So much to blog....so little time!

I HATE that I'm so behind on this thing! But we recently returned from Disneyland and I want to blog about it. SO maybe after Christmas! :) Keep believing in me that I can keep blogging!

Hmmmm.....

So, ya, I'm a slacker and I'm finally feeling like blogging again, but it's bugging me that so much has happened and I haven't posted any of it. So I am playing catch-up......lots of posts coming!And yes I've changed the dates to protect my slackerness!

Happy 32nd Birthday Dan!

Happy Birthday my love!

Dan started a new hobby of tieing knots and making bracelets. So his parents gave him some knot books!

Because we had so much leftover wedding cake and goodies from Amy's wedding we used some of the half eaten cake for Dan's birthday cake. Good thing it happened to be some of the best cake we'd ever eaten! (So white trash!)

Amy and Sam's wedding!

Wahoo!! My youngest sister, Amy, married Sam DeMonja on August 13th! And I have to tell you, it was a very sweet feeling sitting in that sealing room with both my parents and every single one of my siblings and our spouses. I'm sure it was even more special for my mom and dad. It is something I hope I can experience with my own kids one day.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple


Grandma was able to come to the sealing. That same day was her and Grandpa's 74th wedding Anniverary!

I got to be the DJ at the reception which turned out to be so nice. The weather was perfect!

Matti, Mary, Brooklyn and Riley

Such a cute older brother


The next day, we drove to Brigham City, where Sam is from and had another reception. They had this cool coach that I made the kids sit in for a picture.

So we now have 2 Sam's in the fam but Sam is perfect for Amy. Congratulations SAMY!!!!!!

I'm here!

I have no excuse as to my no blogging! By writing this I hope it will force me to keep my promise and update my blog! It's been a busy summer so get excited for lots of posts and backdates! Thanks blogger for letting me date them when I want so when I look back I won't remember how behind I really was!

Love, Me!

Happy 4th Birthday Gavin!

Gavin turned 4 on August 1st! He wanted a Batman birthday party with all his little friends.

Fughting the "bad guys" from Batman

Crazy boys!

Freedom Fest 2010!

For the past 8 years, dad and some of the family have been asked to go down to Las Vegas where dad's cousin, Mark, puts on a Freedom Fest. There are speakers from all over that come to speak about different topics (mostly political) and dad records them, burns them to cd's and sells them from Mark. Dan and I have never had the chance to go and help until this year. We had so much fun! Dad, Laurel, Sam, Missy and Karen came along. We all had our certain duties. Karen and I ran the front counter...we were good at getting people's attention at our booth. Hahahahaha! Dan was the Computer Tech Support, Dad edited all the speaches, Missy worked on putting the speeches onto the website and Laurel (the queen of Freedom Fest and dad's right hand), with the help of her hubby, Sam, burned all the cd's and made labels and made sure everything was organized. Mom, stayed at home (but packed us lots of yummy food so we didn't have to eat every meal out) and with the help of Jenny, Amy and Heidi, watched all the grandkids. Bless their hearts! But it was very worth it and I'm hoping to go again next year.

One of the booth's was handing out free blow up guitars and flamingos. We scored one of each for all of our kids. Nothing like bringing home free stuff!

This was mine and Dan's first time on the Vegas strip together. We drove through there on our honeymoon but never went on the strip. It was dirty and trashy like normal, but once we got inside of some of the places it was nice.

One of the big speakers was Steve Forbes. He'd recently had neck surgery so that's why he has the neck brace. My Uncle Paul is holding Grandpa's book, "The 5,000 Year Leap" which has become very popular the past coupele of years even though the book is 30 years old.

Our banquet dinner on the last day. Delicious food!!! The painting at the top, that girl painted in just a few minutes. It was impressive!

Let Freedom Ring!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, 4th of July is one my most favotrite times of the year! Of course we did all traditional things this year and wore our matching clothes (this time I got cute sandals for everyone too). So enjoy all the pics!

Lindsay and I even had Glitter toes

The kids decorated their bikes for the Holladay parade (Kaern's in-laws live up there and Karen and Christian alwasy invite us to come up the morning of the 4th for their little parade. It's so cute!)/ My dad is in the evil Lady Liberty mask.

Matt, Lauren & Matti AND Jenny & Carter (Ben came later) came for the 4th. It was so fun having them here. Matt and Lauren decided to find out what sex their baby is and told us with balloons.

IT'S A BOY! Due in early November!

Brooklyn and Matti



We went to see Toy Story 3 with most of the cousins. I cried, a lot! I love those dang toys in that movie!

(Carter, Nathan, Zane and Gavin)

Lindsay and Matti

Sparklers with Dan's fam.

Arizona visitors

My friend, Allison, who I've been friends with since I was 3, came to visit her family for a couple of weeks. We got to see them yesterday. The kids had fun playing and me and Al had fun chatting. Thanks for coming to see us Al!

Lindsay, Brooklyn and Alexis

Zane, Micah and Gavin

Me and Al.....friends since we were 3!

Roosevelt Ward Reunion

Ahhhhh.....I have some very fond memories of the time I spent in the Roosevelt Singles Ward. I attended this ward while Dan was on his mission. I met some of the most amazing people in this ward that I will always remember. Bishop Hallman was our Bishop and one of my favorites ever! And of course behind every good man is an even more incredible woman...Anita! She helped me through some hard times and taught the best Sunday class, Happy Living (so much more interesting than Gospel Doctrine at that time in my life!). So Karen, Melissa Smith (Beans) and I (aka the Princeton Princesses), planned a little reunion. We wish everyone could have come, but that's nearly impossible. But we were so happy to see those that were able to come!

Pretty good turn out!

The Princeton Princesses (yes that's what we called ourselves because we lived on Princeton Avenue. Eventually we became the Croft Cove Chicks when we moved apartments. We're so cool!)

Us and Anita!

Two of my most favorite people in the whole world! Anita and Bishop Joe.

Brooklyn and Noah sittin' in a tree........

Lindsay and her friend Lydia are determined to have Brooklyn and Noah (Lydia's little brother) get married when they grow up. So they decided to have them go on a date in our family room. They set up chairs, got them sipper cups and turned on Baby Einstein for them. So cute!

They look pretty happy!

The matchmakers!

Seven Peaks

I have only been to Seven Peaks Water Park once. I was about 12 and I went with my friend Bree. Lindsay and Zane both got free passes from their school, Gavin is still free until his birthday (even though he looks likes he should have been paying for a pass for a couple of years, since he's such a big kid!), and I found some cheap passes online for me and Dan. Lindsay's and Zane's passes expired on June 26 and we could only use them Monday-Thursday (stupid stipulations!). Since June weather was more like April weather, we waited to go until it warmed up which happened to be the week right before they expired. Everyone else had the same idea. That place was packed! It took forever just to get into the park, then the lines took forever to rent tubes and lockers. AND although it was pretty cheap for us all get in, they raked us over the coals once we got inside! We spent over $50 on renting tubes and snacks! Not lunch, SNACKS! They wouldn't let us bring our own food or water in. RAGE! Lindsay and Dan were able to get on one big waterslide, The Boomerang, before it got so crowded the lines to the water slides went all the way down the stairs and about 20 feet out from there. So we spent most of our time in the kiddy pool, lazy river and wave pool. Sooooo not worth it. And did I mention the bathroom only had 3 stalls? They are just asking people to pee in the pool! The kids still had fun though which I guess is what matters, but we decided they can have just as much fun at the local Rec Center. So I don't know that we'll be going there again for a very long time, if ever. I'd rather spend those $80 in DISNEYLAND! :)

Our good friends and neighbors came the same day we did so that made it fun for the kids.
Bathing Beauties...Maddy, Lydia and Lindsay, all wearing matching swimming suits.

Hahaha! This one makes me laugh! The sun was hurting their eyes so this was the best I could get! Zane, Gavin and Alex

Lindsay

Zane

Gavin

Thanks, Amy for watching Brooklyn for us!