Donnie and Kira's Wedding

Part of the reason we went to San Diego was for my brother Donnie's wedding. It turned out to be a great day and we were happy to see Donnie and Kira get married. Here are a few pictures from the wedding.

The family outside the temple

Kira and all her neices

Daddy and daughter

Kira had this room set up for the kids with their own treat bucket and babysitters if we wanted to leave them. My kids wanted to be out where the party was, but we did leave Rachel for a bit so we could get something to eat in peace!

Lucas enjoying his meal

This picture is classic..I love Lucas' face as my neice Cami just takes charge and starts the dance!

My Mom and Donnie dancing!

The monster princess

Nieces dancing it up

Rachel trying out the dance floor

Grandma and Rachel

I also posted a video of the kids dancing....against Ben's wishes! He thinks I am mean and that I shouldn't post this because it's too personal! I think it is too classic and will probably use it against him someday....like maybe when he get's married. I don't know where my kids came up with their dance moves....I'm blaming that one on Zac!

San Diego

This summer, we were lucky to spend 2 1/2 weeks in San Diego visiting family, playing at the beach, staying at a time-share, and attending my brother's wedding. We always have so much fun there, it is sad when it's time to come home. Zac drove us down and flew back so I was there on my own with the kids for 10 days (he flew back down for the wedding and to drive us home) I was worried I might go crazy, but my mom helped me a ton and I kept the kids busy at the beach or swimming at pools. It went by much faster than I thought and I survived the single parenting easier than I thought! Here's a run down of our trip:

First up was the baptism of my niece Paige. It's always fun to be a part of big family events to be able to get together of everyone. We were glad to be able to share her special day.

We spent almost every day at the beach. Unfortunately, Rachel had her ups and downs at the beach and I often was able to leave her napping with my mom while I took the boys. She did enjoy this little pool my sister bought for her to play in. This particular day she lasted about 15 mintues before she got sunscreen in her eye and was miserable the rest of the time!

Lucas was very helpful in playing with her and getting her water to fill up her pool.

We spent our beach days where my Aunt lives and has a private beach access. It was fun because the kids were able to make friends with other kids who were there every day and other cousins as well.
This was at a Pioneer Day activity that my mom's Stake put on. They had a great lunch, many booths, and great entertainment. It was really hot that day and we didn't stay too long so we could go cool off at the pool.
I think the spanish ward had made this replica of the Nauvoo temple. I thought it was pretty amazing.
The 2nd week we were they we stayed at Lawrence Welk Resort. My friend Nicole came down with two of her kids to stay with me and help babysit my kids while I did wedding activities. We did a lot of swimming in their nice pools.Arianna and Sariah with my kids....the boys loved having two cute girls stay with us!

More beach fun...this day Rachel actually did pretty good...but notice the sand covering her body that also covered mine as well because she loved to crawl all over me. Gotto love babies at the beach!

Kids looking for sea shellsLucas digging a hole to China with his 2nd cousin Alex!

This is my niece Lizzy that I traded her mom for Rachel that day. I don't know if it was a fair trade, but Lizzy was definately a lot easier to take to the beach than Rachel and we had fun playing with her!

Beach, pool, family....that about sums it up and it's what keeps us busy and happy! We always have so much fun and always come home wondering why we don't live there! I keep thinking..maybe someday!

4th of July

Since I've been gone practically the whole month of July, I've got to play catch up on my blogging of our adventures. Starting off the month, we had a fun filled weekend for the 4th of July. We headed out of town on Thursday afternoon to Star Valley, Wy. We stayed at a cabin that was a friend of Zac's parents and was very nice indeed! I didn't get too many pictures of the cabin, but it was plenty big and had air hockey and pool table for the kids to play.

Here's Rachel hanging out with Grandpa!

The boys outside the cabin


On Friday, we headed up to Jackson Hole. We spent the day there shopping and browsing around. The kids are posing for a picture here after our impromptu picnic where we had parked our cars.

The family in front of the antler arch.

Us, Zac's Mom and Dad, Sister and Niece

On Saturday, the 4th of July, we had great anticipation of some exciting fireworks. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting this kind of explosion from the screaming monster. I just wanted to get her picture taken in her cute 4th of July outfit and bow! Is that too much to ask? Anyways, this is what I got!
And....more screaming!
That morning we headed out on a hike in Afton, WY to an intermittent spring. Here's a few more pictures.


After our hike, we told our kids we were headed back home since we had to make it back home that night to be at our Church on Sunday. They were a little disappointed and kept wondering if they would get to see any fireworks. Well, on our way, we decided to tell them that we had one more stop on our trip...kind of out of the way, but a worthwhile stop. From Afton, we drove all the way down to Provo, to go the the Stadium of Fire and see the Jonas Brothers. (We weren't planning on doing that when we originally decided to go to Star Valley, but happened upon tickets a couple of days before and decided it would be a fun surprise for the boys.)

Ben was excited to go to the concert, but thought he was too cool to scream and dance like all the crazy girls. He played it very cool, and quietly sang all the words to the songs since he knows them all. I think he was only slightly embarrassed by his mother's singing and dancing!

Lucas had fun messing around, eating his snow cone, and was so excited when they played his favorite song, "Love Bug"!

Luckily, I have a brother who lives in Provo who was staying home with his baby (while the rest of his family went) and I talked him into letting me put Rachel down to sleep at his house so we could go to the concert without her! Thanks Danny!

The fireworks were amazing and we all thought (even Zac) that the Jonas Brothers put on a good show. Unfortunately, the traffic was horrible getting out of there, and we didn't get home till 2 am! At least Zac was able to be in church on Sunday! It was a fast, crazy weekend, but we all had a great time.

Kindergarten Graduation!

Lucas graduated from Kindergarten this year. It's been a fun year for him, but we are both ready for him to be in all day school, so we're happy to be done and move onto 1st grade.

Lucas with his teacher Mrs. Shaw

The graduate

Lucas and I...he's not too excited about this picture...maybe he's too cool to pose with his Mom!

Lucas and his kindergarten buddies...notice the whole head difference in height!

Good-Bye My Friend!

I know that there are people that come into your lives at certain times and for certain reasons. When we moved into our house almost 4 years ago, I became friends with Nicole and instantly knew that she was one of those people. She has helped me through some major trials in my life and supported me through many ups and downs. She also has been my faithful running partner and even got me to run a marathon and wake up early to run in very, very cold weather! The past three years she's been going to school and completed her Master's degree in Social Work and her knowledge and experience has helped me "process things" and helped me feel "validated" (see I picked up on some terms!). I like to think of her as a great friend, but also a great counselor! Here we are at a surprise graduation party:

Anyways, I had to say good-bye to my friend last weekend as she moved to Las Vegas. I hate change and good-bye's, but I know we'll keep in touch. It's sad to see people go, but I'm thankful for all my great friends that come into my life.

Blast from the Past!

Yesterday, I had a fun time visiting with my favorite mission companion! She lives outside of Chicago now, but stopped by to visit our family on their way to Yellowstone for a family reunion. It was so fun to see her and her cute family. I thought it would be funny to post a picture from my mission. I KNOW I looked like a big geek, had longer hair, and had packed on some mission pounds....but she looks pretty much the same!

15 years ago...
15 years later...

Now she has a husband and 4 kids!........
It was really fun catching up and letting our kids meet for the first time. We had great times as companions and I can't believe it's been 15 years since my mission. Time goes by too fast!

This and That!

I have been slacking lately in my blogging efforts. I thought I would catch up with a few pictures of some recent events.

This is my new mothering technique when I can't stand the crying monster to follow me around all afternoon. It's usually right about the time I'm trying to help the boys with homework or fix dinner. I discovered that Rachel LOVES otter pops and will sit entertained as she tries to eat them. I cut it in half, and give it to her one at a time...but when she's done she demands more! She usually ends up eating about 3 whole otter pops in one sitting. She could go on if I let her....and there are plenty of times I am tempted because her pure enjoyment and entertainment is worth the sugar!

Lucas on his last day of soccer. He was happy to be done...and not so sure he wants to play next year. He's signed up so hopefully he'll change his mind!

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" I can't remember when he lost his top teeth, but I love his toothless grin!

This is what I call the baby monster in the morning with her crazy hair! She really is a monster but at least she's a cute monster!

We recently had an ice cream social for our ward. There was also a pie eating contest that was a big hit with the kids. I was a bit surprised when the bishop volunteered to participate, but little did we know he really had ulterior motives! The kids were bummed when I told them they couldn't do it too but wondered why it was ok for the bishop!Ben enjoying whipped cream on his face!Lucas was excited to participate because he thought he was going to be able to have a pie fight like the bishop!

Rachel overtaking the fishing game!