Harold Beck Family Reunion

Our Beck Family Reunion was held in Salt Lake this year. We ended up doing everything around what Grandpa & Grandma Beck liked or used to do. We had a great time visiting with family and enjoying the different activities planned.

We were lucky enough to have Randy & Carrie (Byron's cousins) come from Denver and stay at our house for 3 days. The kids loved playing with Riley and Aiden. We don't have company come over very often, so it is always such a treat when somebody stays. We also have a great time getting to know Randy & Carrie better and enjoyed those late night conversations without any children.

JULY 2nd - OREM OWLS BASEBALL GAME We headed to the Brent Brown Field on UVU campus to enjoy the Owls Baseball game. The weather was pretty cloudy at first as some rain started to fall, but luckily it didn't last long. The kids always have such a great time and were even more excited to see so many cousins. We were sitting on the far south of the ball park. Anytime a ball went out of bounds over by us a worker would go and retrieve the ball and throw it to somebody over by us. Johnathan was lucky enough to get a ball thrown to him along with Cadan. He was such a happy boy and has since ordered a glass protector to go around the ball - pretty exciting stuff:). The Owls won by a huge margin to make the game even better.

July 3rd - OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE (Byron, Tricia, Johnathan, Tanner, Bradley, Camille, Parker & Carter)We headed to the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple to enjoy the open house at 10:00 a.m. The worker that was helping us park our van as we entered was actually my cousins, Robert Adamson. It was so fun to see him. Byron & I also saw him just 2 weeks earlier in Park City with his wife - a small world:).

The open house was pretty crowded. We first went into a huge tent and enjoyed a wonderful movie. After the movie we filed into the temple. What a gorgeous place! My kids absolutely loved going - especially since there have been two different open houses we have been to in the past six months. After we exited the temple, there were great refreshments and bottled water.

TOUR OF RELIEF SOCIETY BUILDING We were lucky enough to get a personal tour of the Relief Society Building since Melissa works there. They were closed for the day, since it was the 4th of July weekend, so we had it all to ourselves. My favorite part was the resource floor - such awesome things to see and hands on. There was a cool CTR mat with all the different languages around the world printed on it, a huge Book of Mormon and Bible, amazing pictures and a YW values rug - to name a few.

GAMES, VISITING, FUN, BBQ

We then went back to Taylorsville to the Stake Bowery to enjoy playing and food. I was asked to help put together a few games. Luckily Camille was willing to make balloon creations for all of the children. They were a HUGE hit! She does such an amazing job and had the kids waiting so patiently in line for their turn. She was busy making swords, flowers, hats and poodles.

There were also some really fun games that Grandma Beck (Sharon) put together that involved water. Bradley and some of the younger children loved staying around the small pools. They were able to see how many marbles that were in the pool they could pick up with their toes. This game was a hit. The boys played soccer and football out in the field. We ate a delicious dinner including hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon, baked beans, potato salad and other delicious things. We even roasted marshmallows in the BBQ pits and enjoyed smores late in the evening.

Bradley loves being around Timothy and kept asking Aunt Genevieve if he could hold him. I thought it was so cute that he would be wanting to do something like that at such a young age. He did very well for how young he is - not sure how Timothy felt about it, though:).
After dinner Bradley and Cadan were looking for bugs and having a fun time with each other. The adults enjoyed having a water balloon toss.

JULY 4th - EAST MILL CREEK PARADE

We got up bright and early to be to the East Mill Creek Parade. Grandpa & Grandma Beck (Beth and Harold) used to go to this parade and take their children. It was a very small, but fun parade. The kids came away with SO much candy. Bradley really got into getting candy at this parade. He would run up to the road as soon as it was thrown to grab some, but usually it was gone by the time he got there. We had to tell his siblings to leave some for him and then he was much happier. There were so many children in this particular parade who decorated their bikes and were throwing candy.

MIDWAY GAMES

After the parade we went down to Evergreen Park to enjoy the games. We were able to shoot cork guns, dart throw, fishing pond, bowling ball roll, and ping pong bounce. At this particular one Byron won a can of coke and Carter won a can of sprite on Grandma's dime. It only cost her $3.00 :).

GAMES AND DINNER

We headed back to John & Sharon's house to enjoy playing games and eating a delicious dinner. There were many fun games going on at the same time - scum, football, 500, rook, and playing in the small pool. We had some yummy taco salad and enjoyed the great company of everyone.

FIREWORKS We headed back to Lehi to watch the fireworks at Thanksgiving Point with just our family. We drove both vehicles to the frontage road across from Thanksgiving Point and parked the truck where we could see the fireworks from inside of it. We had such a great time together waiting for the fireworks show. The kids all thought it was so cool to be in the back of the truck. The show started around 1o:10 p.m. and lasted about 30 min. Bradley fell asleep during the show, but was so mesmerized with the fireworks before he fell asleep. We headed back after such a long and fun filled day!

Museum and Parade fun!

Allyson & Dallin asked us if we wanted to go to the "Paleontology Museum" at BYU with them. I am so glad they set this up because we had a great time. Allyson had set up a tour for us to have which was absolutely awesome! The tour guide was so enthusiastic about dinosaurs that he made us all excited also. He was one of the most energetic people I have ever seen and kept the children's attention the whole time. We learned how to tell a dinosaur bone from any other bone - pretty interesting - I even learned so much. We even got to go back behind and be where they work on fossils and see the huge storage area where so many fossils are kept.

After the tour, we hung out talking for quite some time. Myles & Bradley had so much fun playing together. I feel bad that we don't get these two together more often when we life so close to each other. They absolutely had a ball! They enjoyed playing with sticks and dirt for a long time.

On June 27th, we went headed bright and early to the Lehi Roundup Parade. We were lucky enough to have Melissa come see the parade with us along with the Wilcox family. Before the parade started, Byron had purchased McDonald's food and the kids enjoyed eating it in the back of the truck. We were in such a perfect location on the parade route - right under a huge tree. It was a very hot day, but very comfortable in the shade. The parade was awesome, as usual. The kids came away with more candy than they ever needed. After the parade, Camille performed at Wines Park with Showcase USA. We had fun watching her then heading out shortly after she performed. Thanks Melissa & Mom Beck for coming to see her perform.

Byron, Tanner, Camille, Carter, Johnathan, Bradley & Parker eating breakfast
Aunt Melissa, Bradley, Carter, Johnathan, Camille, Parker, Emily Wilcox, Tanner & Sam Wilcox
Eli Wilcox, Becki Wilcox and Bradley sitting together - Bradley LOVES getting together to play with Eli. Every Sunday when we mention that he is going to nursery today he says, "Eli nursery." I'm sure they will grow up to be great friends.

Day out with the Chapples

Byron & I were able to have a fun day out with Scott and Heather Chapple (Byron's cousin) on June 20th. The day started out bright and early picking them up at 6:00 a.m. to head to Jordanelle Reservoir to rent wave runners. The day was particularly cold and cloudy. While we were out on the water, the rain would come and go (but luckily not enough to warrant us getting off of the water). There were even some moments where the sun came out and warmed us up. Scott & Heather had never been on wave runners before, so it was fun seeing their excitement while riding them. Each couple rented one for 4 hours (from 7-11 a.m.). At first there was practically nobody on the water, but as the time went on quite a few boats came. One of our favorite parts is following behind a boat and going over the waves created by it. We had a wonderful time. We also loved stopping while out on the water next to each other and just talking until the wave runners drifted too far apart to hear each other.

After we had to return the wave runners, we changed our clothes and headed to Park City. We started out by going to the Historic Main Street. So many places were closed that we wanted to eat at, so we ended up settling on a sports bar. The food was great. While we were eating, it started POURING outside. We were grateful to be inside and not battling the rain. After eating, we walked down Main Street and enjoyed looking into many shops along the way. We went into the LDS Family Tree Center and even saw my cousin, Robert and his wife Liz (what a small world.).

We had a great time being with Scott & Heather. There is nothing like visiting with somebody without children interruptions. They are such awesome people and it was fun to spend a day with them since they live in Arizona and we rarely see them.

Camille Girls Camp - June 15-19th

Camille had an awesome time at Girls Camp. They went to Heber to attend the Heber Valley Camp. The campsite that they went to was called "Camp Hinckley" after Sister Hinckley (All of the camps were named after famous women and President Hinckley wanted to dedicate this camp to his wife.) They stayed at campsite 4 and that is where President Hinckley dedicated it. They call this camp "The Temple on the Mountain" because it is such a spiritual place. Some of the highlights for Girl's Camp for Camille was spending time with her friends, the challenge courses which also included a zip line, testimony meeting, snipe hunt, fun arts and crafts, delicious food, and canoeing on the lake. The YW leaders are so amazing and made this such a special experience for all of the girls.

They met as a Stake on Monday morning at the Stake Center to get on charter buses to head to Midway. Camille sat with Breanna Lambert on the bus.
Here is Camille's bed in the cabin she stayed in (pretty rough- huh???) All of the Beehives stayed together in Cabin 2. This exact cabin is usually where the Hinckley's stay.

Here are all of the Lehi 29th ward girls together. Each ward had a different color shirt with a different animal on it. They were the tigers and had orange shirts.

This is one of the beautiful views they had.

One of the nights, each ward put on a skit. Camille's ward skit was a game show of "So You Believe You Can Dance." They divided into 3 groups for 3 different dances to "Eye of the Tiger." Her group did "Nerdets" so they acted nerdy. The other two groups did Michael Jackson and hip hop. It was very funny and everybody commented and loved it.

This picture was taken right before the skits with all of the Young Women and leaders that came.

This picture was taken right before the snipe hunt. They put mint toothpaste on their faces to keep the snipes away.

All of the amazing leaders talking (Amy Rindlisbacher, Becki Wilcox, Mary Smith, Kelly Kunz, Amber Young, Jennifer Atwood).

Dad and Stake Conference

I had to post some fun pictures of Dad with Bradley and Camille. Bradley loved going by "Grandpa Adamson" and being by him. He also kept on asking where Grandma Adamson was. We were outside enjoying the nice evening when Bradley asked "Where's Grandma?" I don't think Bradley has ever seen Grandpa without Grandma. Grandpa pulled out his cell phone and showed Bradley a picture of Grandma on his cell phone. Bradley loved that.

The following day was Stake Conference. We had the awesome opportunity to have Elder Russell M. Nelson come. The last time our stake had someone come from the twelve was when our Stake Presidency was put in. It was fun having dad here to share this cool experience with us. We went to the American Fork tabernacle at 9 a.m. to get good seats. When we arrived, the only seat pretty close was located directly in front of the podium. I am thinking to myself as my dad and Camille go and sit there, what are they thinking? How do you keep 6 children quiet when you are so close to where the apostle will be standing. I soon realized that being that close might have its advantages also since the kids could definitely see the speaker and hopefully listen more since we were so close.

Bradley started getting fussy an hour into conference, so I took him downstairs to walk around. I was watching conference from a TV downstairs when Elder Nelson started to speak. He was so awesome. He began by talking about children and mentions 2 that he met before conference started. These 2 kids used to be in our ward. He had them both come up and stand next to him and started talking to them. After they sat down he said (this is as well as Byron & I can remember this happening since one month has passed away), "There is this cute red headed family sitting here on the front row. Why don't you stand up and turn around so everyone can see you. Go ahead and stand on the seats so they can see you at the Stake Center." The kids stood up and waved to the cameras. As I was watching on the TV, I was hoping it would pan down to my children, but it never did. At this point, I decided that I needed to go upstairs and sit with my family. Elder Nelson then asked all of the primary children to stand and sing for him "I am a Child of God." What an awesome experience! This will definitely be ingrained in my memory for a long time along with making a huge impact on my children. How neat to hear a prophet of the Lord speak from such close proximity. I was strengthened from hearing him speak and realized how grateful I am to be a member of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

My boys are 7 . . . where has the time gone?

Carter & Parked turned 7 on June 13th. They were able to have their first friend party and were so excited! They had seven friends come - mostly from their kindergarten class and ward. They had such a great time blowing up balloons, trying to stand up with hands locked behind their backs with a partner, popsicles, and a guessing game. The children were all very well behaved and were so fun to have over.
On the morning of their birthday, Michael had planned to have the 3rd Beck Race. We were so lucky to have Grandpa Adamson at our house to come with us. He came up for my cousins, Anna Marie's wedding since mom was at Youth Conference. I loved having him come and stay with us for a few days.

The Beck Race was fun and the kids LOVED being able to run, run & run! We had some light sprinkling, but nothing that ruined the experience. Even Bradley enjoyed running around the Lehi track once with Camille's help.

After the race, we headed back to our house for a birthday party. Carter got a fishing cake and Parker a worm cake. I had put together a game to guess which picture was Carter & Parker. I was realizing while doing it that I even had a hard time with some of the pictures. I need to make sure I write on every picture since the older they get, the harder it is for me to remember who is who as a baby. Carter & Parker even told us some things that are different about each of them. Since I don't remember exactly what they said one month ago, this is what they said today.

from Carter - "Parker doesn't like strawberries and I do. You can tell by our faces that mine is more circular and his is more oval. My favorite color is red. I like to play Wii."

from Parker - "Carter doesn't like to get pictures taken and I do. I like spaghetti and Carter likes pizza with ranch and I don't like ranch. My favorite color is green. Carter is a little funnier than me and I'm not that funny."

I can't believe how fast these past 7 years have flown by. I never realized how much my life would change with twins. There have been so many fun and wonderful times these past 7 years. I love Carter & Parker so much. They are both such great friends to each other (even though there are definitely times when I wonder why they fight so much). They must have decided that they didn't want to be separated on Earth, so they came down as twins. They definitely have so many awesome experiences as twins - like a constant best friend. I love you so much and am so glad you are both a part of our family.

Camping FUN!!!

Byron was gone to China during Father and Son's so we decided to go camping early in June as a family to make up for the missed camping trip. We headed to Camp Timberlane - near Price - for 3 days. We left on June 8th. After we arrived, the kids enjoyed gathering firewood, playing with wood, sticks, dirt or anything else they could find. I don't think we had any unhappy children for 3 days straight. Camping is definitely right up their alley.

The weather was pretty crazy for June - We were in the 45 - 55's the whole time and it rained and even hailed while we were camping. We were so glad to have the heater at nights to help warm us up in the "A frame." For dinner we enjoyed roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Byron & I each drove up so we could first of all fit all of our stuff, and so we could go for some drives with the children in the back of the truck. Boy did they LOVE being in the truck - going around on dirt roads with their dad behind the wheel made for some happy children and a terrified mom :).

While there, we had some fun going on a small hike. It was never long enough for the kid's, but both parents were beat.

We brought our generator and the kids enjoyed watching movies inside the "A frame" until it was time to fall asleep. All of the children, except for Bradley, stayed up in the loft. The worst part about the night was when we were getting ready for bed, Byron & I noticed that our air mattress was slowly loosing air. That night was definitely hard . . . we were sleeping on the hard cement floor, it was very cold, and Bradley decided that he wanted to sleep with his Dad & Mom. I was quite relieved when the sun came up and we were finally able to get up.

Going to Price, was on our list of things first off so we could purchase a new air mattress. We definitely didn't want the same awful sleep for 2 nights in a row.

During the days the kids carved with the pocket knives, played ball games, and best of all relaxed. The food was great also. We had tin foil dinners for dinner on Tuesday night and they were delicious.

That night we could hear the rain come down all night long. Quite the storm blew through. Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come . . . . .

We got all packed up early Wednesday morning to be back to Lehi by early afternoon. It was pretty muddy outside, but nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. We finally got into the van/truck and headed out. After driving about 10 seconds I realized that this was going to be a nightmare. We were only driving about 5 mph and were sliding every which direction. I literally had NO control whatsoever!!! At this point I was so stressed and didn't quite know how we would be able to get out of here (there were about 2 1/2 miles of dirt roads before entering the highway.). We decided to stop for about 2 hours and see if the sun would come out and dry the roads enough to leave. We went on a fun family walk. Our shoes were caked in mud, but we all still had smiles on our faces. The sun would come out for short periods of time, and then hide again. After waiting for 1 1/2 hours, the rain started, so we decided that we needed to leave immediately.

The roads were 50% better at first. I felt in control, until we headed down a huge hill that didn't get much sun. I was saying a prayer over and over in my mind and pretty stressed out. Byron, Tanner & Johnathan were in front of me in the truck. I had the rest of the children in the van with me. There were quite a few big trucks coming the opposite direction as us, but they had 4 wheel drive, so they didn't have such a hard time. We did see one van off to the side of the road either stuck or waiting it out. I thought for sure that I would be that van also in a few minutes, but we were SO BLESSED!!! It took us about one hour to go 2 1/2 miles, but we did end out getting out of there. I have never been so scared in my life and so extremely relieved when it was over.

We had such a wondeful time together as a family. I am so grateful for these fun moments that we have to make great memories together. This camping trip will be one of those that we will remember years down the road.