Friends!

The kids have been really blessed with some great friends. It's raining today, and the kids are so bummed that they can't go out side and play. Here's what they came up with to pass the time. (Kirstie, Brynn and Jennah.) Jennah has been doing really well lately, so she was able to have her 1st sleep-over Tuesday night. Here's Jennah, Brinley and Kirstie on Wednesday morning playing their favorite thing... Barbie's!

Tuesday afternoon Kirstie had her best friend Sheay come over and swim in the pool.

I have discovered that I really enjoy letting my children invite friends over, it makes for GREAT motivation to do chores!

To Cute to not share...

What is it about little kids bums that they're just so Ca-ute?!? ( a picture of mine would just make you sick =p )

I guess that prayer was a little too long-winded =)

(by the way, check out my new "Stevie says" sections for a good laugh. As long as he keeps saying cute stuff, I'll keep adding to it!)

ABC's (tagged by Emily)

My favorite picture of me & Stevie!

A-attached or single: attached (over 16 yrs)

B-Best Friend: Steve

C-Cake or pie: whatever is in front of me =D

D-Day of Choice: Saturday, because Steve is usually home so I get a little break from the kids

E-Essential Item: right now...SUNSCREEN =)

F-Favorite Color: pink of course (although I would never decorate my house in pink)

G-Gummi Bears or Worms: bears...only the cinnamon ones though. (I can't stand gummi worms, esp. the sour ones)

H-Hometown: Snowflake, AZ

I-Indulgences: Hmmmm this one's hard...I would have to say, time to myself (can't remember the last time I had that!)

J-January or July: toss-up right now I'd have to say July, only because there is so much to look forward to this coming month.

K-Kids: Jennah-8, Kirstie-6, and Stevie-4 11/12

L-Life is incomplete without: FAMILY!

M-Marriage date: Friday March 13th 1992 (my lucky day)

N-Number of siblings: 3 brothers (Brent, Tyler, Nathan) 2 sisters (Laura, Lynnette)

O-Oranges or Apples: definitely Apples...especially dipped in peanut butter ;)

P-Phobias: SPIDERS...ICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Q-Quotes: Life is a mirror: if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting. -Thackeray (this has been one of my favorites for almost 20 yrs.)

R-Reason to smile: My cute, adorable children & my funny FUNNY husband who keeps us all in stitches!

S-Season: Definitely Fall! I love the colors, smells, everything... it makes me feel good just to think about it!

T-Tag three: Shawna, Rachael, Jenn

U-Unknown fact about me: I have really weird little toes, with almost no toenail...it's MAYBE 1/8 inch long, pathetic really.

V-Vegetarian or Meat eater: meat eater, haven't you heard..."real woman eat meat" hahaha

W-worst habit: spending to much time on the computer

X- X-rays or ultrasound: Ultrasound, 'cause if I'm having one it usually means there's a baby on the way and what could be better than that!

Y-Your favorite food: Pizza!

Z-Zodiac sign: Libra, I believe it's the scales, but I have no clue what it means.

Happy (late) Father's Day!

Why we love daddy... Mom: He does all he can to make us happy and keep us safe...even from sunburns ;-)
(Steve set up this shade over the pool so that we could avoid any tragedies like in my previous post)

Stevie: He's nice and he takes me for 4-wheeler rides! (Steve rigged up a special "seat" just for the kids)
Kirstie: He plays with us in the pool, he's really funny and takes funny pictures!
Jennah: He's nice, he plays tickle monster with me and he's funny!

These are just a few of the many many reasons why we love him! Thanks for all you do for our family!!!!!!

I'm dyin' here...

Some fun pic's from my tragic day... Jennah, cousin Chandler, Kirstie and cousin BreAnne (Stevie was inside napping)

Miss J.

Kirstie "bird"

CANNON BALL!!!!!!

Okay, I did something stupid...I mean REALLY stupid! Steve and I decided that since we would have to spend $100 on swimming lessons, and then have to pay for the gas to and from lessons, that we might as well just pay for our own above-ground pool. As far as the kids are concerned, it was a great idea, the fighting has all but stopped in our home (which has been WONDERFUL!). But, as for me, the day after we set up the pool the kids and I went out after lunch and had a blast for at least 2 hrs. Then it was nap-time for Stevie, so I came inside with him. Well, within just a few minutes of being inside, I could feel the burn. By the time Steve came home, I was, as he put it, Burgandy. Well, it is now day 4 and I am still feeling the burn. I can't put ANYTHING on my shoulders without extreme pain! Sleeping is next to impossible, & I have been cooped-up in the house since Tuesday, and am very grateful that no one has come to visit. I have a wonderful husband who has done all the shopping for me this week, and has brought home every sunburn relief product that can be found, but to no avail. I went on-line today and looked at several web-sites, and the one remedy they all suggested was cold skim milk and water. So here I sit, a very pathetic sight, with cold, milk-soaked washclothes draped over my shoulders, telling you of my tragedy in the hopes that any of you who are reading this will avoid this plight by 1. WEARING SUNSCREEN! or 2. put a shirt over your lily-white skin when you're in the pool. =)

I need a little help ;)

I was asked to give a talk in church on Father's Day. The topic is "How a father's selfless service strengthens families". I have been pouring over articles from the church web-site (with tears flowing), but I'm struggling to find something that has just the right tone that I wanted. So.... if any of you have stories of your husbands, fathers, grandfathers, home teachers, bishops, or any great examples of men I would love to hear them. If you want, leave them as a comment, e-mail, or you could post it on your own blog for others to enjoy=). Let the brainstorming begin!

Our Memorial Day weekend

We went to Snowflake on Friday to go to Rayla's graduation. The first two pictures are to show you what we have to drive through every time we go to Snowflake. Salt River Canyon is so beautiful, but it gives me major anxiety every time we drive through. It's not very comforting when you can see several cars down the cliffs. I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures, they were taken from inside the van. Here's the bridge at the bottom.

Gotta love all those switchbacks!?!

We spent Saturday and Sunday at mom and dad's. Saturday we went on a double date with them to see the new "Indiana Jones" movie... it was great! We had a cook-out that night with the Lunt's and the missionaries. Sunday we just went to Church and then had a nice Sunday dinner with all the family.

We went to Scott & Beth's Memorial Day, and had a barbeque. It was nice to just "hang out" and visit with family. They were irrigating that day and as you can see, the kids had a great time playing in the water!

Kirstie was specifically told NOT to get into the water...so guess what she did?

BUSY Thursday!

This Thursday was a VERY busy (and windy) day! We started the day by going to Kirstie's Kindergarten graduation at 9 a.m. It was very short and sweet, just the way I like it!

Kirstie before graduation...

...Recieving her diploma......a VERY excited 1st grader!This is Kirstie with her teacher, Mrs. Brubaker. I made a little "Thank you" book for her, that I had the students from both classes finish the sentence "I love Mrs. Brubaker because..." it was so much fun. She is such a great teacher and the kids really love her! They said the CUTEST things!! It must be great having your own little fan club!

This is Jennah with her teacher Mrs. J. I feel bad that this is the only picture I got with the two of them. It was incredibly windy that day, and on top of that, they were planning on having a water party, so Mr. J. wasn't looking her best that day. Hopefully she'll never see this =). She is such an awesome teacher, I'm so glad that Jennah got to be in her class!
This is Jennah's class performing "The three little pigs". Stevie apperantly wanted to get in on the action! (Jennah is the one in the green shirt)
After Kirstie's graduation, the kids went to another student's house for a water party. It was a BLAST, despite the wind! One of the parents was sitting next to the slide to help supervise, and I guess Stevie decided that she needed to be wet too. He grabbed one of the "guns" attached to the slide and aimed right for her. I was so embarrased...it was one of those moments where you want to just say "I don't know WHO his parents are", but I claimed him anyway. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to stop him (or take any pictures)! At least everyone got a good laugh...especially Stevie=)Jennah and Kirstie

Later that day, we went to my neice Marissa's Jr. high graduation, and then to end the evening, we went to my nephew Josh's High School graduation....Whew... what a long day!

A strange game of ball and a school concert

My girls do the funniest things...
They absolutely HATED t-ball, but Friday, when Jennah had a friend over, I caught them outside playing this... ...baseball in tu-tu's. What will they think of next?!?

The elementary school concert was last Wednesday night. The music teacher (very wisely) had the students sit with their families when their part was over. When they had the final number, they just sang from where they were sitting. It was a good thing they did, because as you will see, we would not have gotten very good pictures of their performance.

Kirstie singing her little heart out!

Love the expression on her face?!?

One great disadvantage of having tall children, is that when they stand together as a group, they always get put toward the back. We could barely see Jennah. I helped you out a little by putting a little red arrow over her head=)

This is Jennah waiting for her classes turn to go on stage. Jennah LOVES LOVES LOVES to read! Notice the other children behind her visiting? I love the expression on her friends face...I wish I knew what she was thinking!

Kirstie pounding away on the drums! Those little kindergartners are sooooo cute!