60th Anniversary

David's Grandma and Grandpa Phipps have been married 60 years. Wowzers. What does that feel like? Kevin and Vicki threw them a surprise anniversary party at a beautiful park near their home and boy were they surprised! They had several of their lifetime friends there, great food, and even a mariachi singer! Here are the highlights of the day...

Isn't that a surprised face? When they got out of the car, Kevin and Vicki and Sheri went to welcome them over to the park area and they were so surprised. Then Grandpa came over to say hello to everyone and Grandma stopped at the little trailer where they were fixing food (to tell them how good it looked?) We had to wait a little while to see her. So funny.

These beautiful flower arrangements were donated by a flower shop owner who had hired Marjorie when she was young.

Me, Gram and my girlies.

I really think they enjoyed every second of this.

Big baby!

Josh played the guitar for us; he's really good!

Hazel, Charlotte and cousin Isabelle.

Spencer and Ellie are only one month apart and are so cute together. Both enjoyed the Mexican food very much...









And there were pinatas!


The kids took a shot at it first...







And then Tyson finished it off. David spun him about twenty times.












Love this man.


This couple was so cute! I asked them how long they'd been married and they laughed and said they were just "good friends." They were so flirtatious and giddy; it was so cute!





This is Lottie trying to get into the candy on the table.

Mariachi!

Grandpa's sister, Ione.

Happy Anniversary Ron and Marjorie!
We love you.

August bliss

Here a few things we've been up to this August...(what a beautiful summer we're having!)

I hesitated to post this picture just because our back yard looks like a junkyard! But all that furniture behind us is actually Hazel's new bedroom set that I need to paint (one fine day) and our grill in the background is just nasty. But we had a LOVELY dinner outside in the nice weather! I wish we would have done this more often this summer because I didn't have to worry a bit about food falling on the floor or onto the chairs or any of that typical stressful stuff. I'd love to build a larger picnic table for this patio and eat out there every night during the summer. Wouldn't that lower my blood pressure?

That same night we tossed these cuties into the tub and got some great hair shots.
I love these pics.


My little tellitubbies (sp?)


David has officially started a business in Mozambique, Africa.
That's been a big dream of his for a long time and I can't believe he's actually doing it.
His plan is to grow this business into a cold food storage transportation company in southern Africa, but he's starting with ICE CREAM. He's emulating a company in north-western Africa called FanIce, which also started with selling ice cream in the streets and has grown into a large and successful business. We're excited.


So of course he had to find the perfect/easiest/most cost efficient recipe for vanilla ice cream.
And he had a house full of willing taste testers.











Our freezer was soon full of several different flavors of vanilla ice cream, not my favorite luckily or I'd have finished them all off.


And lastly, this picture that makes me smile because I know what it took to reach this part of the evening with these girls. We had a chaotic dinner (am I the only one that struggles at mealtime??), then a crazy family night where both David and I were really fighting to keep their attention AND keep the spirit...Then we sent them outside with their family night treat and suddenly all was calm and okay in the world.

Oh, bother. I love my life.

Oh, Eloise

Aug 15th, 2011

I just can't get enough of this little baby. She is crawling and getting into whatever she can get her little paws into. She tends to follow me or her sisters around wherever we go because she doesn't like to be alone for long. And that HAIR. I love it.

Not the best picture...but I had to get her in this swing. She loves it.


Frozen bananas!

I love this little Ellie baby.

Folding Clothes Party

At my last Power of Moms retreat, we talked about involving your kids in your housework so that they learn how to do their part AND so you can create opportunities to build your relationship with them. It makes sense in my brain, but it is so hard to put into practice!

So I gave it a try with the laundry...which isn't a strength of mine as it is. We had a "folding clothes party." I turned on some good music and we got to work. I wrote about our experience in an article published by Power of Moms which you can find HERE.

Needless to say, nothing ever goes "as planned" but it was a great start. We're going to keep at it!

Distinguished Young Women

I've stayed involved with the Junior Miss Program, which is now called Distinguished Young Women, and recently organized the program book for my own local program here in northern Utah. I also got the chance to actually speak to the girls before their interviews and talk about the "Be Your Best Self" program and what it has meant to me in my life. I love being involved with this program! After I spoke, one of the girls came up to me and was telling me about her trip to Mali with her Dad where she pulled over 100 teeth (he's a dentist). I told her that she had to find a way to slip that little fact into her interview--what an interesting experience! I had the chance to talk to her mom, who is a mother of EIGHT children, during the program and was so impressed with this family and how they're raising their kids. Turns out, that young lady won the local program and is going on to state!

We brought Hazel to the final program for the first time so that she could see the amazing TALENTS on stage and enjoy all the beautiful dresses, since that's SO her thing. A few of the girls came up to her during intermission and told her how pretty she looked. She thought that was the greatest thing ever. I love these little mommy, daddy, daughter dates.

Love, love, love

Some days are so hard. Some days are magical.
Overall, life is so good.

p.s. Do you see that Hazel has one carebear sock on?
And Eloise's face kills me in this picture.