Chaos

We had some friends tell us years ago enjoy your summers and the time you have while your kids are young because at some point in your lives you no longer get to chose what you do your children's activities will keep you from travel and activities you want to do....the time has come. It was amazing we had time to fit our vacation in.

Our children's activities now run our lives. Between Dance Camp and all the things they are scheduled for we are packed full of activities. Kelly and Kolton are at high adventure this week and I am sure they are having the time of there lives! They left on Tues and We should see them late afternoon on Saturday. We will be attending the Williams Family Rodeo this weekend which runs from Fri to Sat. I keep hoping Kelly will be home before the "official" rodeo starts on Saturday. And the Girls and I are getting ready for girls Camp.

I have almost forgotten what it was like to have a lazy summer....

Cross Country season will start as soon as we get back from girls camp and school soon after it will be nice to have some order and live with a schedule again.

Sunshine?

We just got back from Seattle where we attended a Williams Family Reunion. And of course it was the funnest time ever and we did not sleep and we saw many many things and did many many things had long visits with family, and drove all night to get home....that is not really the reason I am writing.

I have always been a fan of the North West. I have always believed it would be fun to live there and have often looked into moving up North. Seattle is a city that I have always enjoyed and romanticised it a bit of being a "city Dweller". So many of you have read Kelly's blog about how much he HATES Idaho and how he cannot believe we live in this WINDY area. Now don't get me wrong any of you Washington residents! It is Beautiful and it is very green and it does offer more that you can ever imagine.

It is too darn cold for me! After our Really long winter and a rainy spring many of us were so thankful for warm weather and sunshine. I just cannot imagine having rain most of the time and having it be cold in July. I carried a jacket with me most of the time and had it on about 50% of the time. It did make me a little crazy that is takes sooo long to get anywhere! I have always wanted to live in a big city or near a big city. So now I have learned I do have to appreciate the fact that I can make it from one side of Idaho Falls to the other side in about ten minutes and I can hit all the major department stores in just a few hours. Now don't get me wrong Idaho Falls and rural living has it draw backs! but I wont dwell on those right now. HOME SWEET HOME!

Snow in July

Kelsie turned 12 on july 5th!!! She has always had to compete wuth the 4th of July, which was fun when you are 5 because you think all these people came to your fireworks! That does not fly anymore and every year her birthday is really hard to fit in with all of the celebrations. Because 12 is a big birthday we knew we needed to do something FUN! So we thought of a few random ideas, Lava, downata, salt lake, the alpine slides.....none sounded like the right activity. So we went to bed on the 4th and decided to make the fianl decision in the morning. Kelly came up with the most amazing idea, he saved the day and made Kelsies birthday wonderful

Teton Village! in july? you can ride the gondola all day for one price. They offer hiking up there, fine dinning, a deli, and camp fire. We spent the first part of the afternoon hiking around and playing in the snow, ate dinner, and later in the evening after a quick trip into Jackson we had smores at 10,000 ft! You can buy a smores plate for about 6 buck and it is worth every dime. It was so fun and all the kids enjoyed it. A day we will never forget. I recomend everyone do this at least once the views were fab!

To Bone and Back

Every year we put together a team for the To Bone and Back Relay. Over the years we have kept mostly the same people on our team, so we have grown as a team and it is soooo fun. Every year we have about 2-3 spots to fill so it varies year to year but we always have a revolving people. this year was no different we lost a few and gained a few. By the end of the day you are tired sweaty and gross, FUN TIMES! We finished with a time of 5 hours 41 mins. everyone ran hard in 90 degree heat. It is fun to see people you know on team and every year you get to know different team better and start small rivalries. We always want to beat this particular team but they have about 10 mins on us....maybe next year! Kelly's cousin Jake and Katie formed a team and it was fun to see them up there having a good time and to see many of them do this with little amount of training, you guys were awesome!

Kolton this year had his own team, they did a 4 man team and did awesome. they were 3rd team over all and got third place in the high school division. They finished with a 5 hour 5 min time GO BEES!

leave it to the pros!

Some of our cute little williams girls are born with the "williams curse" better known as the uni-brow. I happen to have one of these girls that has been plagued with one. Over the last six months Kelsie has been bugging me about getting her eyebrows waxed. Every time we have gone up to the hair salon we forget to fix her eyebrow situation. About two weeks ago we were in Sally Beauty Supply and we decided to buy a waxing kit. I am sure you all can see where this is going.............After we fixed the center we decided to fix the sides and OPPS! So after a few
laughs and a few tears we decided to leave it to the pros!

Kolton

it seems like weekly we are now having the "milestones" in our lives that make us feel old probably because we are now getting old! Kolton turned 16 last Sunday, and like every birthday my children have I cry. Sixteen seems like such a fun time of your life but such a hard time. It has been fun to see him the last couple of weeks with his friends training for to bone and back. We forced him to get a job, he thought he was going to just hang with grandpa on the farm this summer! And so we told him you have a car and you are expensive, you need money for dates, soooooo! And I am happy to tell you HE HAS A JOB!

He shares a birthday with my mom and a cousin who has one a few days before so my family got together and went to heise for the day it was such a good time! I love having my siblings living close to us now. You have to appreciate sisters because you know they will make fun and laugh with you about things, (my swimsuit!) but it is so fun and it makes me laugh.

Kelly ordained him a priest yesterday and had our families over for lunch and visiting it is was so nice to have everyone over. Now we just start preparing him for the next two years of his life. He is such a good kid and such a great example for all his cousins. He had great uncles that have

always been a great example for him

Car Shopping

I know how much everyone enjoys car shopping, in fact I bet everyone would put it top of the list right? We are doing two different kinds right now and WOW what an experience. Last year we bought a 83 ford ranger from my brother in law so Kolton our new driver would have something to drive. It has been the best truck and we have really enjoyed it. However we need something that he can drive the girls around in and pick up Kenz and all her friends from school. Over the last year we find him taking one of the other three vehicles to drive them around so we need to upgrade. We have also been trying to decide between trading in our sport trac or the Yukon. And the Yukon FINALLY won out. It is the auto that sits in the garage most but when we use it we put on the miles.



Because we are doing the two extreme type of shopping it has been very funny. When we are looking at older cars the salesmen have the funniest things to say.....First you have to go find one it is obvious you are not spending much money when you are looking in the CHEAP lot. Then they will tell you how reliable this piece of garbage car is, and the check engine light is no big deal, the shaking in the back goes away, and when you drive down the road the pulling to the right side is the first they have ever heard. So the search is still on to find the great kid car.



Now the Yukon....Kelly is such a "researcher" shall we say. Car salesmen have pinned him as the typical "engineer" site worker. He goes in with his spread sheet and all the facts. We have are considering 3 different types of vehicles so it make the process so much more painful. We stopped at Phil Meador and looked at an 07 sequoia, I finally had enough of the salesman who was helping us and trying to get us to take it off his lot TODAY......and I finally had to explain to the nice gentleman that he was just a spot on his graph and we would not be taking the car home today. And if he fit Kellys criteria we would be calling him , miles vs price. So the search is on. I love salesmen what fun they are! so I tell then my specs for a new vehicle; leather, heated seats, and DVD. We looked at a sequoia with cloth and the salesman tells me really you don't need the leather you can just buy seat covers, and another says well this has the leather you can just buy one of those covers that plugs in with the seat and it will be heated. And cover the leather I am paying extra for? What a fun experience! and then when we FINALLY find the vehicle Kelly will be on the phone with the dealership for a week negotiating price. I just hope this ends SOON!