Terriffic Texas, Fabulous Florida, Brave Boy

Hey this is Alyse. I just got back from an almost 2 week vacation to Texas and Florida! I had a blast! It was really hard for me to come home. I didn't end up taking very many pictures, I don't know what I was thinking but I thought I would share a few that I did take. I want to thank everyone that let me stay with them! I really appreciated it so much! I loved seeing old friends. Below is a picture of me with one of my High School friends from Texas. This was the only picture I took in Texas but I did love everything I did and everyone I saw there.
This is a picture with a AL from Florida I used to work with him. We just ate at Olive Garden. Yum!

Me playing miniature golf. I know what you are thinking- with all the great parks that I went to while I was in Orlando why is there a picture of me playing miniature golf? The answer- it was my last day in Florida and I realized I hadn't been taking pictures so I started.

Me with my bestfriend Jen. We used to work together. It really was a terrific, fabulous trip!

Hi this is Linda. About a week and a half ago my grandson Hunter ended up spending all night in the ER for a bad head wound that I have already posted a picture of. Well Hunter has had more than his share of time in the ER. He spent Tues. night there also where it was discovered that he had appendicitis. Yesterday he had surgery at Primary Children's Hospital and had his appendix taken out. He was a very brave boy through all of it. The picture below of him was taken a couple of hours after surgery. He still just wanted to sleep!
The picture below was taken last night, by then he was feeling much better and was excited about the gifts that were being given him.

He even showed us all how he could walk with everything that was hooked up to him!

We all love you Hunter and hope you are back to normal soon. We also hope you are done with hospitals for a while! I think your parents hope that too!

All Good Things Must Come To An End.

We spent this past weekend at Annie's last Club Volleyball Tournament! It has been a busy year with volleyball. School ball started last Aug. and ran through Nov. Then in Dec. club volleyball started with practices twice a week for a couple of hours and tournaments every other weekend. It has kept us all busy as we attended with Annie and supported her. All good things must come to an end though and so the club volleyball season is finally over for the year. Now we can find other things to fill our weekends with. Annie was captain of her team and I am so proud of her for the great job that she did with that responsibility. She received the most valuable player award from her team. This last tournament was a great way to end the season with close games that were fun to watch whether they won or lost. They were grateful they won more than they lost! The picture below is of Annie serving one of her famous serves. She hits the ball so hard that she stands back as far as she can so it doesn't go out of the court. Watch for the ball

Get ready

Go for it

Listen to the coach

Be ready

Awesome serve

Watch the ball

Get ready

Annie with some of her team members after the tournament. She will miss playing with these fun girls. But open court practice for school volleyball starts tomorrow so she will miss the girls but not playing volleyball because it never seems to end. Volleyball camp is in June and then practice and weight lifting start after that to get ready for tryouts in Aug.

My daughter Jennifer's family got to spend some time with us while their hardwood floors were being refinished. It's always fun to have grand kids around! Here is Hunter showing me his stitches he got the other night at the emergency room. He seems very proud of his wound and his stitches.

Emma colored me a beautiful picture, went for a walk with me, and we also played house and read stories.
Mckay and Hunter played basketball.

They also played a lot of video games.

The kids liked to snuggle with mom and watch a movie before they went to bed

We all had fun, but all good things must come to an end and after breakfast this morning they headed back to their house.

Mothers Day

When I was a little girl and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I always told them I wanted to be a mother. I feel so blessed to be a mother. It took many years to get all of our children here and have our family complete. Each one of them was a miracle and I am so grateful for each of them! Raising them has taught me so many things and refined me over the years into the person I am today. My kids and husband gave me the best Mothers Day! They made me a great dinner (thanks Andy for organizing it). They each made a part of it and I didn't have to do a thing including the dishes because Kim did those. Thanks kids for dinner and for your thoughtful gifts! I love each one of you so much! Below is a picture of me with my miracles left to right Andrew, April, Alyse, me, Jennifer, and Adrianna.


Thanks to my kids I get to be a grandmother and that is one of the sweetest blessings there is!

I really had a wonderful Mothers Day!

Annie's Blessing /These are for Jenn

Yesterday Kim , Alyse, and I had the special experience of attending Annie's Patriarchal Blessing with her. It was a very sweet experience! Annie is growing up into a beautiful, talented , smart, and spiritual young lady! You Rock Annie! A week ago Sunday when all the family was together. Jennifer started snapping silly pictures with my camera in the hopes that she would use up my memory stick and I would stop taking pictures. She actually got a couple of pictures I really like so I'm posting them. Below is my cute Brianna with the big blue eyes

Here is my son with one of my daughters. I'm glad my kids like each other!

Thanks Jenn for the pictures!