Wedding Bells are Ringing!

 

I'm so happy for my cousin, Mikey, and his beautiful bride, Carissa! The boys and I drove down to their reception last night. It was a beautiful, princess-like wedding reception. Everything was so lovely, and it was great to see my family. Jerry didn't dress up in a bear suit like he did at MY wedding reception, but he did wear his cowboy hat. I just love, love, love my family. What a happy day!

First Grade Humpty Dumpty project:

Bennett's principal is a good sport.  Here he is, dropping the specially packaged eggs off the roof of the school as all the first graders looked on.  Bennett was SO happy that his egg survived.  Check out the sweet TJ Maxx parachute action.  That thing floated down like a feather.  If you need any tips on egg drop success, give me a call.  We've got it dialed.

The few. The proud. The Marines.

My handsome little brother, Lee, is in Virginia right now for a 6-week Officer Candidate School adventure.  He hasn't been able to have outside contact, really.  No cell phone or internet.  My Mom just got a letter today; I can't wait to hear how it's going for him...  Kind of like having him leave on a mission all over again.  But not.

Stuff I've made lately.

A special baptism doll for my darling niece, Gabrielle:
A happy birthday banner out of newspaper:
A solar system mobile with/ for Owen:
Owen is super fascinated by planets right now.  Our sun turned out weird and lumpy, but that's okay.

A Gramma and a Grammy

We had Gramma Linda and Grammy Deb in town over the weekend.  We just saw Gramma Linda for a few hours in Salt Lake, but Grammy got to spend the weekend with us.  We had such a good time enjoying the beauty of May in Cache Valley.  We feel lucky that we have family who will spend the time and money to visit us here in Utah!  We love you Grammy and Gramma!

 

We spent the afternoon at Cutler Marsh alternating between canoe trips and rounds of UNO on the shore. It was glorious.

 

Everything was green, green, green!  The boys were troopers hiking 3 miles or so.

 

Birthday Boy!

How can he be ONE?!  We had a fun, mellow, celebratory day today.  It wasn't the same without Jason, who was surfing in Hawaii...  But it was fun.  This is how the day went:

Auntie e returns...

What do I love about Elizabeth?  That she jumps on the trampoline with my kids?  That she brought us a flower press as a gift?  That she cut and colored my hair while we watched an entire season of Style Star?  That she bought asparagus as a snack for us one night?  That she is endlessly stylish but does not make me feel like a frumpy old lady? That she is honest and caring?  The list is loooooong, and I love how it grows every time we get to hang out.  xoxo

Saddest Day.

Here is Owen's soccer team, holding up hearts they signed to give to the family of their little teammate, Cole, who was hit and killed by a car last week.  My heart breaks for Cole's parents.  I don't know how you ever get over something like that.  I have nothing profound to say, only that I have held Owen and my other boys a little closer over the last several days.  Life is so precious.

FUN RUN!

Grandma and Finn at the start line:
Jake and Owen warm up before the First Graders arrive:
Bennett and Owen:
The line-up, including Principal Grunig:
After the race:
Owen and I ran dang fast the whole time, trying to catch up with Bennett, but we never did.  Nice job, boys.

Why I Love My Mom

There are about a million reasons to love her.  I have tons of photos of her to choose from too, but this is the one I chose to share.  Here she is with Jacob and neighbor boy, Jade, following her every mowing move.  "We're lawn-mowerin', " they said.  Last weekend she came up to help my work in the yard, knowing how overwhelmed I have felt lately with Jason traveling and, you know, being the Bishop.  She worked and worked and worked.  I love this woman.  She has the strength of 10 women easily.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  I still want to be like you when I grown up.