Family Pictures

It's done!!!  It is always such a happy day when outfits have been coordinated, hair has been done, and the yearly family pictures are completed!!  It's actually been 2 years since we've done family pictures.  We found a fun spot up the canyon at Sherwood Hills.  We had to do it early on a Sunday morning.  It was the ONLY time that we could get all 7 of us in one place during daylight hours!

I thought they turned out pretty darn cute considering we are our own photographers.  This is the dread of Kade's life and he actually cooperated pretty well.  He must be growing up!!  

Oh how I love the people in these pictures.  They are my whole world and I am so so grateful for every single one of them.  I am so proud of the BEAUTIFUL people they are becoming inside and out.

 This picture below speaks 1000 words!  Kylee and I laughed so hard when we came across this baby!  This is the "real" behind the beautiful family pictures.  Look how many of us are yawning!!  Brinley's face tells exactly what she thought about our picture taking session!  I cannot look at this without laughing right out loud.  So telling of how life is!  There's always more to the story than what we see in the "picture perfect" version of people's lives!!  Even still...I love them all!!!

Growing up!

The baby of this family is growing up!!  One thing is for sure though, she is still good for lots of HUGS and she even lets me kiss her cheeks still.  I told her she was going to have to let me continue to kiss those cheeks until a grand baby comes along.  She agreed!  I needed that documented!

Love her! And I love this picture!!

First Day of School

Look at these cute kids!  They are all headed off to their first day of school!  This year we have Kylee who is home from College with her Associates Degree working and waiting to get into the Dental Hygiene Program.  Emilee who is a Junior, Kade who is a Freshman, Quincy in 6th grade, and Brinley in 3rd grade!  I cannot believe they are all this old.  They are growing up way too fast!!  I am proud of every one of them.  They are all smarty pants and do really well in school.  We are lucky parents to have such good...and cute kids!!

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Kylee's 20th Birthday!!

Oh my goodness...how do we have a 20 year old!!!  Happy Birthday my 20 year old!!  We have enjoyed this girl for every minute of those 20 years.  What a blessing to have had Kylee home with us for this year.  She finished her schooling at Dixie and has been home with us since December.  We have loved having her back!

Kylee and Mason have Birthday's a day apart, so they usually get to share their Birthday parties!  They agree on a menu and we all eat the same food, but one thing is for sure...they always each get their own dessert.  Which means we get double desserts at this party!  Kylee always chooses "4 layer pudding dessert".  This year Kylee ordered herself a bunch of books to read for her presents.  I have never met another person that loves to read more than she does!

We love you Kylee!  Happy Birthday...you're not even a teenager anymore!!!

Quincy's cheer camp!

Quincy did cheer camp this summer with her friend Gracie! It lasted a week and ended with a performance that the families could come and watch.  She had fun!

Huge Congrats to Emilee!!

I just have to say...Emilee is amazing!  Of course, all of our children are amazing but we are so proud of Emilee's latest accomplishment!  After a hard and painful cut from the Volleyball team her Sophomore year, she decided she wasn't ready to give up.  She kept practicing and found herself a club team in Logan to join.  She drove to Logan to practice with her team twice a week for 5 months and went to many tournaments all over Idaho.  When that ended, she attended "volleyball open gym" all summer long until it was time for tryouts again this year.  After two days of tryouts she got the news that SHE MADE THE TEAM!!  The coaches told her that this isn't something that happens often, but that they were so impressed with the improvements she had made on her own since last year.  They wanted to see what she could do given a team and coaches!  Yay!!!  You did it Em.  We always knew all that stubborn determination would come in handy one day!

CONGRATULATIONS EMILEE!!

WE LOVE YOU!

Cousins!

Halle came to spend a week with Quincy and Brinley!  These girls had a solid week of fun!  They played and played.  I think we could have had her stay for a couple more.  They love spending time together!

Tubing!

The Quayle's invited us to go tubing down the Weber River.  Me, Emilee, Kade, Quincy, Brinley and Halle went.  It was a blast!  I thought Halle was going to die from fear, but she made it through and was quite proud of herself by the end of the expreience.  It was a little crazy and even a tad bit scary at times, but so fun!  We had a great time.  I learned today the Quincy is more of a dare devil than I had ever imagined.  We better watch that girl!!

"Fun with my sis and couz"

This post is written by Quincy...

"One day I asked my Dad if I could ride the 4 wheeler.  My cousin Halle was here and my Dad said yes. I got my helmet and they key.  I went outside and started it up.  Brinley and Halle got on their helmets during this time.  They got on the back and I drove all around the house.  Halle and Brinley loved it.  I went between trees. over piles of dirt, and around the swing set.  Everyday for about the next three days I rode on the 4 wheeler with Brinley, KateLeigh, and Mayslee.  It was so much fun!  I can't wait until I can do it again."

Beautiful!

We live in a beautiful place!  I am so grateful we get to call Perry home.  It's been so good to our family.  We have amazing neighbors whom we love and a wonderful ward.  We have beautiful mountains in the backyard and breathtaking sunsets in the front.  And now we even have a temple that we can see from our back yard in the winter when the trees have lost their leaves!  We are very blessed to have such a great home!!

Kade's visit to Rexburg!

Kade had a great experience this summer.  He was able to go to Rexburg and help Grandpa Southwick on his farm for 2 weeks.  We drove up on a Sunday and dropped him off and then returned 2 weeks later on a Sunday to pick him up.  Grandpa was so excited to have his help.  He had a days worth of projects for each day that he was there.  He built fence, chopped and moved wood, helped take care of goats and chickens and even had the opportunity to help Grandpa slaughter and de-feather chickens! 

 While he was there it happened to be during the time that Karl came home from his Mission and gave his report in Sacrament Meeting.  They lived in Arizona at the time, and Grandpa and Grandma were nice enough to fly Kade to Arizona with them so that he could meet Karl at the airport and hear him speak in church that Sunday.  What a great experience for him.  He got in plenty of swimming in their pool with Alex while he was there too. 

We are so grateful that he could go and spend the time with his Grandparents.  Grandma told us at the end of the 2 weeks that she had come to know Kade much better and was impressed at the great young man he is becoming.  He is a good boy!  As a bonus, Grandpa even paid Kade $300 dollars for the work that he had done.  I think he earned every dollar!!  Love that he could have the experience to get some farm work in him! 

4th of July

4th of July Celebration.  Watching the Perry parade.  Notice the festive hairdo's on Quincy and Brinley!!  Love this silly small town celebration!

Living the good life!!

I came home one afternoon in the Summer to find these 3 sillies enjoying the pool in the backyard!  How awesome is it that my 19 and 16 year old daughters still love to do the same thing that the 8 year old loves!  I love my family!  They were hungry so I made them lunch and served them in the pool.  They were pretty impressed.  They don't always get such good treatment!

Lazy days of Summer are the best!!

Hawaii

BEST FAMILY VACATION EVER!!

How could Hawaii be anything else?  We booked our tickets for this trip back in September!  For 3 months we kept it a secret from the kids, then finally got to tell them about it on Christmas morning.  Then, we got to excitedly wait 6 months until June before we went.  We were ready!!

Oh my goodness, it was so so so much fun!  We loved every minute of it.  The house we stayed in was absolutely amazing.  We tried so many new things together and had the time of our lives.  We snorkeled, kayaked, went stand up paddle boarding, when horseback riding, attended the Polynesian Culture Center, attended the beautiful Laie Temple, swam out under a waterfall, swam with turtles and ate some of the best treats and food ever!! I can honestly say that this was the trip of a lifetime.  

There is something so magical about this island.  I loved it when Chris and I came alone and it was such a wonderful experience to be able go back and share it with our children.  I can't believe how blessed we have been in being able to go on amazing family vacations.  I will be forever grateful!

Hawaii...we hope one day to miraculously return!!!

What a beautiful, magical island!!