Family Home Evening.....Draper Temple

For FHE tonight we went to the library (boys choice) and then stopped by the temple on our way home to get some pictures for my blog. It is coming along. It is supposed to be done by November of this year.

Help me out here. Tanner is a good looking kid, but he has decided to do his hair "faux hawk" style for the summer. Of course it is a house rule to have a part in his hair for Sunday. I just don't know when it is okay to bend a little or when it is okay to let him make choices with out interfering too much.

Spencer is hoping to grow into his teeth this summer. He has discovered the PS3 this summer. I am glad that I have something to motivate him to do his summer home work and chores with. But I wonder if I let it be introduced to early.

A view looking over the valley from the temple.

Our little sunshine......

Tanner-man took drama his last semester of 7th grade. At the end of the year he and his class performed in a play written by his drama teacher called "The Greatest Power". This play is based on the book. He did a great job. He was the sun. If you know Tanner, you know what a ham he is and how much he loves the spot light, so this was perfect for him. He did very well and was quite animated to boot.

Overwhelmingly Fun Week.......

Benjamin Van Dam

This last week has been so much fun for me. My mom has been visiting with us from Gallup, NM. We have had to share her with my sister and brothers families but always enjoy her visits.

Atalie (my bestfriend) also came up to visit. It was so fun to stay up late, share stories, giggle and just talk. We were also able to have a little get together at my home with De Jones and his son Indiana as well as Nathan and Tiffany Sorenson (and their girls Libby and Abby). It was so much fun to catch up and talk about old times. We had some great laughs. I think the greatest joy to me was to see how happy everyone is and that everyone still has a testimony (stronger now) of Christ. Nathan was able to share some incredible experiences about the power of the priesthood. I was able to feel some of the same joy that I believe the sons of Mosiah felt when they were reunited and felt joy as they knew their brethren were still strong in the faith. It is such a happy feeling.

I will add pictures later.

De Jones and Nathan Sorenson

It isn't really a visit with Justice (Atalie's son) with out a game of Risk and or Monopoly. Tom had fun playing with the boys. He talks a lot of smack (Tom that is).

They were up so late, I have no idea who even won. I do know that they had fun. I hope that we get to spend more time with Justice in the near future.

Little Sahara.....Scout Campout!!

This last weekend Tanner had a scout campout at Little Sahara. He forgot to take his signed permission slip. Tom and Spencer ran to the church to give the scout master the permission slip. He said, “Hey Spencer, would you like to come too?” Spencer said, “Yes!!!” Tom was shocked. Spencer said, “Please Dad…oh please Dad!!” Brother Oulerking said, “I have plenty of gear, and lots of food.” Tom agreed!!! I was a little upset. Come on this is my baby and he isn’t even a cub scout yet. I worried and worried all night long. The boys did not get home until 1PM the following afternoon.

Spencer did fine. The pictures prove it. However, we have agreed (Tom and I), that there will be no more scout campouts unless Tom goes with or until Spencer is 12.

Spencer is the first one in the photo and Tanner is the second one!! They had a blast. However, all their laundry were full of sand!! I am glad they had such a good time.

Look at Spencer's Smile. He can't wait to be a grown up (12 year old) scout!!

American Idol.....

For those of you that know me.........I have not been a big fan of reality TV. I think it is mostly because TV evolved without us while we lived in Taiwan. When we returned it seemed that every night was a new TV reality show with a different theme.....some bachelor trying to find love.....chefs trying to win praise from a mean chef.....some sort of dancing show that I could never figure out.....trying to be a director for Matt Damon and Ben Afleck....and the list goes on. I heard lots of stories about American Idol. I couldn't quite understand the rules of it and honestly, did not give it much time. My mom and sister were addicted. They called each other after the show and shared their opinions about each performance. I was again, let them enjoy what ever it was they were loving so much.

I don't know what happened to me this year. Maybe it was the long winter. It may be that I was flipping through channels and was shocked to hear some British guy sitting next to Paula Abdul just ripping on some poor sap that "thought" he could sing. That was all it took. I watched from half way through the first episode and have been glued since.

I think what has made it more fun for me is that now I feel like I have so much say in who wins (not really, but it feels that way). I watch each night and call in my votes.

David Archuleta (a Murray local) has been a pleasure to watch. We had David Archuleta day in Murray last Friday. It was a blast. The spirit that was in the air was much like what it was when the Olympics were here. You could feel the pride in the air. It was awesome. Yet, David seemed so humbled by the support he received from his home town.


Governor Huntsman proclaimed May 9th "David Archuleta Day". He thanked David for helping the economy (lots of T-shirt, button, mugs with "VOTE for DAVID" sales). David was given a huge basket from the Mayor of Murray and Granite School District. They said they couldn't give him a key to the city because he "owns" it. David continually seemed shocked and surprised by the mass support of fans he had.

Later that night he started off the Jazz vs. Laker game by leading them off in singing the Anthem.

I guess reality TV is not that bad. I really have enjoyed the contestants and judges. I think Simon is my favorite. He is usually right, I think.

Thanks for listening to my rambles....

A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE PEOPLE.....

Of course Spencer and Tanner are favorites. We feel blessed to have them as our boys. They make us laugh all of the time. This picture is from Valentine's 2006.

We love our Grandma's so much. They are wonderful people. Grandma De and Grandma Zan are so good to us. We are blessed to have them as family.

Grandpa Louie and Grandma Zan at the ranch (Brown's Hole) near Moab. We always have so much fun when we camp with the Martin clan.


Grandma and Grandpa Watts are always so thoughtful and caring. We love them so much. This picture was taken in Window Rock, AZ. November 2005.

Rachel is my favorite sister. Okay, she is my only sister. But this past year I have felt a special closeness to her. She has been so good to me and has been a real strength. I love her so much.
Ha!! Its is "my" cousin Ruth. Need I say any more? She is so fun...so awesome...so incredible...such a strength....and always there for me!!! Even though she lives in the Mesa, AZ. I hope sometime we get to live in the same city as each other. Ruth is a RIOT!!! Crazy girl.

My cousin Missy has also been so great. We really got to know her again when we lived with her while we waited to close on our house. It was suppose to be a 2-3 week time frame but it ended up being 6 weeks. We had a blast. She is so much fun and a wonderful example.

Atalie, our first night in Cancun. We had a blast. Even if the first night was at a super scary motel. Our Spanish classes from high school failed us when we got lost trying to get back to our motel. It was just fun being with Atalie. She has been my best friend for 22 years!! We still talk a lot. I love her. She is family.


This is Mike and Atalie on their wedding day in Mesa, AZ. It was awesome to be there and be part of their happy day.



Tanner and his best friend, Michael Dayton. Tanner and Michael have been best friends since they were born. I have pictures of them in the tub together when they were babies. They have so many of the same experiences and grew close while we lived in Taiwan.

Shirley has been a wonderful friend. She was my boss at UPS. Then she worked with us at SRI. We have been through a lot together. It has been a blessing to have her be part of our lives.


Heath has been a great friend for years!! I can't believe it has been 18 years!! She has always been so good to come visit us no matter where we have lived in the world. She has been so awesome to invite me on some fun trips (Ireland, Scottland, England, New York, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cancun, etc.) She was there the day we got married. She has known my boys since they were babies. She is awesome.

What a little man. This is my nephew Bailey. I love him so much. He is often referred to as my "medicine". He makes me happy. He likes to call me on the telephone. The picture above is old. He will be 3 in June. Just the other night he woke up at 2AM. He saw Rachel's cell phone on the couch. He usually calls me from Rachel's cell phone. He picked it up and some how called Matt and Heidi at 2AM. Heidi didn't answer but heard the cell phone. She listened to her message and it said, "Hi Aunt Kim"......he was trying to call me!!! How awesome is that? He is just a sweet little guy and we have a special closeness. I was there when Rachel and Jonnie took him home from the hospital and brought him home. It was such a spiritual experience to be a part of that. He is adopted. When he was sealed to Rachel and Jonnie in the temple I was able to be part of that and hold him as he was sealed. It is so awesome to know that he is part of my eternal family. I do have the greatest nieces and nephews on both sides of the family. I will upload pictures of them later.


This is me and Munchie. She invited me to be on her bowling team. We bowled with Carolyn and Helga for 3 years. I didn't bowl this year. I had too many conflicts. But it was so fun to bowl and spend every Wednesday with my Munchie. She was so kind to take us into her home while we waited for our home in Draper to finalize. Some thing that I really admire about Munchie and her family is that she and every single one of them (Uncle Dave, Adam, Missy and Dan) all served missions. I think it is so neat that they are all returned missionaries.

A little bit about our family.......

I have had (surprisingly) a lot of requests to update my blog. I guess this is more of a disciplined commitment than I realized. Right now I do not have new pictures to upload......I will by the end of next week...so I decided to write a little bit about who I am and who Tom is. I know that most of the pictures I upload will be of the boys you will get to know them better in time.

Most of my memories come from Price, UT. A small town in UT. I loved it. I always promised myself that my boys would be blessed with the same opportunity. But some how life hasn't quite worked out that way for us. I am a graduate of Carbon High School. I was a DINO. Don't knock it because I loved it. I had the small town, great friends, awesome ward and just incredible people who helped mold me into the person I am today. I give them credit for the good things about me.

I graduated from the College of Eastern Utah, also in Price. That is where I met Tom.

Tom grew up 2 hours away from me in Moab, UT. He graduated from Grand County High School. He went to CEU in Price for 1 year and then went on a mission to Harrisburg, PA. After his mission we returned to CEU where we met.

During his freshman year his best friend became David Dayton. David is also from Price. It is funny how many times Tom and I crossed paths because he did so much with David and helping Carbon Highs debate team. Tom knew lots of people from my graduating class. We often wonder how things would have turned out if we had met then. It would have been fun to write him on his mission. He thinks he was too much of a nerd then.

Tom and I got married in 1992 (I know we are old). After we graduated from CEU we went on the the University of Utah. After graduation we took our 8 month old baby and moved to communist China (what were we thinking?) through a BYU program. We lived in Qingdao for 1 year. We had an incredible experience. It was the first time my heart had ever truly loved a group of people. It was the most Christlike love I had experienced up to that point in my life.

We also had an opportunity to travel to Beijing and see things I never thought I would see. We have had the opportunity to go back and have been amazed by the changes and how fast China is growing in every way possible. It was hard to leave. I knew that many people I had grown to love....I would probably not see again in this life time. Our Tanner-man had learned so much by the time we moved back. He was walking and talking some (20 Chinese words to 10 English words) and had a huge personality. So taking a baby to China turned out okay. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but for your first and not knowing what you don't know is a plus.

We moved back to our home in Salt Lake. Tom worked at American Express and went to grad. school. Once he had his MBA his best friend some how talked us into moving to Taiwan with him and his family. We did pray about it and we know it was where we were meant to be. This time we took our 6 year old son Tanner and our new little Spencer who was 4 months old. This time I had a better idea of what I was getting into. I feel like we were more prepared for a baby this trip. We moved to a smaller city on the island called Jia Yi. It was awesome to be able to attend a ward while we were there. We also had a temple in Taipei.

We were able to learn a lot of Chinese while we were here. Tanner had the opportunity to attend first and second grade at a Taiwanese public school. The first month his teacher told us she was concerned about Tanner because he was speaking to anyone and didn't seem to be picking up the language. The next month she said her problem was that he spoke to much and couldn't believe how fluent he was. We have video of him bearing his testimony in Chinese. It is pretty cute. Spencer refused to speak Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai or English. He decided to wait until we moved back to the states to talk. He was just letting us know early on that he would do things when he was ready. Tom learned some Chinese but not a lot. I was able to learn a little more because I was able to go out on splits with the sister missionaries. They taught me a lot.

Again we made some wonderful friends. It was a time for us to grow leaps and bounds as a family. We had our trials. But we have lots of fond memories and lots to be grateful for.

We lived in Taiwan for 3 years. It is something that our family thinks of often. We love to talk about good times we had there. We love to talk about the people and trips we took. One time I got stuck taking the boys to Hong Kong to renew our "green cards". We left Jia Yi at 4 in the morning by train. Got a taxi to the the Kaohsiung airport and then flew to Hong Kong. Luckily we were able to get our visas within a few hours. The boys both got sick with high fevers. After getting our visas we moved our flight up and flew back to Koahsiung. I did not have it in me to find a train or bus back to Jia Yi. So we grabbed a taxi and he took us all of the way home. Tom was being sweet and knew we would be tired. Not knowing that I had bumped our flight up, he hired a driver and was on his way to the airport to pick us up. So we passed each other going opposite directions, both planning to surprise the other. When I got home, I was shocked when Tom didn't answer the door. Then I realized I didn't have keys. I went down to our doorman and he said Tom left about 2 hours ago. I called Tom's cell phone. He said, Kim I have been looking all over for you.....where are you? After a confusing conversation we realized what had happened. Luckily we had a spare key at a friends in Jia Yi. He let me in. It was a long day. But we got our visas for another year.

After 3 years of living in Taiwan it was time to come back. We moved back to Murray, UT. We lived there for 3 years. Almost 2 years ago we bought a home in Draper. I love it here. We do get a little bit of the small town feel but we live close to the big cities.

I am not going to edit this so you get grammatical and spelling errors. Sorry. I'll try and be better at updating this.