Stake Conference

One hymn is all I get. I told Andrea last night that listening to the choir is nice, sometimes. But as a member of the congregation, easily 9/10ths of the participants in this conference, we are deprived the blessing of one of my favorite kind of praise/worship.

Both in last night's adult session and in this main session, we only get to sing once per session.

Rip-off.

Camera-less

We will be posting for a spell without the benefit of pictures. You'll just have to put up with 1,000 words.


We are in the market for a new camera, and your recommendations would be appreciated. We've had good luck with our Kodak zooms (10 and 12x) and our budget is about $250 max.

Let us know what has worked for you, what to avoid, or maybe try and talk us into spending triple on an SLR. We're all ears.

Unplugged

It's been two weeks now since we pulled the plug
on the TV. I'm happy to report that nobody has
suffered or been taken ill.

I say that we have unplugged, but truly, we plan
to still watch the TV. The important difference is
that now we control what is on 100%.

We took the $13 bucks we used to pay to the
Cable Co and upped our Netflix account to
3-at-a-time unlimited and I think this is going to
work out great. The kids have watched the first
few episodes of Fraggle Rock, and we have Land
of the Lost, Little House on the Prairie, Avonlea,
and other greats of yesteryear in the queue.

After the cable guy came and put the filter on
the line to kill the tv channels but let internet
service through, Andrea discovered that there
are still three channels that manage to squeeze
through the filter. Andrea was all smiles to report
that Food Network was one of them! An
answer to her fervent prayers.

No Chore Saturday

We came up with a new plan for chores where you get them done by Friday and Saturdays are left to do fun things. We presented the plan at Family home evening and came up with a list of things we'd like to do as a family. Camping was number one on the list for everyone, so we decided we would camp Friday night if and only if everyone finished their chores by Thursday evening. It worked! Aren't incentives great? Here we are on our way to Carr Canyon. We decided to stay close and have a short drive this time, so 30 minutes after leaving our house we were up in the mountains in a beautiful campground setting up camp.

Reef Campground

Our family is obsessed with fire. I hear it's a Wilcox trait. The highlight of the evening and the morning was building the fire. My scouts did an awesome job setting up and taking down camp. We went on a great little hike. The view was gorgeous! The whole family enjoyed being outdoors. I even forgave Willie after a very long night. He forgot the sleeping bag mats. The kids were unaffected of course. They were so thrilled to camp that they want to do it every weekend. We compromised and decided on once a month until school starts.

A Young Willie

If any of you remember Willie as a kid or wonder what he looked like, well look no further. Wes and Zach are such explorers. They found an area of the mountain covered in quartz and brought back some very cool quartz crystals. I hear there used to be a mine there years ago.The kids couldn't believe that I found the biggest crystal of all. It was very fun!

Dirty and Happy

Zachary's face was especially dirty on the campout. He didn't care. There was no time to waste and many trees to climb.

Zach the Tractor-lovin'-guitar-player

The photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea.

He was born to rock.

Ingenuity

Zachary is so clever! I have a funny story about him. If you know Zach, you know his passion for three things: Legos, Star Wars, and the newest one, Indiana Jones.
Last week Zach and I went to pick up Carina from a job site where she was with Willie. On our way out Zach bends over and finds a treasure. He says, "Mom, can I keep this nail? I promise I'll take care of it. It'll stay in my room." The paranoid mom in me responds, No Zach, if someone steps on that we will end up in the hospital." Zach says, "Please mom I need it for my legos." I said, "Fine, but as soon as I see it on the floor, it's gone."
I had no clue how a nail could be used for legos. But Zach knew exactly what to use it for. The next day I go into his room to pick up the boys hamper and I find this on his closet shelf. Brilliant, huh?

Christmas Morn

I'm still sorta new to the blog thing, so I'm not sure what the rules are for posts about somebody else's kids.

Just happened across this picture of Christmas morning. Nothing in the whole world like Christmas morning.

Double Wilcoxes

I absolutely love this family picture! Even the monkey in it is great! Here we are with all the cousins on top of the Coronado Monument. All the kids did awesome on the hike and had a fun time looking for the U.S./Mexico border. The girls all look so cute together. They all got along so well and had so much fun. Willie is so good with kids. He and Kate had a little conversation about the beauty of the desert. The eager boys are in the lead and the girls are just enjoying the sights and chatting along the way.

Conquistadors

The kids tried on replicas of Conquistador battle gear at the Coronado Memorial Visitor Center. They look so fierce and brave! Gotta love the "Vote for Pedro" Conquistador. ARRH! So scary!

Cousin Time Activities

Everyone had fun stuff to do. My sister-in-law, Jenny, brought a fun battery-operated car for the boys to put together. They came up with several models and styles. We had a cookout in the backyard and roasted dogs and made s'mores. Carina and Kate spent lots of time in the sandbox. We had great weather for much outdoor play.