EnDuRoCrOsS

This was our first year going to the Endurocross they have here in Nephi. We heard great things about last years show so we were looking forward to seeing it for ourselves! The firefighters and their families got to watch it free of charge since the Fire Dept. was lighing off fireworks, so that made it even better!

Prepping the finale!

It ended up being pretty entertaining! I can't believe the hard work and effort that it takes for these people to even make it through the course! They all did a great job and are much stronger than I am.

We got to hang out with this cute couple the whole time so that made the night even more enjoyable! Love these two! They are seriously some of the greatest/strongest people I know!

As I mention ALL THE TIME, I love this handsome man to infinity and beyond!

When the sun started to set there was a random huge swarm of birds flying around near by. Odd, so I took a couple pictures!

Although it was entertaining to watch, it was a very long event. It started at 7 and didn't end until around 11.

When we got home and got ready for bed, I came in the bedroom from my nightly routine to find that Marcel was already asleep and Toby "burried" his Denta-Bone right next to him! What a silly dog!

Love my two crazies! :)

Bee-Do......

This is how Marcel spent his afternoon....!

Fire destroys 3 vacant homes in downtown Salt Lake

By Alex Cabrero

June 27th, 2013

SALT LAKE CITY — A triple house fire in downtown Salt Lake City Thursday caused quite a spectacle and left a lot of damage behind. 

The fire, near 400 West and 900 south, started at about 3:30 p.m. in a group of uninhabited homes. Flames could be seen shooting from the rooftops and smoke was visible for miles.

A second alarm was called on the fire so that crews would have a chance to swap out and relieve one another in the extreme heat.

"It's always difficult to fight fires in this type of weather. Our firefighters are hot, (but) they've done a great job," said Jasen Asay, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Fire Department.

"This is when it's important that we take rehab into careful consideration when we rotate our firefighters: don't have firefighters too close to the fire for too long, make sure that they get rehab to sit in the shade, that they're hydrated," Asay said.

No one was injured in the fire, and crews had it extinguished within an hour and a half. Witnesses told investigators the fire started in the northernmost house, then spread to the other two.

The cause of the fire was under investigation and no damage estimate was available Thursday. The homes were scheduled to be demolished, Asay said.

Ironically, the burned trio of homes was used by firefighters as a training ground just last April.

I'm not 100% sure if that's him in that picture but it could be! I'm so glad that everyone was safe and that these houses weren't anyone's "homes". I'm also so glad that there are men and women willing to risk their lives to protect the property and lives of others.

I love my

Firefighter!!!

EeeeWww!!!

 "IIIIIIIIIIIIIII Looked in the shower and what did I see,"

{queue the Primary song of "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and you'll see what I did there!}

Ew sick is right!! I know you were thinking it if you didn't, in fact, just say it out loud. This creepy-crawly was in our tub, just crawling around with it's yucky bagillion little legs like it owned the joint. 

Bleck!!!

But don't you worry your little hearts. I pulled up my big girl pants, grabbed a huge wad of some toilet paper, and flushed that bugger down the porcelain throne!

Just call me "Jen the Centipede Slayer"! ;)

Fish out of water!

I got a call from Marcel right before lunch and he was all sorts of excited!

"The fish are biting a ton today! Come home and we'll hurry up the canyon so you can cast a few!"

This has happened before mind you, and we hustled back up, and I didn't catch anything. So I was hopeful but not expecting much.

To my great surprise, they were biting like crazy! Literally every cast (if not every other) I got a bite and reeled in a fish! It was the funnest time I've ever had fishing, and the most successful!

We released quite a few of course but did keep some between the two of us!

After helping Marcel clean the fish (and by "helping" I mean that I held the freezer bag for him to put the fish into when he was finished cleaning them!) and shoveling down some Reeses Puffs for lunch, I headed back to work. Marcel's long time pal stopped by for a visit while I was home and after I left these two headed up the loop for a relaxing ride!

Thanks hun for the great time and for letting me hog the fishing pole!

Have I mentioned how much I love that man?! Oh I have? Well okay then........! ;)

I found this quote and love it because it's so true. Even if you're only gone for a half hour!

I know I've said it before but I'm so grateful that we live so close to the mountains and can sneak away to make memories like these!

**Father's Day**

This morning Toby and I headed to Moroni (Marcel had to work) and went to Sacrament with my family (well, I did, Toby stayed at the house.....obviously...!) because Austen had to speak! He was asked to talk about his experience with the Youth Conference trip they just went on. He did such a great job and had the entire congregation laughing! As he was up there doing his thing I was just looking at him and it hit me how much he's grown, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. He is such an amazing kid and is growing into an even more amazing man!

After church we went back to my parents house. While we waited for my mom to come home (she was in charge of Sharing Time with the Primary today) the rest of us relaxed and listened to Jes play the piano (have I mentioned how ridiculously talented she is?! Oh I have? Well alright then, you know what I'm saying!)!

While she was playing we had some I had some fun with pictures!

When my mom got home she shared some family history that she recently discovered. It turns out that a lot of our ancestors came from Germany (among many other places such as France, Ireland, etc.) and the last name "Braun" is in there. You have to go back 5 or 6 generations but it's there! This made my mom laugh because I have said since I married Marcel that I chose a man from Germany just to be sure we weren't related (my Grandma W. was always telling me everyone we were related to when I was growing up)! So that kind of put a damper on that! I'm finding comfort in knowing that "Braun" is a very common last name in Germany so there is a huge possibility that we are just fine but..........dang!! Haha!

After a few rounds of Nerts (we are a bit obsessed with this card game!) we headed to my Westenskow Grandparents house for a BBQ!

Everything was delicious and it was fun visiting them for a while!

I had a great day with my family, as I always do when we get together! I love them all so much and I honestly don't know what I'd do without them! We really missed Marcel though. Hopefully next year he won't be working (and hopefully we can celebrate it a little differently....!).

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I love you so much and am so thankful for the example you have set for us and for all the hard work and sacrifices you've made for us throughout our life! You are seriously the greatest!!!

Look who turned 22!

We started off the day by taking a little hike. Toby even came along and he really enjoyed the change of scenory!

Okay so it's not really a bear. It was just a stump but it did make our hearts stop for a bit when we first saw it!

After we got back from our hike we headed to Moroni to celebrate Jes's 22nd Birthday (which was yesterday but we had our SLCF event, and she was awesome and was okay with us coming a day later!)!!

I know I'm not much older than her but she's always been and always will be my little sister so it's just weird to me how grown up she is (me too I guess but I don't really think about that!)!
I love you so much Jes! Thanks for being such an amazing sister! You really are the best!

Oh and,
HaPpY BiRtHdAy!!! :)

BuzzzZZZzzz

Today was the annual SLCF Bee's Game! We waited FOR-EV-ER for our friends to show up ( ;) only teasing, we love you guys!), then took a nice walk a couple blocks down to Sonic for some dinner! Along the way we saw some strange things, but the most strange was this dog on the roof!!

Yeah, I don't know either....anyway, our food was tasty! That was mine and Marcel's first time ever eating at a Sonic together because of his hatred bad feelings towards this place! Many MANY years ago he had a bad experience with a misleading advertisement that involved a $1 banana split and he just hasn't forgiven them for it.....*sigh*!

After we finished eating we headed back to the game (after stopping to get some "Spits" as Andrew called them........that is code for sunflower seeds!) and got settled into our seats. They were doing something with mustaches, seriously, there were fake and real mustaches EV-ERY WHERE!! Our favorite by far was this guys.....

And believe it or not, it's a real one!

We ended up cutting out early this year........again.......because Toby had been inside for a while and we had a long drive home. We had a great time though and love spending time with this cute family!

(Seriously isn't their baby girl so stinkin' cute?! She is!)

Good times!

SpLiSh SpLaSh!!

Today we got to spend quite a bit of time with this little cutie!

Pascal had some work to do on their house so Berlin got to come play with us! As soon as I got home from work we headed straight to the Splash Pad! This girl is a little water baby!

I wish we could've got more pictures because she was being so silly! She thinks she can float on her back (maybe she can, I didn't dare let go of her enough to see!) so she would squeeze her eyes shut, lay her head back, stiffen her legs, and point her cute little toes then just "float" there! She also LOVED the little slide! She was hesitant the first couple times but once she got the hang of it she almost didn't need our help at all! She was all smiles the whole time! The wind was blowing and it started to get chilly so we decided it was time to go. When Marcel asked Berlin if we should go (the poor girl was shivering!) she would scream "NO!" and start running for the little slide!

After some convincing, we headed home to get warm!

We had some dinner,

(She would take a sip of water through her straw and look up at us all mischevious then stand up with this huge squinty eye cheeser!! The harder you laugh the longer she holds this smile! She seriously has the cutest personality!!)

Played some games,

And had an all around good time! 

She played really hard while she was with us so she slept pretty good that night when they left!

Can't wait until our next play date! 

Ummmm....

Is it just me, or does this pepper closely resemble a human ear.....YuCk!!

And yes, I cut it up and ate it with my salad anyway! Seemed a bit grotesque given it's appearance....! 

Bike Ridin'

Today we went for an aweful wonderful bike ride! Marcel was teaching me how to use my gears and I would say that I failed miserably did alright! It kicked my booty but it was fun! We did a little road riding after the hard stuff and I did enjoy the downhill part of that! :)

Love our random outdoor adventures!

"When I am Baptized"

"Do you remember the feeling you had when you were baptized — that sweet, clean feeling of a pure soul, having been forgiven, washed clean through the merits of the Savior? If we partake of the sacrament worthily, we can feel that way regularly, for we renew that covenant, which includes his forgiveness."  — John H. Groberg, "The Beauty and Importance of the Sacrament," Ensign, May 1989, p. 38

Today we were able to be part of my beautiful cousin Viktoria's big day!

 She is such a sweet girl and has a kind and loving heart. She made the big decision to be baptised! We are so proud of her and so happy for the choices she is making! She is setting such a great example for her two younger sisters!

Love this pretty girl!!

It was also nice to have our Grandma Great (yes we say it that way!) there to share this day. We love her so much too!

 It was a beautiful day, a few great talks were given (my mom's in particular!), yummy food, and a wonderful time together as family!

On a sillier note, we saw this beast on the freeway on our way home! Um....yeah.....!