Being In Zion

I love visiting Utah, for one, my family all lives there, for two, that's where I grew up, so it's home to me!! In the summer, we always try to go up there for a few weeks, it's a plus to get out of the heat here in AZ!! This summer, we did lots of activities, we will never forget.

Visited "Noah's Ark"


Went down the Alpine Slide


Spent time with lots of cousins


Saw the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house



Got to see my nephew get his Eagle


Witnessed my nephew being baptized


Watched my dad read lots of books


Went to a family reunion at Cherry Hill





Hiked on private property to see Awesome Fireworks


Finally went to LAGOON {it's been a LONG time}





Last but not least, fell asleep in the car {always}!!!

Where Does The Time Go?!?!

I forgot to post this when it happened, and I thought it's an important event I don't want to forget about. David's last day of preschool was the end of May. He loved every minute of it, he had the best teacher, Miss Stephanie, and he went to PreSchool with his best friend Ericson. What a year of growth David had, he learned all the letters and sounds, learned to write his name better, and learned lots of fun other stuff, and most importantly, he was ready for Kindergarten when it was over.
What a BIG boy, but never old enough to fall asleep like this!!

FiSH AnyONe?

In June we decided go camping and fishing with the kids, we went up to knoll Lake. The kids were all excited to go fishing. Marlise and Cameron were making bets to see who caught the first fish. Marlise ended up catching the first fish, right after that Cameron got one, David got one and then Mark caught two and we got lots of snags(I think we smelled good to them). Mark told them after you catch a fish, you have to kiss the first one you catch as a tradition in our family. Of course our kids didn't want to kiss them, they didn't even want to be that close to them. They didn't want to keep them to eat, so they would catch and release. Next time, I told my kids, were going to eat them for dinner.

Marlise


Cameron


David




How often do you see my kids this quite and peaceful!

I had a relaxing time reading!!

LeT FREEdoM RInG

I met Mark in Washington D.C. for a site seeing trip. Boy, there was LOTS to see. We went non stop for three days trying to see it all, and still didn't get to see everything.

Highlights of our Trip.......
Got to see the original Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution


Saw the "puffy" shirt from Seinfeld


Got to see Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt Monuments





Breathtaking views at the Arlington Cemetery


Went to Mount Vernon to see George Washington's house


Went inside the White House


Ran in the mud
Got a personal tour inside the Capital

Mark fed birds and squirrels non stop


Saw where Lincoln got shot in the Ford Theater, and the room where he died later.


Ate awesome, yummy, and the best Thai Food late at night
Met and made lots of friends






Miles of walking
Rode the Metro lots, lots, lots, and lots!!!


What a great trip we will never forget!
We ARE Proud to be an American!!

TEENagers and FOOD and HANGIN' out, OH MY

Marlise's 13th BIRTHDAY is TODAY!! I can't believe I have a TEENager now, how scary is that. She is the best daughter anyone could ask for. She loves and respects us as parents (not for long, right), and is a very beautiful, smart, happy, talented, honest, girl.

For her Birthday Party, she wanted to have a joint party with her friend Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn has been her best friend for five years. So they decided it would be fun to have their birthday parties together, at our house, in the back yard. We kept asking the girls what they wanted to do, and they kept saying, "food and just hang out". We tried to come up with games, and they wanted nothing to do with that. We have a park behind our house, so they kept going from my backyard to the park, back and forth! All in all, I think they had fun "hanging out", especially once the scorching, hot, sun went down. Next year, I told Marlise, we need to have a SMALLER, just girls, sleepover party. You can only hope!!!

A SPECIAL thanks to Carol for helping, and for making the cute cakes just how the girls wanted them! I couldn't have done it without you!

Teachers are the BEST!!

This last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm very grateful and LOVED all of my kids teachers this school year. My kids have grown and learned a tremendous amount, thanks to their teachers. I was shocked when I saw on the Internet how much teachers make in AZ. They are definitely under paid and under appreciated. They are teaching our future presidents, engineers, accountants, police officers, firefighters, business owners, and so on. I think I take teachers for granted, until I stop and think about how important they are to our future generations to come. THANK YOU to all of the teachers out there!
Marlise's favorite Teacher, Mr. Little. He's her choir Teacher, and this was at their Choir concert they had a few weeks ago.

Cameron's Teacher Ms. Seymour, she's awesome!!

David with his PreSchool Teacher Ms. Stephanie and her son Bryson. What a great job she has done teaching David to start learning to read, write his name, and count. She's the BEST!! He's ready to start Kindergarten for sure.