A Great Place but even better Friends!

Most of the pictures are worth a thousand words. We had a ton of fun with the Bennett's in Island Park. Their whole family was able to be there and we were excited to be a part of it. Too bad I don't have pictures of the one big room with 30, yes that's right I said 30, beds in it. Four playpens, 17 kids and how ever many adults it was tonz of fun and total craziness when bedtime came. We spent a day in Yellowstone at Old Faithful and some hot pots, went swimming a ton, had some traditional reunion stuff and ate like it was the last time we ever would. MMmmm, good. We traveled home through Jackson Hole and Bear Lake and we even got to stop at La Beau's, too bad I didn't get a raspberry shake. So in between no sleep and Boston throwing up we had fun. It was great to be around our friends from WA and to get to know the family that did not live there while we did. We miss them a lot! Oh but we did get to have them all stay at our place Sat. night, it was awesome and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Mindi, Griff's party was the week before so I am not amazing just a couple weeks behind in blogging. Hee, Hee!
So enough words look at the pics.

Griffy turns 1!!!

So it happened all too quickly! Our Griff has turned one year old. He is such a cutie and a good baby, except when he is teething but let's not get into that. He brings me so much happiness and joy. He is sweet beyond compare. He took his first steps about 6 days before his birthday and has been trying more and more everyday. He loves to play with Kennedy, and sometimes Boston when Boston isn't trying to harm him. He loves to play on the stairs, okay not that safe but we are usually watching. He loves to be outside and loves to take baths. His newest curiosity has taken him to the toilet, yuck. Now all doors must be closed and seats down. He is a total momma's boy but loves to smile at anybody as long as I am holding him. He has all his teeth except for canines along with that comes a beautiful smile and contagious giggle. He loves to play pattie-cake and is getting really good at all the actions. Griff looks a lot like Kennedy and has a very similar build. Griffy has followed Kenna's growing pattern and therefore will probably be a skinny bum his whole life.
As you can see at his party he didn't like his cake very much. I must say the cake was AWESOME! Thanks Jess. I think the Ross Reunion the day before really tuckered him out. So when he wouldn't eat any Josh decided to shove his face in it, So sad yet a little humorous. After a nap on the floor during wii homerun derby he was ready to go again. Thanks all for coming it was a great day!!

A little of what has been going on!

This is a long post with a lot of pictures. We have been busy and had lots of fun. Enjoy!
So the last few days have been full of fun and very busy. We started out last Wed. going up Logan canyon and spending some time with my great friend Natalie and her family. It was so much fun. Our kids get along so well and finally Josh and Justin we able to meet. No pics of this because we took them all with Nat's nice camera.
Then Josh had a couple of days off for the 4th of July. I am so grateful to live in this free land. I cannot begin to express how I feel. I got all choked up singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic" at Church last week. It is not something I think about often enough but for others, like my friend Brooke, it is on their minds everyday. Having such great people defend our country so long ago and this very minute, they are making such a huge sacrifice for us. Thanks to all those that serve our Country, you are great and always in our prayers for your safe return.
On a lighter note. We spent Thurs. at the pool and it was lots of fun. I was glad that Josh was with us. Boston only escaped once and we found him at the top of the huge slide. I wish I had a picture to show how high it was. Funny, but not. The little stinker. Despite my best efforts and sunscreen Josh and I got toasted and poor Kennas cheekers got burned. Thank heaven for sunshirts. Thurs night we enjoyed the Logan fireworks with a wonderful view from Gossner's. It really was the perfect place. Griff would go "OOOOO" and point and Kenna and Boston really liked them as well.
Friday we headed off to Mantua to camp with Mom. Nikki's fam was there and we all had a great time. Thanks mom for the good food and thanks Nikki for letting my kids mooch. Walker, Kennedy and Halleigh found a fun stream that was beautiful, and it had a rope swing that went over the creek. It was fun until the camper's who paid for the spot came and kicked us out. j/k.
Saturday we were able to see Halleigh get baptized. What a wonderful day it was and we are so pround of her and her decision to be baptized. Jessika and Gary put on a fantastic bbq and we had a great time visiting. About 1pm Nikki and I headed up to the salon for hair-do's. Audrey came into town and got fixed up as well. Thanks Nikki, we are beautiful once again. Hee, Hee. That night we took Audrey and Dave to meet my fam at the Logan Cruise In. It was so cool to see all the antique cars. The kids had a blast!! Especially my dad. Yes I consider him a kid when it comes to classic cars, he gets so so excited. After the cars we went and pitched some more horseshoes. DAve and I whooped Josh and Audrey!! Hey and I got my first ringer. Wahooo!
Well, that was a lot and we are very tired. Now for a few days at home to clean up before our next adventure. And a big shout out to Brad and Jen and their inventro process. Congrats and Good Luck!! Love you.

My Garden!

I have been so excited to have my very own garden this year. That was a must when looking for our home. I had a small container garden in Vancouver and it got me hooked. It is something I really enjoy doing. Now I really am just a beginner so this one is trial and error. I didn't really realize how much I planted until I started typing it up. I have already had failures: broccoli and cauliflower. So I pulled those out and planted pickling onions yesterday. My best growing plants has to be my tomatillo pepper plant and the tomatos and beets aren't doing too bad either. So the contents: tomatoes (a few varieties), jalepeno pepper, red and green bells, cylindrical beets, cucumbers, onions, tomatillo and in the pics you'll see the broccoli and cauliflower. Around the house I have some zucchini and spaghetti squash. If it all works then we'll have a busy canning season and lots of good eats!
Sorry about spelling errors. Also these pics were taken a couple of weeks ago, I will post a more recent one in a couple of days. Everything is a lot bigger now. The slide show has kind of a crazy design, but cool.

A Great Week!

Okay, so most of you reading this know that I have the best father-in-law in the world. Sorry for the rest of you, j/k. Dave was able to come and stay with us for a whole week while Audrey was over seas. It was great!! We tried some new recipes and some longstanding favorites, food always plays a big part when we're together. We went to the park several times, played horseshoes, shopped (poor Griff was such a trooper), ate, picked me out a bike, ate some more, worked on the yard and garden, fixed some sprinklers, took naps, went to the library, gossners, distribution center, watched some movies, went to the Temple, and contemplated the worlds biggest mysteries and solved them, but we'll let the rest of you figure them out.
The kids just love Grandpa Dave. He is so cute with them. Boston would wake every morning asking for Grandpa, who cares about mom, he just wanted Gramps. Well until Gramps drenched him with the hose. Griffin was getting used to Gramps just as he left now we'll have to start at square one next time. We also gave Dave his diaper changing opportunity for the decade. This time it was Griff and I'm sure it will be at least another 10 years before he does it again, thanks Dave. I know Josh loved being able to come home and hang out with his dad even though most of the time they were in the un-airconditioned blue car. Yipes, we really need to upgrade. We don't want them baking like toasted cheesers anymore. I don't think Josh will enjoy playing horseshoes with me quite as much. Kenna will miss her Gramps. She loves that he will read her stories and take her for walks. So special. I too had so much fun. I'm just sad the week is over. We look forward to the next time Grandma is out of town. No offense Audrey, we'd love for you to come down as well. This is a long no picture post, sorry we were so busy having fun that I forgot to take pics. I'll remember next time. Thanks Dave, you're the best!!

Throwing some shoes!

A few years ago Josh and his dad started throwing horseshoes. It is something that I have done a few times with my own dad. Dave learned with his dad. Here at Willow Park they have quite a few pits so it has been really nice to go play. There is a playground feet away from the fenced horseshoe pits so Boston and Kenna can play and still be supervised. Griff usually gets the shaft and has to be buckled in his stroller but with a few toys and a cup of cheerios he is in heaven. On Sat. evening we went and played and it was so fun. Nice weather, fun game, and Josh cheating. Sounds about right, huh? Just kidding but he is really getting the flip down. Josh threw a couple of ringers and Grandpa Dave got one too. I have yet to throw a ringer but someday I will.

Kenna's Kingergarten Graduation and Year in Review

So this is a little late coming but I wanted to share pics from Kennedy's special day at Kindergarten Graduation. She asked me for weeks if it was tomorrow! She was so excited to show me the things she and her class had been working on. She was a little shy up on the stage which surprised me a little but she did an amazing job. They sang a bunch of songs about letters and numbers, a cute rapping song called "The Rules of the Classroom" it was hilarious, and they ended with "Your a Grand Ole Flag". Kennedy really loves school and does well at everything. Mrs. Comte always told me how much she enjoyed having her in her class and hoped we wouldn't move before the end of the year. She said Kennedy is definately a leader and loves her enthusiasm. Things Kennedy loved about Kindergarten: Mrs. Comte, she listened to her better than me; Recess, what kid doesn't; rotations, lots of art; the Kindy 500, she is so into anything American; and of course her friends. She got particularly close with a cute little girl named Kamri. It was really sad to separate them. Kamri was Kenna's first bff. I loved seeing Kennedy succeed. She can read and write like it is no big deal, but it is huge. She was so good at homework, definatley got that from Josh, and would do anything to please Mrs. Comte. She got to have a picture displayed in the school of a drawing she did for her principal when he was sick she that that was pretty cool. She also won a helmet for another drawing, which we forgot to pick up, but exciting nonetheless. And everyone in the office knew her because of her pretty red hair. She was the only Red headed girl all morning and afternoon kindergarten classes. We are so proud of her and hope that she contiues to love school. I had a lot of fun helping out when I could. I was able to help with Thanksgiving, Valentines and Teacher appreciation. We had a great experience in Kindergarten. The slide show is kind of backwards and the captions are not showing up but now everyone who was not able to be there can see what a great time Kennedy had in Kindergarten.