President Hinkley

Our sweet Prophet passed away at 97 years old today.  I don't even know what to write that would do him justice, but I do want my girls to know (and remember) that he had such an amazing way about him.  He had such a great sense of humor (cane story girls) and a great talent for story telling that made him seem like an ordinary man but the insight, humility and love that reminded me he is/was a Prophet of God.  I remember times while watching conference when I felt like he loved ME!  Through the T.V!  I have a tendency to feel overwhelmed after watching conference, reading the Ensign, etc. with the many things I am reminded that I need to do to continue to enjoy my many blessings and save my family from this crazy world, but when I listened or read President Hinkley, I felt like as long as I was doing my best, that was good enough.  I will miss him.

I can only imagine the sweet reunion going on in heaven right now!

Playing outside

I love, love, love when my girls play outside.  There's just something old fashion and healthy about it.  Even better with friends from the neighborhood who don't have to be driven home or scheduled to come over!  

Almost my #1 reason I love summer, no dirty socks, or sock matching for that matter.

Madison and Rylee bought this go-cart at a garage sale this past summer, and they totally dig it!  They immediately striped it of black paint and added girly glam hot pink paint and added pink (their a bit faded) pool noodles for protection.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYLEE!

Wow, after all that time it took me to post pictures, there's not too much in me left to blog!

Where was Sweet and Sassy when I was a kid?  Not that we could have afforded it, but it is so much fun for (parents) kids and the best part is all that is required of us parents is to show up with kids, sit in a chair while accepting bottled water and snap away.  My kind of birthday party!  BTW-That was my lead in to apologize for so many pictures, there were so many cute ones to choose from!

It was so fun to sit and watch Rylee with all her friends.  Of course I always get to observe her with one or two other friends, but rarely with 9!  She is such a natural leader and somehow always manages to steal the show without excluding anyone.  She is such an energetic, playful, helpful, obedient, enthusiastic little girl.  We ate pizza at our house before we left and I noticed her serving 2 of her friends soda and getting some others pizza, while they were waiting at the table to be served!  She was very perturbed that we couldn't double okay, triple buckle all the girls in 1 car so that they weren't sad about being split up!  In a nutshell, the more I watch her and know her, the more I want to be like her. :)

DISCLAIMER: the below post may contain objectionable pictures of 8 year olds wearing immodest clothing due to a recent wardrobe revival by the above named company, Sweet & Sassy.   

What's a party without a little jumping off wet bars and landing on a gymnastic mat?

Conversation looks a little serious, they must be out of glitter or something.

Billie, Amy, Ashlyn, Taylor, Meredith, Emily, McKenna showin some lovin'.

Steve may want to hurt me for posting this picture, but I figured he took it 

of himself so surely he must like it.

Our little Drama Queen.

COMING SOON!

NYC - Day 3

We loved Hairspray, how can you not?  Auntie Teisha gave the girls the soundtrack a few years ago, and they were well prepared for the sing-along!

Magnolia Bakery - one word YUM!  We traveled to Greenwich village to check this place out, and were more than happy to log the extra miles.  It was so cute, old, shabby chic, all they make is cupcakes and we are not real big cake fans, but these were so good!  We sat down on someones front porch (that someone wasn't really happy with us either, apparently our spot had been previously occupied by litterers!) and once again, Steve had a little photo shoot.

For you Kare-bear - you would have loved this store, too!

NYC evening of Day 2

Maddie, throughly enjoying her ice cream!

Rylee and her cute new (fake) purse

Steve was having too much fun with MY new camera.  Incase you read this hon, did you notice how I capped MY?

How do you like the double chins?

Sorry about the monotonous post titles, I'm tryin' to keep my mind organized. :)  

As I mentioned before, we LOVE Rascal Flatts.  And we're not even big country fans.  We love almost all their songs, and sadly we were out of town last time they came to Dallas.  We found out they were going to be in NYC and that solidified our travel plans!  

So, with lyrics like "God bless the broken road" and "I'm goin' to learn how to face my fears, love with all of my heart, I wanna' leave something here" one would think it would be a great, family-friendly concert, RIGHT??  Well, WE faced our fears.  They came in the form of 20,000 drunk cowgirls and some raunchy, fowl mouthed entertainers!  We left after a few songs and some references to a tight-clothed girl who forgot her skirt.  Maybe I should have done some more research?  The usher told us on the way out that all country concerts are like this, and they are notorious for drunks and girls that wanna do you know what with you know who. After doing some dollar cost averaging, I figured we spent about $22 per minute.  I'm composing an e-mail to them in my head, and am absolutely positive they will read it!

What better way than to mend you sorrows than with a Haggen Daaz bar in your hotel room?

I couldn't think of any, so that's exactly what we did.  Happy Birthday to Me.

NYC Day 2

Some friends of ours suggested that rather than take the ferry and get off at the Statue of Liberty, we take the Statin Island Ferry that goes right PAST the Statue.  Boy am I glad we took their advice!  We were all surprised at how much smaller she (the Statue) is than we thought.  We snuck a few facts and some trivia in and had a very brief patriotic moment after pretending that we were immigrants coming from Europe to America (Ellis Island) where all our dreams would one day come true.  I may have enjoyed this a bit more than my family!

With the wind chill - temps dipped into the teens! Brrrrrrrrrr!

Awaiting our 2 seconds of glory outside the 'Today Show" windows.  We attempted to get there at 7 am to secure our fame, but sleeping in sounded much better. :)  We actually got on TV a lot, anyone catch us?

Rockefeller skate rink

Steve took this great pic of an old church.  Nice huh?