Happy 30th Birthday Hailey!

Happy Birthday Hailey! I wanted to post something to my sister. She is always so good about posting almost daily. Yestserday we went to Joe's Farm Grill for a birthday lunch. It was a really good place to eat I was stuffed when we left I ended up having cereal for dinner. It was the perfect place for kids Ben had such a great time playing in the flower pots and walking around.

10 things I love about my big sister:

1. She is an awesome Mom

2. She has great style and I have always bought a lot of the same clothes when we shop together.

3. A great friend

4. Easy to talk to

5. Has a funny sense of humor

6. A strong testimony

7. Has a concern for others

8. Somehow gets it all done

9. Fun to do things with like our new craft endeavors

10. Last but not least a wonderful sister. She has always been my best friend and is always there when I need someone to listen.

Thanks Hailey and I hope you have a wonderful Birthday.

The Baptism

Last Saturday was a very exciting day Tim was baptized. It was such a great and spiritual day for us. Especially Tim he actually stayed calm until right before then he started getting a little nervous. We had so many great friends and family there. The missionaries have been such a great blessing they knew exactly what Tim needed to be ready for baptism. This was the best day for our family. I always knew that Tim would someday except the gospel. He has been such a great blessing in my life. When we moved to Queen Creek and started going to a new ward it was an experience we could have together. He has always been such a great example to me. He is always the one that remembers fast Sunday and has done such a good job at his scouting calling. I am so grateful that he will be able to bless Claire when she is born. I am also grateful for my Dad that he was able to baptize Tim he has always been such a great Dad and friend. My family has always been supportive of the decisions that I have made in my life and always great examples. I want to thank everyone who has been an example in ourlives. The day was so wonderful and we are so happy and thankful for the friends and family who shared in this day with us. I am so glad Tim's family came to this important day in Tim's life.

This Saturday

This Saturday is a big day for Tim. He is getting baptized. This day has been a long time coming I was so excited when he made the decision. We have a really great group of missionaries that have helped make the process really great. The baptism is Saturday October 18 at the Bella Vista Stake Center at 5pm. We are going to have an Open House to follow at our house. Call for directions. We would love to have anyone who knows us join in this special time. We are so excited to have so many blessings in our lives. We hope you can share this with us.

Brighton

My Aunt Vickie and Uncle Gene planned for us to go to Brighton ski resort in Utah for a few days before we went home. It was really nice the cabin was huge so we had plenty of room to relax. The lake was right around the corner from the cabin so we went finishing and took walks around it was really nice.

Ben had a great time with my Mom and this canoe my uncle brought up. He thought it was so funny to throw blocks out of the boat at my Mom.

The boys all went fishing. Some how I ended up with a pole for awhile but I was just hoping I wouldn't catch anything. I'm not good with the whole killing animals or living things. Everyone was really patient but Danny and my Dad were the only ones to catch anything and my sister and I guilted them out of keeping them.



I think my Dad really wanted to have a fish dinner that night. My mom is a pro when it comes to fishing she was helping the guys keep there lines full.

Poor Tim didn't catch anything and the fish would steal his bait evry few minutes so I think they knew he really wanted one. Ben was a really great sport it was nice to have the cabin so close so we could take trips back for jackets and snacks.

Pretzel sticks were the best thing for the trip.

Gene and Vickie were the best hosts they brought us dinner every night and my cousin Tyler and his friend Mike came up after work to hang out. We miss living so close to them it was such a fun trip.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone was by far the best part. Hailey and I were here when we were younger but it has been about 20 years. It has changed a little but it was fun for the guys they had never been. Sometimes it surprises me how much Tim loves wildlife. On the way to Yellowstone there were so many places to pull over and see different areas. This was really cool it was a real pond with lilly pads growing. They were so thick in some spots you could bearly tell where the water was.

When we got to Yellowstone we had to see Old Faithful. She is of course still going strong but it is so amazing how nature creates wonders like this. There were so many interesting geysers, hot springs and mud pots. We only spent the day but we could have spent a week.

On our way back to the condo there were tons of water falls and places to pull off and enjoy nature. This water fall was so big you could hear it from the parking area. When we were there it was buffalo mating season and there were hundreds of buffalo on the side of the road. They crossed when ever so the cars creeped along until we got past them. I couldn't believe how huge they were.The boys were loving it they were sticking out the van doors taking video.

Jackson

I'm finally finishing the family trip pictures. I 'm really trying to keep up with this blog. We had such a fun time on this trip I cna't believe it has already been a month.
The boys really wanted to go white water rafting so they got up bright and early and headed to the Snake river to take a river rafting trip. This is the after picture when they got back they were all soaking wet.

In Jackson we went to a shopping area. It had the old million dollar bar. It used to have silver dollars down the entire bar but they remodeled it and there are only circles of 15 silver dollars now. There is no way there are a million of them but it was still fun to see. My parents were here 36 years ago for there honeymoon.

The town of Jackson had a lot of the same stores we all got souvenir t-shirts to wear the next day. My sister really wanted to all have the shirts on together. Of course evryone knew we were tourists.

The Family Trip- Teton National Park

Every year my family plans a family trip. This year we decided to go on a Yellowstone, WY trip. My parents used to take us there when we were young because it was only 4-5 hours away. The guys haven't been there before and Hailey and I haven't been there in atleast 15 years. Now we live a little further away it took planning and my Mom and Dad are always great at planning fun trips. First we went to the Grand Teton National Park. It was so beautiful there and the weather was perfect. The mountains still had snow on them.

We went to Jenny lake. You can take a fairy across the lake and then you can hike back. I couldn't believe how winded I got I felt like I hadn't exercised in along time. We are unsure how long the hike actually was but it was definetly more than 2 miles.

The wildlife is so close there this bald eagle was right next to us at the top of a tree. It was amazing to see animals all around the trails and forest.

The place we stayed was right in Jackson Wyoming so we didn't have to drive far to get places. The condo we stayed in was perfect we each had our own room and bathroom. It was right at a ski resort.

The guys were daring enough to go on the alpine slide. It was right by our condo that we were staying in. The guys were racing each other down the track and had a great time.

The Wedding

We went to Seattle for our friends Abbie and Jason's wedding last weekend. We had so much fun. This is a picture of Abbie and the flower girl before pictures. She has a son the same age and they always say they are going to get married. We had fun getting ready together and then it was a full day of pictures, and the big event.

The ceremony was great. They had there friend John do the ceremony. He got the online certificate so he could do it. It was great short and sweet. The ceremony was only 7 minutes. They wanted to get to the reception.

Abbie's son was adorable in his tux. Her sister planned a surprise where they sang a song by Taylor Swift. It was so cute her sang the whole song by himself and knew every word.

Here is a picture of everyone dancing. Some of you know that Abbie's neighbor was on the bachelorette show last season. Here he is with his son Ty at the wedding. He didn't come with a date.

Our Trip to Seattle

Last weekend we went to Seattle for a friends wedding. We had such a great time. The weather was really warm for this time or any time of year there but we had a great time. Here are a few things we did. This picture is from the top of the space needle. Seattle is such a wonderful city.

We had a chance to go see some sites before the Wedding festivities started. We flew in on Wed so we had time to help with the flowers and hang with the soon to be married couple.

We all had a chance to go to a Mariners game. Abbie and Jason are big baseball fans. The field was right in down town Seattle. The traffic is one crazy thing it never stops. We got to catch up with alot of old friends who came in town for the wedding. I can't believe how so much has changed but is still the same. It was fun playing catch phrase with everyone but for some reason the buzzer always stopped on me before I could even say anything.

Mauri flew into town on Friday with her baby Wesley. I can't believe we've been friends since 1994. That was when our family moved to Arizona. It was fun to chat at the rehersal dinner.

After the rehearsal dinner everyone went back to the hotel to a lounge that was there. Abbie and Jason were unwinding for the next day. The lounge was fun because it had these huge couches you could hang out on and we were pretty much the only ones in the whole place.

After this picture Tim got really sick and spent the next 2 days in our hotel bathroom. Everytime I checked on him I thought for sure we would stay an extra day or take a later flight. He did make it to the ceremony but after that it was back to bed.

Our Trip to Seattle