The Homies

The Homies
We were such tourists in Tijuana during our trip in 2007

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Happy Birthday Brownie

Heather has had her webkins birthday on the calendar ever since Mia gave it to her for her last birthday. When the birthday finally rolled around, I heard Heather invite her friend Sarah over for Brownie's party. That is when I realized we were going to be celebrating yet another birthday. All the kids brought their webkins or another stuffed animal. It was too fun. They made cupcakes, played games (thanks Samantha and Kent), and just played. As you can see, Kent even left his work desk to join in on the celebrating for a bit. This is just too strange. I hope she doesn't think all her other 500 stuffed animals need parties too.


1st Day of School '08



First day of school each year is so fun. I love how excited the kids get. Heather will have two teachers this year so she is excited. Samantha starts her last year in middle school. She is sooo grown up. Have a great year kids!



Friday, August 8, 2008

Samantha's Make-Over


Don't you love Samantha's BEFORE and AFTER photos? Samantha had a big make-over day. It was a blast! She has had many changes over the last few months and we have planned this day for a long time. She already had gotten her braces off, her acne cleared up (hopefully we won't have to do a second round), she just got contacts, and to top it all off Joyce chopped off her hair and made it into the most adorable style (thanks to you folks at lunch for the suggestion, esp. Michelle M.), LaDonnia did her make-up, and we bought a new outfit. Even though she has always been adorable, look at how utterly adorable she is. You are beautiful Samantha inside and out.

Bear Lake Fun




My entire family goes to Bear Lake every year (thanks to Mom and Dad) and it is the best place for a family vacation. You have, of course, the lake, 2 pools, 2 large hot tubs, miniature golf, a little store, real golfing for the guys, biking, a playground, and TONS of beautiful lawn. We get so involved in all the activities that picture taking is forgotten. Oh well, I got a few with the fam playing volleyball and one with Kent and Heather in the pool. We had to rent 2-16 sleepers condos and 1-8 sleeper. All those that went were: Mom, Dad, Loralei, Annie, Dallin, Callie, Hamilton, Devan, Lisa, Scott, Michelle, Ben (who just took the Utah Bar), Jacob, David, Madeline, Kevin, Laurel, Claire, Bruce, Rachel (Bruce's fiance), Ryan, John, Joe, Dean, Buff, Ben, B.J., Luke, Lillie, Isaac, Lenice, Erik, Chandler, Parker, Micah, Eli, Isabelle, Kent, Jamie, Samantha, Heather, and me. We sure missed you Camille, Elise, David and families. Thanks Mom and Dad. We look forward to this all year.

Puffy Cheeks

Jamie had the fun experience of getting his wisdom teeth out this week. He is really sad that this is just a once in a lifetime event. We are very glad that he was accepted into a Jean Brown Research study and so not only was it free to us parents, he got $150 for staying in their clinic for 12 hours. He didn't get a placibo so he wasn't too miserable. He said the worst part was being in a small room with only a TV...Boring! He did miss 3 days of work though so he didn't gain anything except it's done and over. Way to go chipmunk! P.S. Kent is a little too happy at Jamie's new look.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Somewhere Over the...Most Beautiful Rainbow Ever

Last night I ran to the store and Heather and I couldn't believe our eyes when we came out. We were starring at the most beautiful double rainbow. You could see all the way from one end to the other. (I think we even saw a pot of gold) We hurried home, got Kent and the camera, hurried back down the hill and took some pics. The rainbow was so beautiful and reminded me of all the good and simple things in life. It didn't even cost a cent.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Jamie's 18th Birthday

Jamie also had a birthday this week... His 18th big one. Like my friend Joyce said, "All that the 18th birthday means is that the parents can't get sued anymore for their kids' stupid choices." I'm glad we are over that hurdle. Actually, I hadn't even thought about it until she said that after his birthday. I'm glad I didn't have to stress over that thought for long. (Oh wait, there are still 2 more kids under 18. Yikes! Now I'm worried.) Jamie and Heather chose together where they wanted to go eat. It took all of about 5 seconds to decide. The Skybox at Gateway was the winner so Jamie could watch sports and Heather could go play all the games in the game room. Good Choice! Congratulations Jamie on this occasion. Now you can vote and get married without parent consent. Oh goody. More stress. We love you bunches and are so proud of all the "Good" choices you have made throughout the years. We are so thankful we haven't had to worry much about the serious things teenagers might do. Happy Birthday!

Heather's 7th Birthday




Heather had a fabulous 7th Birthday party at Classic. The girls loved the jungle and the water slides, but didn't like having to take time opening presents, eating pizza, cake, and ice cream sandwiches. Heather was in her glory as always. She got a new bike that actually fits her (a 20" for a 7 year old?). Now her knees don't go through her eyeballs when she is pedaling. We sure love you Heather and are so proud of all you do. We love how kind you are to everyone.

St. George

Heather and Isabelle (cousin) during a late night swim in St. George. They had so much fun jumping off the diving board a million times. We had such a great time in St. George. Even though it was hot it was a blast. You go shopping in the mornings and swimming the rest of the time. We also had to fit in a show at Tuacahn High for the girls since it was High School Musical.

July 4th


We had a great time up at Brighton for the 4th. We cooked breakfast with the Paulsens and watched the Brighton parade. It was the most perfect weather for July. So relaxing.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

We Love You Kent!


Top 10 reasons Kent is such a great father/husband:

10. Likes survivor
9. He just goes with the flow
8. The most non-judgmental person I know
7. So easy to talk to
6. He is not a complainer like I am
5. Takes his job serious and does so well
4. Puts up with kid stuff all over the house
3. Would do anything for any of us
2. Never yells at his family
1. Loves us as much as we love him
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Tribute to our Graduate









Jamie is an official graduate! He made it through this significant hurdle in life. We are so proud of him. Things started off Sunday, June 1st, with his seminary graduation. Bishop Davis presented him with his diploma. It was a perfect meeting. After this graduation, he opened his gift from us and got a new cell phone (a real cool one that I want) with text messaging. He was stoked because texting had been taken away a few years ago (because teenagers think they can text during work, practice time, all hours of the night, and 150 messages a day, etc) and his phone had broken a few months ago. Grandma and grandpa B gave him luggage which will prove very useful in the coming months and years and grandparents G & H gave him money (way too much of it). Tuesday, June 3rd, was high school graduation held at the Expo Center. It was really awesome to see him walk the aisle and get his name read. Just a very proud moment. Grandma Gibbs and Grandpa Brockbank were the ones crying the most though, even more than me. He had a great day. Jamie worked hard throughout his high school years. He also held a part-time job and was in so many bands, orchestras, in AP classes, etc. He even graduated (parents are allowed to brag about their children) 12th in his class out of about 535. Jamie volunteered to serve in the special needs seminary class and never complained. He didn't learn much for himself, but learned how to help others. In fact, his volunteer teacher, pretty much got him his new summer job she loved him so much. We can't believe high school is over for Jamie but are so excited for his college years. Way to go Jamie! We love you and are so, so, so proud. (Samantha made the poster in the photo for him)

School's Out


No one is as excited as I am that school is over. It was an extremely difficult year for me. Calling it "part-time" as they call it was a joke. It may be part-time teaching, but not part-time working. If I go back next year, it will be easier, but Heather DOES NOT want me to teach again. She didn't like all the time I had to spend on correcting, planning, etc. I can't decide what to do. If I substitute, things would be way more flexible but I wouldn't earn near the money and it wouldn't go towards my state retirement benefits. Decisions, decisions. Here is my Language Arts class at our Opera dress rehearsal. Aren't they adorable?

A Killer Smile


After about five years of going to the orthodontist, Samantha did it! Her braces are off and what a killer smile she has. I'm so thankful for ortho work. Samantha wouldn't even show her teeth in her 2nd grade picture because they were so bad. Now just look at them. Smile proudly Sam.

RIP Barney


Our "dear dented Barney-mobile" is no longer. Barney (affectionately named and even called by Tunex workers) gave up the ghost. It may have seemed like an old car being a '94 plymouth but it only had 80,000+ miles on the thing. We weren't about to build the transmission again. Jamie would just have to suffer not having complete freedom to an auto. Barney has many memories with our family. Heather didn't even cry when it left like she did when Kent's old white altima was sold. The only advice I have after owning an American made car is unfortunately... "Buy Foreign". We love you Barney.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

New Life

I know so many of you are disappointed in our Non-blog updates. We are sorry, but if you were ending a school year of teaching AND had a son graduating who is in 5 bands and a million end of year concerts, you might just understand. We went to Park City for the long weekend so Kent could watch the kids while I get grades ready to go. And guess what? I'm caught up now as far as I can go. Still tons to do, but I can actually breathe again and enjoy the beauty up here. We love Park City and come here often. This trip is at the Grand Summit that has the warmest, bath water pool and three hot tubs. It has been so nice and relaxing. Of course, our soon to be graduate was too cool to be with his family for the entire weekend so Kent went and picked him up this morning. By the way, we are going to join the Park City ward we attended today. It is for visitors only and has an 11:00 Sacrament Meeting with no other meetings, no church callings, and the place was packed. We'll just drive up here every week and still be home before our regular block is over. And this way I don't have to find Relief Society prayers any more. Happy Memorial Day!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Test...This is Only a Test

So everyone is gone and Heather and I are watching videos on the computer. Suddenly we realized we could post these to our blog and look what we did. So click below and enjoy. In the mean time we are off to Citta's to get gelato.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Disneyland

Spring Break at DISNEYLAND :)
Our fabulous trip started with us driving to Las Vegas and spending the night at a wonderful place we booked by chance. We scored! It is called the Cancun and is on the same street as the strip but a few miles away and so it was really quiet. This place had a pool to die for. It was huge with 4 waterslides, several hot tubs, and a waterfall. The two bedroom suite was beautiful. Get this... even the kids bathroom had a jetted tub. The master bedroom had a double person jetted tub. We are going back to this place.
The next morning we enjoyed a breakfast buffet at the Paris and then continued on to Anaheim.
We, of course, had to spend some time at the beach before we started our time at the "Happiest Place on Earth." We enjoyed, most of all, the crowds and lines. The rides were okay too. Everyone got exhausted but we were tired in wonderful weather. We did all the fun Disneyland and California Adventure things that you normally do. Enjoy some of our finer moments.

We had a blast! Heather couldn't say soon enough after we took the picture with Jasmine that she was very immodest. Our trip ended by driving to St. George and Lenice and Erik had made us a delicious Cafe Rio Salad Easter dinner. It was by far the best meal we had the entire trip. Thanks Chick and Erik. The kids got to swim at their condo pools (all 50 of them) and Heather commented that being with Isabelle was the funnest thing she did on the trip. Go figure, we could have stayed home and gone to Dimple Dell.

See ya next time Mickey!