Why We'll Never Fry Anything Again

1. It's not healthy anyway.

2. It made a mess of my kitchen.

3. Yep, that's my arm.

Please bless I won't get sperm-shaped scars...

This Is Family

We hurried back from St. George to make it to the birthday dinner last night - we had everyone there but Matt and Cassie and Julie and Robert. I wanted to give you a taste of my family -

Fat Wyatt:

Lounging after dinner:

Paige showing TJ her slide show:

Anna covered with the animals:

Mason playing in Wyatt's seat (love his face):

Grandma and loving Emma:

Parker and me with my birthday present - he made it all by himself. It's a picture of him 4 years ago taped onto a green pipe cleaner in a vase with rocks he collected in the bottom (including a REAL gold one). He asked if I knew why he chose green - silly me, I thought it was to look like a plant. It's because green is my favorite color. :) What other 6-year-old remembers that?

Paige and Tanner (he made her the same thing). He was SO excited to give it to her it seemed he would burst.

Adam walked in and went straight to the couch (skipping dinner). He did not move the ENTIRE night...

Little Lexi, who, at nearly 18 months, is finally getting some hair. :)

Holly flipping over all the cookies looking for the lightest one:

Tanner learning to dance with us (I'm obsessed with this video):

"Everybody look at Lexi!" Lexi always does this same dance when we sing it to her - a teeter totter sort of step. She's proud as punch - look at that smile.

The boys trying to get Grandpa:

Tanner giving Paige her present (it spilled and he was scrambling to pick it up before she saw it):

Emma giving Grandpa his birthday present (she is waiting for me to take a picture, ha):

Tanner and Mason singing into the microphone during family night (If you can tell, Tanner is singing "I love to see my temple" over and over and Danny is going on and on in the background):

Parker praying (I wish Lainee hadn't started screaming about her Squinkies right when I started recording... :) )

Our Own Parade

Have I ever mentioned that my family is large enough to BE a parade? Growing up our neighbors sat outside every Sunday to watch us "move" by - some on bikes, others on roller blades, some with soccer balls, others pushing strollers.

We relived this over the fourth on the way to the park. :) Yep, this is my family!



See the bike Tanner's on? We call it the Fred Flinstone bike - it has no pedals. :) He runs as fast as he can and loves it.

Patriotic

I love having cute things hang on my front door (well, any door really - I regularly hang things on my pantry door in the kitchen). TJ and I got the idea for this wreath from his mom's wreath last year, went on a date to Home Depot and got all the fixin's to make it ourselves. We spray painted last year and left it in the attic for many months.

TJ put it all together for my birthday and I love it!


Now doesn't that make a statement?

Ah, The Yard

If we had known how much work it takes to put a yard in, we may have moved into a condo. Or maybe a retirement neighborhood. I'm praying everyone is telling the truth when they say that when it's done it will be worth it...

The Duet Recital

Every year I hope and pray that Elaine, my piano teacher for 15 years, will call me back to play in the duet recital. I LOVE this recital - the songs, the people, the excitement, everything. Well, my prayers were answered, and this year I was in again! It was a ball. I got to play with each of my sisters and we even did one song at "Peter and Rachel" speed, which is not for those with slow fingers! :)

Just to show you how fantastic Elaine is, I've uploaded this video - she insisted that people wear cowboy hats, nobody sit down, and everyone yell "Whoo!" at times during the song. :) If you watch closely, you'll see Holly laughing so hard she had to stop playing. But Elaine? She's having a ball. ;)

While we were playing, Papa was with Lexi. My goodness, Lexi sure loves Papa! I couldn't get enough of her - first of all, she's dressed like a watermelon. Second of all, I've never seen a child take such big bites of a banana. And last? She couldn't figure out what grandpa's foot was doing while they were dancing. :)