Hunter's Baptism

We are so excited and proud of Hunter for making the decision of being baptized! He worked hard and prepared for his big day! His baptism was suppose to be the first Saturday of September, but was changed to August 22nd so he could attend the Oquirrah Mountain Temple dedication the next day.
We had a fun Family Home Evening to get ready for the big day! We talked about the importance of baptism and about when Christ was baptized. We even walked through the process...each kid wanted a turn! It was so cute to see all of them so excited!
All our family and two friends families came! Hunter had about 52 people there to support him!

Your family is so proud of you Hunter! Heavenly Father is proud of you!


We are grateful for all those who were able to come and participate in the confirmation of Hunter! There are so many great men in his life that are wonderful examples. (Yes, we really missed you Becca and Joel) He is lucky to have the constant companion of the Holy Ghost!


You are such a good boy Hunter! Continue to follow the example of Jesus Christ. Your Mom and Dad are very proud of your decision to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Your brother and sister love you and are grateful for your kindness, service and friendship. Congrats!

The next day we had the opportunity to attend the Oquirrah Mountain Temple dedication inside the temple! What an amazing opportunity for us and the boys! We arrived nice and early and had about an hour wait in our seats. After the second song Hunter was ready to get home! We still had about six talks and a few songs to go! The messages were inspirational and great for all of us to hear! At the end of the dedication the children in our room were able to line at the railing of the grand staircase and look down at President Monson and President Eyring waving up at them! What an amazing experience for our cute boys! They were excited, humbled and touched by the spirit! We are so grateful to have a temple so close and to stand as a beacon to all of us each day.

August Celebrations

Wow! August is sure a busy month in our house! It all started with the boys starting school again. They decided to drop the gifted and talented program to go to school with their new friends and neighbors!

They are so happy and are loving it! Here is a picture of McKay with Ms. Simi. She is so good for McKay! She is outgoing, fun, dedicated, kind, exciting, funny and energetic.

Hunter enjoys his teacher! Actually, I got to meet her last year on Sydney's preschool fieldtrips. She ran another preschool that we got together with. She is very kind, fun and great for Hunter.

Next was McKay's Birthday! Amazing that my oldest is now 10 years old! He is growing all the time and therefore his stomach is a bottomless pit! I can't keep enough milk or food at the table for him. For his birthday he had been begging for a ripstick and I let him know that he was not getting one...I had already bough one but wanted it to be a suprise. So, we told him we only bought one present and he opened a UofU t-shirt.

He loved it, but I could tell he was a little disappointed...not a single toy! So I finally brought out the "big" present. Check out the excitement on his face!!!

Then it was Jonathan and my anniversary! It was interesting! Our family caught the stomach flu that was going around! It hit all of us except McKay...lucky boy! So, at anniversary time I was still sick and Sydney was throwing up constantly! We didn't want to lose our money from a priceline bid so Jonathan packed up the boys and headed up to Midway for an evening of swimming, watching movies and making memories! Happy Anniversary Babe! I love you!
Finally was Hunter's Birthday! The big 8 years old! He was so excited to start cub scouts! So excited that he did all the requirements to earn his bobcat in 2 hours (while getting over the flu). He had a great birthday! He got his request of root beer floats instead of cake!

What an exciting time! Sure love you all and Happy August!

Oakley with the Brownings

We love spending time in Oakley, Utah! My Dad owns property there and we go four wheeling, camping and do cook outs over the fire! There are great places to go hiking and exploring. We decided to have some of the Browning family join us for a cook out and fun!



As you know...food is good when you cook out over a fire! Sydney loved the Cheetos and we all loved Jasons "invention" of putting the chocolate inside the marshmellow before you cook it over the fire! Little Isabelle even loved being in the great outdoors!

Riding the four wheelers was a huge hit for everyone! We drove through rivers, over bumpy rocks and cruzed over fields! Hannah and I had a great time watching Aunt Marissa drive one for the first time!


Here are some more cute photos from this fun get away!





Well...it was a blast! We need to go to Oakley again...hopefully everyone can make it!!!

Fun in July!

It has been forever since I have posted! There are many events I want to share! First, we spent the 4th of July in Oakley with the Tates. We camped out, went to the Oakley Rodeo and just had fun being together!

Here is a cute picture of Sydney wearing Grandpa's cowboy hat!

We were so lucky at the rodeo that it finally stopped raining! We were lucky enough to set up camp and our tent in the rain! It only made it more fun and exciting!

Hunter spent a great amount of time digging for dinosaur bones! I swear he just about dug his way to China! All the other boys tried to get in on the fun, but it was "Hunter's Hole". I am amazed at how much time a child can spend on something once their mind is into it!!!!

We headed up to Smith and Moor House (sp?) and the kids had a blast throwing rocks in the lake and climbing up the rocks. Kids never get enough of that!


We also had a blast swimming and having a bbq with the Browning Family! We love heading over to "Grandma Carol's" pool and letting all the kids have fun splashing around!


Aren't the Hakanson kids great! I know that Sydney can't get enough girl time with Hannah and Eliza! We actually had Eliza and James stay with us in August for a week. Sydney and Eliza got all dolled up every day and James was their prince!!!

After swimming we headed over to the Hakanson's for a bbq. The kids love going there to play, catch potato bug, rip stick, etc!



We sure love being with both our families! We are lucky to live so close to most of them!

Bear Lake with the Tates

Last week we had the opportunity to spend 4 days in Bear Lake with the Tates! It was amazing! It was nice to escape the heat here in the valley and be in cooler weather. Even the cold water was great...when you got use to it (64-66 degrees). One of the kids favorite activities in Bear Lake is to minature golf each day! McKay even got a hole in one on the last hole and won a free game.

Yes! Hunter was very into the mini-golf!
Another favorite activity was Uncle Chris Ames bottle rockets. The kids all spent hour after hour filling up 2 liter bottles 1/3 full and hooking them up to the pipes. Then they would pump and pump air into them and watch them blast off into the sky! We definatly need one of them at home!

A fun tradition at Bear Lake is to go to Bear Lake Pizza Company! We ordered the biggest pizza they had! We were able to feed everyone there that day with it! After eating all the boys were lined up at the bathroom. I have never seen a line at the boys bathroom like that!!!


My favorite is just being on the boat and doing water sports!


Here are some fun ones of the kids on the boat and doing fun stuff!





Yes! McKay wakeboarded for the first time! Thank you Uncle Steve and Sam for getting him to do it! Hey, if you can snowboard, ripstick and skateboard...why not wakeboard! Another fun thing we do boating with Grandma and Grandpa Tate is doing the molecule! It is three giant balls with a flat surface inbetween! Grandpa makes "s-turns" which create huge waves, then whips you out of the wake into the waves. You definately go flying!!! I flew so high this trip that it looked like I was doing a handstand on the molecule! Uncle Chris discovered how to actually tip the molecule this year! McKay loved doing it!


Mom and Dad, thank you so much for such a fun and memorable trip! We love you so much!