Lots of Happy Photos

M2B =) days 121 - 126.  Saturday June 5th - Thursday June 10th.

Saturday June 5th:  Family Temple day.  My parents anniversary is June 1st.  This year, they wanted all of us to have a family temple day.  So, on Saturday, we all went to the temple together.  I'll admit, it's been a while since I've gone.  I don't know why I wait so long.  It seems nearly impossible to get myself here, yet when I go, I am soooo glad that I did.  There is a peace here that can't be found anywhere else in the world.  My life feels like it has been chaos lately, so I really needed this.  It was great.

Afterwards:  Family dinner and swimming.
This boy SERIOUSLY needs a haircut.
We celebrated all of the June birthdays - including Emmy.
Sunday, June 6th:  Joe and I headed up to the cabin today after church.  Our air conditioning has not been working.  We NEEDED to get out of here.  We arrived around sunset, and we decided to take some photos on our way in.  Since I was driving, Joe was the photographer.  
He took a ton of photos.  Here are a couple of my favorites:
When we arrived, Dallin was there waiting for us.  The Gonzo's had been up this weekend, but went home and left Dallin behind so Joe would have a friend.  Here they are making "wood angels".  
Monday, June 6th:  This is one of my favorite views from the cabin.  I love being up here.  Everything is so peaceful.  Time seems to stand still.  A day feels like a week.  It is so nice.
Tuesday, June 8th:  Grandpa entertained the boys practically all day.  This morning he took them on a 3 1/2 hour ranger ride.  Seriously.  Then, this afternoon, he helped them make walking sticks.
Late afternoon, the boys and I did a photo shoot.  Ok, so I made them because I wanted to take pictures.

After a while, things started to get really silly.  I never really got them back after that, so we quit.

We got back just in time for Grandpa to take them for a ranger ride at dusk.  The BEST possible time to spot wildlife.  They saw tons of elk, of course.  Grandpa always knows where to look.

And they're off:
Wednesday, June 9th:  We had to leave the cabin earlier than expected.  We had to get Dallin home so he didn't miss his trip to Havasupi.  He thought they were leaving Thursday.  It turns out he was leaving today.  We got up bright and early so we could have him home by noon.  He made it home with a whole 30 minutes to spare before he left for his next trip.  

The best thing about being home was seeing Tiger and Bob.  Tiger clearly missed Joe, and demanded his attention when we got home.  
Also, today our air got fixed.  Woo hoo!

Thursday, June 10th:  Sheri helped me pick out new glasses this morning.  I remembered how much I really like her, and how we don't spend nearly enough time together.

Also today - The boy got a hair cut.  Woo Hoo!  And, of all the pictures I did post  - this one I did not take a photo of.  What is wrong with me?  He didn't go very short, but has decided that he wants to go even shorter than he did.  I need to call Michelle a.s.a.p.  before he changes his mind.

Also today - Brian and I must be on the same wavelength.  We both went to bath and body works and bought this:

It smells fantastical.  And yes, fantastical must be a word, because my computer didn't correct my spelling.  Anyway.  I wish we had communicated beforehand.  This stuff isn't cheap.  Oh well.  Twice as nice, right?

That's it for now.

Happy Day.

More Happy Days

M2B =) days 112 - 120.  Thursday, May 27th - Friday, June 4th.

Thursday, May 27th was a good day.  First, I got to go see one of my favorite people in the whole world graduate from kindergarten.  Why did Max have to go to school?  I miss my buddy.  We used to hang out at Grandma's all of the time.  

Then, Joe had good news when he came home from school.  His art teacher had awarded him with the Most Outstanding Student of the Year award.  As someone who loves and appreciates all kinds of art, this makes me VERY proud.  He came home with a bag full of art goodies and a $25.00 Harkins gift card.  Woo hoo.  He had drawing first semester.  Second semester was 3-D art.  Here are some of the ceramics he made:


Also, Thursday night was book club.  Woo hoo!  While I didn't LOVE the book we read this month, I DO love getting together and talking about it.  Good stuff.

Friday May 28th happiness:  I got to scrapbook today.  Woo hoo.  I always forget how much I like to do it.  Sadly, it wasn't for me.  I am way behind on Joe's books.  It was to help Adam with a project he was working on as a graduation present for a friend.  We had quite a few set backs actually getting the pictures, but after spending all morning rounding them up, we got to scrapbook all afternoon/evening.  I got to scrapbook, and spend time with one of my favorite people.  You can't go wrong with that.
It turns out Adam is very creative and has a good eye for scrapbooking.  Maybe I should enlist his help when I work on Joe's books.

Saturday May 29th:  More scrapbooking.  We literally had a day and a half to finish this book.  The graduation party was at 6.  We got it done with a couple of hours to spare.

Also today, I heard my favorite song of all time on the radio.  It's the little things that count, right?

Sunday, May 30th happiness:  Joe and I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon playing Harry Potter Scene It.  I have read all of the books several times and seen all of the movies, and yet he still beats me nearly EVERY time we play.  I SOOOO had it in the bag this time.  I was waaaay ahead the whole game, but he still pulled it out in the end.  And NO, I DO NOT let him win.  One day Joseph.  One day soon, I WILL beat you.
Monday, May 31st:  We spent a very leisurely Memorial Day together as a family.  Typically we will barbeque and swim at my moms with the rest of the gang, but this year we decided to do just the 3 of us.  It was nice.  Brian made ribs and we watched A Knights Tale.  I forgot how much I really like this movie.
Tuesday, June 1st:  I finally got around to watching the first episode of this seasons So You Think You Can Dance.  It did not disappoint.  I love this show.  Can I go back in time and start over and be a dancer instead?

Wednesday, June 2nd:  This guy graduated from high school.

Whatever!  Time really does go by too fast.  We had a graduation party at my moms.  Lots of food, lots of people, lots of fun.  Paul made this shadowbox of all of Jared's track accomplishments.  It was awesome.  He got a full academic scholarship to ASU, and will be running track there.  I'm glad he's going to school close to home.  Maybe I'll be able to catch a few of his track meets.
Thursday, June 3rd happiness:  Today is the first day (for Joe, anyway) of summer vacation.  Sheri and I took some of of the kids to Bass Pro.  She had to go to the scout shop, and it was right there, so, why not?  The little ones loved watching the fish.  Xander loved scoping out the fishing gear.  He did NOT want to leave.
Tonight, these 2 slept over.  What better way to commemorate the first day of summer break, than to have a sleepover?
Friday, June 4th:  After having Ben and Max at our house last night, Joe spent the day at their house.  They made a fort in the basement.  What could be better than a basement fort?
It reminded me of all of the forts we used to make at our house when we were younger.  Good times.
That's it for now.  Someday, I will catch up and only post One happiness post a day, instead of a weeks worth - but today is not that day, so - oh well.

Happy Day!

More happy days in May

M2B =) days 106-111.  Friday, May 21st - Wednesday, May 26th.

I'm slowly getting closer to being caught up.  Here is more May:

Friday, May 21st happiness:  Brownie Bites.

Saturday, May 22nd:  I got to see two of my nephews in their 6th grade plays today.  Each of the 6th grade classes did the same play, and my 2 nephews both played the lead - Bugsy Malone.  

I saw Michael in the morning.  He had great facial expressions and really stayed in character.

I saw Xander in the afternoon.  He was also great at staying in character, and was nice and loud.  We could hear him really well.

Both of them had this awesome accent going on.  They were each the best one in their play.  And I'm not just saying that because I am their proud aunt.  They really were.  Good stuff.

Sunday, May 23rd:  Was a rough day all around.  None of us felt well, but Joe definitely felt the worse.  He had thrown up every hour for about 7 hours at this point, starting at about 3 in the morning.  Poor Kiddo.  Even though this was not a very happy day, I had to take this photo:
He is totally out of it, asleep here.  If any of you know Joe, at all, he has taken a total of 3 naps since he was 3 years old.  The boy does not sleep, EVER.  This is how I can tell he wasn't feeling good.  Again, not really a happy photo, but It made me happy to know that he finally stopped throwing up long enough to get some rest and take a nap.  Thankfully this was a 24 hour thing only.

Monday, May 24th:  No photo for this one, but my favorite thing today was the dance party I had in my bed tonight.  It was getting late, and I could NOT sleep at all.  I kept talking to Brian.  I think he was getting annoyed with me, because he COULD sleep, if I would only let him.  So, he turned on Pandora and we listened to some GOOD 80's music.  When I was in high school, I listened to The Cure's Disintegration album every night to fall asleep.  Anyway, too many good songs kept coming on, and instead of sleeping, I had myself a little dance party.  It did help me turn my brain off though, and I eventually fell asleep.  

Tuesday, May 25th:  One good thing about AZ is the sunflowers.  I love sunflowers.

Wednesday, May 26th:  Max was sick today, so I decided to cheer him up by bringing him a doughnut.  Sadly, I forgot about Evan, so I had to go back to Krispy Kreme and get him one too.  I figured since I was there, I would get one for Ben and Alex too.  I didn't know it was going to cause a problem.
Apparently I upset Evan because I handed him his doughnut and didn't let him get it out of the bag himself.  He was VERY angry at me.  Is it bad that I thought it was funny?  Poor Evan.
That's it for now.

Happy Day.