Beck Family Summer Reads.  

My kids are all doing great with reading this year, so I wanted to start a list of the books as they read them. We have a rule, no technology at the pool, even for Mom!  I always bring my phone but besides answering it if it rings or maybe reading my scriptures on it, I don't use it at all, especially for Facebook, Pinterest, or any other social media.  Here's our list of books read so far; not bad for one week in!

Lizzy's picks.

Princeess Posey and the Next-Door-Dog by Stephanie Greene.  ****
Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure by Stephanie Greene.  ****
Princess Posey and the Monster Stew by Stephanie Greene.  ****
Serendipity and Me by Judith L. Roth.  *****
Nicole and the Beach Fairy by Daisy Meadows.  ****
Hard Times on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (adapted chapter book).  *****

Lucy's picks.

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai.  *****
Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  ***
The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker.  *****

Mom's picks.
In Memory of Violets: a Novel of London's Flower Sellers by Hazel Gaynor *****Fave so far
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen ***
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan ***
The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant.  ****
The House Girl by Tara Conklin.  ***
The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier.  ****

Samuel's picks.
Big Nate Lives it Up by Lincoln Peirce.
I Survived Five Epic Disasters by Lauren Tarshis
Star Wars Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown.

Mason's picks.
Earth Awakens by Orson Scott Card.  ****
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. *****

Cute Blue Chairs!

Can you believe it, I am on a blogging streak!  This is totally random but they make me so happy that I thought I would share.  When we bought this house, we knew that the basement had a small "chair graveyard."  This conveyed.  Well, there were five sad little caned chairs, with the caning broken in all of them.  Many of them needed to be glued too (see the one on the left) but luckily all had strong little legs.  So I sanded, ripped the caning out, and filled the holes.  More sanding.  

 Then I painted.  Ignore the one in the back, I was thinking of mixing my own yellowish green but I didn't like it.  The blue is so awesome!  It's a little bright but I don't care.  I like it.

 Then we cut a little seat and covered them with...get this....the fabric from my mama's kitchen curtains!  I felt great about that because I so wanted to keep the character that has always been there.  Then I feel like there is a little of her there, cooking with me.

 Finished!  I love the way they POP!  Check out my hardwood floors, they are the best!

NYC, here he comes!

OK, quick post.  So the pie baking begins again.  Here is our latest peach pies.  Heaven they were.  Peach has never been my very favorite pie but now it might be.  Except for maybe the strawberry rhubarb pie I made a week later.  If you didn't know about this, Mason and I make 10 pies a week and sell them on Facebook ("like" our page at Mason's Homemade Pies)  It's a ton of work but we've gotten it down to a good schedule and we do a darn good job. Why do we do this?  Scroll down.

This kid.  He's really better at the piano than the cello, but I convinced him to try orchestra back in 6th grade.  Best move ever.  Is this orchestra the best ever?  Um, no.  However, for whatever reason, he has gotten the orchestra bug.  He  loves the kids, he loves the teacher, he loves everything about it.  He cares when the others in the cello section are playing wrong notes or not paying attention.  He cares!  He likes to make music with others!  This is huge!  Also, as a parent it makes me feel good that he's involved in this.  When seeing news reports of teens in trouble with drugs, illegal activities, or other youth misdemeanors, have you EVER heard of any of them playing in the school orchestra?  Neither have I.  Not that these are perfect kids, but still.  

We found out this week that this spring the orchestra is going on a trip to NYC.  This is fabulous news.  Last year the orchestra went to Disney, and Matt and I have agreed that this was a huge turning point with Mason.  He became more responsible, more respectful, more productive, and I think his social skills went up, too.  His grades went up as well.  He got his first phone (a lame hand-me-down of Matt's), but it calls and texts!  Mason has done a great job with the limits and rules that accompany his phone ownership.  Anyway, the cost of this trip to NY is even more than Disney so we agreed to pay the first deposit and then Mason has to earn the rest himself.  He is really getting good at this and doing most of the work and cleanup with the pies himself, so it's turned out to be a good little venture altogether.  Also, as his mom I'm just grateful to do something that traps him in the kitchen with me so we can spend time together!  A little lame but true.  

Hello Everybody!  Just wanted to do some quick updates!  We had a great summer, and now it's over....boo-yah!  I love that expression because while it's a little sad to end our lazy pool days and GREAT vacation to Utah, it's great to get back to school.  We had the most amazing season in swim team, coach HOPE rocked our world.  She was great with the little ones and super tough with the big ones, Mason said she's the best coach we've ever had.  I agree.  

 One of my favorite pics from our Utah trip.   My parents, Anne, and I took the kids down to Southern Utah to see Arches and other wonderful sights.  Here's a little selfie.

 I overcame my childhood fear of Dead Horse Point.  When I was little we saw it and I couldn't even think about it at night or I wouldn't sleep.  My brothers of course picked up on this and would always threaten me that they would hold me over Dead Horse Point.  Of course my kid brain wasn't reasonable enough to tell them that it was 6 hours from our house at the time.  Jeez.  Anyway, my kids loved it.  Samuel was in a mood that day which is why he's not in these pictures.

 Girls at DHP.

 At the rodeo in Morgan, UT.  This was totally unstaged, and I can't believe I captured it.  Mason has grown into the most fantastic teenager.  He's not perfect but wow, what an amazing man he's shaping up to be.

 Lizzy took to Aunt Shaunette right away!  

 It wouldn't be a trip without a little trip to the ER.  Lucy slipped while playing at her cousin's pool, and needed some stitches.  She's fine, no worries!

 Hogle Zoo selfie.  I don't understand how anyone who lives in Utah doesn't visit this zoo pretty much every day.  It is amazing, just the right size, and the animals are so wonderful! It's our happy place.

 This is huge!  Lizzy started kindergarten, and we got the same teacher we've had for all four kids, Mrs. Davis.  Mason happened to be at meet the teacher night so we were able to snap a picture of her....she's lost a ton of weight too and looks fabulous!  Way to go!

Well this is a little lame to post just a few pics and not write that much, but I'm trying to tell myself that this is enough for now and the thought is I can always come back later.  Like later today, or maybe in another 3 months.  Who knows?

So I was thinking this morning, "remember when I had that blog?"  I decided maybe it was time to revive it.  These are some totally random pictures but I thought I would give a quick recap of a few things from this year.  This first is Lizzy at preschool.  What a great year she had!  Wonderful teachers, great friends, just an amazing experience.  I actually took a part time job teaching the 3 day 3's downstairs, so it was fun for us to be close by on MWF's.  

 I was released from Primary (working with the children at church) but I had tons of pics of the kids on my phone from church, and I thought this was sweet of Samuel.  Spiffy in his shirt and tie, but still a little rebellious with his crazy hair.

 Lucy at church.  

 Little Jake.  Crazy dog, amazingly cute but kind of stupid.  I've nearly re-homed him dozens of times because I get so tired of his turd surprises, but he's so impossibly cute and is so great with the kids and for various other reasons, he's still here.

 Matt and me on Valentines Day.  Little selfie.

 Lucy and her BFF at Defy Gravity.  

 Another of Jake on his first camping trip.  

 Lizzy and Matt making "woof-em's."  A camping delicacy, I assure you.  

 Mason and I started a little pie-making business on Facebook to earn money for his orchestra trip and Scout camp.  It was a total success.  Right now our kitchen is still being remodeled so it's on hold, but we have some die hard local customers who insist we start up again as soon as we can, which I plan to.

One more thing...Tracy Aviary

OK, one more post and I promise that's everything from the Utah trip.  I had purchased a reciprocal membership from our museum, so you know me...always looking to get the best bang for my buck, I researched all possible museums that we could visit while in Utah.  As soon as I found out about Tracy Aviary in SLC, I knew it would be a huge highlight for all of us, but particularly for Lucy.  Lucy's very into animals in general, but she goes in phases when a particular type of animal turns that interest into a borderline obsession.  This summer it was birds.  Well, until the end of the summer after spending time with Uncle John, and it became horses.  But anyway, we were still in the bird phase, and this is the place for bird lovers!  My advice is to pay the extra few bucks to feed the Sun lanyards (sp?).  One look at the photos here and you'll see it's totally worth it.

Utah trip in a flash

OK, so I'm so far behind I actually think I'm ahead.  I hate to start something and not finish it though, so here are some pictures from the Utah trip.  All out of order, and I won't narrate.  Just look and make up your own scenarios, they're probably great.  

Hogle Zoo was such a blast!  Lizzy insisted on carrying her coloring bag all around with her, because you never know when you might need to take a break from amazing animals and sit down with a coloring book.  Arrgg.

Lucy in heaven with a paragon falcon.  Or a hawk.  Some bird of prey that she loves.

Samuel with giraffe.

 All four of us sisters together at the same time.  This almost never happens, so it was definitely photo-worthy.

 Goofing around with Heber cousins.

 Horseback riding with John.

 Lizzy jumping into ball pit.  I think I've already shared this one before.

 Girls at Temple Square

 Meeting up with my high school friend Becca.  Her daughter Kiki and Lucy became friends, which I always knew was very likely.

 My little monkey.

 At museum at Thanksgiving Point.

 Mason and Eden playing computer games.

 Mason at Hogle Zoo.

 Me and my niece Deborah.  Cute pregnant lady!

 Me at my niece Becca.  

 Me gettin' ready to ride.  These are all  mixed up but I'm just over it already.

 Me with the Heiner girls.  I think it's uncanny how color coordinated we were that day.

 High school buddies Stacey and Becky (now Rebecca).

 Back with Heiner girls.

 Samuel is in total heaven in Utah when he hangs with his Beck cousins Coleman and Cameron.  They are just older and just younger, so it's the perfect three amigos when they get together.