Random reunion pics

The campground and lines of cars

Alexis with a flower in her hair and Aunt Heather with cousin Kaylee behind her

Doug talkin with cousin April with Aunt Peggy in front

Aunt Gayle with Uncle Charles hiding his face

April's camera as she blocks Doug's effort to take a picture of her

Camping wimp

This one really should have come after the good-byes but I messed up the order. I will admit that I am a camping wimp. I have become very fond of my comforts at home. Namely a bed and a nice long hot shower. While we did camp one night at the reunion the last night was spent in a hotel room. Ahhhh....a bed, shower and no mosquitoes to carry one off at night. Pure bliss.

So ready for bed after a long day of reunion fun

What? Where are we? Ben is a little dazed.

Alexis is tuckered out

Yay for a bed!

Family Reunion Good-byes

Time for the fun to come to an end. Always the bittersweet moment of get togethers.

They boys saying good-bye to Doug's Granny Solomon.

Evan made lots of friends this trip. Here he is saying good-bye to Doug's cousin Ember

Ben and Chris getting their last play time with Uncle Roy. Evan and Sierra getting last hugs.

Doug and Lex saying by to Aunt Bev and Granny

Doug and Uncle Tim

It was lots of fun. So glad we were able to go this year. This is the first reunion we've been to since our wedding if you want to count our wedding as a mini reunion. The next one is in two years and we are looking forward to it.

Fear of needles

I am an evil woman and a horrible wife. Doug has a physical for scout camp tomorrow and he had me call the doctor to see if he was going to have any blood work done. A friend of his had some blood work done and Doug was hoping he wouldn't. See he is afraid of needles. Hates them and even has a hard time watching me get my blood drawn when I am pregnant. After dinner I told him that I had called the doctor and that he needed to fast because he was going to have some blood work done. He asks why and I say I don't know he just is. Then I wait a bit and say it is worth it. At this time he realizes I was kidding and he attacks. Yes the tickling attack was well worth it. It's not often when I can pull one on him.

Family Visiting

You probably can't tell by the space between the last 5 or so posts, but the weekend of the 18th was a busy one. On the 16th and 17th Doug and I celebrated our anniversary. On the 18th Doug's brother Roy came over and stayed the night, but earlier we went to splashdown to play in the water and I attended a Pampered Chef party (spent too much). Then we got a surprise visit from Mom S after we had all gotten ready for bed. We knew she was coming but thought she was staying with Doug's sister Kaytie in town. Mom S decided to come out to our place and stay cause she heard Roy was going to be here. With Roy we had two other guests his girlfriend Sierra and her brother Ben. Luckily we all managed the shower rotation and made it to church on Sunday the 19th. My sisters and I sang a hymn during sacrament. Poor congregation. Then everyone came over for my birthday celebration which wasn't really until the next day, but since everyone was here we bumped it up a day. Everyone in my family made it except Lilly, but I forgive her since she lives in Mountain Home, Idaho and hasn't bought her private jet yet. I love family get togethers, but glad when it ends too. I love having my house back to myself.

The boys love it when Uncle Roy comes to town

Playing with Roy and Sierra

William, Kaytie and Spencer. Kaytie conveniently moved Spencer to block the camera.

Now I know where Chris gets his quirk to never take a serious picture. His Granny!

Granny (Mom S) with the kids. Never a serious picture.

Another year older

This month marked the 32nd year since my birth. Yes I am now 32 years old, but still very young at heart. Doug planned a party for me and as it happened his mom and brother (Roy) were able to be here with us. It was a fun time with family and the weather cooperated.

Here are some family that were able to be with us. In the background you can see the tent that Roy, Mom S (Doug's mom for future reference) and Roy's girlfriend Sierra slept in.

Alexis eating dinner and wondering what her Aunt Erin was doing

Opening presents

Doug made a chocolate triffle for my cake and also bought an ice cream cake to go with it

Blowing out the candles. There were three on one side and two on the other to make 32. Yes we prevented a forest fire by only using 5 candles instead of the 32 that would usually be used.

Splashdown Fun

Doug's work pays for its employees and their families to go to the local water park: Splashdown. This past weekend was the appointed time and we were ready to go. After a full morning of working mingled with play we got ready and headed out. I think Ben was more than eager to go since he wore his goggles in the car.

Ben was too quick for me to get a picture of him going down the slide. I pushed the button while he was still on the slide, but the picture took when he splashed in the water. He is the one in the water at the bottom of the slide.

Even Evan took a turn on the slide and loved it until he got going and landed in the water. Thankfully Doug was with him.

Lex enjoyed the water too. She is a water baby. Thanks to Aunt Lilly for forgeting Finnley's floater. Lex loved it. I was in the water too and there is a picture, but it will never be posted. Sorry folks.


After a long afternoon in the sun we packed up and headed home. Evan is ready for a rest.

Anniversary Celebration

As mentioned earlier this year was our ten year wedding anniversary. We have never really done anything big to celebrate in the past and decided we wanted to do something this year. I mean ten years is a big thing. We rented a room at the Ramada Inn and got a babysitter. We started the celebration by going to the temple and doing sealings, something we haven't done since we were married. Then it was to the hotel. What a peaceful night of sleep. No child having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. No baby waking up and needing to be put back to sleep. I think I had a glimps of heaven and I liked it. The room was huge for the price. Here we are on the couch in our room.

When we woke we dropped my van off to get the oil changed and all sorts of stuff so we can take a trip soon, Then it was breakfast and what a breakfast it was. We went to a place call the Old European Breakfast House. The food was by far the best breakfast food I've had and the servings were huge compared to the price. This meal fed me and Doug for breakfast and then we took the leftovers home and it fed all 6 of us the next day for breakfast.

Doug is trying to tackle the job of eating breakfast

We then did a little shopping and pricing of things and eventually made it back home. It was great being home for the first few hours. We all loved each other more and the little things didn't bother us. Then reality caught up and while it is still nice to be home I'm ready for another night without the children.

Temple Stop

Every year Doug's work pays for the workers and their families to go to the local water park Splashdown. This past weekend was the appointed time and the weather couldn't have been better. Maybe it was too good. As we drove by on the freeway to the exit we could see huge groups of people waiting for the slides and at the pools. We did a drive by and decided instead to visit the Spokane temple for a bit before going back. Benjamin and Christopher have been to see temples before and they both ask when we are going to visit one again. So this was the day for the visit. Very hot, but a nice peaceful break from the world.

Of course Chris has to do a silly pose

Daddy, Ben, and Evan relaxing at park across from the temple

Lexie and her model pose

Ten Years

With a cute face like this how could I help but fall for my husband? Actually we never met when we were in the cute stage of life, instead we met in the awkward geeky teenage years. With me and my huge plastic glasses and him with teenage acne we were destined to become friends if for no other reason than we would at least have one friend. I know you all remember how horrible the teenage years are with clicks and all in school. I was 13 and he 14 when his mother married a man in my ward and they moved into the area. At this time my dad was the teachers quorum advisor and it came in handy to get to meet this new boy in town. Sadly his mother's marriage did not last, but that was good news for me. With only one car and his mom working hard to raise 6 kids Doug needed lots of rides to church and school actives. Who better to call than his church leader. Thus began our friendship.

It wasn't until I was 16 that I decided I maybe liked him. Okay I admit I had a huge crush on him. Who wouldn't he was so nice to everyone and always the gentleman. I asked him to the Sadies Hawkins dance and he became my first date.
We never really dated back in high school more like friends hanging out, although I admit I would have liked more. I went to college and he went on a mission to Korea. We wrote as often as time would allow and remained friends. Then he came home and we met again. Wow baby what a hottie!


The rest as they say is history. We started dating off and on that April and then became a couple. He proposed on Valentines Day by hiding the ring in a rose and had me play he loves me he loves me not. We were married 5 months later and now it is ten years later. We have added 4 children to our happy home and I still think he is the best looking man out there. Sorry ladies, but I have to disagree if you feel yours is the best looking man. I know I may be biased and all, but it's true still the same.

Livin' the sweet life

Talk about taking advantage of being daddy's little girl. Kickin' back and being fed chocolate truffles! Man all she needs now is a good soap opera on and she'd be living many an woman's dream life.

Evan turns four

Happy birthday Evan! Today is Evan's birthday. I can't believe how time flies. It seems like just yesterday he was waking me up in the middle of the night for something. Oh wait, he did. At least this time was a quick fix of going to the bathroom instead of a midnight feeding. He drives me nuts most of the time but I love him anyway.

We celebrated last Sunday because family was in town. We had a barbecue and of course cake and ice cream. The cake was made to look like him and he chose chocolate chip mint ice cream. Yum!

The dinner

The cake

First present: Dora Saves the Ice Princess for the Wii - everything else pales in comparison

Dora was from Paige

Stripper in the family?

Alexis was done with her costume and the whole parade thing early on. She decided to take actions into her own hands and rid herself of the offending costume.

Disclaimer: This is not disney rated!

Forgiveness?

Tomorrow I teach at church. Ironically the lesson is on forgiveness. At first I thought it ironic because I have had to do a lot of soul searching and forgiving of myself and others this past year, but no that is not the ironic part. The truly ironic part is that I still have so far to go in the forgiveness category. We've been having problems with our neighbor's dogs coming on our land and leaving messes and destroying things. Last night was a new last straw. A dog pooped on our lawn which Doug stepped in (those shoes are now in the garbage thankfully they were already destined for it) and tore up our swimming pool cover. GRRRRRR! Back to the drawing board as they say. I guess I need this lesson as much as or more than others.

More family pictures

The grandkids - Yes it was a struggle to take the picture

Brother Ryan with his family

My family

My sister Lilly and her family



My brother Jason and his family