Happy Helpers

Every summer we spend a lot of time outside working in the yard on some project or another. This year the missionaries have helped us tons with our yard work. We have so many flower beds in our yard and finally decided this year that is was just a little too much for us to manage. The Elders helped us take on the huge project of tearing out one of the flower beds and planting grass there instead. We could use a little more lawn area and a little less weeding!


Madelynne enjoys helping her Daddy with the yard work. Doesn't her hair look lovely? This is the end of the day, I slept on it, and put clips in my hair all on my own, to keep it out of my eyes hair look.





Jackson is learning the ropes early. Here he is taking on the hose.

Mastering the art of using a rake.



We are grateful for all of our happy helpers!

Jackson's Birthday Part II

Jackson's first year has gone by so fast. It is hard to believe he was once this small.

Daddy came home from work early, so he could spend time with our little man on his birthday. He had to go to the mutual activity that night, so he wouldn't have gotten to spend much time with Jackson otherwise. We love it when Daddy comes home early. It doesn't happen very often, so it is always a special treat.


The local grocery store gives a free "smash" cake for your child's first birthday. This is the cake Jackson devours in the previous post!

The famous cake eating pictures!


It's time to get serious about this cake and use two hands...

When Jackson is done eating he puts his arms up over his head like this and waits to be wiped off. On this particular night he went straight into the tub.

The grand finale. Look at those hands! What a good time he had making this mess.

I tried to make a monkey cake, but it ended up looking more like a teddy bear. I decided I should have added two more sugar cookies behind the eyes and then maybe it would have looked more like a monkey. Oh well! Better luck next time.

Opening all those presents was a lot of hard work. Thank you to everyone who was so generous to remember our little man!

Oh I love these little ones! They make my life wonderful.
Happy Birthday Jackson!

Let Him Eat Cake!

Get ready to watch one of the cutest things you will see all day!

Blessing #2

Good friends, good times.

I am blessed with so many good friends all over the world. Last week I was able to see my friend, Adrianne, for the first time in over two years! We used to work together at the dental school. One of the girls we worked with thought we looked like each other. What do you think?

Somethin' Bit Me!

Do not be fooled by the sweet innocence of this little man's face. Yes, he has entered the biting stage! He has quite the choppers let me tell you...or maybe I should just show you the bite marks on my arms and legs.

Blessing #1

I have been born of goodly parents...

Not only do I owe them for the gift of my life, but also for raising me and teaching me so many (too numerous to name) life lessons. I am so grateful to be able to call them Mom and Dad. Happy Anniversary! I love you!

Count Your Many Blessings

I realize that I have so many blessings to be grateful for and decided I need to share my gratitude with others. So, as I recognize different blessings in my life I may just share with them with you my fellow blog readers. Look for Blessing #1 coming soon!