Carli

Utah trip (post #2)

I forgot to include this picture in the previous post about graduation. Here is my Dad with two of the red-headed grandkids, Harper and Brooke.

After the graduation Friday night we drove down to Cedar City. We got up early and headed down to St. George because my cousin, Lauren, was getting married in the St. George Temple. It was so neat to be in the temple with so many family members. It was a simply beautiful and perfect day in St. George. She was beautiful, the groom was handsome, and it was so lovely and peaceful on the temple grounds after the ceremony. We even saw Elder Holland walk up into the temple! He stopped to wave, shake hands, and say hello to everyone. That was very neat to see him in person!

Me and Brooke after the weddingAfter the wedding there was a lovely luncheon and then we headed back to the temple to go through a session with my brother, Brett, who is leaving for the Romania Bucharest Mission in a few weeks. That was really special. My parents and all of my siblings were there as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Morris, my Grandma Johnson, and a cousin and an uncle. It was wonderful to have the entire family (except Ben and a sister-in-law) in the temple together. I am blessed with such a special family! The siblings went in on a camera for Brett to take on his mission. He was pretty excited about it. Here he is after he opened it.Brooke loved spending time with Grandpa. I love this sweet picture (Brett, sorry, but you kind of ruin the shot back there on the couch. lol!) She was so content on the trip.My mom has the most beautiful lilac bushes in her backyard. We tried to get some cute pictures of Brooke after church on Sunday, but she was more interested in looking at the dog than looking at the camera.

Duh, I didn't even think to get a picture of me and Brooke on mother's day or one of my and my mom. Oh well. It was a wonderful day with my dad fixing yummy crepes for breakfast and then we had all the Cedar City family over for dinner. Dad grilled salmon and it was soooo good. All of the food was great. I was able to talk to Ben and the kids. I missed them on Mother's Day, but it was nice to have a relaxing day. :) Thanks so much, hon, for taking good care of the kids while I was gone! I love you!

Weekend in Utah

I was so happy to be able to fly out to Utah last weekend. I flew into Salt Lake Friday morning with Brooke (who was an angel baby the entire weekend) and my parents picked me up. We then met up with my youngest brother, Brett, another brother, Spencer, and sister-in-law (married to my other brother, Thayne) Kailee, with little nephew Harper and the California Pizza Kitchen downtown. We had some really yummy pizza and then headed out. My parents and I took a little trip over to Temple Square. Oh my, was it beautiful with all the gorgeous tulips and other flowers everywhere we looked! It was so lovely!

Me and Brooke are down there at the bottom of the photo. :)

My Dad, me, and Brooke

The only thing she fussed about was having to get her picture taken in front of the flowers. She wasn't enjoying it much. It was really bright out there, though, so I really don't blame her.

That evening we were able to attend Thayne's graduation from the University of Utah with his MBA. Way to go, Thayne! You are awesome! This is Thayne, Kailee, and Harper. They are expecting boy #2 in August!Thayne with Mom and DadThayne adn Kailee walking with the procession to the graduation.Kailee (sil), Brett (bro), Harper (nephew), Thayne (bro), me, Charisse (sis), and Cory (bil)

That was Friday. Next post will be Saturday and Sunday!

Brandon

My handsome guy. My only son. My "Bud." I can hardly believe it's been 10 years since he was born. I don't know what to say except that I am so glad to have him in my life. He is so full of energy and life. He doesn't sit still, he loves to make funny noises and tell jokes and tease his sisters. He loves to be read to and have his back scratched. He loves to play games and have fun. He is a math whiz and awesome lego builder. He's great at playing the piano (too bad he doesn't want to take lessons anymore). He is a good helper and enjoys being in the kitchen (especially to eat). He loves cheese pizza, macaroni and cheese, cheese enchiladas, cheesy broccoli, queso dip--notice a trend here? :) He's very cheesy. lol!

He is awesome at Guitar Hero and playing any computer or video game. He's quite a little copy of his dad when it comes to computers. He managed to lock his dad out of the computer and change some settings. Ha, ha. Not very funny, but totally smart kid. :)

He's kind of goofy, but he's a great kid and I just love him so much. He makes me smile and laugh. I love his reddish blond hair and blueish-green eyes. I love when he shows me his lego creations and he's so proud. I love when he gives his baby sister, Brooke, hugs and kisses. It's so sweet when he holds her. What a great big brother.

He has challenges with his ADHD, but he takes it all in stride. It's just how he is. He's my Brandon and I wouldn't change him, even as hard as it is sometimes, for any other boy. All 27 hours of labor were worth it to have such a strong spirit here on this earth.

Happy Birthday bud! (I can't believe I have a child in the double digits)

Pretty in Pink

Don't you just want to eat her up? She is soooo precious!

Easter Happenings

What a wonderful Easter weekend. Today was a really neat day. I did sharing time in Primary and it really helped me to feel the spirit and think about the true reason we celebrate Easter, our Savior Jesus Christ, than worry about all the baskets and candy and dinner, etc. We got few fun pictures this morning, but unfortunately, I didn't get individual shots except for Carli. Even poor Brooke didn't get her picture taken except for the group. Then she spit up all over her cute dress at church and had to be changed. Oh well. We'll do "pretend" Easter pictures another time. Hopefully I get to that this week while her dress still fits her. She's growing so fast! She's up over 11 lbs and almost 2 feet long. I cannot believe how much she is growing. A friend at church was holding Brooke and another friend walked in and said, "That's not your baby, is it?" LOL! She was awake and holding her head up so well and looking around. She was adorable today.

On to the Easter pictures. We woke to fun finding baskets and candy-filled eggs. The kids had a great time and it took all of about 5 minutes. Woohoo! On to breakfast, a to-die-for quiche with a hashbrown crust, thanks to Paula Deen's recipe on foodnetwork.com. All the kids, except Carli, loved it (and it even had yucky stuff like green onion...). :) Ben and I devoured it as well. YUM! Then it was on to getting everyone ready in their Easter best (have you ever tried getting 4 girls ready in the morning?). I must say Ben and Brandon both looked quite handsome as well. Then there was me...hence the no family photo this morning, just the kiddos.

Brandon coloring eggs Saturday.

Ben joined in the fun as well and this is his "Mr. Potato Head" egg.Carli was concentrating pretty hard on getting her eggs colored. It was pretty funny to watch. At first she was only coloring them green. She would just dunk the egg in and pull it right out.Kate enjoying her Easter stash.Megan loved finding the eggs. I love how excited this girl gets about things like this. She's too cute. :)Each one of these is a bit different. They all have different looks on their faces and, of course, they each had to hold Brooke for the picture.

Carli in her orange dress. She picked it out all by herself. She was totally the cutest girl around today!

Carli

I just love these eyes...