Kenna's 8!

Another princess at our house had a birthday...

On July 3rd little miss Kenna turned 8!!

She was pretty excited as you can imagine because an awfully big event was going to take place on July 9th...

Her Baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Kenna is such a joy to have in our home.

It's fun to see the difference in personality of each of our girls.

Kenna is tender-hearted...

sweet, energetic and a good friend.

We live in a neighborhood with 9 homes and 6 of which have kids right around Kenna's age and this summer ESPECIALLY this is rarely a day that goes by when the doorbell doesn't ring AT LEAST 3 times for Kenna... so she must be pretty fun to play with!!

She is the little gymnast in our family.  And has been doing awesome at piano... and dance... and soccer... and baseball... pretty much well-rounded in all areas!

We don't always know what our little Kenna is thinking,

she doesn't spill her guts as easily as her sisters...

which sometimes comes across as "sneaky". :)

She loves her sisters and is awesome at doing sweet things for all of us with a note left on a "made-bed" or another good deed.

We love that girl!!

..............

The day before her birthday...  the same day that we also had Tayler's party,

we rented the Wood's pool and the kids all had a blast... and it was definitely an easy party on her mom and dad... Thanks DeAnn!

There was a whole bunch of splashing around by these kids...

and fun presents to open of course...

and pictures with each of her friends...

and cupcakes...

she had a whole bunch of fun.

Kenna's b-day was on a sunday this year so we invited Grandma and Poppa Wegener over for our usual Sunday dinner... pancakes, this time red, white and blue pancakes served on the special "red plate" for Kenna of course.  She loved her new scriptures... and has been reading them every night!  Go Kenna!

................

Her baptism was wonderful, so many family and friends there to support her and a Daddy to baptize and confirm her.

We'll always remember that Kenna was baptized for longer than I have ever seen anyone be baptized!

First one of her curls popped out of the water...

and then her leg...

and Shane just kept holding her down until she was completely under...

and I was thinking, "Let her up, let her up."

and then there was an audible gasp when she finally came up smiling from ear to ear!

Apparently Shane did not want to do that twice,

and of course we all joked with Kenna that she was extra clean because she was under the water for so long!!

There were 3 from our ward that were baptized together...  this is cute Brooklyn, we didn't get a picture with Jacoby. :(

A yummy breakfast was held at our house afterwards.  Thanks everyone for helping to make Kenna's day extra special.

We sure do love you Kenna and are proud of your decision to be baptized.

I know that if you follow the example of those around you who love you so much,

and always strive to live the way that your Father in Heaven wants you to,

You will be happy all of your life.

And that is what your parents want the very most for you!

Happy Birthday

We love you Kenna!

Tayler is 14!

    Phooey!

People are aging at our house again.
Take this little thing for example...

Somehow on July 1st she turned 14...

(I'm guessing I had you all confused because you were thinking that baby was Lydia, and yes she pretty much looks identical to Tayler...  the only difference being that Tayler was a chunk... what she weighed at 6 months...  20 lbs 15 oz is what Lydia weighed at her 18 month appointment.  Other than that total de ja vu for me at LEAST once a day!!)

There is something extra special about that first child...

she's the one who made us parents...

the one that we experienced the "firsts" with first... 

the one we got to watch be the first big sister...

the one we made our first mistakes with...

the one who humbled us...

Basically the one that we get to practice on first so that we hopefully have it down by the 5th...  :)

Tayler is one of my best friends I love having conversations with her...

I love that she isn't that typical teenager {yet} that we keep being warned about...  :)

I love that she tells me to TELL her when she becomes that teenager we've been warned about...

I love what an awesome big sister she is...

I love that she loves those sisters more than anything in this world...

I love that we can laugh and cry together...

I love that she is a good friend...

I love that she has always been the peacemaker in our home...

I love that she has such a happy attitude and rarely ever complains...

I love that she is so responsible and an awesome student...

I love that she is beautiful inside and out...

I love that she has a testimony...

I love that she is having a great time at EFY this week, yet she misses her family even when she is sleeping at home...

Tay I basically love EVERYTHING about you!!

There is no doubt that I am a better person because of you.

You can be assured that we had party stuff going on at our house this particular weekend.

Presents from her family...

Fireworks that night...

and a party with her friends the next night.

Unfortunately I still need to gather pictures from the big "event" but it turned out to be lots of fun...

an amazing race.

We put together around 15 things that 3 different car loads of girls had to do, in an allotted amount of time, some were...

*Buy fries at Carls Jr. and eat them.

*Wash the car

*count the steps on Old Main Hill

*Go to the mall and take a picture in the photo booth

*buy a drink out of a pop machine and drink it

*do a sudoku puzzle

*get 7 strangers together to sing happy birthday to Tayler

*use a poster from the back of the car and write something that will get 5 cars to honk at you.

*Cross the rope swing

etc.etc.etc

I think everyone had a fun time!

Once back at our house there was a game of 6's (thanks missy for the idea!)

Present opening...

and of course cake and ice cream.

I think she was happy.

And that's what she deserves!

Tayler we are grateful that you are our "first".

I know that you feel a lot of responsibility, you always have.  I remember when you were about 8 years old you said, "I wish I wasn't born first because then I wouldn't have to do everything right so that my sisters won't do things wrong."

Those 4 little sisters are extra lucky to have you... and they'd have an awfully hard time finding a better example than you!

Happy Birthday!

We love you Tayler!

Lagoon...

Back before we went to Virginia and...

back before I decided that I had enough amusement parks for the summer...

we planned our annual trip to LAGOON with the Carlsen's.

And when it came time to go I wasn't all that excited about another day at a "park".

Especially since Shane decided that we had been playing too much...

and pointed out that... "somebody has to work" so he couldn't come.

blah blah blah blah. :)

But it turned out fun... totally totally fun.  Joe, Lisa, Deon, Collin and his friend Taylor also joined us.  It was quite a crew and made for lots of extra babysitters for my 2 little ones who couldn't go on most rides... (which totally ticked Jadyn off!  Lydia didn't want to go on anything!  I forced her on "puff" and the carousel and she didn't even like those... I guess she had enough ride time too!  Good thing that I didn't pay the $28 that they wanted for her!!)

It was a perfect day... a little overcast... a couple brief downpours of rain...  but nothing that stopped us... the lines were short... our timing couldn't have been better.

Our kids loved being with their "besties".

Have I ever mentioned that we are grateful for such wonderful friends... for Shane and I... and our kids!!

There were all kinds of fun rides...

 and little Kenna totally came out of shell and rode rides I NEVER thought she would ride...  there is something to be said about a little peer pressure from her best friend Kason!!

I was brave and finally went on wicked this year...

and then we got Deon to do it too!  (pretty much the highlight of the day!)

And I look nervous... but the rocket is a pretty great ride in my opinion!

We had some awfully soaked kids from "cliffhanger".

(and watch for that lady with the braid to show up in the next TLC show... we saw her  and several of her friends... better know as her sister wifes. :) :) :))

and just plain tons of fun together.

We missed you Shane we really did...

thanks for taking one for the team...

(your team of girls!)

And letting us play...

and now NO MORE amusement parks for me for a couple of months!!

Family Reunion...

June 24th - 27th was the...

at Bear Lake.

We all had a great time... but were sad to be missing two of our siblings and their families... Shelly and Jeff. :(  We thought of you often and wished you were there!

Once again my parents hooked us up with 3 condos to spread out in... (by trading with the condo owners right below and to the side of them for their family reunions.) 

That same weekend was Youth Conference for our ward, which happened to be at Bear Lake, so Tayler and Shane were able to pop back and forth at both activities. :)

There was a whole lot of goofy cousin stuff going on...

Some time on the Beach...

Which looks great from the above shot... but Bear Lake received a HUGE amount of water this year... which means we are back up to the rocky/shell sand that I remember from my youth (not the best for sand castle building)... boats are docking in the marina (my girls are wondering what happened to all the bunnies that they used to chase in the marina last year)... and it's easier to get to the actual lake... but it left it looking something like this...

MAJORALLY MARSHY!!

With only one small path to get out in the water without having to wade through that gross stuff!!

Needless to say...  WAY fewer people at the beach this year!!

Of course the kids still had fun!

And then there's always the pool :)

and games of kickball and chillaxin...

And of course each night was filled with games... mainly Snorta and...

werewolves :)

And of course the family reunion wouldn't be the family reunion with out a few hundred (more like 700 water balloons) to be launched 100 yds down the field...

Of course the point being to CATCH the balloon in a towel held between 2 people...

This year most of the shooting was done by Nate, Shane and I...

Nate and Shane were the pullers..

and I was the launcher.

But I stopped after I hit my own child...

right in the...

FACE!!

It was an "audible" hit from where we were and we knew it couldn't be good when Saige grabbed her face and everyone ran to her...

Pretty much her own mom and dad gave her...

a bloody nose...

split lip...

and a swollen eye (that didn't turn nearly as black as we were sure it was going to.)

O, and she was still recovering from the 4 permanent teeth she had pulled 2 days before...

Poor kid!!

Needless to say she sat the next 300 balloons out...

and then she got to be in the wounded picture with Tara who had a bike crash the day before.

The reunion was filled with yummy food and lots of it...

But the Pickleville Dinner/Show was the highlight of the weekend.

We saw...

The last morning was a presentation by my parents of our ancestors (on my mom's side).  It puts our easy yet busy lives in perspective to hear about the trials, struggles and joys that they experienced.

My dad pointed out that all 8 lines on my mom's side crossed the plains to come to the Salt Lake Valley.

What a great heritage that we have to live up to.

Thanks for a fabulous time Mom and Dad...

And thanks to Missy and Andy for all their preparations this year!

Family is everything...

And I was glad that I got to spend an awesome 4 days with mine.

we missed you Jeff and Shelly... and Kimi, Trey, Rich, Nikki, Lucas, Carlos, Dusty, Megan and Logie! :(