Happy Birthday, Kenneth!

 

 

 

 

We've already had an exciting morning - as you can tell. Kenneth is very eager to get to the pet store and purchase a gecko to go into his new habitat. We are also going to Krispy Kreams for breakfast, Chuck E. Cheese's, we'll have Ramen for lunch (by request of Kenneth) and we're going to Red Robin for dinner. We will have a wonderful day celebrating our little man!

Cuteness

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's a few months ago. Caitlin discovered the photo taker. We got no less than 15 pictures that day. This one is my favorite.

My brother, the Soldier

Danny just called. He's going to Iraq for a year. He found out today and he's leaving this weekend. My heart goes out to his wife. He's going as a medic contractor so he'll make decent money and he should be "safe" at a hospital in the MIDDLE of the green zone. Here's my shout out - Danny - I'm proud of you. Danny is not even freaked out a little. This is what he does. This is who he is. He's a protector. He's a warrior. He's a medic. I know he's going to do a great job. I will miss him fiercely, but I couldn't be prouder of him.

More photos

 

Fountains at the Belagio

 

Steve & Pat

 

Volcano at Mirage

More fun!

 

All of us outside the Chocolate Factory (less Steve, who was working, of course)

 

AJ

 

Corinne & Pat

 

Kenneth assisting in the clown show at Circus Circus.

We've had a wonderful week of fun with the Hansen family who came to visit. We went boating, went to the Bass Pro Shop, went to the Chocolate Factory and spent a day at Circus Circus/M&M Factory/Cheesecake Factory/Fountains at Belagio/Volcano at the Mirage. The house seems empty - except for all the laundry that's been piling up! :)

Fun 'Vegas-style Vacation!

 

Corinne - what a beautiful young lady!

 

Noelle - what a cutie!

 

Caitlin - what a doll!

 

Corinne, AJ, Noelle

Tagged

Tagged!
I've been tagged to do this, so here goes...

4 Jobs I've Had:
1. Lehi Bakery sales/clean up
2. Secretary/Service Rep at a siding and soffit/facia/metal roofing business
3. Working for a CPA
4. Working as a CPA

4 Movies I Can Always Watch:
1. That thing you do
2. You've got mail
3. Brian Regan
4. Miss Congeniality

4 TV Shows I Enjoy:
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. Monk
3. House
4. King of the Hill (It's a Texas Thing)

4 Favorite Places or Things to Eat:
1. Thanksgiving Turkey
2. The Cheesecake Factory
3. Thai lettuce wraps
4. Ice cream (no nuts, please)

4 Websites I Visit:
1. blogs/caringbridge pages
2. My family.com
3. lds.org
4. wamu.com

4 Places I Love to Be:
1. At my own house with Steve & my kids (Or on the boat!)
2. At the beach
3. on a cruise
4. in my bed

Time Flies!

Well, I can't believe this week is drawing to a close already. This week has been full of celebrations (Steve's birthday!) and meetings (new leader training for me) and enrichment and swimming lessons and piano lessons. Angela and Alex left yesterday (at 4am) for Ohio so I've got the troops with me. We're having a great time, and we're starting to count down to our visitors coming on Sunday or Monday (translate...we're starting to CLEAN!). The Hansen family is coming with 3 cousins and the kids are really excited! We should have a fun-filled week next week. I took cupcakes to Kenneth's class today to celebrate his birthday (today is the last day of school). There were at least 3 other kids who had brought treats. I'm sure they'll all have a wonderful time and come home on a major sugar - high. We have swimming lessons again today and then a fun game night with a few friends!

We're back....again

We're back. We had a wonderful weekend. It was so great to get there before 2am and be able to visit a little. It was wonderful to have the kids play so happily, and it was of course an honor to be there for Annie's baptism. It was great to see all the Joneses and Sorensens. I've heard a lot about each of them, and it was wonderful to put names with faces. Thanks to each of them for welcoming me so willingly into their group!

Here's a photo of Kenneth and Annie - friends forever. (Isn't Annie's dress beautiful? Shauna made it! Great job you domestic diva, you!)



And all the kids - well, the Jones kids and the Layton kids. There were about 20 other kids there after the baptism. Leland (Shauna's Dad) counted 38 people who came for Annie's baptism. She is surely well-loved!

Saturday evening we headed down to Saratoga Springs and Kenneth got in a quick swim before a summer storm blew through. We had a lovely meal with Heidi (a long-time family friend), Missy & Darin & their 3 boys and Mom & Dad. Ben was in and out to a neighborhood party. We were going to watch a movie, but the deferred for my benefit, and we watched old "Monk" episodes.

We had a bit of a detour on our way home - due to a huge forest fire (over 160,000 acres burned). It added 3 hours to our journey and 80 miles. Thanks to Grammie Fellingham, though, my boys were well-bribed and behaved as well as I could have hoped under the circumstances. Caitlin was manageable and thanks to a book on CD that Angela bought, we arrived home with our sanity in tact.

We're off....again

We're leaving in about an hour for Utah...again. Tomorrow our friend, Annie Jones, is being baptized. Steve is staying home and catching up on several pressing projects. I'm going with Ben and my kids. We're very much looking forward to this weekend, and we'll be home late Sunday night.

Here are a couple of photos of Annie.

I love the second one - she just looked like a sleeping Angel...I had to take a picture. We love you Annie!

More photos!

Ben got to drive the boat - he even pulled Steve on the kneeboard!

 

 

 

 

More photos!

 

 

 

 

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

What a day! I have lots more pictures to share, but here's one of Steve's 360's on the knee board...

 

 

 

 

The 4th of July

I'm really excited for tommorow. We're leaving at 6am to get a good spot on "the beach" and get a good parking spot for the car. The Webb Family, the Layton Family, and Ben are going boating! Yea baby! That's one of the fun things we do in our family. We may not go on a fancy vacation every year - but we make lots of happy memories boating!!! After we get too HOT and TIRED we'll come home for dinner and fireworks. It should be great to have a relaxing family day. Maybe Steve & I will get to try out our new skiis (that we bought in April and have already replaced once with the warranty!!!). Maybe Angela and Darrel will use them, too!! :) I should go pack the snack bag and get the life jackets loaded up and hook up the boat....

Well, here are some fun photos from back when my digital camera worked. This was a halloween in Texas. Masks were not allowed at the church party, and what's a spiderman costume without a mask??? Well, I was pretty proud of myself (and of Kenneth for holding still!)...

The last photo is of Daniel and his best friend, Sophie Jones. He's so excited to go see her this weekend!

 

 

 

 

Bugs

Just so you know - it really bugs me that the photo to the right is off center...I don't know how to fix that, but I'll work on it.

Change...again

Well, I got tired of seeing my face everytime I logged in - so now you get to see the entire family! When we get copies of the new photos I'll update it. Hope you like it!

Such a great time!

We just had such a great time in Colorado - I have to share some photos! I'm so glad we went! It was so fun to be with all the "girls" again!

Angela & I on the plane - a "self portrait."

SURPRISE!

I love my nephew!!!

I just couldn't get enough of Jacob - and I'm SOOOOO glad I didn't take Caitlin! She would have been SOOOOOOO jealous!

The "girls" (I obviously didn't get the memo about the white shirt!)

Catch up...

I know I have been seriously delinquent in my blogging - so much has happened since I got back from Denver. I came back sick - so I spent last Monday doing pretty much nothing besides laying around feeling crappy. Tuesday I woke up feeling all better so I cleaned and did laundry. On Tuesday afternoon, Steve's sister, Sami, came with her 5 children (7 and under) to visit. Our house was a little crazy, but the cousins got along really well and it was a pleasure to have them here. Sami made homemade pot stickers (yummy!) and they spent a day on the boat with Steve. Friday Angela, Danny, Sami & I put on a wedding luncheon for one of Danny's good friends, Tom. It turned out lovely (thank heavens!), and I was so glad for the extra help. Friday afternoon we packed up and headed to Utah. We got there about 2am on Saturday morning and at 9am we were all dressed to match and smiling for the camera...you guessed it...family pictures. There were 27 people to coordinate...here's hoping we got at least one photo worth blowing up. You can check Angela's blog for a preliminary showing...

Angela's blog

I just checked and the real ones are posted...check it out...

Our pictures

We arrived back in Las Vegas about 8:30pm on Sunday night and I immediately got back into my calling. I got back to my house about 9:45pm thoroughly exhausted. That was a taxing weekend, but well worth it. As an added bonus, Angela and I stole Ben (our youngest brother) for 2 weeks! We're excited to spend some quality time with him...and of course our kids adore him. Today we're going bowling.

I'm back

I made it home safely from Denver. We had a WONDERFUL time and Elise was totally surprised. It was so great to hang with all my sisters and my mom. Mom treated us to pedicures and nails and we watched 2 chic flicks and went to dinner together. It was great to see Missy's kids and of course Emily and Jacob. Jacob is so darling and so sweet! I just couldn't get enough of him!

I came home to a brand new kitchen sink and faucet and 2 trimmed palm trees (there's a story here - I'll have to elaborate later). It is so nice!!! A big thanks to Steve for surprising me....and on Father's Day, too. The house looks beautiful, and I hear Kenneth was a big helper there - so he'll get lots of great hugs tomorrow. I'm not feeling 100% so I'd better hit the hey.

SOOO FUN!!!

Yesterday morning, Angela and I got on a plane and flew to Denver. We surprised Elise at lunch time by arriving on her door step unannounced. Mom & Missy are here, too, and we're having a wonderful time! A BIG thanks to Darrel and Steve for letting us come and keeping the kids for the weekend!!! We're making great memories, and we'll come home with lots of darling photos of Jacob.

Isn't my baby beautiful?

This morning we had play group from 10am - 12pm. It was super fun - until my cell phone fell into the pool. That was a little bummer. The bigger bummer is that my cell phone was in my pocket when it fell into the pool. You can ask Angela, but she says it was pretty funny. At least none of my friends have to worry about me being too prim or propper, eh? :) I think I'll wear a swim suit next week.

This picture at the bottom is my Grandma Noble. She is an amazing woman. We've had such fun visiting her at my Uncle's house this week. She has a laugh that's contageous and is full of the wisdom of the ages. I love to be with her. I hope someday I can be more like her.