4th OF JULY CELEBRATIONS

As usual we headed up to Park City for the 4th of July weekend and attended the Oakley Rodeo. The Parker's and the Galloway's joined us for the festivities this year. Ryan found us a condo to stay in at the Canyons; however when we arrived the condo has mouse droppings everywhere - I refused to stay there along with a few others. (most of us were going to be sleeping on the floor, so the thought of a mouse running around, was not very appealing; in addition the mouse droppings were in the beds and on the couches) After speaking with the landlord they found us a larger unit to sleep in and everyone ended up having a bed to sleep in. The kids got to stay together in a room full of bunk beds and had a fabulous time. The only downfall was when the kids started jumping on the jot tub cover and broke it. It ended up costing us a couple hundred dollars to replace it. (So much for having a cheap weekend together.)

The rodeo was the best part of the weekend - the kids got so excited to wear their cowboy hats, and the adults even got in on action this year by buying hats on the way up to the condo at Reams.

We spent the days swimming and also riding the Alpine Slide and Coaster at The Park City Mountain Resort. We even celebrated Chip's birthday with ice cream cupcakes.

The Canyons does a concert and firework display on the 3rd; however it was super crowed this year and the kids were going stir crazy, so we all headed back down the mountain before the fireworks even started. They closed the tram, so Dan and I walked down them mountain during the fireworks, and had to stop because they wouldn't let us go all the way down until the firework display was over. We had to sit down and watch the fireworks in the middle of the road.

The following morning, we headed back down the canyon and had a BBQ at our house with everyone, including the Bentley's and the Traux's. All of us then attended the Sandy City Parade, carnival, concert and firework show. While waiting for the fireworks, we danced and played with glow sticks! Everyone was wearing glasses, making jewelry and balls out of glow sticks.

We love spending time with our good friends!

PRINCESS FESTIVAL

This summer Reagan and I ventured over to the Princess Festival with several of our neighbor friends. The Princess Festival was held at Thanksgiving Point in the gardens. The little girls were all so excited to be dressed up as princesses and spend the day together. They listened to many princess stories; in addition to seeing a few stories acted out by the character as the festival. It was a fun filled afternoon with all the girls!

My little girl is growing up... Madi attended Lydia's formal birthday party today and she dressed up in my bridesmaids dress from Becky's wedding. I also did an updo on her hair and she finished up by putting on her make up.

She looked like she was going to prom (I'm not ready for that yet, so I'm glad I still have a couple of years before the dating begins). It blows my mind how mature Madi is becoming. She is quite a young women and someone whom I am very proud of. My friends always comment how grown up she is and how they love having conversations with her. She carries herself very well and I am a proud mommy!

REAGAN DANCE RECITAL

Reagan has been taking dance for the past year to UDA. It is a ballet/tap combo class and she has the cutest teacher, Miss. Laura. She attends dance with one of her best friends Kate Bentley and they have a great time together.

At the end of the year she had a dance recital at Kingsbury Hall - it was quite the production for a 4 year old. During dress rehearsal Reagan made everyone laugh. Her class got up on the stage and the lights were turned off, so the would understand how it would look and feel during the performance. Reagan in her not so quiet voice said "Who turned of the lights?" "Hey, someone turn on the lights!" It was hilarous, next as they were practiceing she kept looking at someone she thought was me and kept waving and shouting "Hi, mom!"

During the actual performance I was a little worried about what she would shout out; however she actually did the dance and was so dang cute!

SPORTS MAGAZINE - BASEBALL FEVER

Jaxson had an outstanding baseball season! He decided he wanted to play on the competitive league this year and had to tryout to make the team. As luck would have it, he made one of the teams; even better, his best friend Jacob made the same team. We had some new coaches this year, so we were really nervous about what this season would bring. Overall it was a good experience for Jaxson, it wasn't the same as past seasons (we really missed our old coaches and teammates from prior years). Jaxson did excel this year and we watched him grow a lot! We played second base, short stop, third base and center field. Coach K consistently said that he loved Jaxson because he could play him anywhere on the field because of his ability to catch the ball. We loved watching him make some great plays this year. He continued to be consistent up to bat as well, whether he hit the ball or was walked (he did get hit a couple times by the pitcher, but nothing like the previous season in the chest) he got on base. In fact during the middle of the season he was bumped up to the first batter in the line up.

He ended the season with a tournament in which he played his old coaches team from Herriman, he was so excited when they won the game. His team ended up in the championship game, unfortunately it came down to the last inning and his team lost. He was still excited when they took home huge trophies!

I know Jaxson and I were both sad to see the season end.

TANNER'S MISSIONARY FAREWELL

We attended Tanner's missionary farewell today and were so impressed with how much he has grown up and the testimony he has developed. What I love most is how much Jaxson admires him. Tanner had a group of friends who all looked out for each other, that they called the Blue Tie Group. They were all friends from school and they same youth group within their ward. At every missionary farewell they all would sit together and wear their ties in support of each other. By the time Tanners farewell came, most of them had left on missions, but there were still three or four of them left. Jaxson hung out with these boys after the farewell and felt so important, as if he was part of the Blue Tie Group!

Tanner spoke about the examples he had in his life and what lead him to serve a mission. He talked about how his friends would always ask him to come to church and finally one day he said he would go. After that his best friend and his father would show up every Sunday at his home to pick him up, whether he was planning on going or not. Sometimes they would get him out of bed, and most days he would make them late; but in the end they never gave up on him. This friend and his family always invited Tanner over for Sunday dinner and he ended up being like one of the family. The example they set for him was priceless.

I am so impressed with Tanner, just like a was with Dan when I first met him because he choose to serve a mission. He didn't decide to serve because he was pressured by family, or chose to serve because he knew he should. He accepted the call because he wanted to serve the Lord and because he had a testimony of his Savior.

I'm so glad my kids has these examples in their lives to look up to. We know the people of Madagascar are going to be blessed to have Elder Tregeagle around to teach them about the gospel and Jesus Christ.

VACATION NEEDED NOW

This has been the longest winter of my life! It is extremely cold and I am in much need of some warmer weather. I started investigating some resorts in the Caribbean came across a really nice resort in Jamaica, so we asked our friends the Parker's if they wanted to join us. After researching things a little more, it became clear that if we went to the Dominican Republic, we could spend quite a bit less, so we started looking at some different resorts. We went back and forth on which resort to book, we even changed our minds after we booked the resort. We were able to fly standby on Jet Blue because Dan's sister Michele was nice enough to let us use a few passes. The great thing was, Jet Blue stops in New York, so we changed our plans a little bit to spend a couple of days there too. (The best of both worlds - sun and Broadway)

This was are first experience going to an all inclusive resort - there were several things we liked about it and others we didn't. My favorite part was having a pina-colada in the pool while sun bathing. (We even added ice cream to them to make them extra special!) There were several restaurants to choose from at the resort - our favorite place was the Seaside Grill, we went there a couple of times and ordered 3 to 4 desserts. (The benefits of All-Inclusive). The grounds on the resort were immaculate; in addition to being right on the beach! We kayaked in the ocean (I beat Dan in the race, he claims it was because his kayak was full of water - but i don't believe him) we also enjoyed the lounge chairs and beds on the beach!

Our favorite day was going on a dune buggy excursion! We drove around the island and went to Macao Beach (one of the prettiest beaches I have even seen) We went to a chocolate plantation, drove around in the mud puddles and then cooled off by jumping into a fresh water cave. The water was cold, but crystal clear! It was absolutely amazing!

The resort also had surprisingly great entertainment at night, the performers ranged from circus acts, to magicians, to singers and dancers. They also had a karaoke night (which of course I participated in - I sang Katy Perry's Hot and Cold. I won't be singing that song again - very difficult!)

The funniest part of the trip was when we thought we had purchased bug spray and in all actuality we were spraying Raid all over our bodies - including our faces. We thought it felt a little weird as it tingled our skin, but the bugs didn't bite! This all happened when we went to the store in the hotel (everything is in Spanish) and we found a bottle of bug spray. Ryan speaks Portuguese, which is similar to Spanish and saw that it said no bugs. Later that week we were back in the store and I saw Off, which wasn't in the store before. I told Ryan I thought that what we bought might be Raid, and he said "No, its not," so we took a bottle up to the cashier and asked her if it was bug spray, she said "NO, NO, this is for your room." Ryan read the bottle a little closer and it said keep away from small children and animals. Dan had nightmares that night thinking we were all going to die from poison. We all had a good laugh about our blond moment!

We had a couple of missionary experiences on the trip (something we hadn't planned on) A preacher came up to us on the beach and tried to persuade us that Joesph Smith was not a prophet. He told us that anyone could write a book and claim it was from God. We agreed, but also made a point to say, how do you know the Bible is true then? Prophets wrote that book and claim it is of God. He told us he could receive revelation just like Joesph Smith and we basically agreed in the fact that we also believe in revelation and that we have a latter day prophet who receives revelation today. We told him that if he thought he could receive revelation, why is is so hard to believe that Joesph Smith could receive revelation too. He couldn't convince us of his beliefs, so he left us alone, but i think we gave him something to think about. The second experience happened when we attended a time share presentation while on the trip. We started talking about how we don't drink and it is for religious purposes and it raised some questions with our tour guide. We talked about the missionaries and he spoke very highly of them. He said they are always so happy and persistent! If you tell them you are busy, they come the next day. He also said how willing to help they were and how they loved the children on the island. He then asked how much they get paid to be missionaries and we explained that they have to pay to be there, and that they choose to go on a mission and serve for 2 years. We also explained how many of them save up to go on a mission and pay for their own expenses. He couldn't believe it! "They pay to come here and to serve the Lord." he replied. I know it resonated with him and I wonder what he will think next time he sees the missionaries, will he be more willing to listen to their message?

We had beautiful weather for the majority of the trip, the last afternoon it rained; however we made the best of it and swam in the pool in the rain and even played volleyball - it was a lot of fun!

When we headed back to the states, we booked a hotel on price line - Dan was so excited because he found a 4 star hotel in Times Square for $120 a night. The hotel was awesome, I would stay there again in a heartbeat (Crown Plaza)! The following night we booked the same room for $159.00 a night. Jaime and Ryan missed their flight, so they stayed the night with us in New York. We all went to see Rock of Ages that evening - it was such a fun and entertaining show - the music was stuff we grew up on as kids and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

The following day we rented bicycles in Central Park and ate lunch at the Boat House (one of my favorite restaurants in NYC) We also took the subway down to ground zero and spent some time on Canal street shopping and eating yummy pastries in Little Italy. Jaime and Ryan took off for their flight, while Dan and I stayed the another night and went to see Avenue Q. It was a very, somewhat crude puppet show, which poked fun at all types of people. Not nearly as good as Rock of Ages, but still a great evening.

On the last day of our trip, we went down to the docks and took a tour of the Intrepid. It was fleet week in NYC, so lots of people were there to celebrate. We learned tons of interesting facts about World War 2.

What a fantastic time we had together! Ryan and Jaime were so fun to travel with; in addition it was fun to get away and spend some time with Dan. This trip did exactly what it was intended to do - put me in a great mood in the midst of a long, cold winter!

NANA'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Nana turned 70 this year, so Kathryn and Michele decided to throw a surprise party for her. Her friends from all stages in her life were invited to attend, in addition to family. We all helped with the food and decor. Bonnie made several flavors of cupcakes, in lieu of a birthday cake. Their were pictures of Kay and her family displayed all over Kathryn's house. Kay's friends gave her 70 cans of coke (her favorite); in addition most guests wrote a letter to Kay and a scrapbook was put together with the letters and pictures of the party.

It was wonderful to see her so happy. It doesn't surprise me that she has so many friends, ones that would take the time to travel and come to the party. She is very thoughtful and it showed by how many people came to give their love and support. i hope one day I can look back after 70 years and hope I have touched the lives of several people as well.

Happy Birthday Kay!

TRYING TO ESCAPE THE COLD...

It has been such a cold and long winter that a few of our closest friends and neighbors decided to venture out to Las Vegas with the kids for an extended weekend getaway!

The weather was much warmer in sunny Las Vegas so we took advantage and went swimming the first afternoon. On the second day we took the kids to the Dolphin Encounter at the Mirage - the wind kicked in and it became pretty chilly, so we didn't spend a lot of time there. The kids thought it was cool to see the tigers and the dolphins, but the adults thought the price was a rip off.

We also visited the Coke store and M&M store, which the kids all loved. We walked over to the Bellagio to watch the fountains and see the beautiful gardens and got some fun pictures!


It was a little crazy going out to eat with a group of 16 (10 kids and 6 adults), but we survived! One morning we went to Serendipity 3 at Caesars Palace, the wait was quite long, so we spent the morning out in the sunshine. While we were waiting Jaxson and Jake decided to be statues like several people do on the strip, trying to earn money. They sat on some small columns and froze with their baseball caps sticking out for money to be placed in them. It was hilarious and they actually made a couple of dollars!



Madi and McKaela were nice enough to watch the kids one evening and we were able to go out as adults for dinner. Dan took us to one of his favorite Mexican restaurants in Vegas. Everyone loved it and the view was incredible!

Rusty wanted Jake to ride the New York roller coaster, so we walked to the arcade - the sad thing was Jaxson and Jake were just barely shorter than the required height to ride (they even made them take their shoes off to measure them), so just the adults ended up riding the roller coaster. The kids did have a good time in the arcade, so all was well!

My favorite part of the trip was a comment Jaxson made about growing up. Unfortunately in Vegas it is hard to avoid pornography. Their are workers on the strip passing out cards of half naked women and most of them get thrown on the ground for all eyes to see. Jaxson is very sensitive to this and avoids the guys in the orange shirts. While driving into a parking lot to the M&M Store, Jaxson spotted the "guys in the orange shirts" and said;

"I'm going to get really good grades in college, so I don't end up here!" I asked him why he didn't want to end up here (When I really know the reason, I just wanted to get his response)

"You know, so I don't end up being one of those guys who hands out those pamphlets."

We all laughed and told him he better get good grades in high school too. I was glad to here that he wanted to avoid having a terrible job when he grew up.

A ROYAL PRINCESS CELEBRATION

I have been looking forward to Reagan's birthday for quite some time. I love that she is so into princesses, it makes a mom's job so fun!

The birthday party preparations started in February, when I contacted Cinderella to come to her party. Because I knew she would be coming, when I visited my brother in California in February, we made a special trip to Downtown Disney, where I purchased a beautiful Cinderella gown that Reagan could wear to the party.

Having Cinderella come to the party was magical for all the little girls, she taught them to talk like a princess, bow like a princess and eat like a princess. They all practiced chewing with their mouths closed and using their please and thank yous. She also taught them that a princess is always kind. She made Reagan an honorary princess and give her a crown. Cinderella also read them stories (which they all had the answers to), they sang songs and guessed which movies they came from and they all made princess crowns.

After Cinderella left, the girls made magic wands, played princess bingo and ate individual princess cupcakes. When Reagan opened her presents, she hugged each friend and was so grateful (it was darling to see her so sweet). All the little girls received a Cinderella bottle cap necklace and a princess cup filled with Cinderella treasures; including a glass slipper, sidewalk chalk, stickers, princess fruit snacks and a princess ring.

Reagan smiled from ear to ear the entire party, she absolutely loves dressing up as a princess and spending time with her friends. We loved having Cinderella at the party too.

Later that night we had a Royal Banquet for the family. We ate plenty of finger foods, including; little sandwiches, meatballs, shrimp, chocolate covered strawberries, a cheese platter, jello in a cup and more!

All of Reagan's presents were somehow princess related, from Polly Pockets, to dress ups, to hair accessories and a sleeping bag. She tried things on, got into her new sleeping bag and played with everything. There wasn't anything she wasn't extremely excited about and so grateful for. The hugging continued as she hugged each member of the family and thanked them for her gift.

Reagan was very excited about her Cinderella Cake (which took me hours to make). After she blew out the candles, she dug right in, put her fingers in the cake and took a big bite before I could even cut the cake.

I can't believe my princess is four already!