Benjamin's Baptism

Benjamin was baptized this summer. He was so excited. We had a lot of family in attendance. The Spirit was so strong; it was amazing and such a special event. We love Ben and are so proud of the young man he is becoming.

Family Pictures

My sister has been here in town for most of the summer and the day before she began her long journey back to South Carolina she took pictures of my family. They turned out wonderfully! I love them! She does a wonderful job. We lover her and miss her already.

Tyler

Playful Ryan

My Benjamin

da Boys

Alyssa and Daddy

Ryan and Mommy

Alyssa

Alyssa, Our little Dancer

Alyssa Loves to dance. We were watching the Hannah Montana movie and with every song she was up and dancing. She loves music and loves to dance to the music. She is such the character. We love her.

Spring Break

Benjamin and Tyler spent Spring Break this year in Arizona with their Grandparents. They loved it. Partly because it was just the two of them with Grammy and Papa and partly because they went to the movies, the went swimming, they played video games and had a wonderful time. The boys also loved the Hole in the Rock store and tourist area partway there. They had to stop going both ways to spend time there.
It was different going back to only two kids during that week. We missed the boys and were glad when they came back home.

Ashley's Graduation

Ashley Graduated from high school this year! (Hudsonville High School, Hudsonville Michigan) What an exciting time in her life. We were able to make the trip back to Michigan to be there for the event and spend some time with her. Congratulations Ashley!

Chritmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was nice and quiet with just our immediate family around. The kids woke up about their usual time, 7 a.m. and came to make sure we were up so that we could come downstairs. They know they cannot come down until everyone is awake and we can go down all together. We always start our Christmas morning with a family prayer to express our gratitidue and love for our Savior and all that He has done for us. All that we have is because of Him and His great sacrifice for us.



The week following Christmas we had our extended family around. I took the week off from work so that we could enjoy all of the cousins etc. Mindy Cody and their girls made the trip here. Tia, Seth and Grant were here as well. We were only missing Daniel and his family, maybe next year.



While everyone was here we went sledding, made a quick day trip to Ouray for a dip in the hot springs, late nights playing the Wii and lots of family time. Everyone enjoyed the time together. It was hard to see everyone leave to go back to their homes at the end of the week. We love our family!!!!!

Winter X games in Aspen CO

Lanny and Tyler went to Aspen yesterday to experience the X Games. They had so much fun last year that they were excited to brave the crowds again this year. Tyler loved watching the snowmobiles jump and race. The guys that ride those machines are crazy!!!! Whoever came up with the idea to do a backflip 50+ feet in the air on a snowmobile must have a few rocks loose.

Slacker Central!

I know it has been a long time since we have posted anything on our blog. We have had a busy summer and I do have a lot of pictures but I have not had a chance to sit down and put them on the blog. I will do my best to try to get some up this week to catch up as I have been asked by severals for pictures of the kiddos. Stay tuned...

Mud Springs

Over Memorial day weekend we took our camper and toys up to Mud Springs on Pinyon Mesa for some fun family camping and riding. We were expecting rain for most of the weekend but we went anyway. We still managed to have a lot of fun over the four days.

Tyler learned how to make a fire without matches over the weekend and was very proud of himself the first time he got the fire going. We were all impressed and proud of him for working so dillegently on getting it started and then keeping it going.

The boys managed to find the largest mud holes and plow their way through them. The wall of water as they flew through some of them was impressive. I should have made them do the laundry when we got home.

What fun we had that weekend despite the rain. Getting out was alittle frightening, it is a good thing that we have such a big strong truck. We look forward to many more camping trips this summer!

Our First Camping Trip of the Year

What a wonderful family trip we had. We spent 4 days in Utah around Goblin Valley State Park. What beautiful country we explored.

The boys were wonderful and hiked forever throught the slot canyons. We were hoping we could make it all the way to the waterfall but we also knew that we had to walk back as far as we went forwards. Ryan even walked 3 miles on his own.

We spent some time hiking through the goblins as well in the state park. Everyone had fun climbing on them, around them and in some cases through them. It was fun seeing differnt animals and shapes in the rocks around us. We found a couple caves to climb in and around as well.

The ATV trails around our campsite were fabulous. My mom came back to work telling everyone that I tried to kill her on the last trail that we took. At one point she even got out of the RZR and walked with Alyssa as I drove it down the "hill" and over the ledge. After that hill she trusted my driving skills a little more. The boys had a great area to practice their driving skills in their little RZR as well. They are really improving in their driving abilities.

We look forward to going back later this summer for more fun.