The First Day of School 2010

Totally ready for 3rd/5th grade with loaded new backpacks, blessings from dad, and an egg burrito in their bellies.


New duds.


And they're off! "Have a good day at school, I love you, be nice, follow the rules" (I heard another mother 3 houses down shouting the same as her son ran to catch up with my boys).

Is Summer Over???

Spelunking through the lava tubes at Craters of the Moon.






Sometimes it's necessary to transport Dalton illegally, but only when we're picking up a new...


BBQ! Happy Fathers Day Doug!



Willis Water slide.




Idaho Falls Zoo with our friends the Bess girls.


Wild Huckleberry picking after the Ward campout.


A local told us that we weren't finished picking till our hands were stained.


Because Jennie doesn't nap anymore.





Blue Angles.






Swim lessons.





Sometimes the trips to the Zoo, Arizona, Lake Powell, Craters of the Moon, Reeds Dairy, and the Pool were just not enough.


I loved every bit of our summer and already miss my boys, but hey, now I have time to blog. Bring on the school year!

Isn't she beautiful!

Manina, Grandma Martha, Martha Secundina Lucero Dalton, whatever you call her, she's mine and I love her. I love her recipes, her attention to detail, her lipstick, her quesadillas, her card games, her stories, her faith in her Catholic Saints, her cusses... She's great!

Sophia is Happy

What's not to love about an almost 5 year old! Sophia loves coloring, cutting, gluing, and practicing all of her letters and numbers. She loves learning about Jesus, and remembers every detail of the stories she hears. She loves helping everyone else with their jobs, but doesn't necessarily like doing her own jobs (oh, that sounds a little too familiar:) She is understanding modesty lately and is sensitive about wearing shirts under her sleeveless dresses (I've always had her do that, but I've never made a really big deal about it.) She loves arranging the food on her plate so it looks just right before she eats it. Sometimes the food on her plate is too lovely to eat. She adores her Abuella, (who does make-up every time she sees her) her dad, (who's the best gentle wrestler around) her brothers, (who've been particularly accepting of her since she has started to respect their things). She loves me fiercely and is ALWAYS seeking my approval. She'll be starting pre-school in a couple of weeks and I won't be her teacher anymore. I'm a little sad to let her go, but she's so excited, I'd never hold her back.

2 Mile Fun Run

Abraham, Abby, Katie, Me, Dalton, Taylor and not pictured Randy ran on the 4th weekend down in Prescott. We had fun, enjoyed each others company, and started another healthy tradition.

I didn't tell Abraham and Dalton about the race till the day before, and Abe was so cute. He "trained" by running around my Papa's driveway 12 times and was even nervous that night as he went to bed. He came in first from our family and wore his number for 2 full days.

Here's my favorite part, the brother run down... Andy (the oldest and fittest) placed in the 10K. Randy ran the 2 mile fun run with us, but somehow was behind us and then in front of us and then again behind till we realized he was taking short cuts every time he could see the trail ahead of him...all in the name of a good photo of course. And then there was Brad, eating a dilly bar at the finish line. Classic brothers.

Behind the scenes were my Papa, Lenora, Sally, Ben, Marielle, and the babies all working the set-up, after race eats, goodie bags, and take down of the whole race. I love working with my family.

Check Out Lewis' Etsy shop!

You'll find it HERE.

Target Practice

Papa taught us all to shoot his BB guns.

Dalton...

Abraham...

My turn...

Didn't I do a great job!

Joe had a turn too. Papa had us put everything away once the sun set.

The girls are still a little too young to shoot, but that didn't stop them from having fun.

Thank you Papa!

Seas The Day

Mama and Papa Nelson made this whole Lake Powell trip possible, I think they enjoyed themselves too.


Joseph enjoyed the sun a little too much resulting in sun poisoning. It didn't stop him for long though, not this kid.


The kiddos enjoyed cousins, boat rides and...


tubing.


The beach didn't disappoint either. Ice cream? Or bucket of sand?


Isn't my nephew so stinkin' cute!


The captain!


With 3 huge flat screen TV's, the B word (bored) was never spoken.


Cousins! Cousins! Cousins!


Inside was just as enjoyable as the outside, especially for the little ones.


Thank goodness for life jackets!


These girls love their daddy.


I may have married a pirate.


I skied, tubed, and enjoyed my whole family the whole time. Thank you Mama and Papa, and Thank you Brad and Lenora.

We're Off!

To Salt Lake for a day to visit Lew and do Salt Lake specific chores ie: shop, repair bosch, early morning walk with my old walking buddies...

To Lake Powell for a week of memory making with the Nelsons and a Fathers Day extravaganza.

To St. George to visit our long lost Klingonsmiths!

To the airport to say goodbye to Doug, he has to go back to work.

Just me and the kiddos to Arizona to spend an unspecified amount of time with family. My grandma Martha will be at my parents house and I can't wait to see her! She has yet to meet Jennie, can you imagine life without meeting my Jennie?

And then back home. Doug is my home. I'm already missing him.

Joseph's Birthday/ Baptism

Joseph's birthday breakfast... Chocolate and Butterscotch chip waffles, he's been talking about them since that day at your house Elise. Yum!


Doughnuts in class! My papa started this tradition. Joe's favorite is the maple one and he talked it up to his classmates all day, so when I brought two assorted boxes in just before the bell rang, every kid wanted a maple. They were good and some of them split one. I hope I can channel Joseph's ability to persuade when he gets a little older and the stakes are a little higher than doughnuts.


Joseph was so excited for his baptism. I'll never forget his smile in the font, he was positively beaming!


He had a ton of support with Abuella and Grandpa, Lewis, Grandma and Grandpa "C", Mishawn, Micah, Brock, Tanner, McCall, Jaymie and us of course making it to his baptism. His friends Maren, Parker and Addison were able to come too.

Thanks for making the trip everyone. You really made the day just perfect. Abuella, he loves navigating his new scriptures, and Grandma "C", he loves his green afghan. Thank you so much!