Nate's 4 and 3 months

Better late then never......Nate turned four on July 21st

His first two wheeler (with training wheels)

High on Life!

4 things I love about Nate

1. He is good at sharing with his siblings and his friends.

2. He loves his mother and gives me lots of hugs and kiss.

3. He is a hard worker. When asked to clean up he jumps right in.

4. He asks great questions and loves to learn.

OK one more

5. He is a good eater and will try new foods. His palate is advanced for his age.

We love you Nate!!!

Nathan's water party

One of Nate's gifts was a Buzz Light Year slip and slide. It was a great idea, too bad our yard is FLAT. The kids figured quick that they could get an ok ride if they started with a really fast run.

Visit to Richfield

One of my sweet little nieces Addie. We went to visit Mark and Marilyn in Richfield. We had a great time!

What is better then cousins and ice cream???? Nothing!

Yum!

Poor Travis

Travis has been struggling with allergies all summer. After an emergency trip to the clinic with swollen eyes we decide to take him to an allergy specialist. This picture is proof of how miserable my poor child has been. He is allergic to grasses, sage bush and ragweed (among other things) all of which surround our house. Luckily his allergy to cats is less sever then the others, so speckles (our beloved cat) gets to stay, outside of course.

Blogging, like a diet, exercising and scripture study is easy to stop and hard to get going again. I am rededicating myself to keeping up on my family history (aka blogging).

Jake and Kaycee's Wedding!!!

Jake and Kaycee got married in the Mesa Arizona Temple at the end of May

They went to Hawaii for 10 days for their honeymoon. They will report to an Air Force base in Oaklahoma by the first of August. After their honeymoon they came to Kanab and stayed with us for one night. When they were getting ready to leave, as they they climbed into their loaded down car with the Just Married sign still on it. Jake said, "See ya later Shell we are off to make our dreams come true." This picture reminds me of what Jake said. Two people who have made good chocies in their lives finding happiness together and knowing they will always have each other no matter what the future brings. I am so happy for my baby brother Jake and my new sister Kaycee!!!!

This is my dream come true (most days)

My mom and my two sisters.

Sweet Natalie watched my children so Clay and I could attend the sealing in the temple.
It looks like they entertained themselves by climbing things ---little monkeys.

Two Beauty's

The proud parents with the bride and groom

Me and my 5 siblings. Can you tell which children turned out normal and which children have just a little bit too much Paul Belka eye to them? LOL

The biggest down fall of the trip was Macie getting sick. It never fails, one of my children will come down with some form of illness whenever we leave home. Poor Macie ended up having strep throat. She was so sick the day of the wedding. She was such a trooper being drug all over Mesa Arizona. Poor thing had had it by the reception. We did leave the reception early and got her to her bed.

Air Force Academy

My little brother graduated at the end of May from the United States Air Force. I flew out to Colorado Springs to participate in some of the MANY ceremonies and events that went along with graduation. This was such an amazing experience for me. In Jake's class were 1005 officers graduating. All these young men and women took an oath, to up hold the constitution and protect our country. I was so proud of him for all his hard work and for choosing to protect the United States as a career. In this picture is Jake and his then fiancee, now wife Kaycee.Here he is being commissioned and becoming an officer, a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. Some of his fan club waiting for the graduation ceremony to start. The weather was strange. We were freezing one day and hot the next.

Jake is a pilot. He had the opportunity of being one of five glider plane pilots that landed on the field during one of the ceremonies. These are small, no engine planes. They have to be towed up by a bigger plane. They are then released and the pilots have to use their knowledge of air currents to safely land the planes. Jake got married four days after graduation. Him and his wife will be stationed at an Air Force base in Oklahoma for the next two years.

I feel so blessed that I was able to have this experience. It was very patriotic. My older brother Byron was there too. It was fun spending time with two of my brothers and my parents without spouses and children. This is very rare. We had a great time.

preschool grad part 2

Travis had an awesome year at preschool! I can't believe he will be a kindergartner next year. He loved going to school, with Miss Kelly and Miss Deb.

They had an end of the year program. Travis wanted to wear his jeans and a super hero shirt. It took much persuasion with promises of ice cream to get him to wear nice pants and a button down shirt. We had to bring his other clothing in the car for him to change into right after the program. Please tell me their are other stubborn five year olds out there with clothing issues. Really does parenting have to be this hard?

Preschool grad part 1

Nate had such a great experience at preschool. This was his first year. He loved going to school. His teachers Miss Stephanie and Miss Lindsey were awesome! I couldn't believe his progress. At the first of the year his name was a big scribble on a page and now he can write his name very well. I am so grateful for the influence of teachers in the life of my children. I can't image teaching my children all the things they need in this life all by myself. It really takes a village to raise a child.

On the last day of school we met at the park for a picnic and a program. I was perm-a-grin the entire length of the program. It was so adorable and I was such a proud Momma.

This is Nate's friend Nora. They developed quite a friendship and were inseparable at school. Isn't that cute..... Nate and Nora? I think these names would be perfect for characters in a children's book.

The last week of school they did a Mommy make over day. Nate and I were so excited for this. I ended up being a wimp and only bringing light colored make-up and nail polish. Another mom lent us some more exciting colors. This was such a fun idea. We had a blast. Nate really pampered me. This kid is such a gift to me from heaven. He is constantly boosting my self esteem with comments like, "Mom your so pretty," "Mom your special." He tells me he loves me at least 5 times a day with lots of hugs and kisses. I will cherish this time with him because I know it won't last too long. One day I won't be the girl he is telling these things too.

An April Wedding

My cousin was married the second weekend in April. Luckily it was such a beautiful day in St. George. I couldn't believe they already had such beautiful flowers on the temple grounds. I usually don't get to attend that many of my cousins events, because of travel. We were so happy the got married in St. George. Clay and I left the kids in Kanab and had a great day.

This is my cousin and his new wife. They have such a happy story. Her grandfather was able to perform their sealing so that what really special.

This picture is hilarious to me. It emphasises the height difference between my mom and dad. My bro Auston is in the middle and might I brag......... he just graduated with a bachelors degree in business management and got a awesome promotion at his work so congrats Auston!

My cute sister and sisters-in-law!!!! Left to Right -Stacie is having boy, Janelle is have twins a boy and girl and Monica is having a boy. Am I feeling left out? A little, I will have to go up north this summer and hold all their babies. We are so excited about twins!!!!!!!!

Funny little boy

Nate said,"Mom when I was a baby in your belly" (he gets this really scared look on his face) " I saw your skeleton and your heart and I was scared." Ha Ha, how do kids come up with this stuff?

I said, "Nate, when you were in my belly, your eyes were closed, you were nice and warm and you knew I loved you."

some cute pics of my handsome red head.

Face Painting

Our Red Rock Dancers were asked to perform at the High School Drill Review in March. One of the dances is an African Tribal piece. I had Macie and her friend help me experiment with face paint. We did some cool tribal stuff. They washed it off and in true 8 year-old girl fashion went with rainbows, hearts and clouds.
Now Travis took it to a whole new level and started body painting too. I stopped him at his hand. Future Blue Man, maybe, or smurf?

OH Natey!

Here are some of the dancers that benefited from all our practice. The face paint was a great affect. This dance is quite a crowd pleaser.

This is another one of our dance groups. We had 5 classes perform. They all did such a great job. I love teaching these beautiful girls. We are working hard this month toward our Spring Recital on April 3oth 7:00 pm Kanab High Auditorium.