Memorial Day 2010

It is a tradition for us to pitch a tent and sleep in the backyard for Memorial Weekend. That way we don't have to fight crowds for a campground and we have all the luxuries of home just 10 feet away.The kids LOVE to build a fire in the fire pit and roast hot dogs and marshmallows.
Monday morning we headed out to the Payson Cemetery for a Memorial Day service. And can I just say that I was REALLY impressed. It was an awesome service and will definitely become part of our Memorial Weekend Tradition.

These balloons were released to represent the 8000 MIA soldiers.

The Payson City Royalty performed a musical number along with a poem. I watched one of the WW II vets sitting in front of me sobbing (his shoulders were literally shaking) because he was so touched. It was a beautiful song.

This father, mother, daughter trio sang "I'm Proud to be an American"
The father is a 5th grade teacher at my kids' school.

This man was one of about 5 servicemen present that served in WW II. He spent 3 FULL years on a minesweeper. He shared several stories of his service with us. I was impressed with how well he remembered everything. I can't even remember what I did last week.

Believe it or not, but we actually have a GGGGgrandfather buried in the Payson Cemetery. So we took a few minutes to hunt down his grave and take a pic.

Lephrauchan Madness

I love St. Patrick's Day. It seemed like such a boring day when I was growing up - but some lephraucans have found our family and they visit us every year and play all kinds of tricks on us.

Usually they leave little gold coins (chocolate inside!) all over the house along with something green to wear for the day. Well, I'm thinking someone found their pot of gold because there were NO gold coins - however, they did leave lots of green M&M's and green jellybeans all over. What a MESS!!

They also walked across one of our paper plates and left little tiny footprints (which the kids had to cut out and take to school!) They turned the milk green which is never a good thing because no one will drink it.

Me & Jeff dared the green milk and ended up with green hair later in the day. What tricky elves we have!!!

Anyway, here's a cute pic of Hailey & Chance playing around with some green wigs that we have.

Holidays in a Flash!!

Wow - the holidays came and went so fast!!!

We spent Christmas at home and then headed up to Burley, Idaho on Dec. 27. The trip was postponed for a day because the roads in Idaho were closed all day on Dec 26. I was worried about how bad the roads would be but they were great in Idaho - horrible in Ogden, Utah. It was a sheer sheet of ice and took us an extra 30-40 minutes. We did have to go slower than normal and the overall trip took us an extra 2 hours.

Jeff's family was nice enough to hold dinner for us until we got there. We ate and then opened up gifts. The kids played Wii all night and the adults visited. The girls did some crafts Sunday afternoon while the guys hung out (and watched kids)! Most of the crafts were from my Super Saturday but we also did the wood blocks on my previous post. Instead of Believe - they have our last name. I'll post a pic later.

We came home on Monday. We spent New Year's Eve with our friends in Santaquin and then spent ALL day at another friend's house on New Year's Day. Thank for letting us hang out ALL day - Laurie! We got home at 1am and fell into bed. Slept in on Friday and read 3 books. I had a YW meeting Saturday morning and then drove to Farmington to meet my niece. (FYI for Alisha - I checked out Bukkos while I was in Farmington. They said there are rumors that they may be closing....not sure when.)

We had church on Sunday and then the vacation was over. I feel like I need a vacation from the vacation!!! I'm exhausted and the kids were so tired today that I couldn't get them up for school. Although, it is nice to be back to some sort of schedule and routine.

Hope all your holidays were just as great and everyone has an awesome 2009!

And for your viewing pleasure - a few Christmas pics.

Jeff got the game that he wanted - although the kids warned him that they would take it away if there was any cussing!!

Calista was very excited to get HSM Sharpay doll - she's showing Hailey all the stuff it came with.

Who wrapped this gift anyway??

Laser Tag - not sure if this was more for Dad or for Chance.

Just Kidding! Chance has loved it!

The picture says it all!!