Julianne's Baptism

We baptized Julianne the morning of Halloween!!
Joe's parents and Adam and Andrea were able to be here and participate in the program.
The spirit was so strong. We had a wonderful day with family and friends.
We're so proud of you JJ!

October Birthdays/Palmyra and Kirtland

We've had a great last couple of weeks!
First- Julianne had her very first sleepover party! She turned eight this month so we wanted to do something extra special for her birthday. We had all the girls in her primary class over for a "Princess Diaries" Party. We had a 'royal banquet' with lots of yummy finger foods. Next we did makeovers with glitter make-up and finger polish and the girls made jewelry and decorated princess crowns. Then we had a 'rockin' royal ball' as the girls danced around the room with pink ribbons and played freeze dance. Finally they all got ready for bed and watched "Princess Diaries."
Believe it or not we had them all asleep by 11:00pm!
It was a great party and Julianne had soooo much fun!




A few days later Joe and I left the kids with Sue while my parents took my brothers and sisters and their spouses to Palmyra and Kirtland! It was sooo much fun in soooo many ways. It was fun to go away for a few days with my sweetie. It was a wonderful experience to see the church history sights. And while we were gone Joe turned the big 3-0! Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!!!!


Kristie and Lincoln standing in the "air space" where Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in The Log Home.

The Palmyra Temple

Some of us infront of the Frame House where Joseph loved with Emma and the rest of his family.

My brother Brett's foot on the same bricks that hid the Gold Plates under the Frame House fire place.
The Sacred Grove....................................................Amazing.

Joe and Lincoln in the Grandin Bookstore and print shop where the Book of Mormon was published.
My cute sister and sister-in-laws infront of the memorial in the top of Hill Cumora.
We celebrated Joe's birthday by having a little party in our hotel room one morning before sight seeing. All my brother's and sisters gave him some sort of "white elephant" gift! We had a lot of fun!My camera battery went dead shortly after this and I forgot to bring my charger so I didn't get any pictures of Kirtland but when I collect some from my siblings I'll post them.

Conference Weekend!

I'm riding on a total spiritual high today! After watching General Conference over the weekend I am ready to go out and conquer the world! (Ok maybe that's a bit overstating it...:)
Still, I thought it was a great conference as usual.
The kids were actually pretty good to let me watch too. The big girls enjoyed doing their conference packets and even Emmy got into the whole 'Conference Bingo' thing.

First Day of School!

It's our first day at Bennett Elementary School! The girls spent all last night and this morning agonizing about what to wear :)



I can't believe they are starting 2nd and 4th grade!!!!! (Am I really that old!?)

Labor Day/Back to School Bar-BQ!

The girls are starting a new school this year due to our move last spring. So we got together for a Labor Day/Back to School BBQ with a few other families from church who have kids who go to the same school. We had a great time with everyone and it was a great way to kick off the school year.

Last Day of Summer.......

We've had a great summer this year. It's been pretty low key. We spent lots of time at the pool, riding bikes, and just hangin' out. Here are a few of our favorite pics of the summer:


National Aquarium


Frying Pan Farm


Chillin' in the backyard


Helping Dad mow the lawn


"Sister Sleepovers"


Sportin' Shades


Havin' fun at the pool

When you try to work from home......

This is what happens....

Joe worked from home this morning . (Well at least he tried:)
The kids were so excited about the novelty of actually getting to see him on a week day they just couldn't leave him alone despite my best efforts to give him some quiet time to work. At one time we had both the little kids screaming at the top of their lungs while running around the table Joe was using as his "work space," and the big girls arguing in the next room, and me trying to talk/yell above all of that to try and get everyone's attention so that I could tell them to take their roudiness/issues out side or to the basement to give daddy some quiet time.
Finally after 2 hours of wasted effort to keep the house quiet, I gave up, threw all the kids in the car and went to Target.

Whew.....