Meghan is 14!!!!

And this is what she woke up to on her birthday! No, her birthday is not in March, it's MAY 24th!!!! Are you kidding me? Anywho....I can't believe she's so old. It's been fun to see her mature (not ALL the way, yet!) and become a great and beautiful young lady. We love you, Meghan!

Her new MiaMaid class came and gave her a "heart attack".

We went to dinner at Training Table with grandmas and grandpas and Jeff and Kelley. Then we went back to our house for cheesecake. We hadn't planned much because we'd all been so focused on Disneyland, but I think she had fun.

Happiest Place on Earth!

Well, our annual trip to Disney has come and gone. It sure goes a lot faster than it comes! This year we went the week after Mother's Day and it was just as fun. We were joined by Stephen, Shauna, Robert, Mike, Erin, Ashley and Ayden this time. Josh and Lauren and their kids also came down for an afternoon/evening. The crowds were great, the weather was a little chilly for me. I usually like overcast days for Disneyland, but it was just a little too cool for me to be comfortable. It was better than being hot, though, and the sun did come out on our last afternoon.
As usual, one of the highlights of the trip is eating our favorite treats and finding new ones. We discovered the beignets as the Jazz Kitchen Express. They were sooooo good! Dole Whips, Ice Cream Sundaes, and eating at the Taste Pilot's Grill also ranked high. Mark and I got to enjoy another fabulous dinner at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. The Surf and Turf there is amazing!
We always wear ourselves out, but enjoy every minute. I'm already planning strategy for when we go for our free day in July. That's a fun bonus to look forward to. Here are a few pics from our fun-filled three days.
Derek sat on this horse long enough for me to take the picture. Then he found his "coolness" and just stood by Janie.

Derek buys one of these suckers every year. This one, unfortunately, bit the dust after day two when it got smashed in the backpack. There's always next year!

Watching the highlights of last night's Yankees game while in line for the Autopia. Gotta love technology!

Here we are standing in line for Toy Story with the Dunns.

Waiting to ride Thunder Mountain. We love this ride! I dropped my camera one time while we were riding it. Luckily I found it sliding around the floor before it fell out of the train!

It's become a tradition for the kids to wear Disney shirts that I buy them on our first day in the park. I'm sure they'll be "too old" for this soon, but I think it's fun!

Here's our one sunny afternoon.

Janie's posing. She loved every ride except Tower of Terror.

Here we are on our first day, waiting for the rope drop on Main Street. We had a lot of energy in this picture, but on day 3, not so much.

Catching Up......Again

Goodness, where to start? Time has been both dragging and flying by--is that possible? We've been so busy that time goes by fast, but we have been looking forward to some fun trips that seem like they'll never get here!
Derek's been doing nothing but playing baseball for the last month and a half it seems. He's on the Mariners ( I have no pictures of him, yet!). They haven't won too many games, but he's done well, and I think they have fun regardless. The weather has been a little chilly. I am still waiting for the games that we can go enjoy without shivering the entire time.
Janie started soccer a couple of weeks ago, and today she scored her first ever goal! Again, I have no pictures yet. She was so excited. Her game day started out rough with two falls and two cries, but she went back in the game and was able to score.
Here are some pics from our annual dance trip to St. George. Don't let the girls in swimmming suits fool you, it wasn't that warm. When you look forward to some sunshine for so long, it's a little disapointing when it's chilly. We still had fun, though, and at least there was good company and good food!


Iceberg shakes and fries for dinner? Of course, we're on vacation!

We stopped by the temple one night after dinner to check out the visitor's center and grounds. Very pretty.

Every year I tell Meghan that we are not going to Chuck-A-Rama again, but every year she talks us into it. Don't get me wrong, I like the food. I just tend to eat waaaay too much. I triumphed this year, though. No sickness! We were all much more restrained and we felt better because of it.

The girls had their last recital of the year in April.


Finally, at the end of April, Mark turned 39! He is such a great dad and husband. We are very thankful for him and all he does for our family.

We are looking forward to a fun trip to Disneyland soon!

Catching Up

One year ago we were just starting the project of finishing our basement. It was going to be done by Janie's birthday in June. It took a lot longer than we thought. The majority was done in August, and Derek and Meghan moved downstairs. We have felt like new people ever since. Mark was finally able to finish the bathroom in January, so now it's 100% done (minus a few little details!). We are so thankful we were able to take the plunge and spend the money (!) and get this done.
Here are the kids in the unfinished family room, right after framing had begun.

This is Janie in our now completed family room. The walls are still bare, but we love it!

This was the view from Derek's future room into the family room.

Here's the same view now.

Derek's room now, complete with surfer dude posters made by Amy!

This is our laundry room. I love the bright light in here. For years I did laundry in a cold basement with one light bulb shining down on me. Now I can actually see the stains I need to pre-treat!

This is the view from the laundry room into the new bathroom.

Janie is showing off our new toilet and shower. Mark did a great job on the tile in the shower and on the floor.

Meghan got the biggest room. She finally has enough space to keep her stuff put away. Does she do it? Most of the time, yes. Notice the fishtank that Grandpa T set up for her.

When Mark's Grandma Roden passed away this fall, he knew what he wanted to remember her by. She had always been known as the "flag lady", faithfully putting up and taking down her flag every day. Her flagpole had been made by his Grandpa Cox, which made it extra special. Now, we have the pole and her flag in front of our house! I hope we can keep up her example of patriotism.

Finally, when Derek turned 11, he attended his last pack meeting and was presented with his Webelo and Arrow of Light awards. Here's a picture of the "ceremony".

Happy 11th Birthday, Derek!!!!

Where has time gone? Derek couldn't possibly be 11, but he is. He's grown from a very large baby to a very tall kid. Derek is always making us laugh with his subtle humor, though he can be a little nerdy sometimes. He's great to put up with being "girl trapped" by his two sisters. He's also very good at doing what he's asked to do the first time he's asked.

Derek had a family birthday party the night before his birthday so he can attend his last pack meeting on his birthday. He will be getting his Webelo and Arrow of Light awards, and then it's on to Boy Scouts!

Happy Birthday, Buddy, we love you!!

January is almost over!

It's my least favorite month (followed closely by February--sigh) and now we are in the home stretch! I have to say that it has gone by rather quickly.
Last Monday, which was Martin Luther King day, we went down to BYU and helped at their community outreach day. It's an annual day of service that they organize in honor of MLK Jr. Now, I would like to say that we were completely altruistic in our endeavor, but we had some motivation. We signed up through the Disneyland website, and will receive one day Disney tickets for each of us! Isn't that cool? Unfortunately, Mark had to work that day, but the rest of us are riding Space Mountain for free!!
Our project was to cut out and sew hand puppets for the LDS Humanitarian Services. It was time-consuming, but pretty fun. Janie keeps asking if we can do it again next MLK day. The only thing she didn't care for was the long meeting with speakers that came beforehand.





In other exciting news, Derek just got contacts. He broke his glasses playing basketball, so we decided to try them. He's still having a little trouble with the getting them in and out part, but he likes being able to see and not having to push his glasses up constantly. He also turns 11 in a week and a half, so we'll have a reason to party then.
Here's to hoping February goes by fast, too.

Bad blogger, bad, bad, blogger!

Well, I'm going to try to do a better job of blogging, because this is really the only journaling I do. Winter is, honestly, a time of year that sometimes I like to forget, but there are some fun things about it! This is a picture of one of the first snowfalls of the season. Not a lot of snow, but pretty.

Before Christmas, we went downtown one night with my parents and ate dinner at the Garden Restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The food was great, as was the view.



The girls had a dance recital. They both did great!


Here's our annual Christmas Eve pj's shot. We never take enough pics on Christmas and, to tell the truth, none of us look very good in them because we're in our jammies. So this is all you are getting. We had a great Christmas and feel very blessed as a family.

On the day after Christmas, we went tubing with some friends. We went to Soldier Hollow. It was a beautiful, sunny, cold day. This is the way to go tubing, I tell you. You hook your tube to a rope tow, it pulls you up the hill and dumps you at the top. Then you walk over to the top of the groomed hill, ride down, and start over. Very little physical exertion involved.




Of course, now we're back to reality, but we have a few things to look forward to. We went through our annual beach reservation bonanza on January 2nd. Even though it always stresses us out, it's great when we get exactly what we want! Now we just have to wait for 7 months.....