4th of July

Right before the Orange Stake 5K. Eddie met us there to run. It was super hot and humid, but we did it!
We went to the Orange Stake's annual 4th breakfast at the Hart Park. So GOOD! Then Grandpa Tony showed us where the really big slides were so we took a walk out to see them. It was great! The kids had fun on them. We all took a turn, too.

Blake's first attempt on the slide with Joel.

You can see how big they are! Some kids brought old potato sacks and cardboard boxes to make the slide go faster.

Briana on the slide! Hope you don't mind me putting this picture up!

Briana and her fiance, Eddie.

Our family on the bridge at Hart Park.

Grandma Shaw (Julianna calls her "Grannie" now) and Grandpa Tony.

Relaxing on the swing before some water balloon fun and a barbecue! We all got drenched, and the food was great.

At Balboa Beach the day after the 4th. Blake found a flag and was waving it around everywhere we went.

We had a lot of fun on the 4th of July weekend visiting Joel's family, and especially meeting her fiance, Eddie! We are so happy for them. It was a fun little trip. And we had fun meeting up with my sister Cindel and cousin Megan at the beach--guess we didn't get any pictures! It was a great weekend. The kids really liked the fireworks, too. We watched the ones from Woodbridge lake and they loved it! I love the 4th of July!

Easter fun

At Nana Foote's house for her 86th birthday celebration.
Our Easter picture using the timer.

The mess after they opened their baskets. While I was getting ready for church, the kids decided to put EVERY Easter sticker they got on the coffee table. I heard them whispering, "Mommy's coming, say surprise," so I came in, and they said, "Surprise, Mommy! We made the table pretty!" They were pretty proud of themselves.

Excited to get their fun Easter baskets from Grandma Shaw, plus their little Easter egg hunt in our house.

Our Easter was good--we went to the temple the day before and a had a good experience. Then Easter Sunday we had our own family dinner after church and just relaxed.

Thanks for all your comments about my previous post--they were so nice to read!

Christmas in Utah

We waited in line to see the Christus statue in the Visitor's center. Julianna especially liked it.

The lights at Temple Square. It was so cold! The lights were beautiful.

Will and Blake in their cool (and very warm) Spiderman masks/gloves from Grandma on the train to Salt Lake. We decided to take the train from Sandy to Salt Lake to make it more fun for the kids. They loved it.

Grandpa with Will and our kids on Christmas morning.

Santa's cookies, made by Julianna, Blake, Will, and Lily.

One more day until Christmas!

Best buddies, Will and Blake.

All the cousins/grandkids on Christmas Eve (except August who was asleep) in their new pajamas.

The big cousins making their cookies for Santa.

Playing in the snow in the backyard.


We had such a fun trip to Utah for Christmas. It was great to be with the whole family at my parent's new house, and to see Rhonda and Jordan, and Shannon and Mike and their baby, Luke for a day. Our new nieces and nephew are so adorable! It was fun to see the babies play, and the older cousins entertained themselves pretty much the whole time. We all just had a good time hanging out, playing Rockband, ping pong, watching movies, eating good food, having guys time/girls time, and relaxing. Hope you all had a nice Christmas!

Happy New Year!

The Thanksgiving Post

Our Thanksgiving at Nana's began with a surprise birthday celebration for Blake and Julianna. They were spoiled with nice gifts that they LOVE.

They always have to play shuffleboard when we're at Nana's house.

I decided to get some shots of the kids in the backyard. Julianna's cute pose!

Blake looking pretty handsome.

Love those faces.

Briana's turkey. No really, that is the actual turkey. It was AMAZING--marinated in apple cider, whole allspice, whole bay leaves, and kosher salt. I decorated the plate with leftover herbs. Briana decided to do everything homemade for her first time and it was SO GOOD! I still need to get that sweet potato recipe!

Our family in Nana's backyard.

Joel's family. What a great picture!

Joel got to carve the turkey. Blake had to watch him.

Eating at their own special table.


We had such a fun Thanksgiving in Santa Ana at Joel's grandma's (Nana's) house. Briana (Joel's sister) and I ran the 10K Turkey Trot in Dana Point at 7 am. There were 5000 people running it! I had a lot of fun running with her for the second time now, and I've decided I really like running that distance. The view of the ocean while running was so great! The funniest part was when we went to get my goodie bag for registering and when we got back I discovered I ended up getting a child's size medium shirt by mistake! I guess I'll just make Julianna wear it sometimes!

Once we got back to Nana's house we started the cooking. Briana had delicious recipes for each dish. It was fun spending time cooking with "Grandma Shaw" (as the kids call her), Nana, Briana, and Soquel (Joel's cousin), and trying to make it work in Nana's oven. In the end, everything came out perfectly! All the food was delicious! We also had fun playing Balderdash with Soquel and her husband Phillip in the late hours. The kids also loved playing with Uncle Christian in the backyard and taking a few walks with Tony around the neighborhood. It will be a Thanksgiving to remember!

Halloween 2010

Julianna was "Blossom," the pink Powerpuff Girl, Blake was Superman. My mom is here right now for a few days to visit. It's been fun having her here! We had fun at the trunk or treat. I especially liked watching the kids trying to eat their donuts off the string. It was a fun Halloween!

Fourth of July Video

We just downloaded PhotoStory and decided to use it to make a video of our 4th of July weekend. I hope you like it!

(Song in background: "Bike" by Pink Floyd)

Utah Trip

Our first snowman in Utah. The morning after we got there it was snowing. Blake wore one of Julianna's coats because I don't have a winter coat for him!

Sledding on April Fool's day! My mom found a great hill for us to use.

Blake had the most fun sledding. He even went by himself!

Playing in the snow as a family! There was about a foot of snow!

The first time this van has seen snow!

The view from outside the temple--gorgeous! It's set on a tall hill and overlooks the whole valley.

The BEAUTIFUL Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Joel and I on my birthday before we went to the temple.

Our second snowman--this time it's life size!

The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. It was so crowded, but very fun!

Easter egg hunt in the snow! This was a first. They loved the snow!

In the conference center before our session on Easter morning.

View from our line at the conference center. So cold and snowy!


We had so much fun on our trip to Utah! The snow was a huge bonus for the kids. It was nice to spend Easter with my mom and Dad, and to see my Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jeff, and cousin Rhonda and her husband Jordan for my birthday. And of course attending conference on Easter Sunday was such a special event. We're so glad we went.