High School, those were the days...

Tony had his 20 year reunion last week. I can't believe he has been graduated for that long. He had such a good time catching up to his friends. It was fun to see all of there old high school pictures, he looked like such a baby. Here is a picture of him and some old friends.

Jack's Baptism

When I look back on my life and try to remember fleeting moments in time, I will remember Jack's baptism as one of my happiest days. The week leading up to a baptism is so crazy. You are cleaning, cooking, weeding, and just plain going out of your mind. It is hard in that time to focus on what matters. What mattered yesterday, is that Jack chose to have the first saving ordinance of the gospel preformed, and I can have comfort that he now has the Holy Ghost to guide him. I am so grateful for that knowledge.

We are so lucky to have the support of good friends and family. Thanks to those who helped me this week. I couldn't have done it without you!

As a side note, the cute pictures of Jack in his suit were taken by Darby Elizabeth Photography. Thanks Darby, you are amazing!

Happy 8th Birthday Jack!!!

Today is my baby's 8th birthday!! I don't feel old enough to have a 12 year old, let alone to have my BABY turning 8. We had such a fun day.

Jack, here are 8 things I love about you....

1-you are not just sweet, you are extra sweet.
2-you have a good heart.
3-you are shy, but not too shy.
4-you are smart.
5-you are a hard worker.
6-you always let everyone play.
7-you write me nice notes.
8-finally, the best thing i love about you, is that i get to be your mom!

Kaitie and I decorated Jack's room while he was sleeping..


We also took Jack and a few friends to Chuck E Cheese...Good times
>

Hope your day was happy, Jack!!!

Dawn came to town...

Dawn came to visit us last week, and we had lot's of fun. It was so good to see her, she has always been so good to our family. The kids all loved seeing each other too. We went to lunch, then lunched again, and then we lunched some more...Now that is my kind of week!!

We also went and saw the Temple, it is so beautiful. We had a great week!!

The 3rd of July party

Gary and Erica had their annual 3rd of July party, and as usual, they did not disappoint... Thanks you guys for good times!


Jacob and Jack loved the face painter, or in this case, the arm painter.



Tony even got in the action with a pie eating contest. I know, I know, you'll all be SHOCKED to find out that he WON!!






We had such a great time---Happy belated 4th!

It's been a while...

I have let life (and all the season finales) get the best of me, and have neglected my blog. Now that Grey's, Survivor, Lost..and a few more guilty pleasures too embarrassing to admit that I watch are over for the season, I can update ya'll on my happenings for the month. ( I know, I know, your just dying to hear.)

May was full of kids. We were off track for the most part of the month, so we got an early start on summer. We went to Lagoon, Megan opened her pool(YA), and we went to Vegas.

We went to Las Vegas over Mother's Day. Kaitlyn and Olivia dance together, so when their competition ended up in Vegas, Andrea and I didn't pass up the oppertunity for a girls trip. We had lots of fun. Kaitie and Olivia did great on their dances. It was so much fun hanging with the girls.

They found those goofy sunglasses at the outlet store and couldn't take them off. My niece Allie even got into them. We call this her John Lennon look.


We also went along with the Johnstons to Timpanogas Cave. It was a blast! Believe it or not I had never been, and I thought is was beautiful. The kids really enjoyed themselves too. Thanks Megan for planning it!
Not enough pictures of the cave??? Don't fear, Tony took about 300, so if you'd like to see more let me know. He's such a tourist.. Ha Ha

May was also filled with Tony taking the youth to all the temple celebration practices. Last Saturday the youth from 23 stakes (7,000) in all performed at the Conference Center. Kaitlyn was a "fan dancer".

When I came to see the performance, I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that my husband and daughter had been gone every Thursday and Saturday for the past six weeks for all of the rehearsals. I hoped it was worth all the time that had been put into it by the leaders and the youth. I have to say that when everything was said and done, it was amazing. You could feel the spirit so strong. It wasn't because it was quiet and reverent, in fact, it was the opposite. There were people clapping, dancing, and our stake even had these amazing drummers. It was loud and fun, it was a true celebration. All of these crazy kids were all there to celebrate the new temple. It was organized and beautiful. The spirit was so strong because of the youth. The experience of standing together,7,000 strong, is something that I don't think they will forget.

It's also pretty awesome to witness silence from that same group of loud, noisy, excited,teenagers when the Prophet of the Lord walked in the room. I am so grateful that Kaitie and Tony were able to be a part of that experience.

The 14 layer cake

What do you do when you have some down time on a Sunday afternoon?? Well Megan and I attempted to make a 14 layer cake that our friend Dianna had made a couple of weeks ago. She got the recipe from Oprah. 3 hours later...Voila!!



It was DEEELISCIOUS!!!!

Sixth grade play...

There was fast talking, there was murder, there was drama, it was none other than Mrs. Rinehart's sixth grade class in Macbeth, and oh what a fine job they did. Kaitie got to play one of the three witches, check out her ratted hair..(Missy eat your heart out!)

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

We had such a nice Easter. We went to my brother's ward and listened to him speak,(he did a great job). My nephew, Parker was also ordained a Deacon.


We also had a big Easter egg hunt in the back yard. Check out Kaitlyn, she's running! Do you think she knows her days of Easter egg hunts are winding down???

Easter Egg Hunt.. Or Bust???

So I had read in the paper that there was going to be a flashlight Easter Egg Hunt on Friday night. I thought that would be something different and fun for my older kids. I also decided to invite the Johnstons and the Almonds to come along. We were all ready, infact it was all Andrea's little girl, Halle could talk about. The problem was that when we arrived we were told that there had been a misprint in the paper. The flashlight hunt was for ages 13-18, not 3-18. The little ones were so disappointed. What a bust!! I was proud of my boys for being good sports.



We decided to let Kaitlyn and Chayden go ahead and participate because they are both 12, we figured close enough.

Pinewood Derby

Jacob and Jackson had the Pinewood Derby last Thursday. They had so much fun. They raced until the final round, their cars were pretty fast (thanks dad)...

Well, we finally are catching up to the rest of the world and officially starting a blog. I thought this would be the perfect time because we have had a lot of excitement lately. Last week my beautiful niece, Ashley was married. She was such a beautiful bride, and Kaitie got to be a flower girl. She loved every second of it...

The boys looked so cute in their suits--they helped take the presents.