Mom's marathon runner - JuliFern

She's hanging in there...Mile 23
Go Juli!! - This was mile 20
This is the first point of contact we made with Juli at her marathon.  After all the hills and out of the monstrous canyon....Mile 14
This is a now and then picture of Juli...Isn't she cute!!  She is trying real hard to love life!

This girl makes us so proud.  She accomplishes the things we all dream of accomplishing but because she works hard and is diligent she is successful.  What a great example to all of us!!  We are so proud of you Fern!  

Summer Catch up!! Finally!!!

I have so much catching up to do that I am not sure I will ever get there.  However, I felt like I needed to get started somewhere.  It has been a wonderful, very busy summer.  We have enjoyed several fun-filled trips to Seattle (Thanks Tif and Josh), to 3 Seattle Mariners games (ask me if I even knew who Ichiro was prior to this)  Now I am a fan of his on facebook and we often have to do the Ichiro chants with Alayna and Madelyn.  Memories!!  I love it!!  We have been blessed with a beautiful new granddaughter, Moira Elizabeth, and found out we are getting a new little grandson in January.  Life is good.  We are so blessed and count our blessing each and every day.  Tif and Josh along with the girls are back and settled in Indiana continuing their efforts in Josh getting his Masters degree very soon.  Coby and Steph along with Alayna are still in Sandy beginning Coby's third year of medical school and are gearing up for our new grandson.  Preston decided he has had enough of his mother monitoring his life and moved out. We miss him tons but my grocery bill has certainly decreased (especially since there are no more storage room raids at midnight..haha)  Juli has a rigorous semester at school and just applied for nursing school.  Wouldn't she make a great nurse!!  My babe, Kali, has started the best year of school yet.  She has done better this year than ever.  She has great teachers, great classes and great friends that are going to make this the best year ever.   Perry and I have canned and canned and canned all summer (along with lots of help from everyone else).  Our garden has had a very bountiful harvest (thanks to Kali fertiziling it every week)  and we have filled all our empty bottles from the storage room.  Woot!! for food storage.  Now we are gearing up for fall and Halloween (my favorite holiday - homemade donuts, chili and cute treat or treaters).  Now I will add a few pictures to share our summer ventures...Remember life is too short not to take advantage of every single minute.  Make each moment the best ever...and be happy!!

The Man in my Life

This was our second dance picture together.  I knew I wanted to marry him I just had to convince him he wanted to get married.  Worked!!  Love ya Pearsters!
This is our engagement picture....Check out my hair...Looks kinda fun but hey that was the style back then.
Pear always had a smile that would  catch my heart.  I always felt real special when he sent it my way!
This was our first dance picture together.  Wow, we look real young.
I always post backwards but oh well...it is still fun.  I just finished making a Heritage Makers book for Perry for a special occasion - not going to say when because then he'll know but it was really fun to make.  Lots and lots of work but worth it in the end.  Here are some cute, cute pictures of the man in my life when we were young and dating.....Oh the memories....Yes, he did have hair  at one point...but I actually prefer him the way he is now....Cuter than cute...Here is his Senior picture from high school.

Mom and Dad's baby girl

Here are some cute pictures of our baby! I just finished making a Heritage makers poster for Kali and we took some pictures of her by the temple. This is one of her favorite temples. She is getting old! Big 16!! Isn't she cute? What a good kid! Thanks Kali for being a good example, choosing the right always and reminding us that having fun is really important.
What a goofster! She had more pictures of her goofing off and with funny faces...

Fun

Can I just say I love this time of year. Every year out front on our pillars we have the same family of birds that return each year and build a nest, lay eggs and then we have baby birds for a few weeks. It is so fun! Anyone that comes to visit us gets dive bombed by the daddy and mama birds. Usually this happens in may and by now we are well on our way to baby birds. However, last year the neighbors cat came and knocked the nest down and destroyed the eggs. Needless to say I was beyond upset!! So this year they didn't return. Or so I thought....the other day Juli and Kali started yelling "Mom, Mom hurry come out front." Sure enough they came back....oh the joy, oh the fun!! We all love it and everyone is as bad as I am (even though they won't openly admit it) about checking on the birds several times each day. It is going to be fun to see the progress of this little family.....the neighbors cat just better stay away!! (or I am going to get REAL mad).

How do you count your riches??

Some parents tend to measure their success by their material riches.  

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of showing his son how poor some people are.  They spent a few days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a poor family.  On the way home from the trip, the father asked his son, "How did you like the visit to this family?"  "  The son replied, "Oh yeah, it was great, Dad."  The father then asked, "So what did you learn from the trip?  Did you see how poor people can be?"

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they have four.  We have a pool that only reaches to the middle of our lawn and they have a creek that has no end.  We have imported lanterns in our garden while they have the stars at night.  Our patio reaches to the front yard and we only have a small piece of land to live on while they have acres and acres.  We buy our food, but they grow theirs.  Thanks, Dad for showing me how poor we are."  

I count my riches by having the gospel in my life and Jesus Christ as the central figure.  I am rich with a wonderful family who I love so much.  I consider my life richly blessed.   

If you having a bad day just call....................

As a family we have unitedly decided that if we are having a bad day we just need a dose of these two cute babies and we feel a whole lot better.   
If we have a spare moment we are either on the plane or in the car driving to see these two bits of JOY!
I told Perry we should have been grandparents first..........Wait it can't happen like that.......It's just easier being a grandparent because we can spoil them rotten and then send them back to mom and dad.
One of the funnest things we enjoy at the expense of the parents is when they go to leave and the grandbabies start bawling because they don't want to leave "grandma's" house.....Oh what joy they bring to us!!  Thanks  little darling girls for making our bad days all better!