Brooke - It's Great to be Eight!

Brooke had a very special weekend! She turned 8 last month and was baptized last week. We were so blessed to have lots of family share the day with us even though the weather was not very good! We know there were families who wanted to come but could not make it! We appreciate all of your love and support! It is so sad to think that our baby is reaching some key milestones! We are so proud of the choices that she is making!

Brooke is such a sweet girl! She has a heart bigger than anyone I know. If you know Brooke, she is your friend. Her personality is larger than life!

Brooke has been talking about her special day for a long time!

Taryn can't miss an opportunity to get in a picture! She was proud of Brooke too! Taryn played her first violin musical number. She played "I Am a Child of God" and it was beautiful! I think that she has a natural talent!

Brooke loves to sing, dance, play the piano, read, go to school, and play with friends. She is excited to start softball this spring and follow in her big sister's foot steps.

Dancing is one of Brooke's favorite things to do! It drives her brother and sisters crazy but it keeps her busy! We love those happy feet!

We love you, Brooke!

We are so proud of the choices you are making and the beautiful girl that you are becoming!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Pick and Six

Kyle LOVES football. He is a linebacker. I know he is not the biggest linebacker but he loves to tackle, sack, and intercept. He is the only one in our house that is wishing he could gain some weight. In his first game, he intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touch down. (His sisters were the biggest cheerleaders ever - I have never seen them so excited for him. It was pretty cool!) He was so excited! He is the captain of the defensive team and really knows what he is doing out on the field!

Check him out! (#3)
Trying to block a pass!

Our star football player!

Back to School and Labor Day

The kids went back to school just before Labor Day. Fortunately, we are still only in two schools but unfortunately, one of those schools is high school. Crazy to think that Kali is old enough to be a freshman this year. (And she loves it!) About a week before school started, I asked her if she was excited to start seminary. She looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't even know what that is. I am only taking it because you signed me up." Oops - I forgot to tell her about great it is! Now it is her favorite class. Kyle is in 6th grade which is still at the grade school. Taryn is in 5th and Brooke is in 2nd. You would think that I would have free time with all of my kids gone but I don't.

We spent Labor Day at the cabin in Island Park. I can't believe that there is already snow on those mountains. It was melted before we left but is got pretty cold while we were there.

Rob's dad and brother let us borrow their four wheeler, so we took the kids on a 2 hour ride up the divide road. It started to get pretty chilly by the time we were done but we had a great time!

It was a quick weekend but it was nice to get away and relax for a few day anyway! Just gotta love this little family of mine!

Summer Fun

So my pictures got a little out of order and it is taking too long to fix. We had a family reunion for the McMinns. We kind of threw together a crazy weekend to get the family together. We took a 100 foot long slip and slide to a park here in town and the kids loved it! We also had a campfire with s'mores and played mafia, the boys went golfing, had a barbecue and took the kids miniature golfing. We had a great weekend.
A little bit of the action!

Summer came and went way too fast this year! Most of our weekends were spent at the ball field. It is a good thing that Kali loves the sport or I might go crazy. Let's just sum it up with two teams, (Flash and Diamond Queens) twelve tournaments, and only two free weekends between the end of April and August. I worry about burn out but she can't wait until the next practice or game. She has already started fall ball. I wish that I had some stats for her but that is Rob's job. She really is doing a great job!

I don't know how she does it!

Just so you know, the coach only kissed her! :)

Rob loves coaching but it will be nice when she plays high school ball for him to actually just sit down and enjoy the game!

With a face like that, I am sure that she struck the batter out! Now that is determination.

We did have one weekend to sneak a trip to Washington in. The kids had so much fun playing with cousins, swimming, riding grandpa's four wheelers, picking watermelon, and just hanging out with grandpa and grandma.

Kyle went to scout camp and earned 6 merit badges and finished another up when he got home. I am so glad that he has great leaders to help him get the job done. He was pretty excited because Rob got to go with him. He also went on an overnight hike that he said was "really hard!" We are so proud of his hard work and achievements in scouts.

Taryn and Brooke finished up another year of clogging. Still loving every minute of it but Taryn has given up her tap shoes for violin strings this year. She is really excited about this new adventure!

Hair . . . who needs it anyway!?!

For the last two years, Kali has been growing out her hair so that one day she could donate it to Locks of Love - an organization that makes wigs for little girls who have lost their hair for different reasons. I was so proud of her for making this decision on her own. It took a lot of courage to cut it!

Before:

Look how long it has grown! :)After:
She looks so cute! But it took a lot of convincing and many tears for her to decide that it was worth it! She misses her long hair. It isn't even long enough for a pony tail right now but some little girl will have a big smile when she gets to wear Kali's beautiful hair on her head! I am so proud of Kali's unselfishness. She is such a great daughter and I am honored to be her mom!

Now, Kali, tell us how you really feel about your haircut!!

This picture is more true than anyone knows! :)
It has taken 5 days for her to even wear it down and show how cute it is! I really love this girl!!!

American Heritage - New York

New York is going to have to be two blogs. There are just too many pictures and too many amazing things to see and do there. I really loved New York. The history was fascinating in Washington DC and Boston but there is something really cool about New York.

This picture is from the top of the Empire state building. It was freezing cold that morning and the wind was blowing like crazy but the view was absolutely amazing. Kali has a fear of heights so she tried to stay as far away from the edge as possible but I think that she really enjoyed the view as well.

This was the view of the New York skyline.
Battery Park is located by Wall Street and is the place that you board the ferry to get to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The girls just could not pass up a photo with Lady Liberty.

This is Cental Park. I would have loved to have my running clothes to take a jog through the park but instead we settled on a picture on top of the Alice in Wonderland Statue. You can not even tell what the kids are sitting on because they have covered it completely. We found the Central Park Zoo, police mounted on horses, and lots and lots of people roaming through the park. Pretty cool.
My favorite part of New York was definitely the Broadway production of Wicked. I told Rob that we need to schedule or next get away to New York so he could take me to some shows and I would take him to some baseball games. Oh such a sacrifice for me - since I love both!!

American Heritage - Washington DC

Kali and I spent 9 days back east for an American Heritage tour. Our days were jam packed with museums, tours, broadway productions, and very little sleep. We had a great time and saw more things and experienced more sights than most people do in a lifetime. We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a part of our country where so much history took place. I will break this blog into parts so that you can see a few things that we experienced.

We woke up bright and early on Friday March 19 to catch the bus at 1:00am here in town. We flew out of out of Salt Lake at 5:00am. It is a good sign that we are still smiling because both of us love our sleep.

We got into Baltimore early enough to catch some sights. The weather was beautiful - mid 70s all 3 days that we were in the DC area. We saw the National Archives where they keep the Declaration of Independence, (Name that movie!) Washington monument, and the Pentagon Memorial all on the first day.

Sporting the new shades purchased from the street vendors for only $5. They made a lot of money on our group.

Day 2 in Washington/Baltimore was spent at Fort McHenry, the White House, the US Capitol, Union Station, and an illumination tour of all of the monuments in and around the area. (Lincoln, Washington, Vietnam War, Korean War, World WarII, Roosevelt, Jefferson, and the White House.) Some pretty amazing sights!!

Lots of protesting in front of the Capitol against the Health Care Reform.

We kind of got side tracked on one of our tours and when we went to cross the street, traffic was blocked and bus loads of police officers were filling the intersection, snipers lined the Capitol roof so we knew something was going on. We were not allowed to cross the street. We were told earlier that President Obama was in the Capitol building with us but we didn't believe it until we saw his motorcade drive right in front of us. He is in one of the 15 black SUVs in the picture. Pretty amazing to see the President of The United States even if you don't support all of his decisions!

Day 3 we went to the Arlington Cemetery (one of my favorite sights) where we watched the changing of the guard, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and Mt. Vernon (George Washington's home).

Day 4 was spent touring the White House, exploring the Smithsonian Museums of American History and Natural History, Ford's Theatre, and ghost stories in Gettysburg.