysts, on average, expected the company to earn around $3.02 a share.
Like its competitors, Chevron made the bulk of its money at its exploration and production arm, also known as the upstream, where income nearly doubled from a year ago to $7.25 billion.
Chevron said the average sales price for crude and natural gas liquids was $109 a barrel in the quarter, up from $57 a barrel in the year-earlier period.
In addition to Chevron, soaring commodity prices led to record quarters for Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Exxon Mobil logged the largest-ever quarterly operating profit for a U.S. company. Barring companies that made huge profits on one-time gains like bankruptcy settlements and spinoffs, Exxon Mobil holds the top 10 records for biggest U.S. quarterly earnings.
French energy company Total SA said yesterday its profit climbed 38.7 per cent in the second quarter to $7.38 billion as sales rose 23 per cent to $75.25 billion.
Total's earnings were at the top end of analysts' expectations.
Unlike some other oil majors, Total reported production growth of 1.3 per cent in the second quarter.
Altogether, the profits of the six companies jumped more than 40 per cent in the second quarter to $51.5 billion, the first time big Western oil companies have ever reached that level.
Also yesterday, Norway's state-controlled StatoilHydro ASA reported a 37 per cent rise in second-quarter net profits, to $3.7 billion.
At Chevron, the company division that refines and sells gasoline actually swung to a loss of $734 million in the quarter after earning $1.3 billion a year ago. The culprit: those same crude prices that lifted upstream earnings.
Like its peers, Chevron doesn't produce enough oil on its own to feed its refineries, forcing it to buy some on the open market.
Chevron said overall production in the quarter fell about 3 per cent from a year ago, hurt in part by production-sharing contracts.
It said startups will lift output in the second half.
From the Star's wire services

Amazing Stuff

So trek was incredible in every way. It has been exactly one year since Valine, Corrine and I were called to our callings, and that is exactly how long we have been planning trek. Not quite a year for Jill, but it feels like she has always been there. These women are my dear friends, and I came back from Martin's Cove with such a deep gratitude for many things - among them the wisdom of our Heavenly Father for the callings we have, for the way the 8 distinct personalities of our 2 presidencies were each vital in this process, a deepened respect for the YM leaders, who totally stepped up and led this thing, love for these ladies who will be friends forever, newfound friends along the trail and of course love for our awesome youth - they rocked! Don't ever call Park City kids wimps - we literally had to hold them back most of the time!

I could not believe how blessed we were in so many situations on trek. Weather, bugs, safety, water level (we were the FIRST group this year allowed to take our carts across the Sweetwater!), spiritual experiences, fun factor, families meshing together - it can all be summed up as BEST case scenarios. All day Sunday as I visited different wards, talking with people, the blessings would come into the conversation and I could not keep my eyes dry. All day! My heart is so full!

I am sooooo thrilled that I was able to share this all with Geoffrey. He and Paul (Valine's husband) were so vital to things running smoothly, I am forever grateful. He made sure I ate, my Camelback was full, my tent was set up. I literally could focus all my attention where it needed to be. Love you, love you , love you. I think his blog will have to return so he can explain how it is that he was our first trip to the hospital of the trek - ON OUR WAY TO CHECK IN. 9 stitches - good work babe!

Here we are crossing the Sweetwater - somehow he thought those stitches were an excuse to not carry me across.

Even though our house has been all trek 24/7, the kids have managed to slip some other stuff into summer lately - most notably - Sara has made us forever jealous by sitting 12th row at the Police concert:

Nixon and Easton took a break from cleaning up at Farmer's Market to skate a hockey clinic with Luc Robitaille:

2 weeks until Girl's Camp and maybe? a slower pace, but probably not since then it is Education Week and then school starts :(- crazy!

365 Days until the Next 7-11 Day

My boys have been COUNTING down to 7-11 day. The best day of the whole year if you ask those two - the day you can get a slurpee for FREE at 7-11. Every time we drive by a 7-11, they talk about it and I've been hungry for a slurpee and wanted to stop and get one. But I didn't want to spoil the anticipation of 7-11 Day, so I've kept driving. Shhhh...Don't tell 7-11 their marketing plan has backfired!

It reminds me of Free Pretzel Day:

4 Posts in One Day?

Sorry to throw up on my blog like Geoffrey that one night (when he ate an entire box of Kroger brand frozen shrimp at 2 in the morning after a hockey game). Sorry, that was gross and I can't believe I would admit to having a box of Kroger brand frozen shrimp in my freezer - but Geoffrey bought them, so I think he totally got what he deserved with that! I have an excuse - I have a TON of trek stuff to do, isn't wasting hours blog surfing the natural reaction to having too much to do?

Anyway ...last thought for the night is really a question - what do you do to keep organized during the summer? Man, we struggle with keeping bed times and keeping up with family scripture study. It's so much easier during the school year!

I'll share what we're up to this summer, but it hasn't solved either of my previously mentioned dilemmas, so I hope you all have some good ideas!

We have summer books -

The kids write every morning a list of what they "have to do" before they can play. The list has some stuff that is the same everyday - make beds, clean rooms, read for 30 minutes. It usually has one or two other small chores (vacuum a room, wipe down the walls in a room, that kind of stuff). Then I try to put something fun on the list too. We have a Summer of Fun banner hanging up downstairs that has stuff we sat around and said we wanted to do this summer on it. After we do something at least once, the little guy gets to jump in the water. It keeps me mindful of the things we want to do. Hope we get to most of it before summer is over!

You can always find photos of what we've been up to on Smugmug.

So please share! What are you doing this summer for organization? Or for fun?

I Do Have a Daughter

I know she doesn't make a lot of appearances here on the blog. She's so on her way to adulthood now! We're glad to have her in the house for the brief amounts of time she is around - we know those moments are precious and fleeting!

Sara's been dancing her little heart out. You can catch a glimpse of her now and again at The Ballet West Blog. The summer schedule has been 8:00 - 5:30. I always worry that she will burn out, but the more she dances, the more she seems to know that is what she wants to do - good for her!

She had the 4th of July off - lucky us! We had a super day - our friend Lesa knows how to throw a party like no other! That women has some serious skills and party throwing is near the top of the list. Here is Sara playing with the Mac camera with Kali and Nic -

And here she is at Deer Valley for the big 4th of July symphony:

We love what a great person she has turned out to be. We got to go and hear her talk in the singles ward last month - what a treat! She has a calling she is going to be great at (organizing Family Home Evenings)! Love you Sara!