Davis' Belated Birthday

My sister, Ginger planned this night for her girls to give them the campout they had been asking for. It was down on my parents' 20 acre ranch and the perfect place for a family bonfire. So, she invited all who could come to make smores and hangout together. It was the perfect time to celebrate Davis' birthday since he had kind of been forgotten on the wedding day. He was thrilled to know he would be having a party with all of his cousins that he doesn't get to see very often. It was a great night for all of us and one Ginger's girls, Erin and Jenna will never forget.

Boys will be Boys

At Sam and Amber's wedding reception, there were a zillion grandkids and I had asked my boys to stay with the party and "don't get dirty". Yeah, right. I found Davis and Ethan doing what they do best and when I went to discipline them for climbing trees in their good clothes, I had to run back and grab my camera before I made them get down. I love my little boys!

The Reception

This marked the 6th wedding reception for my parents at their home in California. It was another beautiful evening. We danced and ate and visited and took a million pictures.


This was one of several pictures that my sister, Ginger, so happily took of our little family. She followed us around for what seemed like forever, trying to help me get a picture with the right background, the right lighting, and without goofy faces from my son, Davis. This was really the only one that turned out. Even though she's not in this picture, I can picture her in my mind's eye, trying to get my little ones to smile. I love this picture for that reason.


I am so sad that Summer, Jen, Clint, and Alan weren't able to make the wedding! Summer had a c-section just 3 days prior and Jen had a newborn baby as well, so I guess we'll forgive them for not being there!



It was a glorious and wonderful day. One that we will all cherish in our hearts as one of the last we shared together as a family with Ginger.

Sam and Amber

On June 23, 2008, our little family packed up our van and made the 20 hour drive down the Pacific Coast to California for a one month vacation with all of my extended family. Our first stop was at my sister, Ginger's house where we stayed the week before the wedding. It was a busy time packed full of shopping and prepping for the big day, but we also managed to squeeze in a couple trips to the beach and local pools as we were desperate for some California sunshine!


Amber and Sam's wedding day was wonderful! (Amber is one of my younger sisters.)They were married on Davis' 8th birthday, June 28th. I love family weddings. It is such an exciting time and so much fun to get together with everyone and see old friends and family you haven't seen for a long time. We are so happy for Amber. She found herself a great husband, one who loves and adores her. They are a perfect match and we all felt that Sam would fit right into our big family immediately. It was a special day to be together in the temple with so many of our family members. We were sad that a few were not able to make it down for the wedding, but we were happy they were helping to make our family even bigger by welcoming new babies into the world!

These pictures were taken just outside the Los Angeles Temple.

Daddy Day

Happy Father's Day to Don! The kids had fun spoiling their dad on Father's Day this year.

Gillian is showing off the tie she MADE for Don during her Activity Days classes. It turned out pretty cool!

Horseback Riding with Grandpa!

I grew up on a 20 acre ranch with lots and lots of horses. Most of the horses were for show or breeding, so we didn't do a lot of riding while growing up. But, now my dad has some old, very tame horses so, while we were in California he invited the kids over to ride one night. Gillian was really sick, so she didn't get to go, but Davis, Ryan and Ginger loved it!


Grandpa is known for cruising around the ranch with a pile of his grandkids going for the ride. We miss those days!

2008 Family Reunion at the Beach House

Every year, my family (my 10 brothers and sisters, their families, and my parents) gather together in ONE huge house on the beach where we spend the week swimming, surfing, boating, playing, talking, laughing, and eating....and this year we added, and vomiting! Despite the fact that almost half of us got sick, we still had such an amazing vaction. We soaked up some much needed sun, pigged out on way too much junk food, and just enjoyed being together as a family. We took about a million pictures, but here are some of my favorites.....
This is ALL of us, except for my youngest sister who couldn't come because of a brand-new job as a CES seminary teacher! She was definitely missed.

Terrific Kids and Terrifying Parenting Moments

Most schools have a program where students are chosen as "Student of the Month" or something similiar, but our school doesn't do that. They have a different program where the Kiwanis Club (whoever they are?) comes at the end of the school year and has each teacher choose one student during the month of May and one during the month of June. They chose a student who has a positive attitude, good character, and responsible citizenship. To our delight, both Ginger and Gillian were chosen by their teachers for the month of May and were honored at an assembly with the entire school. They called in advance and told us it would be a surprise for our girls. The funny thing was, they thought we had just come for the fun of it and ended up being able to see them by chance. We are such good parents to go to the assembly's just for fun! (Ryan and Davis were grounded for a month for NOT getting chosen, by the way).

The best part of the whole assembly was when Ethan turned white as a ghost and looked like he was going to "lose his lunch". Don quickly took him out, but he kept calling for me, so Don passed him off to me right outside the auditorium. Within 10 seconds I was covered in throw up. Don ended up taking him to clean him up, missing the entire awards program while I videotaped with an arm full of throw up. Good stuff.

I'm Back!

To all my fellow bloggers, I've missed you! Life has become a little crazy over the past couple months and I have not had time to do anything with my blog....or even check yours. (And if you think I'm behind on my blog, you should see my bathrooms.) Yikes! I have been doing some work at home and let me tell you, being a working mother with a husband who travels is not fun. But, it has been such a blessing for us at the same time. Anyway, I am slowy starting to get my head above water. I am going to catch up this coming week if it kills me! Stay tuned...

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

Last Saturday was a glorious, sunshiny, WARM, beautiful day. So, we took advantage of the weather and took the kids to the zoo, and unfortunately, so did the rest of the state of Washington. It was PACKED! We almost didn't even go in once we saw the parking lot, but decided to brave it anyway. It really wasn't too bad and we ended up just loving being outside and spending the day together as a family!
Just click the pix for a slideshow of our day...

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium

"Not by the hair of our chinny chin chins!"

This is what we do on Sunday afternoons. How about you?

Just click to watch...

Chinny Chin Chin kids

"I am thankful for fish"

A couple weeks ago, Ethan came out of his Sunbeam class at church with a live goldfish in a bag! He was so excited and the rest of my kids were ecstatic. Don and I were NOT excited. We have a "no pets allowed" rule in our home. I announced that we don't even have a bowl for it and Don quickly responded, "oh, yes we do. It's white, ceramic and it's called a toilet". The kids were not very happy with that response. So, two weeks later, we still have this fish, that I call Stinky Pete. Hopefully my nephew will be taking it home today to live in his aquarium. And hopefully, Ethan will think it's cool that his big cousin is taking it to live in a bigger fish tank.?? Fat chance.

Spring Break Continued...

Friends, cousins, play dates and fun...

You know you live in Washington when your children can't even handle direct sunlight for longer than 2 minutes....

Spring Break/ Sun Break!

We REALLY lucked out this year and actually had FOUR straight days of sunshine for Spring Break! Don was gone most of the week, but luckily, the only thing my kids wanted to do was spend their days outside on bikes and the trampoline. It was still quite chilly outside, but my kids kept asking for popsicles and smoothies, insisting it was "so hot!" Ridiculous.

Class Party

I have been trying to have a party with my Primary class since the end of last year, but with sickness and people out of town, we haven't been able to ALL get together until last week! We had such a fun time. We ate pizza, popcorn, and candy (too much!) and watched the cutest movie in the world...."Enchanted". I think I have watched it about 6 times now and would be happy to watch it again. Pathetic. I have the best Primary class in the world.....all girls and all GOOD girls, too!

The Joys

This is what every tired mother needs to find at the end of a very long day. I love my Gillian!

Easter Dinner

It was our turn to host Easter dinner this year and we really had so much fun putting it all together. Unfortunately, Don was out of town the entire week before, so the day before was a bit stressful trying to get everything ready, but once he got home, it all came together and made for a very enjoyable family easter celebration.


I have to show off the jelly bean bracelets I copied out of the Family Fun magazine. They are made with elastic string and pastel colored jelly beans (which are hard to find). I made one for all 10 girls and boy were they a sticky nightmare! It seemed like it would be an easy task to whip them out, which is why I took on the project, but when the needle got sticky after the first jelly bean, it got a little tricky! The girls loved them, though, and that's all that matters, right?

And, the cupcakes? I can't take credit for those. Don's Mom made those and can you guess what the flowers are made of? Tiny marshmallows that she simply cut in half. Go ahead...double click to enlarge the picture and see for yourself. She insists that it was the easiest thing in the world to create. I thought they were the cutest things ever and they LOOK like they took hours and hours to create, so everyone thinks you slaved over them. And that's all that matters, right?