addendum to July

Sorry, what a ding dong I am. I thought I hit the end of my pictures until I published. The pictures at the bottom of July are of Grant's birthday. He turned 11 years old. We gave him a microscope and telescope. Now he can check out all the dead bugs and stuff he wants. I suggested he could use the telescope to spy on people. He thought that was horrible. He informed me that was not right. What a great kid!

July highlights

I did this a little backwards. This should have come after the second entry. Oh well. 4th of July weekend, we went camping with my family. We had such a great time and the weather was awesome. It actually rained most of the time. We also went in to see fireworks in Heber. That was a lot of fun. I bought the girls matching shirts. I also bought Grant a shirt, but in true Grant fashion, he didn't wear it.

For the 24th of July, we went to St. Johns for their Pioneer Day celebration. Davin's brother, Todd, and his family come to visit from Florida every year for this. We love to get to see them and spend time with them. Our kids got along great too! It is also so nice to enjoy some nice weather. It nice to actually be able to go outside in July.

Scott, Kelsey, Grant, Kaylee, Sarah, Kate, Belle, Emma, Sterling (not wanting his picture taken at all!), and Curtis. I sure do get a kick out of that Sterling. He's a keeper!

Davin and I with Todd and Ember and Dad and Mom Hansen.

Can't wait to see them next year!

June highlights

So I has been a crazy summer and as you already know, I didn't blog. So now that the kids are back in school and my life is back together again, I will probably just do one blog per month and hit the highlights. This is June. (sorry about the crooked pictures, I still don't know how to turn them)
Kelsey had her dance recital and did a great job! She was confident and smiled the whole way through. Unfortunately, I didn't see it because I had to go to traffic court that day. I did see her dress rehearsal though and Davin filmed it too, of course.

June 25 was Emma's birthday. 4 years old! My baby is growing up. We celebrated her birthday at my parent's house with a combined party with her cousin Kate. Sheri made this awesome princess cake. It was so cute!

Best buds!

Emma with all her gifts. She had such a fun day! I love that little girl!

8th grade graduation

Last Thursday was the last day of school and Kelsey's 8th grade graduation. We bought her a new dress, of course, but the last minute she decided not to wear it because she has another dress that matches her friend, so they decided to wear those. Oh well. After graduation, we thought it would be fun to take her out to breakfast. Everyone else had the same idea. We went to IHOP and found out it was an hour wait and Denny's had a half hour wait. We were not going to have time before my other kids got out of school, so we went to Krispy Kremes and got a dozen donuts. Oh well.

The girl next to Kelsey is the one with a matching blue dress.
Breakfast!

Later that day, we had planned a swim party for the kids and their friends. Of course, it rained. Oh well. Most of the kids swam anyway. FREEZING! They had fun doing other things like riding the golf cart around and watching movies too.

(does anyone know how to rotate pics, i forgot)

This last Friday, I took Kaylee out for her day with me. She chose to go shopping at the toy store to spend her money. This is what she bought. As I walked down the "girly" aisles ( you know dolls, dress up clothes, and barbies), she said "mom, you know I'm not a girly girl." She was more interested in Legos, Bionicles, action figures, and weapons. Gotta love her!

This last weekend was also Father and son outing with our church. Grant and Davin went and acutally spend Friday and Saturday night there. They had a good time and I was glad they were able to spend that extra time together. Grant evidently spent most of the time playing in the fire (pyro boy!) and chopping wood with our hatchet. The weather was around 75 during the day (love it) and 34 at night (not loving that). I was glad they had a good time.

10 things I love about my mom

1. She is a giver. My mom LOVES to give gifts. I always remember as a kid at Christmastime, she would tell us Christmas was going to be sparse, and then SURPRISE, out comes a big box of more presents on Christmas morning. I also remember a time when she decided as a family we were going to give our Christmas to another family in need. She is still always giving us great gifts and I have to say our kids are even getting more spoiled.

2. She has always been there for me. As a teenager, this was so important to me. I knew I could always come home from school with my "daily drama" and talk to her about it. She would always listen to me. She is still there for me now, more than ever.

3. She is fun to be with. My house was always a great place to be with my friends because they loved my mom too. She has always been my mom first and friend second. She is"one of the girls" now and I love hanging with her.

4. She is forgiving. I know that every single one of her kids (including myself) has broken her heart at least once. She has never held that against us or reminded us of it. She just loves us no matter what.

5. She loves to help. Whether it is her family or friends or whoever is in need, my mom is always willing to help and give of herself, even when it is an inconvenience to her.

6. She loves to travel. I share this passion with her. My mom has been to many fun places in the world and comes home from them planning the next trip. I especially love the trips we have been included on. My parents really are fun to travel with.

7. She's tough. My mom is a trooper. She's not squeemish or wimpy about anything! (I wish I was more like that). She is actually more apt to kill a bug than anyone else in our family. AND she has given birth to six kids, two at home, and four with no drugs!

8. She's friendly. My mom makes friends everywhere she goes, even to the grocery store. I remember as a kid thinking my mom knew everybody and everybody knew her.

9. She has suffered more than any mom should. She has watched children suffer from major accidents, deal with the consequences of poor life choices, and has also lost a child. She is truly tough. I am amazed at her strength. She is such an example. I hope I never have to go through half what she has with her children, but I admire and respect her for it.

10. She is a wonderful grandma. I know my kids adore her. She is always spending time with them and having fun with them, plus as I mentioned earlier, she spoils them incessantly. They KNOW she loves them by the way she treats them.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Your beautiful! Your the best. I love you so much. Thank you for all you have done and still do for me. Thank you for loving me. You are a great example to me and I want you to know how much I appreciate you.

(I hope your crying mom, because I am as I write this...another trait I got from you).

MY SISTER?

So a couple of weeks ago, Kelsey and I were hanging out before a Christian photo shoot she is doing for a friend of ours. As we were talking, the man portraying Christ asked us if we were sisters! I can only tell you that REALLY made my day. I don't know if it is because she looks older or I look so incredibly young ( I am going to choose the latter) but either way, I felt great!

Fun days

Last night, we decided to have a smores night again. It was Grant's idea. I came up with a new easy yummy smore. We roasted chocolate marshmallow (didnt even know these were in existence before) and put them on chocolate covered graham cookies. They were sooo good.

I love this picture (sorry its crooked, I forgot how to rotate it). This is what Emma came outside in, panties and boots. Gotta love it.

Last Saturday, we took the kids to Natural Bridge up past Payson. It's their favorite thing to do. We had so much fun. We were plenty wore out when we left. I'm pretty sure I was even snoring and drooling on the way home.

I'M BAAACK

I know it has been a long time since I blogged.

About a month ago, I took Kelsey to get a photo shoot done with Helen. My goal is to try to get her started in modeling. I hope I do better at that than blogging:) These are some of my favorite pictures taken. I know I am her mom and certainly biased, but I sure do think she is absolutely beautiful.

There are more photos, but I cant find them right now. I will post them later.

Thank you Helen for a job well done. Check out her link and website www.bounceproduction.com

St. Louis

Having breakfast at IHOP at 1:00 in the morning with some friends: Sherri, Brian, Adam, and Sarah.

SNOW!

There was an underground museum under the arch that we walked through.

I thought Davin looked awfully cute with his hoodie.

There it is! The St. Louis arch.

This last weekend, Davin and I went to St. Louis for a leadership convention. We had such a great time. I definately came back inspired to be a better person. I have decided to make changes in a few areas of my life. I am very glad we went. But it was cold! It snowed most of the time we were there and the wind was biting cold. We did get to go see the arch, though. That was pretty cool.

President's Day

Most of the kids time was spent in the water. I am glad I took an extra pair of clothes.

Kelsey spent a lot of time doing this with the little ones. She is so awesome.

The kids had the day off school again and Davin and I did not have to work either, so we went out to Queen Valley with my mom and dad, Sheri and her kids, and Jason, Vanessa, and Boe. We picniced next to a creek. My dad recently purchased a new toy, a souped up EZ go golf cart. So we had fun riding this and the quad around. Kelsey spent most of her time on the cart. It is a really fun toy, because all the kids can go at once. It is really fun for mom when all the kids go at once. I spent most of the day sitting around, which was wonderful! Davin and the boys went shooting guns for awhile too. They took Grant, and even though he was not allowed to shoot, he enjoyed it. It was a fun day.

I am spoiled

Thank goodness for sisters and sisters-in-law who take care of me and my blog. The new look this time is in thanks to Vanessa. Isn't it cute? Thanks girl, I love it! I'll let you know when I need another update!

Emma's new "do"

Yesterday, Kelsey, Emma, and I went to get our hair cut. Emma really got hers cut. We finally got rid of all that yucky baby hair. But not the curls! However, Riann did flat iron it. I thought she looked completely different! When she looked at herself in the mirror, she didn't like it. She said, "I want my curly hair". I still think she is the cutest thing! (Thanks to Sheri for the pictures. I can always count on her to have the camera)

please sir, I want s'more

This picture is funny. I kept trying to get a picture of the chase, but I could never get it, so Davin and Emma posed for this.

Winding down.

I am the Achievement Day leader in my ward over the 11 year old girls. Last Friday, we had a daddy-daughter date in our backyard, making smores. So since I had leftovers and had three firepits still, Davin and I thought it would be fun Saturday night to make a fire and have smores with the kids. The older kids came out, made a smore, ate it, and went back inside. So much for that. Davin, Emma, and I stayed out all night. Then Davin and Emma spent part of the night playing and chasing each other. That made it worth it. I love to see that.

MLK day trip

on the way up the trail - Emma's taking a break

Enjoying the ruins at Tonto National Monument

We decided to put Grant and Emma to work

Playing at a creek

Tortilla Flat

These were the doors to the bathroom stalls in Tortilla Flat. Looking good!

We had a fun day yesterday. Since it was MLK day, the kids didnt have school and Davin and I didnt have to work. So we decided to take a road trip. We had a couple of extra kids that I was watching for a friend and my mom and dad came too. We went to some indian ruins, Tonto National Monument. We had never been there before. On the way home, we stopped by a creek to let the kids play. We also stopped in a little town called Tortilla Flat near Canyon Lake. We had a good time. I love days like this.