Birthday Buddies

Birthday party all day and all night.

Grandpa & Nicole share the same birthday, they are birthday buddies. This year we celebrated Grandpa, Nicole, Marty and Chelsey's birthday & our cousin Josh's.


Nicole turns five!

Lots of birthday fun!

Celebrating Chelsey

Chelsey Lynn celebrated her 19th yr on this earth 9 days ago. I hope she had a fabulous birthday. This is a big year for her because she is getting to be a "big girl". She keeps telling us that she doesn't want t be a "big girl", but I know that she will do great! Look at that little ANGEL.
I hope you have a wonderful time away at college! It is going to be a great experience for you! And I can't wait to hear all your stories!

Harry Potter Night

Friday Night we went to Harry Potter. I insisted that we be there early because I was sure that there would be a long line to get in...well until about 6:30 we were the only ones there. Oops! At least it gave everyone plenty of time to get snacks and we had our choice of seats. We had 20 people with us...I think...let me count...Me, Chris, Sara, Paul, Chelsey, Jacob, John, Tony, Rachel, Mom, Dad, Laura, Torri, Jordan, Kate, Westy, Marty, Lisa, Alex & Josh. Yep, 20! It was a lot of fun. We came back to the house and had rootbeer floats!

Another work day

I had to work again on Thurs. but I was able to get off early. We (Marty, Me, Josh, Alex, Rachel, and Lisa...cuz she is felling better) spent more time in the pool. Later that evening Grandma & Grandpa joined us for a little dip in the hot tub and some BBQ!

A Lazy Summer Watching the Clouds go by...

Destination Relaxation!

(I can't wait to see Marty's pictures she took a lot of great ones of the kids in the pool!)

Tuesday sun & fun

Tuesday we swam and Laura, Russ, Kate & Westy came over. I must have left the camera some where else because I did not get a single picture of this day. We had fun though. Russ brought over Cafe Rio....YUM! And we spent nearly all afternoon in the pool. The kids were jumping, sliding swimming and just having a great time. We visited and visited.

Summer fun

These are the beautiful flowers that Marty brought me. We got to enjoy them together all week!

Nothing but Heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend. (Plautus)

I would say nothing but Heaven itself is better than a sister who is really a friend.

Family fun...

On Tues. evening we went to see Clint, Amanda, Brooklyn, Noah & Emery. Emery is getting so big. He is weighing over 9 pounds now. He is starting on solid foods, with help from the speach therapists. He is a happy baby. He loves to smile. He loves to sit up and watch everyone. He recognizes his mom & dad's voices and he also recognizes Brook & Noah's voices. Brook loves to kiss him all over his face, and Emery rubs the kisses in...just like all the boys ;)

So far behind

Last year Marty & her family were able to come visit for a week. It was soooo much fun that I started asking Marty around Christmas time if she would come again and spend a week or so just hanging out and visiting and doing fun "sister stuff"! I got her to agree (probably at a weak moment during planning Emily's wedding). We originally had planned for her to stay for 10 days. It got cut some on the front end and the back end but it was fun to have her while I could. And we squeezed as much fun as we could into those days!

Marty is a sweet person who always finds the good in others. It is a joy to be around her, she so good at giving unconditional love! She is always giving me compliments, in a way that almost makes me start to believe them. I loved our visit, I was a little selfish and didn't really want to share her but I did a little! The next few blogs will be about the things we did while she was here.

Here are more pictures from our session with Jeanna Hayes.

In June we had family pictures taken by Jeanna Hayes. Thanks Jeanna. www.jeannahayes.com

Taylor

Taylor Lee Bishop was born on July 11, 1995 @ 6:21pm

Chris tells me that she was a good baby. That is a blessing being born after twin brothers. Taylor's middle name Lee is after her Great-Grandfather Lee Bishop. He is a good man to be named after. Taylor has a strong desire to know her grandparents, which I think is a wonderful blessing for her and the grandparents. She is a happy girl most of the time. She is very intelligent. She has been involved with drama at school for many years. She did publications this year, which she really enjoyed.

She is working on her personal progress and likes the Jonas Brothers & Jay Osmond (there is a story behind that...I am sure she would love to tell). Which leads us to another fact about Taylor...she likes to talk. She has lots of stories. She is very entertaining.

Taylor has a lot of fun things she has already done this summer and many more to do. She is going on a trip with her friend. She is going to girls camp (she is a 3rd yr).

I just can't believe that she will start high school this fall! Where does time go? She was 3 years old when she came into my life, and now she is 14. Wow!

I hope you had a happy birthday Taylor!

Taylor's Birthday

There is one thing you should know about us...we like to party and we do it a lot! (Mostly because we have a lot of kids which means a lot of birthdays ;) )

Taylor's birthday party!

We celebrated Taylor's 14th birthday yesterday. She wanted a homemade cookie cake for her cake this year. I think it turned out pretty good, and she really liked it which is the most important part. We had a BBQ with hamburgers & hotdogs. Grandma Becky, Clint, Brooklyn, Noah, Grandpa Mike & Debbie joined us in celebrating. Happy Birthday Taylor!

4th of July 2009, Adventure Series Part 8

Here are some of the fireworks! This is the first time I have ever been able to get pictures of fireworks, which I think is pretty cool. We had a great little adventure and this was just the way to wrap it up! I am so grateful for my country and for the men and women who have served faithfully to help preserve our freedoms. God bless America!

4th of July 2009, Adventure Series Part 7

Stadium of Fire!!!!!

This was awesome. The host was Glen Beck, David Osmond came out had the entire audience sing the National Anthem (that was cool!)& SheDaisey performed and the headliner was the Jonas Brothers...Chelsey, Rachel & Taylor were in heaven! The fireworks were spectacular (I will add the fireworks to the next post). Marty, Preston, Lisa, Alex & Josh were there too and wanted to sit with them but the stadium filled up, so we couldn't. :(

4th of July 2009, Adventure Series Part 6

After the Parade we headed to the University Mall. The Boys went to a movie and the girl went shopping. There are some really cute stores in Utah (with modest clothes).

The next part of our adventure was dinner at the Pizza Factory (this is one of the kids favorite places to eat in Utah, because of the yummy bread sticks). We met Marty, Preston, Lisa, Josh & Alex there to have dinner with them. I had put my camera away before Marty & her crew got there.

4th of July 2009, Adventure Series Part 5

On the morning of the 4th we went to the Freedom Festival Parade in Provo. We woke up a little late but it worked out ok. We went close to the end of the parade route and found a pretty good place to watch from. John & Tony look away as soon as they realize I am taking pictures.

Jacob, Rachel & Taylor are not shy about making their way to the front.

Chelsey stayed back with us.

Paddington

There were a lot of cool floats. It was a fun parade.