Another busy Saturday

Party # 1

We had an afternoon slip 'n slide party with Mike and Tai's family. They drove down from Layton just to see us and do some slipping and sliding in our park.

The girls loved it (Brielle not so much), and we will do this next summer again, for sure.

Thanks Tai for the best dessert...EVER!


Kailie and Kenzie sliding down the plastic, screaming.


Mike, Kailie and Kenzie in full action


Alex, the cool guy sliding down sideways


Mike, Kailie and Kenzie


Tai-"the non-shaven" sitting in the shade with Isaac.

Party # 2

Lordy, Lordy, Look who's Forty....three!

After our afternoon fun water party we headed to our party # 2 celebrating Jana's 43rd birthday. The kids swam and swam and the adults ate and ate and chatted and chatted some more.

Warning at the door. Quinn's handwriting, no doubt.

Have you ever seen a woman (Jana) look so gorgeous at 43!


Hunter and Alex-great friends from birth on. Alex is 3 months older than Hunter.


Lincoln trying on some fun sunglasses.

So stylish, man!

Yummy chocolate rice krispy treats. Hey, Lincoln, whats on your chin and your chest?

Linc, you got something on your chin, well, all over your face, actually.

All the kids jumping into the pool at the same time.

What a fun birthday party. Thanks Jana and Quinn for the invite.

And, NOW, I'm going to bed!

Happy Couple

Chris and Ashley's wedding day.

A beautiful and hot afternoon at Ashley's parents' backyard.
Ashley's colors were red and black.
The bride was stunning and the groom was extremely handsome, but somewhat teary eyed.


"Here comes the bride"...


"With this ring I thee wed"...


"You may kiss the bride"...


"May I introduce you Mr. and Mrs. Chris Davis"...

The wedding dinner following the wedding ceremony

Megan and her nephew Carter


Ashley's parents on the left side and Chris' parents on the right side. Destiny in the front.


Whitney and Craig-happy parents


Chris and Ashley signing their wedding certificate

Alex taking a picture of me.

What happened after we left the wedding...

The Latin Lover, Alejandro danced salsa on the streets of Lindon.
OUCH!!! He IS HOT, Muy Caliente!!

NIFTY, NIFTY-look who's FIFTY

CRAIG IS!!! Happy 50th Birthday, old man-or as McKenna puts it, Old Fart.


Here is the old man, looking so good with hardly any wrinkles. What might be his secret of long life?? My guess is GOLF-as much as possible.


Elle and Whitney, the master minds of the fun party. All the family members wore t-shirts that said Forty is the new Fifty. Really cute!


Elle, Whitney, Ashley (Chris' fiancee) and her daughter, Destiny. Chris and Ashley are getting married tomorrow. Stay tuned for pictures and stories of that beautiful event.


The most beautiful mother-son combo..McKenna and Carter

The party was held at Craig's brother's backyard. It is a gorgeous yard with waterfalls, koi pond and beautiful flowers and plants.

Rod and soon-to-be-married Chris.

And the roast began. McKenna did a great job doing her "10 best things about Craig".

Jorge Luís at the party.

Me, Tanya, Steve and Rod doing our skinny-look imitation. Or it seems like it was just me.

Mari (Jorge's mother) sipping her coke at the party.

Safety-not a goal

I was stopped at the light behind this truck yesterday when I was driving home. It struck me funny that there was a sticker asking how safe this guy was. First of all, the string holding the back door closed? Now, how safe is that, really? It might be safe if he was hauling cotton balls in the truck, but if the load happened to be lose bowling balls, I think the string might snap when the guy pushed on the brakes abruptly. Second of all, when I passed this guy, I noticed that the left side of his truck was all smashed up, like somebody t-boned him. Third of all, he was on his cell phone not noticing anything around him. I wanted so bad to call the 888 number and give my opinion. Obviously, "safety is not his goal", after all.

First Day of 8th grade

Today was Alex's first day of 8th grade. Good luck this year!!! You will do great!


After having a hearty breakfast of "riisipuuro" and watermelon, he had a nice spring in his step when he headed for the school bus.


See ya, mom!

Didn't I say NEVER AGAIN about 10 years ago?-Saturday

We were still at the cabin on Saturday, and decided that we would go hike up to the Timpanogos Cave. I distincly remember swearing about 10 years ago that I would never, EVER, do this hike again. And so, here I was, hiking up to the cave with the Williams family, and us.
Just to let you know, they trick you with the easy part at the beginning, when it is too late to turn back, so you just have to continue the hike. Actually, I found out that it wasn't that bad of a hike. Sure, there were parts where I was panting like a dog, but then it got easier, and I was okay to go on. It was a beautiful day, and the crowd got there once we were hiking back to the parking lot.

Thanks Katie, Steve and Carsen for a great weekend!


Alex and Carsen ready to start hiking at 10:22am.


What a beautiful scenery overlooking the Utah County.


Not even half way up! Still smiling...


Almost to the top, but first...a potty break.

WE MADE IT!!! 1,200 vertical feet of climbing.

Alex and Carsen in the cave.

Almost done in the cave.

Nature at work!

Now hiking down the hill.

Back at the cabin: Rod taking a nice nap outside.

Carsen and Alex preparing a hot dog lunch.

Rod moved inside to nap. I opted for reading instead.

"Steve does Kermit the Frog"-Friday at the cabin

The Williams family invited us to their cabin up American Fork canyon for Friday night. We tried to leave at 4pm, but I still had a cobbler in the oven, and Alex was making Corn Chowder for us to take up to the cabin. We finally packed up the car and drove almost to the cabin when I asked Rod if he put the sleeping bags in the car. Nope, he didn't. So, we had to turn around and go back home. We got to the cabin right after 7pm. Had dinner, went for a walk up the hill, and then played games. Please scroll down, and make sure you watch Steve's charade of Kermit the Frog. It is quite something else.


Carsen and Alex posing in the woods


Katie and Marja walking after a huge meal


Steve and Rod taking a nice evening stroll through the woods

But the question should be asked:"What the heck is Rod wearing?" Could it be that he has become a grandpa-like with his wool cardigan? Actually, he forgot his jacket home, and had to borrow what was available at the cabin. Very stylish, huh?

"Steve does Kermit the Frog" charade.

I saw the crack

Because Rod is such a handy man, we very seldom call any other handymans to rescue us from plumbing or other problems around the house. Just the other day Rod fixed two toilets and now they work like a charm...so no plumber needed. BUT, we finally moved our washer and dryer into the downstairs laundry room so I can re-claim one of my pantries for other use...like food. The washer and dryer have been stacked in this pantry for 9 years or since we moved in. Very convenient place, I might add, but then the washer started leaking and leaked all over the place, so we decided that now was a good time to move them to the actual place where they belong. And so we did, well, not me, because I'm just a weakling, but Rod got our neighbor Rick to help him. The problem was that the move didn't fix the leaking problem. Now it was just easier to spot. Rod spotted the problem, went to the parts store to find the correct part to replace the leaky hose. No part. Had to order it in. It was back-ordered. Oh, forget it! Let's just call an appliance guy to come and fix it.

And today Phil came in to fix the washer, and when he bent over, yep, there was the crack. And he is not even a plumber.

Young Women+ Ice Cream=Farewell party

Ok, this is it. The final final farewell party for Kayla and Nona. We have had a few of the farewell parties already, but this is really it. Last night we gathered all the young women and leaders, and headed to the BYU Creamery for a bit of ice cream. We had so much fun eating and chatting and saying our final good-byes to two of the most beautiful and wonderful young women. We will miss them terribly.

Katie, Yolanda, Rachel, Misty, Jeanne, Katy, Hannah, Chloe, Nona, Makayla, Kate (our newest yw who is moving to the ward in the end of this month, love her already).