A Decade Old

This is what 10 looks like. I can't believe my boy is double digits now.

Nathan lives for games, video games, and playing with friends (currently has 4 best friends but lots of others). He diligently plays the piano, makes lists of chores I give him and checks them off, wants to do what's right, and is a good friend. His favorite sport is swimming & on occasion...admits to needing a hug from his mom.

Responsibility

My son, Allan, has grown up so much. Tonight I left him home babysitting along with Ashley and a friend of hers while all of the adults went out to dinner. When I left him, I handed Rachel to him and she was screaming. I actually had to pry her off of me. After a few minutes she calmed down, and she was fine. She fell asleep at 8:00 and woke up around 11:15. Allan woke up to her crying. She refused to lay down so he walked her around the house and then laid down with him on the couch. They both fell asleep and this is how I found them.

Soda Pop

Gary is known for giving the cheapest soda as a Christmas gift so the neices and nephews had to return the favor. Gary was given 19 liters of pop. Some of it is diet because the store ran out of root beer. ;)

Family Pictures

Days before the wedding, we were always checking the weather. We always knew there was a slight chance of rain but the day before the wedding the chance of rain was 80%. Ariane's photographer had a great umbrella but we were still worried about group pictures. We were blessed with a little bit of blue sky before the temple. When it came time for pictures, we had clouds but it hadn't started raining. I think the pictures will be great. These family photos were taken with our family photographers.
My youngest Brother Richard with my parents

Stacy, Dave, Sydney, and Morgan

My Family

Michelle, Allan, Hiram, Abby, and Hannah

Donald, Jana, Alex, Ellie, Katie, and Victoria

Kevin, Shannon, Brandon, Tiffany, Erica, Ashley, and Andrew

The Wedding Day

Here is Gary as a single guy!

I LOVE these two! I am so happy for them! They were married in the Washington DC temple on Saturday April 24. Congratulations you two! Thanks for letting me be part of your special day!

Gary and Ariane’s wedding was beautiful in so many ways. They are a stunning couple, but what is so amazing about this wedding is that they waited until they could be married in the temple. This is the solemn and sacred "sealing" of husband and wife in marriage. It was wonderful to be in the temple with all of siblings. The last time we were there was nine years ago when Dave and Stacy were married in the Salt Lake Temple. I was emotional, enough for the entire family. My family forgot that I am the "tender" one. Gary met Ariane over a year ago at work and then they saw each other at church. She was investigating at the time. She was baptized by Gary on Easter Sunday and met my parents around that time. Things progressed quickly but they decided to wait and get married in the temple.

Here are all 7 siblings in my family with Ariane. I'm glad to have another sister.

I'm so grateful for professional pictures and can't wait until I see them. It is so hard to take a picture with so many people, but especially with young kids. Rachel did not want to sit. Even with bribery (Smarties), it was difficult. As a note to myself, bring a ton of bribery!

The Washington DC temple is one of my favorite temples. It is so beautiful and peaceful.

Cousins Posing

While waiting for Gary, Brandon took some great pictures of the cousins together.

This is one of my favorites. Brandon has a future in photography!

Decorating the Car

Gary made it difficult to get access to his car. Michelle knew he was going on a one night honeymoon in Alexandria so Shannon googled hotels and somehow was able to find it. She called the hotel and even got the room number. So after the adult dinner, we headed to Walmart and stocked up. Brandon was the most excited about all of this activity. This is the sign left on the door.

After we started decorating, Jana found the car unlocked so we got creative again. With cans tied to the back, balloons everywhere, crepe paper, toilet paper, oreos on the windows, and decorated with glass markers, it was a work of art. We now have collected ideas for the next wedding.

The Chart House

The Wedding Luncheon was at a restaurant overlooking the Potomac River. The scenery was beautiful and perfect setting for celebrating! Brandon gave a touching speech and it was great to see all of Ariane's friends. The cutting of the cake included a small frosting fight.

My kids loved the fancy food and they loved the cake, especially when they were able to eat leftover cake for breakfast.

Interrupted Risk Tournament

My brothers LOVE RISK. It seems like every major get together they pull out the game and it turns into a passionate time of war. Words are sent flying and sometimes it gets personal but in the end they are all friends. This time with 8 players, they put two game boards together. Jacob was the first to go out and then it was ended since it was the night before the wedding. I was told that for a good RISK game, you need 8 hours. (Sorry about the bad picture. We discovered the flash is broken on the camera on vacation.)

Man Party

The guys celebrated with Gary by going to a Buffet. My family loves buffets. There a lot of stories of eating competitions, especially Cici's Pizza.

They also went miniature golfing. Lots of friendly competition in how much you eat and how well you play the game.

Bridal Shower

To celebrate getting a new sister-in-law, we had a bridal shower for her at Eggspectation. It was a great breakfast place and food was delicious.

Ariane was given some great gifts as well as some "embarassing" ones as well.

Hanging Out

The cousins had so much fun playing together and at the start of the vacation Emily was calling cousins by their clothing but she learned their names in the end. There were so many things that the kids loved doing and Kevin and Shannon were great hosts and definitely have the "party house." We loved playing the x box, wii, watching movies, playing card games, and the kids created stacked card towers.

We also all loved all of the games with these huge balls.

Trampoline Time

A highlight for all of the kids was the trampoline. It did cause some contention when everyone wanted to jump at once, but Shannon controlled it with a timer.

Their Best Faces

This is one of my favorite pictures. It looks like Joshua is floating.

Finally Completed!

When I was pregnant with Allan, I was given this cross stitch blanket. I started it and never finished it so I put it away. Then when I was pregnant with Nathan, I pulled it back out and tried to finish it again. I was about halfway done with I put it away for good. About nine months ago, my mother was visiting and was showing me all of the cross stitching she was doing. I gave her a bunch of embroidery thread and found this unfinished project. I gave it to my mother and she completed while in Saudi Arabia.

Rainbow Park

While the men were celebrating with Gary feasting on food and golf, we took all of the kids to Rainbow Park. It was so much fun!

The highlight of the trip was the Rainbow bars. We ended up racing and up and down.

Nathan was a monkey and easily scaled to the top and down but Stacy came in a close second.

National Zoo

I was so happy that we had two days to see the sights in Washington DC. We were entertained from the beginning when we saw a organatan climbing on these large wires as we entered an although it sounds disgusting, he pooped and it splattered everywhere. Although the zoo is free, if there is something they can charge for, they do.

Emily HATES bugs. Allan teases her all the time saying, "I've got a mosquito or a fly" and she runs. The Nataional Zoo had this great display of different kinds of beetles.

Richard started a new job but was able to negotiate two extra days to spend with us. We loved having him come along since I haven't seen him in years. The kids loved having him along as well.

The Amazon was a great display. A favorite had to be the flamingos.

The petting zoo was a hit. All of kids loved petting the goats and brushing them.

Rachel LOVED the zoo. She loved the monkeys and fish and especially the petting zoo.

Richard, my youngest brother, joined us and my kids LOVED having him around. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule for us!