Birthday Girls!

Graci and Jesi had important birthdays last week.  Graci turned 18 and Jessica joined the ranks of the teenagers in our family (6 teens for now!!!).  They both got breakfast in bead and had some time with mom and dad.  On Graci's birthday (Aug. 4), they got to go see The BFG along with Xander and Cali.  On Jesi's birthday, Christi and I took the two of them to Thanksgiving Point to walk through the unbelievable beautiful gardens and have lunch.  Jessica wrapped up Saturday night with a birthday party.  (Way to go, Christi!  You're always so great at putting these together.)

These two girls are so fantastic!  Graci is such an amazing young woman with a beautiful testimony of the Gospel and love for her Savior.  She is a tremendous example to all of us as she strives to choose the right and is constantly serving her family.  Graci is patient and obedient.  She works hard in school and has received several academic awards, including an award for being "Courageous."  She looks after her younger siblings, sometimes when she's asked to and often even when she's not.  Christi and I don't know what we're going to do when our Grace graduates high school and begins to spread her wings.  Love you, Graci!!!

Jessica has had me wrapped around her little finger since she was an infant.  She is so fun to be with.  Her shy smile can sometimes be challenging to tease out of her, but it lights up a room when it comes.  She is a good student, conscientious in her work and striving to do her best.  She loves the young women program at church and has many good friends there.  Jesi makes really deep friendships.  One of her very best friends moved across the country a couple of years ago, and Jesi flew all by herself to Detroit last month to visit her!  For years we've kind of divided our kids into the "bigs" (Taylor, Parker, Graci, Cali, Conner) and the "littles" (Xander, Lexi, Elli and Sophi).  Being right in the middle, Jesi has the luxury of slipping into either group, depending on who is going to have the most fun that day:).  We're so excited to see Jesi growing up and blossoming into such a lovely young woman.  Love you, Jessica!!!

Dad

High Adventure

Summer!  So much fun!  So many activities!!!  It seems like things are non-stop around here during the summer:).  I guess things are non-stop around here pretty much year round.  But with church camps, visually impaired camps, sports camps, family reunions and other camping trips, we didn't haven't had too many nights since school let out when all 12 of us slept under the same roof.

Monday through Wednesday of last week was High Adventure for Taylor, Parker and Conner.  I was able to accompany them again, as was my brother, Tyler.  What a great trip!!!  We left Monday morning about 6:30am and drove up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to the Boy Scouts of America Grand Teton High Adventure Base.  We got back home about midnight on Wednesday.  In between we did a high cope course, a low cope course, shotgun shooting, whitewater rafting and a hike and swim in Grand Teton national park.  We saw five moose, including two babies.  We saw the mother moose chase off another moose in a scene that you could have watched on a nature show.  We ate well, we were spiritually uplifted around a campfire, and we learned two fantastic new games:  Kubb and Gaga Ball.

One of the predominant themes of the week was how impressed everyone was with Conner's willingness, courage and ability to complete everything that everyone else did.  Despite being blind, Conner conquered the giant's ladder and the rest of the high cope course, got over, through and around the obstacles in the low cope course and even hit three of the clay pigeons (with some help from uncle Tyler) with a shotgun.  Everyone at camp was so inspired by him.  The kids in our own group, kids in other groups and adults and leaders throughout camp were amazed by his accomplishments.  Way to go, Conner.

It is such a blessing to be a dad!  I love all of my kids so much.  It was so fun (and exhausting!!!) to spend this time with Taylor, Parker and Conner.  I love these opportunities to develop stronger relationships with my children.  I am a lucky man.  Thanks to Christi for letting me attend activities like these.  And thanks to LaRita (Christi's mom) for coming and helping while I was gone!

Jer

Conner navigates the giant's ladder and other high elements:

Moose at moose pond in Grand Teton National Park (notice the two babies in the background):

Going for a swim in some refreshingly cool water:

Trying to get across an "acid river" using a limited number of moveable lily pads.  Once we were all stretched across, Conner walked over on our feet:

Me, trying to get across about 10 tire swings without touching the ground.  I was proud that I made it half way:)

Taylor made it all the way across without much of a problem, so he decided to add a new level of difficulty!

Parker gets pretty intense when he plays Kubb:

At the shotgun range:

Here is some video.  Note how tightly Conner clings to Uncle Tyler's neck as they swing across the "river," how nice it is to have a 6'5" son to be the last one to go over the wall, and look in the upper right hand corner for the very small clay pigeons that Conner blasts to bits:).

This is Conner ascending the Giant's ladder.  I edited down quite a bit, but still left it a bit longer than usual videos to give you a sense of the challenge this was for Conner.  The best part is at about 1:30 when I offer him the chance to quit and come back down.  He responds, "I believe I can do it."  Simple, inspiring, Conner!

The Essence of Sophi

A few months ago we were contacted by a production company in London about doing a little YouTube video on Sophi. (This is not the reason we were in London-- that was for something else.) We had a videographer come spend the day with her-- they just released the video tonight. I think they did a great job capturing the essence of Sophi. 💜<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DpNlvQLgsAc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Here is the full link with photos:

Sophi on Barcroft TV


Enjoy:)

Another Hike:)

Yesterday our five oldest kids went to youth conference for the weekend.  They had to be at the church by 5 am.  Since I was getting up with them anyway, I thought it would be a great day for an early morning hike.  Xander wanted to come along again, so I had a buddy for my trip:).  We hiked to the top of Butterfield Peaks, just to the west of Herriman.  Beautiful views all along the 4.5 mile round trip.  We climbed 1600 feet in elevation.  I love the smells and sounds and sights when I'm able to get into the mountains.  We are lucky to live so close to so many beautiful places!

Fun With Dad!

For Father's Day, the family got me the game Pieface.  It takes pretty much zero strategy.  All you need is the guts to take your turn.  We had lots of fun playing:)

You never know which twist of the handle will make you end up with...

Pie in your face!!!

The next day I had to go on an overnight work trip down to Cedar City.  I stop and make sales calls along the way and then stay in a hotel.  The kids love to come on these trips, in spite of the time spent in the car.  They patiently wait while I'm in each office, anticipating the payoff of a night in a hotel, dinner at a restaurant, swimming in the pool, and usually a movie.  This time I had 5 companions: Taylor, Cali, Xander, Conner and Sophi.  We had a great trip.  Ate at Chili's.  Went swimming. Watched Finding Dory.  It makes me happy that my older kids still enjoy hanging out with me:)

Before we left, Christi's parents happened to be at our home and gave each of our kids a little spending money for the trip.  Sophi put her money in a small purse she has and was very careful with it.  Despite her caution, at one point she couldn't find the purse.  She started looking frantically around and asking everyone if they knew where it was.  From the driver's seat I asked her what she was looking for.  "My money!!!" she replied.  She kept up her desperate search.  All of the sudden Taylor starts singing the pop song: "It's not about the money, money, money."  Sophi cut him off with a scathing:  "DUDE!  It IS about the money!!!"  Fortunately we found her purse soon.  At least we know where her priorities are:)

Dinner at Chili's

Taylor was pretty stoked about his triple appetizer dinner!

Daddy Date with Sophi and Lexi

This weekend was Fort Herriman days.  The younger kids went with Christi and me to watch the parade in the morning.  Small town parades are great.  Mostly politicians and businesses advertising, with three or four floats and one or two bands.  Fortunately, the politicians and businesses have lots of candy to throw out to the kids.  Any day when you come home with a bag full of taffy and tootsie rolls is a great day for a kid, right?

Later in the day, I walked down with Sophi and Lexi.  We enjoyed some fantastic smoked chicken, walked through lots of vendors' booths and rode on the carousel:

Probably the highlight was the reptile booth.  They got to pet some snakes and lizards and got to see a real live alligator!  Pretty cool:)

-Jer

First Hike of the Season

About a week ago, Xander and I hiked up to beautiful Lake Blanch.  It was a new experience for him- the most challenging hike he's ever attempted.  Almost 8 miles round trip with 2700 feet of elevation gain.  It was difficult, but I was very proud of him.  We made it to the top and enjoyed spectacular views of Salt Lake Valley, Lake Blanch, Lake Florence and Lake Lillian.  The backdrop to lake blanch is Sundial Peak, which you can see in one of the pictures below.  Way to go, X-man!!!

Sundial Peak in the background

Happy Father's Day!

Conner is a funny kid.  He continues to pick up more and more American expressions.  Today I was helping him tie his tie and he said to me, "You will have a great Father's day today.  Mom makes good plans for you."  I replied, "I have a great wife, don't I?"  Conner:  "Oh my heaven, yes!  You have a so cool wife!  I don't know how you find it, but you so lucky!"

I am lucky!  Thanks, Christi, for being a so cool wife:)

-Jer

Grateful

I'm sitting in the very back of the overflow section of our chapel. Elli is draped all over me but is manageable since Graci packed food in the diaper bag. It was a pleasure to listen to Taylor blessing the sacrament a few minutes ago. After the sacrament was passed, Parker, who was serving as an usher, came back to sit with us. The very back row was full with Jesi, Graci, Sophi, Conner, Cali, and Xander, so Christi was sitting one row forward all by herself. Parker, a 15-year-old boy, could have chosen any of the 5 empty seats in that row, but he chose to sit right next to his mom. Now all 10 kids are sitting back here with us, helping us fill up these last two rows. I couldn't be much more grateful on this Father's Day.

Jeremy 

Hello Summer!

This past Friday was the last day of school.  The kids are excited to be done and are looking forward to lots of fun adventures in the good weather.  Christi and I thought that with the lack of homework, concerts, sports teams, parent-teacher conferences, periodic grade reviews with the kids, early morning scriptures, getting 10 kids out the door with lunches in hand, and calls from frantic children who forgot this or that, our lives would be a little less hectic.  We could set the alarm clock a little later.  No pressure to get people places at any given time.  Yeah, right!

Here are some of the things we've been involved in during the first two days of summer break:

-Lexi is attending a braille day camp for two weeks (30 minutes there and back each morning and afternoon.)

-Xander has soccer camp at the high school two hours each day.

-Taylor and Parker have basketball camp at the high school two and a half hours each day.

-Graci had a routine but significant surgery that required a full day a Primary Children's Hospital.

-Taylor and Parker have started a lawn aeration and fertilizer business which required help from me in purchasing a used aerator and a few other miscellaneous items.

-I had a dentist appointment.

-Family Home Evening

-Christi had two doctors appointments (everything is fine:).

-Lexi and I attended a fun daddy-daughter date at church.

This, of course, is on top of breakfast, lunch and dinner for 12 people (two of whom are currently doing the Whole30 diet, making meal prep that much more challenging), working full time, managing the nearly constant barrage of requests and needs from our wonderful kids and of course making sure that Elli is getting the attention and supervision she requires.

In other words, WE'RE EXHAUSTED!

Fortunately, we really are enjoying the chaos.  We're getting to see more of our kids than we do during the school year, and that is truly a pleasure.  It's fun to watch them grow up and to see them become more independent.  It's also so fun to see their personalities develop.  They really are a fun group to hang out with.  And things will slow down somewhat.  We just started vacation with a bang;).

Happy Summer!!!

-Jeremy