Ok these pictures are NOT going to be in order and I can't figure out how to make them be... This is our 4th of July weekend! We got to have some of our Workman cousins over for a few days while their mom and dad were off celebrating their wedding anniversary. I actually love that their anniversary lines up with the 4th of July. It has become such a fun tradition for me and my kids to have their cousins here for the holiday! On the 3rd we celebrated by going to the park and getting treats! They picked popcorn, cotton candy, and snow cones!

 On the 4th we have a LARGE BBQ every year and it is so much fun for the kids to swim and we all eat. At the end we light off fire works. All our neighors have really gotten into the festivities and it makes for a BIG show on our street. (Let's just say maybe not ALL that happened on our street may have been "legal") Fun to watch! Oh and an AMAZING sunset!

 I don't know for sure but I kind of think maybe Ethan was contemplating that the next two 4th of July's he will have will be very different... They will just be like any other day since he will be in the Philippians and not celebrating our Independence.

Ruth loved the water fountain at the park and got her dress soaking wet. But she had a great time twirling around to try and get it to dry.

 Often on the 3rd we try and go to the fireworks at the park. It is to crazy on the 4th to go. It is really nice that they do 2 days worth here! Tyrah was our "pink Ninja" Since it gets cool as soon as the sun went down we bundled up.

 The parade is always so much fun. I love it even more now that my family lives close enough that they get to come too! I finally got my parents to come by telling them how much fun it is to watch Sam and Sunny heckle all the people in the parade. I did NOT know this meant that this year it meant I was going to get a water balloon to the chest right after this picture was taken... Thanks Sunny! The kids loved it. Oh and yes Hyrum I see your eye level! (punk)

 Our City Public works truck came by and they had a Workman dump body on it my dad got so excited that he was yelling I built that and ran after it so we could take a picture of him with it.

At the BBQ Ruth was CRAZY hopped up on sugar and junk and the super nice Dean was trying to wear her out. He learned that it isn't really possible but she had a great time while he tried. They chased, he spun her around and wore himself out!
I love the 4th of July! I love our country and all those who have helped make it the amazing country it is! We are truly blessed. And so blessed to have the amazing community that celebrates it BIG. It is my 2nd favorite holiday. 2nd only to Christmas of course. We have great traditions and so much fun. (Hopefully we will have nicer weather to enjoy it with next year!)

Families are forever

June 11th Sunny and Ashley were sealed in the temple. This was a big day and we are all so happy for them.

General conference trip to Utah

Last January I challenged my kids to read the "Friend " magazine or The New Era magazine cover to cover every month and if they did we'd have a big prize! They ALL did it.  So we took all of them to Utah to attend the General Conference for our church. Ruth isn't old enough to go in so while we were in the meetings she spent time with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin with her daughter. She had a wonderful time!  Which made it so much easier for us to enjoy our meetings.  Friday we toured Temple Square, This is the Place, and the Church History Museum.  (I did part of temple square with just the little girls while Larry took the older ones to do baptisms in the Salt Lake Temple).  Saturday was filed with conference, we were lucky enough to get tickets to both general meetings and the boys attended the priesthood meeting.  Sunday too and time with my cousins and aunt and uncle. We even ran into the White's  (a family from our ward who live around the corner) our stake President and dear friends that live in the other ward here in town. Such a small world! Everywhere we went we met people who knew friends of friends, or had some kind of connection. We truly are one big family and I find sisters everywhere I go!  It was a wonderful weekend and the kids traveled great!
Then also while we were gone we had our hard wood floors refinished. They are beautiful! I'm so excited to have beautiful floors!

Title of Liberty

A few months ago I took a class called "Eternal Warriors". I learned so much about how to more effectively combat Satan. It has changed my life in so many amazing ways and I feel so much closer to my Father in Heaven because I can hear his voice more clearly, among many other things.  At the end of the class we were challenged to create a family "title of liberty" to help our families be like Captain Moroni, from the Book of Mormon. This will help us remember why, and how to combat the adversary.  For months I've taught about it. .. then I got serious and prayed about it and as I read my conference issue of the Ensign from April I read a talk from President Monson and I read "...in order to gain and keep the faith we need, it is essential that we read and study and ponder the scriptures. Communication with our Heavenly Father through prayer is vital.  We cannot afford to neglect these things for the adversary and his hosts are relentlessly seeking for a chink in our armor, a laps in our faithfulness. .." I knew this was what I needed to focus on!  It's what we HAVE to do to fight the enemy pray and hold to the word of God. Then came to my mind a scripture our family "ponderized" a few weeks ago.  (Ponderize comes from another talk from last conference. We pick a scripture to recite each day discuss what it means and think about it through it the week so it becomes more meaning full to us. ) I had chosen 1 Nephi 15:24 because of similar reasons. I wanted us to remember how important it is to hold on to, apply, and follow the teachings of the scriptures and our prophets. It says "and I said unto them that it was the word of God and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish, neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary over power them unto blindness to lead them away to destruction. " I just knew these two together would be a powerful reminder.  But I also wanted to have a place where we could put "the words of God" that we were focused on that we were holding fast to. ...so we have our scripture that we will ponderize each week posted at the bottom.  I also envisioned an actual iron rod on it as a reminder to hold to it...and it looks cool...
I presented my idea to my family at family home evening. We had been taking about it for months.  Most everyone was exited, some gave input like making the words diagonal  (which I love because it's more interesting), colors. ...we were all excited about it and so the next morning I asked my amazing friend Heidi Davis to help me make it happen. She is an incredible sign maker and did an amazing job. It's exactly what I wanted. She suggested putting a title at the top which I love! We just hung it last night!

Family Pictures FINALLY!

 We haven't had family picture taken since Ruth was 6 weeks old! I have had the kids done but not all of us! Sad I know. 3 years later here we are. I won't comment on all of them because I chose to post a lot of them. Thanks MacKennzie I love them and have them on my wall already!

 Ethan age 13

 Amelia age 9

 Ruth age 3 (1/2)

 Hayden age 6 (1/2)

 Brock age 11 (almost in this picture!)

 I love this family shot... I should have blown it up for the wall!

 If you can't tell this was really one of the last ones. Ruth was on the RUN! She was SO Done. Happy but not wanting to sit or listen anymore time to explore!!!

I don't know if you can tell I am having to hold on to Ruth for dear life. She was about done and was hitting everyone (playing) and ready to RUN!