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!

Swimming Lessons

The kids took swimming again this summer. They all re-took the same level from last year and this time they all passed! It's amazing what a difference a year makes.

Lindsay and one of her best friends, Lydia, were in the same class. They had to have matching swimming suits, so their teracher kept mixing them up since they matched and both their names start with an "L".

Lindsay

And Lindsay again

Zane has really come a long way. Last year he would barely put his face in the water. This year he was diving in for rings at the bottom of the pool.

Zane

Zane floating

Gavin and his best friend, Alex, got to be in the same class. It helped them both a lot.

Gavin, wandering a little too far away from his class.....hmmmm....a sign of things to come for this kid!

Gavin

Brooklyn was so good to sit in her stroller and watch while munching on a Baby Biter Biscuit every day!

Happy Father's Day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my amazing dad, father-in-law, and Husband! We love you all so much and are so grateful to have you in our lives!

Haha! I love the kids' faces in this picture. It pretty much says it all about their personalities!

YEA! We finally got a BBQ!

Pa/Grandpa Kevin

Being Goofy

Dad/Grandpa Harry

Skyping with Matt and Lauren!

Dan and Heather Through the Years...

For our 5 year wedding anniversary, I made Dan a video that showed pictures of our lives from our wedding day until then. So I (with the help of my Dad) made him a 10 year anniversary video that continues from our 5 year Anniversary until March of this year. At the end of the video I put pictures of just Dan and I through the years since we started dating almost 15 years ago. So since the rest of the video is almost 40 minutes long, I'm just posting the very end. I think it turned out great and I had Dan crying (of course...it's genetic!).

Finally celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary!

We finally found some time and money to celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary that was on March 16th. We got a room at the Grand America Hotel downtown and it was so lovely! Dan took work off on Friday, June 18th and we headed downtown that afternoon. Our good friends, Richard and Holly happened to be celebrating their 10 year Anniversary that weekend too, but were staying somewhere else. So we decided to meet for dinner at Ruby River. It was great food and company. Then after dinner had a chance to digest, we drove to Leatherby's for dessert. Thanks for joining us Richard and Holly!

When we came back to the hotel after dinner, our bed had been turned down, with robes and chocolates set out on the bed and soft music was playing! I could handle this kind of life!


Lounging in our sitting area of our room. We had a stocked fridge with drinks and candy, but I couldn't bring myself to pay $3 for a small bag of M&M's, so Dan ran to 7-11 and got us a bunch of treats and drinks for $7. We decided to rent a movie from the hotel (Valentine's Day) instead of going to a movie. It was a pretty cute movie and surprisingly clean.

The chocolate they left. We loved the Grand America and would stay there again in a heartbeat!!

The next morning we went downstairs to the Garden Cafe for breakfast. It was luscious!

We checked out of the hotel then went and test drove a couple of Nissan Maxima's and wandered through Home Depot (romantic huh?). But it was a fun 24 hours! :)

A House of Strep!

So a couple weeks ago, I noticed that Brooklyn's ear was draining fluid. She has tubes in her ears, so I knew she had an ear infection (that's what the tubes do....they drain the infection). We started putting the drops in her ears that are supposed to clear up the infection. 2 days later, her left ear started draining with no signs of her right ear clearing up. I had her 1 year old check-up the next day and Dr. Edwards gave me some stronger drops and said if they don't clear up in 2 days, to call our ear doctor, Dr. Heras. Well during those 2 days, Dan and I came down with something. We both were achy with bad sore throats and colds. It didn't really feel like strep so we didn't go get it checked. Meanwhile, Brooklyn's ears were still draining and it was getting worse. They are draining this white, gooey junk and it was all over her shoulders on her shirts. On Thursday, Zane woke up with a fever and sore throat and Lindsay and Gavin both complained of sore throats. I took them all with me to see our ear doctor. As soon as Dr. Heras saw Brooklyn's goopy ears, she said "that's a strep infection in her ears." WHAT?" I asked her if we could get strep throat from it because we had some symptoms. She said, "Yep, it's probably all over your house." She checked all the kids throats, Zane's was the worst looking so she swabbed his. It was POSITIVE for strep, so she put all 6 of us on Amoxicillin. So the picture above is what my fridge and counter looks like when we all have strep!

Brooklyn's Birthday

We celebrated Brooklyn's birthday with my family on June 6th and with Dan's family June 13th. She got some fun things but was still clueless as to what was going on.

As a tradition, my mom makes a Pooh Bear cake for all the grandkids on their first birthday. So far, she's made 19! Crazy woman! But they always turn out adorable! Thanks MOM!



All that hard work.....
Brooklyn kept sticking her foot into the cake!

Brooklyn and Riley



Opening presents on Uncle Chris' lap.

Eating brownies at Grandma Tracey's

All of her fun gifts!