First day of school!!! :)

Happily and sort of patiently waiting for the bus! (notice it's still a little dark outside)

Still waiting for the bus! (now it's light outside)

Is that bus ever going to come?!?!?!?

Isaac becoming very impatient!

It's about time!!  Have fun Isaac!

I know this isn't as exciting as Fish Lake, but Isaac finally started back to school this week.  Time for Mom to gain a little sanity back in her life, for now, sort of.  Anyway, he was very excited.  He is now in 2nd grade at Heartland Elementary, and attending a cluster class with other Autistic kids from grades 1-3 (about 7-10 kids per class).  We did this with him last year at a different school, and it was a really great experience for him and our family as well.  Hopefully we'll have the same luck this year!!!!  He was so excited about going to his new school, that it became a great bribery tool at Fish Lake when he refused to get in the car to come home.  Obviously he had a great time on our trip, along with the rest of us, but going back to school must have been even more exciting to him than Fish Lake!!  GO FIGURE!

More of Fish Lake!

NICE CATCH JEFF!!!

There's no way that one would have got off!

OOPS!!!

Isaac with cousins Chase & Logan

Some of the fam!

Us after 2 days of fishing and playing in dirt!  GROSS!

Roasting marshmellows!

My biggest catch of the day!  We're not sure if it was a Splake or a baby Mackinaw.  Either way, it was a big fish for me, but FAR from the biggest in the lake!  These fish can get up to about 50lbs!  This one was probably only 1 or 2 pounds, I think!

ZZZZZZZZZ!!! Gave up after about 45 min. of screaming and being grumpy about the lifejacket!

Uncle Bob, Grandma Stewart, and some of my cousins on the other boat.

We went to Fish Lake this weekend for a family reunion.  Boy did we have a total BLAST!!!!  We stayed in little cabins (and I mean tiny) across from the lake, and just really enjoyed being together with everybody.  Being out on the lake and finally having a chance to fish with everyone was just the icing on the cake for me.  It was so nice to joke around with each other, and just have fun.  I think the 2 best highlights of the trip would have to be when Jeff's line wrapped around one of the fish he caught, and Chase about going overboard after trying to reel in an 18-20" rainbow trout.  It was awesome!!  I wish I had pictures to share of that experience.  Anyway, thanks for the great time everybody!!!!! :)  Let's do it again next year!

Fish Lake!!!

Our tiny little cabin

Let's go guys!

Daddy & Noah

Boat ride with the crew - Noah still mad about the lifejacket!

Isaac with Grandma & Grandpa

Sydney DRIVING the boat!!!!  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Noah pretty ticked off about the lifejacket!

Isaac waiting to drive the boat

First catch of the day!  :)

Daddy taking turns with the boat

This is Isaac and Sydney driving the boat.  SCARRRRRRY!!!  Actually, not really too scary.  It was a pretty easy boat to drive, and it kept them entertained! :)

Family Reunion

Isaac at the park

And then I wonder why I don't lose weight!  DUH!! (Isaac was the photographer for the day and took this #$&$#*@&@%#&$^$* picture of me #*&$^*#& and unfortunately was very proud of it!)

Sydney and Macie rolling water balloons down the hill

Sydney and 2nd cousin Macie.....SOOOOO CUTE!!! :)

My handsome little man!

Well let me just talk about this cute picture of Isaac for a minute.  He has been BEGGING to dress like Daddy, so Daddy made a deal with him, that if he was good in church, he would get him a white shirt.  So he was all excited this morning when he got up because he had earned his white shirt.  Well, after begging and begging to look like Daddy for months, he has now decided that he's old enough to be a "bacon" (he means deacon) and pass the sacrament.  I guess you could say we've got a lot of explaining to do!  Not that it does much good to explain to him, but he went to church today thinking that he could now be a "bacon" since he owns a white shirt.  GO FIGURE!  Anyway, so these other pictures are from our family reunion that we went to yesterday.  Yes, August is family reunion month!   Obviously one of them should be burned!  I bet you can't guess which one I'm talking about!  Then there is this adorable picture of Sydney and my cousin Jenni's little girl, Macie.  They are just as cute as can be when they play together!! They are so much alike, and even funnier, they must like to dress the same too! :)  Jenni and I have passed the tradition (not intentionally) of dressing the same (not on purpose) every time we get together!  I guess they're both following their mothers' footsteps!  Man, I wonder if they'll start chatting on the phone for hours like we do.......time will tell!

Utah's Hogle Zoo

Monkeying around at the Zoo playground w/Wyatt & Anna

Isaac & Noah riding teeter-totter

Noah feeling right at home at the Zoo! (actually, I have no idea what he was doing, but it looked funny)

Riding the Zoofari Express

Noah on the Zoofari Express

Since we have a family pass to Hogle Zoo, we decided to grab our good buddy Paige and her two kids, Wyatt and Anna, and get our moneys worth out of our memberships together before school starts again.  Well, rather than walking around and seeing all the animals for about the 200th millionth time, we decided to ride the new carousel, take the kids to the playground, and ride the train a few times, since it seems like those things just don't get done when we go.  Honestly, it was a nice change.  We did see the elephants and the monkeys, since they're the most interesting, and much to our surprise......NOAH WAS ACTUALLY INTERESTED!!!!  IT'S ABOUT TIME!!! :)  He actually got quite a kick out of the monkey's, and probably felt right at home with them since he thinks he's one of them! (j/k) Anyway, we had a good time and the weather was great!!  That's what I like!  Sorry Kelly, nobody got stung by any bee's!  Maybe next time! (j/k)

How wierd is that to see an olympian you knew your whole life growing up?!?!?!?

I could hardly believe my eyes when I watched Jake play volleyball Sunday!  Was it "THE JAKE GIBB" who grew up in the same ward as me?  Was it the same Jake Gibb who's dad was our familiy's pediatrician?!?!  Without a doubt, it is the Jake Gibb I knew growing up. Leisa, do you remember him?!?!?  Between him and Kevin Eubank, who if I remember correctly, were buddies growing up, along with Jake's twin brother Coleman, who else from our ward growing up will become famous?!?  Kind of funny, and pretty cool at the same time!  GO JAKE!!!!

Bountiful's Jake Gibb finds success with beach volleyball

Posted Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:32 AM ET

Bountiful's Jake Gibbwon his first beach volleyball match of the Olympics today.

He's a home-grown product leaping up the world beach volleyball scene. Gibb did what many people would dream about doing, but maybe not have the guts to do. He bolted his hometown for the sand of Southern California several years ago, and it could turn out to be a golden decision.

KSL 5 TV

When asked, "If you were to really take him (your competitor), well, not take him out of the game, but make him less of a threat?" Gibb said, "Maybe a pipe to the leg would help." That's the glib Jake Gibb.

That day two weeks ago in Southern California changed everything. Gibb and beach volleyball partner Sean Rosenthal finally beat the world's number one team, fellow Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, for the first time in 10 meetings.

"More than anything it was just a confidence booster coming into the Olympics," he said.

Jake's competitive spirit started early. With five sisters and five brothers, including twin Coleman, it was not beach volleyball, but certainly a team of sorts. Jake's first dream was to play hoops, until he didn't make the Bountiful High School team.

"That was my love, you know, basketball. That's all I wanted to do. I tried out and I was cut, and it crushed me. It was a tough thing," he said.

After returning from his mission, Jake started tearing up the Bountiful backyard circuit.

"We had the neighbors behind us, the Rasmussens, that just hated us. The ball would bounce over the fence. We'd be hopping their fence, teasing their dog. But yeah, we played in my backyard on grass with a droopy net and garden hose for lines. That's how we started out," he explained.

Related Stories

• Utah native Gibb, teammate Rosenthal win first Olympic match

But the next big leap came when Jake and wife Jane up and left Utah to chase a career on the beaches of Southern California.

"I had this little itch, right around here, and wanted to go out and pursue this crazy beach volleyball dream," he said.

Now, he's a top medal threat in Beijing.

© Copyright 2008 by KSL 5 TV. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Rating: 4.3

Chris wins the pie eating contest!!!

Chris (left), Matt Hoch (middle), & Bishop Poulson (right) getting ready for the contest.

MMMM, gotta love lemon pie (I think that's what it was)!

Pie eating contest with the bishopbric!

So as many of you know, Chris was put in as 2nd counselor in the bishopbric for our church/ward just a couple of months ago.  Well, we went to our ward party last night and had an absolute blast!  It was held at a park in Herriman that had a water feature for the kids to play in, a playground, a volleyball pit, a pavillion, and lots of grass to run around on.  On top of all that were tons of games for the families to participate in.  Then, out of the blue came out 3 lemon pies for the pie eating contest, and who were the lucky ones to participate???  The BISHOPBRIC of course!!!  So everybody had a great laugh watching them go to town on these pies, and who won?????  MY HUSBAND THE MAJOR SWEET TOOTH!!!  That's my man!! :)  And surprisingly enough, he didn't even get sick after eating a whole pie!  Way to go babe!

Noah becomes Tarzan!

Noah wanted to join the other kids, so he climbed up onto the trampoline by himself!

LOVES TO CLIMB ON ANYTHING!!!

Very proud of himself!

So 2 nights ago, I was cleaning up dinner, and I think I ran downstairs or something for just a minute or two.  When I came back into the kitchen, I couldn't find Noah!  So I was looking around for him, and I heard the kids yell from outside, "Mommy, Noah's out here."  So I went outside to see what was going on.  Well, Isaac and Sydney were jumping on the trampoline with one of their buddies, and here is Noah on the trampoline with them, being bounced around, couldn't even stand up, and had the BIGGEST smile on his face, and was having the time of his life!  So then I asked how he got up there, and Sydney told me that he climbed up by himself!!  So, in the 1 - 2 minutes that I had left his sight, he escaped from the house, and climbed up on the trampoline.  That is just an example of how fast he can disappear!  He just LOVES to play with Isaac and Sydney, and wherever they go, he goes!  Noah has always been my determined kid, and if he wants it, he will do everything in his power to do it!  He's our little TARZAN!!!  He's always climbing around on something!

Children's Discovery at Gateway (or whatever it's called) - The Children's Museum

Isaac LOVES cash registers!

Sydney driving Noah

Isaac driving the helicopter - Sydney's sitting in back

Grandma helping Sydney with some machine (or whatever it was), but either way, they were having fun doing it together.

Noah playing in the water!

So my parents had a summer sleep over with all the grandkids on Sunday night.  How awesome was that?!?  My kids thought it was the coolest thing!!!  They have never slept over at Grandma and Grandpa's without me there, and having me, Chris, and Noah go home was the icing on the cake for them!  They talked a steady stream about that all week long!  Thanks Mom & Dad!....So then on Monday, I took the kids to the new Discovery Children's thingamajig or whatever the crap it's called on with my mom and her scouts.  It was fun but man, they RIP YOU OFF!!!!  I was really mad that I had to pay $8.50 for my 18 month old who screamed almost the whole time we were there, and was only interested in playing with the water.  They should make kids under 2 FREE!!  There is only so much there that an 18 month old can do, so why should we have to pay full price?!?!?  And, on top of that, why should adults have to pay at all when we just sit around and watch the kids?  We don't play with anything!  What a RIP OFF!! Isaac and Sydney did have a blast there and didn't want to leave, and I can understand paying $8.50 for them, but with Noah, what a waste of money!!  Next time, I'm leaving him with a babysitter!!!!!!