Happy Birthday to Brianna

Happy Birthday Brianna!  For 15 years (wow!), I have been blessed to be your mom.  You are wonderful, loving, smart, kind, genuine, stubborn, helpful, witty, funny, generous, valiant, and so much more.  Thanks for being patient with me while I figure out this parenting thing.  I am so grateful that you are my daughter.

Summer Vacation Photo Book

 

Baby Mia

Andrew's sister Jamie and her family came to visit us over the Christmas break.  Of course I had to take pictures of her baby Mia.  She is 6 months old and such a sweet baby.

Sisters Photo Book

Christmas Card and Letter

This was our card this year.  The following is a copy of the letter on the back on the card:

Our Top Twelve of 2012

1.  Ty turned eight and was baptized.
2.  Amy was released from her calling as Relief Society President and is now enjoying life as Primary teacher. 
3.  Arick chose to be home-schooled for the rest of middle school.  It has been a big change, but he and Amy are both doing very well. 
4.  Amy drove the kids to Utah without Andrew. It was a long drive!  We enjoyed three weeks in Utah (Andrew joined us for the last 10 days) visiting family and friends. The kids got to watch the Utah wild fires from Papa and Grandma's porch. They also discovered Seven Peaks water park in Provo!  
5.  We attended Provo's 4th of July Freedom Festival. We got to see the hot-air balloons, Brianna ran the 5K race, and we went to the Stadium of Fire!  
6.  Andrew and the kids continued their tradition of hiking the "Y" mountain. What a view!
7.  Brianna turned 14, started High School, and went to her first youth dance. Andrew purchased several guns. 
8.  Arick turned 12 and received the Priesthood. To celebrate the occasion, Andrew and Arick flew to Utah over General Conference weekend. They attended Priesthood session with Papa, Uncle Dave, Uncle Steve, Uncle Ben, and Robert.  They ate at Wendy's before the session, which has been a long-standing tradition in the family. Andrew and Arick also attended the Sunday-evening session of General Conference in the Conference Center.
9.  We visited Uncle Andy and Auntie Jamie in North Carolina. Their new home is beautiful . . . as is their new baby, Mia!
10.  We went to Atlanta and visited the Georgia Aquarium.  We also got to watch BYU beat Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium. We brought Amy's nephew, Kaelan, with us and we had a great time.
11.  Ella was selected as the "Top Dog" in her 1st Grade class at school.  She always goes out of her way to help the teacher and make sure she is paying attention in class.
12. Amy and the kids visited Little Rock, Arkansas where her sister, Susie, lives.   They visited the headquarters for Heifer International, saw the Clinton Presidential Library, and enjoyed hanging out with family.

Christmas Card Photo Session

 

And the winner is . . .

 

Christmas 2012

2011 Disney World Trip Photo Book

My Mother's Day

My special day was quiet and simple. The kids and Andrew made me puffed oven pancakes for my breakfast in bed. The best part is that they remembered to get real maple syrup, my favorite. The rest of the day was filled with my favorite things. My kids sang special songs in Sacrament, they made Stouffer's Lasagna for dinner, served pistachio ice cream and donuts for dessert. The kids snuggled with me all day and showered me with kisses. It was a wonderful day indeed.

County Fair (August 2012)

We decides that this year we would actually go to the County fair. We have been once before but it usually is very hot, expensive and crowded. We might not have gone again if it hadn't been for Ella and Brianna having artwork on display. Ella reminded us every day about it and was determined to see her art on display. We ended up having way more fun than we expected.

The night we decided to go was not overly hot which was the first this in our favor. Secondly, at the entrance someone handed us four free tickets and then the ticket lady let Ella in for free since she was so cute. We ended up only having to pay for one adult. These small acts of kindness meant that we could spend our money on fair food!

On our way to the art exhibit to see Brianna and Ella's work, we stopped to watch a tractor parade.  It was actually pretty cool. After that it was time to see some cute animals.   Then it was off to see the art.

 

 

 

Finally, the art!

 

After the art, we enjoyed deep-fried oreos, fried dough, and our favorite . . .  red velvet funnel cake!  We ended the night with a demolition derby, which turned out to be our favorite part of the evening.

iPhone Pics of Ella

These were taken with my phone on Easter. I love these little moments.