40's the new 28 :)

Ohhh what a cute baby Jonny was!

This is my very favorite little pic of him when he was about 4...look at that impish little grin...full of mischief. Not much has changed there!!!

You gotta love those switchblade combs...how cool were they?

To honor the "life changing event" and to usher in the "midlife crisis stage..." there was of course, a surprise party at Outback Steakhouse. Lots of great friends from all stages of his life came, and family, of course, to "honor" and "roast" the birthday boy!!!

We didn't want to burn down the building, so just a few candles were lit!!!!!

"What did you do woman?" Was the response I received for his b-day present!!!! (in case you didn't hear yet, it's a 2010 SS Camaro) SWEET!!!!!!!!!!! He is in absoloute love with it, and is like a kid again. He had Camaro's growing up and always wanted one on his 40th, but he didn't think I'd actually do it.....LOOK AT THOSE RIMS!!!!!! (he says that at least once a day!!!)

On his actual b-day and to celebrate our anniv. we went to San Francisco, San Diego and LA. We hiked up into the Redwoods and played at a very cold beach!!!

YES! We went to Wicked in 'Frisco....it was FREAKING AWESOME!!! (it's the second time we'd seen it and it will NOT be the last!!!!)

A HUGE highlight of our trip was to go to our very close friends, Cory and Nicole's sealing in the San Diego temple. I got to be her escort and Jon, a witness. We saw them sealed to their 4 great kids. It was such a great experience, we are sooooo happy for them and so thankful we got to share in their day!!!!

We went to "the happiest place on earth", just the 2 of us!!! WOW! It really can be HAPPY!! There was no arguing, fighting, pushing, whining.....and we really missed all that!!!! We had a great time together, but missed the kids!!!

My honey's 40....it's a big, big birthday. I know he'll just keep getting better and better though! Here's to at least 60 more babe!!!!!!!!! Whoooo Hooooo!!!!

18 years... WOW!!!!!

We got married on a Thursday morning July 19 1991. It was hot, but cloudy and rainy, which made for really pretty pictures! We got married in the Salt Lake Temple and we were very very excited. Every wedding has to include a disaster, ours was that Jon forgot his tux down in Central. Michael (his brother) went and got him one while we were in the temple. Luckily it fit and was actually nicer than the original!!!!

We had our reception the next day in his parents back yard, and there was a rainbow right during it, it was so beautiful. Than we headed up to Canada for a reception up there. I remember being eaten ALIVE by the mosquitoes for our pictures (they are like BIRDS up there I swear) and going through the McDonald's drive through in our wedding dress and tux, and they didn't even give us anything for free!!!! We spent our honeymoon there and got to see Les Miserables and had quite the adventure in Jon's parents van, if I havn't told you about it, it's quite the story :)

Lots of people can't say they are still happy after being married for awhile, it turns into just going through the motions and kind of living parallel lives. But I can honestly say I love this guy more now than I did then. He is my best friend and even though we are different in almost every way, and disagree on plenty, we seem to be able to make it work. We have a sign in our house that says, "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person". It's a lot of work and requires sacrifice and compromise, but it's also the greatest thing ever. Happy 18th anniversary babe, you'll always be my "lobster" !!!!

Happy Birthday Jenica!!!

Our cute little Jen-Boo is 14!  After a very complicated pregnancy, she was 6 weeks early and still weighed 6 lb 2 oz. She was teeny at first and then by the time she was 6 months she was 26 lbs!!! WOW!!!! We loved watching her roly poly little chub , and had so much fun with her as a baby!!

She has always loved to sing and except for a small break, has always loved to dance. Our little performer also loves musicals and plays ( a little like her mom!) She loves stuffed shells, frazzles, cookies, and m&m's. Jen is a great sister and very responsible. She is outgoing, fun and has lots and lots of friends. She likes going to movies, playing rock band and Nancy Drew games. Unfortunately she does NOT like to shop, but maybe someday she'll learn :)

We love our boo-bear, she is so spunky, energetic and has a really great laugh. We are so glad she is part of our family.

Happy Birthday sweetie....you can FINALLY go to dances !! Whoooo hooooo party!!! (this is all she really cares about this birthday!) Yay!!!

My 16 year old!!!!!!!

Our little (well not so little, he was 8 lb 12 0zs) Joshie was born July 5 1993. He was born on a Monday, which meant the 4th of July was on a Sunday that year. So, in Cedar City Utah (where he was born) they celebrated the 4th on his actual birthday. He was born at 6:38 pm, so about 3 hours after he came into the world, the skies lit up with fireworks right outside my hospital window! A fitting welcome, I thought for my first little one.

Josh has always been a great kid, he loves the beach, loves his family and friends, loves the rain and thunderstorms, (but HATES tornadoes!) and LOVES sports, especially basketball. From a very early age we knew all of those were obvious. He likes the color green, Pringles potato chips, Italian chicken, Symphony chocolate bars and strawberry shortcake. Josh could easily be an ESPN announcer, he knows stats for every team, he knows every player and every rule about pretty much every sport and literally has since the time he understood the english language. He is a very smart kid, gets straight A's and works hard. He has common sense, which I am thankful for, since he'll be driving soon. (watch out world :)

From the very first second I knew Josh was on his way, I as his mom, was thrilled. He has always been a happy, fun, easy going guy, and he has become an amazing young man. I know he'll grow to be a fantastic grown up too, but I'm sure not ready for that yet, I want him to stay at home forever.....he's the best. Happy B-day bud, we love you so much!!!

We love you daddy!!!!

  I'm not sure that Jon ever thought he'd be a dad to so many little rugrats,  but he sure does a great job! I had all the kids write a little page in a book about why they love their dad and some of the things included, "teaching me to work and treat girls nice " (Josh), "giving me blessings and watching movies with me, "(Jen) "playing baseball and coaching me in basketball" )Brennan, "playing catch and reading me stories" (Tyler), "Singing me sunbeam and taking me out for ice cream" (Jaemon), and "kissing me in my's bed and singing me child of God" (Gracie). I think that about covers it!  He's an awesome dad and we love him!!!!!
 This was our ward's "little" treat for all the dad's in it! YUM!

Jaemon graduates!!!!

Jaemon has loved his two years at Miss Jill's preschool! He has made great friends and learned  a lot!!!!!

Miss Jill is a wonderful, sweet teacher who loves the kids as well as loves teaching, there's a lot to be said for that!!!!

We got to go listen to Jaemon sing his little lungs out at his graduation, my favorite was the chicken dance and I like being Me. He was VERY excited about his songs and proud of his graduation hat, which they made themselves!!!

I absoloutely love this stage of kids lives, they are so full of life and full of everything else!!! It is so fun to hear their little opinions of things and to hear how they think things work.

Here's to our little "insectavida " (one of Jaemon's special little words, don't ask us what it means, we have absoloutely NO idea!) It's hard to believe my 5th child will be off to kindergarten next year......I'm WAY too young for that!!!!

Love you buddy

My sweet girl!!!

Jen said to me a few weeks ago, "How come there's not a post just about me?" And I said "Sweetie, I could do a whole BLOG just on you! You are involved with so many fun things right now, I'm waiting to do a whole thing on you when and if you're ever DONE with them!!!!!!!"

SOOOOOO, she is FINALLY done with a few things! (of course in a few weeks, she'll have another performance of some kind!) But for a brief moment I am not the "performing arts" shuttle bus. (VERY brief....)

Anyway, Jen is quite the little performer. She decided to be in a new dance studio this year called Lifehouse and not do Stars anymore. She did this so she could also do Show Choir and theater at school. It turned out to be a great decision!

She has absoloutely LOVED dancing here, and has excelled at it! (she's got some of her Grandma Chis in her!!!) She's danced since she was 3 but I think she's really found her niche here. We loved watching her dance at our church Christmas party to "Breath of Heaven", in her fireside which was beautiful and in her ballet, The Four Seasons (Vivaldi). Her group was Spring, it was really well done technically and artistically.

She has just taken off with her singing and theater performances too. (she's got some of her Grandma B and I guess some of her mom in her somewhere too!) 

Her big show choir movie night included her choreographing Thoroughly Modern Millie and Hairspray, which were so CUTE! (notice the blue dress, that was one of my formals from high school :)  y'all!) Oh I have so many memories of doing this in jr high and high school. I know how much fun they are and I'm glad she's gotten to experience this! She and some of her friends choreographed and made up a dance for the school talent show which they had to audition for, and made it and did such a cute job, this was a big deal for them too!

Finally, she performed as a lead dance soloist and lead ensemble in her school musical "Once on this Island". This was a difficult play for Junior High, and they did an excellent job.

We are proud of her for all her accomplishments this year, but we are even more happy that she's happy, sure of herself, helpful to us and her siblings and a really, really great girl.

We love you so much BOO Bear, way to go!!!!!!!!