Our first garden. So we decided this year that we would test our green thumbs with two small tomato plants before we planted a real garden. Needless to say we need to wait a few more years before we take the big step of a full garden. We will need to take baby steps. We did manage to get a few tomatoes 4 cherry tomatoes and three bigger ones (although they have yet to turn red.)

Pick our finally ripe tomatoes!

Abi and Ben said they tasted GREAT Mac doesn't like tomatoes and even though we grew them ourselves doesn't make him like them any better.

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a great Independance day. Russ and Rusty made their way to good ol' Page America to spend the weekend with us and we loved every minute of it. We went to the parade, had a BBQ, fire works, everything needed for a great weekend. The highlight of the trip was Kev being able to schedule an off-route tour of the dam. They went places that only the elect are allowed. It was a tour enjoyed by all (all that went that is, Maggie and I had to stay home she was not feeling well.)

Sorry rusty I had to include this one it made me laugh right out loud.

Thanks Papa and Rusty for coming we loved having you!

Kev was able to go to Youth Conference this year and had a great time. They started out with some service and then loaded into boats and headed up the lake for some quality time together and a look into our Pioneer heritage. Kev was so excited to go because we had just finished reading "The Undaunted" a story about the pioneers that went through Hole in the Rock. He was excited to go to the hole in the rock and speak with the youth about the pioneer experiences. In the picture below Bishop and Kev (in the last big thing they did as a bishopric) are standing near a significant engraving on the sandstone.

Unfortunately in 1994 Rob and Kathi didn't look close enough to see what they were marking over.
If you look closely you can see the inscription "Paso por Aqui ano 1776". Researchers believe this is inscribed by Spanish Priests Dominiguez and Escalante as they passed through this area in 1776. A look at Hole in the Rock from the water.

On top after hiking through the hole.

Heading back down. This picture truly gave me a whole new appreciation for our pioneer heritage and their undying faith. Look how steep that is; and they took their wagons down it.

Amazing dwellings

Man we live in a beautiful area!

He's the man! We sure missed him while he was gone, but we are glad that he had such a great time.

It was a crime scene like no other. We thought about calling CSI Page but as we looked further down the side walk we were able to put it all together and realize the suspect was Tabatha (our cat). As we opened the front door this morning we were surprised to see blood drops all over. and then we saw blood drops in with feathers and then the victim a sweet pigeon (thank heavens Bert from Sesame Street wasn't visiting!) I never would have thought Tabatha would do something like this (I know that's probably what most mothers of the suspects say but really she doesn't have any front claws I didn't think she had it in her.)
As Kev was at work I ran across the street to get help in getting rid of the evidence. I tried to do it fast before the kids saw, I didn't want to them to realize how violent Tabatha was. Thank heavens Gary was able to save the day but not before the kids were checking out the bird.

R.I.P sweet little guy.

Our Baby Boy Turned 5!!!!! It is hard to believe that my sweet little Ben is already five! What an amazing kid he is. He keeps us on our toes but he loves life and lives it to the fullest. We feel so blessed that he chose to come to our family. He was so excited about his big day, he woke up extra early and ran down stairs, saw his gifts, and darted back up to grab me and Kev. He is one kid that is very good about saying thank you, and after every present he would let us all know how much he loved the gift and then thank everyone. He was so blessed to receive gifts from Grandparent, and Uncle and Aunts as well as his brother and sisters, and of course mom and dad. He told me he received everything he wanted. Thank you to everyone who helped make his day so special.

Choosing the meals for the day is a big deal in our home. Ben started months before planning what he would have on his day. Pancakes and eggs for breakfast, Pizza Hut Pizza for lunch and nachos for dinner. This year was his family birthday party year so we celebrated all day long. We were also lucky to have Adam with us for this special occasion.

Grandma and Grandpa in Beaver sent a slip-n-slide wow the kids had a great time.

He was so excited that I let him pick exactly what kind of cake he wanted. Rainbow cake with strawberry frosting and sprinkles. It really did turn out to be a pretty cake. I don't know if that was what he was going for but he thought it tasted GREAT!

Happy Birthday our sweet little man!!! We love you more than words can say.

Saying goodbye is hard to do! If you remember in blogs past I related the story of our van breaking down. We had parked it behind Big O for a while deciding what we wanted to do with it. One Sunday we thought we would go get all our belongings out of it, and what a surprise we found. Not only were all of our belongings gone, but someone had replaced them with their own. Yep, someone had taken up residency in our van. It was the strangest feeling, I guess you could say we felt violated. The sad part was there were kids clothes mixed in with all the others. We emptied everything out and it felt like we were being watched the whole time. Our kids had a hard time with it, I think maybe it opened their eyes to how good they have it (if only for a minute.) Because the van was damaged so bad we had to give it to the steel yard. I know it sounds ridiculous that we were so sad, but I guess we get attached to even our vehicles. Saying goodbye to Vinny the mini(van) was a sad day!
We would like to introduce the newest member of our family...
HARRIET THE HONDA!!!!

I think we about drove our families crazy because it took us soooooo long to find the "right" van, but we did it! It has been well worth the wait, and we ended up getting so much more than we had hoped for. We are still giddy about her and just feel blessed to have her!