AZ Fun

We are headed to Arizona this fine Labor Day weekend.  We have rotated between Lake Powell and Arizona the past few years, and today we passed the Lake and continued onto the desert to spend the weekend out extended family.  

Bye Lake Powell 

Hello Saybria and cousins 😊

We got to just visit

swim

shoot baskets from the pool

take turns holding Kenzie

and find out who the really master of Yahtzee is!  

Ally was quite shocked to learn it wasn't her

Sunny Decals Hits 2 WEEKS

Today we hit the 2 week mark of Sunny Decals being up and running here in Utah.  Oh, what a loooooong 2 weeks it has been.  There is sooooo much to do and only so many hours in a day.  

Having Kayla, Allie and Maddie all working here now will make a HUGE difference in the day-to- day operations.  The Orders never stop.  Amazon never sleeps (and some nights we don't either) but we can see that having great employees who can Print, Cut, Weed, Package, & Ship is going to give us a chance to catch our breaths and focus on some of the other aspects of the business.

The Three Musketeers working away

VersaWorks - Our very favorite Software Program

Delivery Day - we're going through over 1,000 tubes a week, so keeping them in stock has been a challenge.

Stacks and stacks of decals waiting for weeding or packaging

  

These Girls (all soon to be Sister Missionaries) are the BEST!  

They are loyal, hard working, and love to tell us 'they would take a bullet for Sunny Decals'

Kenneth Cope

We got the whole family together tonight at the Scera Shell to enjoy the music of probably my 'all time favorite' artist.  

My fav - Mr. Kenneth Cope

I first fell in love with his music when I was a teenager attending EFY, and later got to know him better as he lived in my neighboring stake and shared his music and testimony often with the youth.  His music is from the heart and his desire has always been to glorify GOD through his music - with no vain pride or desire for personal praise.

I have been enjoying his music and taking his lyrics to heart for over 30 years.  My girls have grown up listening to his music and have their own favorite Kenneth Cope songs.  

It was a super special night for me and I'm so glad we got to all be there together. Thank you babe! 

Minerette Dinner & Auction

Lots of new things going on with Minerettes this year. New Coach, New Warm-ups, New Costumes, and a New Fundraiser - 1st Annual Minerette Dinner and Auction.

This turned out to be such a fun night for everyone.  

Em gathered gift cards,  Cougarettes  Clinic Registration, Teeth Whitening System, and a Guided Tour of Ron Thorne's Car Collection - all to be auctioned off at tonight's Dinner & Auction.  

Em's Table - We were so glad to have the Palmer's, Pool's, & Oniki's with us at our table.  My favorite part of the night was hearing from Derek Para.  I feel like  have followed his story pretty well over the years as he transformed from an in-line skater to an Olympic Gold Medal Speed Skater, but there was still a lot of about his road leading up to the games, and his life since the games that I didn't know about.  He is an exceptional man and an inspiration to me.  

Following his remarks, we were able to bid on the items up for Auction.  Robert and I weren't quite ready for how fast pace this would go.  We knew some of the things we wanted to get, but just weren't fast enough to get in on some other cool items.  For now, we will enjoy all of Cotopaxi stuff and look forward to this fun event next year!

1st Day at Bingham

                These girls are headed to Bingham, for their Sophomore and Senior years of high school.                                                             

Em is excited to have free rides from her sister all year, and Lindz is happy to FINALLY get to park in the school parking lot.  This will be a great year having these two together!

Brenna - 1st day of SoJo

1st day of Middle School for this girl.  She is beyond ready.  She enjoyed her extra long summer (not having to go back to school in July for the 1st time since kindergarten) but she was so ready to be a 'Sevie'  @ SoJo Middle School.  She and her friends visited the school I don't know how many times that final week before school started - testing their locker combinations, wandering the halls finding the best routes to and from classes, and of course, visiting with teachers.   

Middle school comes with it's own set of  'changes'.  Changing classrooms after each subject, changing your clothes at the beginning and end of PE, dealing with crowded hallways, lots of new students, and the stress of finding and opening your locker between each class.  The biggest change Middle School will bring for Brenna, will be..........not being at school with her best friend Makayla. 

Makayla and her family are taking a year off of school to travel the country in a RV.  They left on July 31st and will return back to South Jordan sometime next summer.  It can be a little scary to start a new school without your best friend, but B is looking forward to finding others that may need new friends, and welcoming them in.   She will be a great friend to many and will have lots to tell Makayla about when they Facetime. 

HOCO already?

School hasn't started yet, but dance proposals have.  Lindsay received this special message on the porch from her lifelong friend Benjamin....admitting his 1st grade CRUSH on her.  I'm sure I have said this before, and will probably say it many more times as she finished off her senior year of high school, but Lindsay really has created such an amazing Friend Group.  She says all the time how lucky she is to have such awesome friends and I totally agree.  Lindsay has a genuine love and care for people, and with that, she finds herself surrounding by others that are also very genuine, kind, and truly care about others.  Lindz---were so excited for you to go to your last Homecoming with Benjamin!

Welcome Home Kayla

WELCOME HOME Kayla!  After 37 hours of travel this girl finally touched down in Salt Lake City, and we couldn't be happier to have her home.  

Though she was only gone for 3 weeks, she experienced a lifetime of memories with the people of Kigali.    

It was well after midnight when she got in, but we tried to hear as much about her time there as we could, before heading off to bed.  

It feel so good to have all 8 of us back together, even if it's only for about 7 weeks.  We will soak up our time together and enjoy the many blessing God grants us.  We LOVE you KAY!  So happy to have you home!~

Emily's Summer Video

Each month Emily puts together a video of her favorite photos and clips from her phone that month.  Tonight she did a Summer Compilation that I thought I'd share.  It's been a pretty awesome Summer!  Sad to see it come to end end, but the memories live on!

Johnson Family

This pic was taken the last time I visited our friends Chris and Becky at their home in Dallas, OR.  Robert and I met Chris and Becky when Chris was at BYU and Robert and I were living in Provo.  They had one little boy, David, and their daughter Hannah was just a baby.   We had Aubrey, so our little family's wold get together often to talk and play games.  Robert as had the opportunity to be their home teacher.  Once Chris finished his undergraduate degree, they moved away for him to go to Optometry School.  We have never lived near each other since that time, but our friendship has continued throughout the years.  

Becky always had difficult pregnancy's and many of her babies were born prematurely.  Their 3rd child Elizabeth was born very early with many complications and health problems.  That was over 18 years ago now, but that is the first time I can remember gathering our little family of 4,  and praying together every morning and night for a miracle that Elizabeth would live.  In my mind, it was the beginning of consistent, sincere, heartfelt prayers on our knees in a family circle praying for others by name. Elizabeth's frail body did receive strength and after several months, she was able to finally go home and join her family.  Elizabeth was followed by Hyrum and Miriam.  

At this point, Chris had opened his own Optometry practice, they had 5 children, and had moved to a great house in Dallas, OR.  Though Becky had extremely difficult life threatening pregnancy's, they both had a strong impression that their family was not complete, and began looking into adoption.  After several months, they received news that they would be adopting twins - welcoming Michael and Joseph into their family.  Not long after their adoption, Robert asked what I would like for my birthday that year, and I said I'd like to go visit Becky in Oregon.  He jumped on making the arrangements and ensuring our 5 small children wold be taken care of while I was gone.  The picture above was taken outside their house after a wonderful few days together.

Fast Forward 10 years (almost 10 years to the day) and I was able to join the Johnson Family on the steps of the Jordan River Temple following Hannah's sealing.  Their family has grown from 4 to 7 to 10 to 12 and now to 14 as both Hannah and David are getting married this month.  This family has not only grown in size, but also in faith and in fortitude. Through many miracles and tender mercies, Becky was able to give birth to one more baby and they were able to adopt 2 more children, including  baby Charity just over a year ago.  My heart is so full of love and admiration for this sweet family.  Their trials and challenges have been met with tremendous faith and trust in their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Years ago, Becky gave me a manuscript of a book she had written entitled 'Fortify Your Fortress'.  I have seen Chris and Becky use every ounce of love, strength, faith, and determination to 'fortify their fortress' both here on earth and in the heavens above as they strive to live and follow the teaching of Jesus Christ.  

Chris and Becky with their daughter Hannah and her new husband - who meet while serving in the same mission in Texas.  Thank you Chris and Becky - for the love and kindness you share with our family!

Jordan Swimming

Looks whose Swimming....it's Jodan

First Meal

Tonight was not only our first meal at home since August 6th, but actually once of the first meals we have even eaten in the past 10 days.  We have worked sun-up to sun-down and sometimes in between.  We went from Wednesday morning through Friday night of last week without ever sleeping.  Since we've been back, Robert is sleeping about 4 hours a night, and I'm getting in about 6 hours a night.  It has been a long and sometimes difficult week.  I am constantly being reminded that this too will pass, but for now, we are needed almost 24/7 to keep orders filled and on top of all of the account junk that comes with it. 

 We have hired 2 employees that will start Aug. 22.  Once they are trained , that should take a huge burden off our backs.  We will also have Kayla back from Africa, who will be working in the shop until she leaves on her mission to the Philippines in October.  We will also get faster at some of the processes and get our orders and inventory figured it.  There is definitely a large learning curve when it comes to buying and taking over a growing company, but we are trying to learn quickly and look forward to a more balanced life over the next few weeks.  

A big Shout Out to our girls and Elan for the hours and hours and hours they have spent at the shop these past 10 days.  This is a family run business and they are learning and working their tails off helping us to get everything running smoothly and efficiently.  NECfamily ROCKS and we are so proud of how everyone has embraced this new adventure.  Off to work!

Ron in SLC

We flew Ron out this morning and put him up in a hotel out here so her could help us finish transitioning the business, work out any kinks on the equipment, and do lots and lots and lots of account transfers.  Man, there is a lot involved in this small family business.  

Showing us his mad 'weeding' skills

Ensuring printer clamps are aligned properly

How to use the software to customize orders

                                  Learning to properly label, package, and ship products.

 What a Team!  It has been so nice to have Ron here at the shop and also at our home.  To get to know him and his family better and for him to share so much of his knowledge and expertise with us.  He built this company from the ground up and he has been such an amazing partner in helping us with this transition.  We are sad to see him go, but so happy for him to return to his family back  home.  Thank you Ron and Jade!  We will forever be grateful for the heart felt kindness, knowledge, and generosity you have shared with our family. 

Bath of Orbeez

While we were gone, the girls unloaded hundreds of orbeez into their bathtub to what them grow.  If you don't know what on orbeez is here's a brief explanation:

Orbeez are a toy made out of super absorbent polymers. They begin as hard little specks, smaller than a piece of rice, but when soaked in water they grow into a ball, just larger than the size of a pea

We came home to a very colorful bathtub in their bathroom 

Oh the things that entertain these girls!