Manti Trip

After three years of dating, through the mission, and knowing each other almost their whole lives, Jason and McKell were married in the Manti Temple. It was really a beautiful ceremony performed by McKells grandfather. Jason is our family friend, he and Nick have been best friends since 3rd grade when we moved to Orem. Jason was called to the same mission as Nick, that was truely amazing. The day was as beautiful as McKell. We are so happy for them as they start their new lives together, they are so cute and so happy.

Nick and Heather taking in another Kodak moment.

I had to have a picture of this weird moth that was on the side of the temple because my purse matches it.
Travis and I rode the Harleys down and spent the night before the wedding so we could enjoy a little time for ourselves. On the way home we took the long road, the Nebo Loop and a bunch of other weird places we went through. The mountains were so beautiful, I really love them and appreciate them so much more after moving back to Utah. I remeber the first week we were back here last year, we went with Phill and Janet for a week just riding and I was crying riding through this beautiful canyon somewhere in Utah just so happy to be back here with these beautiful mountains.
This is the only picture I have of me on my Harley! I know, but I'm always the one taking the pictues so I had to plan it all out.

5 Schools For 5 Kids

We have been offically in school for almost two weeks now, except Nick will start on Tuesday. With 5 different school schedules, I am grateful that the boys can drive themselves and that my neighborhood is also in need of carpooling. It's a little crazy trying to figure out when they all have to be where they are suppossed to but it will all work out fine in the end. So far they are happy and all is well. I was a little worried for them, Isaac is the going all by himself without any siblings at school with him, a first and he has his first male teacher, another first. Sab is in Jr. High, she was scared the first day but when I picked her up she said, "It was the best day of my life!" It's fun to have a kid excited for school and the of course the social life there. McKayla is warming up to High School life, not too much but I can tell she's happier this year and a little more comfortable. She's going to early morning seminary and she has a drafting class that there are only 3 girls out of 36 kids. Her schedule will be a good start in High School, especially that driver's ed. part next semester. C.C. went to the same school as McKayla for 2 periods the first day then he transferred himself back to the school he'd been going to in Orem. He is much happier and I'm glad he will graduate with the people he's been with for 3 years now. Nick is pulling the BYU thing together slowly, he had a hard time getting with a counselor to figure it all out but it is all good now. He will have an adjustment with school, a job, and a calling. Should be a fun learning experience for him. As for me, my house is alot cleaner and I get alot more one on one time with Travis being home so much now. He takes alot of breaks. :) Isaac's Elementary School

Sabrina's Jr. High School

McKayla's High School

C.C.'s High School

Nick's School

Happy Birthday C.C.

C.C. turned 18, technically last night at 12:19am. He is the only one of the kids born at night. He happened to come home from work and then went to his friends house so we had the perfect opportunity to do some decorating. Sab was my partner in crime so we did it up nice. Over 50 balloons and a roll of toilet paper, just for him. I think C.C. was the one who started the TPing for birthdays and now it gets requested by some on their birthday.

We even got his computer and mouse.
Everything!
We went to Chili's for a dessert and gave him an IPOD classic. I think he was happy about it. We are all very blessed to have C.C. in our family, he adds many things. 18 years of seeing him change and grow teaches you alot about being a parent.

Deer Creek

My neighbor had been asking us all summer if we wanted to go with them on the boat so we finally went for it on saturday. It was just Isaac, Sabrina, and I but it was sooooooo fun. We swam and the kids went tubing, they were on creaper mode but they had fun doing something that they had never done before. They have 4 girls so it was exciting to see them all swim when my kids were feeling a bit chicken at first, if the twins can do it, we can. Nicki and I went in the tube and we were laughing so hard that we could hardly breathe. Her husband took no mercy on our second time around, he was brutal and I'm sure he was trying to dump us. I was a waste that night and a little sore but it's all good. It was a nice way to spend the day with the kids.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Eight years ago I had Isaac on the couch in San Jose. What an experience that was and so has the last eight years with him. He is such a wonderful addition to our family and he really brings the whole family alot of joy and laughter. Most of the time we shouldn't be laughing but if you know Isaac, you laugh too, you just can't help it. A 17 year old trapped in an 8 year old body. I guess that's what we get for having the kids so far apart.

He is obsessed with Sponge Bob so McKayla and I found this awesome cake that we knew he just had to have. It was so cute and it left this really cool colorful stuff all over your teeth. I know, gross! I'm sure it is all lard from the frosting but we'll go with food coloring instead so we won't want to throw up. I think it didn't help that maybe he neglected to brush his teeth that morning too. Yuck!!!
Heather and Nick picked this out for him and it has been a favorite for him, not so favorite for the rest of us that have gotten nailed by it. But he loves it, thanks guys.
He had been asking when he would get his scriptures so this was another one of his favorites. He's being so careful with them and was excited to use the case that Nick brought back from Argentina for him. He had them all made especially for each of us.
We had our family party with him the night of his birthday, Rob and Alison were nice enough to some over and join the party. We love having them around, we keep thinking that they are going to get sick of us at some point. We had his favorites, steak and watermelon. Who doesn't love those right?
The next day when we got up to rain and cloudy skies, I was freaking out cuz I had this totally OUTSIDE party planned for him. Thankfully the clouds parted and the sun shone brightly. We had a few slip and slides in the backyard and had Crispy Cremes. We invited the neighborhood since all of his pals have little ones that play with him too, so there was a ton of wee ones burning up the lanes.

He had to give everyone hugs after he opened their gifts, a few were ok with it but there were a few that were a tad bit uncomfortable with it. He was cute about it, everyone got one whether they wanted it or not.

He had just as many girls that he wanted to come as boys, I'm glad he's not creaped out by girls and he can be himself around them. He's obsessed with the older girls more than the younger ones. The little girl that is in the towel next to him I think he could marry one day, they are so funny around each other. They both have the funniest sense of humor and are not even phased by the fact that they are pals and one a boy and one a girl.

Sleep Over With The Messmans

Ricky and Becky were on their way to Southern Virgina University from San Jose so they stopped for a long overdue visit. We have all missed Becky and Amanda so much since we have moved here. They used to spend every sunday evening with us at our house for FHE. They were a permanent fixture in our house and they were like sisters to the girls, of course Isaac loved them too. I had them in Young Womens and Travis was their Sunday School teacher forever. Becky slept in Isaac's bed and he woke up in the middle of the night thinking he had fallen out of bed and just got back in his bed and snuggled up to her like it was nothing. Way funny. Isaac woke Ricky up with a wack of a pillow at Becky's prompting and then they went on tour for a few hours. We are sure glad Heather doesn't have room for this right now at her house. We might let her take it after she moves into her new apartment Kim. haha. It was so fun to have them here even if it was just for a short time. Nick and Ricky got to hang out for a few hours too and get caught up, they haven't seen each other for three years.
Sab and Brooklyn trying to be sneaky, didn't work too much.
Isaac in his touring gear!

They have this flamingo that is traveling with them that they are adding a sticker to every where they stop so we added a Harley sticker. They have a long drive ahead of them but a nice road trip across the country, coast to coast! And a great school year ahead of them. Now we'll miss them even more.

Goof Balls!

Sab and Mallory have become quite the good friends this summer. Mallory lives next door, YEAH!!!! How fun for them. They don't go to the same school but they have really had fun this summer together. They seem to have alot in common, mostly that they both love Cheez-Its. They were walking around the neighborhood chatting all the while they both had their own giant boxes of Cheez-Its. Doesn't get much better than that.

Quick Visit

Summer and Teagan came for a quick visit while Mark was working. Teagan was so funny, the second I got out my camera he started saying "CHEEEEEEEEEESE". Summer has trained him well for Kodak moments. He was so funny possing and getting ready for the flash. Cute little man. It's been so nice to have them come visit more often, thanks for making the time to see us.

It Grew, It Grew!

The garden ended up growing after all. We were all surprised to see how much these sunflowers had grown after our trip. The kids go out everyday and see if there is a flower now, there are two so far. It's fun anyway and I'm excited to see how much bigger they get, hopefully the kids will keep growing too.

Everything else is growing too. I'm still not sure what the heck the broccoli and the cauliflower are suppossed to be doing but they are growing like mad. Our corn is actually getting so heavy the stalks are growing crooked. Even the volunteers are huge, not sure what they are yet but they have taken over the other half of the garden, maybe they're Honeydew. We will be having some fried green tomatoes soon, fattening but yummy! The Spaghetti squash is coming right along too and we have already chowed down some Zuchini. I'm sure the carrotts will all be demented, they always are at our house. I guess we wouldn't starve if it came to that, Sab would but we might make it.