cameron's baptism

saturday, september 13th was a special day for a few reasons.

• we celebrated our 11th anniversary! where is the time going???
• it was uncle cuyler's 20th birthday! he is serving a mission in mongolia and what better way to honor him than a baptism!
• cameron was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

it was fun to share the baptism with our old college friends, the grossmans. we were friends years ago as newlyweds and they recently moved into our ward. their daughter, lillie, was also baptized.



cameron was really excited for this special time in his life. he is such a smart kid, and really understood what he was doing and was very ready. he and the other children being baptized sang "when Jesus Christ was baptized" at the service. cameron chose that song because "that song tells more about the real meaning of baptism than the other songs..." we are so happy for the decision he made to follow christ's example and head toward our goal of being an eternal family.



thanks to all who came to show their love and support for cameron. we love our family and friends.



we all enjoyed great food afterwards... thank heavens that sara was here! she is a genius and i'm not so sure i could have pulled it all off without her. and of course, the traditional nightmare!!
yummmmm!




oh, and i really can't leave out these cute cute girls who all dressed alike... coincidence!



it was a beautiful day.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

and now he's EIGHT!

happy happy birthday to one great kid!
he is super smart (beyond his years...), super helpful, and super kind & loving... especially to his little sister!
oh and i did i mention, super handsome?!

we love you cameron!

the lake

we had a blast on the lake the other day... even if it was the "worst boating trip ever..."!
thanks arthur's - for taking us with you!
it was the first time the boys had been dragged behind a boat... and they loved it!
and now i think we are convinced we need a boat too ... *sigh*... we can dream can't we?

july holidays

we're having fun celebrating this month...


the 24th of july
we spent pioneer day in our town celebrating. the kids were in the parade... they were supposed to dress up as someone who has given a lifetime of service. for some reason, they interpreted that as... dress up like something you want to be when you grow up. well, we settled on cameron dressing as a scientist / inventor and barrett as a pilot... cameron didn't think it was very funny when i told them they looked like "cade & susie"..ha ha. ethan dressed up as a doctor. i don't really know why elmo was part of the parade, but i do know that it made ethan's day to meet him!




after the parade we spent the afternoon at the city park for the games, treats, entertainment and fun...



i love this day here in this small town. it is a lot of fun and really old-school which makes it all the better!


later that day, we went over to bbq at my parents and babysit cute mariah. savvy and mariah are becoming quite the little buddies. we went over to the owlz game to watch the fireworks... we had a great view! mariah and savanna were SO cute and so opposite during the fireworks. savanna was jumping up and down, laughing and squealing while mariah was quietly covering her eyes just waiting for them to end... wish i had had my camera with me.





the 4th of july




the boys participated in a great flag ceremony early morning on the 4th.
my dad is in charge of this every year and it is quite the ceremony!
we spent the rest of the day at my parent's relaxing, eating, playing with cousins, setting off fireworks and then going to watch the big fireworks... fun stuff. oh ya - and we went up to the mall the meet glenn beck... we ran into our friends there and it was totally fun... i really like glenn beck... i think he is hilarious... i feel old now that i know the talk radio guys so well...

batter up!

baseball season came and went.... too fast!

all 3 boys participated in the city league this year... it was busy busy for us, but a lot of fun too.

opening day is always something the boys look forward to... being in the big parade!



barrett played on the white sox team with a great bunch of boys and two wonderful coaches.
he really had a great time this year and learned a whole lot too...



cameron was on the angels this year and i'm pretty sure he was their star batter!
that kid can hit!... i think he has had a lot of practice on his brothers...



and last, but certainly not least, ethan enjoyed his first year playing t-ball! once in a while he got too bored and would head on over to the playground, but most of the time he was really into the game! it helped a lot that clint was his coach this year. it was hilarious to watch that kid and he looked so dang cute in his little baseball pants... this age is too much fun to watch!



and i can't forget savanna... she is the best spectator ever! people were always making comments about how patiently and happily she would just sit in her stroller and watch. she makes going to the games so enjoyable for me ( and even better when she shares her vanilla dr. pepper)!
love that girl.

june

so we waited quite a while, but summer did come after all!
we had a busy month in june...

here are a few highlights....


the summer buzz... except for barrett.
he didn't want a buzz and is refusing to have any haircut.



we went to the children's art festival with friends... the company was great but the festival was not quite as fun as we expected...crowded and hot! ethan and savanna weren't feeling well that day and just wanted to lie under a tree, but the older kids had a good time. can you tell it was baseball season?? crazy boys...


we were so excited to get visits from lots of family early in the summer this year! john, tamara and their kids came to visit... sorry, i didn't take any pics... but we did have a great time with them. it meant a lot to barrett that they came to one of his baseball games.

then, a few days later...

papa d and bev came to visit for a few days! the kids just love their grandparents and love to be around them. we were even able to spend fathers day with both our dads this year at a little bbq at my parents house.



savanna spent the afternoon playing tetherball... ethan was given lessons in monkey bars by grandpa steve. i think all the fun wore everyone out!


and a few days after that...



the smalls came to stay a few days! ahhh- i really slacked on the picture taking!-
every summer we look forward to our time with the smalls since we know it is the only time all year we get to see them. we always have so much fun when they are here...
wish they lived closer.



beating the heat at the pool and with popsicles or watermelon in hand... does anything say summer louder??

oh and i can't forget my birthday... yes, i turned another year older. clint made the day extra special and suprised me with an ipod, and i found myself some genuine dr. pepper from dublin texas (thanks hansens! i found this stuff through you!...) which i had clint order for me...(really isn't it just easier to get your own presents sometimes?) and he took the boys to the flower shop and let them each pick out flowers for me to make a beautiful bouquet! that night we went to dinner without the kids... it was a great birthday...although i really can't believe how old we are getting... time flies faster all the time!





and pretty much the only other thing we have been doing is working on our landscaping...
pictures will be coming shortly!!