I have a completely independent but totally dependant four year old.

When the inflatable swimming pool pops, one must improvise.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Great!!

On Sunday we celebrated my Grandpa Reimann’s 80th Birthday. My mom was gracious enough to host the super extended family. My grandma and grandpa have 9 children, 37 grandchildren, and 12 great grandchildren… (So far). You can only imagine how many people attended the event. Usually when the Reimanns get together we have to rent a Barn, or better yet the Delta Center. The funny thing is this is just the tip of the iceberg for my grandparents. Their own children are not done having children. And only a handful of the grandkids are married. So in about 10 years the Reimanns will populate a whole city.
I loved growing up with such a big extended family.
-I had three girl cousins my exact age. The four of us had our own sorority at family parties. It was fabulous.
-I always had a babysitting job... Between all my aunts, my weeknights and weekends were booked solid.
- Sleepovers, sleepovers, sleepovers!!!

As an adult it is really fun to have so much family. You can’t help but run into someone at Sam’s Club, the swimming pool, or the park. I have a ton of fantastic people to rub shoulders with.

After the birthday dinner, a lot of cake, and singing… each of my grandpa’s children and siblings got to roast my grandpa. It was fun to hear such good memories. Naturally there were so many people there; I didn’t get the opportunity to roast my grandpa. I would like to take this opportunity to share my most tender memories of my Grandpa Reimann…

- My brother and I are grandpa’s oldest grandchildren so I feel like I was really blessed to know him when he was a lot younger. He used to take us everywhere. One of my favorite places to go was his work. I used to sit with him and help him put stones together. He is a magnificent artist. His company was called Nu-Stone and he did a variety of stonework. On one particular night I worked really late with him creating a stone bench. He named it after me. When I own a home I am going to have a Jenny bench in my front yard. After a full day of work he took my to the Kowloon restaurant. I will never forget that day.
- He is full of vinegar and life. When he would take us places he would drive REALLY fast. Who knows a grandpa that nascars down the freeway???
- He loves trains. I used to go to all kinds of train shows with him. I never got into trains but my cute little Bradley loves them. He loves to go to Grandpa Great’s house and look at all his model trains.
- He genuinely cares about all of his kids and grandkids. To this day I can go over to his house, and instantly his face lights up. He drops everything and wants to know how and what I am doing.
- He raised my dad to be such a great man.


Happy Birthday Grandpa.

I AM a domesitc DIVA

I made Gyoza for dinner. It is a Japanese dish that I learned how to make several years ago. They are kind of like pot stickers. They are filled with ground pork, cabbage, and ginger. I make them from start to finish from scratch.
It is my all time favorite food. I eat it until I am sick. Randy and I ate so much we didn’t even have any left over. (Good thing I took a picture)

I have been serving Gyosa on plain Jane plates forever so my mother in law was kind enough to get me these super cute dishes for Christmas. Aren't they darling?

Amateur Acting

I took the kids to Murray Park today for fun. They have free Children’s matinees in the gazebo on Fridays. Today a lady helped the kids put on a play. Brad got to be the main character today. He was so excited to talk in the microphone. Don’t you just love the Hawaiian motif costume? He was so proud of himself.

Happy Pioneer Day

We celebrated the 24th of July with our good friends next door. They invited us over for dinner. Kristin made sweet pork burritos. They were scrumptious. She said she added brown sugar, coke and an onion. She slow cooked it all night and day. We live in a duplex and we can smell each others dinners through the walls. We could smell the pork cooking all night and day so it was torture to have to wait to try it.

The girls sat on the floor and played together. We really are going to force these two to be best friends. We had a little setback in the relationship planning last night. Claire kept stealing Elle’s binky. Elle didn’t think that was going to fly.

Kristin’s husband Brian is following the trend of Scooter Ville because of rising gas prices. He bought this bad boy 90’s scooter for 50 bucks. You can’t beat that. They let us cruse around town for a few minutes. We had to weave in and out of families sitting on their curb trying to enjoy their firework shows.

We didn’t have fireworks to light last night so we sat on the front porch and sniffed the remnants of other people’s fireworks. Plus who needs fireworks when we can just toss Brad in the air. What is Randy going to do when this kid finally passes the 40 pound mark??

Mount Pleasant and Scofield-- Reimann Rebellion

Last Thursday we packed up and went to Camping World in Mount Pleasant with my parents. Mount Pleasant is near Manti. My mom and dad bought a membership to Camping World, so we get to share the spoils. The campground was great. The grounds were kept so nice. There was a lot of grass in the campsite. Thus keeping the kids pretty clean.
The campground also had a swimming pool. We played in it every day. It was so refreshing. It was a hot weekend. Brad just finished up his swimming lessons and had to show off some of his skills.

Claire is still my little water baby.
Brad and Whitnee jumped in and out of the pool at least 1,000 times.
Kirsten
Kennedy (BEAN) and Natalie

What is a camping trip without good food? As soon as we were done eating a meal we would start thinking and talking about the next meal. We had some great deserts too. I made key lime pie, my mom made some really good Dutch oven cake. And oh the chocolate we ate.
We played a lot of games… I would be a happy girl if I never had to look at a Candyland board again. Randy’s favorite was electronic Monopoly. I won him on the first game and he still will not live it down.
Grandpa moose and Claire. Claire loved riding on grandpa's shoulders.
Bean is so stinking cute. I would say "I love you Bean" and she would reply "Love Me?? HUH? How can you not love this little face.

On Monday we packed up camp and moved to Scofield reservoir for the Reimann rebellion. My parent’s stake owns property called Starpiont right by the lake. Within the first 2 hours the kids were a filthy mess. The dirt there was so bad. The kids ate it up. They constructed Tepees with logs and blankets. I was quite impressed with their craftsmanship.

Brad played soccer in a big field. He was in dirt heaven.
Kirsten and my cousin Niki were fast friends.
My aunt Kristie introduced us to Campfire pretzels. She took canned Biscuit dough and wrapped it around a roasting stick. Then when they are cooked you dip them in butter and Cinnamon and sugar. The were so fun to make and killer good.

Claire was such a good baby camping. She loved being outdoors.
Eric brought his new bike camping. Randy and I got to take if for a ride in Fairview canyon. It was absolutely beautiful. Being on the back of a motorcycle is so liberating. I am going to have one someday.
The trip was really fun. We came home early Wednesday, because we had to go back to work. My family is still up there rebelling. We wish we could have stayed longer but it always feels good to be home again.

A day in daddy's shoes

Brad spent the morning wearing his Daddy's shoes. He kept them on all morning. He even managed to relace them for him. The new lace job was perfect for Randy's work. They were so loose and comfortable.

Right before Brad took them off, he tied the shoes together...looked at me, laughed and said
"Mom, I am so tricky. Just wait until dad tries to put these on."

What a funny kid.

I am still alive

I have had a very FULL 10 days. Feel free to scroll and share that last little bit with me. Sorry it came all at once and not in smaller blips. This was all back to back!!!!

Granger North Stake Pioneer Trek

To preface this post… read HERE.
I had the opportunity to join the youth in my stake on the Trek. I was called to be head of the medical committee. Randy could not join us so I was on my own. It was the most awful, hard, exhausting, greatest, spiritual, best experience in my life. We went to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming. We left on Monday morning. I would have never made it as a pioneer. It was HARD.

This was the first day. The youth were full of energy and excitement on the first pull. We had to hike into our camp.
At our first pit stop I had kids already with heat exhaustion. I had to pull 2 of them out at this point. It was 100 degrees and dry. The kids called me the water Nazi.
This was where we reenacted the women’s pull. When the men were called to serve in the Mormon Battalion, the women were left to pull alone. The men stood at the top of the hill with their hats off and totally silent. It was so surreal. I pulled my bonnet down and could not even look up at their faces. It was really humbling. The spirit was incredible. At the top the men gave the women little jewels that represented rubies.
They read Proverbs 31:10 “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.”

We stopped at the Sweetwater crossing. We also reenacted the crossing. Of course our crossing was completely different. We welcomed the cool refreshing water. When the saints crossed it, there was 2-3 feet of snow and the river was freezing.

While we crossed the river, a woman played the violin and we all paid tribute to many who lost their lives that day. Again…what a sweet and humbling experience. Before we crossed Sweetwater we had the chance to walk through Martin's Cove. It is a two mile silent walk. We parked our wagons and walked through one of the most sacred monuments. Not a single person made a sound as we grieved the losses in the Martin Company. I was so impressed that the Youth were so respectful. We shed a lot of tears that day.
Throughout the trek my medical team used up hundreds of yards of moleskin, treated sprains, strains, heat exhaustion, allergies, bug bites, even had to start an IV on a very dehydrated Saint. Even after I would crawl into bed my radio would go off that someone needed help. I didn't stop the whole time. Can you see the stress in my face???Thank goodness this was only a reenactment and not the real thing. I can see why so many people died.

The bus ride home was memorable as well. We left at 8:00AM and didn't pull into the stake center until 11:00PM that night. It was a long ride home. Some of the youth said that they would rather pull a handcart home. We broke down several times. Thank heavens a member of the Stake presidency is a mechanic and fixed the several problems.
This is our bus driver George. He kept telling us how tired he was....SCARY!!!
For how many times we pulled over the kids were really good. I hope they felt what I felt.
I will never forget this experience. I walked off the bus and saw Randy and just collapsed into his arms and cried. I was so homesick for my family.

I am forever grateful for the sacrifice of the Saints in the Willie and Martin company. Their sacrifice made it possible for me to raise my children in the Gospel. I am thankful for their spirits that touched me in ways that I will always remember.