Beach

Sterling and Michelle

Stella with Mel, Julie, Michelle

Me with Stella

Andy with Stella

Melissa and Stella

Sterling and Mel

Stella hanging on to her Mommy, Melissa

Melissa and Andy and kids came for a visit, and so did michelle and

Clark. Tyler lives here, and so does Julie.....DUH, ha ha, anyway,

we decided to go to the Beach so Andy could have some time

there, since he will be missing Carpinteria. We went to Corona

Del Mar, and went to the side where the waves aren't big, so

Stella could have fun playing. We happened to pick one of

the most crowded days there. And wouldn't you know it,

they were having "baptisms" in this little part of the ocean.

I'm not sure which church it was, but it was a little noisy,

and emotional for some of the people getting baptized.

But, we had a great time anyway, Stella loved the water,

and it made a fun family memory.

Low Quality Family picture from phone

I needed to qualify my title. The only reason why it is low quality

is because i took a picture of a picture, and it's hard to see any

definition in it. BUT, for now it will do. This is the family shot

we took back in July. This is everyone. for now that is. It

seems like family pictures are always changing. Someone

new is always added. But that's what's neat about it. New

babies expanding your posterity. Hope this doesn't BUG

the eyes too bad.

King of the Hill

fuzzy picture of a picture taken with my cell phone

My Parents have one grandson. It is my son Tyler. Besides my sweet

Holly, who was here on earth for 3 days, he was the first grandchild

they got to know. AND he has been the only grandson.

Just before our family trip to Bear Lake, My mom wanted a family

picture, and I am posting the one with all my parent's granddaughters,

AND grandson. Notice though, there are 2 great granddaughters

and 2 great grandsons. The spell has been broken........bah ha haha ha

Wide Range of emotions

Angie and Mark, YAY


Amber, Jessica, Alaine (in back) Aubrey, Danielle, and little Reane
(Cristina in back also)

The Bridesmaids

Alaine, Julie and Shannon

Mom, Mark and Dad

Clark, Michelle and Julie

My family. Also Mark's daughters and his bio father Tom and

wife Nancy.

Our side of the family that were there at the temple

Amber, Angie, Aubrey (in front) and Ashley

Shannon, Alaine, Mom, Julie and Michelle

Michelle and Clark and Jessican and Amber

Michelle and Clark and Jessican and Amber

my Dad and his sister and her hubby

my mom and her twin sister and her family

cousin Connie and Cousin Steve

So, today (actually yesterday since it's past midnight) was my

brother Mark's wedding. What a wonderful day. Very Very

happy emotions. We were all gathered together in the Salt

Lake temple as a family, witnessing the sealing of Mark, to

Angie Oakes. We had family drive from out of state to

be with us today. It was wonderful. But, we have another

major event happening in our family. My Mother was

diagnosed with ovarian cancer Wednesday, and she will

be flying off to Houston with her twin sister Renae, tomorrow

afternoon. My Mom has an appointment at MD Anderson

cancer center Monday morning. I've heard that it is one of

the top cancer centers in the nation. So our family is going

through happy times, and very worried and scared times. In

fact, it is the hardest thing I've had to deal with, since the

death of my first baby Holly. BUT, we have a ton of support

from family, church friends, etc.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our happy time today.
Mark and Angie, we are so thrilled.

Mom, all of our prayers are with you.

Photoshop magic

Melissa, Sterling, Andy, Stella

Anna, Sam, Tyler,Grace

While in Utah, my Mother wanted to get all of her children,

grandchildren and great grandchildren in a family picture.

The last time we had a professional picture taken was when

Tyler came home from his mission. That was back in 2002.

The problem is......Melissa and Andy couldn't make it out for

the picture, and Clark was at school. SO we are hoping that

the photographer can photoshop them in.

I have the picture Melissa sent to me

for the photographer to use, and I have a picture of

Tyler's family that we took on his camera, so you can

get an idea of the look we were after. I figured that

if each family unit wore their own color, it would be

easy to tell who belonged to who. Our color was Navy.

My parents wore white, my older brother's family wore

royal blue, and my sister's family wore purple. My

younger brother's family wore yellow. If they turn

out, I'll post them at a later date. Until then, I've

got my fingers crossed.

Bear Lake

Julie and Michelle in front of the Logan Temple


What vacation is complete without shakes and ice cream?


hanging out around the 12 seater table

cowboy SAM

Michelle and Julie on the Sand at Bear Lake

Grace, Sam, Tom and Anna

The kitchen

view from the kitchen into the family room

view from the entryway

the bunk bed room. All the non married girl cousins slept here

Master Bedroom (with bedding stripped) Wish I'd taken

pictures when all the beds were made.

downstairs family room

dining room (another view)

The deck

everyone but Melissa and family, Michelle's hubby Clark, my hubby and Shannon : (

Recently, my extended family had a little gathering at

Bear Lake. We had never been there before, and I've

always heard such good things about it, so we decided

to give it a shot. Last year while on our way to Colter

Bay in the Tetons, we drove past it and thought

it looked beautiful. On the way up we drove

through Logan and had to take a picture in

front of the temple. Then we arrived at the

cabin and we were all very surprised at how

beautiful it was. We got to spend two days at the

lake and rented 2 jet ski's for half a day. Anna's

Father drove from Idaho Falls and got to hang

out with us all. It was a fun time.

It definitely is colder than Lake Powell, but the

accomodations can't be beat.

Stella's second birthday

Stella's first kiss "Nehemiah"

First a disclaimer. Melissa doesn't have internet access

right now, so she asked me to post these pictures for

her. These photo's were taken of Stella's second birthday

party. We had it at Lake Murray (where a very dramatic

event took place which I might mention at a later date)

and Melissa made a totally "awesome" cake. I LOVe

that she has such a creative knack/eye/talent..... etc.

etc. Melissa got a little help from Julie in cutting

up some of the "ocean" designs.

It was SO hot that day. We were afraid of the cake

melting, and sure enough, the cute sculpture of Stella

sagged after a while in the heat. I was just happy to be

there to enjoy the day with Stella. I think I have the

best grandchildren ever.!!!!

31 years

We sat on a bench watching the fountain and just enjoying the evening together.

Mel and I celebrated our 31st anniversary a few days back, and

it was just an enjoyable evening with my sweetheart. We tried

out a new restaurant in town, then walked around the shopping

center close by. It was a beautiful evening, and it was nice

spending it with the man I love.

Reminiscing

I wanted to make another post, but wasn't sure what I could write

about, so I looked at my pictures, and this one brought a smile to

my face. I was in Utah for Women's conference, and basically just

spent time with my daughter Michelle. She wanted to go spend

time with some of her college buddies, whom I have gotten

to know over time. But there were a couple of girls that I

didn't really know, and I had the chance to get to know them

a little more this day. it was SO fun for me. Just being silly

with them, and "hanging" out. It was fun because for some

reason, they guessed that she was pregnant too. It was nice to

be there when she announced something like that to her

friends. They were all going to have a sleep over, but now that

Michelle is married, she went home to her husband instead.

And Michelle didn't mind one bit. = ) Here we are at zupas,

just having fun.

All Things Julie

Julie is the one in our household who has pictures to share

on the blog. She went to her choir banquet last night. Looks

like she and her choir friends had a good time. Then Neil R,

a great photographer in the area, called and asked Julie to

be an ambassador for his Studio, to help him round up

Seniors for their portraits. So, she got a few pictures taken

and put on a little postcard to give out to future Seniors.

I am sharing them here. Since I'm just taking a picture of the

pictures, they don't look all that sharp, but you can get the idea.

Tonight is our Ward Youth Conference, and Julie is there right now.

Tomorrow they are supposed to come do a half hour of service for

us. Hopefully we can drum up something for them to do. Julie

will be taking her SAT, so will miss that part of the conference.

One more week of school, then it's on to our fun summer plans.

I don't have the whole summer planned out yet, but I'm hoping

to spend lots and lots of time with my kids and grandkids.