Emily's Song

Three nights ago I was putting Emily to bed and she started singing a song. Upon request of friends who love her spontaneity, I wrote it down. Her inspiration comes from a Book of Mormon scripture story about a Christian convert King Lamoni and his encounter with his unhappy father.
The tune is a free-lance rhythm going up and down short scales.

"You do not fight with your father
You do not fight with your father
You do not fight with your father
You just be nice to your father
And just have hakuna-matata. (She stops singing to laugh at her own joke)
Whatever you think you know is true
You do not fight with your brother or sister
Never hit or push at night
Wake up in the morning and stretch.

You never you ever fight
Don't think of strangers
Just think of us
Just think of peaceful
Ever Jesus is coming
Watch out!

Return
You know what happened to our Father
You know it's true
You never know what is really true.
You know love and animals
Hasheen

Heavenly Father loves us
He really does
Happy
You'll be happy if you wake up
If you wake up grouchy you'll feel sad
Follow your Father
And even your mom and dad."

She asked that I sing it back to her afterwards, and she was very pleased with it.
A few days before that she and I were talking about Jesus. She asked when Jesus was coming back to earth and I told her I wasn't really sure. She said, "I think he's coming in... February."

Wesley's Wedding

Wesley and Kristen Bedford, married July19, 2008 in the San Diego Temple. This is my only picture of the lovely couple together from the weekend taken at the dinner the night before they were married. I hope someone sends me some wedding pictures soon! They are now living in Phoenix area- Wes will graduate from the Tempe police academy in August and Kristen just started working at a children's museum.

Emily got to be the flower girl during the ring ceremony. She did a great job looking cute and walking where she needed to. Thankfully she didn't fall into the small lake during the ceremony, although she was making me nervous. She loved being a helper to the bride with the dress' train and getting them napkins after cutting the cake. Her favorite part of the whole event was getting to dance with her daddy for a long time. I ordered a second dress for Ashley so she could feel beautiful too and they were both adorable. I rented their dresses online which was way cheaper and they had tons of color choices- www.gagas.com.

California Fun!!

I think we just had the best family vacation! We went to southern California for a week, mostly for my brother Wes' wedding. I think what made this trip so different is that Bryan didn't have to work while traveling. We left Monday afternoon, traveled 5 hours and stayed in Las Vegas. We went swimming that night and then on to CA the next day. We got to have dinner and hang out with my longest known friend Kristy Pilawski and her husband Jason in Long Beach. They loved watching our girls do their thing and we loved hearing about their adventures in aeronautic engineering.

Wednesday morning we slept in and then cruised over to the beach. We saw lots of dolphins swimming and sand crabs while we made our sand castle. Ashley got over her dirty hands issues fairly quickly and the only downer was my sunburned back (currently in the itchy, peely phase).
Thursday we went to Knotts Berry Farm- Maegan, Bryan, Emily, Ashley, Grammy Holly and Garrett. We spent probably 8 hours there and had a great day. We took turns staying with the girls and the other adults went on rides too. Garrett made us all go on some crazy rides for which we were all grateful we didn't lose any lunch. Emily said her favorites were the balloon and airplane rides and Ashley loved the merry-go-round horses. In this picture they are on the balloon ride with Grammy; while mom, dad and Gar were on the Supreme Scream- 252 foot drop straight down.

Pioneer Trek

So we made it! We went on our stake's pioneer trek on June 30- July 3rd. We were part of the support staff and ended up being bus chaperones, Bryan was in charge of microphone set up, I conducted the group singing and we were actors one day. We had a great time. We slept on the ground, walked a total of 24.5 miles and endured hot and cold temperatures. Because were in the staff area we did get a tent and all kinds of good food whereas the other trekkers did not. The first day we walked 13 miles, including a women's pull and we finally stopped around midnight. The last full day we had some solo time where we had two hours to ourselves and got to reflect on life and important things. I think that was the best part for Bryan and I. The kids' testimony meeting was held that night and it was so wonderful to hear all the kidsfeelings and to know that they are such good kids with awesome potential. It was a great trip. Thanks to my mother-in-law watched the girls for us. I took away an amazing appreciation for the pioneers who did not have anything but their faith. I also love modern technology- liquid soap! shampoo! A/C!

Summer Games

Swimming in our new inflatable pool in the backyard. The girls were in heaven

Chalk Art Festival

We went to the Gateway's sidewalk chalk art festival sponsered by Utah Foster Care. In this photo Emily is attempting to hook her two straws together. It didn't work so well, but what's impressive is that she just thought of that on her own.

This drawing is one of 50+ entries- all of them really good! Some artists spend 8+ hours on their square.


The kids got their hair spray painted green and blue. I thought it was funny, but they didn't seem to care too much.

The girls definitely did not love the water feature at the Gateway. It's the kind where there are little holes on the ground where water shoots upward at unexpected times. Emily lasted 3 minutes, Ashley 3 seconds.


Happy Father's Day Bryan! The kids sang to him in sacrament, he got lots of treats and yummy breakfast and dinner. He also got tickets to John Mayer concert in July. Best presents were no diaper changes all day and a long afternoon nap. With those perks I think I'm ready for another Mother's Day.
Here they are opening a new book from the girls, "Daddy's Toolbox." There are tool shaped pieces that you can take out and use. Each page has something that is 'broken' you get to fix. Genius idea for a cute yet manly book!

Fun Farm Day

Old Austinites met up and went to Utah's Wheeler Farm. The weather was good and the kids had a great time. We all enjoyed feeding the numerous ducks and geese, taking a hay ride and eating lots of snacks. We went out to lunch afterwards and loved catching up with friends. From left to right: Maegan, Emily 3, Ashley 2; Ocean 3, Jaime, Eden 15mons; Caleb 3, Julie, Taylor 11 months. The 3 year olds were all born in the same hospital within 4 months of each other.