I'm loving the warm weather and spring flowers!  It just makes me HAPPY and lightens my spirit.  Here are a few other things that make me happy lately:

*a cheeseburger deluxe (.99) from Wendy's  YUM

*skyping with Benson

*a long walk with a good friend

*Cody and Devan coming to visit!!!

*looking forward with a humble, prayerful heart for General Conference

*all the great music that you can download for free from youth.lds.org (made a great easy way to get good music for Jacob on a flipdrive to send him for his birthday in the mission field)

*my Mom finally coming home from the hospital

*being with extended family that make me laugh

* and of course a slightly flat cherry coke after a busy afternoon (yes, yes I know it will make my stomach hurt and I shouldn't, but just every once in a while)

Life is good and I feel incredibly blessed!

SHARE THE LOVE WITH JACOB  and send him a birthday card.  His address is on the side.  Missionaries love to get mail.

Happenings

Things have been pretty quiet around our house lately.  We've had a few events though to share.

Jory took his 11 year old scouts camping last Friday night. They just went to Willow Park in Lehi.  The weather was gorgeous and they all had a very fun time including Camron.  Camron always likes to tag along with Jory on the activities since the boys are just a year older than him.  Jory said they stayed up late and were up again early in the morning running around.  When Camron got home I asked him to go tidy up his room.  We never saw him again for a very long time.  I took this picture of him collapsed on his bed snoring.  He slept for a good 3 hours.  I didn't take a picture of Jory taking his nap later on in the day snoring. :) Hooray for being able to run and play outdoors in the warm weather!

 Last Tuesday in Dallen's soccer game he went up to head butt a ball and ended up in a three man collision.  Dallen got knocked over hard only to have another boy land on top of his head.  The other boy ended up breaking a couple of ribs when he landed on Dallen and Dallen ended up with a concussion.  Due to strict concussion policies in High School sports Dallen has not been able to play until yesterday.  He could only kick the ball around a little bit, but today if all is well per the trainer, Dallen will be able to go back to full practice again.  He is very excited about that!  Last week was also the end of the quarter.  Dallen had several homework projects due.  Because he wasn't suppose to strain his eyes or brain for the first day after he was hurt that meant we got to help with homework. Jory read the rest of his English book while Dallen kept his eyes closed and listened for answers to the questions.  By the end of the week we were all very happy that the quarter was over.  Dallen was happy to find his comfy spot on the couch and hibernate the entire weekend.

Hip Hip Hooray for Dallen

Dallen hasn't quit smiling since he made the High School Soccer team.  He put in a lot of hard work to prepare for the try-outs.  Staying after school to condition with the team and play almost every night since January.  His hard work paid off for him.  HOORAY!!  He is on the JV team and plays quite a bit.  So far they are undefeated.  He continues to put in a lot of hard work, staying for practices every night after school until six.  They also play 2 games a week through May.  The first game Jory and I went to, I thought we would freeze to death.  I hope warm weather is coming to stay for the rest of the games!   The best part of Dallen making the team is all the good friends that he has met.  They seem to be a bunch of really great guys.  They enjoy being together at practice, team dinners twice a week and on the bus back & forth to games.  They probably see more of each other than they do of their own family, so I'm glad they are good!  As Dallen was at a party with the soccer team I teasingly text to remind him that he can't be a dumb jock now - Here's to Dallen making continued good choices and remembering what he stands for!  Love ya Bud
We are Proud of You!

5 Generation Picture

Poor Nana was still so sick when we went to see her. She really wanted to see and hold little Benson and we wanted to be with her. We quickly snapped this five generation picture. BreeAnn got a cute little video of Nana holding and talking with Benson. I told BreeAnn that it is so amazing that as old and sick as Nana was it was very important for her to be able to hold Benson. She has held so many babies throughout the years, Nana's posterity is well over 200. But each one is priceless to her. I love Nana, she continues to inspire me! Family is the best. Benson is VERY blessed to be surrounded by so much love!

Baby Blessing & Birthday Fun

We were sooooo beyond excited that the Butterfield's decided to come visit for a week during Bret's school break. Jory as well as the other boys were glad to hold and love on Benson.

Sunday was Camron's actual birthday. He is totally against receiving clothes for Christmas or his birthday. This is how excited he was to receive a new white shirt as a gift!

We celebrated Camron and Cody's birthday as well as Benson's blessing. It was so fun to be together as family and acknowledge three awesome guys. Cody ordered beef and potatoes for dinner and Camron just wanted brownies, ice cream and hot fudge, YUM

Benson is the best baby and pretty darn cute! The beautiful white afghan or blanket was made by his great, great grandmother, or Nana as we call her. Twenty-three years ago Nana made this with love for BreeAnn and I wrapped her in it on her blessing day. BreeAnn can now wrap each of her children in it on their blessing day. Benson is Nana's 47th great, great grandchild. We were so hoping that Nana could make it to the blessing. Grandma and Grandpa brought her up from Cedar City to be here, but she was just too sick. When you are 100 years old, that is bound to happen. We are glad she is feeling better now.

Camron was very excited to receive more Lego's from Cody and Devan as a birthday present.

The day wasn't quite complete without our missionary Jacob. We took this picture to email to him so he knows that he is definitely loved and missed. We are so proud of him and the great service he is doing in Argentina.

How did we end up with all these boys? I sure love them! What awesome men they are and are becoming! Benson will have plenty of good righteous men to show him how to navigate life and surround him in love!

More February Fun

One sunny Saturday afternoon we took a ride up to the cabin just to check on it. That is code for Jory wants to get away for an outing. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time snowmobiling in. We park at a large parking lot at the top of Fairview canyon and then snowmobile in about 7 miles to our cabin. Because there wasn't much snow it made for easy snowmobiling. We shoveled off the decks and Camron enjoyed setting his Lego's up in the wood pile pretending to have a war. It was the perfect Saturday outing.

Camron's 10th Birthday Party

Camron had a choice between having a birthday party and receiving only a few presents or not having a party and getting a few more presents. He chose to have the party and even enjoyed planning out where he wanted it and price checked things for me. I'm glad he went for the party. It turned out really fun. He decided he wanted to go to Boondock's with 5 friends. All the boys must have known Camron well because they all gave him Lego's for a present. He has had so much fun putting them all together and playing with them!!. We now have a banquet table set up in the basement family room for him to display them all on and play with them.

I thought the boys would enjoy using their tokens to play the shooting or driving games. NO --- they mostly wanted to play the games were you earned tickets to buy toys with. They would get so excited when the game would spit out tickets. Jory and I had a great time watching them run around having fun. They did do one simulated rollercoaster ride and about laughed themselves to death.

I've never done a paid party before. I'm of the old age where you usually just get together and play games and have cake and ice cream. I must say that I quite enjoyed myself and the lack of stress involved in letting someone else do it!

President's Day Tradition with G&G

We had a lot of fun up American Fork Canyon at Mutual Dell on President's Day.  My mom and dad reserve it every year for us to get together with extended family.  There was plenty of snow this year so the kids really enjoyed playing outside.  They tried every corner of the huge property and ended up spending most of their time in the amphitheater.  The benches and stairs were covered just enough in snow to make a great area to snowboard and sled down.  Inside we enjoyed tons of great food and playing games.  A family favorite is always Ticket to Ride.  Dallen tried out some great snowboarding moves and lived to tell about it after a few falls.  

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great time!!