Changed the Look of Our Blog

I hope that you are ok with the blog color changes. The pictures with all of their colors just didn't look good with the colored background, so I changed it all to black. I think that it makes the pictures stand out and look better. Let me know what you think (I think that Summer and Bryan did the same thing to their blog).

Niagara Falls and Palmyra, New York

When Dad, Mom, and Danielle came out to Ohio in May, we took the opportunity to drive to New York to see Niagara Falls and Palmyra.

We drove two rental cars (our van was in the shop after Bryan's accident). Mom, Summer, Logan, and Hannah were in one car ("Look Summer, Buffalo!!!" hahaha! Sorry Mom!), and Dad, Danielle, and Andrew were in the other. We had lots of yummy treats to snack on and walkie talkies to keep in touch (and...um...cell phones..too). The kids were really good for the drive and we made it in pretty good time! We had a great room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, just two blocks from the Falls! You could see the mists from our hotel window! After unloading, we made the short walk to the Falls. Niagara Falls was beautiful and amazing! We walked all along the Park and enjoyed them from several veiws. When we all got tired, we went back to our hotel room and had a Pizza Picnic for dinner.

Tour Guide Andrew

Andrew and Logan

Mom and Dad

Summer and Hannah

Pizza Picnic!

In the morning, we packed up and headed Notheast to Palmyra. What beautiful country that is! We stopped first at Hill Cumorah and hiked up the very steep face of the Hill to the top! (What do you mean there was a walkway on the side?! Oh man!!!) We all made it to the top, amazingly. It was very humbling to look out over the valley and imagine all the things that happened at that spot! The kids enjoyed rolling on the Hill and Logan had a hard time keeping his pants up!

You can do it, Logan!

Summer, Andrew, and Mom

Mom, enjoying the view.

The beautiful Hill Cumorah Monument at the top.

Papa and Hannah

Some of us had been to the Church sites at Palmyra before in July when it very hot, very humid, and VERY crowded with visitors. Though that trip was wonderful for the Pagent, this trip had a much different feel to it. Being in early May, the weather was cool and the sites were almost deserted. We were able to really spend some time at each site and enjoy the peaceful Spirit there! It was also wonderful to get to share them with Dad, Mom, and Danielle! I'm so glad we went!

We also visited the Palmyra Temple, Sacred Grove, and Joseph Smith's home and Farm. However, I'm just realizing now that I don't seem to have any pictures from these places. So now I'm going to turn the time over to Mom, Dad, and/or Dani to tell us about the rest of our trip!

Andrew's Brownie

While we're on the subject, I thought I'd add my favorite memory of Andrew at Mom and Dad's house.

Mom had made a yummy batch of brownies. They were on the counter cooling and Andrew wanted one! We told him that he could have one after he ate his dinner. Andrew didn't like that answer, so he took matters into his own hands.

When we weren't looking, Andrew reached up, grabbed a brownie, and shoved the entire thing in his mouth before we could stop him!

He was so proud of himself for succeeding, that he sat down on the floor and laughed, and laughed, and LAUGHED!

Andrew, Guess What I Found????

Last Saturday Papa and I where pulling weeds in the backyard.

I stuck my hand shovel into the dirt to loosen a pesky weed. As I picked up the shovel full of dirt, guess what I found?

I found one of your Hot Wheels! We didn't have a sand box, so you would dig in the dirt all over the yard. One of your favorite place to dig was in the backyard by the white fence in front of the small lilac bush. You would dig and make roads and drive your Hot Wheels on your roads. I wonder how many other Hot Wheel cars are buried in the dirt?

Finding this treasure brought back so many memories of all of the times we played together when you and your mom and dad and Logan lived here with Nana and Papa.

So I thought that I would look back on some of the photos that we took of all of our fun together.This is a picture of you and Kody on Easter Sunday. Danny and Kody had so much fun having you and your family live with us.

This is one of our favorite photos of you and Papa. We had a little garden in the side yard. Sometimes Papa would take you out to pick tomatoes.

So Weber had a baby contest during So Weber Days. Mommy and Daddy entered you in the contest. Everyone was a winner! You received a bucket full of summertime fun.

One morning mommy and I didn't get you something to eat fast enough. So you took the matter into your own hands. We kept the cereal in the bottom cupboard in the kitchen. You had your sippy cup of milk and then you got the box of Cheerios's out and started eating you breakfast on the floor. What a funny baby!

We had waited all winter for snow. So when it finally snowed we took you out to play in the snow for the first time. It was a lot of fun!

One night you lined up all of the pillows and made us sit on them in a line. You thought that this was a great game to play.

On Sunday night after everyone had read the newspaper you decided to throw the paper all over the family room. Daddy is trying to pick up the papers, but you were throwing the papers faster than he could pick all of the paper up.

You loved to make forts under your play table with blankets. Then you would watch TV in your fort.

You have never liked to take naps, but sometimes you would get so tired that you would just fall asleep. Your mom used to do that too, oh wait, she still does.

There are so many memories to look back on. It was such a great blessing to have you, your mom, dad, and Logan live with us. I will always treasure these memories!

The Mazda3

Well I thought that I would write a little blog to let everyone know that I made a slightly large purchase. Most of you know, just not those who live in Ohio. So here it is... My car. It was a pretty rough road trying to get this baby. I have been looking for weeks and I thought that I had found THE car. I was a beautiful blue color and had all of the features I wanted. I drove the car once and wanted dad to see it to get his opinion so I set up another time to meet up with the seller. Well the day came that we were suppose to meet up and he didn't answer my call. I had my heart set on that car so I was pretty upset. I had sold my Lancer that same afternoon so I was without a car. Well that night we called another seller about the Mazda they had for sale. It was orange and that kind of scared me, but I wanted to see it anyways. So we went to Tremonton and saw the car and I fell in love with it.

So... I know you can all see the picture but I will tell you all the awesome features of my new love. It is the Mazda3 S. It is a burnt orange color that glitters in the sun.. It has black interior with orange dots on it. It has a sweet spoiler. And the nice tail lights. (They made 2 different types of tail lights.. and I was pretty set on these ones. Silly I know) It also has fog lamps, a sunroof, and a 6 disc cd changer.