We have a ten year old!!

Our Mckenna turned ten years old on June 19, 2012.  We are so proud of her and all the great things she has done with her life so far. She sets a great example for her younger brothers and sisters. 

Mckenna is very creative and always has a project she is working on.  She really wanted some more duct tape to add to her collection.  She makes wallets, purses, ties, headbands, bracelets, and pens all out of duct tape.

She got a new american girl doll from us.  It is the new doll for the year 2012 only.  The doll is called "Mckenna".  She even has the same hair color and eye color.  The gifts she was most excited about was a watch and a Dippin dots machine.  She made us cookies n cream dippin dots for fhe tonight.

Mckenna loves anything chocolate!  She called her cake "death by chocolate".  It had hershey bars, reeses peanut butter cups, reeses pieces, kit kat bars, and oreos on it.

I made it to look like a birthday crown.  It ended up looking more like a chocolate castle.  Either way it had enough chocolate to please Kenna.

The birthday girl blowing out her candles. I am almost sure that her birthday wish was to get a kindle. Several of her friends have gotten one recently.  We told her she would have to save up her own money for one.  She did get a lot of money for her birthday from grandparents.  I am sure she will find a way to earn the rest.

Mckenna and Kayley showing off their chocolate smiles.

We had a fun night celebrating with our families.  We look forward to all the great things Mckenna will accomplish this next year.  We love our ten year old girl!

A big day for Kev!!

It was an awesome day for Kev this last Sunday!  Not only was it Father's day, but it was his birthday too! He was actually born on Father's day thirty three years ago.  Kev is such a great father to our five kids. He always makes time for the kids even with his busy schedule.  It was just last week that he suggested we get away for a couple days to the cabin.  It was nice to just have some time with our family away from all the stress of life.  He took the kids to the river and showed them how to skip rocks.

He took them to the playground and joined in on the fun too!  It is cool because this is the same playground he went to when he was a kid.  He told us they put it in at the cabin when he was about five.

He has shared his love for riding horses with the kids. He taught Mckenna how to use the reins to guide the horse while we were there.  He showed the kids how to feed the horses our leftover apples from lunch.  They thought that was the greatest!

Mckenna and Halle got up early on Sunday morning to make Dad breakfast in bed.  Mckenna included Nutella and strawberries which are his favorites.  Mckenna also made him a duct tape tie.  He proudly wore it to Church.  He said he had tons of people coming up to him to ask about his cool tie.  He definitely made a fashion statement and started a new trend.  The boys in the ward now want Mckenna to make them ties too!  She already has an order for a bow tie.

I made Kev a fruit pizza for his birthday dessert.  We took it up to my Dad's house to share it with them.

Addy helped Dad blow out his birthday candles!  I think she was mesmerized by the flames.

We went up to Kev's parents house to wish his Dad a Happy Father's day.  Kev got to open more presents for his birthday.

He got some new power tools from his parents.  They always bring a smile to his face.  It makes me happy too because he is going to use them to build our new deck.

It was a beautiful sunset on our way back home.  I am so grateful to have Kevin as my husband and the father of my children. It was a perfect day to celebrate him!

Wild things!!!

The girls had their summer dance performance the beginning of June.  The theme was "where the wild things are".  Halle wanted her picture taken with all the giants stuffed animals.

I always look forward to watching my girls perform.  It makes all those practices worth it to see them up on the stage.

Halle's dance was to the music "April showers" from the movie Bambi.  She thought it was fun to dance with the umbrella.

My favorite part of the dance was at the end when they popped up from behind the umbrellas.  Halle had the biggest smile on her face.  She always has great stage presence.  One of the girls umbrella broke during the performance.  It caused some confusion but Halle remained composed.  The other girls stopped to see what was going on but she kept dancing.

Mckenna's first dance was from her Jazz class.  The music was from The Lion king the musical.  It was my favorite of the two.

I loved this action shot I took of her.  Her feet are off the ground and her hair is flying.

This was her taken during her ballet number.  My Aunt was in town and came to the performance.  She

commented on how well Mckenna stays with the beat of the music.

Mckenna and her friend Abby after the performance.  I bought my girls medals this year as a gift. I thought it was a fun change from the flowers I usually give them. I love my dancing girls! I look forward to when Addy will be old enough to join in on the fun.

Remembering our ancestors...

We went to visit my Mother's grave the Sunday before Memorial Day.  It was the day right in between my Mom's birthday and Memorial day.  It was the perfect evening to be outside.  The rain from the day before had let up and everything was so green.

It was the first time Addy had been up to her Grandma's grave with us.  It is always so peaceful up at the  cemetery surrounded by mountains.  The kids had fun chasing the bunnies while we talked.  Mckenna took an interest in reading the graves nearby to see how old they were when they passed away.  It was good practice for her math skills. 

I picked these flowers from my backyard and arranged them for my Mom.  It is so much better bringing these than some from the store.

Parker took this picture of me just chillin with the good old boot.  I finally got permission to ditch the crutches.  It is so much easier walking with just the boot on.

We stayed until it started to get dark outside.  It was a nice evening to remember and talk about my Mom.

The next morning we went to the Taylorsville cemetery.  This is a picture of my Uncle Wright, Grandma, My Dad, and Aunt Elizabeth.  It was fun having my Aunt with us this year.  She was still in town visiting from the funeral.  You can see my Grandma is holding her blue folder with all the awesome stories of our pioneer ancestors. I never tire of hearing about their lives and the sacrifices they made for us.

We then went to the cemetery where my Grandpa is buried.  We always take a turn sharing a memory that we have.  I shared a memory of  when I was little.  I would climb up on my Grandpa's lap and he would give me what I called whisker kisses.  Halle is decorating my Great Grandparents grave with pine cones.

Here is our family picture at the graves.  I am so glad that we have this tradition.  It was sad not having Grandpa Steve with us this year.

We then drove to our final stop in Sandy.  We  went to see Grandma Fosters grave.  Addy and Hayden had both fallen asleep in the car at this point.

We laughed when we saw that cousin April had brought Grandma a coke!  Grandma really loved her coke.

Kev pulling me back up after a long but good day. 

way to go Halle!!

Halle graduated from Smarty pants preschool on Thursday May 24th.  It was fun to watch them perform some of the songs they have been learning this year.

Here is a picture of them saying the pledge of allegiance.  My favorite was the alphabet song that they sang to the tune of  "who let the dogs out".  It went like this; who let the A out aa aa aaa aa.

Halle said that her favorite part of preschool was show and tell.  She also said that she learned the alphabet.

The big moment when she got her diploma and a handshake!

She then used her diploma as a telescope for the rest of the program.  She can really crack me up sometimes.

We love our Halle Jane and our excited for her to experience Kindergarten in the fall.  She got a cute story from her teacher called, twas the night before Kindergarten.  We read it together almost everyday.  She is counting down the days until September.  A huge bonus is she gets to ride the bus to school with her big brother and sister.