Love and Marriage...and Grouches

Steven and Mickie were married in the Palmyra Temple in June. Welcome to the family Mickie! It's late, I know. But I love you just the same. Here are some shots I took on their wedding day. The day was beautiful and everyone was so happy for them and to be part of their day...





Well...not everyone was thrilled about the plans for the day...



Some time into the pictures, it became quite clear...the pictures would be much less stressful if the little kids (grouches) were "out of the picture" so Matt and I took our little three and Maggie elsewhere. They enjoyed the playground immensely! (My new challenge became preventing them from trashing the adorable clothes that Aunt Mickie had given them.)

Niagra Falls

On the way to Palmyra this summer for Steven and Mickie's wedding, we took a slight detour and spent some time at Niagra Falls. We left our house around 4:00am and the only extended break was for a picnic lunch at a rest stop in NY.
I thought this would be a frightening experience for the younger girls and wasn't sure that the older kids would really appreciate the greatness of the falls but I was wrong on both accounts. At one point, I had Alexis and Anna begging me to ride the Maid of the Mist. In the words of Junie B. Jones, "I've always wanted to ride that thing!" so we braced ourselves and paid the admission for the whole family. I am so glad that we did because they all loved it! Anna begged to ride it again but I wasn't willing to make that investment--once is enough for one summer.

Yeah...I know I'm old...

...As was lovingly pointed out to me by my friend Krysta on the day that Kassie took the stand in sacrament meeting to receive her certificate of completion for Primary. In July, my little girl turned twelve. As usual over the summer, she placed several calls to girlfriends but nobody was available to hang out with her on her birthday so we did our own thing: an on-line shopping spree at the Limited Too and her favorite dinner with cake and ice cream for dessert.
Kassie's preferences have definitely begun to mature over the past two years. Last year for her birthday I gave her two choices of a birthday gift. I can't remember the first choice but she opted to receive three tickets to High School Musical On Ice...in November. This year, we again gave her choices and her decision was...race registration for a Mother/Daughter team in the Inaugural Expedition Everest Challenge at the Animal Kingdom in late-September. Immediate gratification is not in her vocabulary obviously. Here are a few of the shots taken by the photographers on course at our race. We finished the entire 5K, obstacle course and scavenger hunt in 1:16:50. We also scored a really cool medal and a glow-in-the-dark shirt! Way to go Kassie! I hope the birthday gift was worth the wait! I love you!

Dear Katie

Okay so I know multiple Katies (and find mysteries quite fun)...but one of you left me a message some time ago asking me to email you so you could get my email address. The problem is that I'm not sure which of you it was. How about you leave me a message naming one of your children so I can figure out who to email. : )

Eight

Mitchell then....
Born a little man at 6lbs 12 oz, Mitchell turned eight in June.


Two weeks.


First birthday--included to show his beloved blankie. Oh how he loved that thing....to shreds!

Now....




Now finishing second grade, his birthday landed on a school day so his friend Mason came home from school with him. We spent the evening playing putt-putt before going to Kassie's softball game and then coming home to open presents. I think he liked the cake his dad made for him. (Well he liked the way it looked even if he wasn't crazy about the marshmallow fondant.)



A week after his birthday, Mitchell was baptized in Brookville so that more family could be together for his special day.

Springtime fun at Baugher's

Laura and I took the kids to Baugher's to pick strawberries. I think most of them ate more than they contributed to the boxes! (Anna's friend AJ joined us for the trip.)

My baby's not a baby!

Anna turned three in May and informed me that she is a big girl and not a baby! With her birthday falling on Memorial Day weekend, we were able to have a kicking party including tons of family and a few friends. Margaret blew out the candles but we managed to relight them before Anna got too worked up about it. After presents and a super messy cupcake cake, Anna enjoyed running around trying out all her new goodies. Thanks for coming everybody. She had so much fun!






This was actually a few days before her birthday but since she was so excited about it, I thought Miss Julie should take her place in Anna's birthday memories.

The Wizard of Oz

Glyndon School of Ballet
presents
The Wizard of Oz
(Preschool/kindergarten version)

After one of the other girls dropped the class, Lexi slid into a kindergarten level tap class in Febraury. She and four other little girls danced to the Jitterbug. (Lexi is the last one walking onto the stage.)



Lexi is hoping to have Miss Rachel again for class in the fall.

Cruising

Matt and I spent eight terrific days exploring the Caribbean in April with our friends, Clark and Laura. I took over 250 pictures so obviously these are just some of the highlights!

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

We actually left a day early for our trip so we had a full day to explore Old San Juan. I'm not sure how many miles we walked but we saw so much including the beaches, both of the Spanish forts and this cute bakery. Although the first restaurants we came to included McDonalds, Taco Bell and and Burger King, we managed to find a neat restaurant that served a Puerto Rican specialty: Mofongos. (Anyone have an authentic recipe?) Mary Poppins' bag lady friend would have loved el Parque de las Palomas that hundreds of pigeons call home.

St. Thomas

Rather than booking a tour, we took a taxi down town. Along the way, Oscar, our driver, pulled over and offered to take us on a tour of the island for a fabulous price. He pulled over numerous times to show us things like these fruit trees, the airport and Magen's Bay. Oscar even agreed to wait a few hours for us at the beach. The water was beautiful and we found some cool shells for the kids.

St. Maarten/St. Martin

Rather than take in the nudist beaches of St Maarten, we opted to spend the day on the zip lines instead. The rotten people that they were, the operators of this excursion took our photos on the very first line...hence the expression that I am about to wet my pants. One lesson learned on the zip lines? DO NOT LET GO OF THE LINE WITH YOUR GLOVED HAND! When you do, you end up spinning in circles and going down the line backwards. I thought the guide was going to wet his pants--he was laughing at me sooo hard.

Bermuda

Unfortunately for us, our ship had some problems so our time in Bermuda was cut to less than four hours. Not much time do snorkel or even shop since we docked thirty minutes from the shopping district, but we did get to see some beautiful gardens and architecture. Like the building on the right above, many Jolly Rogers were flying high in the Caribbean.
In case you can't make out the girl's sign, it reads : I was on the phone while driving. One person we asked said that she was serving a sentence for being in a traffic accident and another said she was a model so we aren't quite sure how she ended up in the middle of the road bandaged up like an ICU patient.

Everything Else...

Having several days at sea, we still had fun things to do like this demonstration by the chef staff. They showed us how to carve pirate faces into watermelons and make this beautiful "cake" that is really a smoked salmon sandwich. The other shot is our ship going under the Key Bridge. I'm sure it was an illusion but it sure looked like the bridge was going to take off the top of the ship!

For a girl that doesn't really care for the water, this was one of my favorite sights on the entire trip. Sunsets at sea were gorgeous! The moon reflecting off the water on clear nights was equally beautiful--but much harder to capture with my camera.