June...

Restaurant Brunch:

This was actually on Sunday May 31st. Andres & I were so luckily greeted with this brunch prepared and served by Marcus, Sydnee & Tanner. They served us left over baked beans -n- mashed potatoes from KFC the night before and cut up a bunch of cucumbers and carrots to complete the meal. We shared an ice cold lime-mint water too! They had a little note there that said if we needed something to ring the bell once, if we liked the food to ring the bell twice and if we were done to ring the bell three times and they'd come clean up!

Together Again...

That is the best---

To laugh with someone because you both think the same things are funny!

I didn't get to see her near as much as I'd liked too... but the little I did was well worth it! *We took our kids along with her sister Kara and her kids to see UP! together and then we got drenched running to our cars in the crazy rain storm and went to visit at Kara's way gritty new house! *She got to come to bunco just like old times... *We met at the Salon one night and Kara gave us both a color -n- cut, then we went for a midnight dinner at Iggy's! The last night we went out with Kara, her husband and Kim for my first Sushi experience, I think they thought I was going to join the sushi-lovin' club... not a chance! ha ha ha At least I can say that I tried it, right? Andres, Kara and all you other sushi-lovers.. I love ya, but I'll just stick with creme brulee!

Treasure each other

in the recognition 

that we do not know

how long we shall 

have each other.   

--Joshua Loth Liebman

Kim gave me the grittiest little book entitled "friend" filled with great quotes, which we both love! This one and the one about laughing are both from the book. This one reminds me of the fact that she had to move far, far away.. and now we wish we could have moments like these so much more often!

Kim borrowed my camera to take some family photos and this is a just a peek into her Mom's gorgeous garden!

Rain + Reading= Lazy Day Naps

I Crave This Every Morning..

Mmm... look at all the goodness in that little glass! The best vanilla yogurt ever (Mountain High, Original Style All Natural Vanilla Yogurt with billions of live, active & probiotic cultures) it's so thick it's like custard, L.O.V.E. it!!! I like to layer it with all sorts of yummy berries and bananas and sometimes even some crunchy granola! Lately I've been doing frozen blueberries and bananas.~

Silly Marcus & Little Miss Kynlee:

Gotta love that view!! It's a little disturbing actually. He says "Mom look, it looks like I have a butt in the front!" and I'm laughing and rolling my eyes...

Look at those dainty, crossed legs! McKynlee has such a prim & proper way about her.. it's so cute. You'll never see her chewing with her mouth open and she doesn't like a dirty face either.

Suzuki Institute:

(Sydnee with Jenny Oaks Baker)

The week of June 15-20th Sydnee and I attended her Suzuki Institute all day, everyday. Sydnee had a good time, she was most excited to see Jenny Oaks Baker in concert Monday night. She's been given three of her CD's as gifts over the last few years and was really inspired and impressed with her. My Mom's always telling her that she thinks Sydnee resembles her and she thinks thats cool! I didn't want to haul my camera all over, so the pictures are not the greatest quality. I just took them with my iPhone.

This lady was her Master Class teacher! We really liked her, she was very helpful with addressing some issues Sydnee's been having with getting comfortable holding her violin. 

One day on our lunch break we went for pedicures. Sydnee thought she was in heaven, she loved it! She couldn't believe how they waited on us and got us drinks and made us feel all pampered!

Evening at the Park:

One sunny evening we invited a few of the kids friends and rode bikes to the park. They had so much fun covering each other with the tire chips and making scary faces like they were sinking.

Oliver's facial expression looks a little more like he smelt something stinky~~~

After we rode back home we took the kids out for some Red Mango goodness... I couldn't help but capture how filthy Tanner's feet and legs had gotten from playing in the tire chips at the park.

Father's Day-

...was good! The kids and I gave Andres a water bottle, some new running shorts, running shoes, an outfit and one of his favorite movies "Forever Strong" all wrapped up with a bunch of loves, hugs -n- kisses! We had a really nice day at church, Andres participated in the "Mystery Dad" event in both junior and senior primary. They have three Dads come in and hide behind a big sheet and ask them questions. The Dad's disguise their voices and wear different shoes... to throw the kids off. Andres wore his big knee high black rubber boots that he mows the lawn in and to make it even more fun he threw on his red Nacho Libre cape for when they called him to be revealed. The kids squealed in laughter. Later after church we had my parents and Andres' parents over for dinner and gifts. 

My Dad has always loved someone to comb through his hair. He used to ask me to do it when I was little and now he's asking my kids to do it. It's funny how anyone who does it always ends up doing crazy hair-do's on him. He doesn't care, as long as you're still combing it.

Sydnee & Papa

Abuela Elli

Little Road Trip to the Manti Pageant:

This is the Motel we stayed in, the sign made me so gritty.. and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Andres had taken a picture of it when we got home. McKenzie and Beau came to visit for a month, so we got to take them with us. The kids were so excited to spend time with them. They miss them all the time, it's a bummer to live far away from so many of your closest friends and family.

Mom & Dad

havin' a hard time gettin' my summer groove on...

I guess the fact that ALL of June up 'til just this week has been feeling more like Fall (grey skies.. rain, rain & more rain... and even chilly) may be a little to blame... I can't believe that we're already a month into Summer and we haven't done any REAL summer type activities yet. I've officially decided that "summer time" goes by way too fast.~ Up 'til now.. my kids have been wanting to be inside getting cozy, reading books, playing games... they even asked for hot cocoa a few times. What??? I don't ever remember doing that in June! Anyhoo.. it has still been fun, I'm just ready to take the kids swimming and feel the warmth of the sun. 

Summer has become kind of a double edged sword for me though. I love it, crave the break from school and have hopes to go and do fun things with my kids, but McKynlee puts a big damper on a lot of it. She is so unpredictable and often cries more than not or screams/complains... It's more of a painful chore to take her with us and try to have a good time, so I often find myself choosing to stay home and become even more frustrated that I can't freely go and do the things I would like to. The whole situation really tests my patience and takes it toll on a daily basis. She can be so fun and silly when she wants to... you just never know when that's going to be. Another thing that would make taking her and doing things so much easier, is if her communication was better and she could converse with us about what we are doing and why we are doing it. Last year was the first year that I ventured out and started taking her to the pool along with the other four kids all at once. I felt like Tanner was old enough as well as the others where they could help me keep an eye on him and I could be with McKynlee the whole time.. and she was pretty good while there since she liked playing in the water. Now that the weather is finally warming up, we need to start making good use of the punch card I bought back in May by getting everyone to the pool and I'm h.o.p.i.n.g that McKynlee will do as well with it as she did last year, if not better. 

Happy Summer to all... I hope you're having a good one!

fed.. & inspired... by words of wisdom-

"believe in yourself. believe in your capacity to do great and good things. believe that no mountain is so high that you cannot climb it. believe that no storm is so great that you cannot weather it. you are not destined to be a scrub. you are a child of god, of infinite capacity. believe that you can do it - whatever it is that you set your heart on. opportunities will unfold and open before you. the skies will clear when they have been dark with portent." -gordon b. hinckley

"don’t wait for tomorrow. don’t wait for the right job, the right house, the right salary, the right dress size. be happy today. be happy now… one thing I know for certain: the time we have here goes by far too quickly. don’t waste any more time sitting on the bench watching life pass you by.” -joseph b. wirthlin

"finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense ” -ralph waldo emerson

"i encourage you to discover who you really are. i invite you to look beyond the daily routine of life. i urge you to discern through the spirit your divinely given capacities.” -richard g. scott

"those who walk in faith will feel their lives encompassed with the light and blessings of heaven. they will understand and know things that others cannot.”- joseph b. wirthlin

"have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” -william morris

"go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart.” -gordon b. hinckley

"let us make our homes sanctuaries of righteousness, places of prayer, and abodes of love that we might merit the blessings that can come only from our heavenly father. we need his guidance in our daily lives.” -thomas s. monson

"without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. how can we give if there is nothing there? food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. teaching cannot come from the unlearned. and most important of all, spiritual guidance
cannot come from the spiritually weak.” -marion g. romney

"i am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.” -laura ingalls wilder

"for most of life, nothing wonderful happens. if you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are that you’re not going to be very happy. if someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. if, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.” -andy rooney

Cross-eyed...

So.. this morning, Tanner comes up to my bed, gives me loves and tucks the covers in tight around my neck and asks if I'm cozy... then, after a long pause he gets this silly look on his face and makes his eyes go "cross-eyed." I started to laugh and said, "Wow, where'd you learn to do that?" and he said "Oh... I just knowed it up myself!!!" 

Schools Out!!!

Hooray - Hooray for the last day of school!

It's always nice when you can feel the school year coming to a close and the summer winds are blowing in, a change of attitude.. a change of activities... much needed play time awaits! Kynlee's last day ended with a annual family picnic, we took a yummy lemon glaze cake garnished with mint leaves from our garden. Kynlee has been working on using a cane while walking at school this year and she got to bring her cane home to continue using throughout the summer! 

Tanner had a really fun circus theme day at his preschool for the last day celebration! All the teachers dressed up as clowns and there were balloons, circus decor & games to play! I forgot my camera, but luckily had my iPhone to capture the moment! He L.O.V.E.D. his cute teacher!

Marcus, Chandler & Sydnee all had a cool last day of school! It was all fun & games and got out at 12:30, then the boys went to a BBQ - Pool Party from 1:30-4:30 and Sydnee had a Ice Cream - Water Party from 2-3:30! Later that evening they got to have a sleepover with cousins!!! Great way to kick-off Summer if you ask me...

Memorial Day!

Memorial Day started out with our annual ward breakfast - fun run/walk/bike ride - patriotic service! It was a beautiful morning with our great flag waving in the midst of Mt. Timpanogos! We worked on things around the house throughout the afternoon and then went up to Grandma & Grandpa's for a BBQ on the patio and backyard games! It was a lot of fun.~