Fruit Heights Flints

2009-03-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

China Video

Doug and I had a great time in China. It was a week-long interview trip for me. Looking back at all the photos, I've learned that we squeezed in a lot of fun in my off hours.
We got back a few days ago. I will post pictures later, but I hope my loved ones enjoy this video. If you ever get a chance to go to China, jump at the opportunity. It is so different from anything I am used to.
Enjoy.

2009-02-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

Garrett and Seth

How am I supposed to be able to let these two guys leave for two years? Life is always fun when they are around. I think it took them about 20 takes to get the "turn to camera" filmed without laughing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omySyq4ArnA

2008-11-12T09:59:00.000-08:00

Garrett and his Mad Skillz!

This video was made by G-Baby and shows his mad guitar skills!

2008-11-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

Times Like These

I grew up in a racist world. When I was in first grade, I remember reading from the Dick and Jane books. One of the books or chapters was called "Our Colored Friends."

The title now seems quite racist, but I imagine it must have been quite revolutionary for 1968 to be showing African-Americans as friends and peers to white people. Nevertheless, I also witnessed much bigotry and hatred toward blacks. Sadly it usually came from fellow members of my religion--people who should have known better. Happily, my parents seemed to never tolerate any racist behavior or words.

This past week, when our nation elected Barack Obama as its next president, I felt such pride and excitement for the promise of better things to come. Pride for a country that is starting to finally live up to what Dick and Jane taught me 40 years ago. Excitement for what this new president's election will mean for the future.

My children and grandchildren will truly be living in a differnt world from the one I grew up in. They will know that any man could truly grow up to become president. Now, if only my daughter and future grand daughters could have proof that they, too, could aspire to whatever they hope for and work for.

I pray for that day.

2008-10-07T14:26:00.000-07:00

Park City Weekend

Last weekend may have been a bit drizzly and chilly, but that didn't stop the fun for us. The family went to Park City and had a great time. One of the best things of the weekend was that the Chinese teachers came with us.

We all arrived at the condo in time to fix dinner. I may not be a great cook, but I taught everyone how to make pizza. We had pepperoni and black olive pizza and sausage and mushroom pizza. It was delicious. After dinner, we played Apples to Apples.

Saturday morning we all went to Main Street in downtown Park City. It was drizzly and cool, but everything was even more beautiful than usual. We strolled, took photos and did some window shopping.

At noon, we left and went to Park City Mountain Resort. There, we all rode on the Alpine Coaster ride. I was one of the last riders to head up the hill in my little "coaster car." I was so excited to start my way down. . . until I heard the screams. As I approached the top of the hill, the others started coming down. First to go were Jing and David. I could hearJing screaming as she careened down the hill.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I wondered.

Then came Tingting and Qingling. They were both screaming, but I also heard them laughing and saw huge smiles on their faces as they zoomed above me. We all had a blast on the coaster.

After our exhilerating trip down the hill, we went back to Main Street for lunch. We ate at Bandits Bar & Grill--a pretty good place for cowboy grub--then spent the rest of the afternoon at Tanger Outlet and TJ Maxx.

Sunday morning was a special treat for all of us. We slept in then ate a huge, American breakfast. Doug made Belgian Waffles. I made hash browns, bacon and eggs. I've got to say. I am so glad that these teachers have come into my life. They are smart, funny, adventurous and kind. Having them teach our children is such an amazing blessing. Someday, they will return to their home and families in China. When they do, I hope they will have good memories of their time in Utah. They always will be welcome back.

2008-05-07T09:43:00.001-07:00

Spring 2008

Taylor, our favorite missionary, requests that I update this blog. Good thing he's keeping me on my toes.

Despite the uncooperative weather, we are doing out best to get ready for Brittany and Cortney's wedding reception--which is just 30 days from now! Ten months ago when they told me they would be getting married, I thought I had all the time in the world. Well, things certainly have a way of creeping up on you!

Cortney's graduation ceremony was last weekend. It was great to see him receive his diploma. Later, we had dinner with his parents and grandparents and really enjoyed getting to know them better.

One of life's greatest blessings has got to be seeing your children marry someone who loves them and be adopted into a family that loves and accepts them as their own.

Garrett will graduate from Davis High School in a couple of weeks. Yesterday he finished his last AP exam (AP STATS). He and Kami Keck, his girlfriend, also had a great time at the Prom. Valerie Nye cooked the whole group a great dinner. The high class mode of transportation was a rented U-Haul trailer which the guys furnished with a huge selection of sofas.

Just last Sunday, Garrett was ordained an Elder. There is no doubt that Garrett will honor his priesthood in all he does. He has always been an example of love and kindness for all of us.

Austin and his mom just returned from a great week in Washington DC. He loved photographing all the beautiful sites and buildings. Some of his favorites were the Capitol Building, the White House and the Library of Congress. But, more importantly, he saw more cool cars than you can believe. He was in car heaven!

Taylor has passed the one year mark for his mission. He has also been transfered out of the city of Curituba for the first time. While he's had many transfers--they have all been in Curitiba. The temple there is almost finished, so I'm sure he will return.

To see more of our adventurous Taylor, go to You Tube.com and search "Elder Flint." He has two videos there for you to see. We are so proud of the hard work he is doing and, despite missing his crazy sense of humor, we are thrilled to have him serving the Lord.

Here are some of the latest photos of Taylor on his mission. They are cute because they show the true Taylor.

2008-01-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2007

Christmas this year was just terrific. We went on a weeklong ski vacation with our wonderful neighbors, the Nyes. Here we are at Big Sky resort in Montana. The trip was a surprise for all of our kids (their two boys and our two boys). We didn't tell them until Christmas morning.

After talking to Taylor on the phone (he's doing great was a bit homesick due to the season), we all packed up and headed north to Island Park, Idaho. We knew we were in for a great, snowy week.

We arrived at the cabin around 10 on Christmas night. We would have arrived earlier, but when we stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Flint's house in Rigby, they had prepared a wonderful dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup! It was delicious and the homemade jam was the best ever. We we got to the cabin, it was surrounded by so much snow! The picture to the right was taken when we got there. The road to the cabin hadn't been plowed, so we had to wade through thigh-high snow to get to the door. Because it was near zero degrees, we couldn't leave anything in the trucks, so we spent the next hour trudging through the snow with all of our suitcases, groceries, coolers and such. We laughed the whole time. What a great memory!

The next day, we relaxed, ate at Trouthunters (which has the best fries ever!) and arranged for snowmobile rentals for the week. On Thursday, we headed north for Big Sky resort in Montana. When we left the cabin, it was 8 degrees below zero. As we drove north through Yellowstone Park, the temperature dropped to -14 degrees. I knew we were crazy. Luckily, when we got to Big Sky the temperature had risen to a balmy 10 degrees. We had such a fun time. Austin landed his first 360 ever! This is a picture of the actual event!

The following day, we went to Grand Targhee in Wyoming. It was such a beautiful drive. The skiing was great. Garrett, as usual, amazed us with his skiing ability. He is a beautiful skier. Here, he is doing a rodeo or a Lincoln--Mom's don't know the difference. He flies off the jumps like it is no big deal. Wouldn't it be great to be able to do that? Later that night, Brittany and Cortney came up to join us for the weekend. They also brought Garrett and Seth's girlfriends. You can imagine how happy that made those cute 17-year-old boys.

On Saturday and Sunday we snowmobiled like crazy. Garrett and Austin hadn't snowmobiled much, but they were so good at it and had such fun. Saturday it snowed and snowed while everyone drove around the amazing trail system in Island Park. On Sunday the sun came out for the first time! We were thrilled. We planned to drive the snowmobiles to Mesa Falls. The trip was so amazing and the falls in winter were breathtaking. When my friend Valerie and I kept tipping over in the powder, we laughed until it hurt. We really provided comic relief for everyone.

Happy Holidays!

Oh, the pics to the right: Garrett and Seth at Big Sky and Austin doing his first ever back flip off a

jump. My kids are amazing!

2007-11-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Queen Bonnie Loses her Kingdom

Sure it was a self-imposed title, but I started calling myself Queen Bonnie at school years ago. It was a joke with my students who tolerated my wacky humor. Almost three years ago, I left the classroom and now work in the administration side of education. Though I definitely miss the teenagers, I love working with the teachers and enjoy the variety of this job. School has always been part of my life. Now, in addition to working, I am also getting my Master's Degree. I will be finished by the first of the year! I can't wait. I look forward to having more time to read what I want to read--not what I'm assigned to read.

One really great thing about my new job is the opportunity to travel and meet people from around the world and around the country. In the past two years, I have been able to travel to China--twice, Nashville and San Antonio. Upcoming trips (in 2008) include Japan, France, China (again) and Orlando. This picture was taken at the Great Wall near Beijing. There are not many places in the world that surpass your expectations--the Eiffel Tower, the Alps and the Great Wall are some that do. It was amazing!

All of these things are fun and exciting, but nothing beats being at home with my kids and my garden. My children are some of the best people I have ever known. They are smart, talented, funny and WAY better people than me. These great people have learned just about everything I have to teach them, so now they have started to teach me. They teach me the value of good friends, how to have fun, and how to love unabashedly. They have tried, unsuccessfuly, to teach me how to dance, identify hot cars, play guitar, do math and ski "in the park."

I am absolultely crazy about working in my garden. Since I have started working year round, I don't have the ability to work there daily, but I still go there for rejuvenation. Nothing is better than getting a little dirt under your nails. This picture is a little corner of my garden that reminds me of France. Next summer, Brittany will have her reception in our yard--a dream of hers for years and years. I hope my gardening skills are up to the challenge!

2007-11-04T16:16:00.000-08:00

Biggest Kid

The biggest kid in our house is Doug. Sure, he may be 47 (next month), but he often forgets that. To illustrate this, a few years ago, while doing some fall camping, Doug shimmied up a Quaking Aspen tree. He thought the tree would bend under his weight, but it broke instead. The results were damaging for his head but hilarious to us onlookers. Thank goodness Noel was there and could stitch him up! Last weekend, on our annual fall camping trip, he tried it again--seriously. He didn't require stitches this time, but his body is still aching from the inevitable fall. Brittany took this picture. You can see that no one is at his side, because we were all rolling on the ground with laughter.

When Doug isn't kidding around, he is working. Always working. With a son on a mission and a daughter's wedding approaching, he has added a large extra load of patients. In any spare time he has, you can find him sleeping on any nearby couch. This is one of my favorite pictures of Doug. It was taken a couple of years ago at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

Doug really does a lot more than climb trees, work and sleep. He is also working toward his PhD in Physical Therapy. It is a slow process, but he's sticking to it. Surely he will be able to pick up the pace when the wedding is over. At Church, Doug is kept busy with his calling as the Stake Young Men's President. He loves this job and the people he gets to work with.

2007-11-02T20:33:00.000-07:00

Austin . . . a Teenager?

Austin turned 13 in August and it's all been downhill from there--junior high, girls, and all that goes along with it. No, really, Austin is such a cool kid. He was wary about starting junior high, but absolutely loves it. He is taking French (of course), algebra, PE and more.

Austin takes after his brothers in many ways. He, too, skis like a pro (really---double black diamonds don't even scare him!) and plays the guitar. He takes lessons at Jef Nielsen's studio and practices like crazy. I love the fact that these musicians of mine never have to be asked to practice. Sure, I often ask them to "stop playing and go to bed!" but moms like that sort of problem.

Austin has the gift of gab, as many of you know. Once when he was small, Austin and I were going to Salt Lake City. As usual, he was talking the whole way. Suddenly, as we were stopped at an intersection, Austin said, "I've just run out of things to talk about!" He was stunned. So was I. This had never happened before. Because it was such an oddity, Austin then spent the next hour analyzing how crazy it was that he had nothing to say. I just laughed and nodded at the appropriate places. Not much has changed since then.

At Church, Austin is the President of the Deacon's Quorum. This is not surprising. He's the spiritual giant of the family. He has always just seemed a to have a direct line to heaven. He gently prods the rest of us along. What is really remarkable about his church service. . . He never complains about all that is asked of him--including early morning flag duty which happens each holiday.

The last picture is one of Austin and his brothers at Park City--doing what they love most.

2007-11-02T19:34:00.001-07:00

Garrett a Senior?

Garrett is enjoying his senior year at Davis High School He has some really difficult classes--physics, for one, and he has some really fun classes like ceramics and body conditioning. In his words, he is getting "freakin' huge"!

When Garrett isn't at school he is probably playing the guitar. He takes guitar lessons, practices almost non-stop, teaches guitar at Jef Nielsen's Studio, and plays guitar with his friends. I know I'm just a mom, but he is an amazing guitar player.

At this time of year, Garrett develops a little problem--he starts to twitch in anticipation of the ski season. Garrett, who doesn't know how to do anything half-way, is one of the best skiers I have ever known. He has grace, precision and a daring streak. This picture was taken of him last year at Park City Mountain Resort.

Here's a secret about Garrett. In addition to being good at everything he does, he is a truly great person. He is fun to have around and respectful to his family and friends. We are lucky to have this kid in our family.

2007-11-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

Elder Taylor Flint

Taylor has now been serving in the Curitiba, Brazil mission since April. After spending seven weeks in the Sao Paulo MTC, he went to his first area in Curitiba. Family members can e-mail him at taylor_flint@myldsmail.net.

Recently, Taylor was moved to a new area of Curitiba called Campo Belo. It is a very wealthy area, which Taylor isn't sure about. He loved serving the humble people in his previous area, several of whom had set baptism dates.

In addition to all this, Taylor's 20th birthday is next week! November 11. He says that he will now be old--no longer a teenager. This will be the first time that Taylor's birthday has been in the spring. That will be fun.

As a family, it has been really fun for us to have a missionary. Taylor's best qualities have really been accentuated since he has been serving the Lord. He works hard, loves the people he serves, and shows his family so much love and kindness.

2007-11-02T18:17:00.000-07:00

Brittany is Engaged!

We are thrilled to announce that Brittany is getting married. On Saturday, October 27th, Cortney Moffitt asked Brittany to marry him and she, of course, said yes. This happened while we were camping at Lyman Lake. Since they met at Lake Powell, I am starting to see a theme here.

Brittany and Cortney have chosen June 7, 2008 as their wedding day. The wedding will be in the Salt Lake LDS Temple and the reception will be in our backyard.

In addition to Brittany's obvious affection for this guy, her family is also crazy about him. He is smart, spiritual, loves cars (Austin's weakness, too), adores our daughter, and tolerates us. What more could we want for?

Brittany is currently working full-time at Select Care Insurance. This has required a short sabbatical from her university studies. When she returns next semester, she will continue working toward her degree in French. She is currently a senior at the University of Utah.