Father's Day

I think this was one of my most favorite days so far this year.  With 32 people coming to celebrate the wonderful fathers in our lives, it was quite the event.  Cindy and her family offered to make scones for everyone.  Who could turn THAT down??  So, Father's Day celebration was held at our home with our family, Grammy and Grampy, the Olivers', the Harris family, and our dear friend/family member Nicki.
Since Brad had recently returned from the hospital, he was taking care of his leg.  We joined him in our room for a little pre-celebration.  We made Brad a binder of all the notes and cards that he has kept over the years from family and friends.  Everyone had a separate page with a note to their father.  Brad likes things like that.  Jade wanted in on the fun and gave her Grandpa a gift too!

Both of our sons are wonderful husbands. We had to celebrate that also!!

We also celebrated a new father - Tyler.

A future father - Aaron

 
Then we all enjoyed the most delicious meal and ate until we were all stuffed.
Family + Friends + amazing food = one joyous celebration! 

Afterwards, the fun traditions continued.  In our family we get together and exchange a few presents and then sing to our fathers.  The song?  "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" from our younger days in  Primary.  At this gathering we had 2 future fathers (Daniel and Aaron), 6 fathers (Grampy, Brad, Russ, Dan, Todd, and Tyler), 3 grandpas (Grampy, Brad and Dan) AND 1 Great-grampy!

"Pat his cheek and give him what?  A Great BIG KISS!!"

I think I will look back at these pictures and always smile.  This is a "happy thought" for me.  I feel so blessed to have so many good men in my life.  A father who loves and adores his family - a husband who only wants whats best and does his best to keep his family happy.  Each of his children know and feel his love - uncles and friends who set examples of faith and honor - sons who strive to honor their priesthood and love their own little families.  My life couldn't get any better.  These are the moments I will cherish and hold on to.

What do WE do in the summertime??

Well, we do NOT fish in streams or lazily dream or march in parades or even count the stars in the sky.  We do, however, keep ourselves very busy with lots of "adult" activities.  The first part of June included:

A Cooking Cook-Off between Jacque and some of her friends.  Actually, her nursing friends arranged for Jacque to "Cook-off" another guy friend and then the girls were the "judges".  Good arrangement for them!  Jacque tackled the competition with some of her best and yummiest recipes.  She served up her stuffed pork-chops to the delight of all.  There was some very tasty dishes and all had fun. 

Jacque looks like she had quite the night!

Aly also loves to bake....cookies!  She is our amazing sugar cookie queen.  This evening, her friends joined in....that is joined in the making of a mess....and some very yummy cookies!

Next up was a D-Backs Game for Jacque and her friends.  They enjoyed riding the rail, getting into the spirit of the game, having fun together.

At the end of school, Aly decided to clean out her closet.  Instead of giving away some darn cute clothes, we came up with the idea of a "Clothing Exchange".  She invited her friends, provided some munchies and planned it on a night of So You Think You Can Dance.  Success!!  Everyone who came went away with a new outfit!  We should do that again.

Aly was also invited to a "Formal Party"....she was excited to wear her formal again and along with Brittney, they had a blast getting all dressed up.

More to follow.....

Capturing the Emotions of a 6-month old

In my next life....or maybe when I grow up....or maybe not....anyways, I would love to have the talent of making a moment stand still, capturing pure emotional faces, or creating memories on camera.  Luckily for me, I have Jacque, who has mastered this talent.  Her newest and most favorite subject is Jade.  This beautiful little girl is growing up way to fast.  She has developed quite the personality.  Here are the latest pictures of our beautiful Jade:

(with her BFF, Sydney.. who is only 3 months older!)

PRICELESS!!!!

Graduation Festivities - Part Two

Graduation - this was a bittersweet time for me.  After all, you usually make the most fuss on your first child and your last (yes, you love the ones in-between too!), but having the last child graduate makes you reflect on all the fun memories of school activities, drama and accomplishments:
No more amazing concerts to go to - whether band, orchestra, or choir - we have enjoyed having our children be a part of the HHS music program
No more last minute homework-midnight-sessions..... college - they are on their own!!
No more soccer games - we did that for 21 years
No more lunch money
No more texts asking for a special errand run or homework brought or even....a lunch hand delivered!
However, all 4 children graduated from seminary.  All four had wonderful friends who helped them thru those fun high school years and all of them had memorable and not-so-memorable teachers.

Week of Graduation started the Sunday of the Gila Valley Temple Dedication.  It was a very busy Sunday.  After attending the dedication, we went to Baccalaureate.  This was a nice program and the music was phenomenal!  The choir and orchestra did "Come Thou Font" and again, received a very emotional standing ovation.  A funny note was one of the senior speakers quoted Boyd K. Packer in his speech!

Baccalaureate ended around 4:00 and then after a quick, but yummy dinner at Grammy and Grampy's, we headed back to the Stake Center for Seminary Graduation.  This was also a nice evening.  Since this is my blog, I'm going to share an accomplishment of Aly's.  In the Seminary program, you can become a "Centurian".  To do this, you must memorize all 100 scripture mastery scriptures and then write the scripture references down in less than 10 minutes. Aly was the first to accomplish this for the 2009-2010 year.  She motivated many of her friends and at the end of the year, they had a record 108 students receive this honor.  Pretty impressive!!

(This is Aly's Bishop with those in our Ward graduating)

Graduation Commencement was Thursday evening, and it was actually a nice evening with a small breeze and no rain in sight.  Aly was one of the 'introductory' speakers and she did a great job.  This year, we did not have to wait until the "W's" were announced.  Because Aly was in the Student Government, she was one of the first whose names were read.  We stayed until the end tho because we wanted to celebrate with her on the field...and because we are such a great family!! ( hahahaha) 

(Notice the blue shoes....that is how we can spot her walking in to the stadium!!)

(best friend, Britney)

Justin and Aly

Jake and Aly

Speaking of family, we truly are blessed to have such an amazing, supportive family around us.  Graduation day was a "little hectic" for me as I was trying to finish the "Senior Album" and get everything perfect for Aly. 

 Savannah stepped in and did all the cooking and preparing of the food,  Aaron stepped in when I got overwhelmed and forgot the camcorder, Jacque lugged the camera and lenses for all the amazing pictures we have, and the support of all our family was truly heart-felt. 

A heart-felt thank you to all our family for the love and support shown to Aly at this special time in her life:  Roxanne and Dennis, LaDawn, Henry, Jeff and Leah, Mark and Yvette, Grammy and Grampy, Stephanie, Cory, Lincoln, Faye, Ashley, Dailynd, and sweet Lizzie, LaNae, Russ, Chelsey, Cassie, Clay, Carlee, Cami, and Chloe (after all - it was at their house!) and lastly, my wonderful family for coming, helping, supporting and being there for Aly on this special day!!  Thank you for all coming!  Thanks to all for the special cards and gifts!  We are truly blessed!

Gila Valley Temple

During all the festivities of school, our family took a time out and went up to Pima on a weekend.  There we went thru the open house of the Gila Valley Temple.  We were so excited to see this special temple.  It was beautiful in every way.  There is a painting that has a special place in our hearts as we helped the artist finalize his depiction of Ash Creek Falls.  It was wonderful to see our family and Grandma opened up her home to all of us traveling.  Our family, in number of about 30, all went out to eat after going thru the temple.  An extra treat for our family.  It was a great day and our hearts soared as we realized that a temple was now a part of the Gila Valley!!

How we love temples!!