Memories

Okay so I've been making the movie for my mom's 60th birthday and it's been really tough. I don't know why I have been so emotional over it but, it's been really hard to look at all the pictures especially right around 1980 1982....basically I've been a basket case for the last week thinking about how we had to suffer so much it's just really hard. I was looking at this darling little picture of the 5 kids together and I just started crying! What is wrong with me? Why I am feeling all this emotion now? But I can't help but think: What was wrong with us? We were so dang cute!!!! I also am so angry that I didn't get to grow up with my brother and I feel like both of my brothers have had hard times in their lives recently and I don't know how to be there for them and to have relationships with them now. I wish it were easy like it was when we were little!
I have also been really missing my grandpa! This is my favorite picture of him... he was so handsome. I miss how he was always there. He was the one that went to all my recitals and took me to so many daddy/daughter dates. He bought me my first car and my first viola. He made me feel special and pretty. He was the one that took me to Lake Powell every year with the YM/YW. I loved going to the swap meet or the barder with him... I just miss having him around. He was the father figure to me in those early years of the 80's when I felt so alone and hurt and scared and he was just there and loved me and cared about me. I miss you Grandpa! Thanks for being there for me!

Family is the Most Important!

I took the kids to the pool forever today! I didn't intend to stay as long as we did, but they were having so much fun being friends with each other!

Lately they have been fighting so much about the dumbest things... he's looking at me, or she got more cereal than me, or he breathed wrong. You name it they fight it! I was so sick of it, so I told them that family is the most important thing and they really should learn to get along with each other, because eternity in Heaven won't be fun if they can't. I told them that friends come last and that we don't get to live with our friends in Heaven... Zach of course had to call me on it and said, "We don't even live with our friends on Earth, Mom... duh." then Sami, "Well, Ryan lives with his Friends." Wow! At least they were listening to me, but I don't think they got the point of what I was saying! Sometimes I really wonder!

My Dancer

I never get tired of watching Natalie dance....

These videos aren't great... but it gives a feel! She loves it and you can see it on her face!

These are her competition routines, but these are the videos from New York that she did at the Statue of Liberty in the RAIN they weren't in competition mode, but they had a blast!!!!

Fun on the 4th

So Natalie is in Florida visiting her "3 Musketters" and Craig and Ryan are in New York to see the NY Yankees play the Red Sox before the stadium is torn down... so I am alone with the kids for the weekend!

I called Katie and we hung out with our kids. We took them to the Rodeo but didn't see it. The boys thought it was mean to rope the calves and couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch it... so we just rock climbed and rode ponies and then went to Katie's to swim and do fireworks! It was really fun... Thanks guys for hanin' with us!!

On the 4th we went met grandma Corinne at IHOP and had a nice breakfast and then went swimming a lifetime! I took the kids to dinner at Training Table and then to Sandy and we did more games and rides and listened to live music and then watched the fireworks! It was great.... I loved just having time with Zach and Sami alone. They are so fun and darling and I love them so much. We had a blast watching the fireworks they loved how pretty they were and I loved explaining how the cannon worked about a billion times!!!

They grow so Fast!

Ryan is now 24! Weird! We went to the Baseball park and had a BBQ with everyone and all his friends then watched him play softball... it was really fun... thanks Chelsea for inviting us!

So Ryan is growing and Nicole is getting married (Oct. 9th) and Jeff is coming home in a few short months. Brad is going to be a Junior, Natalie is turning 16 in Sept and will be dating and driving. Zach is getting baptized in September and Sami is starting kindergarten!

What happened? Where did that time all go? I want them little again... it's not as frightening!

The Big Apple

Natalie and I had the opportunity to go to New York so she could perform at the Statue of Liberty and take some classes on Broadway! We had so much fun and absolutely loved hanging out with Natalie and having the chance to spend some time with her before she hits 16 and "leaves" me! Ha... I know it's not that big a deal but, I feel like my kids are getting old so fast that it was nice to have some time with her and experience New York! It was so great!!!

Here are the highlights:

• Natalie was able to take 2 classes on Broadway! She loved it even some of the other girls were tired and bailed out of the second day!
• We were able to see 2 Broadway shows. Wicked and Hairspray. We loved Wicked so much I bought the soundtrack! It actually was incredible I didn't want it to end. The music and the story were so touching to me I actually cried. I felt so moved it was really weird... I can't explain it. I was in awe of the talent and extremely grateful I was able to see it! We saw Hairspray and it wasn't even close to Wicked. It was really cheesy and the voices just weren't up to par... a little disappointed in that one!
• We met Pres. Uchdorft at the Statue of Liberty. There was a bomb threat. Someone left their backpack unattended and they had to evacuate the island... they moved us all to the ferry's during the performance! Suddenly he walks out and right up to me! I told him we ere there from Utah to perform and he asked how they all were and that he had just come to check up on them! It was really cute the girls were so scared about the bomb with the helicopters and all that when they saw him one girl said, "Nothing can happen to us now, he's on the island we will be safe now." So sweet such faith!
• Natalie performed at the Statue of Liberty and of course it was the only day that it rained! The girls were awesome they just went out and danced and got SOAKED! It was a pretty awesome thing to see them just have a good time. Natalie did 2 dances and was awesome as usual. I love to watch her dance. She has such grace and emotion that you feel her feeling the music. You can see on her face that dance IS her passion.
• We had dinner at some really fun places including Hard Rock, Bubba Gump Shrimp, Great BBQ place and a Great Italian place! Bubba Gump was probably the best! We ate dinners as a group and that was pretty fun!
• We took a tour of the city on a bus and were able to see the entire Island of Manhattan. We saw Harlem and Tribeca and Ground Zero and so much more! We were really lucky to see so much. We actually were around the corner from the Empire State Building!
• We took a tour of NBC studios and saw how they make TV happen and SNL and Conan's studios.
• We toured the Met and I know it's a really awesome museum. We were so tired and just not into it... so we left early! I know that's bad, but museums aren't my thing really! The girls weren't either.
• We walked through Central Park and I loved that since I have always wanted to do that!
• We went to the Today show and saw the bride and groom taking pictures... they got married on the show. Merideth Vera came out and was really nice to her fans. She gave autographs and pictures and was really warm and sincere. I didn't get one even though we were so close and could have... she's just not one of my favorites!
• One night we went to the top of the Rock and were able to see the city from so high up! It's gorgeous all lit up and it's so huge!
  
• We went to Canal street and even though shopping is my thing... I wasn't into getting fake stuff! It just felt really odd and I didn't want to do it. We did get some cute bracelets and then took a cab back early! We found a really cool one for Natalie with ballerinas all over it... It was perfect!
• Our hotel was quaint but small... we shared with a cute girl named Katie and her mom Stacy! We had so much fun with them! They were awesome and I would have been so bored without Stacy since Natalie had so much fun hanging with her friends.
  
• We were in walking distance to Times Square and we went there almost every night. The girls loved to go to Sephora and but on tons of makeup... mostly glitter!
• Natalie and I were on the CBS early show on our last day! Natalie was in the audience of a fashion show and I was interviewed for a financial segment! It was fun a car came and picked me up and I had hair and makeup and it was really interesting to see how much goes into just a few minutes of TV. How many people it takes and how much waiting there is before the actual segment! But, it was way fun!!!! We were all in the audience for the rest of the show and that was really cool!
• We experienced the Subway, Taxis Broadway, shopping, a ton of sites and the food... what more could we have done!!

Overall it was a great trip and I am so glad that my husband stayed home and watched the kids and paid for Natalie and I to have so much fun!!!!

Our Cabin

I finally took some pictures of our little "cabin" and our gorgeous property!
We love going up there the kids love to run around and shoot the BB gun and the arrows. We took our scooter one time and had fun riding on all the little trails and stuff. Soon we will get some ATVs but one step at a time right?

We love our little cabin it's fun to sleep in and have tin-foil dinners and make smores. It's nice to have no TV and just laugh and talk and tell fun stories and just be together!

Our plan is to get some toys and to make it a really fun place for us to enjoy our family at! It's really peaceful nestle on a high ridge between Strawberry Reservoir and Starvation Reservoir!

We love our little cabin!!