First Camping overnighter Ever!!!

Ok, so my kids have been begging to go camping, and throughout the years we have been collecting the gear, and so when the ward announced our annual camping trip we were sooo excited. Dave and I set up the tent the night before, to make sure we could do it, and it's a huge 8 man tent! It's really nice. It was only a one nighter, so we felt comfortable trying it out and getting a feel for what we might need on future camp outs.

My kids loved it, the only bad thing was I forgot my camera! I had a friend take a picture of my girls sitting by the campfire snuggling up to our Bishop who is like a Grandpa to everyone, he is so great! See my Kids say the darndest things for a report of Michelles' conversation with him, in true Michelle fashion!






Over all the adventure was a success, and my kids are already asking when we can do it again!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATA!! THE BIG 29!!


This is me and Kata in Vegas at a Christmas pageant, I know, I love this girl, but we certainly didn't spend our time snapping pictures of ourselves, so my supply is limited.

This is dog the bounty hunter and Kata as his wife! She will kill me for posting this picture, but I had to, this shows her crazy wild side. You never know what you are going to get when you are with this girl, she is sooo fun!

Happy Birthday Kata!

Kata is one of the most beautiful people I have ever met, inside and out! She is such a bosom friend, and those are hard to come by! She is one of the reasons it was hard to leave Vegas, because truly a friend like her is one in a million!

Kata is one of the best mom's I have ever seen in action! She goes out of her way to do fun things every day with her little ones. She does crafts with them, plays barbies or trucks with them, makes goodies with them, takes them on bike rides in 100
degree weather, takes them swimming, the list goes on. I was and still am inspired by the kind of mom that she is. She truly magnifies her calling as a mother.

I love you Kata! Happy birthday!!

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a low key 4th, we took the girls swimming at the Legacy center, which was a hit! Michelle kept asking me if this was the funnest thing I have ever done in my whole life...if only I was that easy to please!


My little swimmers!


Time to go home!









That night we invited Dave's Dad over for a BBQ, he was a lone man, Vanet and Kaitlin were visiting Dave's sister Jenny in Idaho. It's just wrong to be alone on the 4th!



Grandpa Chuck ie. "Little Grandpa" as opposed to my Dad, "Big Grandpa" giving my girls a little history 101, on the birth of our nation


Michelle and Rachel enjoying purple rain, a great choice by Dave, they can pack a lot of firework in for $2.99


Rachel not enjoying the screaming mimi so much!



Awwww, Happy 4th Everyone!

No Green Thumb Required!! My little garden has GROWN!!

This is my Lettuce, I can't believe how it has just tripled in size!


Our cute little green peppers!


This is spinach, it is fabulous if you steam it and add some butter and salt, mmmm!


My pride and joy, other than my children of course are these zucchini plants! They are starting to burst with little zucchini's!


In another month or so, we should have some beautiful tomatoes off of these babies! In the front of we have some squash plants, and we are starting to see the beginnings of some baby squash, it's so exciting!

Madison's last day of school was July 1st. Thanks to Carrie for sharing her fun family traditions, we started it in ours too! On the last day of school Maddie got breakfast in bed. She ordered pancakes and bacon. She was so happy to wake up, maybe I should adopt this more often...







With her new haircut, we weren't sure how putting her hair in six mini buns to sleep on over night would look...it looked crazy, she loved it and neither of us could stop laughing, we tamed it down by putting it in pigtails.


That morning at the school we had a little awards ceremony, where Madison received the High Flying Hawk Award, which was the highest award a child could receive! She had to complete 16 out of 20 assigned goals. She did a service project, she learned to tie her shoes, jump rope, write her address and phone number, complete math problems in a certain amount of time, get 90% or better on so many spelling tests, to name a few. She was so excited to wear that gold medal around her neck, and we are so proud of her and all her hard work!

Maddie looking bewildered in midst of all the children at the assembly

Great Grandma & Grandpa holding Rachel. They also came to support Maddie

My Dad holding Michelle while the awards were being given out

My dad, Me and my baby brother, he is single ladies!!

Michelle, looking jealous of that shiny gold medal hanging around Maddie's neck!

Maddie was awarded the "Best Animal Artist" by her classmates
Dave with his little 1st grade graduate!

Since my side of the family is getting so big, we decided to do one big party for whoevers birthday falls in that month. So, in June we celebrated Dave's birthday and my nephew Tanner's birthday. My SIL Brandi and I decided to plan the party up in Logan, where she and her family live so we could take their new canoe for a paddle. They ended up renting a second canoe to allow more people to participate at one time.

We went to this great park by Utah State University and had a picnic spot right next to a lake with the beautiful mountains right there. It was wonderful. We had lots of food and goodies and you can't beat the company. The biggest surprise of the day was my little brother Steve who is doing an internship in Detroit decided he would fly out and surprise everyone. I had this great idea of having him jump out of a box and shocking the pants off everyone, but he decided he would rather be more subtle. Everyone loved seeing him there, especially my mom, who was all screams and giggles. You would have thought she had won Lasik surgery all over again. She gives the best reactions.

This is me in the front of the canoe getting ready to head out into the lake for the first time. My oldest brother Jeff is giving me some instructions.

And we are off...look closely at the little body crunched down in front of me, that is Rachel. She is not so sure how she feels about this, Michelle is also in the canoe with us, she would cry every time the boat rocked, I am not sure my girls were cut out for canoeing! Although, Madison loved it, we couldn't get her out of it.

I leave Steve alone for 10 minutes with my camera and this is what I get...

Madison is really adventurous, she wanted to climb, canoe and explore with the best of them!

Fort Herriman Days, I was planning on entering their chili cook off, but called the day of for last minute details and found out that you HAVE to cook it on site! I was so disappointed, it would have won for sure! It isn't my recipe unfortunately, it's my SIL Amy's, she shared it with me, it's a white chicken chili...mmmmmmmm, fabulous! We decided to take the kids and let them run around and ride rides, and tire themselves out. It was fun, and Dave's sister Kristen came. We love having her around, and my girls adore her!

Michelle on the swings

Madison on the swings

Michelle and Rachel going for a boat ride

Two little Monkey's jumping on the bed...

Me and Aunt Kristen

Me and my hubby

We LOVE Great Grandma Ruthie!!! She is the funnest Great Grandma ever! She invited us over to make her famous homemade honey wheat bread. It wasn't enough for her to teach me, she wanted my girls to get their hands on the dough too! They loved it and took their job of kneading the dough very seriously. We took home 4 loaves and by the end of the day, I think we had one left, it is seriously that good!

Look what Madison wanted to do! It was a late Saturday night and Maddie got a wild idea, she wanted me to cut all her long hair off! So we did. It's great for the summer. Kids in her class told her they liked it better long, and Maddie said, it will grow back!

Madison has the cutest Teacher! They do the funnest things. For one the end of the year activities they had a "Teddy Bear Picnic" which all the siblings and parents were invited to meet at a park with their favorite stuffed animal and have a picnic. I love seeing Maddie mingle with her classmates. Her sisters love to visit her while at school, you'd think they hadn't seen eachother for months!

Eating our picnic lunch at the park.

Maddie swinging with Rach, she is such a good big sister!

Maddie has LOVED having Mrs.Harris for her 1st grade teacher! She tells her all the time how much she loves her. Mrs. Harris is pregnant with her first babies, that's right, she is having twin boys her first time around!! Lucky girl!

Shortly after Father's Day we celebrated Dave's 31st Birthday!! We can hardly believe it's true, 31!! The girls keep asking him if he is 31, I think it sounds really old to them too! For his birthday, which fell on a Sunday we made him his favorite breakfast of fried rice, eggs, sausage and oj. He is so easy to please. For his b-day present we got him 2 BYU Football season tickets! He is really excited about that.

We love Dave/Daddy, he is the Disney Land dad! He loves to rough and tumble with his girls and make them shriek with delight. He spends a good portion of his time on his hands and knees being their horsie. He is so good to get down and play with them, they just love him to pieces.

I am so grateful for the husband and friend he is to me! He is so patient and kind. I love how he helps and encourages me to be better. He is the foundation of our family and we all lean on him. It's hard to believe I have known him since he was 21! We were just kids when we met. We have grown up together really, and it's been a great adventure so far, and I can't wait to see where life takes us!

We managed to get away into the beautiful mountains and cook foil dinners. It was so yummy, and you can't beat that scenery! I love these mountains!! At Madison's request we also made smores, which were a big hit and a must have when you are in the mountains. A new thing for you all to try, which was introduced to us by my SIL, Cami, is roasting star bursts, you have to try it!!