Happy 9th Anniversary!

Mike and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary during our stay in Park City and the Reunion. Mike was a gem and got me some beautiful roses even though I protested. Because there was no way to go to dinner amongst the reunion proceedings that I was co-chairperson of, he made arrangements to go out for dessert sans kids that night. What a great hubby!

Happy Anniversary Mike. Though a certain doctor I used to work with doubted we would last more than 3 months, we have made it for 9 years. I guess I might as well keep you then. :) You are the best!

A week of Cool weather in Park City...oh, and a Reunion

Who knew that going up into the mountains by a few thousand feet lets you cool down by 40 degrees over being in Phoenix. It was a little summer heaven. We had a blast seeing all of my brothers and sisters from all over and being with my parents. We had an auction, a slide show night (thanks to Geoff for helping get ours done last minute), a near professional variety show ;) (Hollywood is knocking, baby), went to the Olympic Park Alpine Slide and SLC, board games at night after the kids went to sleep, and swam...A LOT. Oh, and family pictures. As the photographer said, kids the world is your oyster. They earned (i.e. were bribed with) a few popsicles for making it through. They are amazing pictures. Hopefully I can get permission to put one of our family on the blog!

Our Reunion t-shirt was designed by my co-organizer and sister, Saralyn. She drew the caricature of my parents herself. Katie put it on backwards this day. Silly girl, but it shows the picture really well.

Playing games during and after the...

auction was a lot of fun. We made enough money to pay for our pizza the last night! And the kids got some really fun things to play with.

Here we are at the Olympic Park before we go down their Alpine Slide. The kids had a blast! The skiers were jumping that day and it was a lot of fun to watch them do their jumps.

Playing tag with cousins was a lot of fun...

My kids got to do a skit with Grandma and Grandpa during the Variety Show. Those Grandparents are really cute!

A surprise baby shower for my little sister...she is a Betty Crocker ad. :)

A top the Conference Center for a tour with the Salt Lake Temple in the background. It was beautiful. The paintings inside are absolutely gorgeous. Well worth the trip and some wiggly kids.

I think there was money on the line in this card game...

Gondolas galore. Riding in the sky was a lot of fun...

We got to see our good friends the Harris'. They showed us around the BYU campus to see all of the changes. Many gorgeous buildings and such a peaceful feeling...

There is nothing like starting the recruiting trips at a young age.

It only took a few days to recover after this very busy week. It was a lot of fun. Now we are just sitting back and waiting for the next adventure. :)

Cache Valley, here we come...

We got to Logan and visited our friends the Robertson's that we met last year at Philmont. We had a great time and are planning to get together and (gasp) camp in Arches National Park. I just hope that I don't forget everything that we need for camping. We haven't gone "true" camping since I was expecting with Katie. Can you read up on stuff like this to prepare? Stop laughing...I'll panic later. Really, I think it will be fun. But enough about that...here are some pictures from going to the park together. The picture of Michelle didn't do her justice and since I still want to go camping with them, it is not being published, but she is beautiful and an awesome host. Thanks for a great weekend in a gorgeous place.

Christian got sick on this twirly chair and couldn't eat for hours afterward. He inherited my thrill seeking spirit with a queasy stomach. The chair didn't stop well and he was yelling for help from across the park. Mom ran to the rescue, but I had to get a picture first...

Here is Katie with her friend Callie...
Jack on the swing...
Mike with Jeremy and their son Andy and cutie daughter Aubrie...
Here we are at the Logan Temple before we left town for Park City. It is gorgeous. My Dad's family comes from Logan. It is a beautiful place with great friends there!

Road Trip - Cali to Utah!!

Around here we ride in style...notice the earphones for the DVD player (how I wish we had that when growing up), uncombed hair and lots of your favorite stuffed animals and dolls.

Our favorite shark toothed kid. Two rows on the bottom, that fits the criteria. At least for a while.


Welcome to Utah...


Dads dream, to visit the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway. He wants to race a car here someday.


It is not a racing picture without the car in the picture...


On the salt...Daddy's Dream...maybe for real someday...

Sculptures in the middle of the desert...it always strikes me as a little odd, but I always look for it.

Just too cute not to share...
Dad loves to Drive...

Family on the Fourth...

The fourth of July with Family in Pictures...I just love being with family!!!

Katie with her cousins Jenna and Heather playing hide and seek...
Silly Katie, walking around with her goggles on for a little while...
Pulling more faces...
Christian loving being with another boy...
My Mom, my Aunt Jean, and my Dad...

Melissa, Brother Aaron and niece Lindsey...

Cousin Jose and close enough to be "Aunt" Lynn.

We loved being with all of you!

Early Birthday Present

Early Birthday presents are always welcome, aren't they? We started our vacation by going to the American Girl Store in Los Angeles. It was not planned until the morning we left and my sister invited us to stay the night at her house. Her place just happens to be 6 miles from the store and I thought, what a great way to get a birthday present for Katie. She decided about a month ago that she was willing to put all of her birthday money towards "Ruthie" one of the American Girl dolls. She has been reading a ton of the books and has fallen in love with the idea of a doll. Her birthday was a month and a half away, but you can't really buy a doll on the road and then not let her play with it. It was a blast. We were there for over an hour and had no idea that the time had flown by. Well, maybe Christian did. It was so fun to watch Katie as she picked her stuff out and then just wanted to buy it and get out. We forced her to take some time and enjoy it and then got her to stop being shy long enough to take some pictures before we left. The movie just came out with the Kit Kittredge and her friend Ruthie so there was the house in the outdoor mall and stuff all over the store with them. It was a lot of fun.

Here is a picture of a brother being a boy in a doll store. :)