Breaking Dawn!!!

Is anyone else as excited about the release of this book as I am? I heard about the Twilight series, but I didn't really pay attention because it was written for young adults. Although I consider myself to be younger rather than older (no laughing Katie!) I didn't think I would like them. However, after a few of my friends read the books and told me how much they loved them I decided to read it. So on a Friday afternoon last September I bought Twilight. I started reading it at about 9 that night. I stayed up until 1 reading. The next day I went to the store and bought New Moon. Saturday was really busy so I was only able to read for about 2 hours. Then on Sunday I finished all but 100 pages of the book, and I really wanted to read the next book, but I couldn't go until Monday to buy it. I finished the last 100 pages Monday morning and ran to the store to buy Eclipse. I read for a couple of hours and then had to take care of my mommy duties so I had to wait until Tuesday morning to finish it. Unlike the other books Eclipse didn't have the first chapter of the following book, possibly indicating that this was the end of the series. I was dying! Later that month I checked Stephenie Meyers' website and it said that there was going to be another book! I went to amazon.com and ordered it as soon as it was available. I can hardly wait to read it.

Well, now that it's going to be out tomorrow, and since Amazon couldn't guarantee that it would be here on the day it was released I canceled my order so I could pick up my copy as soon as it was released. 3 of my sisters have read this series (finally!) so 2 of them are coming with me to the Barnes and Noble party tomorrow night. And they'd better not wear their prom dresses!

More pictures from Utah

We took the kids back to Temple Square. We went back to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for lunch at the Garden Restaurant. They opened the roof while we were there, and the kids thought it was one of the coolest things they had ever seen.

Natalie was very excited to see the statue of Christ. Drew thought it was really cool, but then he discovered the gold railing so he had to hold on to it and run the length of it.

These were a few of the sights we saw on the drive back home.

Fun in the sun

Today was such a hot day. Since we don't have a pool I sometimes let the kids turn on the hose while they jump on the trampoline. Or they'll spray the slides on the swing set and slide down really fast and see who lands the furthest away from the bottom of the slide. Natalie and I had doctor's appointments today and when we got home the boys were already outside jumping with the water. Natalie took one look at them and went outside in a flash.

Cole ran over to the door as soon as I opened it to take pictures of the kids. He loves to come inside. When he's wet. And muddy. And smells like a nasty wet dog. Not happening. He was sad and wouldn't look at me while I took his picture. I had to clean up after his last trip inside while he was wet and muddy. He ran in, ran across my freshly mopped floor (of course), ran to the family room, sat down until he saw me approaching, then ran to the front room where he stood and shook himself off all over the carpet, the end table, the coffee table, the piano, the front door, the lamp, etc... It took a while to clean everything up. So I wasn't going to chance him coming in again while he was wet!

Then my cute little Smokey. He's our miniature schnauzer. He was supposed to be an inside dog, but he decided that he preferred being outside. He loves to roll in the water. So his fur gets all nappy. We decided that we would keep his coat short during the summer to cut down on all the snarls. When he's fully groomed he is so cute.

Here are the two dogs when they're groomed and looking cute.

Happy Anniversary Kent!

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. Kent and I got married when we were SOOOO young! We got married in the Mesa, Arizona temple. It was so hot that day... one of the highest temperatures ever recorded in Phoenix... 121 degrees. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/psr/general/history/index.php?page=100deg I thought I was going to melt in that wedding dress! My mom's parents, who are now both deceased, were able to come to my wedding. I was so happy that they could come. (And Kent has my grandpa to thank for that day happening. My grandparents came down a few months after Kent and I started dating, and my grandpa talked to Kent for a while and got to know him. He gave me his stamp of approval of Kent. I knew that if my grandpa gave his approval that I couldn't go wrong.)

4 kids, 2 houses and 13 years later and we're still going strong! I love that Kent has a good sense of humor. He loves to take care of us. He's a great father, and wonderful husband. He always tries to make sure that we have what we need and he also a lot of the things that we want. He takes care of me after I have babies, surgeries or on days when I'm too sick to get out of bed. He takes the kids with him to do service projects, run errands and to have fun. He always tries to reward their hard work with something fun at the end. I am so glad for that because I think it instills a good work ethic and an appreciation for fun.


This is our wedding picture that hangs in our entryway. My mom and dad had it framed and gave it to us for our anniversary a few years ago. My kids can't believe how much hair Kent has in the picture, and I can't believe I actually had a waist that small- and I remember thinking I was fat!

Childhood home

Here are some pictures of my childhood home. I remember going over when I was 2 or 3 while it was being built. We had to climb the ladder to the 2nd story. I remember being really scared because it was dark, and I was worried that I was going to fall. I think the house had about 5000 square feet, but I'm not sure if that included the basement or not. The basement is where my dad had his workshop, and where the dark room at the bottom of the stairs, to my young mind, was where the Incredible Hulk lived. I'm sure that my parents hid our Christmas gifts in there because there was no way that I was going to enter that room.

It looks pretty good for a house built in the 19?0's. The family that bought it after we moved is still there. I am always tempted to go knock on the door and ask if I can look around to see how it looks.

My mom who is a teacher used to run a preschool out of our home. There was a room that was large enough for a classroom, and it was always full. I thought it was so cool that I could go to school in my own house.

The last picture is what our view was from the front windows of the house. We overlooked the Great Salt Lake. It seemed a lot bigger when I was younger.

Hanging out

I have known Mindy since we were 3 years old. She lived in the house on the corner, and I lived 2 houses up from there. We played almost every day until I moved to AZ in 1987. I was devastated when we had to move. I remember Mindy and her sister standing on the driveway, waving at us as we drove away, looking like they were going to cry. I almost started to cry then.

Fast forward many years... Her daughter, Makayla, is 3 (9 days older than Drew), and she and Natalie hit it off. We went to Mindy and Joe's house to have lunch, and then we went to the Bountiful Rec Center. Inside they had a lazy river, water slides, diving boards, a pool to swim laps, a pool that was about 5' deep that had a basketball hoop and a kids pool complete with playground set that could spray water. It was so cool! We stayed for a few hours, and we had to drag our kids away from it. BTW, no pictures of it because I didn't want to discover any pictures of me in a swimming suit!!! Yikes!

Makayla, 3 1/2, and Natalie barely 5. Yes, my daughter is an Amazon.

Drew, 3 1/2, Natalie, 5, and Makayla 3 1/2. Total hams for the camera!!!

Family Party

I wish I had more pictures from the family party. Jeremy, my OLDEST cousin (ha ha J!), razzed me about taking so many pictures at the zoo so I kept my camera put away until the very end. My grandma called my cousins who live in the area, and my aunts and several of them were able to come over for a BBQ. We had a great meal, and then the kids proceeded to jump all over Clint (or as I still call him CJ). Drew saw Dylan, Jeremy and Brandy's son, getting a big reaction so he had to get in on it. (No pictures!) This went on for at least 1 hour. Natalie and Katelyn had a great time at the zoo, and I got the sweetest picture of them together at the party.

Temple Square

We went to Temple Square twice this week. The first time was on Monday. We only had about 1 hour to spend there because we were going to meet my friend Mindy and her family for lunch, then go to Hogle Zoo where my cousin Jeremy was going to join us with his kids. These pictures are from the first trip to Temple Square.

Trevor was intrigued by the Testimony of the Three Witnesses plaque. He stood there and read it several times. He had a lot of questions about it, and is very excited to tell his Primary class about his trips to the Salt Lake City temple grounds.

Drew's making his favorite face again. The other kids smiled though!
I actually made it to my own blog! Natalie wasn't about to let me get my picture taken without her so she grabbed onto my arm and smiled really big! BTW, this was also Kent's birthday.

Murray Park

We've been up in Utah visiting with family and friends. We wanted to find something fun to do so the kids would stop running around my grandparents' house. They sounded like a herd of elephants... so loud. There is a park a few miles from my grandparents' house so we took the kids to it. We played on the playground then fed the ducks.
This is Drew's favorite new camera face. Almost every time I take a picture of him he makes this face and will NOT let me take a picture of him smiling until we have done SEVERAL with this face. He was having a fun time!

Little Princess Natalie. She didn't want to swing or climb the monkey bars so she went to the play set and went down the slide and looked through the pirate binoculars.

Justin and Trevor loved playing on this toy. I don't know what it's called, but they had a blast on it. It worked like a wheel, and would spin according to the way they would walk on it. The goal was to stay on the longest. It was hilarious watching them try to outmaneuver each other.
I think Kent finally got the chance to get on this and went for it. He had a harder time on it than the boys did. He said it was a lot harder than it looked!

Trevor

Trevor cracks me up. He does everything he can to get out of his jobs almost every day. He spends more time talking and dilly dallying than he would doing his actual jobs. I have pointed this out to him NUMEROUS times to no avail. So a few weeks ago I was trying to get him to do his jobs, and all of a sudden it got really quiet. I looked up and found him like this...



Can we say falling asleep on the job?!

Natalie's Tests

Natalie has been having tummy aches since March so we had to go get some pictures taken of her tummy. We went to Banner Desert, where they gave her an IV and had her drink some contrast so they could see her digestive tract. Fun stuff! She did get this cool Hannah Montana picture board for being so brave for them so she was happy. BTW, I highly recommend the hospital for kids. They did an AWESOME job talking to Natalie, getting the IV in on the first time, and generally making her experience a pleasant one.
Because she was so brave she and I did a little girls' day out after she was done. First we went to Streamer's for lunch. Natalie got a Brownie Mouse for dessert.

After that we went shopping at Target where we got her some Hannah Montana cups with straws. When we left Target we got pedicures. Natalie got her toes painted purple to match her Hannah Montana shirt (sensing a theme here?) and then little flowers on her big toes. I was not allowed to get flowers on my toes because she said we weren't allowed to match so I got polka dots instead.

When we were done with that we went next door to Bashas' where she got to tell Janice, the lady in the Kids Kare area, all about her day. When we left, one of the local radio stations was doing giveaways and Natalie won a brush and Frisbee. They also took her picture and are supposed to have it up on their picture page sometime. I'll post a link if they ever actually post it to their website.
She was ready to go out again that night for a girls' night out, and was disappointed when I wouldn't go. So we have another date scheduled for next month. She's already planning it!

Swim Lessons

Natalie and Drew are in their second week of swimming lessons with "Miss Judi". She will be Drew's preschool teacher starting next month! (Yikes! I can't believe he's already old enough to be going to preschool!) They are learning to dive down to get things from the bottom of the pool, swim different strokes, float on their backs and how to swim well. They took lessons in May from our neighbor Caroline Lamoreaux, and Drew especially did really well. He was like a little fish. Now Natalie has really started getting more confident and is doing really well. Here are some pictures from Monday's swim lessons.