A Little Reminder...

 "BE KIND, FOR EVERYONE YOU MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE." -Plato

I love inspirational quotes. The one above is one of my all-time favorites, and is such a good reminder to me to step out of my own little world and realize that everyone is experiencing their own set of trials. The first time I saw this quote, it was taped to the computer monitor on my friend's work computer.When I first read it, it impacted me so greatly that I know I will never forget it. I just hope that I don't forget the principle that it's trying to teach me.

I seem to get caught up in my own little world, and my hope is that I can be a better person... a person that people can turn to in their times of trial and know that I will love them unconditionally. I've been so blessed with good family and friends who have shown me this unconditional love, a love free of judgment or criticism, and full of kindness and charity. To each of them I say thank you, thank you, thank you - a million times over.

A couple of months ago, as I was really struggling, someone told me that if you hold a pebble just a few inches from your face, it looks very large. It's not until you throw it on the ground, and amongst all of the other pebbles, you realize how small it really is. And so it is with all of our troubles in life.

Thank you, Heather, for not only posting a great quote; but for being such a beautiful example of living it. I don't get to see you gals nearly enough... and I miss you all so much!

Trevor is Growing Up - TMI

It's true... and no one knows it more than our family. I've noticed him maturing in so many ways, including the way he responds to me when I ask him to do something. More times than not it's "yes, ma'am!" and away he goes to do as I've asked. His attitude, for the most part, is really shaping up.

Mike and I have had a lot of discussions lately about how all of the kids are growing up. And yet both of us had to pick our jaws up off the floor the other day. We were innocently out in the garage working when Trevor came bounding out of the house and announced very excitedly, "Hey mom and dad, I'm really growing up! I don't mean to gross you out, but I'm growing hair on my .....!"

I pushed my palms as tight as I could onto my ears to keep from hearing anything else he might have to say on the subject, and for some reason I closed my eyes - I don't know if I thought he was actually going to show me, but I wasn't taking any chances. I also think I was screaming something to the effect of, "I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW THAT!" at the same time as Mike was yelling, "Trevor, that's totally inappropriate in front of your mother!" (Really? Would it be appropriate to tell his dad? Apparently.)

Once we all calmed down he told us, "I just want you to know that I'm becoming a MAN."
Thanks for the info, son. I think I'll just continue to be the casual observer, and let you have those conversations with your dad. It's just too traumatizing for me.

Cheater Fishin'

Have you ever taken your kids Cheater Fishin'? There's a great STOCKED POND in south Utah County that my sister knew about and decided to take the kids to a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't pass the opportunity to go take pictures. This little family owned and operated pond is complete with fishing poles, worms, guaranteed catch... and they even CLEAN the fish for you! We had so much fun and my kids are already begging to go back again!

We started by petting the dog (of course):

Then we picked poles:
And got them baited with worms:
Cast the lines:
And put on our fishin' faces:

Katy had the first catch of the day. She was super excited about because she's competitive like her mother:
Tessa kept seeing the fish jumping:

And was trying so hard to be patient (she even found a rock to stand on for a better view of the lake):

So I tried to give her some help:

And so did her Aunt Kathryn:
But her patience started to wan when Katy caught another fish:
But I had to laugh when she refused to touch it, and the little boy that worked there had to take it off the hook for her:
This is her telling me, 'WHAT? You can't expect me touch it, it's GROSS!':
So Tessa and Aunt Kathryn got a new worm on her line:

And her patience finally paid off:
But she wouldn't touch hers either, so a cute little pregnant gal that was there with her cute family took it off for her (what? did you expect me to put my camera down?)
This is my nephew Josh. He caught a couple of fish too, only he didn't yell and tell me, so I never got a photo of it. I told him that was against the rules....
Trevor was being more patient than I'd ever seen him before:
He cast his line over and over again:
He even got excited several times when he felt the nibbles, but they kept getting away:
We had to re-worm several times:
But they kept getting away, and so this cool guy (pregnant gal's husband) gave him a few pointers, seeing that we were teaching him girlie fishin' - he was the picture of patience and I was really glad for a man being there to help Trevor:
And finally a good tug on the line:
He was THOROUGHLY EXCITED:
Because even though it was the LAST fish of the day (of about a dozen), it was also the BIGGEST (which is all a boy cares about apparently):
And he wasn't afraid to touch it, because he is ALL BOY:

And while we were waiting to get them cleaned, Tessa decided to have some lemonade and hold a cow:
Everyone thought it was cool to watch them get cleaned, even my animal-loving Tessa. I didn't take any gory pictures, but here was the dinner that I couldn't eat, because I hate fish:
We had a ton of fun... if you get a chance, you should take your kids... just ask Tessa! *Ü*

The Promenade - 2009 - Photo Overload

Prom night was a huge success!

This is Edynn, Chris's date. I think she has the best name ever, and that her parents were really smart when they named her that... because I think that any boy that dates her will hear his parents say, 'do not partake'. We said that and thought we were funny, Mike and I were giving each other high fives for being so hilarious. Chris walked away while rolling his eyes.

Besides having a great name, Edynn is absolutely adorable and has the sweetest manners ever. She was nervous about drawing blood while pinning the boutonniere on Chris. She didn't. That was a good start for the night. I love this pic because it shows how beautiful her hair looked!

And if we thought Edynn was unsure about it, you should have seen Chris. This is him telling her that he'd never done this before, and wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.
It was a wrist corsage. He figured it out. *Ü*

And they were happy when that part was over:

They both looked drop-dead gorgeous. Chris wore my little brother Jon's cuff links for the night, which was really special to me. They were Jon's favorite and he wore them to church every Sunday.


This is Edynn and her friend Kourtney:


Even though they were bombarded at every house for pictures, these girls were so fun and let me take as many as I wanted WITHOUT COMPLAINING. The boys weren't quite as generous. They moaned a bit... I heard them. And since the girls were so cooperative, I kept shooting:



And then they started getting silly... which was even more fun:


I took a few more of Edynn and Chris. Chris was starting to look bored with pictures already after only a few shots.

So I told him to just act like himself:

He's a special boy. I didn't want him to be embarrassed, so I told Edynn to act like Chris too. She knew exactly what to do:

After all of these pictures, they went to get their 'professional' pictures at prom. Then they came back to our house for dinner. This is Eric and Kourtney. They never met before prom night... Eric is Chris's friend and Kourtney is Edynn's friend... they set them up just for prom. This wasn't really their first glance at each other, but Kourtney may be wondering what she's gotten herself into.

She may even be a little surprised:

But she gathered her emotions... and they looked so cute together:


For dinner, Mike and I made them salad and bread, fettuccini alfredo, cheese cake, and chocolate dipped strawberries. We set a table up in our basement, complete with candlelight and an ipod for background music. Katy, Trevor and Tessa were their waiter/waitresses for the night. I was really surprised at how great the kids did. Katy was really shy and embarrassed about it, but she was so cute. I think Trevor may be a waiter when he's working his way through college, because he had it DOWN... complete with, "may I clear this, or are you still working on it?" before he took their plates. It was really fun to watch. When the dinner was almost over, without my knowing it, Trevor went downstairs and gave Chris a big hug. He started to cry and told him that he loves him 'so much'. He then came upstairs and laid his head on my lap for a while, crying and telling Mike and I how much he loves Chris. We were finally able to find out where these feelings stemmed from when he told us that he's not ready for Chris to move out yet. We all told him that we are years away from that, which made him feel better. I think some of his emotions were brought on because our best friends' son (like a cousin to our kids) had just left for his mission the week before. Trevor cried then too. He's such a sweet, tender boy. But since I'm blogging about him... I have to tell you he's also ROUGH and TOUGH and ALL BOY.

Wow, I got side-tracked! Here are some pictures from while they were eating dinner. I tried to leave them alone most of the time, and only shot these real quick so I could get out of their way.




Edynn said everytime I took a picture, her mouth was full of food. Really, Edynn, there was only one... and I didn't post it. But I think she still questions me.



Then they just relaxed around the table and listened to some guitar. Edynn was embarrassed that I caught her with the guitar... but she was just so cute with it, I couldn't resist.



Chris was up for playing... he's actually quite good on his guitar. One of my favorite things to do is to listen to him play.



They let me take a couple more pics before they left for the dance. From what I heard, the dance was SUPER FUN - it was at Thanksgiving Point. They came back to our house after-wards and watched a movie before everyone went home. Overall a great night!