In September we spent a weekend in St. George with Grandma and Grandpa Everett, and also Uncle Ted, Addison, and Jacob.  We went to Pine Valley for some dutch oven lovin'. It was so beautiful and the kids loved running around, jumping the stream. We also kayaked at Gunlock, which was a nice workout and perfectly beautiful. Round it out with a rodeo and you have yourself a great weekend with family.

 September also found us back at Disneyland. Graham's first trip was a success.
 Sitting with Sissy on Casey Jr.

 Emma is growing more helpful and lovely every day. What would we do without her?

 And posed with Buddha belly for Halloween:

July 2010

Long Beach Pike



In July we were sick. I was sick for weeks with what was possibly whooping cough. Todd's sickness luckily didn't overlap too much with the worst of mine. Anyway, we had to cancel our trip to Utah and Idaho. It was a bummer of a month.
Still, we did take the kids for two days to L.A. and try and make up for the lost "real" trip. We visited the L.A. Zoo, went to the Santa Monica Pier, Travel Town, Buca di Beppo's (yum) and then Long Beach Aquarium. Probably our last time trying to work one hotel room for 6 people.
Most memorable event was Truman's reaction upon seeing a naked boy "peeing" fountain at Buca di Beppo. He literally could not stop laughing, and he has a very infectious giggle.





Todd looking nice and trim at the height of his low-carb session.




June 2010



Emma is dressed up after a birthday party which included the tutu, the gloves and the curls. Not her usual "daytime" look.





At the Storm baseball game with our ward.










We had some nice days at the beach in the summer. With other families there for ward beach days, taking four kids wasn't bad at all. The kids loved having their friends from church to play with, and of course, I always love a good chat.
















Parker with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Plunkett. He did very well in kindergarten, but I wouldn't say he was thrillled about it. Just tolerated. His strengths in class are being conscientious, generous, and obedient.




A small bit of the kindergarten graduation program.



Graham's Birthday

















Don't laugh. I'm taking baby steps to dig myself out of a blog hole and I'm starting with Graham's birthday . . . which was in June.
We celebrated by having three families over for dinner and cake after church. Graham was slightly overwhelmed by the hubbub. When we sang to him and gave him the cake he started crying and was only consoled by his bottle. But, all in all, it was a fun first birthday gathering for our favorite baby!
At the beginning of June, I was able to join some great girls from my ward for an over-night in Palm Springs. It was so relaxing to be at a pool all day without having to watch anyone. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.









Truman received the "Best Shot" Award at his end of year preschool program. His teacher said that regardless of the game, if it involves a ball, Truman always excels. I remember that for his first birthday "party" I tried to have a ball theme because it was what he loved most.





























May 2010


Photography by Parker


Our family in Arizona for nephew Sam's baby blessing.





First of all, how can you fall asleep leaning on your hand like that? And secondly, I have a nearly identical picture from the Sunday afternoon session of the last General Conference. It sure was great having DVR this time around. So much more pleasant to just push pause instead of getting so uptight with the kids every time they needed me to do something in the middle of a really good talk. Plus, I'm much more likely to watch a talk here and there when I have time than when it was on VHS.



"Let me out!"


Here are a couple pics of the kids before our Easter egg hunt.