Summer

This =

This

Happy Father's Day

(I have to show off the fun things I'm making in Photoshop!)

The Children's Garden at Thanksgiving Point

On Tuesday I was able to go to Thanksgiving Point with my friend Andrea, and we went to the Children's Garden. I had never been, and was excited to go. So we got the kids in their swimsuits and went up for the afternoon.

There's a Giant Noah's Ark with water at the base.

The best picture I have of the kids together at the ark. Mara was not in the mood to look at the camera the whole time!!

I told the kids to just look at me and say cheese, but they decided to make poses!!

Jarom, Mara, & Xander

Mara playing with Josh.

(I love this picture)
Xander posing with one of the statues.
I was playing around with the settings on my camera and was able to get this fun shot of Mara running through the water!
I think my shutter speed was too high, because most of my pictures came out really grainy. I guess I need to play some more.
The only 'real' picture of Mara. She just didn't want to look at the camera!

There was a really fun Lighthouse that we were able to go into.

Xander, Jarom, Mara, & Julia.

At the top of the Lighthouse!!!

A full picture of the Lighthouse.

Mara & Xander riding the BEAR!!!!

Mara really didn't want to sit on it, but I made her anyway. The fist picture I got she was crying but then she decided that it was okay to be 'happy', but still not look at the camera.

Looking into the Bear Cave!!

Xander wanted me to follow him though it, so I did. It was a somewhat steep angle at the end and I ended up crawling. My knees hurt, but I did it. It is definitely made for kids and not adults.

My Boy!!!

At least on the higher shutter speed I was able to get Mara jumping!!! Water spurted out of these, and she liked to jump on them.

As always, a self portrait with my girl.

Xander liked to see if the water could get him in the face! It did a few times and then he was done!

Thanks again Andrea for inviting us with you! We had a great time and would love to go again!

Missing In Action

This is Mara's bear that she got on her first Christmas and she love love loves it! Bear has gone with us to Disneyland, Boise, the Cabin, and countless car rides. Mara takes this bear almost EVERYWHERE she goes. Little did we know that she was

MIA for exactly 5 1/2 hours today.

I had my Activity Day girls over today so Pat took the kids to the Library, and of course, bear had to go too. We didn't realize that she was missing until bed time. After searching the house 3 times, looking in the car, and every nook & cranny, she was no where to be found. So I asked Pat where he took the kids. The reply was Library & Target. My first thought is that she lost it at the Library, and they for sure would have it, but then he tells me that he knew that bear came out of the Library. So I asked if bear came out of Target, and he couldn't remember. I grab my cell phone and call Target (I have their # programed), I explain to Guest Services about the missing bear, after a moment she tells me that it's there!! We were in the process of putting the kids to bed, so we said goodnight and then I drove to Target and picked up the bear. It was dumb, but I totally cried in the car after I got her. It's one of those toys that your kids have had for so long that it's become a member of the family. I didn't know what I was going to do if it was gone. I'm just glad it didn't come to that. By the time I got home Mara was already asleep, so I snuck into her room and put bear next to her. I'm expecting to get a big smile and thank you from her in the morning. And now we have a new rule:

ALL TOYS STAY IN THE CAR!!!!!

I still can't believe that someone found her and turned her in to the lost & found. This truly is a tender mercy from Heavenly Father. He knew of the importance of the bear and made sure that she was reunited with Mara, and I thank Him for that.

Class of 99

I just got an email with this site. We are having our 10 year reunion on JULY 11th. Pass it on!!!!!!

For Me

One of my best friends just shared a quote with me:

"Our faith in God includes faith in God's timing"

- Neal A. Maxwell

*Thanks Stef! I really needed it. Love ya!

Follow The Yellow Brick Road...

On Monday, Pat saw in the newspaper that there was a Teddy Bear Picnic at the Orem Library that night. So we decided to go check it out!

The theme was 'Follow The Yellow Brick Road'.

We followed and it lead us to The Emerald City!!
We had brought a blanket with us and got a good spot!! My attempt at a picture with the whole family!

I love that Mara has a 'deer in headlights' look!
They had a puppet show, we sang some songs, and listened to some fun stories!

And what would be a fun family outing without some treats?!?!?!?!

I Love My Kids

No matter how hard my day is and how crazy my kids are, it's undeniable.

I Love My Kids!

Pool Time

We were able to get the pool out yesterday and the kids had a great time!

I invited my friend Andrea to bring her kids Jarom, Julia & Joshua over to play. They all had fun together. There was a lot of playing on the swing set and not much in the pool, but whatever, they were happy. (Xander is 7 months older then Jarom, and Mara is only a month older then Julia, so they usually have a great time playing together.)

This was supposed to be a cheese picture, but they all had a hard time looking at the camera.

Here is the funny face picture! I love how kids think that the only funny face is to pull your cheeks and stick your tongue out! At least Xander is an explorer!
After the funny face, I caught the girls doing the faces to each other!! Mara & Julia love to play with each other, especially in Nursery!! Mara calls her "Jula" instead of Julia. It's so cute and it makes me smile every time she says it!

Here is Andrea's youngest Joshua! He just turned one a few weeks ago and is the cutest little boy, and I love his curly hair!!

Thanks again for coming over Andrea!! I hope you didn't get rained on when you were walking home :) I hope we can do it again really soon!

Slippin' N' Slidin'

Saturday my mom bought a Slip n' Slide and a new pool for the summer. The kids were really anxious to try it out. We got the Slip n' Slide out and they loved it. There was a lot of slipping, but not much sliding.

Here is Xander on his first attempt, he did a belly flop and slid maybe a few inches. After that he wasn't too keen on trying again. But he did and loved it!

Mara had a hard time warming up to the idea of getting wet, but she finally did it and loved it!

Mara liked to have 'help' going through the slide, but she would only walk.

We had a great time and the kids are excited to Slip n' Slide all summer long!

I'm Still Behind

One of these days I'm hoping to be caught up on the blog. Life has just been crazy lately and it's finally getting back to normal.

First I have to post a picture of a note that Xander wrote to my brother JD. It is supposed to say "Me and JD like to be best, making best Lego Power Miners."

I had to take a picture of it before JD took it home.

We went to our cabin for a quick overnighter on Memorial Day weekend. I had to take a few pictures before we came home.

Mana & the kids on the way home.

I love going to Fairview in the early summer because there are tons of sheep around. I even took a video of the babies running and 'baa'ing.

The kids being silly in the car.

Saturday the 23rd we went up to the cemetery to put flowers on my dad's and my grandpa's graves.

My sister took this awesome picture of all of the flags they had out for all the people who have died that were in the service. My grandpa has a flag!!!!

On the actual Memorial Day, we got out Mana's new Dominos and the kids were busy for hours!!

I have some videos to post too, so I'll have to do that later.