A Rocket Lesson

Information you need to know:

1) Okay, so we try and have family home evening every week. We are not very successful at that, but when we have a lesson we just get a church picture out of the file and talk about the picture. I figure just learning the scripture stories is a good way to start.

2) My grandpa worked at Thikol as an engineer on the rockets. So last week when ATK (the new Thikol) had a static test for a rocket he was up and off at the crack of dawn to go see the scheduled 1:00 launch. While there he was given some posters and papers describing the information on the rocket.

The story that makes having Family Home Evening worth my time and wrestling with the girls to sit still and listen:

One evening last week we were on our way home from my grandparents house. My Grandpa gave me some of his posters of the rocket and some of the informational sheets to put up in my classroom. On our way home we had to stop at the grocery store to pick up some milk. Ben just ran into the store while I sat in the car with the girls so we wouldn't have to take lots of time getting them in and out of the car. Shortly after Ben walked into the story Kiya asked me, "Mom, Do you want to have a Rocket Lesson?" I turned and look at her curiously and noticed that she had picked up one of the informational sheets on the rocket. So I told her that I would love to have a rocket lesson. Her reply was, "Okay, but first we need to say a prayer." So we said a prayer and she proceeded to teach me a Rocket Lesson. Kiya taught me all about how Grandpa worked on rockets like that one, not that exact one, but some like it. And rockets can go in the sky and she has a red and a blue and a pink rocket and we can go for a ride in one of her rockets tomorrow. Then our lesson was over and we said another prayer and about that time Ben came back from the store and we made our way home.

All of this probably occurred in a 3 minute time span, but it truly made me grateful for having Family Home Evening lessons. Now I know that despite the wiggly-ness and short attention spans of my girls they are learning something. And that is enough for me.

p.s. I am way behind again. No big surprise, but I will post the pictures of the rest of our summer and Kiya's birthday soon.

p.s.s. School as started again for both Ben and I. My classes seem to be going well so far and I only have 1 rambunctious one so I am very excited about that.

Revenge of the Mullets 2009 Ragnar Video

This is our video documentary of the adventure we had

running the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. If this has now

inspired you to run with us next year let us know. You

will never have so much fun running as you do on this

race.

Cheney and Shaffer Reunions

Last weekend we had the Cheney and Shaffer Reunions in Cache Valley. Friday our family had a Cheney reunion at the Bear River Bottom Ultimate Slip-n-Slide. I don't think that any of the Cheneys have had so much fun on a slip-n-slide before. Some crazy stunts were happening. We had jumpers, backward riders, trains, and even some surfers.

Jaynie didn't like the slide so she just played with Miska.

Ben

Spencer and Jesika

Aubrey, I love the water spraying in her face.

Janessa, Tiffany, and my Dad

Ben running and jumping down the hill.

Janessa, Aubrey, and Tiffany

Chantry attempting surfing.

Amanda

Spencer going knee-board style

After the slide we went to Willow park for the Shaffer Reunion, but my camera died so I have no pictures. Saturday Ben went paintballing with lots of the Cheneys and Shaffers. Here they are all covered in paint.

It was great to see everyone, and it was everyone. It has been several years since all of the 7 siblings in my moms family have all been together so we took a big family picture. What a good looking bunch of folks.

4th of July

For the 4th of July this year we spent lots of time with family. And amidst all of the family activities we got to watch fireworks three days in a row. You may ask, "Wow! How is this possible?" Well let me explain.

July 2nd: Ben and I had just attended youth conference with our ward at Cinnamon Creek in Avon. While we were gone Ben's parents watched our kids for us, so we just stayed up in Cache Valley for a few extra days to get some family time in. We (Ben and I, my sister Tiffany and a date) went miniature golfing, and the girls loved it. Especially the hole on the course that has a hole that the ball goes in and then comes out a little further down and goes into the real hole. (Carly, sorry for using the same word 3 times in one sentence. Any suggestions?) This was the most amazing game of golf I have ever played because I got two; yes count them 1, 2, holes-in-one! It was fabulous, and I did so well that I even won the game, which I believe has never happened before. After golf we drove out to Hyrum and watched their fireworks from the hood of our car. Jaynie thought it was fabulous to get to sit on the car, and Kiya was terrified at the thought so the two of us stood next to the car.

July 3rd: We spent the day playing at Ben's parents house, boating, and then we rushed out to Logan for the traditional Bowling and Charlie's Ice Cream and watching the Logan fireworks from the Bowling Alley parking lot so that we can miss traffic and get home quickly. We played boys against girls, and the girls were slaughtered. Next year we will have to remember not to set teams up like that again.

July 4th: The morning was spent waiting for the Hyrum parade, and visiting with all of Ben's extended family. Kiya, Jaynie, and Carter all had matching shirts and I tried to get a good picture of the three of them together because the were so cute, but trying to get three children 3 years old and younger to look at the camera at the same time is definitely impossible. This is the best I could do, Carter just only wanted to show me his cotton candy, Kiya has some mischievous look on her face, and Jaynie is just being Jaynie.

After the parade we decided to go back out on the boat for more tubing, riding the water 'weenie', and water skiing. This is the first year that I have let Kiya and Jaynie ride on the boat, and they seemed to have a good time. Kiya even got to ride on the water weenie with Ben, which absolutely scared me to death, but she had fun so I guess that is all that matters. I have decided that I enjoy skiing the most because I actually feel in control on the skis versus the other tubes and such where you are at the mercy of the driver (and our driver has no mercy).

Then we finally headed home to Roy to spend some time with my family. We swam in my grandma's pool for a while, then walked down to a little park to watch the Riverdale fireworks.

All of this made for an exhausting couple of days for the girls and I don't think they have ever slept better than they did that night.

Ragnar Relay - Wasatch Back 2009

After many months of training, shin splints, tendonitis, and sore legs the day we had been waiting for has finally come and gone. On June 19th and 20th we ran the Wasatch Back Relay Race. It was 188 miles from Logan to Park City. Each team has 12 runners who each run 3 different legs to total the 188 miles. The race was 30 hours of fun and partying and 3 hours of running here and there mingled within all the fun.

Tiffany, Ben and Amanda at 7:30 am waiting for the race to start.

Ben was the first runner for our team, so he is waiting at the starting line for the gun to go off.

Amanda running through Paradise (the city in Utah, but it did feel like paradise).

Ben at Snow Basin waiting for his second run of the day.

Tiffany cheering the runners on and getting ready for her second run.

Ben running down Trappers Loop towards Morgan. He had 8.5 miles of downhill running, sounds like torture to me.

Spraying Ben off and getting him a drink of water while he was making his trek down the mountain.

The Honey Buckets - we were great friends for 2 days.

Rock on Dude - final run.

Sandi, one of our team mates, and my favorite picture from the whole race. Check out that serious running face.

And we are finally done and home and ready for some sleep! We had such a blast and running a race like that puts you on such a high that we decided to sign up for next year already. There is still space on our team for a few more runners. Any one want to join us?

A Car Ride

We went to the park last night, this is how our conversation on the way home went:

KIYA: Mom, what you eating?
ME: Gum.
JAYNIE: Want some. (So I give her a small piece)

A few minutes later (okay really about 30 seconds)

JAYNIE: WOW! ( I turn around and she is stretching the gum out in a long string.)
ME: Jaynie, put the gum back in your mouth our I will take it away.
KIYA: Jaynie, put the gum in your mouth.
ME: Jaynie your going to get it all over the car, put it back on your mouth right now, or I will take it away.

Jaynie stretches the gum further, so I maneuver around so that I can get the gum away from her (don't worry Ben was driving). So Jaynie starts to cry and then comes my favorite part.

JAYNIE: Kiya, mommy take a gum away.

Isn't it great when a one year old tattles on you to a 2 year old.  I love my kids!

A very Merry Unbirthday to Me!

So my birthday was back on the 12th, and of course I am late on it just like everything else.  It was an exciting day for me.  I was at girls camp most of the day, and then came home in the afternoon to spend some time with my family and go to a rehearsal for a dance recital the next day.  

When I got home Ben surprised me with a cake that he made all by himself.  Amazing!  I was so proud of him, and he knows that I love fun birthday cakes and pigs so naturally he combined the two.

Also he got me some of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen, you can kind of see them in the background. What a great husband I have.  Every time I get a card from him for any reason I just cry.  I don't know why and I try not to cry because it is not my favorite thing to do but I just can't control it.  So Ben's goal this year was to get me a card that did not make my cry.  Sorry honey, that you were not successful.  He gave me some quirky little card and I still cried.

Dinner was something else because we took our girls with us.  I ordered some cheese sticks for all of us and Kiya and Jaynie thought that was the greatest thing ever.  They were very stretchy cheese sticks.