September 2013

David, Sara and Lily came to visit for a weekend and it was so fun to see them, especially watching Lily grow up and make her sweet little sounds, enjoy her smiles and watch her interact with my children.

Then my parents (yes we all played headbands and looked like total geeks in our mouse ears at Bethany's request...the things we do for our princess) and the Beams came to visit for Carter's special day.  He was baptized on September 21, 2013. 

It was a very special day.  Nanny and Gram gave the talks, Papa and Grandpa gave the prayers, my children and Conner and Carmendy sang "I Am a Child of God," Sara Walker sang "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus," Luddy played the piano, I led the music, and Uncle David and Uncle Kim were the witnesses.

Ken performed the baptism and of course, our sweet little Carter got baptized.  He waved to everyone after he came up out of the water. It was adorable!  Two of his teachers from school Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Brown came to the baptism along with the Boarders, the Bates, his Primary teacher Brother Gunnerson, Sister Blake from the Primary Presidency and Brother Harris from the Bishopric.

Tristin loved little Lily...he doesn't have any younger siblings so he was in heaven holding her!

Mom and Dad with their daughters...how did we get so old?

Taking one of my BFF's to lunch for her 40th birthday. Welcome to the 40's club.  About time some of my friends join me. :) BJ's is one of our favorites!

Look at that good looking group!  So glad they love each other!  Enjoying a birthday cake for Cameron full of 11 candles.  Can't believe he is growing up so fast!

He got a new scooter from Gram that lights up when the wheels go around...cool!

Cameron invited a few friends from school for a swim party, games and pizza and cake.  It was an easy but fun little party!  Yes, we still swim at the end of September in Texas :)

Playing with Lily again!

Now it's Kens turn for another birthday.  He hasn't hit the 40's club yet, but he's getting closer.  Gram got an amazing Ice Cream Cake from Baskin Robbins.  Even me, the no sugar queen, could not resist! It was worth it though! Ken finally got new scriptures, yeah!  He was still using the ones from his mission.  You can imagine how well used (to put it politely) they were.

Cameron was born on the exact same day as one of the boys in our ward just a few hours apart.  So, we had another little b-day get together with friends from church.  Swimming, games, hot dogs and cake.  They had a blast!

Carter was so excited to make and race his first pinewood derby car.  He helped a lot making the car and he called it The Black Widow.  Although he didn't rank in the top 3 cars, it was priceless watching his face during the whole derby...he was so happy!

We went to an airshow that was nearby in McKinney.  We got to see the only F-29 in the world that still flies (there are only 25 total, but the rest are just in muesems).  We watched it take off, fly, and land and then we got to go inside.  The F-29 was the aircraft that held and dropped the atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII. 

This is how Texans dress when it suddenly drops to the 60's. She loves her daddy!

My children all took up a new hobby while watching conference this year.  Gram taught them how to crochet and they were remarkably quiet through most of the sessions.  I think they might get put in the Guiness Book of World Records for crocheting the longest chain.  I should try to enter them in...do you get a monetary reward for setting a World Record?  I'm holding on to this picture, it will probably be a great blackmail tool for me in the future. :)

August 2013

 So, we didn't document August very well, but we did have a great visit to our FHE from the "Maniac Missionaries."  It was fun to spend time with Whitney and Jon.  We especially loved listening to them sing and play the guitar.

 Carter finally got to start Cub Scouts.  He has been watching his brothers go for a long time and waiting for this day. Doesn't he look adorable.  He got to learn about fishing at his very first den meeting...one of his favorite things.

July 2013

Cameron and Carter love to hold babies.  Here they are at a play place for kids holding our neighbors new little girl.  They are going to be the best daddies.

We finally got to meet Benson and he was such a cutie!  He is very chubby and cute (just like Craig was when he was a baby).   He is also so content and calm.  We loved getting to spend time with him.

While Ken, Wes and Cam went paintballing, my mom and I took Cart and Beth to Wheeler Farm.  They loved all the animals and especially the cows that mooed so loud at us it sounded like they had microphones.

We went and played some basketball at the ward and it was transfer day.  We got to see Elder Mackillop from our old Lewisville ward with his new companion getting transferred to Rock Springs, WY.  I got to message his mom and tell her the news!

A trip to Utah just wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Walton Cabin.  The kids loved the swing, playing in the nature, and playing games.

I love this picture of Carter and Benson.  Carter really took care of Benson and loved to hold him.

I also love this picture of Sadie and Bethany.  What cuties...I wish they could see each other more often.

Watching the 24th of July parade.  We had great seats and this wave from President Uchtdorf looked like it was just for us. It's fun to see him in his western gear.  It was interesting to notice that he had at least 5 bodyguards around him. Later at Nanny and Papa's house we watched the video of when I was in the parade my Senior year in high school as the 1st runner up to Miss South Salt Lake.  Bethany was amazed that her mom was one of the "princesses" on the float.

We went to the Planetarium (right after we pigged out at Kneaders all-you-can-eat french toast) and enjoyed one I-MAX movie and a dome movie (which costs way too much money).  We could of skipped the shows and had just as much fun with all the free hand on scientific stuff we played with.

Our children on Mars and on the moon. :)

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum which including a "tinkering" room.  We ended up playing with hands on science type experiments in that room longer than we stayed at the dinosaur part of the museum.

Are children are such great actors!

We hiked the "Y" and although my dad and I barely made it and Cameron complained the whole time, we did it.  The view was definitely worth it!

We went to a sporting goods store that had a ferris wheel right in the middle.  Here are the members of the family brave enough to ride it.

We had a little b-day party for Carter turning 8 with the Walton family and the highlight was that we got to use some people's ice blocks that were there at the same park (ironically it was a man that had grown up in Frisco and went to the same middle school as Wesley and graduated from Frisco High.  The kids LOVED ice blocking!

We spent some time at Camie and Jake's house and Grandpa Crow came down from Idaho to see us.  Ken got to go to the temple with his dad for the first time.

They all love playing with Tanner (as much as he can play...he usually just lays down), especially Carter.

All pooped out!

It was really neat to go and do Baptims for the Dead with Wesley in the SLC temple.  He really felt the spirit there and told me that we needed to go to the temple once a month to do baptisms...what a great example he is!  One of Wilford Woodruff's great grandsons, Wilford Woodruff, helped do the confirmations.  He had some pretty neat stories to share!

We went to a place called Hollywood Connection, where we got to ride unlimited rides, play mini golf, go roller skating, and each had 15 tokens for video games all for a total of $42.  It was a big hit!

On the way home, we stopped at the Cortez, Co cultural center and visited a small Native American museum to help Wesley pass off his Indian Lore Merit Badge.

Back in Texas, Carter got another b-day celebration.  Look at him blow out those candles.  What a windbag!

Some other fun things we did while in Utah:

1. Roasted hotdogs and marshmallows up the canyon with Craig and Angeli
2. Went to a Dibb Reunion
3.  Went to my mission reunion at President Jacobsen's house
4.  Got together for a BBQ with some of my highschool friends and the kids played "Snipes" and "Zombie Tag."
5.  Played games (really liked Wits and Wagers), read books (especially the Mr. books, Little Cloud and The Monster at the End of the Book), played with dinosaurs, care bears and cars and watched some fun movies (Space Jam, Wonder Man with Danny Kaye, Groundhog Day with Fred McMurray, and Son of Flubber with Fred McMurray at Nanny and Papa's house. Plus, we can't forget the excitement of the green comb. :)
6. Lit off our own fireworks.
7.  Went to the Cherry Hill Water Park with Angeli's family.
8.  Got a famous Iceberg Shake!
9.  Played lots of pool at Camie and Jake's house.
10.  Went out to eat with friends and family (Kimberlie, Kathy, Cynth, and Craig and Ang took the kids to a Pizza Buffet...they ate 26 pieces--ahhh!).