CAKE

I have been watching a lot of those cake shows on TV and decided I could do that. Well.... maybe not, but I am trying. They may not be all that pretty, but they sure taste good. Except the fondant. That stuff should be outlawed. It's like chewing on wax with no flavor. I only work with buttercream now, but if one of the kids wants fondant, I will probably do it. Just peel the fondant off before we eat it. LOL. They are on here backwards, and I am too lazy to fix it, but I made the pink fondant one 1st for Kelli's baby shower. The middle one, just for fun and the purple one for Esther's baby shower. Almond pound cake should be a sin. It is WONDERFUL!

We Remember

I know we will never forget, but looking at the blog of a friend, I felt that I needed to post something. To say thank you to those who procured our freedom from the beginning until now. Despite your political views, our troops are away from their families, doing what they were trained to do to save our freedom... SUPPORT THEM!

San Diego

Tom and I were finally able to get away for our 12th anniversary the weekend of June 13th. (Thank you so much Toni for watching the girls... we sure love you.) Early Saturday morning Tom went deep sea fishing with guys from work. (It's always something he has wanted to do.) That evening we went to dinner with the same guys and Ariel :) A cute litte Mexican resturant where we were seranaded by a trio of men. Did not understand a word, but it was beautiful. The next morning we went to the San Diego Zoo... it was nice without the kids, but maybe next time we'll take them along.... maybe? I took a lot of pictures to share with the girls, so I thought maybe you and or your kids would like to see the animals. Enjoy:

Endoscopy

Emily endured and endoscopy this summer. She did AWESOME! She cried a little while they were talking about the IV, but did not shed a tear or flinch when they actually put it in! UMC Hospital outpatient surgery is excellent with children. They let her keep "Mr. Fuzzy", her bunny and her "Big Bear". She was able to take them to surgery with her. They gave Emily a bunny "handmade" pillowcase and a really cool "doll" backpack. All the results were what we expected. Nothing major going on, other than reflux. Phew! Here are some pics of my trooper:

Emily's Baptism

Emily was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on July 4, 2009. It was a beautiful event that we shared with our daughter. Thank you to all who were able to attend, I know it was difficult with the holiday, but it meant a lot. Also, thanks to all those who were there in their hearts and through prayer. Emily was baptized and confirmed by her Daddy. We then retired to our home with a few family and friends to help bring in another Independence Day.

Happy Birthday

Emily and Kevyn celebrated their birthday's last weekend. No you did not miss them, we celebrated early, so that school was not out yet, and Emily's friends would still be in town. It was so much fun. We had the "family, family friend" party for both girls on Friday at our house and Emily's friend party at the Fair Grounds on Saturday. It was a little windy both days but all the kids seemed to have fun. Thank you to everyone who came and partied with us. We enjoyed your company. Keep in touch over the summer. Happy birthday to my girls. Emily will be 8, wow already and Kevyn will be 3, it is amazing how fast the time goes by. Remember the dishes can wait, take time to enjoy your kids.

A few more flower arrangements I made recently...

Pictures

Last month I took Emily to a house here in the Valley and took pictures of her in her baptism dress for her invitations. Her baptism will take place in July 4th. Well, at least it will be easy to remember. LOL. If I feel ambitious anytime soon, I will post more pictures, but here is her invite:

Elder Neal A Maxwell

In looking for a talk to post to the Ward blog; I discovered this one and it just rang true in so many ways. With the Ward blog I hear people tell me what a good job I have done, yet no one is really looking at it, because they keep telling me that they want to add this or that, when it is already on there, the same with the program that I print every week. I had a sweet sister ask me for the Ward blog address, she turned the program over to write it on there, and I opened the program up and showed her that it was printed in pt 15 font and BOLD! oh well. This talk just fit...

Getting Over Feeling Underappreciated

Nightmare

This past week was a complete nightmare for me. While it was a beautiful celebration of mothers and a rite of passage for High School students. I did not enjoy prom or Mother's Day this year. O.K....that's not fair to my family. I did enjoy Sunday... the "actual" Mother's Day, just not the week leading up to it. I work at a flower shop and I make corsages. This year I was the only one to make corsages, with a few exceptions. It made for a very long 3 days. I am soooooo glad it's over. But I did get a few shots of some of them. Enjoy the show:

Happy Mom's Day

I am going to be very busy this week, but I would like to take time now to wish my mother a very happy Mother's Day. She is a very important part of my life and that of my family's. Thank you mom for all that you have done and I know will continue to do. We love you and have a great Mother's Day.

Tom, Jenna & the Girls

Also, my mother-in-law does not like to have her picture posted on the internet, and I respect that, but I would like to also send a shout out to her and let her know that we are also thinking of her and want to thank her for all she has done for us and our girls. Thank you Trish, have a great Mother's Day. We love you and are thinking about you. Tom, Jenna & the Girls.

May Day Dance

May 1st was the May Day dance at school. Emily looked adorable. They did the "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" from Lilo and Stitch the Movie. They were all so cute. I did her hair in a very loose plaited braid. The wind was horrible, until right after her dance, then it turned out to be a beautiful evening. Isn't she just adorable?

I used a xyron maching to turn paper flowers into stickers to put little flowers into her hair. Pretty but, ouch! :)

Gracie looses MORE teeth!

Grace had the same issue as Emily did. Her teeth started growing in behind eachother. So...we called the dentist and made the appointment. Grace and the "bed" were able to get one of her teeth out, but she had to have 3 more pulled. Here she is with "banana" her teddy bear getting ready to leave.

She has a split in her lip. Poor kid.

My little elephant nose. Once I finally convinced her to close her lips and breath the "happy gas" she relaxed a little. But only a little. It wasn't until the dentist told her that he would have to send her to a different doctor if he cound't do it in his office that she quit kicking her feet. I kept telling her that she was going to hurt her and the doctor if she didn't hold still, that seemed to do the trick and they got the job done. She was very brave and did a great job!

Her "Anjelina Jolie" lips after the novacain shots!Poor Lou Lou




All Smiles and No Teeth Today!

But still beautiful as ever!

Leaving Arkansas

The night before we left I realized that I only had one diaper left. Oops! So off to WalMart we went. While we were there a thunderstorm struck with vengence. We were stuck there for about an hour. It was raining so hard that visibility was nil and the parking lot was a lake. These pictures were taken with the window DOWN! Hard to believe, huh?The morning we left Kevyn finally sat on Great Grandpa's lap to give him a goodbye hug. Ahh.

Goodbye Great Grandma Grandpa's painting of aspen trees

We thought you ought to meet the "family":

Meet: Stevie

Meet: PupperMeet: HeidiMeet: SammyMeet: CalvinThe cats, Squeaker and Bobby went into hiding the day we arrived and we haven't seen them since. Hopefully they return now that their home is "quiet" again.

As most of ya'll know, I turned 31 on Friday. This is my birthday cake that Jennifer bought me. Thanks Jenn, it was great!

The following pictures were taken somewhere between Ft. Smith, Arkansas and Springfield, Missouri. Enjoy the green :D

On our flight home we were in almost the last row on the plane... row 34. Right next to the ENGINE! LOUD! LOUD! LOUD! Kevyn was asleep about 10 second into take off and slept for almost two hours. It must have been the constant roaring or the exhaust that helped her sleep. LOL. We would have had pictures of outside for you, but all we could see was a big blue engine. So here is Kevyn watching Beauty and the Beast!
And So we sign off from Arkansas!

Goodbye, Ya'll!