Kenzie's First Field Trip

Gary was able to go with Kenzie to Hee Haw Farms. I'm glad he has been able to fit these kind of things into his schedule because I think the kids will look back and really appreciate these fun times with their dad.

22 Years!!!

On October 8th, Lissie and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary. I told her that it was my turn to do a post and she would have to wait. Needless to say, with everything going on the past couple of weeks, including a 6 day trip to Washington DC to visit Jordan (which I am sure Lissie will post about later), I have not posted anything yet. So.......here it goes!

I have had the opportunity to be blessed with the most amazing wife for the past 22 years. I have known Lissie and her family for over 31 years and I know I am a better person because of my relationship with them (don't worry, I wont get to mushy). Though I know Lissie likes things a little more personal when it comes to this stuff, I want everyone to know that I am proud and honored to say that she is my wife, and I love her. We have had some great years together with very few hiccups along the way. We have been blessed with 7 wonderful children and I don't know how she accomplishes all that she does.

Happy Anniversary Beautiful, I Love You!

22 Years

22 years, that's half of my life,

I've been blessed with you as my beautiful wife!

22 years, man we've done well,

Love and patience, no secrets to tell!

22 years, some ups and some downs,

Its been mostly smiles, not many frowns!

22 years, some joy and some pain,

I think I must drive you completely insane!

22 years, the best years I've spent,

with a wonder wife..... to me you were sent!

22 years, and seven kids born,

all of our patience, completely worn!

22 years, and I wouldn't change a thing,

for true love and happiness to me you do bring!

22 years, here's to 22 more,

to the woman I love and truly adore!

Gary

Enjoy the pictures! We haven't changed a bit.......have we???

Potty Trained

I finally decided to quit making excuses and potty train Kodee. She has been out of diapers for about about a month now. So I can say she is potty trained. She does really good most of the time, especially at soccer games when we have to take her to the port-a-potties. Way Nasty, but she seems to think 4 or 5 times in a 2 hour time span is fun. And she can spot a potty at every store. She even does good at night (I take her after she has been sleeping about 2 hours)! But if she is busy, she might just take her pants off and pee on the floor like she did yesterday. I told her that was naughty and put her in the corner. After Gary got home she did it again and he told her it was bad. Her exact words in a very sweet voice, "That's bad? O.K. I'll go to the corner." And she went to the corner. Crazy child. But then she was asleep on my bed and I just wanted to cuddle her and hold her because I realize how quickly they really do grow up and I don't want to miss enjoying this little girl. I'm glad for her company while the rest of the kids are at school.

Brooke.....

turned 18 this past week. It's hard to believe that she is so old. I remember when she was born and I felt like such a failure for having to have a c-section (after trying again with Sadie, I'm over it). I decided we were going to be the perfect mom/daughter!!!! Just so you know we are still working on it. When two people are involved, there are definitely two different views of what perfection are. I remember coming home from the hospital and the first night home Gary and Jordan both got the barfs. I felt sorry for myself for having to take care of me and the baby. I look back now and think how immature I was.

Brooke was a fairly easy baby. She was pretty serious and it was hard to make her smile especially for pictures and strangers. As she got older I was sure she was going to break something because if she saw Jordan do something, she was going to try it as well. Brooke has always been our nature girl. Always wanting to be outdoors and around animals. If we went to the mall we always stopped by a pet store. She couldn't understand why we couldn't get a horse and just put it in the backyard.

Brooke always had friends. We went to the library when she was about 7 and some girl started talking to her. She had never met her before. So she must be approachable, because that happened often. She continues to be that type of individual. Brooke is also very smart, which is why we have such high expectations of her. When she was in first grade a friend asked why she was so smart (she must have realized the parents weren't or something) and I said that it was because she was competing with a 4th grader. Brooke has always been just a step behind Jordan in everything, except piano where Brooke is extremely talented. I'm sure this frustrated Jordan but we have tried to remind them of their differences and not compare. Even Kenzie and Kodee realize that Brooke is a great piano player as just the other day, Kenzie said, "I wish we could listen to her piano lessons." Kodee is constantly asking Brooke to play 'Follow the Prophet'. We just love to listen to her sit at the piano and mess around.

As I looked back on Brooke's 18 years, I got really emotional at seeing some of these pictures.

Brooke's Birth Announcement Picture (the hospital picture just didn't do my beautiful baby justice)

My Dad with Brooke. He just loved to hold the babies. Hard to believe he was only around 1 more year after this picture. My kids would have loved his silliness.

Mother's Day 1993/4 Generations (w/Grandma Barnes & Grandma Hollidge)

Brooke 1 year

Almost 4

8th Grade

Now

Homecoming

Here is my beautiful daughter, Brooke. She deserves to be treated like a princess and she might have felt that way this night. They went to The Roof in Salt Lake. She said it was delicious and there were flowers waiting on their table. I don't usually get much out of her talking wise, but I think she had a really good time. Her Senior Pics are just amazing. We're gonna have a hard time picking one out for our wall. Hard to see our kids all grown up!!!! Love you Brooke!

Brooke and her date Braden Peterson

$2 and Less Than 1/4 Tank of Gas

A couple of Fridays ago we went to Discovery Gateway. Trevor brought home a family ticket from school last year and it was going to expire soon. Not everyone got to go, but it is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Kodee loved all the cars that she could drive.

The water area was lots of fun too.

It seems that everyone was too busy to ride the horse, but Kodee just wandered from one activity to another. I kept having to look for her. Crazy girl.

Both girls loved the dress up area. I think I know where to donate my dress-ups when my girls are done with them. They could use a few new dresses.

Kodee and I played with this for some time while Trevor was busy making a video picture thing. You put the paper in at the bottom and the air blows it up and over the top.

The helicopter outside with sounds and real rain on our day!!!

Because it was so affordable we had Little Caesar's for dinner. I am such a smart cook!!!!

First Day of School Pics....

The kids have now been in school for 1 week. Kenzie started today, hence the week until a first day of school post. She has been so excited. So far everyone is happy. My carpool is like Heaven. When Sadie went to Saratoga Shores I drove her both ways everyday and now I am grateful there are so many from our Ward going out there. I never thought I would see the day when I enjoyed carpooling. This year will be both good and bad. Brooke is a Senior, Sadie in 9th, Trevor in 6th, Blake in 3rd and McKenzie in Kindergarten. Being the top dog at a school is pretty awesome for the kids, but seeing them move on to the next school is tough. My kids are growing up way too fast. I thought sending Kenzie would be no problem, because she is #6 and I kept her home an extra year. I still got emotional. Probably because I realize how quickly they go from Kindergarten to Graduation. I wonder how the goodbye in heaven went knowing some of us might not make it HOME. I will enjoy knowing that it is only 3 hours a day and then she will come home and talk my ear off. Hopefully Kodee doesn't make me too crazy. She thinks that she is going to school also. I have told her that she can't wear diapers to school, I'll have to think up something else when she decides to get potty trained.

Brooke (almost 18)

Sadie (14)

Trevor (12)

Blake (9 1/2)

Kenzie (6)