Wedding

On March 7th one of my favorite nieces got married! She looked so beautiful. I really can't believe she is old enough to be married. Kierstan and Justin had dated for about 2 years. They both looked so happy. As my brother Wade walked his daughter down the isle I watched Justin's face, I just wish I could have gotten a picture of him watching her.

These are Kierstan's sisters, Brittan, Lauran, and Jillian. I think the little girl in front is one of Justin's nieces.

The first kiss as husband and wife. So sweet.

My brother Wade and Kierstan during the daddy daughter dance. I can't remember what song was playing though.

George and Kennedy during the daddy daughter dance. Kennedy was so excited to dance. All night long she kept asking when it was time to dance. Even during the ceremony she was ready to boogie! By the end of the night she could barley stand but she didn't want to leave the dance floor.

They had a "Money Dance" where you pay to dance with the bride or groom. This is Mason taking his turn with Kierstan.

Here is Trevan having his dance with Kierstan. Trevan was so funny all day that day. He knew we were going to a wedding but he started to get stressed out the closer the time came. He was confused and kept asking who HE was going to marry! I kept telling him Kierstan was getting married but he still didn't get it. I guess he thought he was the one getting married that day. Then during the ceremony he asked me if Kierstan and Justin were going to have babies. I said yes, then he was trying to see the babies! I told him it would be a few years before that would happen! He was so cute about the whole thing.

Once again the "Money Dance" as I said before you pay to dance with the bride or groom, and most people pay 1 dollar, but Jeff, the goofball jokester, paid 5 dollars to dance with Justin! SO FUNNY, and so much like Jeff. Justin was a good sport about it too. His face was as red as could be but he was laughing just the same. Their video guy also was getting this dance! I can't wait to see how it turned out. Congratulations Kierstan and Justin!

We had a fun trip to Utah. I love staying with my sister Laura. Our boys are so close in age that they have a great time together. We hardly ever see them, but we sure do hear them! This time Grayson even slept in the same bedroom with Mason and Trevan! George's parents were able to make it up also. This was the first time in almost 5 years since the kids have seen them. George's dad, George has been growing a beard for a few months, so when Kennedy saw him the first time she called him Santa Claus! I guess he gets that alot. It was hard to leave to come back home but we will be back this summer! The kids are already counting down the days until they can see their cousins again.

Pre-School

On Monday Feb.2 2009, Trevan and Kennedy began a new adventure in their lives. They started Pre-School! They both loved their first day there. When I picked them up the teacher had nothing but positive to say. She said Trevan is a very good helper and that he is polite to everyone. (This sounds good to me, after seeing him in primary for the last 2 years I wondered how he would do in school) Actually another little thing, when my parents came to visit us last when he was 3 1/2 my mom asked me if he had ADHD. Yes he was a very hyper toddler, not so much anymore.

Miss. Carol said Kennedy is such a little pistol! She was bouncing around the room. She also said that Kennedy has so much to say all the time! Her exact words were "She is just so darn cute I don't want to tell her to shh!" They will be going 3 days a week for 3 hours a day. I'm not sure what I will do with myself for 9 free hours a week! Haven't experienced loneliness like this in almost 8 years!

1st Semester Award

A couple of weeks ago Mason's school had their awards ceremony. Mason was awarded the "Most Improved Academic Achievement" award. His teacher said he really deserved an award but that he couldn't give him the academic semester award because he wasn't here in the beginning of the school year. We are very proud of Mason. At his previous school he was in a multi-age program where the teacher let them study at their own pace. She also didn't give spelling tests, or any other kinds of tests. So, when we got here and Mason had to take his first test ever, I had to explain to him what a test was! Funny but true. Anyways, since being here he has scored 100% on every single spelling test and vocabulary test. In the Math area his test scores are in the 90% - 100% weekly. This little boy has been blessed with good genes! He is very competitive in school. He reminds me alot of his Uncle Mike. In this area that is a good thing!

Look at the excitement on his face. After the ceremony I asked him what he thought of his award, and in true Mason fashion he was sad and upset. He thought he was getting something better than a piece of paper! He said he should have gotten a big bucket of candy, or something cool like that! What a goof ball he is.

Photo Tag

This is a Photo Tag. What you do is go to your fourth photo folder and get the fourth picture.

This is a picture of Trevan and his friend Diego. We were at one of Mason's basketball games last year in Germany. Diego's big brother Noah played on the same team as Mason. It was always a great time for these two little buddies, Trevan and Diego. They were always finding things to play with. This is my favorite picture of the two of them. Don't they make the cutest "cone heads"?

Top 100

I saw this in a friends blog and thought that I would do it...to kill some time.

I tag anyone else who wants to share...Just paste this list into your blog and bold the ones that you HAVE done, and unbold any I have done that you have NOT...

I have done everything that is in big, bold letters .

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (every Friday night I am the star drummer)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (Burger Bar rocks the salmonilla)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch-hiked (didn't we all try to run away at some point during childhood?)
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (not a real cruise, but I think the feiry to Alaska counts)
33. Seen Niagara falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I have been to my great grandma's house!)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (I am really good at jibberish)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (Rock Lake in the Uintahs, many, many rocks to climb over to get there)
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing (on a boat full of men, my mom caught the biggest fish!)
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (stood under it so as not to get spit upon)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (my sister made me drink it, told me it was chocolate milk)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (plenty of home movies from childhood!)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies for my sister =)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (they won't let me anymore, cancer)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (I have had sushi, YUCK, it had some egg crap on it)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (a nose counts right?)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (not personally, but was tortured by it as a child)
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury (one of my life dreams)
91. Met someone famous
92. Flown in an airplane
93. Joined a book club
94. Lost a loved one
95. Had a baby
96. Seen the Alamo in person
97. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
98. Been involved in a law suit
99. Owned a cell phone
100. Been stung by a bee

A first for Kennedy

I have been wanting to cut Kennedy's hair for a while now but patiently waited for George to be ready. I really don't know why since he doesn't have anything to do with her hair! Oh, wait, he does brush it after washing it, does that count? Well here it is before I took some scissors to it. It was getting pretty long, but very wispy.

Here we are during the hair cut. Yes I did it my self. I thought "How hard can it be?" It wasn't really that hard and she did a pretty good job at watching the TV to keep as still as a 3 year old can be.

The after cut and blow dry. I love it! She likes it too. She was a little leery about cutting her long hair, as she said. But she looks so cute, and more grown up. She has always been so good at getting her hair done. Her bangs still have a little bit of growing yet to do to get it all the same length but at least now it is more uniform.

The back view. She was running her hands through it and really enjoying it. It looks thicker now, maybe because it isn't all different lengths. Notice the vacuum, George was anxious to clean up the hair mess. He says he likes it and at this point what more can he say? Kennedy sure is growing up. No longer our little baby, but now our pretty little princess.

Christmas Fun

One of our family traditions at Christmas time is to make Gingerbread houses. We usually buy the Wilton kit but this year we were expecting family so we decided it would be easier to make the Grahm cracker kind. Sad part is that family wasn't able to make it. As they say "Snow Happens!" They were driving up here from Tucson Arizona, the land of no snow! They got into Utah and the driving conditions were not good. They made it to Orem and felt best to turn around and head home. The weather here has been pretty bad so it was safer for them to not try to push their luck. Anyways, back to our traditions. This house was built by me, Linda. Mason made a contest out of it and awarded me first prize. I have still to figure out what the prize is!

Coming in second is George's Grahm cracker house. I told him he roof looked like playing pool.

Mason awarded himself third prize. I think he forgot to make the house, he just did the garage. Do you like the candy cane car? Trevan and Kennedy didn't get to far on their's. In fact they didn't make it past putting frosting on one cracker and eating it!

One of our other little traditions is to have what the kids like to call a "cookie party" This year we actually made cut out cookies. (I absolutely hate to make cut out cookies!) The kids enjoyed using the new cookie cutters, since I have given them all my old ones to use with play dough and sand. We then had a good time frosting and decorating them. Kennedy actually only got a little frosting on one cookie before she was licking the knife.

Trevan, we are still trying to find the cookie under all that frosting. Do you like his shiner? He got this festive black eye playing at McDonalds. He and another little girl collided, obvesouly he took the brunt of the hit.

Mason proudly displaying a few of his creations. I really like his candy cane cookie.

Christmas morning. I do what my parents did and make the kids all wait for everyone to get up and get hair done, I just don't make them get dressed, but we have to do this before we get to go and see what Santa brought. Here the kids were hanging out in Kennedy's room watching a movie while they waited.

The long walk down the stairs. They could hardly stand the anticipation.

Kennedy rand straight to her chair and bike. She has been loving that chair. She carried it everywhere she goes.

You can see Trevan but you can't see what Santa brought him. I don't know why we didn't get a picture of him with it. He got a cool red Rocket bike. He is practicing riding it in the basement.

Santa brought Rock Band for Mason. He was so excited to get that. Ever since playing it at the Havel's house last summer he has been asking for it. Here is the red bike.

Some of the loot. My controlling self starts to override the kids fun and I have to stack everything in piles so it isn't all over the place! There are no pictures of what George and I got, mainly because we let the kids have at it then once they were busy playing we opened our gifts. George got some new video games, not that he gets to play them, the boys have taken over! He also got a new electric shaver and something that he was happy to get, a parafin wax kit. I know, why you ask? He has some horrible feet and this one is big enough for his huge feet to fit in! It seemed to really help them not to hurt while he walks. I, Linda, got a big surprise this year. He actually listened to my hints of what I would like to get!!!! I got a Zune, love it, a photo printer, and an emersion blender, among some other things. All in all it was a great Christmas, now if I can just get my house put back together!