APRIL / MAY

In April Kylie had the opportunity to go on a special field trip with all the Student Council Officers since she was the secretary in the fall. They went to the Capital building & were able to meet a couple of house representatives. Pretty cool if you ask me! I've lived here my whole life (except for 6 years in Vegas) & have never been to the capital building. Apparently, they have a museum there that she said was really neat. They even got some special treatment & were able to sit at house members desks & take photos. Lucky kid! The picture on the top right is with Eddie Farnsworth on the left (He's actually over her school) & I don't know who on the right. ;) I tried to look it up & there's just too many of them to look through, so I gave up. Sorry, whoever you are!

May brought beautiful weather & the kids dying to have a "lemonade stand"! We love the neighborhood we're in & the girls have been lucky enough to make some good friends! This whole lemonade stand idea spun a little out of control. It turned into a sweet stand & they sold all kinds of treats & stuff. It was a lot of work for the parents, but the kids had fun. They even made about $46 the first time. Who knew?! Maybe I should quit my job & put my kids to work. ;) Now it's just too hot to do it. I'm sure when it starts cooling down they'll want to do it again. They even had a few copy cat stands pop up after the word spread on how much $$ they were making. Haha!

The last day in May brought a very special birthday to Jay! She turned 8. She wanted breakfast in bed, it's turned into a tradition with the girls, with just a good 'ol Slim-Fast shake to eat. Then, she opened up her gifts. My kids give the best reactions to gifts. We're not dramatic in anyway at our house! ;) She got to go to lunch that day at her favorite place - Barro's pizza. Mimi & Papa came along with John & Aunt Jewelry (Julie). For dinner we went to Cafe Rio - another on of her favorites. Dave & Wendy Paez came to town & stayed the night with us. It ws so fun to have them here for all the festivities! Jack, Alli & Eli also came to Cafe Rio. I, of course, didn't take any pictures. UGH! We love our Jay!

The next morning I realized I didn't take any photos & made the Paez's pose for a couple pictures before they took off. Wendy was not too happy about that since it was bright & early, but she was a good sport!

LINDA

The lovely lady in the blue is Linda Shelley. The other is Amy Paun - one of my amazing counselors.

Linda was diagnosed with colon cancer in November. She went from walking 6 miles a day & working full time one day to finding out this news the next & never being able to return to work. She went downhill fast & I still can't believe how quickly it all happened. She passed away on January 16th. (The day after Lane's funeral) And this was a funeral neither I, or my counselors, wanted to handle. Yet, how could we not for someone we loved so dearly.

She was a true example of faith. She felt it was her time & she came to terms with it to the point that she was ok with everything. It was amazing! Linda was from England & was extremely organized! She started slowly stockpiling toiletries about a year before her diagnosis & had them overly organized in a closet. Just preparing for whatever may come. Once she knew what was happening she wanted to donate everything. She worked with Amy to gather everything & invited all the sisters to donate items at our Relief Society Christmas party . The response was overwhelming. Everything was donated to a local women's shelter.
During one of my lessons in RS I noticed Linda was wearing a beautiful giant pearl necklace. I stopped my lesson & commented on how much I loved her necklace. She came to church a couple of weeks before her passing. Barely able to move & needing a lot of help to get around with that necklace in her hands to give to me. I was very touched. Having that experience during my presidency is one I'll never forget.

DISNEYLAND 2011

Disneyland is my favorite place on the planet. People think I'm joking when I say I could live their & be completely happy, but I'm not! I could!! One of these days I'll be rich enough that I'll be able to stay in Sleeping Beauty's castle for a week! Hey - a girl can dream right?! In fact, I tell Erik all the time that if I ever get to the point to do a Make a Wish event - I want to be Belle for a day. How awesome would that be?! There would be nothing cooler than watching little girls faces as they see Belle walk up first hand!

Anyway, enough of my crazy ramblings. We were lucky enough to go to Disneyland again in December. It's turned into a little tradition to go with our friends the Paez's from Vegas. This year the Linford's came, too! We left early on Wednesday morning the 1st, checked in & went straight over to Disneyland. No messing around for us!!

It was nice this year. Since our girls are older now - we didn't spend all of our time looking for characters. We even did rides we've never done before! Such as, the Storybook ride with miniature models of characters homes. That was a fun one to us! Slow paced, but crazy how they build those. Mr. Toad's home is in the collage below.

Day 3 - Friday - was the day the Paez's were able to meet us. Thanks to them we had quite the memorable experience most people don't have. Wendy, the mom, is obsessed with Mary Poppins. She has passed that love down to her daughter Jenny & now her 2 girls Lorelie & Payton. So much so that they had dresses to look just like Mary. They are bigger Disney fanatics than us, by far! And every time they go they look for Mary & take pictures with her. This time they made a book for Mary with all the pictures that was way cute! They knew when she would come out & we waited for her to come out. When She & Bert appeared they were floored to see two little girls dressed just like Mary. Then, Wendy presented her with the book & she started to tear up.

She was so touched that she took us on a little journey. She took us to meet a few princesses - cutting us to the front of the lines every time. In fact, there was a 60 min. wait to meet Rapunzel & she took us in the back way of the cottage & got us right in. It was crazy!! She had to leave for awhile & we were on our way with a plan to meet her again later. From their everywhere we went characters knew who those little girls were. Apparently, Mary had talked about them backstage to everyone. Mary said that she sees girls dressed up all the time, but never like her. These little girls made her day!

Mary does a show in front of the castle where they sing "Supercalafragalisteexpeallidocious" (something like that) & she told us where to go & pulled the girls into the show. Jay got to participate & was quite the ham. What amazed me was the time they spent with us. Especially just the walking around & talking with the girls. I love the photo on the bottom left of her & Jay talking & the one on the right with Lorelie in the air & everyone skipping. It was just too fun!!

Besides this - the Paez's are always a joy to be with! They are so good to our girls & our girls just adore all of them! We miss the a ton!

Unfortunately, this could be our last time for awhile. Since I went back to work I had to quit my Disney job. Therefore, no more free tickets every 6 months. SAD, SAD, DAY!! Because of this I took a million pictures of little details. I love, love, love the Haunted Mansion ride! Especially during Christmas time when it's The Nightmare Before Christmas. If I could, I would decorate like that ride. I would kill to have that carriage in my yard! (Minus the pumpkins.)

HALLOWEEN 2010

Halloween was a lot of fun this year at our house! I even took the time to make something for Kylie's class party.....

Not to mention make this banner that I had brewin' in my head.....

And we can't forget our door decoration. We've had this silly skeleton thing for years. We've named him "Bones". This was the first year that Kylie didn't cry when we put him up!!

The funnest part is always the parties! We were in town this year to be invited to the annual Hammond party. We had a lot of fun visiting with friends & eating YUMMY soup. EmmaLee even orders the cutest pumpkin bread bowls. We had Mr. Clean & his maid in attendance. Their entourage included a ninja, Iron Man & the cutest Wonder Woman you've ever seen! Then, we had H.I. McDunnough & Edwina from Raising Arizona. (Quite the show stopper - they were hilarious!) There entourage had a witch, prisoners & the most darling Cindy Lou Who! We also had more prisoners in attendance with Alice in Wonderland & a Vampiress. One of my favorites, though, was EmmaLee's mom & her bumble bee costume she made. It was awesome! After attending their ward Trunk or Treat we came back to homemade donuts & lots of candy trading!

Next, was our ward Trunk or Treat. Which we have never attended. It was fun & Erik even got guy time with Luke. Their picture fully deserved the "BFFL" tag. I felt the need to dress up my costume this time because it was the biggest tent of a costume ever! It may have looked more dumb, but at least I didn't feel like a house. And I just couldn't resist taking a pic of our newest bishopric member dressed as Superman & his princess wife. Too cute! I also love the pic of my girls walking with Juliet. Priceless!

However, my favorites of the night are the following two where it looks like my girls are taking off with peoples kids. Especially Kylie's! This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Her face is classic & totally looks like she's taking this child!!


Lastly, was the Smith-Hallows gang party. Everyone who didn't show up in costume had to take a pic with the silly noses. I was tired of my silly costume by this time, hence the nose. The Rubbles stole the show at this party! As well as the Flower Child. And yet again, another picture of Erik cuddling with other males. (I can't even tell you how many of these we have. Or pics of him with other wives just to confuse people. That could be a whole other post.) Anyway, Halloween also brings Steele's birthday, so it was a perfect time to celebrate! He received some hair gel & made the best mohawk on Max!

CABIN

Thanks to us bidding on the "Cabin Weekend With The Wiscombe's" item at the YW fundraiser we were able to have a quick getaway to a cabin. It couldn't have come at a better time. The previous week was a really crazy week. That may even be an understatement! It was so nice to get away - even for a night. To spend time with friends & just relax.

And relax we did! Erik & I had a hard time staying awake. We felt like the laziest people on the planet. We were beyond exhausted from our week. The girls had a blast playing with the Wiscombe kids. We should have just called it the gathering of the cutest kids on the planet. Because, it basically was!

Fun times included:
**Rummikub on the porch while it rained (Gorgeous!!)
**Watching Stardust (Ok - Erik & I slept through it.)
**Eating of yummy food
**Watching the kids be silly
**Me getting to hold a sleeping baby
**Enjoying cooler weather
**NO CELL PHONE SERVICE!!
**Being with friends

Thanks again Wiscombe's! We had a blast & hope we weren't too boring for you while we slept! ;)

FRIENDS

Last Saturday night we went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory with some of my friends. My Friend Melanie (aka Mel #1) came into town from Roswell, NM. It's always a blast to get together & laugh about old times.

The Girls.... (Mel #1, Heidi, Mel #2, Melissa, Jennifer)

The Whole Gang....

June 14th

OK - actually the next two pictures are from another time. I just posted them here. This is our excitement for finally completing the dang Rubix Cube!! It took Erik a couple of days of really studying the patterns to complete his. Now, he's pretty fast. It took me about an hour in the car while driving to Vegas. (I mean while Erik was driving.) At least now we can say we've done it. Even if it took us 25 years longer than the rest of the world!





Now, back to the itinerary. Sunday morning we woke up to the Dave & Wendy making us a wonderful breakfast. We then had to say good bye. In hopes that our plans for Disneyland will work out!! After we left their house we drove a whole 5 minutes to visit some other friends. Jessica & Ana. We met Jess & Ana when we first moved to Vegas. Kylie & Ana were just babies. They've been close ever since. Even since we've moved they still consider themselves close friends while other kids have forgotten about Kylie. Jess didn't tell Ana we were coming, so she did a double take when she answered the door. It was funny! Here's the rugrats....

Of course, a funny face picture had to come with this bunch!!

Jess made us a YUMMY lunch & was nice enough to let us hang out for a few hours! This is another family we really miss. Around 5pm we decided to make the trek home. We made it home safely & were glad to be in our own beds! Now, my trip is over. REJOICE!! The posts are now at an end! We had a lot of fun & packed a lot in in two weeks. Now, it's time for reality - UGH!!

June 13th

Saturday marked the end of our Utah journey with mixed emotions. We were sad for it to be done, but beyond ready to be in our own home again! Although, the fun doesn't end just yet! We drove down to Vegas to visit some old friends. There are times when we really miss Vegas & our friends. We definitely took life their for granted! As always, we stopped to eat lunch at our favorite place...FAUSTO'S!! We were a little early to meet our friends, so we ate it in the back of the truck in a parking lot! HA!! How ghetto is that?!

We then met up with the Paez family! Seriously - they are the BEST family ever! We're so lucky to call them frineds. We went to see the movie "UP" at Sunset Station. We loved it! We even shed a tear. And when I say "we" I mean Erik, too. Yep, I saw him shed a tear as well in a Disney movie - just so you all know!! It was so cute. Some lady a couple of seats from me was balling & her daughter just kept laughing at her. It was quite hilarious actually!

After the movie we went to our usual with the Paez family - Macayo's.

Then, it was back to their abode to play a little ROCK BAND. You haven't seen anything until you've seen Dave Paez sing his heart out! It was great!!

Everyone got a kick out of our girls singing their hearts out as well. Maybe it was because their favorite song to sing is "The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars. Call me crazy, but it's silly!

The night ended for the girls with Amanda reading a bedtime story with them. Amanda is truly one of the coolest girls I know. She rocks!!

After the kiddos were in bed the adults watched "The Holiday". That was the first time I've seen it - very cute. Then, sadly, it was time for bed.

LASER TAG

Saturday night we were invited to go play laser tag with a bunch of other couples. (Thanks Nikki for setting it all up!) We had a blast! It was a much needed fun night out. Chad & Shelley came as well which made it all the more fun. We were able to play 2 rounds. I forget sometimes how tall my husband is. Especially since we know so many other tall people & some make him look small, but he looks like a giant in this picture.

Here's our standings out of over 50 people....

Round 1:

Erik got 22nd

I got 31st

Round 2:

Erik got 25th

I got 10th - WOOHOO!!

"SYRA"

I don't have a picture to go with the post because I don't have a scanner & I almost didn't write anything because of that. But, I just couldn't let this day go by without mentioning my wonderful friend Sarah (aka "Syra"). She was one of my best friends in High School & she was killed in a car wreck on this day in 1995. It's hard to believe that it has been 13 years. I think of her daily & I miss her terribly. Her death was extremely hard for me & I remember being consoled by her dad at her viewing.

Sarah was a very fun person. I'm not sure how else to explain it. Everyone loved her - she truly had the best personality. Not to mention that she was gorgeous!! She had beautiful, long blonde hair that everyone envied. She was always the "life of the party" because she was not shy in the least. I still find myself screaming in my car as I drive by an elementary school off of Baseline (we had strange homecoming dates their & it was tradition to scream in the car whenever we passed it) or wanting to buy a "Mystic" fruit drink when I drive by 7-Eleven (they don't even make those anymore).

My daughter Kylie was given Sarah's middle name of Ann. It is a topic Kylie & I talk about a lot & how lucky she is to be named after such an awesome person. I'm so thankful to have the gospel in my life & to know the truth. I can't imagine living & thinking that I would never see her again. If that would have been the case 13 years ago I would not be here. In fact, it was going through this tough time that my testimony really blossomed. I can't wait for the day to see her beautiful smile again.

I love & miss you Sarah!
Love - "Mail-butt-knee" (that's a story for another day)