Monday, September 27, 2010

Andrew's baby blessing

I was finally able to take Andrew's pictures on his blessing outfit.
If i waited any longer this poor little guy might not have been able to fit in it, so I am glad I got them done.
On Sunday September 5Th Spencer gave our son his very first blessing. All dress in white he laid asleep as his daddy pronounced a beautiful blessing unto him.
Every day that goes by We are more and more grateful to our Heavenly Father for the opportunity to raise him
His sweet tender spirit often brings tears to our eyes and his smiles wipe them right out and brightens our days.









A.D we are thankful for the opportunity to share and make memories together; To raise you and walk with you through life... we'll walk with you every step of the way.

.


Thank you to all of our family who came and shared this special moment with us

End of the soccer season for the Green Dragons


What an exciting adventure this has been. Watching Julia play soccer was the funniest thing we've done with her so far.
The games were so intense and such a joy to watch. It was amazing seeing our daughter push to herself to new limits. Soccer is a tough sport. I tried running with her for 5 minutes and I was done. I can't imagine how this little girl did it, trying to keep up with 5 and 6 year-old kids for a whole hour.
Julia's main concerns during her games were:
1) Who was bringing treats
2) Make sure you smile every time you run by where mommy, daddy or the grandparents were sitting.
3) Practice your cart wheel moves in the middle of the game.
4) Hold hands with your best friend during the game
5) Look at those cool cleats while you run and perhaps even look at the grass, never mind where that silly ball is, it moves too fast any ways.
6) "Is it time for treats yet!". No, just half time
7) Being polite. You don't take other people's toys when they are playing with them. . . .including the SOCCER ball.
8) advice your teammates about how particularly beautiful the sky is looking that day while the game is still on
9) request to be the golly, even though you are scare the ball might hit your face.
10) to have fun
















Here is Julia almost scoring a goal. I was by myself that night at the game, so I barely had enough time to capture a couple of seconds of her play as she was trying to score

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Yellowstone

This has got to be the most beautiful place on earth. I love nature and being out there, among nature's beauty just really filled my spirit. Thanks to my parents in law who took my whole family including my mom to admire the beauties that Heavenly Father has created


We left to Yellowstone early mornign on Monday Sept 6Th. We missed all of the labor days festivities oh...well!.


We were kind of nervous about the trip. This was the longest car ride that my kids have ever taken, not to mention we had a 2-month old baby making a debut on vacationing. Thank goodness everything turned out fine. The kids loved sight seeing and when they got tired they just feel asleep without fussing or crying

Our first stop was Idaho. We saw the Idaho Falls Temple and the beautiful falls around it. It is such a great sight to admire.


After a couple of more hours we made it to our main destination of the day: Bear World.

We had heard both good and not so good things about this place, so we were really anxious to see and rate the place ourselves.................It was the perfect place for us.

We went through their drive-thru first. There you can see the bears as they are roaming freely on the road. There were so many bears and they were all so close to our car you could almost touch them, except you had to keep the windows rolled up the entire time and honestly, who wants a 1000 lb animal leaning over your car!




You could also see deer, wolves and a rare white elk, Of course, all in separate exhibits, no one wants to see how nature's food chain works
A Beary lovable family!

After that we went over their petting zoo where the kids got to admire baby deer and other farm animals like chickens, goats and ducks.

I honestly think the kid's favorite part was the little rides they had in the park. It is all inclusive with the admittance price, you don't have to pay any more and you go on the rides as much as you want. They had a roller coaster for kids and needless to say, Julia rode it at least 4 times and she would have ridden on it more if she could have.
Josh's favorite ride was a little train. There is a strong connection between boys and trains that I can't explain.


After our little stop we had to drive another 2 hours to get to our final destination of the day at West Yellowstone.We got there just before the sunset, all the warmth of the sun was almost gone and we were forced to put on sweaters and jackets.
Josh HATES putting on extra clothing, specially ones that he doesn't like. At his short two years of age he knows what he wants and doesn't want to wear, what a stincker.
We had some delicious dinner at a local restaurant that evening and then our group split.
The boys ( Spencer, his dad, Josh and A.D) stayed in the hotel watching "a football game" not a big fan; while the girls( my mom, Spencer's mom, Julia and I) went shopping at main Street.
 
We also went to their IMAX theater and watch a movie about Yellowstone. One of the parts I liked the most is the sense of some of the people who actually discovered Yellowstone and their respect to mother nature. They could have sold the land to developers, but they knew that this place was a gift that every one should be able to enjoy and delight on.
 
No pictures of our stay here..too busy shopping, but a cute picture of Andrew, even though it was very cold that night, he was delighted to be left on the bed with nothing else but a diaper.



The next day we woke up early and staright to Yellowstone we went.
I've never seen more beautiful sights in my life. Every corner had something amazing to be delighted with. Roaring waterfalls, , cute little birds and chipmunks eating right at your feet. wild life roaming free careless of us passers by. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . light blue hot water and mod combine in majestic combinations of colors, deep and scary canyons and blooming nature sprouting amongst dead trees. Just nature at its best.


I was very proud of my little camera. I though I needed a new one, but it has earn a place with our family and in my heart after some of the shots it captured.

I never realized how big Yellowstone actually was, but we drove and drove and drove on what seemed to be a never-ending-road. You can really get lost with all the curbs and turns in there if you are not paying attention ( I am glad I wasn't driving). We tried to see as much as we could. I think we were able to see a third of all the places recommended in the map, but what we did see was MAGNIFICENT!!!..Old Faithful, The falls and some of the stinky pots.



...so we drove and drove the whole day until 10 pm when we finally reached Jackson Hall. It was so nice to see street lights after driving for hours on a pitch dark road and being terrified of having some wild animal jump suddenly in front of our car ( thank goodness it never happened)
We woke up in Jackson Hall and did a little glancing around the shops they had there, because I must say everything was extremely expensive, I am a bargain shopper you know.
The only place where I did let myself go wild was at the candy store where I can proudly say I purchased 1 lb of White Chocolate fudge. Fudge shouldn't be made any other way! and lucky me neither Julia or Josh liked it and it had some Hazel nuts on it , so Spencer couldn't have any, he he a treat just for me...yes!


We started our return back home that same day, but at insistence of my father in law, we had to stop and get Bear Lake's famous raspberry shakes. I will make sure this gets in the list of "must do" on our next trip, because it was delicious.


After our trip, there were another 3 hours of driving, none of them done by me, I might add. My sweet hubby decided he was going to do all the driving and so he did.

By the end of our trip we had visited 3 states: Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, driven a total of 753 miles, had taken lots and lots of pictures and had made a lot of beautiful memories with my family