The Klingl Family

My cousin Carol and her family came for a visit to Mountain Home. We were so excited to see them. They live in Switzerland so we had never met her husband, Tom, and two children before. Arie is twelve and Helen is nine.

Tom, Helen, Arie, and Carol


Corey and Arie became best buddies immediately and Helen and Tanner had a great time playing together. The evening we got to Mountain Home we had a bonfire, made s'mores and shot off fireworks. Arie was the fireworks expert.

The next day, we went out on the boat and then went to the park to watch Dustin play baseball against Mountain Home. Arie and Helen had never seen a baseball game before so it was fun to watch them learn about the game.





We also spent one day in Branson at White Water. We had a blast. We ran from one ride to the next the entire day. Kannon even went down every slide.

That is Corey on the far right coming down the BIG slide. He loved it.

Kannon and Nana waiting for the waves to begin in the Wave Pool.

We did take time out for a snack - funnel cakes and fruit smoothies, YUM!

Saturday morning, Papa brought all of the kids fishing. They had fun digging for worms and Papa had fun untangling the lines from the last fishing trip. :) It was a wonderful weekend with family. Corey is already planning a trip to Switzerland to visit.

Youth Conference

During July, I was able to attend Youth Conference with 10 young men and women from our Ward. The conference was held in Memphis and was a Bi-Stake event which meant that there were about 225 youth there.

A few Jonesboro Youth hanging out

We went down on a Thursday evening for dinner, a motivational speaker and then a dance. The girls loved the dance - the guys said it was okay. We all stayed in host family homes. I stayed with 5 of my girls along with 3 other girls and a leader from another ward. We stayed in a big house right across the street from the temple. The family was on vacation so we had the place to ourselves. Friday, we had workshops to attend and also a service project that we all worked on.

Our Service Project - We sanded, painted, and assembled small wooden toys for Orphanages across the world.

Lunch was served and then we went swimming and to a park for games and more food. That evening we ended with a devotional at the Stake Center. Each night at our house we had "house prayer" and talked about what we had learned that day.

Gathering for "House Prayer"

Saturday morning everyone met outside the temple for a devotional and then went into the chapel for a testimony meeting. During the testimony meeting, I went and did a session at the temple. We then had lunch and headed home. It was a quick weekend but very fun and everyone enjoyed themselves and met lots of new people. It is very busy being involved with the Young Women's Program but I learn so much from these girls and enjoy their company.

Happy 4th of July

We actually celebrated the 4th on the 3rd. Kannon, Corey, Tanner and I went to Mud Island for the afternoon. We had a great time. Barry and I had gone to Mud Island many times back in our dating years for concerts (Chicago, James Taylor, Kenny Loggins and a few others) but we had never gone through the museum. We rode the tram over which the boys thought was great and then did the museum.




Each of us got a listening device which guided us through the exhibits. Each area was numbered and you just entered that number into the Ipod thing and it gave a little bit of information. Kannon had fun looking for the numbers and telling us where to go next. The museum was all about the Mississippi River. There was a Riverboat replica that we walked through that was really cool.

Kannon by the Cannon

After the museum we walked down the "Mississippi River". They have a model of the river starting in Minnesota all the way to Louisiana. The boys had a ball splashing in the river. Finally, we made it to the Gulf of Mexico where we all went for a paddle boat ride. We stayed until closing time and then caught the last tram back across.

We made it to the "Gulf of Mexico"

We then headed downtown to the ballpark for the Redbirds game. We met Barry, Dustin and Barry's mom and dad at the game. After the game, they had a big fireworks show which the boys were looking forward to. We stopped for ice cream on the way home and then finally got to bed about 12:30 a.m. It was such a fun day.

Everyone having dinner at the game - Corey couldn't wait to go to the Concession stand.

Best Buddies!

The Jonas Brothers -oops I mean the Jones Brothers :)

On the 4th, we all slept in and then went over for a cookout at Barry's brother's house. Dustin also had a ballgame. That night we had our own little fireworks show - along with 1 million mosquitoes. I sure am very grateful for this country. We love the USA!

Got to have sparklers
Kannon watched the fireworks from the Fair Grounds from our window. Great view and no mosquitoes.

Paragould Water Park

We had a fun afternoon at the Paragould Water Park. Kannon had never been there so it was all new to him. Kannon stayed in the kids area the whole time. He made a new friend and they had a great time going down the water slides and squirting water everywhere.

That is Kannon peeking out from behind the water gun.

Here Kannon is shooting out of the water slide.

Tanner tried jumping off the diving board and he loved it. Tanner and Corey also went down the waterslides a million times. It is not a very big water park but has some fun things to do. On a hot day in June, what a great place to go.







Corey had just gotten a birthday card from Aunt Jamie and it had five dollars in it just for snacks. Corey went to the concession stand and came back with nachos and a hot dog. He was a happy boy! What a fun day!

Summer Days

We have been having a very pleasant summer. The weather has been beautiful and just in the last few days the mosquitoes have arrived (unfortunately). We have been eating breakfast and lunch out on the back porch and have definitely been enjoying our pool.

The boys enjoy having friends over and come up with all kinds of games to play in the pool.

Corey enjoys just relaxing out on the raft. I don't know why he insists on wearing the snorkle mask though.

Usually after swimming everyone heads over to the trampoline. I love that thing - it is like a giant playpen. I put them in and zip it up. They have a ball.

Then it is time for popsicles on the back porch. It wouldn't be summer without popsicles! We love summer!!

Summer Theater

This summer there are several plays being put on in town. I decided to let each boy pick one that they would like to see and then just the two of us would go. Kannon picked "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" which was at ASU. He kept thinking it was going to be a movie. I think he was surprised when the "real" people came out on stage. We had talked about Snow White in Nursery School when we were learning about the number 7 and Kannon didn't know much about it so it was fun for him to see the play.

Kannon and Snow White

Tanner chose "The Wizard of Oz" which was at the Forum. We had seats up in the balcony which was fun. The play was very well done. Tanner asked "Why do they keep singing?" I explained that is what happens in Musicals. I think he had a fun night.

It was a big cast with a lot of kids. We knew several of the cast members which made it neat. Corey's play is scheduled in July. He picked out "Jack and the Beanstalk".

Art Workshop

Tanner took a three day Art Workshop last month. He loves to draw and so I thought he might enjoy having some instruction in Art. They painted on canvas, worked with watercolor, did scratch board art and used oil pastels. He did a great job and had a lot of fun.

This picture he looked at a painting and then painted it. They also learned about different Artists and the technique they use. It was a neat workshop.