Dancing again!

Ella is back at it again! She didn't have a great experience last year at the dance studio we were at last year in ballet. This year she is trying out jazz as she wants a more fast paced dancing style and she is going to the Atascocita Dance Academy! I am hoping that she loves it and it's a much better experience. So far the first day she couldn't stop raving about the class. She had so much fun and I got to watch on the tv and they were far more advanced that last years dance! I am hopeful for her to have a great time. I think she could be a great dancer with proper training! Here's to a great dancing year!

Deacon's First Birthday!!!

Deacon is ONE!! I can't believe it! There are moments when I feel like he was just born and other moments when I feel like he has been a part of our family forever! We sure love him and he has added so much happiness to our lives.
On his birthday we started with the traditional birthday donut!

He wasn't quite sure what was going on...

He only knew the kids were pretty excited about his special day!

We went to an indoor playground to play for his birthday.

This kids happily played with him!

Then we got balloons and lunch!

This boy loves nuggets!

He's not sure about this whole turning one thing, but his siblings are sure having a blast! This shirt my sister in law Chira made for Cavin 6 years ago and now Deacon is sportin it!

He got to spend the day with adoring siblings. He lights up anytime Cavin is near! They truly have a special brother bond.

We waited until my dad and brother could get to our house to open presents and eat cake. We were so glad they could join us. 

He wasn't sure about the presents and I swear at this age...he was perfectly happy with a balloon! We should just skip presents!

He got his own little cake. I thought he would get pretty messy and make a mess, but I think by this point he was too tired. 

 He went from curious...

 to excited...

 to happy...

To dirty and tired! Haha. I have never been a huge fan of the first year cake mess tradition and apparently my kids haven't either. None of them have really been too thrilled.

I can't get enough of taking pictures of this boy, so here are some of my favorites our our one year old cutie!

He's one! This picture cracks me up cause it looks like he's holding up the number one!

He loves loves loves balls!

He is crawling EVERYWHERE! He is my first child who really mastered crawling!

His blue eyes make me melt!

Deacon still loves the pool and anything to do with water.

I'm not a fan of bare baby buns pictures, but I had to document this. He loves watching soccer with his brother and dad and I just got him out of the bath and he saw them and took off!

Much to my father's delight, he LOVES this rug that my dad brought back from Peru! It is so soft! He loves when he gets it out and is pretty territorial about thinking it's his!

Glad it can make my dad happy!

He has gotten pretty fast in the walker at my parents house. He is such a good happy baby. Definitely our most destructive child though. I remember wondering why parents didn't teach their kids not to make a mess or not to throw their food. I got through 3 kids and then had him and I totally get it now. We love his silly self! I remember praying when I was pregnant with him for one last hope at a child with blue eyes. I wanted a son with blonde hair and blue eyes like his father. I didn't know I would get each on the checklist. We sure love him! Happy Birthday Blue Eyes!!!

Summer Vacation 2015

This summer we went back to Utah for my Grandmother's 90th birthday party and for a Speers Family reunion. We had a wonderful time and were looking forward to it for quite a while!! We got on the plane bright and early and headed to Utah. 

The kids were really excited to go back on an airplane. They loved it. They did very well on the flight and Deacon slept almost the whole way. Cavin entertained himself watching a short video clip over and over of a man jumping into the water and making a huge splash. He was laughing hysterically over and over!
After we got off the plane we waited a while for a rental car and then we headed to Vernal, Utah where my remaining Grandma Wall and Grandpa Haws live. 

This is my Grandma Walls house. She is 90 and still has beautiful flowers she takes care of and is healthy and happily going along. The kids love being at her home because she still cooks so well for us and plays games and is a joy to be around.
We had her big 90th birthday bash at the Golden Age Center. About 70-80 people showed up to celebrate her and we had a wonderful time celebrating the wonderful woman she is. 

Isn't she lovely. 

 I am so glad our family got to be there for her special day!

The next day we went over to my Grandpa Haws' house. It isn't quite the same without Grandma there.

This place brings back lots of memories. We used to come here almost every summer to see our cousins and play in the ditch in the back.

 We love this spot.

We used to race boats down to see which one would win.

 Fun with Grandpa Speers

 My favorite tree in his backyard.

 As you can tell this house was built a while ago. My mom still talks about bringing in cinder block for the walls. The kids still love the old toys we used to play with..and that carpet....haha

We had a nice visit in Vernal. I am not sure when we will get back so I wanted the kids to see what I remembered.
After our visit in Vernal, we went to the much anticipated "Mansion/cabin" in Park City for our Speers Family Reunion. 

It was a beautiful place!! We had an indoor pool, theater room, pool table, sports bar area, hot tub, playset, trampoline, fire pit, lots of fun things!

The first day we had a water fight and a pool party.

 Grandma Wall came with us for the first 3 days.

 That evening we played "Minute to Win It" games. First was the "Cookie Face" game

 Then we had "Movin on Up"

Keeping up Balloons "Defying Gravity"

 The "Empty the Box"

We all knew Natalie would succeed as she has no problem piling up on the kleenex or toilet tissue ;)

Liam got it done!

 Then was "Stack it Up"

The concentration on their faces....

 "A Bit Dicey"

My mom is sporting the "pirate" look ;)

 "Suck it Up"

 The girls got it done well!

 "Junk in the Trunk" was I think the favorite game!

 We did it several times...

The next morning we decorated scavenger hunt bags to go on a "hike"

Aubrey

Coleton

Liam

Channing

Charlotte

 James

Cavin

John

Channing is ready to go!

 A silly pose and the kiddos are ready!

Such cute kids! 

It wasn't a long walk but we enjoyed the pretty landscape!

Wednesday night my Aunt Sheri and Uncle Dale and cousin Brian came to enjoy the evening. Corey and Chira were the master pizza oven chefs!

The pizzas turned out great!

This was my sweet Grandma's last night.

Here she is with all of the grandchildren on our side of the family. I love that she is a great grandma to all these lucky kids!

 Love her!

 Her 2 children. My dad and Sheri

 My siblings and I with Grandma!

Uncle Dale and Aunt Sheri with my mom and dad. We are so glad we got to visit with them all and we miss her!
The next day we went on an outing to Park City and went down the Alpine slides! We went to Olympic Park which was fun!

Here are all of us in our reunion shirts! 

Our cute family! Notice the bump on Ella's left eye???? The Alpine slides didn't go so well. Her slide wasn't working and I was with Channing behind her and so I was frustrated that she wasn't going. I had to get out of my sled and shove her down and told her not to brake again. Well...she was obedient...and didn't even brake at the end so flipped off. I felt so bad. She was ok, just never wants to ride again :(

We had a few more pool parties and watched movies and some of us went to do sealings at the Salt Lake Temple on Friday. We also had my mom's extended family come up and spend the evening BBQing with us.

Here is our side of the family with my mom's dad. Grandpa Haws

Grandpa Haws with his great grandchildren, and then grandchildren.

We really had a wonderful reunion!!

Cavin will miss his buddy John

Ella and Madi are great friends (Even though she's got 3 years and like 3 ft on her!!)

Silly Cavin with his fun buddies!

Emma has a delightful personality and Channing will miss her!

 Thankfully these 4 cuties now live real close to each other!

Deacon was a champ and slept well and was happy. Cavin ended up having strep throat which was a little bummer, but he powered through and thankfully we had a Dr. in the family to take care of it!
I truly love my family and am SO grateful for each and every one of them! I am so glad we got to get together and I am beyond grateful that my mom and dad made it possible for us all! A reunion that we will definitely "REMEMBER."
Saturday after the reunion we went to go see Ragnar's sister Sandra and her son Jonas.

We went to Wheeler's Farm on a very hot Saturday afternoon!

Sandra piggy back rides are the best!

Jonas was being a great helper!

Super Strong!

Going for a ride on the cow tractors!

We were super sweaty but we had a fun time!

We only got to spend an afternoon with Ragnar's sister but we had a great time.

Saturday night we spent with our old neighbors and friends from Smithfield who live in Cedar Hills (well for a couple more weeks til they move to California)

We love their family and miss being their neighbors! When we left they had one child and we just had 2. Times have changed. We watched a movie and they made us their famous yummy juicy rolls for breakfast!

Ashley always knew how to make me uncomfortable ;)

Clearly it's much more normal for Rags and Tim.
Sunday we went to Temple Square with the kids. Unfortunately the Tabernacle Choir was out of town, but we loved the visit anyway.

Deacon was asleep so the other three took a picture with "Jesus"

I think this is a sweet picture of them looking up to Him.

In the Tabernacle where we were gonna see the "Music and the Spoken Word" but they were out of town.

Such a good dad to these amazing kids!

Have I mentioned I love this family of mine???

I love this picture of the two handsome blonde, blue eyed boys!

The rest of the Sunday we drove up to Logan to visit Ragnar's other sister Daphne and see our old home.

Ella loves to play "Dominion" with her!

I can't get enough of this boys blue eyes!

We went over to see our friends the Ferrin's and we miss their adorable family!

They fed us a yummy dinner! Ella and Tanner used to be best friends 7 years ago. It's sad that they don't remember each other.

Monday we went to the Bluebird Restaurant and then to the movie "Inside Out". It was cute and we enjoyed spending the day with Daphne. 

Our last day we stopped through the Morgan area on the way to the airport to have breakfast with this cute cowboy bunch! I sure miss Kristen and our college days. She is a great friend and I admire so much about her!! Our cute city kids could learn a lot from her country crew!

We had such a great trip!! Sadly on the last day Deacon got sick and was throwing up! Not pleasant, but we made it through and we got home. We loved the trip so much. We didn't get to see all of our friends, but we were grateful for the ones who were able to see us and who took the time. We have so much to be grateful for!