Cameron's Baptism

I am feeling quite guilty about not having this post done sooner, but with leaving for a month 2 days after Cameron was baptized and then coming home to a crazy busy schedule I haven't really had much time for blogging. BUT here I am finally posting a few things about Cameron's special day.

Cameron was lucky to be baptized the day after his birthday. Normally baptisms are held on the first weekend of the month, but out here with Pony Express Day's we had them on the second weekend- which meant that Cameron would be able to be baptized in June.
Cameron had been looking forward to that day for about 6 years! He couldn't wait to take that important step and join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Cameron is very sensitive. He can feel the spirit and has a gift of faith that is amazing. I hope that he can keep that gift of unquestionable faith as he grows. He loves the scriptures, and loves that he now has his own copy of the Book of Mormon and Bible.
He looked so handsome all dressed in white.

We are so proud of Cameron and the decisions he has made to really try hard to do what is right.

His baptism day was wonderful. And we are so grateful to all of the family members and friends who were able to come and share this special day with him, and those who weren't able to come, but were still there in spirit.

Yes and No

Yes, I do remember that I have a blog. Yes, I have a million and one things to blog about. No, this will not be that blog. Yes, we had a blast on our month long vacation in Virginia. No, I will not be posting all of those pictures on here (way too many- making them into a book for us instead). Yes, Cameron did get baptized, Yes I will blog about that too. No, this will not be that blog. Yes we are all still alive and happy, and way too busy.
Okay, that is all for today!

St George

We were able to take off for the Memorial Day weekend, escape the cold and rain, and enjoy some good times with good friends. Here are just a few pictures that I took while we were there (I took over 90, so this is just a few). Maybe if I have the time and energy to post more I will do that later. Lets just say we had a great time!

Here are the kids on the red rocks above the Dixie sign. They all had such a blast climbing around on the rocks!

This is a silhouette of all the kids on the rocks.

And of course the gorgeous St. George temple.

Dance Pictures

Last Thursday my girls had their dance pictures. They had fun getting all dressed up, and having makeup on. They looked adorable! Being the cheapo that I am I thought I would take my own pictures of them instead of purchasing them from the photographer. So, before I took them out for their pictures, I did a photo shoot myself with them. Here are just a few of the pictures that I took.

Abby was first. It probably helped that the older kids were still in school. Abby had a BLAST posing for me! I have a ton of just sassy poses from that kid! Here are just a few that I have edited.

See, what did I tell you? Sassy! I love her :)

I thought this one looked amazing in black and white.

McKenzie was last. Her shoot was a little crazy. I had to run soccer stuff over to Pug in the middle of it, them we had to hurry and finish before we had to leave for her studio pictures.

Such a beautiful girl.

And of course a black and white one.


I am starting to understand my camera a little more each time I use it. I am hoping to one day actually take a class and really learn. Until then, I will take 100 pictures just to have 10 good ones :)

Why can't they assign seats?

I love going to the schools and listening to my kids sing, talk, and watch them dance. I know how hard it is to get all the kids in the whole grade to sit down and do what they are told. I understand why they always have the tall people in the back and the short people in the front. And I understand why all the parents want to sit in or near the front. BUT being the mom of short people I have one complaint. If you have a short child on the front row, you CANNOT see them when you are anywhere past the 3rd row! We could see the top 3 rows of children perfectly when we went to Cameron's end of year program (oh and FYI I was there 30 minutes early). We could not see Cameron at all! Even when he was standing! The only way I was able to get this picture was to climb over everyone on the row to get to the isle, squat down (so as not to get in the way of others photographing or video taping), and wait. All I am asking is for those who have children on the top few rows, please be considerate of those who have short children in the front, and let them near to watch their kids.
Thank you.

That is Cameron, front and center in red, on the front row!

"I lost 8 inches in just 2 hours!"

So here is me on Sunday. Notice how long my hair is?

A view from the back...

Then today I FINALLY went and had it cut! I am donating it to the Pantene hair donations Beautiful Lengths, in memory of our friend Paige who died last year from cancer.
Here is my needed 8 inches! It is curling a little, but it is all there!

A view from the back.

And the view from the front. (Maybe I should have put on some lipstick :)

$20 up for grab

Many of you are aware of our up coming trip to Virginia/Dc area. My kids are beyond excited and are counting down the days until we leave. They also have been wanting to do a little extra in the chores department to earn some spending money. Cameron has been the worst with hounding me about what he can do to earn extra money. Here in lies the problem. I don't feel like they should be paid for the things I expect them to do anyways. I have come up with a few things- like cleaning up all the dog poop, weeding, and other things that aren't part of their weekly chores. But of course they don't want to do THAT! So, after a particularly BAD day I came up with this...
If they can not whine, complain, fight, throw temper tantrums or attitude, PLUS obey, and be kind to each other for a full 24 hours I would give them $20! That's it!
Okay, so day one. Cameron lasted 15 minutes before he lost it with his sister. McKenzie made it a whole 45 minutes.
Day two was much better. Cameron had gone 9 hours! McKenzie was about 7 hours. It was really sad about Cameron. If he had only hung on for about 2 more hours he would have been going to bed and slept for a HUGE portion of his time. Darn- I don't give second chances :)
Day three. Sunday- Mother's Day. Cameron and McKenzie were doing great, until it was time to go to church. Out goes Cameron before we even made it into the car. Out goes McKenzie before we make it over to the church.
Today is day 4, and yes, they have already lost it.
Apparently it is really hard to get along with you family and be PLEASANT for 24 hours. I have faith that they can do it. And every morning I will start their time over (the time is 7:00am- 7:00am). Until then I have 2 twenty dollar bills burning a hole in my wallet.