My Dad turns 70

Last week I was lucky enough to go to Utah to be with my family to celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. We had a wonderful time at dinner with just the sibling and spouses with my parents at The Roof Restaurant at Temple Square. We had our own private room with a breathtaking view of the temple and the capitol building. It was an honor to be at the same table as my father who has been such a wonderful example in my life of sacrifice and love. He is such a generous and loving man. I am proud to be his daughter and I am thankful I was lucky enough to be with him on his special day. We spent a few days at my parents house in Logan and then went up to the cabin at Bear Lake for Memorial Day weekend. The kids had so much fun, I hardly saw Ethan. Sunday night we had Family Home Evening and then we went to the Garden City cemetary to look for family names. It was a great trip and we came home with lots of new memories. Since I always take too many pictures, it is faster for me to post them as a slide show.

Divas in Training

A few days ago, Renae and I decided it was time to train our daughters in the way of everything pampered. We took Ella and Marinn to have manicures and pedicures. They had so much fun picking out colors and being doted on. I love having a little girl.

Be Wise

My friend, Janae, lived in Sunnyside when we first moved here. Her family is now living in Utah for school. She came back to visit her parents for a few weeks so I was lucky enough to be able to spend a morning with her and her beautiful children. I am glad they are going to be here for awhile. We have missed them. I don't know how to make these pictures larger in the post, so you may click on them to see a bigger image.

A Day with Kathy and Ian

Today I had a great time capturing playing with my dear friend, Kathy, and her son. Ian is such a beautiful baby with a happy disposition. Kent and I always comment that if our children acted anything like him- we'd have lots more.

LIttle Lola Pictures

I know it has been awhile since my Florida trip, but here are some pictures of my precious niece, Lola. She is the daugher of my old roomate, my husband's sister, and one of my very best friends. I was lucky enough to be able to snap some pictures of her in her first few weeks of life. She is the best baby with a beautiful head of hair.

Get 'cha Head in the Game

We have been busy taking Ethan to all of his sports practices and games. Three nights a week Ethan has practices totalling over 4 hours, with Saturday games every week. On the night that he doesn't have practice, Ethan and Kent have decided to use that night to go over the church gym to keep practicing. Ethan loves to play sports and that is something special he and his dad get to do together. It is fun to sit with Ella (when she will actually sit) and cheer for Ethan. Most of the time Ella wants to go down and sit by Kent while he tries to coach. It gets a little tricky. Although Ella is still too young for sports, we are getting excited about putting her in a little dance class soon.

Chinese Photos

The rest of our time spent in China was mostly shopping. Now that the sites had been seen and appointments had been met- it was time to get some souvenirs. We had lots of fun at the fabric market and other great shops. I didn't have time to take pictures since we were thick in "negotiation mode". This is a collaboration of some of my favorite pictures.

China- Day 6

This is a village outside of Shanghai. It is believed that this is where Mission Impossible Three was filmed.



This is a chinese opera going on in the outdoor theater.

We had a peaceful ride on these gondolas taking through the rivers and showing us different homes that were right on the water.


The tiny alleys between shops was packed with people. The smells were horrible but the the sites were amazing.
This one is for you, Cassie! Eat up!


After a morning in the village, our tour guide to us to a nice place for a lunch of interesting cuisine. The first picture is fried fish, with the face staring up at us!

Many guesses were offered as to what kind of soup this is. Any suggestions?

This is pig leg- a very special treat.
Once we were done eating, we started to go down the hallway toward to exit. We found this door was open to reveal the tanks that held the fish before they are served. With 24 people in our group, it's a shock that no one got sick on this trip.
We went back into the city of Shanghai for the night. As you can probably understand, we were all very excited when we found a Papa John's for dinner. We even found a Dairy Queen around the corner to get some ice cream for dessert.

We ended the day with a bang. We went to an famous acrobat show full of music, dancing and death defying stunts. It was awesome!
Kade (Kent's nephew) was able to get a picture taken with the motorcyclists that rode all together in a large steel ball.