Happy Birthday to Me

I had a fun week celebrating my birthday.  Monday night Tiff, Audrey and Katie took me out to dinner.

We went to Ross after dinner and when we walked outside we saw this beautiful view.  The pictures don't do it justice, the sky was breath taking.

It was so nice to get out and visit.

On my birthday I woke up to Wyatt and Hallee decorating the front room.  Wyatt had bought and made all of these decorations for my present.

I loved it!

It was so fun to enjoy the decorations all day.

Jonah said he wanted to take me for breakfast for my birthday.  It was fun that he could drive me there.

He took me to Magelby's and I tried the French toast that he loves. It was so good. It was great to have that time with Jonah and it meant so much to me that he would treat me to breakfast.

Mel and Tiff came over that day so my kids were all happy hanging out with their cousins and I got to visit with my sisters.  Kristin sent a dozen cupcakes to me that afternoon.  That was so thoughtful and they were so good! I was glad they came while everyone was here so they could help us eat them.

That night Keith brought home Cafe Rio for dinner and then the kids gave me presents after dinner.  Jonah was at work, so I'm glad I got time with him that morning.  Caitlyn bought me so many things from bath and body works, she is so generous.  They all gave me such thoughtful gifts and it meant so much to me. 

I was able to relax and take a bath that night and then Keith and I watched a movie.  It was a great day! Every night when it's time for Wyatt to go to bed he gets very chatty or comes up with some project he wants to do. That night him and Caitlyn put on quite the show for me and Keith.

It was so funny to watch them dance and laugh together.  I'm so glad I captured some of it.  Watching your kids have fun together is the best! It was the perfect end to a great day.

Father's Day

I love special occasions because the kids don't complain (too much) about pictures! Last Sunday we celebrated Keith on Father's day.  He definitely deserves to be celebrated.  I wish every child in the world could have a loving father like Keith.  One who puts his family first and works hard to provide and protect his family.  One who takes an interest in each kid and pays attention to what they are interested in so he can learn about it and connect with them. One who drops the kids off at school in the morning and puts them to bed at night, so he can connect with them at the beginning and ending of each day.  One who makes it easy for his kids to believe in a Heavenly Father who loves them because they have an earthly father who loves them and would do anything for them.  That is the kind of dad Keith is and I'm so grateful for him.  

This is what happens when we put Jonah in charge of taking the pictures.

It was rough to get up for 9 AM church after our late night at Garth Brooks!  We made Keith a big brunch after church.  The kids all helped and we made all of his favorite breakfast foods.

The three older kids chipped in and got Keith a massage gun.

Jonah had the idea and he was excited to make sure it was all charged and ready for Keith.

Hallee wanted to get Keith a wallet so she got him that and made him a cute tool set at activity days that said all of the things she loves about him.

It takes us a few out takes to get a good picture, ha! The candid ones are my favorite.

The kids all felt bad about fighting on Keith's birthday so they were extra nice and cooperative on Father's day.

We went to visit Garth that afternoon.  He is in an assisted living center and we are so glad he is being well taken care of.  He was exited to see the kids and made us laugh a lot.  

Garth Brooks

I have heard that Garth Brooks puts on an amazing concert and I have wanted to see him for years.  When I heard he was coming again this year, I knew I wanted to go.  Katie was able to get tickets for us, I think he sells out in like twenty minutes.  We all met up and carpooled down there. We went early because we knew it would be packed.  We paid to park and got in pretty quickly and then we had a lot of time to visit before the show started.  They ended up starting late because it was so windy that day.  It rained a little bit while we were there and you could see the pollution in the air, but other than that the weather cooperated for the concert.  I was so glad it wasn't crazy hot. 

I asked Keith about the tickets and I was surprised that he wanted to go.  He doesn't like country and didn't know very many of his songs.  He said he doesn't like country, but he likes me and he thought it would be fun to go together.  What a nice guy! Our seats were almost at the top, row 60.  

Garth didn't come out until about 8:30 PM.  He was definitely worth the wait though!

Audrey and her sisters were there and someone came and got them from their nose bleed seats and took them down to the second row! They had an amazing view. I got these pictures from Audrey.  The stage was so big, but he spent a lot of time singing right in front of them. 

Trisha Yearwood came at the end.  I listened to her songs and Garth's songs on repeat as a teenager and young adult so it made me feel young again to sing along to their songs.  

His show did not disappoint, it was amazing!  He sang for three hours!  I don't know how he wasn't exhausted running back and forth on that stage. I'm so glad we went, it was seriously so good! 

Week 713 of summer break

The title can tell you how summer break is going.  Ha! It's not terrible, we are just having a hard time thinking of things to do and keep ourselves entertained.  We are all very happy that the Barth's are back from their vacation and we have had fun spending time with them this week. 

Last week we had a couple of cool days and Hallee and Wyatt wanted to go to South Fork.

Hallee had fun in the water for a bit, but it was a little too cold for playing in the water that day.

We walked around for a little bit and then the kids were ready to go.  Wyatt said we should come back with Rockwell!

I got to take Wyatt to do baptisms one morning, we both enjoyed that.

Keith snapped a picture of Jonah at work when he was at the gym working out.  Jonah has enjoyed his job and hasn't had a problem getting shifts covered when he needs to, so it has been a great summer job.  Yesterday he had to rescue a woman in the lap pool, he had to jump in and grab her and get her over to the side.  Yesterday he said a girl (he thought he was her age) took his sandal while he was on the chair and said she wouldn't give it back unless he gave her his phone number.  He said she was creepy and kept staring at him.  He told her that he didn't have his phone and he didn't know his number and she gave him his sandal back.  I was afraid that he would be bored, but he said he likes the time to think and kids usually talk to him. 

I took the kids to Classic on a hot day last week.

We bought a pass so they got to play laser tag, jump, skate and play some video games. 

They were exhausted after a few hours. 

Caitlyn went to girls camp last week from Wednesday to Saturday.  She was very nervous about going, but decided that she wanted to go.  She is the President of the Young Women class and I think she felt like she should go.  She was a ward YCL instead of going with the stake.  I was worried about her all week and wondering how she was doing.  When she got home she gave me a hug and just started crying.  She said it was the hardest thing she has ever done.  She got sunburned on her knees, through her ripped jeans, on the first day.  She said she felt pretty sick after that and then she took a nap outside and her ankles got burned.  She got really swollen and was in a lot of pain.  Then she got sap in her hair, poor girl.  She said she was glad she went, but she was so glad to be home.  She loves her leaders and enjoyed spending time with them and she loved being there with the younger girls in the ward.  I know they all look up to Caitlyn and love her.  I texted her leaders to thank them and they all wrote back saying how much they love her and how grateful they were that she came. Camille said, "I absolutely love Caitlyn!! We needed her with us at camp.  She was our unifier, made us laugh, and was so thoughtful as she helped take care of girls when they were sad.  She is amazing." Tasha said, "I love and admire Caitlyn so much! She has so many talents and gifts! One night at camp Sofie was having a really difficult time. Caitlyn put her arms around her and helped her through some fear and anxiety.  All of us leaders were so impressed with her and so grateful for her! You've raised an amazing daughter!" Lindsey said, "I love that girl so much.  She's so fun to be around." I showed Caitlyn the texts and she said she had also texted and thanked them and they said similar things to her.  Sofie came over with her mom on Sunday and brought Caitlyn some ear rings that she made for her.  I told Caitlyn that I know her mom is so grateful to her for taking such good care of Sofie at camp.  I'm so proud of Caitlyn for doing something that was really hard for her.  She was very nervous and knew it would be hard, but she decided she wanted to do it anyway.  They asked her to bear her testimony this coming Sunday.  Tyler texted me and told me that Caitlyn gave a beautiful testimony up at camp and they wanted her to share it on Sunday.  That's another hard thing she agreed to and I know she will do great. 

Keith baked with the kids on Saturday while I helped Caitlyn get all cleaned up from camp.  She was so happy to be home and shower and wash her clothes!

50-years-old!

Keith had a milestone birthday last week, he turned 50-years-old!  His birthday was on Monday and everyone had work, so we celebrated on Sunday.  We had a yummy barbecue dinner.

After dinner the kids gave him presents.  Keith and I gave each other tickets to Garth Brooks for our birthdays this year!

Wyatt wrote Keith the sweetest note and it made him pretty emotional. 

 Wyatt is so sweet and when he writes a card, he really writes it from the heart.

Keith loved all of the thoughtful gifts from the kids.

We couldn't find a candle so he got a match in his dessert.

Keith chose some games for us to play that night. 

It started out really fun, but ended with a lot of fighting.  I was pretty frustrated with the kids and gave them a nice lecture the next day, they all felt bad.  I think Keith had a nice day before the fighting!

On Monday, Keith's team decorated his office at work and made it a special day for him.

Wyatt wanted to do something special for Keith on Monday for his actual birthday.  We went to the store and he bought stuff to make him this poster.  He was holding it up when Keith walked in from work.

Keith wanted to see the new Top Gun movie so he and I went and saw that on his birthday.  It was really good. It was nice to get out together. 

Catch up

Wyatt went on a field trip to the Tulip Festival a few months ago.  I forgot to post the pictures that Dallin's mom sent me.

Wyatt wasn't excited about this field trip, but he said it was more fun than he thought it would be.

Dallin, Wyatt and Zoey have loved being in the same class this year.

Wyatt enjoyed seeing the statues of Christ.

I'm so glad Dallin and Wyatt have become such good friends. He is really nice boy and they have a great time together.

Dallin had a birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  I love this picture that Thomalee sent me. The boys had a blast.  They played water games, roasted hot dogs and watched a movie outside.