Cierra and K'Lee

When I watch Cierra and K'Lee it just makes me smile. These two have been such good friends ever since I can remember. I am sure glad they have each other.

Happy Birthday K'Lee

I cannot believe you are now 11 years old.
You were so excited about your birthday. It was exciting to see you sparkle.
You had lots of great friends and family celebrate with you. Natalie and Jessica were all smiles.

The candy bar game was a little different with your brother licking all of the candy wrappers he wanted. It still was fun even with Johnny's saliva all over the candy bars. Thanks for being such a great little girl. You will always be my "Pookie Bear" no matter how old you get:)

I CAN DO HARD THINGS!

The last day of my math class I came home to this fantastic poster on the garage door. I was so thrilled to have my sweet kids recognize the fact this was a hard task to complete.

My math teacher gave each of us a book mark during one of our classes. On one side of the book mark stated, "I can do hard things." and on the other side it read, "Strength and struggle go together. The supreme reward of struggle is strength. Life is a battle and the greatest joy is to overcome. The pursuit of easy things makes men weak. Do not equip yourselves with superior power and hope to escape the responsibility and work. It cannot be done. It is following the lines of least resistance that makes rivers and men crooked." This quote by Ralph Parlette has stuck with me. I hope it will inspire others like it has inspired me.

19 Years later

John took me to the greatest little bed and breakfast for our 19th wedding anniversary. It was a castle. Here he is being my handsome prince.
The gardens were so beautiful...they had water falls and lots of plants.
This was our private terrace off of our room. We got to eat breakfast here, all alone.

I kissed a few toads and ended up with one amazing prince....lets hope for happily ever after now.

The Birthdays of July

We spent the United States birthday with the Fryers.. A wonderful BBQ and lots of great company.
They had a whole bunch of fire works for the kids after the ones at the park.

Jacob and Micheal sat by us.

So did Jessica.

Kylee and Natalie put tons and tons of 4th of July tattoos all over themselves, they looked festive.

A'leese turned 18 this year. WOW can you believe it?

She decided she was going to stay 17.... can't wait until shes forty wonder how she'll take that?

John turned old like me :) at least for a couple of months.

John is one of those things in life that get better with age!!!!

The Quilts

Last year Natalie and Brynn started a quilt at the very end of summer. This year they decided to finish their projects....with a little help from Johnny ( under the quilt)
When they finally got them done the through up all of the yarn ends and cheered!!
Then they wrapped up in them and wondered what they would do next.

Another fantastic trip to the canyon

Josh......What more can I say? Pictures are worth more than a thousand words.

It always surprises me how different kids change the feeling of something done over and over, like going to Blacksmith Canyon. Johnny took his best friend Josh (Newbee) and the two of them were hysterical. We needed NO other entertainment.
Natalie took her BFF, Brynn (Newbee) they were a perfect match.
A'leese took Sara and they too were a perfect match...Sara had gone with us before.

Sara drew this picture of our trip... I am starting a wall for all of my drawings of Blacksmith. They make me happy.

We had a ramen eating contest.

Natalie won the first round.

K'Lee was cooling the noodles down so she could eat them. You had to eat them without any hands.

This is Aubree, K'Lees friend....She is showing us her skills in ramen eating.

The second group had skills of their own.

But because of A'leeses incredibly long tongue she won. Like I said kids and what they bring when they come to the canyon make each trip as unique as the kids themselves.