May 2011

I love this picture of Wyatt and Uncle Branden walking on the beach just wish it was in focus.

We got to go to San Diego for a weekend in May to see my sister Aly and Hyrum get married. Friday night before the marriage we had a bonfire on the bay with Hyrum's family and ours and some close friends that were in town also. It was so cold to us from Phoenix but we had fun roasting marshmallows and the kids loved being able to run around the grass and sand.

Here is my beautiful family at the San Diego Temple. The next few pictures I wanted to have each one have an individual picture and the end result was great but it took help from my brother standing behind me make faces or bunny ears to get the smiles I wanted.

Hyrum and Aly walking out of the temple

The previous few pictures where so funny. With each shot Wyatt just melted. He was done taking pictures for sure. I can't to shows these to him as he gets older.

Tanis and my brother Jason at the reception. We thought they looked a lot alike since Tanis got his head buzzed.

Here's my brother Dan who was the only one tall enough at the time to get these beautiful lanterns hung.

My dad did a ring exchange for Aly and Hyrum for those that weren't able to be in the temple with them. He was very sweet.

Kelsie with Claire (on the left) my brother Dan and sister in law Beka daughter and Elora (on the right) my daughter at the reception. This is how you see Kelsie all the time must be all that daycare experience.

The first dance

Daddy Daughter Dance. It only lasted like 30 seconds cause my father has a hurt back. The other problem was an issue with the sound system we had so we could barely here the music. There was just to many funny things that happened that day and night. What matter the most was that they got married in the temple for time and all eternity.

Feeding each other their cheesecake.

Then on Sunday before we left town we went to Sea World. It was so much fun and loved the shows.

The Sea Lion Show

The Dolphin Show

The Shamu Show

Us at the end of the day completely sun burned but totally had enjoyed ourselves.

April 2011

Wyatt's class went on a field trip to Peter Piper Pizza and I got to go with him. He had so much fun playing and earning tickets. They also got to take a tour of where they make the pizzas and then make there own.

Here he is with Ms. Marvel his speech therapist making his pizza.

Over Easter weekend Derek and I went to Lake Charles, LA for his brothers wedding. We left the kids home with my folks and had a blast. The picture above is of a duck we saw there. Weirdest looking duck I have ever seen in my life.

For the Rehearsal dinner we went to a place called Steamboat Bill's. We had craw fish for the first time and they were so good spicy but good. Devan is here teaching mom and dad how to eat them.

Here's a close up of the craw fish. Like a miniature lobster.

Near the hotel they had a gator pond so we went there 2 different times to see the gators. They were probably just babies. This was about as high as any of them would ever come out of the water.

It's Wedding Day. Here are the guys leaving to go to the hall. Steve, Asan, Devan, and Derek

Derek escorting Harmony down the aisle

Here are Devan and Derek's feet. As a gift Devan bought all the groomsmen Converse and had them specially designed. It was so unique and so Devan. They all looked so good.

Here's the happy couple exchanging vows. Becky and Devan

Cutting the cake. This is one of the 2 they had. So beautiful

First Dance

To leave the reception they had a horse drawn carriage. It was beautiful. Can't tell to well in the picture how pretty it was. You can tell though how thick the humidity was there.

One of the last things we did was drive around the town and saw lots of the different historical homes that are on the historical registry. They were all so different, unique, and most were huge. Lake Charles was a beautiful place to visit and we were so glad we got to go and be there for Becky and Devan.

February/March 2011

I am so far behind in our blog but wanted to still post what happened to us in the last few months. I am still just pushing along in school and enjoying learning all the new things that I am being taught. In March I found out that a surprise was coming. Another baby. We decided to keep it quiet for many reasons but a few were I was having a hard time accepting it and my sister was getting married in May so we wanted to let her have all the glory for her wedding and then to tell. I am much better now but still have no clue how I am going to make it through the last 6 months of school with a newborn. I just pray that I will be given the strength to do it and to do my best. Derek's temporary job in February ended so our non ending roller coaster of having a job and then not having a job still continues. Someday this shall to pass is what I keep telling myself. He has done a great job taking care of the kids and doing all the house work as I have gone to school. I really appreciate that I never have to worry about cleaning my house with him at home.

January 2011

Devon, Season, Ashley, and Kyna at Disney on Ice

Aunt Kelsie and Ashley at Disney on Ice


Aunt Kelsie took Ashley to Disney on Ice with some of her friends from work with their grandson, and nieces also. They had so much fun. It has been a blessing to have Kelsie so close to us to make up for the things that we can't do. And for the time she spends with them while I go to school.

Wyatt turned 4 I can not believe he is this old already. He insisted on having everything Batman and was even confident that Batman was coming to his birthday party. So this took some careful planning on my part to find someone that could fit into Derek's Batman outfit and come to the party. My good friend Kim's son was such a sport to do it and did an amazing job. Wyatt loved it and was so excited that Batman was there and that he even brought him a gift. He loved all his gifts and loved his Batman cake. Wyatt is sure becoming such an amazing little man. His language has grown leaps and bounds from going to school and he thoroughly enjoys going. They have even talked about moving him into the other preschool class next year which is more like being in Kindergarten with less teachers and more kids not on IEP's. I think this will be a marvelous thing for his growth and I am excited to see him grow into who he is.

December 2010

Tanis at his band concert

Tanis received the Student of the Month award for his class we were so proud of him.

The stockings were hung with care.....

And Santa Claus found our house. We had Christmas at my house this year and it work really well. I have to thank my sweet babysitter though for getting my tree up and decorating it with the children. I didn't know when I was going to have the time to do it with school 4 nights a week and she surprised me one night to a beautiful decorated tree. And the kids loved doing it.

I absolutely love this face when Ash opened her Ipod Shuffle she was so excited. Santa did well this year.

One of the reasons we had Christmas at my house was my dad refused to get a tree this year and every year he is as we call him the Grinch or Scrooge. So while we were out shopping my mom found the book How the Grinch stole Christmas. It was prefect and she made him read it all the way through till the end to find his real present of movie tickets.

One of my days off that Derek also had off from work we decided to go for a family outing. We took the kids to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. It was really neat. Lots of dinosaur bones, we got to pan for gold, saw a flash flood, and there was a mine are that had the train that Wyatt is pointing at he loves trains. We had a lot of fun.

After the museum we headed over to see the Mesa temple lights and the nativities that were set up in the Visitor Center. It was so amazing. The lights were beautiful and all around the grounds they had life size parts of the nativity. The Visitor Center nativities were neat to see from all over the world. All in all we had an amazing December. We had multiple people leave gifts and cash on our doorstep to make our Christmas season special. It was a special thing for us and a wonderful teaching experience for us to teach our children about the gift of giving. I can't wait to be the family doing the giving. Thank you to those who we will ever be grateful too for those generous gifts of giving.