THREE POSTS IN ONE DAY!!!!

Well, Laur had her baby on 19th, and we all didn't want to wait until our powell trip to see him(Crew Charles Reber), so Michelle and Cam headed down Friday, and Maryann and I went down Sunday morning. It was a quick trip, but so worth it! Maryann and Jayni drove down with me , Brigham, Payton, and Marcus. I left Lydia home with John. I loved the drive to Flagstaff, it was beautiful, and while we were driving, I told Maryann to take a picture of the beautiful mountains, and this is the picture she took, you can tell in the picture that she thought she was being so funny!!! Ok, Mares, you are a beautiful creation!
We got to Flagstaff, and were able to eat dinner with Cam and Michelle, and then say goodbye to them, it was perfect though, because we just have way too many KIDS!

Maryann did Laur's hair while we were there, I helped a little:)

We wanted to get a picture of the three of us, so we had Marcus take it, it was very challenging getting a decent one. Jayni thought she'd help.

Good job Marcus pretty decent picture, dang if only we thought of getting one when Michelle was there.

The weather in Flagstaff is beautiful, it was so nice to get a little rainstorm in the afternoon. Marcus was in heaven because he is so active, and there was always so much to do! The kids played in the rain until there was thunder that sounded like a gun shot!

Maryann and I went on a bike ride that Laur and Travis went on all the time before Laur got pregnant. No wonder she got so skinny, it was a KILLER, but very beautiful, and we both forgot our cameras. This is a picture of Brig in the baby seat, I asked Payton to watch him while I ran and got my camera, and this is what I found when I got back.

Lar, Mares, and Michelle chillin', and Sadie in her cute sunglasses!

So, now everyone in my family has one girl, and Every one of those girls are so dog gone cute! This is Sadie(Laur's girl), and Jayni(Maryann's girl).

Payton was so excited Saturday night to see Caden, he came in to my room Sunday morning at 3;00 AM, and told me he couldn't sleep. He was a little under the weather all weekend, but loved every second of being in Flagstaff. Marcus had this smile on all weekend!

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

I did not expect, especially after bombing John's birthday, to have the BEST birthday ever. John asked me in the morning what I wanted to do, and I've always loved hiking and as a guide at the spa, I always think when I'm guiding a hike, that I would love to go hiking with John, so that's what we did. John's not a big hiker, but he didn't even ask why I would choose to hike especially on a hot summer day in St. George. We started later than we probably should have on a summer morning(9:00). John loaded our bikes in his truck, and we rode 2 miles up a dirt road, that I did not want to walk.We parked our bikes, and walked in the sand until we got to the bottom of the mountain on the right.
Oh the dreaded sand, I can't tell you how many times I have heard guests complain about this sand, it was so nice to walk in it, and not have to hear someone behind me asking 'how much longer in the sand?', and 'Do we have to walk back in it?' I actually like the sand, it's a GREAT workout, and yes, we always have to walk back in the sand.

It was an AMAZING hike, I enjoyed it so much, and it was so nice to hike it with my husband. There is something about being on top of a mountain, and looking down, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the mountains, they are truly one of god's greatest creations! I can't ever go hiking without doing a yoga pose on top of the mountain, I know I'm a nerd!

Ok, maybe I'm not the only nerd!

Two of my favorites: My husband, and the peacefulness of the mountains!

Ok, this is why I can't lead this hike, there is one spot where the only way across is to jump this LITTLE crack! If you look further back on the left, you can see where you have to jump across. It is not a big jump, but the problem is, it is not flat on the other side, it's just a mountain, and a little ledge to jump to. I freak out, and every time we get to that spot I have to have someone help me over. I have jumped it once, my first time actually, but I haven't since, and I really wanted to on my birthday, but some things just don't need to be proven.:)

This day was so perfect, the gifts I got were so fun, I love that Maryann gets me a purse every year,and I got a yummy German Chocolate muffin from my friend Andrea, I love the running shoes Michelle got for me, and the sunglasses from my mom and dad, thanks Laur for the visa card (which by the way Laur, I bought the cutest shoes with , thanks), Laurie gave me some cute earrings. Laurie has always been so good at getting something in the mail for each and everyone of my birthdays. I always look forward to Doug and Kristine's(John's sister) phone call every birthday, they have never Missed a year!!! John's mom always gives a gift that I hate spending money on, this year it was temple garments.

I did not expect going to 25 main to eat and have cupcakes would be as fun and successful as it was with NINE kids! It was wonderful though, and I love their cupcakes! I love this picture, all the kids are focused on singing to me, but Brigham is eyeing the cupcakes!

Thank you everyone for making my birthday such a great and wonderful day!

After LOTS and LOTS of practice, it's finally here!

John went two years without coaching football, and now he's BACK! He is the head coach for the freshman Snow Canyon football team. They had their first game on Saturday in Las Vegas. They played the catholic Bishop Gorman football team. This school is very wealthy, their football stadium was incredible! Our team lost, but did very well, John is an excellent coach, and I really enjoyed watching him with a younger team, he will do an excellent job of getting them ready for varsity.John giving the kids some encouragement after losing the game.

In the bottom right corner, John is encouraging a player, he has a talent at making anyone feel special.

This is Payton's football team, he is playing tackle football this year, and is so excited, he is the second to last on the right in the front row.

hard days....

There is so much so much to update on, our trip to Flagstaff, my birthday, the cutest hip hop recital, but I find myself ....after a hard, frustrating, and overwhelming day of being a mom of four, and knowing that I am not cut out like I thought I would be.... finding strength from others. I have a sweet friend Andrea that has a beautiful boy that passed away 6 months ago, he was the same age as Brigham, I check out her blog often, she has beautiful music, and wonderful and uplifting quotes, and her blog always gives me strength, and today, I happened to notice one of her links that said Love the life you live
of course I clicked on it, because I was curious, and she had a beautiful post that was titled, 'Learning to submit'. That is what I needed today. I will catch up, but today, I needed this, I want to share it with my family and friends, so click on the colored words, because sometimes we tend to be so caught up in the way we think our life should be, and well, we do not know what we need, and we can't even begin to think we know what we need. I thank my father in heaven for all of my wonderful blessings, and especially for the opportunity I have to reach the potential that he knows I can reach. LOVE YOU ALL!!!

THEY HAVE A FOREST!!!

As I was walking Payton and Marcus to the bus stop, they told me that they had four cousins who were RICH. I asked who, and they replied, "Bronson, Jake, Bryson, and Caden" . I asked why they were rich, and they said, "Bronson is because they have that big house, and swimming pool."(he is my cousin Micheline's boy, and they just built a beautiful home to fit their 8 kids, and they have a pool.) "Jake because he has a swimming pool." (Jake is actually Bryson's cousin, but we see them a lot, and they live in an area that has a pool for the homes in that area, but we are usually the only one's at the pool, so they think it is Jake's pool.) "Bryson because he has a splash pad, a putting green, and a trampoline!"(Bryson is my sister Michelle's boy, and they just put in the ideal back yard for a st. George family with young kids.) and of course "Caden because...... he has a forest!!!"(Caden is my sister Lauralee's boy, they live in flagstaff Arizona, and right behind their house there is a forest where their kids have built a fort, and they ride their bikes on the trail through it. Payton and Marcus think it is Caden's forest.)

I'm really ticked!

This is a picture of Brielle holding a sign for her mom and dad last year for the St. George marathon. I ran the Salt Lake marathon in '97, wow, 11 years ago, and have not had the desire to do another, I felt like I got a good time, (3hrs 57 min) I made it under my goal of 4 hours, (barely) and just was fine with running one. I ALMOST signed up for the marathon this year, but missed it because I kept deciding and then it was too late. Now I'm ticked because two Saturday's ago, a girl in my ward asked Sara(another girl from my ward) and I to run 17 miles with her to train. I was totally excited, I just wanted to know if I could do it. I did it, and I have been running with her since. We ran 9 miles last Saturday, and I plan to run her 19 and 20 mile runs too, so I've got to figure out a way to run the marathon!!!! I'm so mad, because I really want to do it this year, so I've heard people running with other people's numbers, you're not supposed to transfer numbers, but I think if you just run as that person's name it is ok, so if anyone is not running, I'd love to run for you, I promise I'll try to run fast so you can have a good time on your name.:) Anyway, this picture is actually on the St. George marathon website, I just had Brigham two days before, and I didn't get to go, but at the last minute made signs for Brielle and Bryson to hold up, and sent them with my mom and John, and they didn't even take a picture of them holding the signs, so I thought it was so cool when someone took this and put it on the website!!!

IT'S YOUR.....

Boy do we love you!!!! Integrity, one of your best qualities.
Really do LOVE you!!!


Talented in everything you do.

How we love to just spend time with you!

Dang good lookin!!!!

Awesome DAD!!!!

You are #1 in our hearts, (next to mom of course!)

Happy Birthday

Bon voyage Summer......

It is over!!!! I thought summer would be relaxing, and it was anything but that, we were so busy, and with four kids home all the time I was soooo ready for school to start today. We didn't even go on a vacation this summer, but it still felt busy, and we were always doing something. Brigham is so ready to get some more attention.

Last week we went to jumpin' jacks with some friends, it was really fun, and nice and cool inside.

They had music playing, and so a bunch of girls danced and Lydia tried to join in.

Saturday we went bowling, a request from Marcus. Marcus was sure he'd be good, cause he played it on the wii.



Lydia loved it, and always ran back so excited , not even looking at how many pins she knocked down.Kaitlynn left yesterday, she was so excited to go home, I guess living with a family with four kids under 8 wasn't as relaxing for her as she thought. She said the excercise was harder than she expected, but she was really glad she did it. She excercised 5 to 6 times a week, and helped out babysitting when I needed her. Lydia is excited to get her room back, now if only we can get her to sleep in her room. I'm sure Kaitlynn was so excited to get home to her own room also.

This was actually Kaitlynn's first time bowling EVER! Great form Kait!:)

Kaitlynn's FIRST DATE

Kim this is for you and Ryan. Their first daughter Kaitylnn went on her first date!!! Her date is a boy named KC from my ward. His mom is my visiting teaching partner, and I absolutely love her. He comes from an amazing family!

I did her hair this morning, and then we went shopping for the perfect outfit.

Her hair turned out cute,

and she found the perfect outfit!! Have fun Kaitlynn, I'm sure she'll put more on her blog.

Did Everyone get their copy of 'Breaking Dawn'?

This is Kaitylnn, she was SOOO excited to get her copy of 'Breaking Dawn'. We drove down first to Barnes and Noble at 10:30 PM, and wanted to see what the party was like. Both of us had gotten up at 6:00 to go on a bike ride, so we weren't real enthusiastic about joining all the partying, but there were plenty of people that were dressed up, and many had shirts that said, 'Team Edward", "Team Jacob" ect. We decided to go over to Walmart and get the book cheaper. The line was sooooo long, but it went pretty smoothly.

The check out lines were so long, there were a couple of people that came in just to get a few things they needed, they weren't real happy.

I was trying to be sad because I didn't get a copy. I actually ordered a copy off of Amazon.com, cause I got free shipping, and I also ordered "The Host" which I have not read yet, but I have to say, after seeing everyone walk out with two or three copies, I kind of felt left out not walking out of the store with a copy. We finally got checked out and left Walmart at about 1:00 AM. I have not done that forever!!! I was so grateful that John and the kids let me sleep in until 10:00!!!!! I bought a Diet DrPepper when we headed out that night, because I was already so tired, but I don't think the caffeine kicked in until I was trying to go to sleep. It was about 2:30 before I fell asleep.

Well, this week we had a couple that was doing the program at the spa who stayed in our basement. They wanted to bring their baby, so we watched him while they were at the spa. He is one month younger than Brigham, bigger than Brigham, and you can tell from this picture has lots more teeth than Brigham. He was a good baby, and slept a lot. Kaitylnn took care of him, I am so glad I had help, I'm not sure how mothers of twins do it!!!

Lydia loves being the mom, she played great with Jackson.

Brigham didn't really like this new baby that was taking up his space.