Cali is 2!!!

Wow! Our "baby" is TWO!!! I can't even believe it! Amazing how quickly the time goes. Especially with such a sweet, yet spunky, cutie like Cali around. We love her so much and are so happy she is a part of our family.


For her birthday, the kids and I spent the day together. We all agreed it would be fun to go to the nursery and pick out a couple of flowers to plant in honor of Cali and her birthday. So, Wesley picked out an orange Gerber daisy, Aubrey picked out a pink geranium, and Cali picked out some cute little White ground flowers (forgot what they are called...maybe snow flowers or something????). Anyway, we came home and planted them together in a pot and they are now sitting beautifully on the front porch for all to enjoy:-) After that, we went to a place called Bouncin' Bears. The kids had a blast playing on all of the inflatable jungle gyms. And then we went to Chili's and the kids had corn dogs and chips and salsa. We didn't make a cake. We got Cali her favorite thing....donut holes! So, for desert we went home to enjoy her special birthday treat of donuts and donut holes.

Wesley wrapped up several of Cali's old toys in blankets and made her a card. It was so thoughtful and sweet. The kids have so many toys, that I counted our fun day as her gift from us. Daddy brought her home a big Butterfly mylar balloon, and had Aubrey and Wesley give her this wooden pizza set to add to the play food collection.

Cali and her donuts. We had a practice run at blowing out the candles at breakfast. We put candles in her blueberry pancakes and had her blow them out, so come donut time, she was ready!!

Aubrey and her friend posing with the birthday girl:-)

This was not on Cali's birthday, but it made me smile. One day Aubrey asked if she could have a picnic out side with Cali. I said sure, and assumed I would go out to find them on a blanket under the trampoline, where they usually go for picnics. But this day, I found them in "the turtle" on top of the trampoline, enjoying their snacks and having a great time! It had to have been put there the night before by Wesley and the neighbor boys. So, the girls took advantage of it and pretended they were in a boat. So fun.

Family Is Everything

My heart is full and I am feeling very humbled and grateful for Eternal Families. I want to be pure and worthy of this blessing. I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ, for His forgiveness, His love and mercy, that make it possible for me to be worthy to return to Him and to be with my family FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!

St. George, Garden, and Soccer

I was fortunate enough to be able to be in St. George over the weekend to be with my sister and her family as they went to the temple to be sealed as an Eternal Family. I was so grateful I was able to be with them. It was a very special experience. The peace of the spirit was very strong in the sealing room. My heart is so full of joy for my sister and the choices she and her husband and kids are making to follow Jesus Christ.
Brady kept the two oldest kids home and I took Cali with me. We had a nice trip and got to see a lot of our family.

Azelin looked beautiful in her white dress. And Ethan was very handsome. But he didn't hold still long enough for me to get a pic of him:-)


Here is Cass with Grampa. He was able to perform the sealing for them. That is always special. I didn't get a pic of all of them together, but I am sure Cass did.

All the girls. We all got to go out for a fun dinner for Granny Ann's birthday. It was fun.

We are attempting a garden this year and I am praying all of our hard work will pay off. I dug out all of the grass in this section and then Brady helped me till it up and work in the new soil. We added about 760 lbs of new soil!!! So, I am hoping the soil is a good mix now. I bought an organic fertilizer and am I am going to try to do a garden here in Houston with no pesticides. I figure we have a bonus because we have no trees or shrubs in the back yard to attract little pests. Also, our neighborhood is new. So, I read on line that there are certain types of flowers and herbs you can plant with your veggies that will attract the good bugs and detract the bad ones from eating your veggies. So, I am going to give that a try and have Marigolds, Cosmos, Nasturtium, and Borage to plant in my vegetable garden.

My dad pointed out to me that our garden is shaped like Utah. LOL Did not do that on purpose. Maybe it will bring us luck somehow????

Wesley is really enjoying soccer. He has fun, and that is what matters. It has been fun to support him in this and watch him learn to play.

He is happy as long as his team is winning. At this point, it doesn't matter to him if he scores or not, so long as "The Destroyers" win