darcie and hayden

New blog coming soon

2011-09-10T19:23:00.000-06:00

I like to blog and keep track of our activities, so a new blog will be coming soon,..... hopefully

We live for the weekends!

2011-07-05T22:24:00.000-06:00

Here's what we've been doing the last couple weekend.

The end of June, Hayden got to stay at Harmony's for the week, but she ended up being sick and couldn't do much. Once the weekend came we joined up with her after we attended Jeremy's Grandma's funeral.

We stayed down at Harmony's and hit the SLC farmer's market Saturday morning.

Then the 3 of us went to Hogle Zoo.

Jeremy's felt like he was on his first grade fieldtrip.

The 4th of July weekend was full of activities. We went with Harmony and J.D. to the Beach Boys concert.

Mike Love himself started the festivities off right for Logan.

Saturday we went golfing with my parents and Cannon and Justine.

That night we went and watched the "Cruise In" parade, down Main Street.

Sunday we decided to go on a hike to Naomi's Peak, but that was changed due to all the snow at Tony Grove. Look at all this snow and ice. Usually this time of year this lake is covered in wild flowers and birds.

This was the campground we were have stayed in the past. Happy 4th of July! there is snow everywhere.

We opted for the Crimson Trail, sunny, high and beautiful with no snow.

I always feel like the summer just ticks by so quickly, I want to fit everything in, but its never really possible.

KAUAI VACATION

2011-06-26T16:29:00.000-06:00

I have so many pictures and so many great memories of our trip to Kauai. Here are just some of the highlights.

Upon arrival we received lei's handmade by Halli

Hanalei Pier, These three jumped off

Halli's Ariel Silk performance. She is so good. Watch out Cirque du Soleil

Ke'e Beach boogie boarding

The beautiful Ke'e Beach where Jeremy and I got married

Hyatt in Poi Pu.

Swimming at the Hyatt

Leaving the port to go on catamaran ride

Dolphins swimming under the boat

The bluest waters along the Na Pali

Snorkeling by Niihau

Hiking down to a turtle cave and seeing a turtle

Queen's Bath

Finding mermaid treasure

8 mile hike to secluded beach and waterfall

Your own private beach

Hanakapiai Falls

Hike up Ke'e, the beautiful Na Pali

Cookout on Hanelei Bay

Seeing a Mermaid

Talking with a Mermaid

Boogie boarding at Hanalei Bay

Luau with everyone

Shaka!

Cute Hanalei Church

Spending 10 days with these guys

Achtung Baby!

2011-05-30T11:27:00.000-06:00

After a year and a half a waiting, the night finally arrived.

We went with Harmony, JD and my Mom.

Not too many Moms I know would go, but my Mom is the coolest. She helped us to appreciate good music from birth.

The stage was amazing and our seats were very close. The show is about to start. Around 50,000 people were in the stadium.

This concert is hard to describe if you don't absolutely LOVE U2 like me, or if you weren't there.

I can't describe the feelings I get when I am at these concerts. It's a high for my that I can't describe.

I know I am a bit obsessed.

The round screen lowered into this to make a light show.

The energy in the stadium was huge.

This was the top of the stage structure

Bono is Amazing! He has so much energy.

This was my 4th U2 concert and my favorite, so far.

I can't wait until the next one.

Dance Illusions Recital

2011-05-25T20:09:00.000-06:00

Hayden's final dance show was May 21st at the Kent Concert Hall.

She did a great job. It was fun to watch all the dancers

She is so cute and she has had such a great time at Dance Illusions this year.

Her confidence has increased and her teacher was great.

The finale

Way to Go Hayden!!!

Wellsville Mile '11

2011-05-22T21:11:00.000-06:00

The 31st annual Wellsville Mile was held on May 17th, with 9 Elementary schools competing.

All 4th and 5th grade boy and girls divided into 3 different speed levels compete.

Hayden and Shyla were waiting for their turn to run.

Payton and Hayden were in the 5th Grade girls 2nd heat.

It was a cold day, but at least it wasn't raining this year.

Hayden's goal was to beat her best time of 8:30. They have been training for the last couple months to be ready and in shape for this day.

Here is Payton coming around the turn.

Here is Hayden making it around the corner.

Hayden sprinting to the finish line. Her time was 8:23 and she came in 11th place. She did such a great job. You wouldn't believe how fast these kids ran, the winners were in the 6 minutes range.

Spring Volleyball '11

2011-05-15T20:22:00.000-06:00

Another Volleyball season is over.

This time, Olivia, Hayden's friend played and really enjoyed it.

They had a great coach and learned some awesome skills.

They can't wait until the Fall Mountain Crest League

Easter '11

2011-04-27T16:49:00.000-06:00

Hayden's Easter dress

Hayden in front of Nanna's cute Easter window paintings

This is what the Easter Bunny brought

Cute cousin's after the hunt in Nanna's

Cannon and Justine after the hunt

Abbey and Todd after the hunt with their box of Ho Ho's

Hayden doing what she loves most.

Bubble blowing party. Have you seen the bubbles that don't pop? We had them stuck all over us.

2nd Annual Girls Day Out '11

2011-04-24T12:30:00.000-06:00

We got together with my sisters and my mom for our 2nd annual Girls Day Out.

This year we went to Mrs. Cavanaugh's Chocolate Factory and had a tour.

We watched a video of how chocolate is made, I didn't realize how complicated it is.

If you look carefully in this picture you can see the mint sandwiches being made.

They said that a small bottle of the mint flavoring cost $10,000

Mrs. and Mr. Cavanaugh are still alive and still help out with a few things with the business.

Most of their family works here.

We got chocolate samples

and of course we bought bags of chocolates and candy after the tour.

After the tour we went and met my aunt and cousin Ashley and My Grandma at the Cheesecake Factory.

We celebrated my Grandma's 87th birthday which is in a couple of days.

We shopped at the Fashion Place Mall afterwards. It was fun to take one day out of the year and just spend time together doing things we don't normally do.

Spring Break '11

2011-04-10T17:50:00.001-06:00

Spring break can be a blast if you are organized and plan ahead, but when you are a working mom and the April calender comes home and you see a week of no school and you have forgotten to schedule time off or figure out what your only child will do, it can be sure panic. First Hayden gave me a guilt trip of how ALL her friends were going to St. George or out of town. Then I gave myself a guilt trip for not scheduling it down in my new phone when I got it and for never planning anything......But it ended up being fun.

Hayden got to spend two days with Harmony and Devyn at J.D.'s house watching his kids and hanging out with Jacee, one day with Nanna at school making jewelry and then I was able to take Thursday off.

Thursday a group of us traveled down to the Carl Block exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. The paintings depicting Christ's life were amazing to witness and its good to give the kids a little culture. The paintings came from Europe and had only been moved for this exhibit, so I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Then we took the 5 kids to AirBourne Trampoline Arena in Draper. WOW! was it fun. Wall to wall tramps and foam pits. Us adults even did it. Talk about a work out. We were all so worn out

Jon-David's flip

Harmony's jump in

My Flip

Once you landed in the pit it took some energy to get out

Gabe's awesome gymnastics

We had a great day with a lot of good food too.

Friday I took Hayden and Shyla to the new movie, "Soul Surfer." It was fun to see all the places on Kauai that we had been. It really was a great movie with a great message. I recommend it to all.

Spring break ended up being good after all.

Mary Todd Lincoln

2011-03-31T20:19:00.001-06:00

The fifth graders at Hayden's school were all required to do a biography on a historical American person. Hayden was assigned Mary Todd Lincoln, definitely not her first choice, she wanted Helen Keller or Laura Ingalls Wilder or Amelia Earhart or Annie Sullivan or Harriet Tubman or Debra Sampson or Susan B. Anthony, but she got a lady that was known for her craziness

Hayden had to write a report, make a huge poster with facts about her and dress as her the night of the Biography fair and be ready to answer questions that the parents might ask about Mary.

Did you know?......

Mary was the 1st presidential wife to be referred to as the "First Lady"
Mary was the first wife of a presidential candidate to travel with him to his rallies and speak out against her husband's opponents
Mary put the White House in great debt with her spending habits. She bought 300 pairs of lace gloves in 4 months.
She only had one child live to be an adult
She tried to commit suicide 1 time
And the thing she is most famous for, is her ability to say what she thought to her husband or anyone else that she didn't agree with, this made people think she was a little crazy as she would go off on rants.

Hayden's cute friends

Shyla as Martha Washington and Payton as Krista Mcauliffe.

Piano Recital

2011-03-06T18:45:00.000-07:00

Hayden has been taking piano lessons for 3 years now. She gets better everyday and she is soon to pass me up on my piano skills.

The Recital was Thursday March 3rd at the Book Table.

Hayden played 3 pieces and she did a wonderful job. She was nervous, but you couldn't tell when she played.

Girl's Night Out

2011-02-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

It doesn't happen very often, but Friday I was able to get together with my high school friends.

The last time we were all together was 7 years ago.

We met at Olive Garden and talked for 3 hours.

Julie, Paige & Carrie all have three kids. (I need to catch up).

We all now live within about a 30 mile range of each other.

It was really great to get caught up and I hope we can do it again soon.

Valentine's 2011

2011-02-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

The last few years it has been a tradition in my family for the girls to take the guys out on Valentine's Day.

This year was a little different. Jeremy surprised me. Friday night he took me to one of my favorite restaurant's, Le Nonne. He also spoiled me with my favorite chocolates and 2 one hour massage certificates.

Saturday the two of us met my parents and had a Valentine's lunch at Elements.(no one else could come this year)

Hayden and I worked hard on her Valentine's box and flower hair clips for her friends. Hayden has a knack for these flowers.

On Valentine's Day it was slow at work so Jeremy and I decided to both take it off. I made red velvet pancakes for breakfast. Hayden had to dress up for her Valentine's Day Tea at school.

Look at this awesome monster box. I have been feeling a little sad, realizing it will be the last box she will make.

When Hayden left for school, Jeremy and I headed to Beaver for a day of snowboarding. It was a beautiful day.

I love having an excuse to show my love for the people that are most important to me.

Happy Valentine's Day 2011

Winter Showcase Dance Illusions

2011-01-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

This year Hayden has been taking Hip-Hop from Dance Illusions and has really had a lot of fun.

Her confidence has improved from last year and you can see it in her performances.

Hayden is easy to spot in a crowd. Usually the tallest and the only one with red hair.

Jeremy and I enjoyed watching her, she did a GREAT job.

P.S. She was the cutest one there.

Deer and Elk in Providence

2011-01-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

Jeremy has been taking drives East from our house after him gets done with work to find all this wildlife.

The Deer and Elk have been coming down from the canyons when we have snow storms.

We have even seen a few deer in our yard.

It's pretty cool, something you don't see everyday.

It's A New Year

2011-01-02T21:21:00.001-07:00

Friday, I was able to take Hayden and her good friend Kirsten up to Beaver. We had a lot of fun despite the coldness.

I think it was the coldest temperature I have ever skied in.

Hayden and Kirsten are great skiers.

Saturday, New Year's Day, my family wanted to continue our tradition of going to Lava. Last year was our first time, so this year it was our "2nd Annual New Year's Day Lava Trip." First we ate at the River Walk Thai restaurant.

It was quite cold, as was the whole weekend. I really didn't know if I would be able to walk from the dressing room to the pool in just a swimming suit.

But then sticking my feet in the water, I didn't know how I could get in the water either, it was on fire.
So, it was either freeze to death or burn up. We decided to burn and it was worth it.

Our hairs froze. Here is my crusty-crust hair with Harmony being the photo bomber,(she is good at it, she might want to do it for a living.)

All the kids enjoyed themselves, and they all decided it would be "cool" to go roll in the snow and then jump in the water. They're nuts.

Our big group

Our frozen hair

Happy New Year

2011

Christmas'10

2010-12-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Christmas, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

I was so happy that Hayden was with us this Christmas, I hate having to split it. Halli and Devyn were here too and it made it extra fun. Here's the girls in their Christmas Eve PJ's.

Christmas morning, the girls woke up at 7 a.m., but were nice enough and let us all sleep until 9 a.m.
The girls coming to see what Santa left.

The girls left detailed letters to Santa asking 13 questions. They left him Pepsi, cheese, milk and cookies, and celery and carrots for the reindeer. Santa answered every question. How does he have time for all that?

Outside there were sleigh tracks, reindeer tracks, Santa tracks, carrot and celery crumbs, and magic glitter. It was really amazing.

Halli received an Aerial Silk. We had never heard of this before.( its a huge piece of silk-type material you hang from a high point and do aerial gymnastics with) Halli takes classes back home in Kauai. Halli is very good and showed Hayden how to do it. Thank goodness Nana has a huge ceiling and a bracket to hang it from.

Hayden wants an aerial silk now, she has gotten quite good.

My whole family was able to go visit our Grandma and Dwight. She is a great hostess. We enjoyed hearing her stories of when she was dating and engaged to Grandpa.

Hayden's highlight was her Rip Stik which she hopped on and rode to Abbey's in bare feet. She also loved her new ipod dock and pillow pet.

But the very best thing was all of the kids and family together. It all ended way too soon.

Busy Christmas Weekend

2010-12-19T21:12:00.001-07:00

We have been super busy this month and we have had a lot to look forward to.

I wait all year for this December weekend and all its celebrations.

Saturday started with Hayden skiing at Snowbird and us getting ready for the party. We were able to go visit Jeremy's cousin Josh and Michelle and their cute new baby,Lincoln, before the party.

Then to the annual Newcomb Christmas Party. It's always so fun, everyone gets spoiled and we eat great food. We all look forward to it, since we only all get together about 2-3 times a year.

Hayden opening her gift

All the girls received a handmade Christmas stitching from Arlene, she had worked on them all year long. (loved it)

That night we then headed to stay in Bountiful with my family so we could go to the Tabernacle Christmas Concert the next morning.

Sunday was the the concert and we felt very privileged to be there. I know a lot of people were unable to to get tickets.

David Archuleta was very impressive and didn't miss a note.

He was so good, he very much reminded me of Josh Groban.

The Choir and Orchestra were amazing as usual.

I absolutely love this event every year and I think have only missed one performance in 13 years.

Hayden was very excited to be able to see David Archuleta.

After the concert we went to Harmony's apartment for Devyn's 4th birthday party.

Devyn is a hoot and Harmony's cake was one of the best I have tasted.

I guess the party's over.

What's Christmas without a little chaos?

Room Transformation: Before & After

2010-11-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

My New Years' Resolution was to transform my exercise room into Hayden's bedroom and make the water closet storage room into a walk-in closet.

BEFORE

Here is my exercise room that I painted 3 years ago. I wanted bright colors that would give me energy. I loved this room and used it almost on a daily basis. It was hard to let it go.

BEFORE

Here is the water closet/mess. It was the only part of the house that was never finished. I paid my talented brother Cannon to come and sheet rock it and divide it off from the furnace and water heater. It was a great transformation.

AFTER
So I started back in January. I painted the room a light turquoise, put up beadboard (wallpaper) and the chair rail. Then I had to caulk it all and paint the beadboard and the chair rail. It took me weeks before I got it exactly perfect.

AFTER
Then on to the closet. Cannon made a dividing wall and then put in a door. I painted the closet and even cut and laid the carpet. Jeremy put up the new shelves and racks.

Its now ready for some clothes.

Finished Product

Finished and Decorated

Hayden is loving her new room, she has a walk-in closet bigger than ours, a reading corner and entertainment closet (tv, dvd, stereo).

I finally have one resolution checked off my list, now to start on the rest. j/k And to think it only took me 11 months :-)

Hayden's 11

2010-11-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hayden is finally 11 years old and I really can't believe it.

She is so mature and fun-loving. She is spunky and organized and a great student. She is just a Awesome kid all around.

She took peanut butter blossoms to school for her class, she has most every year.

She got this big chocolate cupcake cake.

That night we had a small family party and she received many nice things. She wanted gift cards this year, and this is what she got:

2 Dillard's
2 Claire's
1 itunes

Her biggest surprise was her "total room makeover"

I have been working on a bedroom for her downstairs for months now and the completion plus new items in the bedroom was her birthday present from us.

She could not even peak in the room for weeks as we moved all the furniture, organized the closet and redecorated it.

On her birthday she got to finally walk in and see her new bedroom.

New items she got was a bean bag, reading lamp, pillows, wall decor, closet organizers, etc.

She LOVED it.

(seeing the room for the first time)

The new walk-in closet was the best part. Large enough to keep most of this "hoarder's" stuff hidden from view.

Happy Birthday to Hayden.

(I am going to be posting some room before and after pictures soon. I am very happy with the way it all turned out.)

Halloween '10

2010-10-31T14:36:00.000-06:00

Halloween was fun this year. Hayden and her friend Brooklyn decided that Hayden would be a gypsy and Brooklyn a fortune teller.

We found most all of Hayden's costume at the D.I.

Don't you just love the eyelashes?

Hayden and Brooklyn even told fortunes to the young trick or treaters at Brooklyn's house.

This year I decided I wasn't going to stress about candy because we always run out. We have a ton of people come to our house that we have never seen before.

We eventually ran out at 7:30, better than most years, I think the weather was to blame.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun

2010-10-28T19:31:00.000-06:00

We usually like to paint our pumpkins instead of carve them. I hate making messes and carving is so messy and only lasts for a short time. When you paint, they last all month.

Hayden did the mummy and I did the Frankenstein, Jeremy hasn't finished his yet.

I enjoy making things out of clay and I have a snowmen and penguin set I have made for Winter decorations. So this year, I decided to make a Halloween clay set.

First, I mold each item out of sculpy clay. Then I have to cook them for about 5 hours in the oven to make them hard. Then I paint them all. It is a fun little project for me, it takes a couple of days to complete. I think I might start making them for each holiday.

This is what the girls do

2010-10-24T19:53:00.000-06:00

When the guys insist on leaving for 4 days and going hunting, this is what the girls do.

FRIDAY:

Corn maze and haunted barn ride with 3 friends
Casper's for ice cream

SATURDAY:

Fashion Place Mall shopping
Lunch with the Arnold's at the Corner Bakery
Gardner Village witch scavenger hunt
Shopping at the District

Finally making it to the Arnold's new house in Saratoga Springs and having a tour of their mansion
Swimming at the Saratoga Hot Springs

Seeing Harmony's new apartment in downtown Salt Lake

Eating wonderful pastries at Gourmandise with harmony and J.D.
Staying up and driving home way too late

(look very closely, that dude photo bombed my picture, we couldn't stop laughing)

SUNDAY:

Sleeping in way too late
Making yummy food
Scrapbooking and relaxing

What would you do?

2010-10-23T08:09:00.000-06:00

What would you do if you pulled over on the side of the freeway to drop your daughter off with her Grandpa and a baby kitten ran out of the weeds? No houses are close by and no other cats are around. The kitten is starving and looking for food everywhere, its so small, probably too young to even eat food. But you can tell, as you hold it, that is knows people and is not a wild cat???

Well, I had to take him home, I couldn't just leave him there. I took him home and he instantly started to scarf down Tara's adult cat food. I gave him a bath and really didn't know what to do with him. Hayden was gone for the night at my parents and Jeremy was at a concert.

The big problem with this kitty is that he was so stinkin' cute from the start. I am not easily impressed by animals and I thought Tara was a very uncute kitten, so that's saying a lot for me. His face is adorable.
He could eat cat food and he automatically knew how to use a litter box.
Now what?

So.....we have a new member of our family.

Jasper, is a very coordinated kitten with a lot of spunk.

Tara has mixed emotions about what to think, but she is acting motherly, which is good since this poor kitten got dumped on the side of the road at about 5 weeks old to fend for himself.

Mountain Crest Volleyball '10

2010-10-05T21:27:00.000-06:00

Hayden just completed her 3rd season of volleyball. She got to play in the older competitive division.

She has made a lot of progress since she started and really enjoys it.

All of her serves are overhand now.

Her team took 1st place!

(Hayden's in the middle, she is two years younger than the rest of the players)

One Year and Counting

2010-10-02T13:29:00.000-06:00

Friday Sept 24th was the one year anniversary of Ted having open heart surgery. It came as a huge surprise to all of us. My Mom texted me that day, and told me he was in surgery while I was at work. This was the first I had heard that he even had a heart problem.

Ted loves life and has been counting the days of his new life and his extension of his life because of modern medicine. We all met and surprised him at the cafeteria of Mackay Dee Hospital where it all took place.

Thank you for letting Ted be in our lives, we can't live without him.

Cheesecake Factory + Peter Cetera = Harmony!

2010-09-12T18:10:00.001-06:00

After the last Peter Cetera concert we went to, 2 months ago, Harmony and I decided to be groupies and go to every Peter Cetera concert we could find. Thank goodness this concert was just in Sandy.

Harmony's 29th birthday is this week and so we had a perfect excuse to get away, not that we need an excuse or anything.

We started out the night with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It's a dang good thing that I dont' live close to it anymore, or I would be there everyday, I never get sick of it.

The Sandy Amplitheater was really nice. We got the closest lawn seats we could find, and they were actually really good.

We were both so excited we could hardly contain ourselves.

You would of thought it was December, it was a cold night. We had gloves, scarves, multiple layers and blankets, but mostly all of our excitement kept us warm.

What a great night!

P.S. Peter Cetera's birthday is actually September 13th, he is 66 years old and still Rockin!

Top of Utah Half

2010-08-30T18:35:00.000-06:00

Amy and I ran our 2nd Top of Utah half marathon. Jenny and Amy's friends from Layton joined us.

I improved my time by 1 min and Amy by about 3 minutes.

Its been a fun goal to train towards and we enjoy our running time together away from work, kids and life for a moment. That's, I guess, why running can become addicting.

Back to (NEW) school

2010-08-27T09:50:00.001-06:00

Thursday, Hayden started her first day of 5th grade at a new school. The school district rearranged our boundaries sending our neighborhood to River Heights Elementary. Hayden has been nervous because she would be the new student her last year of elementary school.

We had fun this summer school shopping and getting things ready for school. This year we get two buses that come by our house and we don't have to pay for either one.

Hayden got a really awesome man teacher, Mr. Jorgensen. I think this year is going to be a great one.

Usually I take a picture of Hayden sitting at her new desk............... but this year... this was as close to the classroom as she let me get. :-( She is ruining all my fun as a Mom.

Cannon and Justine

2010-08-22T16:06:00.001-06:00

Cannon and Justine were married Saturday Aug 21st in the Logan Temple. We had two days full of fun and excitement for these two.

They had an old fashioned themed wedding with light turquoise, off-white, black and grey for their colors.

The reception was held Friday evening at my Grandma Moo's yard in Bear River City, which is Justine's hometown. They had a very good turn out, many people travel far to come see them.

The decorations were so cute and all their pictures were darling.

An assortment of cookies were served along with 3 different flavors of ice cream and milk.

Hayden and Halli got to help with the serving and cleaning up. They did a great job.

The guys looked handsome in their matching ties

Harmony is one amazing woman. She made and decorated this fabulous cake and made all the skirts for the young girls to match. She is "Martha Freakin Stewart."

Cutting the cake, they were very gentle with each other.

Saturday afternoon, a fancy luncheon was held at Hamilton's. Cannon sang and played a love song for Justine. What a guy!

My Mom took all the pictures and pretty much organized the whole reception. She did such a great job and everything was perfect.

The food was very yummy, but the fire alarm went off while we were eating and we all had to go outside to wait for the fire dept to come and shut it off. .......fun memories.

After the luncheon we headed to the Temple for the wedding. Justine is so beautiful, I don't think there was a more lovely bride.

The cute kids in their matching clothes.

Outside the Temple for pictures.

The wind was a little crazy.

They even had a carriage pick them up and drive them around the Temple. It was a very fun and special day. We are happy and excited to finally have a sister in law.

We decorated their car all up and filled their car with some honeymoon goodies.

Best of Wishes for your bright future Cannon and Justine!

Annual Newcomb Family Campout

2010-08-11T16:22:00.000-06:00

This year the Newcomb Family Campout was at Lava Hot Springs.

We camped at the KOA.

The scenery was beautiful. Everything was great except the trains that went by about every ten minutes ( even during the night).

The cousins had fun playing together.

We ate a lot of good cookies at the cookie contest.

Saturday we all went to the pool and stayed most of the day.

The slides and the diving boards were a lot of fun. Jeremy even went off the Tower.

Maddie was so cute in her goggles.

Saturday night we ate at the Riverwalk Thai Restaurant.

Sunday, most of us floated the river. Even the littlest kids had fun.

I always forget that Lava is so close, we need to go there more often.

Brace Yourself

2010-08-05T21:48:00.001-06:00

Hayden got Braces on Monday. She has been so excited for weeks now and has been counting down the days.

She even took a poll, and asked many people, to help her decide which color bands to get.

Hayden's teeth before.

Getting the Brackets put on.

Getting the bands put on. After much deliberation, she chose pink, green and black.

After, I think she looks really cute.

But, the last couple of days has been rough for her, thank goodness for Tylenol.

Happy Birthday Old Glori

2010-08-03T18:35:00.001-06:00

Last week my young mother turned 60.

I can't believe she is 60.

Harmony organized a party for her at Le Nonne.

Cami gave her this cute wall hanging, perfect for most women.

The grandkids

Table of Ted's kids

The Watts, Walters and Millers

My family.

Ted and the Birthday Girl

The beautiful red velvet cake Harmony made.

This is Camdyn, my 4 year old cousin, people think we look like each other. What do you think?

I hope I have a kid as cute as her.

Raging Waters is H2O

2010-07-24T18:15:00.000-06:00

Friday, Harmony and I took our girls and Halli to Raging Waters .

It really was a perfect day, the weather was great and the lines weren't too long.

It was really nice because Hayden and Halli are finally old enough to go and do things on their own without constant supervision.

The rope swing

The Wave Pool was one of their favorites

Harmony told us we all had to try her favorite slide the Acapulco Cliff Dive. I had been on it once about 10 years ago and HATED it. I hate the feeling of falling more than anything.

So Harmony took Halli and Hayden up and they all went on it, I stayed at the bottom and took the pictures.

Halli coming down.

Halli is 9 years old.

Hayden coming down.

Hayden is 10 years old and smiling at the bottom.

So........I thought, I guess I could give it another try, if they can do it, so can I.

Me, screaming my guts out, feeling like my feet were going to come over my head.

That is not a smile, its pure terror.

This is me at the bottom saying, "I Hate it, I hate it."

They were all laughing at me and telling me I was a wimp.

Anyway, we all had a great time and stayed until it closed.

Despite the multiple sunscreen applications we all look a little burned.

After we left we went to Rumbi's for dinner and Scoopology for dessert. Us girls can't survive without our treats.

Thanks girls for the fun day!

Jeremy's Birthday

2010-07-18T20:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to Jeremy!

Saturday we rented 2 wave runners and spent the day at Bear Lake for Jeremy's birthday.

Harmony, J.D. and my Mom joined us.

The lake was busy

Hayden had fun, I even let her drive it with me on the back.

Jeremy said he might sell his motorbike and get one of these instead.

After the lake we met back at our house and had cake.

This is Jeremy's favorite strawberry cake.

Waiting 15 years for Peter

2010-07-02T11:21:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, I am a big music fan, it runs in my family. I get obsessed really easily over singers and groups. I was fortunate to have parents that were Hippy Rockers and took us to many concerts as we were growing up. They took us to some very good concerts no Partridge Family. My Mom took us to, or went with us to: Sting, Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews Band, ZZ Top, Ted Nugent, Creed, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Kenny Rogers, Police. My Dad took us to The Doobie Brothers, Creedance Clearwater Revival, The Beach Boys, BTO.

Fifteen years ago my Mom took my sister Harmony to a Peter Cetera concert for her birthday, I wanted to go but it wasn't my turn. I always felt bad that I didn't get to go and have been watching for him to come back to Utah ever since.

2 weeks ago Harmony discovered that Peter was coming to Utah State to put on a concert with The American Festival Chorus and Orchestra directed by Craig Jessop. I was so freakin' excited and we quickly bought tickets on the front row.

So I counted down each day until the concert. Harmony arranged for us to go with my parents, her friend, and my cousin Cami and Matt.

The concert was a blast and his voice sounded as good as ever. I have never been on the front row and I was snapping pictures and videoing his ever move. Jeremy was sitting between Me and my Mom and he was rolling his eyes and laughing the whole time because we were all Rockin' Out.

The four guys that went were a little hesitant about going because all us girls were so excited to see Peter, but by the time the concert was over they guys were all impressed and knew almost every song he sang.

J.D, Harmony, Matt,Cami,Mom,Ted, Me,Jeremy

We all ate at the Indian Oven before hand.

I love Peter Cetera

Yellowstone '10

2010-06-27T16:18:00.007-06:00

We traveled with my family to Yellowstone.

First stop Jackson Hole.

We arrived Wednesday night and stayed in the Canyon Village Campground.

We had a very nice campsite covered in trees.
We made our way around the Park for the next few days.

Dragons mouth was a little stinky.

Hayden had a beautiful valley named after her.

Here are the ladies that went.

Here we are in front of Artist Waterfall

These two are waiting for Old Faithful to go off.

We got to see this amazing geyser go off twice. We walked all the way around all the hot pots and geysers .

Here we are at Tower Falls.

Here are the cute kids, who for the most part, were pretty good.

Seeing the animals was the highlight of the trip. We got so close to them.

Many Buffalo all over the road.

Quite a few Elk too.

Then on the last day we saw 4 bears.

This big Black Bear,

and this Grizzly Mom with her two cubs.

We got to see the Mom and her cubs two different times.

We felt so lucky to have seen the bears.

We had a great time. Thanks to my parents for supporting this fun get-a-way, they made the trip really easy.

As you can see, we all inhaled a little too much smoke.

"I Like My Birthdays Every (thirty) One"

2010-06-18T14:24:00.004-06:00

June 12th was my 31st birthday.

I might be different from most adults, but I thoroughly enjoy my birthdays, I don't care how old I am. I also loved to be surprised. I am not a snooper, I will not check the bank account, I won't read texts, I won't look for clues. Jeremy is great at surprises and this year was no exception.
He took me to Midway again to stay at the Homestead Resort. We love this place and don't get sick of it, it is away from everything, extremely beautiful and very relaxing. That night we strolled Main Street of Park City and visited little shops and stopped at The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We love treats and sweets. I really love that Jeremy like them almost more than me, then I don't have to feel guilty.

The grounds of the Homestead are very beautifully landscaped and we enjoy walking around the yards.

I also got a surprise massage the next morning. I would never spend the money on myself, so I am happy that Jeremy lets me relax and enjoy myself on special occasions. We also shopped at the Park City Outlets and had to make a 2nd stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory( this time it was for Jeremy, I promise) and a cookie shop.

Later on in the week, my family had a party for the three June birthdays. That would be

Justine-June 1st

Me-June 12

Ryan-June 18th
We had pizza and drinks at the park and we each got our own dessert.

Cache was enjoying himself so much he wet his pants.

I got a ColdStone cake, Jeremy usually always buys me one for my birthday.

I got many nice gifts and I appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness. I had to smile when I looked at what I received for my birthday.........

1 gift cert. to ColdStone
1 gift cert. to Kneaders
2 gift cert. to Temptation Cupcakes
2 huge chocolate bars
2 sugar cookies and a brownie from Normandie's
1 bag of milanos

Well, I guess its no secret that I like a lot of really good treats.

My gift certificates will be gone in no time.

Thanks everyone for the great birthday.

The Greatest Show on Earth

2010-06-12T10:52:00.003-06:00

The Greatest Show on Earth was the theme for Hayden's end of year dance recital for Tueller School of Dance.

They looked like clowns for the circus and the whole building smelled like cotton candy.

She performed Thursday and Friday nights at the Logan High Auditorium.
She had three dances, tap, jazz and ballet.
Kenedie, Hayden & Brooklyn were in the same dance group and the same school class this year.

Hayden in her tap costume

Devyn & Harmony came to watch and Devyn wanted to get her picture taken with the dance star. Devyn was excited to see Hayden perform on stage.

100% Reward and Indian Cave Hike

2010-06-07T17:36:00.006-06:00

As Hayden's reward for getting 100% attendance during 4th grade, she was able to get nails and Glitter Toes.

She was so excited and counted down the days until she finally got them. I decided to take her to the beauty school, because its close by our house and its pretty cheap.

So at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday I took her to the beauty school. I stayed there for about an hour while she got started. Then the nail tech told me that she would be fine if I left and they would call me when they were getting close to being finished.

I was relieved because I was really tired since we had, had a yard sale that morning and I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. I zoomed home and got in bed and set my alarm. About 2 hours later Hayden text me and told me to come back. I hurried back to the school to find Hayden getting the Glitter toes applied, she wasn't even close to being done. I waited for another hour.

The whole process was 4.....hours......long.....

Are you serious??

In the end, Hayden really didn't mind, she had her lovely fingernails and her cute toes, and I guess I got a nap too.

Sunday, we decided to take a hike up to an Indian Cave by Cutler Dam. I hadn't been up there since my forth grade took a field trip there and I had found an arrowhead.
We saw quite a few owls on the way up.

The sad thing was, is that the cave wasn't all that cool and the hike was straight up the mountain.

Don't you just love it when your memories are actually better than the real thing?

The view from the cave was really pretty.

After we hiked down, we hiked over to Cutler Dam.

It was a lot bigger than I had remembered it.

100% of 4th Grade

2010-05-28T13:55:00.004-06:00

We can't believe that this school year is over. 4th grade has been the best year.

Here is a recap of the last couple of weeks, a lot of exciting things happened.

This week we had to say goodbye to AUNDREA ( just temporally). Aundrea saved my life by coming at 6 a.m. and getting Hayden and Hallie (our friend) ready for school. The girls had a lot of fun with her and I am very grateful for all her time and dedication throughout the school year.
Hayden is the best student and she accomplished so much this year. Her grades have pretty much been off the charts this whole year, okay probably her whole life :-).
She earned this Citizenship Award for being one of two "Awesome" 4th graders.
I asked her why she earned the award and she said, "Because I am Awesome"
She earned a free dinner at Golden Corral.
Mrs. Dattage, WOW, I don't think there is a better teacher out there. Hayden was so lucky to get her for her teacher. Mrs. Dattage retired this year after over 25 years of teaching.
Providence Elementary is too crowded and so they have changed the boundaries and next year Hayden will be going to River Heights Elementary.

WeLOVEtheProvidencePandas

The Wellsville Mile

Each year all 4th and 5th graders in the school district participate in the Wellsville Mile.
This year it was the 30th anniversary.
Hayden wasn't too thrilled about having to run a mile every day in preparation for the event.
It was raining the day of the race, so they rescheduled it, and then it rained that day too.
This picture was on the front page of the Herald Journal. This is the beginning of the race as everyone was taking off. If you look really closely you can see Hayden on the right hand side, with a white shirt, on the front row.

All of Hayden's 4th grade friends.

The last month of school the entire 4th grade got ready for their county parade and program. Hayden was lucky to get Box Elder County. Her float was the driving of the Golden Spike. If you look closely you can see the Thomas Trains and the two men and the gold and silver spike.

She had to make a trifold poster and be prepared to answers questions for the parents about her county. She was dressed as an Indian girl and had the opening line on the program.

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

She did it, She actually did it!

Hayden received 100% attendance for the 4th Grade school year!

Hayden was not absent or tardy one day of year.

I am so proud of her.

As her reward instead of getting $20, which I told her she could have, she wants to get nails and glitter toes. So next week after her volleyball camp we will have a salon day for her. She can't wait.

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Abbey, Todd & Cache are Sealed

2010-05-14T21:34:00.006-06:00

Congrats to Abbey and Todd for getting sealed in the Logan Temple this last Saturday.

It is so special to see children sealed to their parents. Cache was so cute.

(look at Cache's strong muscles)
The three of them looked so great and happy.

While we were waiting for pictures to be taken, I took a couple of pictures of Hayden in the many tulips on the temple grounds

After the temple we had a luncheon at Firehouse

Harmony was enjoying herself

Man, the food was good!

a "glori"ous name

2010-05-08T23:55:00.003-06:00

happy mother's day!

(my mom loves lower case)

it's mother's day and I just couldn't resist thanking my mother for the wonderful person that she is. what would we do without our mothers, we wouldn't be who we are if it weren't for our mothers.

my mother is extraordinary. she is the hardest worker I know. she has set such a great example to me and shown me never to do a job half way. my mom made so many sacrifices for me and my siblings, while we were growing up and still does to this day.

my mom worked extra hard so we could all go to preschool and take piano lessons, dancing, flute lessons, get braces and have new clothes.

I specifically remember in third grade, I had a field trip to the Hanson Planetarium. she stayed up all night making me some cute new shorts with a pocket and a pink button. she tucked away $5 in the pocket so I could buy a souvenir. I felt so thankful and guilty that she had spent all that time on me, that I didn't feel like I deserved to spend the $5. I brought the money back home to her.
she always had each of us feel so special on our birthday's. she would make these huge cakes each year with whatever character or item we decided or sometimes she would surprise us.

my mom went back to college when I was in high school. she had 5 kids, worked and her life wasn't the easiest at that time. but, she did it and graduated with her bachelors and very high grades. she was always my motivation and driving force while I was in college, especially when I was struggling.
I could write a novel about how my mother has influenced my life and made me who I am today. I strive to be like her everyday. I want the patience she has, I want to be more right brained like her, and I want to be as thoughtful and detail oriented like her.
Thank you for the wonderful life you have given me.

I love you mom.

Team Fusion

2010-05-02T10:14:00.003-06:00

Hayden just completed her 2nd season of volleyball. She has made many improvements since the 1st season. I had to get special permission for Hayden to be able to play on this league. She was the youngest on the league but she was one of the taller ones.

Team Fusion was a 5th and 6th grade team that played at the Logan Rec Center. She was lucky because her Step-Mom, Jolene, volunteered to be the coach and she was awesome. She really taught the girls some skills.
Hayden was also excited that she got to have two friends and neighbors on the team

The amazing thing was, is by the last couple games, I think every girl started to serve overhand, a skill I never could do that well.

Ready and waiting for the serve.

These girls were crazy, they coordinated their clothes and hair each game.

Girls Day

2010-04-18T13:14:00.005-06:00

Who doesn't need a girl day out? My Mom planned this day for me, my 2 sisters and my 3 cousins. This wasn't your typical girl's day, with pedicures and shopping, she organized this day with things you would like to do, but never get to.

We picked everyone up and met Friday morning at Gourmandise Pastry shop in downtown SLC.

Mom was feeling real sick after being stung by some bees the night before while golfing. The only cure was her drinking her beloved Mountain Dew. She started to get back to normal after about 2 hours.

After we ate enough pastries, we went to the new Deseret Book Flagship Store across from Temple Square and then over to the new Church History Library. Since we were on a time schedule, we didn't have enough time to research things, but it was good to find out what you could do at the library.

Next, we went to the Jeweler's Guild across from Trolley Square. Lincoln, the Jeweler, makes all the Jewelry in his store so every item is unique. A few people found some expensive rings that they are hoping their husbands will get them for Christmas. :-)

For Lunch we drove up Emigration Canyon and ate at Ruth's Diner.

Ruth, was a rough lady that started this diner and in every picture of her, she was smoking a cigarette, so this picture is Us being Ruth.

Then came the part we had all been waiting for............
Have you ever heard of or eaten V's chocolates?

We got a personalized tour of the chocolate factory.

We were all so excited

Here is the toffee being poured out on the cooling table.

Forget a chocolate fountain, what about a chocolate waterfall?

Racks and racks of chocolates

After the tour and history of V's Chocolates the owner gave us bags that we got to fill up for free. He told us how many we could get, but I don't think any of us were listening.
I had never had V's Chocolates before and now I am sold, especially after seeing how they make them.

After the tour it was back to the gift shop where we got to buy anything else we wanted. Look at all this stuff we got.
By that time it was later in the day and we were all needing to get back to our obligations.

Thanks Mom for planning a much needed break.

It's only 2 days later and I only have a few pieces of chocolate left.

Fun Ideas for Girls Hair

2010-04-11T17:09:00.008-06:00

Recently, a couple of my friends at work have found these cute blogs with really creative hairstyles for girls.

I usually get in a rut and these blogs have some hairstyles I have never seen. Make sure to check out the waterfall braid and the tween braid on the "Adopt a Hairdo" site.

Check out the sidebars of each of these blogs for an array of different styles to choose from and you can also watch videos on how to do the hard ones.

Grandma Welling

2010-03-29T17:31:00.004-06:00

Elsie Margaret Godfrey Welling

Born August 1, 1919 in Clarkston, Utah

Died March 28, 2010 in Fielding, Utah

My wonderful Grandma passed away yesterday at the age of 90 years.

She is such a special person in my life. I was fortunate to live next door to her growing up and she has always been like my second mom.
I will miss her so much, but I am also happy that she is free. My Grandpa died before I was born and so she has been alone for 32 years. She taught me so many things and was a great example to me.
I love you Gramma.

Happy 3rd Anniversary

2010-03-26T11:22:00.005-06:00

I can't believe it already been 3 years.

Happy Anniversary Jeremy!

Early Easter

2010-03-21T19:58:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday to Cache, he turned 2 on Saturday. He is the cutest kid you will ever meet.

Abbey and Todd had a horse themed birthday for him. He loves horses and loves wearing his cowboy boots.

Harmony and Abbey made this awesome Bulls Eye cake.
Then there was a horse pinata

with so much candy.

On Friday, before Halli left to go to her dad's, we had a little early Easter hunt with the kids at my Mom's house.

Britany has made a tradition on buying Castarones, real brightly colored eggs filled with confetti. The kids find the eggs and then have an egg fight with the eggs and confetti.

Britany is in charge of her towns Easter Egg Hunt when she gets back to Princeville.

It was quite cold outside, a little too cold to stay out too long.

The adults stayed inside and watched from the windows. We are wimps.

Happy Early Easter!

Fun Park

2010-03-19T09:22:00.006-06:00

Britany and Halli were able to come to town for a short visit for Spring Break.

We decided to go to the Fun Park and have some fun.

First we skated. Devyn did such a great job for a 3 year old.

Halli couldn't get enough skating.

Then they got to play in the huge jungle gym.

Then we all took turns on the really tall tube slide, even me and Britany.

Halli

Britany said she would kill me if I posted this, but she never reads my blog, so she won't ever know :-)

Hayden

"Wow, that was fast!"

Finally, Hayden and Halli got to do laser tag. It was their first time and they thought it was great.

Taking Time to Enjoy Life

2010-03-07T11:31:00.006-07:00

This weekend, Jeremy's cousin Josh and his wife Michelle came and stayed with us. This was their second trip to our house, which we are thankful for.

They came Friday night and we went and ate dinner at Cafe Sabor, we loved their fried ice cream. We rented a movie and stayed up a little late.

Saturday we went snowboarding at Beaver. It was a fabulous day, sunny and the snow was soft. Jeremy and I got sunburned. Cannon and Justine met us up there too.

It was a really great day and we were happy to spend it with fun people. In the last 2 weeks Jeremy had to get a root canal and had a dislocated rib that was causing him excruciating pain, we sure needed this day to remember that life is enjoyable sometimes.

Thanks Michelle and Josh.....come again.

Valentine's

2010-02-18T18:02:00.003-07:00

Valentine's was uneventful this year. Usually the girls in the family try to do stuff for our guys, but this year it was a little unorganized.

The week before Valentine's I had a small little procedure done to my leg. While the doctor was fixing my varicose and spider veins I had him cut off my tattoo on my ankle. No big deal, right? Well the 4 inch incision became extremely infected and I was unable to walk or go to work, I had to be put on 2 courses of antibiotics. My foot was swollen, red, oozing puss and so painful, I couldn't put any weight on it. I sat on my couch all week. My sister, Harmony, came over for 2 days and made me food, took care of Hayden and cleaned. I was so ticked that it had happened and that I was using my vacation hours at work to sit on my couch. I didn't leave my house for about 8 days. This Valentine's dinner was my first outing. (I will post some before and after pictures when it is actually all healed)

Anyway, the last couple years we have gone to the Valentine's buffet at the Bluebird Restaurant as a family. The food is so good and they have yummy desserts. Since it was a buffet, I sat in my chair and Jeremy served me all my food so I didn't have to walk.
I really enjoy doing things as a family and I know I have the best parents and siblings and husband. I am one blessed girl.

So here is me and my Valentine. He was about ready to boot me to the curb after a week of being helpless, but he never complained. He helped we do dressing changes each day (yum).

Here are the cute Valentine girls. I love these cuties!

Here is the fun group that we went with: My parents and Grandma, Harmony, Steve, Devyn, Cannon and Justine.

Here is Hayden's awesome Valentine's box, this was the first year she got to make one at home.

Thought for the Day

2010-02-11T09:21:00.004-07:00

One day, long, long ago, there lived a beautiful woman who did not whine, nag or bitch.

But that was a long time ago and it was just that one day.

The End

Snowboarding

2010-01-24T15:01:00.007-07:00

It finally snowed enough for us to go up to Beaver snowboarding. What a great day it was. The snow was so nice and soft. It snowed all day.

My wonderful parents brought us up some lunch. How thoughtful they are.

It was just Jeremy and me this time. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Jeremy hitting a box and me carving the powder.

Lava Hot Springs New Years Day

2010-01-03T15:46:00.006-07:00

We were so happy to have an extra day off this New Year's weekend. Thursday after work the 3 of us went down to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's in Sandy. Our Niece turned three. After the Birthday we went to Jeremy's sister Lindy's house for a New Year Eve party. We lost the Newly Wed game :-). That night we slept at Tim and Jessica's. Friday morning we went and visited Jeremy's parents and stopped in at the new Draper Inn & Out Burger.

We then hurried to meet my family so we could all drive to Lava Hot Springs for a New Year's Day celebration.

We all went and ate at River Bend Thai Restaurant in Lava. It was yummy.

Then off to the hot pools to relax.

Devyn looked so cute in her snow hat and swimming suit "with a skirt."

It was a busy place. It was our first time there. All the pools are outside and some have canopy covers. Its right up against a mountain and 4 trains came by.

It was lightly snowing and the cold air felt nice with the hot water.

We had a fun time and excited to go back maybe in the summer and camp.

Now the holidays are over, we have cleaned up all our stuff and back real life tomorrow.

Christmas Run Down

2009-12-27T18:49:00.006-07:00

The month of December was insane at our house. We didn't have a lot of time to stop and enjoy the season, which is sad. Jeremy and I worked overtime each week and had a lot of on-call time. I can't believe it's already over. Here is a quick run down of what went on at our house.

Hayden spent this year with her Dad, and so she got to come home and see what Santa had brought her at 11 p.m. Christmas night. kinda crazy.

She got a much needed bike

Hayden will not stop growing so things I had bought months ago were too small, a few returns were made.

Hayden coming to see what Santa had brought.

My favorite Christmas decorations . The penguins were a new addition this year.

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents, we had a nice dinner and opened presents.

My Mom gave Hayden this beautiful fairy.

Hayden gave Cache a farm set, he loves cows.

A new church dress from Nana.

Grandma ended up with the best white elephant gift of all, a Snuggie. Now if we can just get her to sit down for two seconds, I think this could be perfect for her.

Jeremy as a truck driver. He got a new cow milking coat and with the Snow White wig, it was a little creepy.

We went down to the Newcomb Christmas party the week before Christmas. It's always fun.

Exchanging gifts

Brittany got the perfect purse for Hayden

Now is all over and the clean up begins. I am looking forward to a more relaxing January.

Temple Square and Tabernacle Christmas Concert

2009-12-13T18:23:00.005-07:00

This weekend we traveled to Salt Lake for the annual Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert, one of my most favorite events of the year. We left Saturday morning and went to the Clark Planetarium for a 3D IMAX show. We saw "Under the Sea," which we all agreed was the best 3D one we have seen so far. We shopped around at the Gateway and had lunch, it was so much warmer than it had been earlier this week, thank goodness.

At 6 p.m. we went to Temple Square and saw the lights. It's always a sight to see and there were a few new things displayed this year.
After the lights we met Nanna, Harmony and Cannon for some fries and ice cream. We all stayed at the CottonTree Inn in Bountiful. The hot tub and pool were the highlight.

Sunday Morning we went to the Conference Center for the concert. This was Hayden's first time to the Conference Center and the Christmas Concert and seeing President Monson. I was so excited that she was finally able to go. It's a tradition I look forward to and was glad she finally was old enough.

This years guests were Natalie Cole and David McCullough, author and announcer. There is so much that goes into these productions: the Orchestra on Temple Square, the Bells on Temple Square, the Dancers, the children's choirs, Richard Elliot, the amazing organist (he did a NutCracker organ solo that was absolutely phenomenal.) The shows are always so amazing and powerful, they are hard to describe unless you are there.

Every year the concert gets more popular and more people show up, its hard to get tickets. The tickets are done by a lottery and not one of us got tickets this year. We were lucky that some friends had just enough tickets for the 6 of us.

When the concert was over there was a snow storm going on outside. We had lunch together and journeyed home through the snow.

Catch Up

2009-11-22T12:44:00.004-07:00

What a busy last couple of weeks it has been. I haven't had a minute to get caught up on things.

Here is a condensed look at Hayden's 10th birthday.

Hayden is such an animal person, me, not at all. We tried a dog and a gerbil in the last 2 years and they were both insane and we weren't home enough to give them the attention they needed.

Hayden made a list of what she wanted for her birthday and it was "a dog or a kitten or some sort of animal, but preferably a puppy." I told her there was no way we were getting another dog.

So finally I agreed that we could get a cat from the Humane Society. I figured a cat can at least stay home a day and a night by itself and survive and it wouldn't be chewing and hyper and peeing everywhere like the maniac dog we had for 6 months.

The day of her birthday we went to the Humane Society and she picked out an 8 week old gray kitten. After polling half of Utah on what to name her, she decided on Tara Tacie.

So Far the cat has been the best pet. She already knew how to use a litter box, she is calm, and loving. I hope we can be pet people now :-)
Friday night Hayden had a late night friends party. It was a Polka Dot party. She had 8 girls over and 4 stayed the night. The girls were all well behaved, they had a fun time.

Sunday was the family party. We were happy some of Jeremy's family made the drive up.

We ate dinner and the kids did a pinata in the garage.

Harmony made this cute cake. I was not born with the cake decorating ability and so I have to hire out the cake decorating each year.

It was a fun week of celebrating. Now we are excited to go down to Jeremy's parents for Thanksgiving.

Can You Believe It?

2009-11-08T15:21:00.008-07:00

Hayden Kelsie Merritt was born November 9th at 1:35 a.m. She weighed 8lbs 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. She stood out from all the other babies in the nursery because she was the cutest and the only one with a bunch of red hair.

(One day old)

Hayden was born with a personality stronger than most. Her mother wasn’t too happy that she would not take a bottle until she was ten months old. She was a picky eater and did not like baby food like most babies. The only baby food she liked was macaroni and cheese, her mom thought it stunk. Hayden learned to walk when she was 11 ½ month old. Her first word was “Abbey,” her favorite Aunt.

(Blessing day, Dec 26, 1999)

When Hayden was a little over 2 yrs old her best friend was born. Halli had red hair just like Hayden; they looked like they could be sisters. They would get so excited to see each other, they could hardly contain themselves.

(Bloomington Lake, Very dirty)

(3rd birthday)

When Hayden’s Mom started nursing school Hayden was 3 years old. She was always happy to go to the babysitter’s house and she never cried when her Mom or Dad left her. She has always been social and very talkative. Hayden started gymnastics when she was 3, she was taller and stronger than the rest of the kids.

(First day of Preschool)
Hayden started preschool when she was 3yrs old. She Attended Murray Community Preschool. She loved school and could not wait to go. When she was 4 yrs old she went to Miss Vicki’s Preschool right on her same street. She wished she could go every day. Miss Vicki taught her how to read, sing and play the piano. Hayden had great friends that lived right across the street; they would play every day, from sun up to sun down.

(First time skiing, 4 yrs old)

When Hayden started Kindergarten at Viewmont Elementary, Mrs. Ball said she was one of the top students. At the end of the school year Mrs. Ball submitted Hayden’s name to move to the Murray School Districts Accelerated Learning School. Hayden had to go and take a test at a school with over 100 other children her age. Hayden was selected as the 2nd alternate, they selected 8 kids and she was tenth. Her Mom was so proud of her.

(First day at Providence Elementary)
One month into her 1st grade year Hayden moved with her Mom to Providence to live in her Aunt Britany’s basement apartment. It was exciting to be able to live with Halli. Britany got Hayden ready for school every day and watched her after school until her mom got home. Hayden instantly made new friends at school and in the neighborhood. She also started taking gymnastics again.

(Finally seeing The Little Mermaid, 2nd time to Disneyland)

Hayden likes to play with her friends as often as her mom allows. They like to ride their bikes, do make-over’s, go to Terabithia, and jump on the tramp.

(Britany, Halli and Hayden at the Miley Cyrus Concert)

Hayden is such a great kid. She is out going, but also shy at times. She always gets her homework done without being asked and has always loved to read. She is still a picky eater and takes home lunch about every day to school. She has never liked juice or pop and prefers water out of the tap with no ice. Hayden easily wakes up every morning for school and doesn't complain. Hayden has always had a sense of style and enjoys wearing earrings and having her nails done and she would wear high heels if her Mom would let her. She has the thickest wavy hair and has been learning new ways to do it herself. She is very adaptable to most any situation. She really loves to babysit her younger cousins.

We love you!

Happy Birthday!
HAYDEN IS 10!

Can you believe it?

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T18:51:00.007-06:00

Early in October Hayden and her friends decide what they all wanted to be. They all got these beautiful gowns. They are "Princesses Gone Bad." Pretty original I thought.

Brooklyn had a Halloween party at her house before they went out trick or treating. They had a great time helping each other get ready.

I loved Brooklyn's white cotton hair streaks.
This is the first year Hayden has gone out trick or treating by herself.

Hayden painted this cute dog pumpkin and entered it in the Macey's Painted Pumpkin Contest.

Today we all met at Jen and Tommy's to see the kids in there costumes.
Abbey and Todd and Cache were Bikers.
Cache looked so cute and tough in his leather.

Mason was the cutest little tiger

Hayden got to go an perform "Thriller" for a church activity, this is her in dance mode.

Halloween's Past

2009-10-14T18:36:00.006-06:00

We are getting excited around our house for Halloween, are you? Hayden has her costume all ready to go and has coordinated it with her friends. She is going to be cute and scary at the same time.....you will have to wait and see :-)

Here is Hayden's First Halloween as a Ladybug. I remember when I was pregnant and I saw this really cute ladybug costume at Target and knew that's what she had to be.

My camera broke and so I am missing when she was China Girl when she was two. When she was three she was this cute lion. I originally wanted her red hair to be the mane, I thought it would be perfect, but the costume mane was cuter.

I am missing a few other years too. In Preschool she was a very cute Witch.

In Kindergarten she was a Beautiful Butterfly and Halli was the Incredible's Mom

In first grade she was the Corpse Bride

2nd grade she was a Rock Star

Last year she was a skinny, petrified Mummy

HALLOWEEN is so fun and creative. I hope we don't run out of candy this year.

Bryan Adams - Heaven - Acoustic Live

2009-09-28T21:23:00.001-06:00

Circus Fun

2009-09-28T20:07:00.012-06:00

Yesterday we all went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus at the Energy Solutions Arena. What a fun show it was.
There were so many amazing acrobats and animal tricks

Our favorites were the Elephants and Tigers. The Elephants sat on stools, layed on the ground, did head stands and made a train. The tigers jumped through hoops, danced and rolled over.

There were so many acts. We couldn't believe all the tricks they could do. Dogs did back flips, an elephant disappeared, they rode bikes across a high wire, there were too many to mention.

The performers made their acts look so easy.
There was a lot of cool magic tricks too.

We had a great time!

Two ladies were shot out of a cannon

After the Circus Hayden got to go to her best friends the Arnold's while Jeremy and I went up to Kingsbury Hall for the Bryan Adams concert. Harmony won tickets on the radio and gave them to us. He was so good. It was him, his guitar and a piano player. He sounds just like he does on the radio. Almost every song he sang we knew. It was great for the two of us to get a moment by ourselves and what could be better than a bunch of loves songs?

Volleyball

2009-09-26T17:34:00.003-06:00

Hayden decided to try volleyball this season. She was really excited and then when she went and discovered she was the shortest, youngest and was one of the only ones that hadn't played, she was nervous. She didn't want to go because she felt like she wouldn't measure up.
She had a really great coach and she learned a lot.

It was fun to see her progression through the weeks.

She learned so much and started to get excited about going.

Way to go Hayden!

Fall is my favorite

2009-09-20T18:09:00.006-06:00

Life is crazy, and ours never seems to slow down. But, Fall is just about here. I love Fall. It is Utah's best season, in my opinion. I am thankful for the diverse climate we have here in Utah.

Things I love about Fall are:

The temperature is mostly perfect. The only time of year I can come home from work and go on a jog and not die of heat or cold. I love to run outside, when possible, and to feel a light cool breeze on me is invigorating. I love to hear leaves crunch under my feet.

The sun starts to go down sooner. I love summer nights when Hayden is out of school and doesn't have a bed time, but getting back into a schedule is more my style. When its darker sooner, we all go to bed sooner, this makes for happier people the next day.

The smells. Old leaves and crisp air, pumpkin and cinnamon smells. I like the smell of burning leaves. It's probably from living in the country and that's how people get rid of them.

I love all the Fall foods. I get excited to make pumpkin rolls and apple crisp, yummy soups and breads. They fill the house with such yummy smells. I love to bake and someday would love to go to culinary school. I make treats about everyday, its my hobby. ( Hayden recently had a vocabulary word that was "craving." Jeremy was quizzing her and she didn't know what it meant. He explained that craving is what pregnant people do, they crave certain foods while they are pregnant. Hayden's Brian started working a little too hard and she started to think that I must be pregnant. The next day she came in and I had just got done making peanut butter bars. She said, "Wow, Mom, you sure have been making a lot of treats, have you been "craving" them? I said, " not anymore than usual" I felt bad, because I knew what she was leading to. No, I am not pregnant, I just really love treats.)

Halloween and Thanksgiving, some of my favorites. Halloween is so fun, especially with kids. Picking out costumes and walking around the neighborhood to get candy, what could be funner. I don't mind getting dressed up myself. Thanksgiving was always fun at our house because Cannon's birthday was right around there. He always loved pumpkin pie and so we made a lot of it. Homemade rolls and mashed potatoes and gravy that my grandma made were my favorite.

I know I could go on and on. I am just feeling thankful that in my crazy life there are things that always stay the same.

Tribute to TED

2009-09-14T12:17:00.004-06:00

This was just printed in the Utah State magazine. Visit www.utahstate.usu.edu and look for Ted's smiling face. We love you Ted.

There's a waiter in a Logan restaurant looking for sympathy from his white–shirted colleagues because he's not sure he's fully prepared for tomorrow's mid–term. He holds his fellow servers captive with amusing stories from the class and with jokes the professor tells during voluntary, bonus study sessions at night. But when he suddenly says “albedo,” the suspicions of about three–quarters of the restaurant are confirmed: he's a student in Ted Alsop's physical geography class. “That's right kid,” says one customer waiting for a table, “just remember, it's albedo…not libido!”
Such is the professor's gift. You may be 10, 15, even 25 years removed from one of his handful of classes at USU, but you'll still remember a concept or two — and you'll certainly remember the man, the bona fide Aggie legend. Year after year he gets some of the highest student ratings on campus. In 1996 he goes supernova — Carnegie Professor of the Year! But it's that gift, that unusual, reach–you–individually–through–a–sea–of–200–other–students gift, that is Alsop's legacy, not the accolades. He creates this environment somehow, an environment of impassioned learning, of deep laughing, of genuine surprise. You think. You appreciate. You engage. You wonder what college would be like if all your classes were like his — or if absolutely none were — and you realize you are blessed for having merely walked through the door into his odd, reassuring, separate world. Ted's World; crafted in accordance with the Law of Anything Can Happen. Like that day in the late 1980s, two or three years after Alsop's arrival on campus. He's holding court in the old auditorium on the first floor of Old Main, one of his prime, large–enrollment venues. The palpable silence of another mid–term envelops the dozens of heads buried in its pages, students scribbling, professor propped against the stage, the moment of moments. And in the middle of it all, a thunderous voice from the balcony on high: “This is the Lord… Keep your eyes on your own damn paper!” And it sounds sort of like Ross Peterson — one of the guys who hired Alsop — and you can be sure the Lord will have to answer to the professor later. But first they laugh. Everybody in the room laughs. You've never experienced such a hearty laugh. And you return to your test realizing this guy truly is a cut above and he's good for thousands of Aggies, and you pray your kids might someday get the chance to take his class and that he never retires. But this summer he does just that. Goofy, brilliant, Professor Ted takes his gift and retires — and you sense a new hush enveloping campus and the end of an Aggie era.
—Jared Thayne '99

City of Rocks

2009-09-09T19:24:00.008-06:00

Our Labor Day weekend was eventful. Friday, Jeremy had a guys night at the Bee's game in SLC. He went with his brothers and Dad. He got to visit and stay the night at his parent's house. Hayden got to have a late night here at the house with 3 friends. My friend Marianne came over and we scrapbooked. I had made salsa, my first time, and yummy coconut cake.
Saturday Hayden had her first volleyball game. She did a great job for being the newest, youngest and shortest on the team. Then she and I went to the Farmer's Market and got some yummy vegan cupcakes, a fresh basket of peaches and homemade bread.

Sunday after church, we loaded up our stuff and went with my parents and Cannon to the City of Rocks. The 3 of us had never been there before. The City of Rocks is about 1 1/2 hrs West of Logan, by the very small town of Almo, ID.

Since we left late and it was a busy weekend, all the camping spots were full, so we stayed in town at an open field that they had converted into a camping area. It was a pretty exciting spot with a live band and people dancing. We all got out on the dance floor at one time, but just for one song :-) The Fugitives were an amazing band.

My parents stayed in their new enclosed trailer and us three in a tent of Ted's. Cannon slept right out in the open. Jeremy had packed and he had forgotten our tent, and brought me a kids sleeping bag, instead of an adult, and forgot Hayden's helmet. We all laughed, because Ted had us covered with everything we left home.

After breakfast we all got on our four-wheelers and dirt bike and headed up to the City of Rocks. The City of Rocks is a big valley full of huge rock structures. You can climb and hike all around. There were many rock climbers there that were fun to watch.

Here, Ted is talking in the rock, it amplified your voice like you were using a microphone.

All us young people climb up Bath Rock. A very huge structure with bath-like weathered holes in the top.

Hayden thought Cannon was great because he climbed and jumped and hung on every rock he could.

Hayden hid herself from Jeremy and Cannon.

Hayden could have stayed a week.

Jeremy found his own little pod

We finally had to go back home late Monday afternoon.

Next time we will defintely stay longer

We even saw a Mormon Cricket, big and ugly.

TOP OF UTAH Half Marathon

2009-08-29T17:43:00.006-06:00

Today was the Top of Utah Half Marathon. I have been running with Amy, my neighbor most of the summer. She and my sisters talked me into running the half marathon. It didn't sound that fun to me, but at least it was a goal to train towards. We trained about 3-6 days a week. On Saturdays we did long runs. I ran the 13.1 miles 2 weeks ago by myself and last week the four of us did 10 miles of the race course. It was a relief to know I had already done it and knew what to expect and feel afterwards.

This morning, Jeremy dropped us up at the finish line so we could be bused up to the starting line. We could not believe how many people were there tho run. At least 3 thousand. Bus after bus after bus left to haul the runners up the mountain.

The course route was a scenic one, starting up BlackSmith's Fork Canyon and ending at Zollinger Park here in Providence. The Canyon was beautiful and the canyon wind's felt really nice as we ran. My goal was to beat my time that I has set on the 1st day I ran the distance. I beat it by 20 mins, coming in about 2:11.

Amy and I ran the whole thing together. I was grateful for her encouragement, she really set the pace. Between the miles of 9-10 I started to get worn down, but we didn't stop or walk. The weather couldn't have been nicer, overcast and slightly cooler than normal.

The people on the side lines cheered us on and that really helped. We sprinted through to the finish line and were happy at the time we made. Jeremy, my parents, Grandma and my brother were there to see us finish.

We all did it! Way to go girls!

4th Grade

2009-08-20T17:30:00.004-06:00

Hayden's first day of 4th grade was today. She said she wasn't, but you could tell how excited she and her friends were. She got another great teacher, Mrs. Dattage.
As I drove away from the school this morning, I remembered how nice it is to have her back in school and know exactly where she is and how long she will be there. Summers are kinda rough like that.

We had fun going school shopping this year. Hayden has always been good with fashion and loves the skinny jean style. I don't know how large families afford it. It was tough enough to go school shopping for one kid and do all the sign-ups for sports and dancing and dancing shoes and morning babysitters hired, but we made it.

It was also her first day of dancing. She is taking from Tueller School of Dance and taking a break from gymnastic. She also decided to try out volleyball for the season.
We have a fun and eventful school year ahead.

Scared Hitless

2009-08-15T08:29:00.005-06:00

This summer we played on a COED softball team. The team was put together by Abbey and Todd and consisted mainly of my family. We weren't the best team but we sure had a great time playing every Thursday night.

We were in a lower division league and it was a good thing. We only won two games :-(

Abbey was the 2nd baseman. Look at her catch that ball.

Cannon hadn't play ball since he was younger, but you couldn't tell by the way he hit.

Justine played Catcher and made some nice plays

Tommy was the pitcher and he did a pretty awesome job. Becky is over on 1st, she made some amazing stretches to be able to catch some of our throws.

Here Cannon is out in Right Center, Jeremy at Shortstop, and Todd on 3rd.

Britany had to fill in for us a couple times while other players were out of town. We were sure glad she could help us.

Our parents and Jen came to watch and cheer for us each week.

Hayden was the team babysitter, watching Devyn and Cache, keeping them happy and out of the dugout.
Even though we might have lived up to our name a few times we still had fun and got better each week.

Go Scared Hitless!

Top row L-R= Darcie, Britany, Abbey, Justine, Becky

Bottom row L-R= Todd, Lance, Tommy, Jeremy, Cannon

missing: Harmony and Ellen

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma Welling

2009-08-03T20:55:00.009-06:00

August 1st was my Grandma's 90th birthday. We had a huge party with all her family. We celebrated at "This is the Place State Park" in SLC.

My Grandma is very special to me and has always been like my 2nd mother. I grew up next door to her and saw her everyday. She taught me many lessons in life and has always been my friend.

Harmony and my Mom planned this party. It was not an easy thing to do with there being 62 people in the family now. They did a great job and the party went off without a hitch.
Friday night, most of the cousin's met at the Cheesecake Factory to eat and catch up on life. My family then stayed at the University Guest House. The next morning we headed to the park. We had our own house reserved just for the party.

The park is old fashion and fun. Here the girls are making their own candles

Abbey, Todd and Cache on the mini train. Abbey currently lives and takes care of my Grandma. She does such a great job and we all appreciate all her hard work.

Here the girls are in a tee pee where they got to make arrowhead necklaces.

A large train drove around the park and gave a tour of the area.

The school house was fun. Hayden was suppose to read a book for the class, but she was unable to read the Brigham Young phonetic alphabet. She was punished by the teacher for not doing her homework and..........

She had to sit in front of the class with a "DUNCE" hat on. It was fun for the girls to imagine they were pioneers.

At 5 p.m. all of the family arrived to the house. We took a big group photo & ate a fabulous dinner. It was so fun to visit with all my cousins, a few I hadn't seen since my Grandma's 80th birthday.

After dinner we had a program for my Grandma. Britany, Halli and Hayden played a piano duet that my Grandma had taught Britany as a young girl.

The a few sang favorite songs of my Grandma. I was so cute to see my Grandma sing and remember all the words. Cannon sang a song.

Layna sang and actually got an on core. She is amazing. There is real musical talent in this family. Then we watched a video slideshow of my Grandma's life.

We all had a great time and couldn't believe it was really coming to an end. We may be having another party in about ten years. My Grandma is the youngest of 8 children. She has an older brother 92 yrs and a sister 101 yrs still alive.

We love you Grandma and are so thankful for you in our lives.

Oquirrh Temple

2009-07-26T16:07:00.003-06:00

Saturday we met Jeremy's family and went to the Oquirrh Temple open house. It is really close to his sister Carrie's house. It is a very pretty temple. We learned that the name "Oquirrh" was taken from the Goshute Indian word meaning "wooded mountain."
The word "Oquirrh" is also a Ute Indian word translated as " The shining mountain" or "glowing." Possibly due in part to the Oquirrh ranges appearance when struck by first light in the winter. So what an appropriate name for a temple "shining mountain."

The temple looks East and has a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Valley. Carrie is lucky and has view of 3 temples from her front porch.

After the temple walk through we went to Carrie and Preston's and had a BBQ with the family. Everyone brought such yummy salads. We had a mini birthday celebration for Jeremy's birthday too. A few of us headed to a ball diamond and hit a few balls. (that's a tradition for his birthday, he loves baseball)

We had a great time and alway feel sad when we have to leave, because we don't get to see his family as much as we would like to, but life has a way.

Fielding Fun Day

2009-07-18T17:45:00.005-06:00

Saturday was Fielding Fun Day. Fielding is the town I grew up in and where my parents, grandma and sister's family still live. Every July they have a little town celebration with a 5k run, breakfast, a parade, games, bake sale and dinner. I haven't made it to very many Fun Days since moving away, but last night my mom talked us into going over. Hayden and I went over to the yummy free breakfast.

Grandpa Ted cleaned his 4-wheeler all up and Hayden decorated in red, white and blue crape paper. Ted drove Hayden and Cache in the trailer and they threw out candy.

The parade lasted about one whole minute. 2 fire trucks, 1 ambulance, a primary float, 4-wheelers, kids on bikes and 2 horses.

Look at this cute barrel train, it was pretty long
You could tell the volunteer fire department was excited to be riding in the fire trucks
"Oh Fielding we're loyal to you."

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

2009-07-18T17:20:00.005-06:00

July 17th is Jeremy's Birthday. Today he turned 28. Hayden and I surprised him in the morning and decorated his truck with balloons and signs. He had to work which was a bummer, but he got off early. Hayden wrapped all his presents and she did an awesome job
Mostly, Jeremy wanted money to buy some motorbike items. He ended up buying some boots and a jacket. We also surprised with with "Nacho Libre", shoes and a shirt.

Nice wrapping Hayden!

At 6:30 p.m. we met Mom, Ted, Grandma, Harmony, Cannon, Justine, Tommy & Jen at the new Beehive Grill. The food was really good.

This is the cake he requested. Strawberry Dream Cake, Abbey had made it the week before for Todd's birthday and now Jeremy has decided it's his new favorite cake.

(we had to get a picture of Jen, she has 8 weeks left)

While we were waiting for our food to come, Hayden read us some facts about Jeremy. The night before she had thought up a bunch of questions and interviewed Jeremy. It was funny to hear all his answers. We all found out that he used to sleep with a "Diggy," which was part of his mother's silky night gown cut into a square.

Harmony and grandma were enjoying the vegetarian menu.

(Cannon and Justine were "gettin Diggy with it")

After our dinner the three of us went to Harry Potter with Tommy and Jen. Hayden was so excited. I could barely keep my eyes open and have only seen the 1st Harry Potter, 10 years ago, and had no clue what was going on in the movie. Jeremy really liked it.

Happy Birthday JEREMY!

Old Ephraim's Grave

2009-07-12T14:10:00.005-06:00

This weekend I really wanted to go camping and hiking, but we ended up not being able to leave early enough on Friday to go. So Saturday Jeremy and I decided to take the 4-wheeler, which he says is now mine, and his new dirt bike out for a ride up the canyon. It's a little difficult that we don't have a trailer yet and they are both too big to fit together in Jeremy's truck, so we had to figure out how to get them both to the mountain.
First, we loaded the 4-wheeler and took it Blacksmiths Fork Canyon up left hand fork, which was only 12 miles from our house. Then we had to drive back and get the bike and take it there too. We need to buy a trailer soon

We rode up through Cache National Forrest and ended up in Logan Canyon. Our final stop was Ephraim's Grave. Old Ephraim is a bear that was as big and as tall (9 feet 11inches) as the monument we are sitting in front of. He was hunted and trapped by Nephi Bott in Aug 1923.
His skull is in a Smithsonian in D.C.

It was so green and luscious, you could totally see why bears would want to live here. Thank goodness we didn't see any. There were many wild flowers in bloom and streams running near by. It was beautiful.

Someone in the past must have known we were coming up to this spot someday and carved our initial in this tree for us.

We also went and saw Grey Cliff Spring. Our trip took about 5 hours. We were covered in dirt when we finished.

Cowabunga/The Girls/ BBQ

2009-07-03T17:38:00.005-06:00

Halli and Britany were here for the week and so we decided to make the most of it and plan some fun things for the girls and us to do.

We all decided to try the new Cowabunga Bay in Sandy. What a fun place, but "Wow" the water was cold. The girls had a really fun time and were really daring, I think they went on every slide. The lazy river was a little warmer.

The weather was great while we were there, but as soon as we were packing it up a storm blew in and they shut the pool down for a lightening warning. Harmony stopped by to say "hi"

There were 2 of the largest buckets in the world, on top of the structure, that would fill up and dump. An alarm chime would go off just before they dumped.

After we were done swimming we went and ate dinner with Harmony at the Noodle Co and a little shopping.

Thursday we all met again including Abbey, Todd, Cache and Grandma. We ate lunch at Willow Park and then walked through the zoo.

It was fun feeding the ducks
Grandma even fed some

Cache loved getting to hang with the girls. He is so cute.

After the zoo we came back to our house by now Jeremy's was off work. We had a BBQ and did fireworks. Harmony and Devyn brought Popsicles.

Friday Morning Hayden and Halli both left with their Dad's.

We will miss them .

2009-06-28T21:17:00.001-06:00