Welcome Home!

 The day had arrived that Jim & Renae return from their mission serving as public relations missionaries in New Zealand!  The kids were so giddy!  Don't let Brandon's expression fool you.  He was just tired of waiting….

 Aunt Norma and Uncle Dwight

 The boys!  Doug, Cath & family were waiting in the wrong terminal, but made it over in plenty of time

 Sydney had made this awesome sign!  Then, she almost didn't bring it in.  Amanda said that they have to have it and brought it!  Sydney and Grandpa have a fun thing where they call each other by the wrong names.  Grandpa is Fred.  Sydney is Michelle.  Sydney made Jim a Fred card that was sent to him on his mission.  He loved it and put it in his cubicle and then the other missionaries in the office started calling him Fred, too!

 Kaili & Ryan

Mike teasing with the nephews

 photo cred: Catherine…..They've been spotted!

 These are my photos again:

 Photo cred: Catherine.  The Grandkids buried them in a group hug! That's when I started tearing up!

 my photos again...

 photo cred: Catherine….Amanda was in tears! Such a fun reunion!

my photos again

 I love these pictures of Mike and his mom

 The family!

 Happy & Beautiful Granddaughters

 Mike & his Dad

3rd Grade Wax Museum

The morning of the Grandparent's Return, was Brandon's 3rd Grade Wax Museum.  I should also mention that Grandma & Grandpa Gibson were in St George because Papa had to have emergency surgery while visiting Bud & Kay.  Uncle Darin was good enough to drive down there and be with my parents while they were getting through those first couple of days so I didn't have to miss this!  

 I would have been so sad because look how cute this Albert Einstein is!!  Brandon chose AB and then did a biography on him.

 He had been working on it for a few months and this wax museum was the highlight!  Two classes at a time of the 3rd graders were posing in the gym/museum and parents came to see their great work and great costumes! We had so many people tell us they didn't recognize Brandon and that they loved his costume the best!

It was a little hard to find a great wig, but we finally got one the week of.  We loved this end of year program!  So cute and creative and FuN for the kids! Isn't he so CuTE!  We love you Brando!!

Prepping for Grandparents Return!

About a month ago, Jim emailed Mike and asked him to hire a maid service to come prepare their house before they got home and to not mention it to Renae.

Well, Mike and I decided that we weren't going to hire anyone (except to clean the outside windows) and that the grandkids as well as the kids….could do the service ourselves. 

 We had a great time working side by side!

 Playing with Grandma's glasses

 And after a good day's work, we went to Smashburger for lunch!

Kellie and I took home rugs and bedding.  Then, we met on Thursday and finished the floors, vacuuming and mopping and went to put the rugs back….and couldn't remember where some of them went! The first thing Jim said when he walked in the house was, 'Is this rug new?'  Nope, we just put it in the wrong place!

Spring Break

Spring Break was really short this year.  Only Friday to Tuesday.  Mike had to work Friday, so we left for St George Saturday morning.

The girls and I went to the General Womens broadcast with the Wilson girls! We headed to Iggy's afterward because it was the least crowded of the restaurants in St George!

 It was very fun!

 Amanda was having some drama with some other friends that happened to be down there. We are grateful for Liz and her loyalty.  Amanda's drama continued through much of April and we are hoping things have settled down now. She is stressed with dance, friends and school, so summer will be very welcomed in her life!!

We saw Bud & Kay and decided to do FHE with them since it was Monday.  They wanted to go to Chuck a Rama and even bought our dinner!  They are very sweet :)

The weather had turned very nice for a week….so Brandon and I headed out to the tramp.  He was trying to perfect his front flip and I was taking pictures with my phone.  We just laughed and laughed about these poses!

He did get the front flip down and is now a pro :)

Busy busy busy

 Something about April….it kicks busy into high gear!

 So, let's catch up!  This photo above is Amanda and her friends recreating Pretty Little Liars…one of their favorite tv shows. I think they did a great job!  They also did Duck Dynasty. That one's pretty funny too and I'll post if I find it.

With the Winter Olympics happening this past February, our family was glued to fun events like Slopestyle Skiing and Snowboarding, Bordercross, among other X Game type sports.  Amanda loves snowboarding so much and so she knew about these guys below before we did, but we joined right in once we started watching!

 Joss Christensen, a Park City native, won the first ever slope style Gold in Skiing.  His Dad died within the last year. He dedicated the medal to him.  There was a meet and great in Park City on conference weekend, and so we took the kids, along with Amanda's friend, Chezney, so they could meet Joss & Sage.

 So so nice and pretty cute kid!  We tweeted that we met him and instagramed it and he liked it!  The girls were on the moon about that!

 And Sage Kotsenberg…not born in Utah…but raised in Park City….he won the first ever Gold medal in Slopestyle snowboard.

 Brandon got his skiing helmet signed….pretty dang cool!

 The girls got the photos they hand out signed and were super excited about that!

It was really fun to see them so excited to meet these guys they had seen win Gold on tv and that they may or may not have crushes on :)

Weekend update

A few updates from our busy week.  Saturday, Amanda had dance pictures.

 I wasn't supposed to be taking iPhone photos, but I got a couple. She's growing up too fast!

 Big news! Amanda finally passed the learner's permit test! It took 5 times….stupid questions…and the last time she didn't pass, she was really upset.  We told her she'd probably seen all the questions now and to take it a couple days later.  Then, she passed! Way to go, Amanda!! Mike has taken her out driving a couple of nights.  She's doing great!

 Mike, Brandon, Sydney and I went to the Jazz game.  We are getting the Bailey's tickets a lot because the Jazz aren't that great this year, ha ha!

 Look at these great lunch boxes they handed out…..hee her

It was the mascot, Bear's, birthday.  So, there were about 5 other NBA mascots. This one was from Detroit and when Sydney didn't wave back to him, he came over and messed up her hair for about 30 seconds.  These pictures came from the people behind me.  Sydney wasn't impressed..

 The Jazz lost, but we still loved going to the dinner and watching the mascots, etc.

Sunday, we had great family time.  Mike conquered the Rubic's cube.  It was warm enough to bbq for dinner.  Amanda and I took Max for a walk.  Just a wonderful relaxing day!!!

I don't know about you, but I'm feelin' 22!

How can it be that we have been married 22 years already?  It just seems to have flown by.  I got married at 22, so I have lived with Mike longer than anyone else! ;)

We have been blessed with 3 amazing children whom we love so much!  We've been blessed with so many things that I can't even begin to list.  It hasn't always been perfect and there have been hard times.  But those times have cemented our relationship and our family and we know we can work through anything.

We are grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and for a loving Heavenly Father.  We have turned to him and to the blessing of the Atonement through hard times and in good times.  We know that we have to have Heavenly Father in our marriage to sustain us through 

our eternal commitment to each other.

We watched our wedding video with the kids last week. The kids laughed their heads off at Grandma Arvy's hair!  They laughed at my hair.  But, it was fun to look back at the beginning of our lives together.  To see us fixing up the duplex with the family. To see Tucker.  To see video of family members who have passed away.  We watched my brother's videos as well. This time we had Amanda and I was pregnant with Sydney.  Amazing to look back and see the beginnings of our little family.

Time seems to be speeding forward.  I can't believe we have lived in our Kaysville house longer than we lived in our Murray house!  I can't believe we will have a high school sophomore in a few short months.  I can't believe we will have all 3 kids in different schools. Even Brandon was feeling that saying he was a little sad he won't ever be in school with the girls again.

All I can say is I'm so grateful for my life. I'm so grateful that after 22 years and many more pounds and grey hairs, that Mike still loves me!  I'm so grateful for these 3 children that our Father in Heaven has blessed us with.  I'm so grateful for my parents, Mike's parents and our brothers, their wives (my only sisters) and our nieces and nephews.  We've been blessed with good friends and good pets, too.  We've been blessed with good grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  I'm looking forward to the next 22 years and beyond.  So grateful that we have reached this milestone.  There are many people around us that haven't stayed married past 20 years and it's sobering….and yet gives me much hope for our life together!  I love you Mikey! I love you Amanda, Sydney & Brandon!