I love him soooo much because . . .

He runs with me even though he hates running and he pushes the stroller

He always drives the car (I hate driving)

He does all the grocery shopping

He washes the dishes after dinner

He changes diapers

He folds laundry

He rarely complains

He Listens to the good, the bad, the genious and the long-winded

He never says, "I told you so"

He reads to the Leah

He helps Ryanne with homework

He crashes cars with Elias

He practices cello with Mckay

He never says, "can't"

He is patient

He is tender

He is kind

He works hard, harder, and hardest

He is a money miser (thank you for letting me stay at home with our children)!

He is dedicated and faithful

He wants me to be happy

I LOVE YOU!

Two reasons why we like Willam and Angel's Springville house:

Apricots!

The Tallest Treehouse!

Elias Says:

Life is meant to be lived!

OH YES!

Leah

With the other kids splashing in the water, Leah decided she was too tired to play anymore. She just wanted to sit and watch everyone.

Aha-- a fine moment for taking some portraits. Trouble was, I couldn't convince her to move so that the light would be right. Stubborn, stubborn. Oh well, I took the pictures anway and these are the faces she gave me:

What are you doing mom? You silly mom!

You don't think I'm going to keep looking at you, do you?

Enough's Enough!

The famous Leah-pout.

I wanted to pose!

Ryanne wanted to get her picture taken and found numerous places to pose. She kept saying, "Oh! Take one here mom, take one here!" Glad to oblige my dear daughter!

Glad to be a kid . . . We've seen more grins on her this vacation

than I think we have in the whole last year.

It was such a pleasure to watch her truly enjoying life.

Wanna join me?

I just love the water.

This is my truly happy smile.

Her version of "The Little Mermaid"

My Mom Made Me Pose!

Mothers . . . they are ALWAYS taking photos of us and trying to get us to hold still! Then they think that everyone else in the world wants to see how handsome we are. Silly mom!

My Mckay how I do love thee!

Silly bear

Crawdads at Scofield

The most memorable moment of our vacation would have to be catching crawdads (crayfish) at Scofield Lake. We drove up to see the "cabin" (more like a mansion in the woods) that Brice is building up there. Morgan had the great idea of catching these creepy-crawlies and eating them for dinner. What fun! The kids were so excited about the whole process. They were running back and forth and getting under foot and bumping into each other. We knew it was only a matter of time before one of them fell in! Sure enough, Ryker took a dive! Despite the plunge, he and all the rest had a great time and won't ever forget the thrill of catching these critters!

Elias: "Aunt Morgan, are those little lobsters really going to eat that Chicken?"

Wes: "Why are we using good chicken to catch disgusting crawdads?"

Bottoms up! Waiting for something to take the line!

Crawdads Ahoy!

Once the critters are munching the chicken,

slowly reel in the line and scoop up five or six in your net!

Ryker: "Raelin, you have to turn the net over if you want them to go in the bucket."

Raelin: "YOU turn it over Ryker!"

(Just imagine a wicked cackle under this picture

and then me chasing Wes around the dock with the crayfish).

Morgan: "HAHA! Here Ryanne, this one is for your dinner!"

Ryanne: "I am NOT eating that thing!"

Ryanne: "Okay kids, You all know I scream at crickets and spiders, but since mom isn't going to let us off this dock until we all hold one of these things, let me show you how it's done."

Mckay: "Heh-heh-heh. You have no idea what I am planning to do with this thing."






Ryker: "Yeah, he's got a lot of legs, but I can still run faster."

Raelin: " Hey there buddy. Wanna come home with me and sleep in my room?

Now stop trying to pinch my nose.

I know we can be friends if mom doesn't cook you first!"

Leah: "This one's a 'crawmom', not a crawdad.

It's definately trying to tickle me."

Elias: "Uhhh, Mom? What are all those wierd bumpy things on its face?"




Elias: "NO! Uncle Brice, don't eat him yet! You need to cook him!"




The Master Chef is a-boilin' (or maybe his fish are a-boilin').

Wes: "See Meliss? I can too touch one." (Just not when it's alive).

I'm not too sure this looks appetizing.

But we have Morgan's perfect dutch oven herb rolls to fill us.


And Melissa's golden-brown pineapple-upside-down cake!

Trouble with Pants!

Is it their hips? Or maybe we moms just can't figure their jeans size?

Oh yeah, maybe it's the ten pounds of water weighing them down!

These little guys just can't seem to keep

their designer Builder Bob and Fruit of the Loom from showing!

Elias after playing in the fountain at BYU.

Ryker after falling into the lake.

Temple Square in Salt Lake City

We spent one of our vacation days at Temple Square. What a great day for teaching the kids what temples are all about: That marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God and if performed by proper authority through the priesthood of God, you can be sealed to your spouse forever and not "until death do you part". We saw some beautiful brides and their grooms taking pictures after their weddings. Leah especially liked their flowing white dresses!

We also talked about how we can learn in the temple to be like Jesus Christ-- that we learn His plan for us and how salvation is offered through the atonement. We saw some wonderful videos and pictures on loving each other and serving our neighbor when we went in the visitor Center. Elias especially liked this part. He likes to help people and cries for others when they are upset or hurt.

Ryanne loved the model of Jerusalem and enjoyed reading about all the things Jesus did when he was in Jerusalem and where those things were. She found the Garden of Gethsemane and the Temple, Herod's palace and the pool of Bethesda.

Mckay was fascinated with the old Tabernacle. He was so impressed that the pioneers could build it by hand without tractors, cranes, and electricity. He was also amazed by the acoustics of the building-- you can hear a pin drop onto the front podium when you are standing at the back of the building. Mckay says that was "cool".

The kids sitting on the steps of the Salt Lake Temple.

Mckay standing by his namesake: the Prophet David O. Mckay
(the little curly-headed boy to the right).


Leah says, " I love Jesus. Can I go up and get a hug from Him?"

There's what it's all about-- family!

The Lord brings us closer together so we can help each other be happier people!

Elias loved this statue showing the restoration of the priesthood

to Joseph Smith from Peter, James, and John.

Hot and tired, but happy to see the House of the Lord.

Utah Vacation Photos

This year we went to Utah to visit my brothers William and Brice (and, of course, their families too). This was the vacation we had planned on taking three years ago, except last time we only made it to day two of our trip before Elias broke his femur in half. This year we were happy to return home with everyone's bones intact!

We spent most of our trip camped out at my brother Brice's house with his family: Morgan, Raelin and Ryker. A few days we slept at william's, with Angel and Liam. On the way home I asked the family what their favorite part of vacation was and loved these responses:
Ryanne: "Playing with baby Liam and talking to Angel".
Leah: "Raelin, Raelin, Raelin"!
Mom and Dad: "Staying up late and talking (laughing) with Brice, Morgan, William and Angel".
Mckay: "Helping Brice in his yard. He paid me real money"!
Elias: " I liked the dinosaurs".
It just goes to show that the best part of anything isn't fancy or new, it's family (Yes, Elias is family with the dinosaurs).

We love you guys!

I took way too many photos and loved capturing my favorite thing on camera: the kids' happiness and sense of wonder and delight. We did all the things vacations entail: travelling to new places; visiting monuments, parks and museums; staying up way too late; sleeping in until 8am (and that is really saying something around our house of early birds); eating candy; camping, hiking, splashing, exploring; and, most important of all, being with family.
Here are a few photos and captions. I will add more as I have time.

We went to Provo Canyon and played in the creek. We saw Bridal Veil Falls and Mckay hiked partway up to it. The water was freezing!


Ryanne loves this little boy. She couldn't resist playing with him while we visited them in Deweyville.


Daddy was like a kid at Christmas when he went to the BYU bookstore. He spent more money there than we spent on anything else (except for fuel).



Splashing in the fountain at BYU. Ryker, Raelin, Ryanne, Elias, Leah, Mckay.

The Bean Musuem at BYU. Leah was really impressed with this Lizard. She, of all the kids, loves animals--even creepy ones!