Father's Day

We had Stake Conference on Father's Day so Sam was excited that he had no meetings all day. After a super busy day on Saturday we slept in and headed off to Choir practice so he didn't quite get the breakfast he wanted (even though it still included eggs)!

 After church, a nap for the special guy, and a walk in the canyon we got together with some good friends for dinner and dessert at our house. The guys decided on homemade doughnuts and after scouring several websites we settled on old fashioned sour cream doughnuts, oven cake doughnuts, and regular doughnuts with a chocolate glaze and a burnt caramel sea salt glaze.

 Sam didn't want to be caught in the process of eating one of his many doughnuts.

 The table was a mess with so many recipes going on (and maybe the smallness of my kitchen and having 16 kids there also).

 The cooking area.

 One of the kiddos so excited to try out his doughnut. I think they were almost as excited as the dads!!

 Sam and I

 After everyone left, Sam opened his presents. The kids LOVE to make gifts for him. Luke cut a chunk of wood down to size and then carved in "love" and stained it. He did a fabulous job!!

 Sarah wrote a poem for him. It goes like this:

"Fathers are the best

Even though they are gone all day

They comfort you, encourage you,

Help, discipline, and play sports too

Mine can do everything

He has encountered

My father is the best

My father is my hero

 Kathryn sewed a heart out of fabric. She sure loves to sew that girl!!

 Some pictures from our walk in the canyon.

 Sarah with her new friend, Captain. Ok, ok our new dog (but that's a whole other story!!)

 Kathryn loves the water and loved playing in it.

 Seth in one of his normal poses.

Love that smile!! Can you see Kathryn still in the water in the background?

What a great day we had. I am so thankful for this man that is the father of my children!! He is amazing and I love having him forever (:

4th year Hike

 I am so blessed to be in charge of Stake Girls Camp again. This year we decided to take the 4th years on an overnighter. We took them to Hailey where we camped the best way (inside with adults on beds and girls on the floor!!). These ladies above me are some of my committee. The YCL leaders didn't come but what a great time we had.

 Friday night we roasted apples, starbursts, cinnamon bears, and cinnamon rolls over the fire while we sang camp songs and told goofie stories. These girls are wonderful and we had such a great time with them.

 Sam got to come and be one of our preisthood leaders and I was grateful to have him by my side.

 Saturday morning we packed lunches and headed up to the mountains to go on a 5 mile hike. It was absolutely gorgeous weather and such beautiful scenery.

 We were in love!! The girls picked me flowers and I loved getting to know them better. What a great calling I have and I am so blessed to hang out with such amazing women and girls!!

Random fun photos...

 Sarah's wonderful Greek and Latin teacher always does an end of the year party for his students. She hands out awards to everyone based on their cumulative test that is taken at the end of 5th grade. It is on 300 Greek and Latin roots, derivatives, and definitions.

 She only missed 2 and was so excited. She won a trophy and was so excited!! Here she is with her friend Montse (pronounced Mon say)

 They performed a little program for the parents before the awards and then she talked about each student individually and what she loved about it each and their strengths. It was great and made me so grateful for such amazing teachers!! Sarah loves school because of her and I am so grateful!!

While I was gone in Seattle a super fun and cute girl in our ward came over on Sunday morning and did the girls hair for me.

 She was our "daughter" on Trek and is fabulous. Plus she is amazing with hair.

 The girls loved how it turned out and Sam took some pictures so I could see it when I got home.

 Also while I was gone in Seattle the vacuum completely broke. Sam let Luke take it apart and mess with it and boy was that kid in heaven. He is so curious and loves figuring out how things work and are made (hence why his favorite show is "How It's Made"). I thought it was super cute.

Our dishwasher also broke right before I left so it was a house of broken things for a little bit. Finally today I got our new one (it was on back order and boy am I happy). It is one that you can throw the dishes in (I know, I know!!) but our other one you had to completely scrape and rinse everything off before putting it in and then it would only sanitize. I tried it out this morning and wow!! I am happy as punch (which should be very happy!!!!).

Phoenix Burning

In our area each High School has a massive rock that sits outside the school. It is regularly grafittied and the kids love it.

 Our school didn't want a rock, they wanted something that represented our school more. So after 7 years they decided on a phoenix (our school mascot).

 Our art teachers and students created the design and put it together. It is huge pieces of medal all welded together and looks pretty awesome!!

 The whole school was invited to the inagural event to spray paint it and light it on fire. Our kids were so excited and really wanted to go. It was quite a cold evening but the fire department showed up so we would be "safe" and everyone went to town.

 The kids covered it in paint and they loved it. Afterwards the art teachers covered it in lighter fluid and a homemade concoction (yeah!! don't ask and hence the fire engine--haha!!). Then it was on to the fire at dark. It was awesome and so fun. The kids loved being there!!

Roomie

The wonders of Facebook!!

There is not many times that that is a positive statement but in case, it couldn't be more true!!

While I was in Seattle, I discovered my old roommate (from 98-99 at Ricks) and wonderful friend (we lived in Wymount together in the same complex for 2 years also) was also in the Seattle area and even in the same town. How crazy is that!!!

Her and her sister, who is also a great person, came over the night before we were leaving to come back and we laughed and talked and laughed and talked for several hours.

How wonderful is was to see her in person again. It brought back so many wonderful memories and things that I had completely forgotten for that time. Plus our "photo shoot" at the end has no words to describe how much we laughed and how many tears we cried as we looked at those pictures!!

Some of my favorite memories of her are "Naked Fridays"; sleep walking; Nazi names; toilet paper Christmas creations; guitars; Kenzi's egg, shampoo, scriptures incident; one hairy leg; and just wonderful funny hilarious stories and talking.

Thanks Karalenn for coming and talking. It was so wonderful to see you!!

Charlotte and Seattle

Charlotte--the newest niece

 Several weeks ago my mom called and asked if I would drive with her to Seattle to be there when my newest niece was born. I said "Heck yes!!" So on a crazy Wednesday night Emily, another sister, drove into town, picked me up, and we headed the parent's house. We talked and talked and talked and had a fabulous time.

The next morning we woke up early, loaded the excursion and took off for Seattle. My sister Jen was supposed to be induced Friday morning so we wanted to me there to have some time with them before she went in.  We had a great drive up (with many stops--McIntyre tradition--buy a pop, stop and pee, buy a pop, stop and pee, you get the idea!!). 

 We showed up to a beautiful day in Seattle. You can't tell from this picture, but almost the entire time the sun was out and we had an absolute blast!!

 Friday morning the hospital called and said they were still too full so she wouldn't be coming in that day. Bummer :( So we re-arranged our plans and set off. We loaded in car and went to their favorite Thai place (wow!! super yummy), stopped at 2nd hand stores and found some great deals, and then headed out to Alki Beach to entertain for the afternoon.

 We too off our shoes and enjoyed the sand,

 walked up and down the beach looking for shells, had sword fights with Ryan, and enjoyed the sunshine. It was beautiful. We loaded back up so we could make a stop at Jen's favorite fruit market to make sugar cookie fruit pizzas and get pedicures.

 Boy did we look beautiful. Our toes were gorgeous and it felt so good to have them done.

By this time that sweet little girl was still not wanting to come out so we went outside and played with the kiddos.

 This is so much harder than you think. Wow!! To be a kid again, just so I can be more coordinated!!

 This little girl is a whiz on her bike--so amazing!!

 We took the kids on a long walk to work on that baby but still she sat in there happy as can be.

Saturday her doctor was not on call so unless she went in on her own there was no way that girl was going to make an appearance so we headed to another park to enjoy the sun.

 We packed a picnic and played baseball with their star player. That boy plays better than I do (and no I am not joking--even when I was in high school playing on the team, at 4 he is absolutely amazing!!) 

 Grace was content to swim,

 and then snuggle when it was cold. We took some time to read books and relax outside.

 See she's still pregnant--dang girl!!

 Love that picture of Grace. What a doll!

 That night Emily and I took Jen on a 5 mile walk and nothing :( Boy that girl was not coming out for nothing. By the time we got back the kids were in bed so we cut ourselves some watermelon slices, pulled out the cards, and laughed ourselves silly. Boy was that fun, nothing better than laughing till your cheeks hurt because absolutely nothing makes sense and is really not funny but it sure is!

The next day the hospital said she could come in so off they went in the morning. We took the kids to church and messed around until we got word that the baby was here. We had the kids outside the door waiting until we had the all clear that everything was cleaned up and ready for us to come in.

 Charlotte was born around 530pm and was absolutely beautiful.

 She was calm as could be and just stared at all of us the entire time with wide eyes.

 She didn't make a peep through all of us holding her, them weighing her, and taking pictures.

 It was amazing. There is just something so magical when it comes to those brand new little persons. I could feel it and was beautiful!!

 The cute new family of 6.

 Me with that fun little girl.

Emily and I took off the next morning on a plane since she had classes and I needed to get back to my family but what a fun time we had. It was wonderful to be there!!