birthday girl

Avery turned 4! this week. Here she is bright and early in the morning ready to rip open her presents.

We had a princess tea party with a few little girls from the ward. Cupcakes anyone?

Where has the time gone? What happened to the chubby, squishy hands? the toddling? naptime? At least she still says cute things like, "it was an askident mom," or "can i take my babies a bath?" i'm holding on to these early years like madonna to her youth, only i guess i'll be more mature and eventually let her grow. Happy Birthday Avery!

Oh captain, my captain....

Annelisa tagged me in a photo tag! I was supposed to select the 4th photo in my 4th folder. i didn't even know i had that many folders, but mike helped me find it and now he is sorry he did. A little background, this picture is NOT SERIOUS!! Mike had just joined the army, and he and his good buddy Jeff from Louisville always grow a mustache with handlebars the week of BYU vs. Wyoming. It is sort of a mocking nod to the cowboys. The army only allows its soldiers to have a mustache, so mike had to resort to a handleless look. This was taken two years ago in Oklamhoma. We were laughing at how hard core army mike looked with his 'stache and decided to joke around and take some pictures. oh, i love a man in uniform.

Ode to Emilee

I think if you're lucky enough to have survived to the ripe old age of 30, you have some people to thank. i mean really people, death is just a needle prick away. we gotta soak it up while we can. you never now when time is up. i recently had the privilege of turning tri-denta if you will and upon the realization that old is now a discriptive word one could use when speaking of me, i became somewhat of a reflective person. Basically i started off feeling sorry for myself and decided to delete the negative and insert the positive by remembering some of the good things that have occured in my 30 years of living. one really good reason i've managed to make it thus far is because of my wonderful childhood best friend Emilee.

She was the kind of doting friend that never gave up on my sorry ole' hide. She stuck up for me and stuck to me and is the reason various good decisions were made rather than the inticing, but poisonous alternatives.

Em recently held a contest on her blog inviting readers to submit fascinating stories for a chance at an equally fascinating prize. I submitted something kinda lame, but thought i would share with you all one of my childhood memories courtesy of dear em. we spent much of our time trying to be mischievous and it was well worth the effort. besides the idea we once had of somehow leaving a trial of lilacs behind us wherever we went, this is one of our more important moments.

When i was a young' un growing up in a very small town, a fascinating product began to be distributed by the all important vendor of necessary kid items such as hello kitty chapstick and penny candies (since extinct). This newfangled contraption was known as a "water wienie" basically is was a length of rubber tubing in which one attached a plastic insert that resembled an empty pen. it also came with a little screw in lid that attatched to outside water spigots and allowed the lucky owner to fill the rubber tubing with precious water (only in times of plenty) and roam around the little town looking for victims. Em and I had been victims before, mostly of her brothers and my nieghbors the villianous trio of brothers who liked very much to bother us on occasion. Anyway pennies were saved and earned, tubing was bought and filled and me and em were out on the town looking for our own victims. We didn't get very far. At the bottom of my hill lived a lovely old lady and her somewhat crusty husband. They very innocently went for a drive in a nice shiny car and happened to pass us just as our mission began. Em looked at me with burning in her eyes, i looked back with a mix of horror and anticipation, and em let it fly on the silver Cadillac. We erupted with glee and sent squirts of victory into the air. said glee was short lived as the crusty ole owner abruptly stopped his shiny wheels, through 'er in park and stalked back to yell at two extremely careless, helpless, and harmless little girls. Those wienies instantly lost their cache. defeated we shuffled back home where we hid from the surety that our all knowing mothers would learn of our escapades and march us over to apologize. i think our hiding was in vain. i don't remember any further repercussions. although i am sure many a toddler was spared a good soaking by two well armed 9 year olds.

dearest em, i cherish all those memories, you are simply a hero of mine. my first 18 years benefited greatly from you. thank you for your bravery.

Lawrence Welk

Remember the good old days when SNL was funny?
thank-you Kristyn Wiig for making me laugh again, it's been awhile.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/the-lawrence-welk-show/727501/

a day in the life of Jace

avery sat down to paint today, and her good buddy jace was not having it. he wanted in on the fun. I gave him some damp water colors, a brush, and some paper and he was pretty busy for a good 20 minutes! only he was painting his hands and face and not his paper. Also today we decided to deshagg, and demop, his top. 1 peanut butter cup, 1 sucker and 10 skittles later we came up with our regular little judi boy haircut. how sad to say goodbye to his goldish locks! oh but isn't he handsome.

"my name is paul, and i play the guitar."

yes, he can make grown women swoon.

i should be folding laundry

Well the family has come and gone again.

"let me explain. no there is to much let me sum up."

it was a great weekend full of food, hiking, baptizing, confirming, laughing, coughing, stuffy noses, and my yearly allotment of tears. pictures are better than words. here ya go.

ps. can anyone tell me what movie that quote is from? i think the first one to tell me should get a prize.



my 81 year old grandmother, Dawn, hiked four miles with us and beat me to the car. ya, she's spry like that.
The reward: the Eagle River.

Mike and his Dad, Vaughn

Our family after the baptism. my mascara mysteriously melted.....

Quinton and his Dad

Haley and Grandma, she gave an excellent talk at the baptism! Thanks marianne!


Quinton and Avery at the beginning of the hike, looking for salmon.

This old cottonwood tree along the iditarod trail is called the "grandfather tree"

this picture should be hanging on the wall.

Grandma Cassie and Austin bringing up the rear.

One of many glaciers in Alaska. This one is huge.

Jace always has the best view. Grandpa Scott.

Aahhh! how adorable is that. if mike squeezes me really close i look smaller.

so sad this picture didn't turn out to well. My grandma and grandpa served a mission to the Anchorage Alaska mission 18 years ago. This was her first return trip. isn't she so cute?

Good thing that was only a summary, can you imagine how long this post would have been had i explained everything? THanks to all our guests for coming! Who would've thought 9 adults and 7 kids could all get along for three days together?

For me, it was bliss.