Happy Birthday Clay!

HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY CLAY! Hard to believe he is just 6 short months away from driving (and dating!) We are so lucky to have Clay in our family. He is a great brother to all of his sisters and he hardly ever complains that he is the only boy now (at home that is!) We love you Clay and hope you have a great day (3 months ago!)

15 things you might not know about Clay

He loves to wake and snow board

He has crazy hair (according to me) and has since he was a baby

He has a huge heart

He cares about others

He is a hard worker

He hates doing the yard without Chantz

He is very athletic and likes to try new things

He is adventurous and pushes the limit (again according to me)

He hasn't read all the Harry Potter books but loves the movies

He hates potatoes in almost all form but french fries

He has a great voice

He finally has his own room for the first time!

He is always Hungry!

He was a little nugget when he was small but wanted to be big just like his brother and sisters

He use to want to marry me (and I love him even more for that!)

Happy Birthday!

For his birthday he wanted to invite a couple of friends to the lake. Since I didn't go this is the only picture we got!

Just one small accident--Cassie hit her hand on the wake board and had to have 6 stitches. We are lucky it happened in the summer so she will only miss a couple weeks of cheer leading. I have to admit....Cassie is one tough cookie--very brave and watched them stitching her up!

Singing + Dancing =FUN!

Carlee, Cami and Chloe did music camp this year and it was GREAT! Our kids have been doing this camp for about 14 or 15 years. We love to watch old family movies of the performances when the older kids were in it. I am always amazed that they can put on such a great performance after only 2 weeks. Each of the girls had parts and it was so much fun to watch. They are definately keeping up the tradition!
Best friends (minus Chloe)! It is so much fun having 3 girls together! Hopefully I feel the same way when they are all teenagers! They are great performers and never afraid to do anything. I think they must get that from Russ!

Happy Father's Day

I don't know why this always happens at this time of year but I get so far behind and it is overwhelming to try to catch up. I noticed last year I skipped a couple of months thinking I would go back and update but it still hasn't happened so I'm determined to catch up quickly!

Happy Father's Day Russ!
Cami made a "special" tie at school she was so excited to give him.

Carlee had made these cute treats at activity days (or whatever it is called now). I love when they have such great ideas--that I could never come up with. I am so lucky to have Russ as the father to my children. I love him with all my heart and I know my kids are so lucky. He is everything you thought you would want when thinking about someone to marry and have a family with. I know each of my kids are so close to him and it has been such a blessing to have him work out of our home and be able to have time to be a big part of their lives. He is such an example to me and to everyone around him of someone who is so willing to serve our Heavenly Father.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

50 years!

We had a party to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary! They are such great examples to me and I am so grateful for them. They have taught me so many things that have helped me throughout my life and the challenges I have faced. I hope I can be just like them when I grow up! ('cause you know I'm still pretty young!)

We invited family, friends and some of my dad's clients that have been with him for quite a while. Dena and I looked through old photographs (and there's a lot--after all it's 50 years!) Then Dena and her family put together a wonderful slide show to all of my parents favorite songs. Luckily for us itunes has a lot of music from the 50's. We had lots of yummy food and hopefully everyone had a great time. Russ and I are almost half-way there!!

June = Dance Recitals!

As soon as we dropped Chantz off we had to hurry back to watch these three cuties in their Dance Recital. I love this time of year mainly because it all seems worth it! During the year it is really hard to like dance when we are driving so often back and forth to the studio and it seems like I spend a great chunk of time doing this. At the end-- I see them dance at the recital and I always end up crying (kind of weird) because they are so great! (I'm allowed to say that 'cause I'm the mom!)

If you couldn't tell the theme was the "80's"-- I know I didn't dress like this but I'm pretty sure Madonna did!

Chloe waiting for her turn to perform (luckily for me she still likes to take pictures!)

Always nice to have the support of your brother (only one now) and sisters!

So grateful for cousins (and best friend) who come and watch too!

Dailynd and Chloe--he's a great sport to watch her dance!

The day has arrived -- MTC

What a handsome missionary! Russ and I flew up with him to drop him off at the MTC--it was so nice to be able to spend a little bit of time with just Chantz. We were able to attend a session at the Salt Lake City Temple and that was a great experience. Anyways--we got to the MTC about 10 minutes early thinking we were going to take some pictures in front of the MTC sign before we drove across the street to drop him off.
But...that little man (guard) across the street told us they took the sign down for security reasons (nice to let me know right before I drop my son off!) So we took a couple of pictures across the street and then got back in our car to drive him over (I didn't want to be there one minute early--so I enjoyed every single last second with Chantz!)

So this is where the sign use to be--I know Russ is going to miss having Chantz around--he was just much better at being positive!

It is very hard to let go--even when you know it is absolutely the best thing that could ever happen and it is something you have wanted for your son since he was born.

A final wave good-bye. I know he will be the best missionary out there (in Florida). Finally now I can post about this because I can tell you he is truly happy. Each and every letter we receive helps me remember what he is doing and how he is serving our Father in Heaven. I miss Chantz but I know he loves what he is doing and he will be able to bring so much happiness to those he comes in contact with. (and besides it's almost been 3 1/2 months!)