Dad's 85th Birthday

Check out that flame! :)

My Sweet Dad

Well today my Dad turned 85 years old! It is hard to believe...I swear he is still 60 something. :) We were not able to throw together a huge party with friends and family but we did get together to celebrate with immediate family.

We had a bit of a scare the weekend before. I received a phone call on Friday night saying Dad was in the emergency room. He had a mini stroke and it was brought up that he had another one two days before. I rushed over to the hospital around 10 p.m. and thank goodness he was looking great and they were getting ready to send him home. I can't imagine what it would be like to have both parents gone. In the meantime, I am grateful he is around and that my kids are able to visit and get to know him.

I am so grateful for my Dad. He is such a good example to me. He is always helping others! I will see friends, family and acquaintances that know him and they always speak very highly of him. I know growing up and currently, he has been a huge support to me when I was playing softball, church sports, dancing, running, etc. He was my big cheerleader and always had the encouragement that I could do anything! There was never any doubt. I am so blessed to have him in my life. Happy Birthday Dad! Love you!

Father's Day

Roy reading a card from Ammon. It was so sweet. He did it all by himself! I think he was pretty proud of himself. :)


New Jeans! He always likes to just keep wearing his holey ones!


Our little family! We love you Daddy! You do such a great job!

Well, I am a week behind but wanted to still post Roy's Father Day pictures. I think he had a pretty good weekend. We went out to eat on Saturday and took the kids to see Toy Story 3. We haven't been to a movie theater with the kids since, "Spongebob the Movie" came out. lol Pretty sad!! Our kids did pretty good and seemed to enjoy the movie. :)

On Sunday, I made breakfast for Roy and he opened his presents before church. It was quite the busy day since we had to get Jessica & Ammon back to their mom's (about a two hour drive going back and forth), then go to his parents house for cake & ice cream and my family was doing a get together also. It all worked out though...but had very tired kids the next morning.

Utah Valley Half Marathon Finished!

Me a little bit after mile 7. Still feeling good. :)

Amanda running with me. Roy & I had to chuckle at Amanda in this picture. This is an action shot with her in the air and her hair blowing back! She was loving every minute!

Amanda, Me & Kaitlyn after the race...back home where it is warm! :)

Well finally this morning I was able to run my Half Marathon. It has been crazy weather this week and I was a bit worried it was going to down pour on us especially starting at 5:30 a.m. up Provo Canyon. Well, we lucked out! It was cold, but once you started after mile one it wasn't bad. I had a goal to finish in less than two hours and I was able to do it! Yahoo!

Training for this race was not easy since I ended up having a cold for over a month which developed into a sinus infection. Also, most of my practice runs were during my lunch break. Well last month and presently work has been sooo busy so I wasn't able to get my run in. It was frustrating and I felt like I was going to be taking a final but I wasn't quite ready for it.

Roy and my girls were there cheering for me for the majority of the last half of my run starting a little after mile seven. Amanda even came running for a little bit with me. She loves to run and always wants to go running with me, but it isn't very often she gets to go especially with the long runs. Now that this race is over, I will have to have her go with me on a short run.

I have to admit how much it helps when you see your sweet little family cheering for you, waving, and have big smiles on their faces even little Kaitlyn! Plus it was early in the morning...they didn't have to be there, but they were. :) What sweethearts! Thank you Roy for letting this happen!

Saturday is a Special Day, It's a Day We Get Ready For...

Hair found in the garbage can. At least she didn't try to make a mess! :)

The damage...luckily she didn't cut her bangs.

Look at that guilty face! lol


The finishing product! The hairstylist did a pretty good job without
having to chop off a lot of her hair.


Our Garden


Amanda helping her dad...maybe a little too much! :)

Little Kaitlyn watching from the sidelines, just enjoying being outside.

This weekend was quite the weekend, or should I say Saturday. I woke up with a headache and one of my teeth were hurting. Then I realized that my upper cheek was hurting so bad that it felt like I was punched in the face. After calling my dentist, we realized I may have a sinus infection. Luckily my doctor was able to order a antibiotic for me. As many of you may know, I have been training for the Utah Valley Half Marathon and my Saturdays are the day I do my longer runs...well so much for my 9 mile run that day.

Later Amanda was back in her room playing...well what we thought was playing. She came in and Roy grabbed her, started to talk to her for fun. He ran his fingers through her hair and the next thing he knows their is a chunk of hair in his hands. Amanda says, "Oh I cut my hair". Well, we found more chunks of hair in the bathroom and most of it in the garbage. Here are some lovely photos of the incident. lol We ended up making a hair appointment for that afternoon to make the best of the hairdo. Lots of damage was made...no more ponytails, braiding, etc for awhile. The hair stylist did the best she could to blend the short ends. Since it takes so long for her hair to grow, we figured we better not chop most of it off and try to keep some length. I had to take pictures...I am sure we will look back on this and laugh..just not too ideal when I wasn't feeling too good.

We also we able to get our garden planted, thanks to Roy! He is our expert gardener and always have tons of produce throughout the summer. Roy & Amanda planted corn, cantelope, zucchini, pumpkins, peas, beans, and tomatos. Although...I sometimes wonder why so many tomato plants?? We have 8 this year!! I think we will be canning a lot! :) Well, this was our adventurous Saturday! Hope you all get a good laugh! :)

Mother's Day

I have to admit, I think this was the best Mother's Day I have had so far! :) On Friday, Amanda came home with her flower craft with her little picture on it. It was so sweet! She was so excited to show it to me.

Saturday, I was able to run 8 miles. I wasn't sure if I would be able to accomplish it since I hadn't ran that far since before I had kids. I was able to do it and was still feeling great afterwards! After the hardwork, Roy paid for me to get my hair done. :) I love getting pampered! :)

Then on Sunday, I wasn't really expecting too much, but after church was over Kaitlyn & Amanda both had something for me. Amanda had a rose with a tender little poem and Kaitlyn had a little poem also from Nursery...although really next month she will be nursery age. :) I have to admit, as I read these two little poems, I got choked up. They were so sweet. I thought I would share them with you.

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing up

I'll be grown up someday

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a final handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was three feet tall!

Love, Kaitlyn

TO MY FRIEND

Oh Mother when I think of you,

I cannot help but smile.

I think of all the little things

That make my life worthwhile.

You're smile, your laugh, your gentle touch,

You make be feel so safe.

The way you tuck me in at night

And softly touch my face.

I know that I don't always do

The things I know I should,

But everyday I learn from

Your example what is good.

I hope you always know dear mom,

I think you're really grea,

And someday I'll be just like you

I can hardly wait!

But until then, while I am small,

With so many needs to attend,

Just know I loe you more each day

And I'm thankful you're my friend.

Love, Amanda

I also have to say, we stopped by my Mom's grave to drop of flowers on her grave. I have so much gratitude for my Mom. She is such a great example to me! She is an amazing woman and was able to raise 11 kids. Mom I don't know how you did it! But I know you are definitely gifted. I love and miss you soo much!

To My Wonderful Husband - 6th Anniversary

How do I begin to tell you how lucky I am to have you in my life? I'll start by saying what an honor it is for me to be your wife. Your my best friend in the good times and my rock in times of sorrow. You're the reason for sweet yesterdays and my promise for tomorrow. I never thought I could feel this loved until I became your wife. You made this year and every year the best one of my life. Happy Anniversary my Sweetie! I love you!

Eternally yours, Linda

Happy Easter!

Kaitlyn with her big grin!

Jessica with her stuffed duck wearing sunglasses.

Kaitlyn trying out the sunglasses with Daddy.

Amanda with her sunglasses.

Jessica showing off her sunglasses, although what was the Easter Bunny thinking? They are too small! :)

Ammon with his cute smile. :)

Kaitlyn & Daddy




Ammon checking out his Bakugan.

Well, as you can see the Easter Bunny came to our house! He delivered lots of candy, stuffed animals, bubbles, sunglasses, etc. The kids were able to have a little Easter Egg hunt between General Conference sessions on Saturday, watched "Peter Cottontail", and decorated sugar cookies while Daddy went to the priesthood sesson in the evening. It was a busy weekend with General Conference but made it even more special to remember the true meaning of Easter.

The Soft Sock Girls

The other day, Kaitlyn got in my sock drawer (which is happening more often lately). She loves my extra soft striped socks and walks around with them. She will always giggle and always puts them by her face and walks around with them like they are a stuffed animal. :) Well, this time Roy decided to put the socks on Kaitlyn and see what she would do. She thought she was pretty cool and walked around in them. :) Well, since I had my socks on and Kaitlyn, Amanda wanted to try on a pair. Well as you can see we ended up taking some pictures of our lovely socks. :)

Look who has Piggy Tails!

I was looking at Kaitlyn's hair this morning while she was eating and wondered it I would be able to get little piggy tails in her hair. Well, with her not being used to getting her hair done and a bit of a struggle, I was able to succeed! Yay! She finally has enough hair for little piggys! Here are photos of the very first hair do. :) Still waiting to get the first hair cut... :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well our St. Patrick's Day was quite the day! We normally do not celebrate it that much other than wear green, but this time, it was different. We picked up Jessica & Ammon from their mom's house and we were invited to go to Aunt Vickie's house...or Amanda says "Aunt Picky" lol. We normally have FHE on our midweek visit, so Vickie and her family invited us over for dinner and FHE. The kids were pretty excited. Well, we showed up and she had a "green" dinner. We had green salad, green rolls, green beans, Chicken Fettuchini with spinach noodles and even the sauce was green! :) Afterwards, Vickie prepared a wonderful Family Home Evening lesson on the resurrection of Christ (in flannel board story form). Afterwards for the activity, Vickie mentioned some leprechauns had been downstairs and the kids all ran down there and found chocolate candy gold coins all over. They all seemed pretty excited. Later we took Jessica and Ammon back to their mom's home.

Well, it had been a long day. I hadn't been home since the morning and we opened the door to find little leprechaun feet wandering throughout our house. Some feet headed to Amanda's room with a box of "Lucky Charm" cereal, and some little presents for Amanda & Kaitlyn with a note. I have posted some pictures of the feet and some pictures of the kids being excited. Thanks for our friends, The Brau's & Aunt Vickie, they made our St. Patrick's Day a blast!