July 2nd Family Party

This year we celebrated our July 4th a little early. My brother Doug was in town from Ohio and he had to fly back on Sunday, so we had a family get together on Saturday! Here is a pic of the kids and I before we left. Eric is behind the camera. :(

Just the kids!

We held the party at my sister Robin and her husband John's house. They are always nice enough to host our bigger family events! Thanks Robin & John!

Here are just a few random shots. Here is some of the kids.

Preston playing with his cousin (one of Millie's twins) not sure if it is Cyrus or Wyatt!

The "older folks". My dad and 2 of his brothers and one sister in law.

Another shot including my mom.

Another pic of the group. My brother Doug is sitting to the left in the chair. Too bad his wife and daughter couldn't come. We missed them!

Just hanging out.

Hi Clarke!

It was fun to be able to spend the day with my family. All my siblings came, but we missed many of my neices and nephews. They just have their own families now, and everyone is busy!

She had the perfect back yard with canopies to provide shade for all of us.

We had a potluck lunch with sloppy joes, and plenty of sides.
Then to top it off there was POPSICLES!!

And even fudge bars!!

We hope you all had a fun 4th of July weekend!

Road Trip Through Santaquin Canyon

One Saturday Eric had the kids because I was working at a booth. He decided to take them on a drive through the canyon. They were able to go on a little hike, and except for the bright sun in their eyes, they had a fun day!

Who wouldn't love a summer day with dad?

Usborne National Convention 2011

This year the Usborne National Convention was in June. The theme was MORE!

(Sorry for the crappy pictures. Each year I try to edit the lighting in photoshop and it never helps. I guess the lighting in the room every year sucks.)

This is our National Sales Manager Heather Cobb. She just started this Spring and is AMAZING! She was able to speak to us, and her story is incredible!

And our infamous leader and CEO Randall White!

And the founder of Usborne Books, Peter Usborne. All the way from the UK.

Here is a few of us on group night. We did a dance, and lip syncing performance.

Another group of us on the stairs after the Gala. We had a blast this year!! This was probably my favorite convention so far!

See you all in 2012!

Happy 4th Birthday Cade!

Since all my kids birthdays are in the Spring, it is no surprise that Cade landed in the Spring as well. He was born May 25, 2007. He is the baby, and I can't believe he is growing up so fast! We had a little family party for his 4th birthday here at the park!

He is obsessed with red, so you will notice that he got a lot of "red" things. Red balloons!

Here is a bunch of different shots of family. I did the party in Pleasant Grove, so more family were able to attend.

We just had pizza, with cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches for dessert. It was really fun!

More mingling.

Time for presents! A red ball from Aunt Celia's family.

A cool bike from mom & dad

Cool cars from Aunt Maria's family, and a fun bat and ball set along with a really nice baseball glove from Grandpa & Grandma Saul

A cool race car pig piggy bank from Grandma & Grandpa Robison

And the wind-up race car book that he's been begging me for forever!

A fun bubble lawn mower from Aunt Shawnee's family

He also got some much needed church clothes from his Great Grandma Wittick. I will have to take pictures of all him dressed up one of these days. I thought I had a picture of them, but I guess not.

Can you say spoiled?? Happy Birthday Bud! We love you!

Happy Easter!

We did have an Egg Hunt full of fun baskets and surprises, but I did not capture any pictures of that once again. Grandma & Grandpa Saul spoiled the kids rotten, and made sure they were fully supplied with goodies before they headed to Wyoming.
They did have baskets full of candy, eggs, sidewalk chalk, games, hula hoops, and Cade even got his very own basketball. They were thrilled.

I did happen to take a few pictures of the egg coloring adventure!

Jaida loved that she could use her apron she made in Activity Days!

Smiling for the camera!

Cade carefully working on an egg.

And Preston showing his true colors!

We also did have a special family home evening talking about the true meaning of Easter, and Preston shared with us a favorite story out of the friend!

I promise to do better with pictures in the future.

St. George

At the first part of April Eric's parents came to visit and stay for a few weeks to be here for Alyssa's baptism! Eric and I decided to take advantage of this, and go on a little "get away" to St. George for a few days! We had just had our Anniversary a couple weeks before, and it was my birthday weekend, so it was a perfect time!
We just headed down to St. George for a few days! We had some temple names we had been working on and were able to go and finish them. We spent about 5 hours in the temple that Friday and it was wonderful!

Neither one of us had ever been inside the St. George Temple, so it was a very neat experience.

Also that weekend I had an Usborne Booth. Why not make the whole trip a tax write off right? It was the St. George Kite Festival. Never in my life had I seen so many cool kites.

The wind was perfect, and it wasn't overly hot. Just perfect!

Here is a pic of my booth! Overall we had a great time, and really enjoyed the time away!

Jaida's 10th Birthday!

Jaida had to share her birthday this year with Alyssa's baptism. I don't think she was very happy about it. Not everyone could stay, so we hurried and fed everyone after the baptism, then later that night she FINALLY got to open her presents.
New jeans!

A new watch, and her bedspread in the background.

Her choice of dinner was waffles! Since we had already had dessert earlier with all the family, we stuck a candle in her waffle and sang to her again! :)

Best enemies....uh I mean Best Friends. ha ha

Cards with money! Always a good thing!

Her Justin Bieber shirt that she begged for after Alyssa got one for her birthday. After I bought it she decided that she hated Justin Bieber. When she opened the shirt a little over a month later she was "disgusted". It was pretty funny. She will not wear it in public, and only wears it for sleeping. Whatever. I can't keep up with the fads. At least the shirts were only $1 at Walmart.

And last but not least, Jaida's "new" room! She had dark green walls, so she picked a fun, bright green color. She also had a cute bedspread to match, but when we got it out I had accidentally bought a full size, so we had to take it back. When we returned it, she found this one she liked better. I like this one better too!

I really liked how this room turned out too. I was able to get her dresser painted white, which helped, but she will have to wait on the blinds. Little bits at a time, so we will add to hers probably at Christmas too! Anywyay, she loves it!

Happy Birthday Jaida!!! We love you!