Gratitude

I just thought I'd take a minute to be grateful for all that I have and all I've experienced throughout my life. I'm so indebted to my family and all they do for me. My Husband is such an amazing person, I love that I get to spend my life and eternity with him and our beautiful kids. Also thank you to my friends, you are such a great strength to me and help me balance my daily life with wonderful new perspectives and support. I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me so richly. The world is a wonderful place and I'm grateful to be in it.

Fun With Boys

This was a project that Reese and his friend Danny decided to embark on. Create your own sweet camo gear. It was great, they were busy out in the front yard for four hours, literally! They had a few episodes with trial and error and used two entire rolls of scotch tape before starting all over with the stronger, more efficient packing tape.

Reese is always talking about being a scientist and all the inventions he's going to come up with.. we thought this was a pretty cute one.

They finally got the result they were looking for, way to go boys! Good job sticking with it!

Reese, covertly maneuvering "operation camo"...

Keep it up little buddy, you're already a great scientist!

Summer, Summer, Summertime...

Feelin' cocky before the plunge, do I have a couple of hams or what?

There's the face I was expecting....

relaxing in the hot tub, Reese's floaties from the big jump still in tact... he does know how to swim but just wanted that security blanket for jumping...

Lil Elle

Pool buddies

Lost a tooth!!
There was considerable worry and discussion as to whether or not the tooth fairy could find us in St. George...

With Grandma Mary and Grandpa Tony, aren't they the cutest?

(the kids aren't too bad either...)

Nothing like palm trees..

Sam, enjoying his floaty

Making cookies with G-ma

BBQ season kicks off with Sam's famous ribs.

Earlier this week... Laura turns the big 4-0 !!!

Here with Grandma and Mom,

Grandma lost her glasses so had to use her back up, still so cute, she's 91!

So glad to have an awesome sister.

This is an ode to Laura at 40, she's amazing! This was just last summer in Cd'A,

keep on rocking sista!!

She's 10!

Happy Birthday Audrey!

We were so amazed the day you came into our lives. Our very first sweet little daughter, born May 25th, 1999. The lilacs were in bloom and it was a beautiful Logan spring day. You were born at 7:39 pm in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm. You were also our biggest baby, weighing in at 8lbs 12oz!

Some of my favorite things about Audrey is that she's always loved to have a good time at everything she does. She's very sweet and sensitive and loves to dance, but does not see herself as a "girly girl". It's been fun to see Audrey's silly sense of humor develop too. She loves to spend time with her friends and has been a straight-A student.

Since she was a toddler, she's loved to help in the kitchen and garden, and plant flowers with her grandma Mary. To this day she still loves to cook and play in the dirt. She is a great big sister and is so good to help me, especially with Elle.

Audrey, we're so amazingly proud of you, you are such a joy to watch grow and have so many great talents. We love you!!

She's beautiful, it's true!

The new bike! She likes it because "it's different and isn't all crowded up with stickers.."

How could my sweet little baby girl be in the double digits already?!! Happy Birthday Audrey, we love you so much!

On Our Way

After a brief In and Out Burger stop , it was onward to California! The drive really wasn't so bad.. we left pretty late in the day, but we got to see the sunset on the way down.

Happiest Place on Earth? Quite possibly...

We made it! Let the fun begin!

Elle was actually tall enough to go on most every ride, she even went on

Space Mountain and loved it!

Inside It's a Small World, one of my favorites!

The tea cups make me sick, so I sat them out...


After the girls and I were busy getting their faces painted, we walked over to meet Sam and Reese at the "Jedi Training Camp", which turned out to be one of the coolest experiences of Reese's little life so far...

We were careful to always go to things we wanted to see early which resulted in getting good seats for all the different events, so when Reese got called out of the audience to become a Padawan, we were so excited!!

They called all the kids up, put on their robes, and gave them light sabers, then they practiced special Jedi moves with their swords, only to be interrupted by Darth Vader, Darth Maul and Storm Troopers rising up out of the ground surrounded by ominous music and smoke! I wondered if it would be too much for some of the little kids...

Darth Maul was stalking around being menacing... here he is, growling at us.

Then, fantasy of all fantasies, each young Padawan got their own chance to use their newly learned moves against the villains themselves! Here's Reese, getting ready to fight!




After it was all over, they got official certificates saying they'd been trained in the Jedi ways and were only to use their skills for good. Reese could barely believe what had just happened to him and we left reminded of why Disney really is the best at what they do.



watching the parade at the end of the day, here,
Mary Poppins, being "practically perfect in every way.."

All the partying for three days straight did tucker us out, we were happy to move on to our beach day, till next time Disneyland!


The pose.

How he really feels...
Note, Elle still looks the same...