weekend and...

gymnastIcs....

thursday nite started our weekend, with kendyl's gym exibition.
she did such an awesome job. her cartwheel was perfect and she didn't seem nervous at all!

grandpa and gramma with kendyl
her medal, and candy leis that auntie mel and uncle george always make sure to supply.

then saturday morning it was off to the legacy center again to watch
siona
she too was awesome... and grandpa and grandma couldn't have been more proud.
they honestly were the "best" in their classes!

she looks like a pro here!
(absolutely love this picture)

with grandpa and gramma
(and, this really isn't grandpa's balloon!)

and... since they both graduated from pre-school this year and will be going to kindergarten, in the fall, saturday nite, they got to sleep over at grandpa and gramma's, and then they got to go to church with us. siona just knew that in primary they were going to sing "talofa" to them, because they were visiting, and that's what they do in the 'samoan' ward! she was also trying to convince kendyl that they would be alright to go to class, because they would be together.. kendyl wasn't buying it. i tried to explain that this wasn't a 'samoan' ward we don't say "talofa", but she didn't get it. about 1/2 way thru sacrament meeting, the big tears started to swell up in siona's eyes. she was nervous about going to class, because this wasn't HER ward, and kendyl was already nervous about it, so gramma ended up going to primary for 2 hours and missed my meetings. oh... and they didn't sing "talofa" but they did sing "HOWDY"! to them.
they ended up being happy with that, and say that "next time they will be brave and go to their class by themselves, because now they know everybody".
we'll see!

great job kendyl and siona!
you were the BESTEST!

i wanna cry!

what do you say when your 7 year old granddaughter says to you...."granDma (emphasis on the "D") i WISH you could "just" be a stay-at-home granDma." ?

then i find this taped to my desk!

(kamryn, kendyl, siona, hunter, ryker, isley, and jack, i WISH i could be a stay-at-home gramma, too!) you are what i live for! thanks for making my life the best!
love you to the moon and back for eternity, gramma

another wonderful (and true) quote

"the thing about growing old is that when you wake up with a new pain, you can just about count on it becoming a permanent part of your life!"

marjorie pay hinkley

love this quote....

"I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish - and in effect save their lives." Thomas S. Monson

special day, for special boy!

baby jack's big day was sunday. he was given a name and blessing, by his daddy, jeff.


these are men who stood in on the blessing.
cheyne, chet, justin, glen, bro., bro. dowse, jeff, bishop pulley, gpa murray, george, and gpa don

all of our family was there, but trying to get everyone together for "one" picture is too big of a pain. so i opted for the less stressful.
mel, isley, george, and siona

tiff, chet, kendyl and ryker

hunter, jeff, kamryn, haley, and jack
i have to say, this was taken at the end of the day, after the kids had changed

sarah and cheyne

grandpa don and gramma jacki

it was a beautiful spring day... a little windy and cool. but hey! the sun was shining! and in utah, this time of the year, you take it (the sun), when you can get it!

young women's camp... here we come!

don't you just wish you could go to camp with these 7 ladies?
shannon, jacki, laurie, judy, kim, karen, jennifer

friday nite, we, the stake yw presidency and stake camp leaders
took about 15 young women up to the 'dell' for a "sleep"over, to prepare some things for our summer camp in june. (i don't know why they use the word "sleep" when women and girls get together for a nite out. i don't remember sleeping at all!) but we did have a great time and seemed to get a lot accomplished.
these cute girls are just some of our y.c.l.'s (youth camp leaders) from the stake. they made signs to hang around the camp, made up a cute song for their introduction at camp, and giggled, screamed, and talked all night.
emily,cambria, megan, brooke, holly,brianna, mccall, eliza,shonte, mckenzie,chloe', kate

brianna telling stories

they've got the 'dell' looking pretty nice. can't wait to spend the week up there with about 550 girls and leaders. for sure there will be more pictures and stories to come.

birthday dinner

"who wants to go to tempanyaki's?" i do! i do!
NOT.....

our oldest 2 granddaughters (kamryn~7 and kendyl~5), have had birthdays in the past few weeks. we decided to take them out to dinner together, and kendyl wanted to go to tempanyaki's. she has been talking about it forever! although she has never been there before, she some how knew that they cooked and served dinner right at your table. i guess she thought that sounded pretty cool.
so... we go into tempanyaki's, we were seated, the waitress came over and started pouring water in our glasses, when i looked up to see kendyl with her head in her hands, just sobbing! (i think donnie was sobbing, too, when he saw the prices.) when i finally got out of her WHAT was wrong, this is what she told me (in between sobs) "i DIDN'T know it was chinese food! i DON'T want to eat here!, i JUST want to go to "wingers"!. well... don explained to the waitress that we were sorry, but we needed to leave, and why ~ and we left!
on the way out, don mentioned that MAYBE we could go to "texas road house", instead. they were all over that one! (neither one had ever been there before, either. but both of them said it was their "favorite"!)

so... mac and cheese with applesauce and mini cheeseburgers with applesauce ~ it was!!! they loved the fact that they could eat the peanuts and throw the shells on the floor, and that we let them have FREE reign on the rolls!

the line dancing by the servers was a BIG hit and then of course...the BIG YAHOO! as the 2 of them were sitting on the saddle together!

all in all, "texas road house" was by far the winner!

happy birthday kamryn and kendyl! thanks for bringing soooo much happiness into our lives!

love you! gramma and grandpa