Evan's first steps

Evan has been excited to be baptized for months.  He is the youngest of his group of friends so everyone else's big days have come and gone, and when we got home from Hawaii we started planning!
First we got his suit and took some pictures.

He wanted pictures in his Hawaiian formal wear as well ;)  He was very serious about the photo shoot.

Until the end...

He is such a sweet boy.  He has brought so much happiness and laughter to our lives.  We are very blessed to have him in our family.  He knew he was going to get his own scriptures for his birthday but I kept asking him what else he wanted and all he would ever say was.....um...a turtle?  and would laugh because he figured it was an impossibility.
Well I just couldn't resist this cute little tiny aquatic turtle.  Eventually he is supposed to get to be about 6 inches long, and live for like 30 years, but with our track record we hope to keep him alive thru the baptism!
He was so surprised, but I think his scriptures were equally as special for him.

He has sleepy morning eyes because he couldn't wait to open them, once his big day finally came!
Emily and George made him this sweet Hawaiian Happy Birthday sign to help celebrate. We left it up for a week I think.

On the day of his birthday I was in charge of the Beckstrand boys because Penny, Joel and Sophie were at girls camp, so we took them all bowling and called it a birthday party!

George accidentally dropped the ball as he was getting ready to throw it, and they put this message up on the screen.....pins are the other way, thanks!  We laughed so hard, George was of course thoroughly embarrassed but it was hilarious.   There was just one day between his birthday and the baptism, and so I took all the kids out to Kayenta, where Brad and Ashley were staying, and they spent the morning swimming.  It was a beautiful pool, a beautiful backdrop anyway (kind of a boring grandma pool).  We had a lot of fun, practicing our synchronized diving and jumping!

Finally the big day arrived.  Grandma and Grandpa Shelton came down from Lehi, and Randy and Jillyn came from California, and Great Grandma Leila made it too.  George played a beautiful piece on the piano during the meeting.  Kyle baptized him and gave him a big kiss on the top of the head and he gave Kyle a big hug.  I gave the closing prayer and cried through the whole thing.  It was a very special day.  The spirit was so strong and Evan was so happy he made us all happy.

 When he was finished being confirmed, he went around the circle and hugged all the men and then as he walked past Matty to sit down, she reached her arms out big and he stopped and hugged her too!

Mason and Spencer were out of town, but their kids were all here so we were a very kid heavy bunch.

We had a luau at our house afterwards and it was a great party; the kids loved having so many kids to play with and the grown-ups loved all the yummy yummy food.  I took no pictures because I was running around like a crazy person the whole time.  But it was a good good kind of crazy!

Throwback Thursday or Christmas in July

It is not Thursday nor is it July, but I found these pictures on George's camera from their skiing trip in January, so I thought why not throw them on a blog.
When you ask your 14 year old to take pictures this is what you get:

For Christmas I got Kyle and George passes to go night skiing, and when they did, they were told that they couldn't use the passes because it was a holiday weekend, so they got to go again and G took friends this time and Kyle worked in the lodge.   I think this is that second trip.









It might be the first trip though, because there is evidence of Spencer being there, and on the first trip Spencer and Kyle planned on skiing with them.  Spencer went down once and almost went tumbling down, so he spent the rest of the time in by the fire.

He said, "Kyle can do his job from a wheelchair, but I can't".  Kyle didn't get hurt but he was pretty sore the next few days.  I think it was a little reality check for these dads :)
The boys had a ball, and Kyle said they all took to it really easily and had a great time, so they didn't need much supervision.

George loved skiing, and added it to the list of things he does well.  I think if we lived up North, he and Jake would be ski bums together.  I think he would rather be a waterski bum down here though.  That's the next blog...

Pine Valley for Pioneer Day

We were so happy to be able to be in Pine Valley for the traditional Pioneer Day celebration.  We go to the church for breakfast, a speaker and pioneer foot races.

 All of the kids in the background are Gardners!  I was so glad they were all there and would come join us.  Hunter and George have been friends since before they can remember, and even though they don't see each other very much, every time they do, it's like they see each other every day.(Just like me and Kellie)  Most of the other kids too.  They are a great group of people.

 Once they called for 14 year olds to come and race, no one wanted too, but when he said to bring your dads and race against them, they were more than happy to do it.  Kyle was cheating before the race even started.

 The little ones also participated in a "stick horse" race.  The secret to these races is, everyone gets cracker jack at the end, you just have to run.

Mostly we go to visit our Pine Valley friends and family and enjoy Pine Valley.  It was especially great to visit with the Gardner family. 
We also got a project done.  Kyle put an air conditioning unit in upstairs and it makes a world of difference.

While he was working hard on the a/c, Matty and I were working hard on getting her toes and fingernails to be as beautiful and colorful as humanly possible.

What cute chubby little hands and feet.  I never noticed how stubby they are!
She also had some chores to do.....

She had a hard time controlling it with those nubby little hands. :)

That evening we made it back home in time to go swimming at the Washington Rec Center with Beckstrands. They have games and fireworks and an awesome DJ.  These water walkers were the hit of the night.

 Emily is in the blue ball (I don't think she ever stayed standing long) and Evan is in the purple (some rotten kid was holding on to him). I think Ben is between them.  At one point, my three kids and three of Beckstrands were all in the balls at the same time.  They give them 5 minutes to run their guts out and exhaust their air.  I think it is a little scary, but they loved it.

Saturday we headed back up to Pine Valley to help Uncle Mark celebrate his 80th birthday!  They had the annual dutch oven cook off and they also had a dinner and entertainment where they invited neighbors and friends.

 I didn't take a lot of pictures but it is always fun to get reacquainted with our Wells cousins.

 I could not believe how high George was able to get flying on these giant swings.  He had a giant grin on his face the whole time- no fear.

 This little Wells cousin's name is Wells! He loves hats, and other people's shoes as well.

 I brought some bubble solution but Evan didn't want to wait for a turn with a "wand" so he figured out how to use his hands.

 He also brought his Uke and was invited to play with the band.  He was very excited, and put on a good show.

Uncle Gawain and Aunt Gayle had come over the night before and visited with our kids (we had run up to visit Grandma Sullivan and the kids neglected to call us and tell us we had visitors) for quite a while, so the next day Matty just attached herself to them.  Her new adopted grandparents.  It was sweet, and they were very happy to share their wealth of grandparent love with her.