Sweet 16

My sweet little girl is all grown up.  Today Sammy turned 16. Last Saturday we threw together a birtday party at the last minute.  We were going to do it in a couple of weeks, but we weren't doing anything that night so we thought why not.  Sammy texted 18 of her friends that were listed in her contacts and we got 8 to show up.  (Two are missing in the group picture).  The girls had a great time.  We had a pizza dinner and then they played games the rest of the night.  We enjoyed cake and ice cream and the party ended about 9:30 pm.  I am so impressed with Sammy's friends.  They are such good girls and they help each other to be even better.

Today for lunch, Brian, Kylee, and I took Sammy to Firehouse Pizza for lunch.  It was fun checking her out of school and enjoying time to celebrate with her.  Tonight is Brian's ward Christmas Dinner.  I told Sammy we could skip it and do something to celbrate her birthday as a family.  She got excited and said she wanted to go to the Christmas party.  "The whole ward can celebrate with me," she said.  She loves spending time with his ward and the young men and women are wonderful.  Not to mention we love to spend time with the Bishopric and their family.

We are so lucky to have Sammy in our family.  She is so kind and helpful to everyone.  She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ.  She is athletic and a great volleyball player.  She has a 4.0 grade point average.  Most important is that we love each other and we are friends.  I love that we enjoy spending time together.  She shares her thoughts and feelings, her worries and her joys with me.  I am so blessed.

Happy 11/11/11

Today was a day in a century to celebrate.  This is how we celebrated.  How did you celebrate this day?

It official!!!

It is finally official.  All my kids are now in school.  Yes even Kylee. 

Sammy got to go a day early.  She has now entered the big high school of Skyview High.  The school has sophmores come a day(the whole day) early for orientation and to learn their way around.  It is a lot bigger than my high school.  Then Aug. 25th she returned for the real first day of school.  Ican't believe she only has 3 more years of school left. 

Steven is a freshman this year.  Wow!!!  Two kids in high school.  Steven attends North Cache which is for 8th and 9th graders.  He gets to enjoy another long ride out to Richmond.  Steven is still playing the bass in orchestra and loving it.

Braden is at Cedar Ridge Middle School.  He is one of the big 7th graders this year.  He wasn't quite as excited for school to start as I was but I think he is enjoying it.  Braden is learning to play the french horn this year.  I can't wait to hear all the practicing. (He, he)   :)

Logan is now in the 3rd grade.  I think he was the most excited for school to start.  Logan loves school, loves reading, and loves learning.  He and his best friend are in the same class again this year.  That might have something to do with all his happiness.

Kylee had to wait a whole week after everyone else to start.  She started today.  She was soo excited.  She attends in the afternoon so we will enjoy spending our mornings together.  I have been ready for this day.  I haven't felt sad about it at all.  I do have to admit though that for about 30 seconds after leaving her in class I did have a few tears.  They didn't last long and I sure enjoyed my afternoon.  But, I know she is enjoying hers to.

I Love Pictures

I love pictures.  I love pictures of people.  People that I know and love.  I love beautiful pictures of them.  I have taken many pictures in my day.  Most of them mediocre.  For Mother's Day this year, I got a new camera.  It is a Nikon 3100.  It isn't the best camera, but it is so much better than what I had.  I have been dreaming about taking amazing pictures of my kids.  I know I really need a good class to teach me all the ins and outs of my camera and what it can do.  But this Monday I decided to see what it can do on automatic. 

I have been eyeing a grain field on my street all summer long knowing what a great spot it would be for pictures.  I knew it was about ready to cut so I decided for FHE we would take pictures (The boys weren't too thrilled but the girls liked it.  Suprised?)  Sure enough today the field was cut.  Glad I didn't wait any longer.  The picture below and the ones in the header are samples of what I came up with.  I have a lot to improve on and I need to learn some editing skills but I was very happy with how they turned out.  Can't wait to take a class and get better.

(I wanted a view from above the kids so I was sitting on Brian's shoulders to take this picture)

18 Years and Jenny Lake

This weekend Brian and I celebrated our 18 year anniversay. It has been a bumpy but great 18 years. I am so grateful for Brian and the great friend and husband he is. My life is better because of him.

 

 

Brian also celebrated his 40th birthday three weeks ago. He made me promise I wouldn't give him a suprise party or make him the center of attention at all (He hates the spotlight) so instead I decided to take him on a trip. We had never been to Jackson Hole so I checked into hotels. Wow. Hotels in the summer are outrageous. I knew if I combined his birthday with our anniversary I could feel o.k. about spending that much. Turns out that we had some friends who own a condo up there and they let us stay in it for free. Wahoo. I was thrilled.

 

 

Friday night we drove to Jackson and walked the main street. It is a beautiful place and has lots of fun shops. The best part of the trip was our short drive to Jenny Lake on Saturday. We hiked around the lake and up to inspiration point and then a beautiful waterfall. Gorgeous. We had a great time. Brian ate wild berries (he is still alive so they weren't poisonous), took lots of pictures, saw a moose, looked for bears but didn't find any (Brian was very disappointed), and met new friends. I would recommend this hike to anyone. We would like to take the kids next year and bring our canoe to paddle around the lake. The pictures below don't do the scenery justice but it will give you an idea of how beautiful it was.