Our Upcoming Summer Vacation!

We are planning on taking a cruise this summer as a family. It is a big year for us, Tyler will graduate, Sean will be driving (legally), and Collin is just lucky. We are going to Mexico for 7 days. We are so excited!!!!!!

Two Birthday Parties in One

Collin and Grandma usually share a big party every year and this was no exception. We enjoyed all of our family coming over. This was an incredible cake that my good friend Michelle taught me how to make, it was a hit. We love having our family birthday parties, it gives us a chance to see some of our extended family.

Happy 13th Birthday Collin

Collin is now 13 and has joined the other teenagers in our home. For his Birthday he got the World Tour game for the Wii. They are quite talented in their singing, drumming and guitar playing, or at least they think they are. Here is a small sample of the talent taking place. My brother called and reminded me that I was really old, now that all of the kids are teenagers, I agreed with him.

Tyler and his Mom

I think that this was a special year for Tyler, he is realizing that he could be on his mission next year. We had such a nice day, we always have grandparents over for Christmas breakfast, so much fun. We went to my sister's house for dinner, also a lot of fun. We also had a really fun Christmas eve with Dave's family. We are such a blessed family having so many people to love.

The Wedding Cake

We love Christmas morning. This is one of
our highlights this year. Sean loves wedding
cake, so this year we ordered him his own wedding
cake, we ordered it from where Dave and I had our wedding cake made. As you can see from the
picture it was a big hit. Before opening any of
his presents, he got a fork and knife and cut him a
piece. I think this small gift was probably the highlight of his Christmas, just goes to show that it is not the amount you spend but the thought
behind the gift that is important.

Gardner's Village

We are so blessed to have such good friends. We have been friends with the Johnson Family for about 16 years. For many years we have been going to Gardner's Village to pick out a new Christmas ornament, we then proceed to purchase extremely good fudge that we later eat, we also have made it a tradition to go to Fudruckers for dinner. This year we also added watching Home Alone. We love you Johnsons.

I thought I would tell you about one of our family traditions, for many years, we have been letting the boys pick out a new christmas ornament, we now have many ornaments. Probably for the past 10 years we have gone to Gardner's Village for this event with our good friends the Johnsons. The boys choose their ornament after much consideration. As I look at the tree I have such fond memories of their childhood, I can look at the ornament and immediately be able to know who picked it out. When the boys get married they will take their ornaments with them and hopefully be able to remember good times and share these memories with those people they care about. The older we get the more special these memories are. I love Christmas, everything about it.