Jumping through Yellowstone

Happy Birthday Rainee

Well today is Rainee's birthday and because she isn't 29 any more, I won't tell you how old she is. This is an old picture of Nate and Rainee but she reminded me of the Gerber baby when she was little. She has these beautiful blue eyes and has the cutest smile.

She has always been a smart kid and excelled in school in everything, her goals were to become an international business lawyer and she graduated with her Bachelors degree in economics in 3 years. In the meantime she met Doug and he wanted to study law and they thought about having 2 attorneys in the family but then when the boys started coming they decided that one lawyer in the family was enough.

She is a great Mom to 4 very lively cute little boys and she has been running at full speed since becoming a Mom. She loves her little boys and is always making life so fun for them. She is a great cook and has made some pretty spectacular cakes for their birthdays.(Who is going to make your spectacular cake?)

We love Rainee and her enthusiasm for life she is a great example to those around her and we are glad that she decided on becoming a Mom instead of her international career. Have a very Happy Day! and hopefully a little rest on your special day!!!

Singing Sunday

Tydon and Kace came up to visit and we were able to hear Tydon sing "I am a child of God." We also were presented a great rendition of " I am your sunshine" from Kace, he also sang, I think the name is "Rinky Dink". Here they are for your listening pleasure.

Happy Birthday DAD!!

Today is my Dad's birthday believe it or not he is 76 years old! I just want to tell you a little about what a great man he is. He is kind of a quiet fellow but will let you know the important things in life. He is the father of 6 kids, 5 daughters and 1 son. I grew up in the gym with him as he was a coach for many years. He taught school and then retired when he was 45 years old and bought a herd of sheep and never worked harder in his life. He is a great example to us all and we love him dearly. This was a picture of him and Mom walking down our canyon a few weeks ago at the egg hunt. What a great example of a husband he is.

He loves family events and we enjoy his stories and he has always made everything fun for his grandchildren.

I have always loved this picture, we were on a camping trip in Wyoming with all of us and as you can see the babies were not having a great day but look at his face, that's my Dad! By the way the 2 babies are Mac and Colter.

He loves his grandchildren and his grandchildren love him! a ride on the horse was a great treat and I think he has had a horse for almost as long as any of the grandchildren can remember. Caitlin and Morgan are having a ride in this picture.

He loves to fish and hunt and he is usually the winner of the big fish contest and who can't visit grandpa without visiting his fish pond.

I had to put these 2 pictures in because he has always had sheep or helped my Grandpa Marriott with his. To let you know what great shape he is in, he has sheared the sheep that he has at the house until this year. He decided maybe he would hire someone to do it for him this year and even with the help he was still down there bagging all of the wool for the shearer.

Another picture of fish, I think all of us have at least one picture of us with grandpa and fish. Ryan had his picture taken with him this day.

We love to visit Grandpa! Here is Nate, Isaac, Erik, Mel, and Bennett at Grandpa's House.

Remember the pet contest with the Great Pyrenees puppies, of course Caitlin and Karli were the able to show them and win a blue ribbon. I think those two could start a shelter for animals and love every animal they took in.

Here is a picture of him with Carolyn, Donene, and Frank. Isn't he just the most handsome man!

A picture of him in high school, no wonder so many girls had crushes on him.

He is a great athlete, I say is because he not only was a great athlete as a youth but has been for his whole life. He still coached the young men in basketball this year and had a phenomenal season.

Here is the heart breaker again. Dad, Grandpa we love you and you have been such a great part of our lives and every memory we have of you has been so great. You have shared your strong testimony with us and love the Lord, you served your country, you have served your fellowman, served 2 missions and you have served all of us. We can't ask for a better Dad and we want to honor you this day. Happy Birthday DAD! We love you!!

Time for Soccer!

It is that time of year and how fun is it to watch a soccer game. Kace has started back up and just since last year I can see that it is starting to be more than just a "picking dandelions game". It is amazing when the light comes on in little guys and girls minds and how they finally start figuring out how to play the game, (there are still some dandelion pickers but not as many as last year.) Kace loves to play, (I should say he likes to play all kinds of games), and he is fun to watch. Way to go Kace, you would make your soccer playing relatives proud!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here is some pictures with all of us and the one below is of my mom and I in Puerto Rico.

I just wanted to wish my wonderful mother a very happy day. Sometimes I wonder how she ever did it having 6 kids in 7 years. She did a great job in raising us and because of her I am here on this beautiful earth. She is a wonderful person and friend and supports her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren in all that we do. I love you Mom and am so glad that you are my Mom here on earth.

A video of the shoe fettish kid

Here is a video of cute Tydon and his shoes!

Shoes for her Birthday

We celebrated Caitlin's birthday on Friday and I kind of have to explain these pictures. Caitlin loves shoes, (she must be related to me!) Her gift from Rachel, Nate, Mac and Jessica was the pair of shoes in the top left hand corner of the above picture. When Tydon saw those brand new heels he was all excited to try them on so he pulled off his shoes and tried walking on the stilts. Pretty soon we couldn't get the shoes off of him so Jessica went and got some of her heels for him to play in. Then Mac had to get his "special shoes" on and it was the night of the "SHOES". It was so funny to watch Tydon's face as he walked around so seriously with his sparkly shoes on.

My baby is 20!!!

Today Caitlin said that being 20 makes her feel old, well how do you think I feel when today my baby turns 20 years old! It has gone by very quickly for me but as I get older everything seems to be going faster. Well Happy Birthday baby girl, you came into this world at only 5lbs. 10 oz. and you stayed in your newborn clothes for a whole year! So I really did enjoy having a baby for a whole year. Rainee and Mel thought you were their baby doll and you grew up with 3 mothers, well now you have 6 because you are the youngest I think everyone will be your mom.

WE are glad that you came into our family and loved having a baby in the house.

You were about 3 1/2 months in this photo and you were still smaller than the baby doll.
This was the day you were blessed and you had a cute little smile on your face, of course the dress was much bigger than you.

The only way I could get you to take a picture was to bring the kitty with us and then you wouldn't let it go or you would cry so we took the photo with the kitty.

This dress was made by Rainee and Sharlene for their senior humanitarian project and they really made it to fit on a doll but it fit you so they had you come to Weber High and model it. You were quite the sight sauntering down the halls, this little midget walked down the hall and the crowds just parted as walked by.

Your first day of school when you entered first grade.

Happy Birthday Caitlin you are 20 years old today!

We love you!!

Lincoln , Oh how cute!

I have been able to tend this sweet little boy,(can you call boys sweet?) Well he is and has the cutest little personality. While watching him we had to have a photo shoot. His Mom is working hard trying to finish her degree at USU and we are all happy that she is almost finished!! Yea! Mary! You did it! even though you had cute little Lincoln right in the middle of your last semester. We are so happy that you persevered and was able to finish even though you had to take him to class at times. My admiration goes to you for working so hard and accomplishing your goal!

Easter Egg Hunt!

We had the Easter Egg hunt on Saturday and it was a beautiful day! After having a big snowstorm a couple days before I wasn't sure if we would be able to get up the canyon. With the help of the plow truck (with chains) we were able to make it up and have our traditional egg hunt.
We also celebrated my birthday and of course our anniversary because it was April the 18Th! The weather was one of the nicest days we have had this year and I actually felt like spring was coming. I will soon have to have my breakfast with the daffodils.

Grandma and Grandpa Shaw came to celebrate with us and it was so fun visiting with them, we did miss the East and West coast kids but it brought back great memories from last year when every single one of us were here! It was such a fun time.

As you can see by this bottom picture we exhausted Tydon, he really had it figured out this year and was one of the best egg finders! Oh, the memories of our traditional egg hunt!

34 Years!

The love of my life
My friend
My companion
My Eternal companion
The Father of my children
My life

Yes, it has been 34 years, but the best 34 years of my life. Oh yes, we have had our trials and dis agreements but that is part of married life and without them I wouldn't know how good it is now. Thanks, Ryan for putting up with me, I love you!! We are leaving to go to the temple now where it all started 34 years ago today.

happy birthday Donene!

On Saturday (I am not sure how Kace knew it was your birthday coming up, but somehow he did) and we were all outside cleaning up. Kace asked me to come over to the patio where he was writing with sidewalk chalk. This is what he wrote............

If you can't tell it says (you may have to blow it up),
"Happy Birthday Granma
love Kace and Ty
You are the best granma in the world!"
That last part got cut off.

We hope you have a happy birthday and are so grateful for you and all you do for us. We are so happy that you are our mom and grandma!

We love you Donene!

"older than dirt"...

There was an old woman who has a birthday today.

Hopefully the taxes are done, and she can go out and play.

She has so many children so far away,

we wish we could be there to enjoy the day.

She has given us so much,

and is always there when we're in a crunch.

She will never know how much she means to us all,

but we hope on this day that she will have a grand ball.

We love you Mom, and hope that you have a wonderful day. You have always been there for all of us, no matter how busy you may have been. You are an example to all, and such a gifted and talented woman. I wish we could be closer to spend some time with you today, but know that we love you and couldn't ask for a better Mom and Grandma!!

Are you Scared?

Kace loves to put these masks on but Tydon is not too sure about it. I guess if you are scared though just start giggling and then it will be all better.

Easter Walk 2009

We started a tradition a few years ago that we would go on an Easter walk in the afternoon of Easter. It is always fun to see what new spring growth is starting and if it is nice day it is just nice to get out in the sunshine,(it was a great day this year and there was lots of sunshine and of course the dogs had to come too.) Last year if I remember right we hiked up the mountain and slid down the snow on our coats. Ryan wanted to check out the spring at the top of the canyon and as we got close we could hear the water, (almost a roar.) The pond was full and the pond below was full and had broken through. There was lots of little bits of green showing through the dirt and I even found some choke cherries budding. We also checked out the cliff rocks and had a fun time looking down the canyon. What beautiful creations God has made for us, it was a beautiful Easter day.

I love yellow ...

This just totally makes me anxious for Spring. Someday I will have breakfast outside with the daffodils!

Evan's ABC song

When we were in Salt Lake last Saturday, Evan came to us all excited to sing his ABC song. He had several renditions of this and we simply loved Cowboy Duke's version of the ABC song.

I love General Conference

On Saturday we went to Salt Lake to General Conference to attend the morning session. We were meeting Rainee, Doug, Carson and Doug's parents so that we could all be together. Rainee had decided that it would be fun to go and since Doug's Dad is being released as Stake President in May she thought she should take advantage of the tickets. Carson turned 8 in February so he would be able to attend for the first time. We were able to get some tickets as well and Jessica and Mac had obtained tickets for the afternoon session. Jessica and Mac attended Jessica's missionary reunion in Orem on Friday so they thought they would work their way back to Salt Lake and go to a session on Saturday. When they found out we were going to go to the morning session they thought it would be more fun to go with us. We were unable to find one more ticket so they could come but I thought if they tried to get one in the standby line they might have a chance. At the last minute on Saturday morning they decided to brave the cold and stand in line but when they were walking to the conference center there was a man who was trying to get any extra tickets any one was willing to give up. Well they had 2 tickets to the afternoon session so they told him they had 2 but needed 1 for the morning session. He had a ticket so they traded and they met us at the conference center. It was just so great to have all of us together and we were able to sit and partake of the beautiful spirit that is in that building. The witness you receive when the Tabernacle Choir sings is so strong and powerful that it is truly amazing. The talks were just as powerful and it is such an uplift when conference is over (I love the feeling that you can pretty much conquer anything).

After the session we went to Doug's sister's and had lunch with his family. Mac and Dad were also able to get tickets to go to the Priesthood session that evening and attend with Doug and the men in his family. We dropped off Mac and Dad and seeing the "Army of Helaman" congregate in one building is really a sight to see as they walked towards the Conference Center. We went shopping at the Gateway while they were in the Priesthood session. We were going to pick them up afterwards. The story of getting through the traffic to pick them up is now hilarious but at the time it was quite stressful. We were going to meet them at 3rd East and South Temple.We were driving and when we got just past the Conference Center there were about 3 fire engines with flashing lights and firemen were directing traffic off of South Temple and up into the Avenues. We started driving up the hill and went into a DEAD END! We turned around and went up the next street and it also was a DEAD END! After the 3rd DEAD END and passing the same cars a couple of times we decided that the only way out was the way we came in. We could not figure out what the firemen were thinking directing traffic into a DEAD END! When we got back to where the firemen were they had opened the road back up so we went back the way we had intended to go in the first place! Well because we weren't where we were supposed to be of course Mac and Dad kept walking and we played try to find Mac and Dad for 15 minutes. To increase our frustration they had also put their phones on vibrate so they couldn't hear the phones ringing and we were driving around trying to figure out where they would be. I guess we could call this Drama the"Comedy of Errors" or maybe we should call it the "Keystone Firemen", since they were running around directing traffic up 3 DEAD ENDS. We made it back safe and sound to our hotel and the rest of the evening was much less stressful.

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast and drove up to Liberty to listen to conference at Grandma and Grandpa Shaw's and visit with all of the family. It was a great day and after listening to Conference I feel so motivated to do more, be better, and endure to the end. I love it!

Does it look like Spring????

This last Monday and Tuesday we watched ( well I should say Caitlin watched them but they stayed at our house) Tydon and Kace while Nate and Rachel were in Tuscon. I know their weather did not look like this! I took these pictures of them Monday afternoon while they had fun sledding on the hill. It looks like the middle of winter to me.