i am so looking forward to that wonderful weekend. It is better than Christmas, better and New Years, better than the 4th of July. Wait a minute I get paid for those holidays. So I guess I can call this blessings

Cabin again....

We went to the cabin again over Labor Day for a relaxing weekend and ended up getting sick with the flu instead. It was a fun time even though we all shared the bathroom a little too much! I didn't take too many pictures though. Here's a picture of Hayden and his friend Patrick hanging out in front of the gold dredge.

We stopped at the fish hatchery and Maddie loved looking at the salmon! She got so excited every time she saw one.

Grandma and Grandpa played Chinese Checkers with the kids and learned that kids like to cheat while playing games!

We rented a paddle boat at Red Fish Lake and the kids had a blast!!

Bradley Family Reunion

We had our Bradley family reunion a few weeks ago. The theme was "The Amazing Race!" It was a lot of fun! We were divided into eight teams and did several different competitions throughout the day. It was lots of fun! Colton was on the red team. He had changed into different clothes by this time of the day. We were having a water relay with sponges and buckets.

Paul was on the brown team and I was on the blue team (the winners!!!!).

Hayden was in charge of the camara for the yellow team. He loves to take pictures!

I just had to include this one cause I thought it was so cute! My dad was on the orange team and participated until the end! He won the sportsmanship award I think!

Here is a group photo of most of the family. We were only missing about ten people that day so it was well attended! We had a great time!!!!

Cabin 2009

We spent a little over a week at Paul's parent's cabin in Idaho about a month ago. The cabin in halfway between Challis and Stanley. It is the most relaxing and peaceful place in the world! And, it's absolutely beautiful! We did lots of fun things and had a great time. The following pictures are just a sample of our amazing week! We went to the fish hatchery in Stanley. We were there during the salmon run so it was incredible! I was salivating just watching the salmon come in!!! It was really very fascinating and incredible to see the salmon swim upstream. They were HUGE! This picture is actually of one of the employees taking the trout out of the hatchery to take them to the river.

We went to Red Fish lake and rented a couple of paddle boats for an hour. It was really fun but hard on the calf muscles!

Our cabin is on the other side of the river and the road in to the cabin is not a great one. So we parked our cars on the highway and took the trolley car across most of the time. The kids loved it!

We stopped at EBR1 in Arco to see the museam for the first nuclear power plant. It was an interesting tour.

This is the Salmon River in the backyard of the cabin! We saw many floaters going down the river during the week but I didn't have the camara out.

We played games during our down time. Here is a picture of some of the crew having a great time!

We went to Custer one day and toured the ghost town. We actually didn't see much of the ghost town because almost everyone became fascinated with panning for gold. Some of the boys got gold fever and spent most of the week panning!

We got a flat tire at the gold dredge. Paul had to get a little dirty to take care of it.

We went swimming at a natural hot spring pool in Challis. The water was being cooled down by an inlet of cold water so it was only 98 degrees the day we were there. It was a little too warm for me but it was fun. I think we would have enjoyed it a little more if we had gone later afternoon! Here, Colton was preparing to dive for a ball coming his way!

One night, the guys all started wrestling so Paul got down with them and showed his stuff.

It was a great trip and we can't wait to go back! That is the way to vacation! Thanks to the Oswalds and the Browns for the great memories!!!!

Airshow

We went to the airshow at Hill Air Force Base last week and had a great time. The Oswalds invited us to go with them so we left early that morning and looked around at all of the exhibits during the morning. They started the airshow with the model planes showing off. It was fun to watch them. Throughout the day, there were several different planes/pilots showing off. It was fun to watch their tricks and admire their courage. The sun was hiding behind the clouds part of the day but it was bright enough that it hurt my eyes. I was filming it all so sometimes, I didn't do a great job since I couldn't see. These are definitely NOT professional videos. We had a great time though. The Thunderbirds came out in the afternoon and showed off quite a bit. In the last video, you can't really tell what happened. I was standing on our cooler so I could get a better shot and I was filming 4 of the Thunderbirds. One of them came out of nowhere and did a fly-by and scared the crap out me! I fell off the cooler and didn't get a very good shot of what happened. It was pretty funny.

Our friends, the Oswalds.

Just Because It's Tuesday....

So, last week was not a fun one for me. Tuesday was an especially hard day so when I got to the office that afternoon, my sweet husband dropped by with a beautiful vase full of daisies. The card said, "Just because it's Tuesday...." I, of course, started crying and everyone was jealous! (Well, maybe not jealous but I like to believe they were.) Just another sign that I have the most thoughtful husband in the world! He takes good care of me!

Memorial Day Camping Weekend in the rain

After meeting my parents in Chesterfield, we went swimming at Riverdale and then they went camping up Green Canyon in Logan. We went home to sleep in our warm, dry beds and joined the rest of the family later. Dad, Larry, Tyson and Kenadee relaxed around the campfire after a fun day of 4-wheeling.

Mom was playful as always, flipping her bandana at me in her cute hat!

Tyson fell asleep during his trip on the 4-wheeler.

One of the few times I saw my mom sitting down. She never stops!

Darren, Tina, Deverie and Logan made the trip down from Idaho to join in on the fun. It was fun to visit with them.

Hayden, Colton and few of my nephews went hiking up the mountain. They found a great way of getting down quickly after climbing for quite awhile!

While we were there, my family played Sardines. It was so much fun for everyone, including the little ones. At one point in the game, I had my nephew with me. During part of the game, he was riding on my shoulders and said to me, "Lisa, I think I see a grey hair." I was shocked! I know I have had one grey hair on my head but I usually keep it pulled. He's only two and probably doesn't even know what that means but my neice was within hearing distance and started laughing pretty hard. It was a fun time. Here is a video of us looking for Larry. Tyson was making the funniest noises to call out to him.

Chesterfield

My mom grew up in a small town in southeast Idaho in the middle of nowhere! She and my dad always make the rounds on Memorial Day weekend to visit the graves so we joined them in Chesterfield. My dad brought his tools to clean up the graves a little bit.

Colton found a friend that he had a hard time leaving behind when we left. They played for about an hour and had a great time.

My great-great-grandparents donated the cemetary property. It is a fun little town. Not many people live there but they have restored some homes and some of the community buildings. I love to visit and take the tours around town. I feel like it's my home away from home.

They are in the process of restoring my great-great-grandparents home right now. When we visited two years ago, it was a pile of wood and rocks. With a lot of hard work, it is looking great! They are working on the inside now. My mom posed by the front door!

Here is what it looks like today. I'm sure by the end of the summer, it will be nearly finished. What an amazing place!

Drumline State Competition

Well, a long time ago I talked about Cameron's drumline competitions. On General Conference weekend, they had their state competition. It was down at Davis High School and they had been back and forth with Davis in first and second place all season long. This was their last competition and they changed things up a little. It proved to go in their favor cause they took first at State! Good Job MC Drumline!

"Busy Bees"

Now that the weather is warm, we are always out in the yard working on projects. We have A LOT of projects! Our niece came over a while back and spent all day Saturday helping us in our yard! She was a trooper! She wanted to run the tiller so Paul showed her how to use it and she went to town! She kept going until her arms about fell off! Paul asked her if she wanted a break and she said no. We accomplished a lot that day thanks to her!

We have had "the pit of despair" in our backyard for about a year now. We wanted to bury the trampoline because we have winds that come through our yard that could send it to California! Hayden started digging "the pit of despair" early last summer and had a little help from Colton. He made great progress until he hit straight rock and then the pit didn't go anywhere for the rest of the summer. It sat through the winter and Paul really wanted to get the trampoline in so we could finish the grass. Hayden really wanted to earn some money so he tackled the pit again. Last Saturday, Hayden finished the pit! We put the trampoline in and wrapped it with plywood and backfilled the hole.

It is looking great but it was a lot of work. Hayden really earned his money on that one!

After we got the trampoline in the ground, we went to my sister's house to check out her latest project. They have become beekeepers and Colton has become interested in it too. Ryan was taking the lid off the hive that day so we went over to watch. It was fascinating!

Ryan spent quite a bit of time teaching the boys about worker bees, drones, queen bees and honey. Colton even got to taste it. It was quite interesting!

Patriotism

I LOVE our country and I love hearing our National Anthem! It is even better when it is sung by someone you love! I almost always cry when I stand there with my hand on my heart and think of all of the people who have died so that I can have freedom in our beautiful country. I really am a bawl baby! Well, Paul and Hayden were asked to sing the national anthem a couple of months ago at a dance competition and I didn't have my camera with me. I was so sad. They blended really well together and sounded so good. (We also went to the City of Rocks in southeast Idaho on that same trip and I didn't have my camera so I don't have any pictures to share, but it was amazing!) So anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Hayden was asked to sing the National Anthem for the awards assembly at school. He did a great job!

Hayden's Latest

Hayden performed during a break of Mr. Freshman MC a couple of weeks ago. He sang "The Love of My Life" by Jim Brickman. You can't really see him in the video but can hear most of his song. The girls loved it!

Drumline

This is the video from Winter Drumline at Mountain Crest. It was almost a month ago but I haven't had time to get it on here. Life is just crazy!!!! Oh well. They have had a competition since then but we were gone to a wedding so we couldn't make it. Their last competition is this weekend. Will they take State? I hope so! Good luck Cameron! We are proud of you. (Cameron is the one in the blue shirt that starts in the upper left corner.)

Are we farmers or are we crazy????

Last year when egg prices started getting so high, I used to joke about buying chickens so I wouldn't have to buy eggs. Well, some of our neighbors bought chickens last spring and we started toying with the idea. I don't know how serious we were, but it stayed in the back of our minds. Well, last fall, Paul and Hayden started building a chicken coop. It's not all the way finished but it's almost done. It just needs the door and eventually a chicken run. So, last week we became the parents of eight little baby chicks. They really are adorable and it is kind of fun to watch them!

Life Update

So life has been way too busy to keep up with the blog so here is an attempt. Cameron has been competing in Winter Drumline competitions and they have placed first at both of their competitions so far. They have a great team and have done well. Their competition is improving though so I hope they can keep it up. I forgot my camera the first week so I was very disappointed. Last week, I remembered my camera, checked the battery and then 1/3 of the way through the performance, I remembered that I had taken my memory stick out of the camera to process some pictures so I didn't have enough memory for the whole thing! That is my life!!!! So, here is a small portion of Saturday's competition. I WILL remember to get everything in order next time!!!!

Hayden made omelets and strawberry smoothies for us for breakfast a couple of weeks ago. They were delicious!!!

Colton moved in with us a couple of weeks ago. It has been fun to have him around more often. We do a paper route together every morning during the winter. He does it alone when the weather is better. Here he is eating breakfast this morning! (Paul was trying to figure out how to record a video.)

Hayden performed in a talent show at school today. He did an amazing job!

So that is a small summary of the happenings at the Page house the past couple of weeks. I will be better and try to update more often!

Life Thoughts...

In my book that I'm reading, she quotes John Wayne: "Life is tough. But it's tougher when you're stupid." She then goes on to talk about integrity and how it's much more than just being honest. She says, "Integrity is the foundational virtue upon which all other virtues are dependant. It is the first rung on the character ladder. Where there is integrity, other virtues will follow. Where there is no integrity, other virtues have no chance of developing." (Sheri Dew, No One Can Take Your Place, pg.119) It's a great chapter and it really makes you think, just like the other ones. But I really liked the first quote. I think I might put in on my wall in vinyl! I hope I can get through life without being stupid!

Faith, Again....

Little did I know that when I wrote that last post, my faith would be tested again. I guess Satan really knows how to try my faith. I am a firm believer that when we vocalize our goals, Satan knows them and works twice as hard to thwart our plans. Life has been really good for Paul and me, physically, spiritually, mentally, etc. As soon as we discussed our goals last week, I felt good about them and knew that they were the goals that Heavenly Father wanted me to work on. We discussed ways to accomplish them and even felt like they might be reachable. Well, today I am doubting again and I wonder how my goals can be reached. I know that Heavenly Father can help me reach them, but I don't know how they can come to pass. I guess that's where the faith comes in. Do I have any? I hope so..............I guess we'll see.

Faith

The Bradley family has had a lot of health issues and many family fasts during the past three months. It has made me wonder about how much faith I have. Thankfully, everyone has been very blessed so far and I have learned a lot about fasting. I am reading Sheri Dew's book, "No One Can Take Your Place" right now and I have learned a lot about faith. It has made me think about a lot of things. The book says, "Challenges that tax our faith are usually opportunities to stretch and strengthen our faith by finding out if we really believe the Lord will help us. If your faith is wobbly, if you're not sure the Lord will come to your aid, experiment, put Him to the test....Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to repent, or turn away from sins that hold us spiritually captive, and to obey with exactness....Undoubtedly, every one of us has sins he or she needs to give away. An important question, then, is: What favorite sins, large or small, are you willing to give away--right now, today--in order to increase your access to the power of God?" This small portion of this book has been the source of many conversations/discussions in our home this past week. We have been discussing our favorite sins and what we are willing to give up to increase the power of God in our lives. We have come up with some great ideas and are putting them to the test! My faith has definitely been a little stronger lately and I am trying to be more humble. This book has been sitting on my shelf for a few years and I think I was inspired to pick it up at the right time of my life. I have learned so much! It has made me think about my attitude and make some needed changes. I have learned more at during my temple attendance, during church and during my personal scripture study. What a blessing!

I really don't add to this to much but I feel that I need to today. Things are starting to look up already for this new year and I am looking forward to it. I got a new job starting tonight. I will be working graves but it will be for the best for me and my family. For the first time in along time I feel like things are going in the right direction. For those of you that have kept us in your prayers thank you. I have felt the difference. I don't have alot to say but that is what I am feeling right now. I love my wife and our sons so much.

Random Holiday Pictures

Playing a really fun game with friends on New Year's Eve....

Cute face, huh? New Year's Eve party....

Paul was building a "sky scraper" and it went the way of the dodo.

My niece Ashley with Santa on Christmas Eve.

Kymberly with Santa.

Halle was being very brave on Santa's lap.

Emily with Santa.

A blurry picture of my mom with her newest granddaughter, Kenadee Marie Bradley.

Hayden made a "bench" outside our front door with lots of snow and painted a welcome sign for our open house.

My cute dad!

My nephew Tyson with his Big Blue hat and dragon shield!

My nephew KJ asking Santa for a special treat! The background....Jeri, my sister-in-law, asked us what we wanted for Christmas. For any of you who know my husband, he immediately responded with "a little red number with a slit up the side...." Well, Jeri set out to find us the perfect "little red number" and found a "Mrs. Clause nightie." I could tell something was up when everyone was watching me open this present with extra interest! Anyway, when Santa showed up, KJ was dared to ask Santa for something that "would fit in this." Santa's face matched his suit for a minute and had a great comeback....he responded with "I don't know if you would know what to do with it if you got it!" We all had a great laugh...It was a fun night!

Cheyenne preparing to be Cindy Lou from "The Grinch"

A tradition at many past Bradley family Christmas parties was to sing along with the Disney Christmas Sing Along video. It has been a fun part of Christmas Eve for probably 20 years or so. This is a portion of Rudolf.....with several of my nieces and nephews singing....Some of them act like they don't like their pictures taken!