Something to Celebrate...

90 Years old! That's right, my Grandpa Perry turned 90 years old yesterday. It's unreal to think of the cycle of life. Here surrounding him are a few of his great-grandchildren ranging from 1-11 years old.

Aunt Kath, Grandpa, my Dad

Caleb really enjoys my grandparents. Thankfully he is super social and always happy to see them. So my Caleb was sitting by my grandpa saying "Happy Birthday!" Then my grandpa asks him, "So is 90 years OLD or YOUNG?" Caleb stopped and thought...then he shouted...YOUNG! My grandpa gave him an enthusiastic high five! Despite many different health challenges my grandpa has continued to modify his lifestyle and adapt to his challenges. The one thing I have always loved about my grandpa is he has remained up beat and always up for visitors. It's wonderful having them so close to us now in Herriman...I mean as if Riverton wasn't close enough!

We lucked out having my entire family there so I too advantage of having a family photo with my grandparents. My grandparents just returned from Portland Oregon for a family wedding. So since they just flew home we didn't end up celebrating a BIG PARTY yesterday. So we are waiting until this weekend. The cute request that my grandpa made was to have 90 CUPCAKES! It looks like we will all be baking this weekend!!! Happy Birthday Grandpa.

Time Out For Women

Time Out For Women 2011
Logan Utah

Thanks to my sister Angela for inviting us last year to TOFW - we have fallen in love with a new mini-getaway. It really is so inspiring, fun, lots of laughs and tears. It's wonderful!

Our fun friend Amanda, who came with her mom and sister-in-law. With her around it always makes a fun weekend!

Krista and her Mother-in-law Diane and sister-in-law Laurie.

Our dear friend Marci. We had an extra ticket so I quickly invited her to attend with us. It was wonderful to introduce someone else to the GREAT weekend!

Oh, and it's just not the same if I don't get a picture with my all time favorite speaker...Merrilee Boyack! If you haven't read any of her books...(Yes, I have read them! SHOCKER I KNOW!) She is wonderful. So inspiring, motivational and just my all time hero. I was determined to NOT talk to her this time because the last time I had an all time MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT with her...Anyways, I happened to be walking next to her (on my way to the restroom, not famous people stalking!) Then my sister Angela happened to be there waiting for a picture with her and she said, "Hey isn't this your hero??" I was stunned, but then of coarse I had to cease the moment and get a photo. I ended up talking to her and asking her to mention "running" in her talk. Long story, but Shandra my sister felt like every speaker mentioned running some how and she was SOOOO tired of hearing about how you should RUN. Amanda and I of coarse LOVED it, but Shan was so done with hearing about it. Anyways, Merrilee totally did it! Her first intro into her talk was about "Why did they schedule TOFW on the Top of Utah Marathon weekend?" Then she continued to talk about how she hated running and the only marathon she would be apart of was a Star Wars Marathon... Anyways, it was totally hilarious for us who knew I had mentioned something. It gave us all a BIG laugh and we enjoyed her even more!

We finally met up with our favorite Kaysville friend. Emily and her mom. Hopefully next year we can spend a few more hours with you!

Until next year...we've wised up and booked our hotels already!

Happy Birthday Grandma Lou!

That's right we've had a Birthday shout hurray! Happy Birthday to Grandma Lou.

Alayna several months ago decided that she wanted to go get pedicures with my mom for her birthday. She's been saving her money and today was finally the day to go! She was in heaven!!

The cute part of this memory is that Alayna has been saving her money for some "shoes" she saw in a Childrens Place catalog. Get this the shoe price for little girls was $22.95! Unreal. She's been saving for a while and holding on to the picture of shoes she liked. The morning of the pedicure she was debating to spend her money on shoes or a date with Grandma Lou. Well, as I was folding laundry in my room (yes I actually do that every so often!) She jumped up on my bed and said, "Mom I decided that it's better for me to spend my money on making a memory with my Grandma, then buying some shoes...I figured I can always find cheaper shoes anyways!" I have to admit it was one of those darling mom moments when you realize that something clicks in your little kids brain and heart. Let's just say that this is a memory Alayna will remember forever!

Off Track...

We are entering our third week of being off track and I have to admit I am so sad to see it end! I've loved the spontaneous play dates, parks, staying up late reading books, walks, sunshine, swimming and sleeping in late!

Here is a simple memory of pretty much everyones favorite activity the past few weeks. Swimming at the reservoir .

Practice...Practice...Practice

Well, it's been a long (overdue I'm sure) time coming...Jacob can finally write his own name. It's a good thing I as the mother can take credit for this and not his preschool teacher! :) Good Job Jake!!

September 11th

My mother has attended the healing field in Sandy the past couple of years and I finally had the opportunity to take my kids. It was really neat because before we headed over we had a little Family Home Evening about our country, honoring the flag, the laws and what the word honor means.

Cute little Jake took the lesson to heart when he kept his hand on his heart the entire time we were there. Here is the new sculpture that was released this year. I also, have to mention that my kids knew we were going to attend the flags this morning and they all came down dressed in their flag t-shirts. I have to admit I was totally impressed by their patriotism. This really was so overwhelming and very impressive to attend. It really has given us all something to stop and think about, especially our feelings and memories on how we felt 10 years ago. Not to mention to immense gratitude we have in our hearts for those who continue to fight and defend our country. Here is a THANK YOU to all of you who we personally know that are defending our country.

Jacob

Caleb

Alayna

Our favorite visitors...

Here is to some of our favorite visitors...the new baby Mikey and of coarse his parents! :)

I can't believe I actually caught his adorable SMILE on camera! I think it's because I am truly his favorite Aunt!

Here's to all the boy cousins...yes, Caleb is totally jealous that Mikey has a blanket that can be carried around all day long. Ever since this little baby has been around for the past week, Caleb has started his complete sucking his thumb addiction once again! AHHH

Alayna saying goodbye to her new cousin before she left to school.

Pretty much the MOST adorable little baby face ever.

Here is to the cute new family! Seriously, so darling. We really couldn't be more happier for the two of you, you have all prayed much for this little guy to be born into your family and I can't imagine a cuter baby to have arrived! We love you all! And really, we miss you already so much. Not to mention we didn't even play our favorite game ever!!! Maybe next time you will be getting enough sleep and I won't be pregnant and tired! Until next time...

Jacob's Preschool Adventures

It's that time of year once again! I'm loosing yet another child to school. Thankfully for me I'm only sending Jake to preschool three times a week for a few hours. As you can tell from the SMILE on his face he is SUPER excited about this FINALLY coming!

Here are the four boy cousins all attending the same preschool. (Sawyer, Logan, Isaac and Jake). The funny thing about this picture was that we kept telling the boys to look at us and SMILE but they seriously could not keep their EYES off of Miss Angie. Jake's face seems like he's a little unsure, but honestly I think they just think she's so happy and adorable they didn't want anything to do with all the mom's taking pictures. All four boys ran off with out any problems at all.

Caleb INSISTED on having a picture with Jake. The funny thing was that when we arrived to drop Jake off at Miss Angie's house, he said, "Mom I go inside!" Miss Angie was so darling and said, "Buddy you want to come with us?" Then Caleb the little guy not afraid of anything ran straight over to her with out any hesitation. She picked him up and then felt awful because he was totally okay with leaving me and going off to have fun! I am happy to report that Jake LOVED his first day, "It's so FUN mom!!! We learned about letter "M" number 4, and the rectangle!" I think the hours in the morning tomorrow will not pass fast enough for preschool to come again!

Early for church...

So cute little Jake had a literal run in with the corner of my bed...We have a big chunky black bed with four posts on each end. Which the footboard portion of our bed is apparently right at Jake's eye level. This poor kid was being chased by Caleb (This is their daily routine...Jake running away from Caleb chasing him!) Apparently, he was running too fast and not paying attention to where he was running, because SMACK he hit our bed corner and it sliced his eye open. Jared was on his way out to bishopric meetings, when I said, "Oh, it looks like we have yet another sliced Suker!" Caleb has popped/sliced his chin open two times already this summer requiring extra medical attention. I think Jake was simply trying to uphold the status of BOY in our family as well. So within a few minutes we had this little dude, laying on the couch, flushing it clean with water, patting dry, compressing with ice, and then daddy applying our third steri-stip bandage in one summer. So it had to be documented that yet, again we are becoming pros to a few open wounds around here!

I couldn't help resist taking a picture of my handsome kid. Seriously, ever since the missionaries live across the street from us he's wanted to look just like them. For his 4 year old birthday he asked for a white shirt, a tie, and a belt. What mother isn't totally excited to support church attire! Recently Ashley and Brian in Texas returned some small scriptures that were once Jareds as a kid. Jake couldn't have been MORE pleased with his gift we brought him from Texas. He LOVES these. He knows where they are at all times and pretends to read them often. He has it by him each morning as we reading scriptures as a family. He was so pleased to finally have scriptures to take with him to church! Each week I honestly can't get enough of him! Too handsome!

Alayna wanted in on the fun photo shoot before church. Pretty little girl! If only this pretty smile carried over to sacrament meeting! Oh, this poor girl had a rough time this week. She was hilarious though, because when we arrived home she was sitting on the couch folding her arms and said, "I know I have to practice being reverent, so please start my timer!" I gave her a little extra time to practice being reverent, then she had to think of an activity for next week that she will do to keep her entertained. I was really pleased with her idea, she said "I will write down the Articles of Faith because I love them!" This will not only keep her attention but it will inevitably improve her writing skills as well! I'm just crossing my fingers it will work!

Just my adorable little dude!

Alayna posing on a bike...this has been our kids summer! Living on their bikes. Seriously, it has been awesome to have both of them say, "Hey let's go ride bikes together!" It really has made their summer activities seem much more fun because we take these bikes where ever we go, the park, cousins, Grandma & Grandpa's house, you name it these bikes tag along! Thank heavens for mini vans and big trunks!

Texas Part 3

Since Ashley is so great to send me a few more pictures to show our kiddos, I figure I should blog about them as well. Considering this blog happens to document pretty much every event our families does...Here is a cute little photo of the proud Aunt and Uncle of the FIRST Cousin on Jared's side of the fam.

Oh, this is yet another picture of us eating at Salt Grass, a steak restaurant. We were all still so full from the previous lunch (remember all the MEAT BBQ), well we decided to save about $40 and share a meal. Let's just say this pregnant belly of mine couldn't fit one more ounce of food in me. I took a few bites of the steak and that was great. It really was awesome! Once again, well done Brian and Ashley on picking a great place to eat!! As you expected Jared was in complete heaven with MORE food!!

I know I mentioned this before, that we ate a ton while we were in Texas...so as if we hadn't had enough food already on Sunday Brian was so awesome to smoke some bbq ribs for us. They were totally delish as always! Thanks for doing it!

Now, here is dedication...the temperature outside was 110 degrees and the boys were barbecuing in this heat! Unreal...These ribs required some tender loving care, but man oh man they were so good!

Since we had literally eaten so much, rested, ate more, rested, ate more we decided it was time to get out of the house and go for a walk. The temperature at 8pm was around 90 degrees, a pleasant temperature to enjoy a leisurely stroll. Plus it was fun to get out and site see around their darling neighborhood community! Let's just say that if we find some cheap flights for the whole family we will return. Their swimming pool was amazing and my kids would love it! We really had such a great time in Texas and we are so thankful we were able to be there for this wonderful baby blessing and spending time with some of our favorite people. We love you guys!

Texas Part 2

Since the first part of my trip to Texas was all about Baby Mikey I figured I should post a little bit about the second part. Sadly, I left my camera in Texas where ALL my pictures are living for the next little while, but Ashley was kind enough email me a few pictures I could show our kids.

So here is to some GREAT Texas BBQ. Some may wonder if there is even such a thing as Texas BBQ but honestly, this was Awesome! Thanks to Brian and Ashley doing some research for Jared on what great places to eat at in Dallas, Texas. Jared had one request while visiting Texas...He wanted to eat, eat and eat some BBQ and Steak. That's it. So what did we do...we ate until we were all sick. Honestly, it was painful. But at the end of the day it was still delicious. This restaurant was called Hard 8 BBQ, you entered and literally just saw a giant metal pit of BBQ meat. You tell this BIG sweaty guy what kind of meat you want and how much, they plop it on a plastic tray lined with wax paper, weigh it then charge you. It's unreal. Then you walk through line and pick up all your sides. We had pretty much one of everything, and lets just say I will totally try and recreate their Jalapeno Creamed Corn. Random side dish but totally delish! YUM. From start to finish this was an A+ meal.

This here is a picture of the gate that enters the entrance to a highly secured neighborhood where Glenn Beck just moved in Westlake, Texas. We went here for my mom, my sister and a few other fellow Glenn Beck fans. We obviously couldn't enter, but I thought I'd snap a picture of two in honor of those who just adore him!

As soon as I get a few more pictures I will upload them and blog about them. But until then you will just have to wait!!! Despite the HEAT we really had such a wonderful trip. I can't wait for Brian and Ashley to return to Utah and visit us!