A New Beauty...

MY Our family's new camera.

I've been wanting a nice camera for a while now. Ben and I looked into them and this is what we found...

Canon PowerShot SX30 IS

14.1-Megapixel Digital Camera

picture courtesy www.officedepot.com

AND I LOVE IT!

Here are a few of the reasons:

the zoom

 AND YES... those are the craters in the moon! AMAZING

the SpeCIaL EffeCTS

...especially the color filter. 

I can chose a color from the scene and the camera will make everything else black and white.

 This effect makes everything look like it's a miniature.
Doesn't this picture say childhood in the summer time!

 And probably the BEST reason... it lets me capture high quality pictures of
the boys I love most!

Mother's Day Highlights

It was one of the best Mother's Days that I've had yet! 

And not just because my sweet husband surprised me with this beautiful necklace...

@ Amazon.com

I LOVE that he listened when I mentioned I wished I had something with my birthstone... 

it makes the thought even sweeter!

Here are the highlights of my day:

• Ben made breakfast while I slept in.
• At church, even though he didn't really sing, Gavin DID join all the children up front to sing the Mother's Day song.
• I talked to my mom!
• We got to Skype with Kiana, Ben's sister who's on a mission in Florida.
• We enjoyed a yummy dinner with Ben's family. Which not only tasted fabulous, but I didn't have to cook, either!
• I received a little bit of spring from Ann for Mother's Day in the form of a beautiful potted flower arrangement. 
• AND LAST, BUT NOT LEAST... My THREE beautiful boys and their smiles and laughter!

I'm grateful that I can be called MOM.

A True Story...

"A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see that his bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the pillow that was addressed to 'Dad.' With the wort premonition he opened the envelope with trembling hands and read the letter.

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you.

I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercings, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes, and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion... Dad, she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. We share a dream of having many more children.

Stacy has opened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy.

In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so she can get better. She deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we will be back to visit so you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son John

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than a report card. It is in my center desk drawer. I love you. Call me when it's safe to come home."

I don't know if this is really a true story or not... I just thought it illustrated a good point and made me chuckle. ;) - Ben

A Little Sunshine...

on a cloudy day!

Family Fun Weekend

Finally, the last post from my mom's visit. At the end of my mom's visit, my two sisters came up from Provo to visit for the weekend. Sarah stayed at our house, but Melissa and her little family stayed at a hotel with a pool. So on Saturday we headed to the pool to swim. The boys loved it. Gavin even got brave enough to repeatedly put his face in the water and to let me help him float! (I think we're going to have to look into swim lessons this summer.) Sarah and my mom didn't have their swimsuits, so Sarah snuggled with Landon, and my mom was the picture taker while the rest of us played in the water.

That evening we enjoyed a pizza picnic on a blanket in the living room and a Valentine's Day celebration, since it was coming up on Monday. I made little treat bags for the kids, and Ben made three huge chocolate cookies, which the two of us iced, stacked, and decorated. It was ridiculously rich, but oh so good. 

Mom wanted a picture with all her grandkids, so after dinner we attempted to take said picture. You should see how many we took that didn't turn out quite so nicely. We also took a family group shot. Again there were a few that didn't really work. Why is it that it's so hard to get people to all look and smile at the same time? But in the end, we got a decent picture. Aren't we all so cute?! The only thing that would have made it better would have been if the rest of my family was there. Hopefully, we'll get to go visit them soon.

It was a great to have family around for the weekend. The kids got along well, and we all had fun being together. It was awesome. Wish we could do it more often.

Grandma and the BIG Boys!

Here are some pictures of the boys from the week my mom was here. If I was taking pictures of Landon, then Xander thought he needed his picture taken too. I love the picture of Gavin sporting my mom's towel in his hair... He wanted to be like Grandma! And if you're wondering about the animals on the trampoline and why my boys are in the middle... let me tell you. If you weren't wondering... I'll tell you anyway! Mom and the boys made a zoo with the stuffed animals, and then the boys took turns being the monkey in the middle! I thought it was pretty funny, awfully cute... and rather appropriate!