The Magical Wedding Reception!!

Tyler and Katie had their wedding reception at Jason's parents house in their back yard. Wendy was in charge of the inside of the house and Katie's family decorated the backyard. Together it looked magical.

The inside was decorated with the flowers from the luncheon along with candles and the kids' favorite was pink and white M&M's with Tyler and Katie on them. Wendy allowed us to take home two of the flower arrangements to our house!!! They had photos of Tyler and Katie throughout the years set up on the island in a sea of black and pink satin, candles and flowers.

We all wore different outfits at night. Jason was one of Ty's groomsmen so he wore a tux (none of the tuxes fit very well for some reason, it really sucked but they still looked great!!) We convinced Hudson that yes, guys do wear pink!! Hey, Katie convinced Tyler and the groomsmen to all wear pink ties!!

Katie and Tyler had a chicken 'painting' table as one of the food items. The kids thought that was super cool. You picked out a skewer of chicken and then you could paint it with different sauces. My favorite was the buffalo! I love it hot!!!

The back yard was done in a beautiful decor of pinks and blacks with the coolest center pieces I have ever seen. They were made up of five pink flowers graduated in height in a rectangular vase with black stones it. I thought they looked really neat!

Another really cool idea they had was a big white screen set up with a camera with a remote button you could push to take photos with. People could go over to the camera at any time and take goofy photos, family photos...whatever you wanted. It was a lot of fun to play with.

One of Katie's mom's cousins does magic tricks and makes balloon animals so he made the kids all balloon animals. Of course the boys wanted swords so they could battle each other. I think they each went through several!! The girls opted for butterflies, monkeys in trees and catapillars.

All in all it was a beautiful event and in the end, Tyler and Katie were married and got to share a special day with their family and friends. It was also another reason for all four brothers to get together and spend some time together!!!

The Wedding Day Begins!!!

After Tyler and Katie were married/sealed at the Mesa Arizona temple we had a family luncheon with our and Katie's family at Anzios Landing which is by Falcon Field in Mesa. It is a small airport and the kids were able to watch the planes take off and land while we ate.

Wendy was in charge of the luncheon and the food was fantastic and the decor was beautiful!!

The kids were very good and seemed to have great time and were well behaved. They sat by Uncle Ron (Jason's uncle from Calgary) and Great Nanna (Wendy's mom, also from Calgary) and apparently they entertained them both!!

After the luncheon we had a chance to take some photos with Tyler and Katie, the new bride and groom. Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the car when we were at the temple so I don't have any photos taken outside right after :(

It was a wonderful start to an amazing day!!!

Baby Allison and Matthew Visit

Our kids were so excited that their cousins Matthew and Allison came for a visit!!

Chris, Steph, Matthew and Allison were in town for Tyler and Katie's wedding. They were staying at Gram and Grandpa's until the rest of the family came into town and then they stayed at our house. Hudson was super excited to know that Matthew was going to share his room with him!

Hudson and his buddy Matthew

Emily and Allison playing peek-a-boo!

Emmy, Allison and Tori. The girls looked at Allison as their own living doll :)

They LOVE having her around and making her smile. She is such a happy baby and seemed to really like all the attention she was getting from my kiddos. We definately have to take a road trip to Texas to visit them!!!

Choir Gal

Emily's last honor choir concert was on Monday May 11th.

The jr and sr honor choirs sang some really great songs and it was a nice finish to the year. Emm has really enjoyed being in the honor choir and looks forward to joining sr. honor choir next year.

Getting her certificate.

On the way to the truck, saw the bouganvilla and had to take a pic by it :) I love how Arizona is decorated year round by bright, brilliant flowers.

Tori's Preschool Invades Jeepers :)

For a year end party the moms wanted to take the kids somewhere fun!

A few of us had been to Jeepers before so we came here. For $5 for the entire day the kids could ride the rides an unlimited number of times, climb in a giant playstructure and just run around and have fun. It is an inside amusement park!! How cool is that???!!!

Yes, it was a Monday and YES Emily and Hudson did have school, but it is the last full week of school so I figured that it would be okay for them to come with us. They were pretty happy that they were included. Gotta earn that 'Mom of the Year' title some how, haha.

Max was fascinated by these jeeps that used to be where the train ride is now.

Emily and Hudson up in the top of the massive climbing/play structure.

The roller coaster. I even convinced Max to come on it with me. Traumatizing my kids at an early age!!!

My friend Sarah was kind enough to let Max go on this ride with her so I could go with Hudson and see how fast we could make these apple barrels spin...Yep they did spin pretty fast. I think at one point Hudson's face was turning a pretty shade of green and it was getting pretty hard to keep my head and body from being plastered against the side of the barrel :) Wahoo!!!

Emmy and Max on the rocket ships. Emily was such a good helper with Max. She was always offering to take him on the rides. I was really proud of her.

Max, Emmy, Tori and her buddy Brooke on the train.

Bumper cars!! The kids had a blast on these. Max was ticked that he wasn't able to go on these. Maybe next year Max :) It was a fun day followed by lunch at McDonalds...hope the kids had as much fun as I did!!

Auntie Katie's Bridal Shower

The girls and I were invited to Auntie Katie's bridal shower on Saturday.

The girls were so excited to be included!!! I forgot my camera for the shower but we took this photo when we got home, before we left for our Mother's Day lunch.

The girls were asked to help out by bringing Katie her presents to open. They thought that was sooo cool. It was great to see many of the ladies who I used to know when we lived in Chandler and many of them were surprised when they realized that Katie was marrying my little brother in law! The world really is a small place :)

It was a wonderful event and I even won a prize for guess closest to the price for some groceries for Katie's pantry...i was only 41 cents off. Not bad huh?!!

Tyler and Katie made out like bandits!!! Katie told me she was excited to get over to Tyler's house to get the kitchen set up!! They will be living in the house that Tyler bought last year in Chandler.

Mother's Day

My kids and hubby took me out for lunch to my favorite restaurant of all, The Olive Garden for Mother's Day. Well we went on Saturday, a day early and we actually didn't have to wait that long to get in which is a rarity for that place!! I got some beautiful flowers and the kids made me some really cute cards.

On Sunday morning Emily woke me up....urgh, early with toast and juice for breakfast in bed :) Later on Jase made us all pancakes with fruit and whipped cream, another of my favorite!!

For dinner we went over to Jase's parents and celebrated Mother's Day and Tyler's birthday together. It was a fantastic day all around.

It isn't too often that we get family pics and so we took this one before we left for lunch...not great but hey, we're all in it :)

Third Grade Visits the AZ Science Center

Emily's third grade class visited the Arizona Science Center for its final field trip of the year. I had the opportunity to chaperone this trip and it was a lot of fun.

Emily and Ashlynn in the digital room. This room dealt with all 'new age' computerized concepts. The girls were taking a photo of themselves and then watching as it broke apart into pieces and then was sent around the world on the internet to a new location.

The girlies in my group on ths really weird rubber mat that had two inch tall fairly hard rubber nubbs which when you stepped/laid on supported you but it just felt odd :)

Alexa, Ashlynn, Karah and Emmy

Emily on the bed of nails. You could lay upon this table and when you pushed a button 4000 nails came up out of the table. I tried it as well and it felt kind of cool. Yes the nails were pointy and once you got over the concept that all these nails were coming toward you and relaxed it was almost therapeutic!

This was a favorite of everyone! The exhibit was called The Forces of Nature and as you stood on this platform there were four large screens up high that played a movie about the weather that happens on earth. As the movie plays the platform shakes and bangs for earthquakes, it rains and wind blows for hurricanes and tornadoes, hot heat lamps come on for the desert(felt kind of like before we came inside, haha ), lights flash and the ground shakes for thunder and lightning. It was a lot cooler that it sounds and of course girls being girls screamed and screeched when the rain and major winds came.

The girls on the steps before we boarded the bus. From left to right, Emily, Tia, Ashlynn, Shayla, Alexa and Karah. They were a great group of girls and we had a lot of fun touring the center. It was nice to get to know some of the kids in Emily's class.

Emmy's Third Grade Concert

Emily's third grade class had their musical presentation last night.

It was an amalgamation of all five third grade classes with a variety of the kids with speaking parts with the theme of the night being, "A Better You A Better Me." They sang and spoke about not cheating, telling the truth, being a good citizen etc.

Emily was one of the kiddos who had a speaking part and she did a fantastic job!! She spoke clearly, loudly and slow enough for people to understand what the heck she was saying, haha. When she first brought her part home and we practiced she would speak so fast that the words all jumbled together. Over the last month she kept practicing and last night I think she nailed it! I was so proud of her!!!

There were five songs and each class had a specific song where they were highlighted.

Hudson and Tori took the video camera my parents bought the kids down to the front and filmed the entire presentation. It was hilarious. I watched some of it last night and at the end of the first song the camera started shaking violently and I asked him what had happened and he said, "Oh, that must have been when i was clapping!" I had to laugh at that. He told us that he wasn't sure if he was supposed to put the camera in his lap or try to clap or not to clap at all. He added that he didn't want to be rude by not clapping. haha. That's my little man, always worried about what others are thinking. He did a pretty good job at his first movie attempt :)

Emmy and I before we left for her concert.

Emily and her class just before it started.

All five third grade classes.

Emily and her teacher Mrs. Taylor.