Macie's actual Birthday... party is later

This year we couldn't do her party on the same day, so we had a small celebration and small cake with her.  

We love you Macie!  You are such a delight in our family!  You make us laugh all the time!  My favorite thing you say is "That is De-scusding!"  I hope you have a great year being 4!

1st day of Preschool

This year Cohen and Macie get to go together.  They are so excited!  It is Cohen's 2nd year and Macie's 1st year.  They get to go to a little preschool down the street that my friend teaches.  They LOVE Mrs. Kasa and her whole family for that matter!  

The kids with Mrs. Kasa

1st day of School

So excited!!! Jordan's starting 1st Grade... So is Brinley but she wouldn't let me take an individual of her... It was kind of a rough morning with her.

 Mackenzie is starting 4th and Micailey is starting 6th

 The Elementary Kids!

I forgot to take a pic of Dallas before Jr High... It's way to early in the morning!  So we snapped one after school.  He is now in the 8th grade :o)

Back to School Dinner

The table is going to look like last years... We had to throw this together really fast after the Temple Open House.  Luckily I had kept everything!  Our menu changed up a bit though.  This year we went with a school lunch cafeteria theme.  With little time, we ordered pizza, and had Jello cups, grapes, and bottled water.  At their school they are allowed to have a bottle of water on their desk during class, so each got one labeled with their name.  It's a fun dinner for the kids and brings a little excitement to the starting of school.

I love to see the Temple!

Rich's family got tickets to the Brigham City Temple Open House.   We had to rearrange quite a few things to be able to make it, but I'm so glad we did!  The Temple is so beautiful and peaceful!  I'm so glad we have these opportunities to take our kids and let them see inside and experience the feelings of the spirit that is in the Temple.

Brinley got her ears pierced

Brinley finally decided to get her ears pierced and was so excited.  It was just me and her and we hadn't planned on it, but we were at the mall for a little one on one time and decided to do it!  I pinched her ear with my finger nail hard enough to make it sting a little and told her that was kind of what it feels like. She decided she could do that so we checked out a few places till she found the earrings she wanted.

 Marking her ear

 Getting ready for the 1st pierce... still smiling :o)

Not so happy any more!  Apparently I hadn't pinched hard enough!  This always breaks my heart!  I had a hard time holding tears back as I watched her cry!  But the tears were short lived and all is well!  She still refuses to change out her studs though and it is now late November!  Someday she might!

Rich's Birthday and Connie & Dell's Anniversary

Rich was born on his parents 2nd anniversary.  Every year we go to dinner or something with them.  This year was their 40th anniversary so they had a big family party to celebrate.  

 Each family brought a few things that describe their family.  It was fun to see them :o)

 Connie brought tons of family photos from over the years.  She also "kidnapped" Dallas for a few days before and they put together a ton of videos of pictures set to music.  Dallas had fun but it was a long process!  They did a good job!   Each family had their own plus a couple of younger years and stuff.  It was fun to see everyones pics and take a walk down memory lane!

 After the party, a few family members came back and we had cake and ice cream for Rich's birthday.

Happy Birthday Rich!  We love you tons!!!  Thanks for all you do!

24th of July

Starting the day off at the Fiesta Days Parade :o)

 Cousin Cooper, Cohen, Cousin Cort, and Jordan

 Cute little Cash!

 My 4 4th of July beauties :o)

 And 2 of my handsome men!

 Waiting for the parade to start...

 Brinley and her Grandpa Dell

 High 5ing the police officers

 Macie, Dallas, and Rylan below

 They each got to pick a ride or two... We don't spend that much money on carnival rides because we go to Disneyland at least once a year and I'm not paying for cheesy carnival rides when they get Disney!

 I love watching people on this ride!  You can't help but smile and laugh!!!

 After their ride :o)

 Kenzie didn't know what ride she wanted... so Brin talked her into this one.  Kenzie felt a little silly after getting on and almost not fitting... but the ticket was already paid and she was stuck!

 The little kids ride

Watching Macie and Rylan

 I have to post this pic because this is my bro in law, Bret and his little boy Cort.  They had a never ending ride on the Ferris Wheel!  They had their turn and were supposed to be the last ones off and I guess the operator lost track of where they started and stopped, because they never got them off and they got a second ride.  Then, if I remember right, there was a shift change of operators during that ride and that guy didn't get them off either!  They got 3 rides in all!  They were definitely ready to be done by the time they got off! :o)  I'd say they definitely got their money's worth! 

 I'm no good at taking firework pic's but here are two from that night. ;o)

I hope everyone had a fun and safe 24th!!!

Day 7: Kirtland, Ohio - Our last touring day!

This was an amazing day too.  We purposely went to the Kirtland Temple 1st because it is owned and operated by the RLDS church and we wanted the kids to see and feel the difference in the atmosphere as we toured.  They could totally tell the difference!  The tour guides at the Temple treated it like a business tour and that is just what it felt like.  There was no spirit, no peace, no warm fuzzy when you entered... other than we know what happened there and the importance of this Temple.  They leave out a ton of details on the tour and blow through some of the most important things that happened inside!  But it was amazing and beautiful inside!

This is in front of, and below are pictures of the Newel K. Whitney Store.  Joseph and Emma lived upstairs here for a while.

This room is where they held The School of the Prophets

This is the room where Joseph and Emma's twins were born, and if we remember right, where at least one of them died.  Keeping all the details of this trip straight is quite tricky! :o)  We didn't have much time so they didn't give us the "whole" tour with all the details, they just walked us through really quickly because we only had about 20 minutes till we had to be on the road. 

This is my favorite room!  This is a room upstairs at the Johnson Farm.  This is where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery sat as they had there vision of D&C 76 about the degrees of glory.  We were sitting where several others sat and witnessed their vision.

Standing on the same step as Joseph stood to give his sermons to the saints.  You can kind of see it in the photo below.  All the saints would come and sit and listen to Joseph preach.

Further back so you can see the house.

What an Amazing trip!  We loved every minute of it (except the back seat fighting :o)...) But I hope the kids learned a lot and will remember it forever!  They truly had some great experiences that not every one gets!  And most of all, I hope that they remember the feelings that they had at the church sites and in the future when they learn about them, they remember the spirit that they felt and know that these things really happened and are true!  A huge THANK YOU to Dell and Connie for coming with us and taking us all over!  We couldn't have done it with out you!