Oh dear...

Houston, we have a problem. I asked Bella to go get dressed for church. I laid two dresses on her bed for her to choose from and waited for her to come down so I could do her hair. And this is what she came down in. It is a scarf. I don't know where we got it or where it's been hiding...but Bella decided it was an appropriate church dress. The only way I could get it off her was to promise she could wear it for the rest of the day after church. And she did. Our home teacher thought it was fabulous. He's probably reporting us to the bishop as we speak. I can't wait for the teenage years...

The "other sister"

I know what you're thinking. You're wrong. Allow me to introduce her...Presenting Judy...the official "other sister." She is my best friend and an official member of our family. In the tradition of our family, every birthday brings a sap, sap, sappy blog post...so even though I am a complete LOSER (hence the post 10 days after ACTUAL BIRTHDAY) she has earned her blog post....

So, I'm not even sure when we became friends, but I know before we were friends, I didn't have anyone I talked to, oh, say 5 times a day. And when you are a mother of small children, everyone needs that someone. There wasn't anybody who I would just "drop in on" any time at all. Judy is one of the strongest people I know. She is a rock when the world is tumbling all around her. I watch as curve balls are thrown at her and find myself amazed at how she ends up on top. She has taken care of my kids more times than I can count. And that includes CARTER when he was a walking disaster/hurricane. She even watched Bella for me when she was only like three months old. Bella wouldn't take a bottle and I was going to be gone for a long time (Kristin was taking out her endowments). And she still did it. I can't remember how it actually turned out, but I remember thinking nobody else would've done that for me. She's stuck with me through all of my kids' crazy phases...one of my first memories of "us" is when I had to stay in nursery because Jake was in his biting phase. He totally bit James and although Judy was concerned about the BITE marks on his arm, she still spoke to me afterwards and even let James play with Jake after that. We made it through Jake and James' fighting phase only to watch Bella and Emily jump in and start fighting all the time too. And through all of this, she has spoiled me with fabulous pictures of the kids that I will treasure forever. I could never afford to have such beautiful pictures done of my kids. I feel very lucky.

One of the hardest things for me about moving to Fresno was leaving Judy behind. It was possibly one of the hardest things to do. It was so nice to have that kind of friend right up the street. I knew I could call her for anything, any time (and I did, I assure you). And, I knew I'd miss the fun. She makes me laugh all the time. I love it that she can hang out with my siblings and my parents and she GETS US! She thinks we're totally funny. She knows we're not normal and she's okay with that. We dont' even have to pretend to be normal around her. It cracks me up the Emily and James refer to dad as "Papa" just like our kids do. I miss Papa taking all of our kids on Sunday walks. She can totally take our crazy games of "Sorry" and understand why Matty is going around for the 15the time without going "home" because it's all about "the kill." She knows when Mark calls her (and everyone else) "Varment" that it is a term of endearment. During one of the early seasons of "The Apprentice" we used to watch it together late at night. Now that is someone who has her priorities straight. One season, the finale was on at a time when we were getting carpeting installed at our Decoro house. Everything was moved outside for the day. She totally understood why I had to move that archaic, huge, heavy, gargantuine, t.v. inside before Rick got home. I mean, hello....we were going to miss some of "the Apprentice." ****Disclaimer, I may or may not have damaged the brand new, recently finished fireplace when I moved that beast of a t.v. in, but Judy said it was totally worth it. We've had various late night get togethers with other friends watching some t.v. show, but mainly it was just to be able to hang out. When we moved into our house on Decoro, we had to scrape the ceilings. It was a disgusting job. Then, after that, there was the mudding all the dumb little nail holes and sanding them. It is a crappy job and Judy came and did it with me. The night before we moved out, the stress level was getting to me...Judy showed up and cleaned for me. I was so grateful for the help.

Judy (and her sister Ginger) threw me a baby shower for Bella. Perhaps that seems not so out of the ordinary...it's what friends do for friends, right? Definitely. Only so far, I had successfully avoided all baby showers completely. I don't do parties for me...I just don't like being the center of attention. But, somehow, Judy talked me into it...maybe it was by saying something along the lines of, "I'm giving you a shower and if you don't show up, you're going to look really bad." Something like that. I had a great time. And I got some fabulous stuff. Where was she when Jake was a baby???

I miss having Judy up the street from me. You just don't find people like that very often. I remember one time going out for Judy's birthday to Elephant Bar. There were SO MANY PEOPLE there! I couldn't believe it. I remember thinking...everybody loves Judy! She has so many friends! And it's true...because she's the kind of friend everyone wants to have. She's loyal to the death and she's so much fun to be around. There is a goodness about her that makes me want to be better. She accepts my quirks and either pretends not to notice, or just doesn't care. So, here's to you Judy. Thank you for being my friend. I can't wait til Carter marries Emily so we can be related. Happy Belated Birthday...Now stop wasting time and buy dead lady's house so you can live next door to me...

More from Nana's visit...

The thing I love about cousins is that they act like they've never been apart...they just pick up where they've left off.

Friday morning we took a trip to Fresno farm. There were horses, sheep, pigs, cows, etc. I think our favorite was the tiny pigs and the tiny sheep. The little baby sheep must've been born within hours of us coming. They were so little. It was HOT HOT HOT, but all was made good by a trip to the creamery where we bought cake batter ice cream and some fresh corn. Fresno State is known for their corn and it was DELICIOUS.

We did our very best to wear Nana out. We were coming and going constantly. I didn't want the kids to be bored. We went swimming every day, thanks to some generous friends who let us come swim whenever. We did some shopping at Costco. I introduced Nana to the most fabulous grocery store ever--Winco. It's cheaper than Food 4 Less and not nearly as ghetto. Their produce is tasty and it's CHEAP! We went to Maggie Moo's and to this fabulous candy store. They have all the old school candy like "Watchamacallit" and stuff we ate as kids. They have every color M & M's even turquoise and peach and pink. It's a great store. Oh, and the best might be the gelato.

Of course, a visit to Fresno wouldn't be the same without a bottle of "Rat Bastard root beer." What is that and why in the world did Rick buy it? I have no idea. He said it tastes like regular root beer. He liked the bottle so he washed it out and he's going to keep a collection of weird root beer bottles at work. Oh, and during this trip, Rick was hot one day so he decided to shave his head...

Everything else around here is going smoothly. Jake has scout day camp this week and he's having fun at that. I think today we might all go...they provide a "sibling day camp" for the parents of kids who want to help. So, I think I will go hang out with Jake and let the other kids go to the day camp. We'll see. And, we are going camping next Monday. We're going to a lake about an hour from here. We're going with a number of families and each family is responsible for providing a dinner and a breakfast for everybody and then we don't worry about it for the rest of the week. It sounds like fun. It seems very well planned and we're looking forward to it...so, that's it for here...

A quick trip to beautiful Fresno

Princess Lea has to be the most entertaining little imp I have ever seen ...The trip included a visit to Maggie moo's and the Candy Store - looks like a success doesnt it?
Cousins are special and a 2-3 hour car ride is all worth it when hugs await at the end of the trip

Malia...

I asked mom today as we were all getting in the car after a trip for ice cream and a visit to this awesome new candy store, "Can you imagine our family without Malia?" You may or may not remember that Malia is our "bonus" baby. She has provided us with more entertainment than I could've possibly imagined. This picture is a reaction I get frequently whenver she doesn't get her way. She folds her arms, puts her head down and says, "hmmm." She is adorable, even if she is a package of spunk all wrapped up in a tiny little body...

Oh, and the new blog background is dedicated to Papa...whose favorite holiday is just around the corner!

Rabbit Slap a Bear

Scene: Justin sitting on the floor with Camille on one side and Bash on his lap. Camille is covering his nose, and Basher is covering his mouth.

Justin: Hey, if you don't let me breath I'm gonna die!

Both girls smirk and laugh.

Camille and Ashley: No you won't!

Justin rolls his head to the side and plays dead.

Ashley out of nowhere cocks back and gives Justin a full slap across the face--so hard that his head bobs to the side.

Me (because Justin is laughing so hard he can't speak): Hey! (Laughing) You can't do that, it's not nice. (By this point both me and Justin were in hysterics and the girls were laughing too, so all discipline efforts were worthless.)

I can't even stop laughing. His eyes were closed and everything, he never even saw it coming.
Now a full hour after the slap, his cheek is still hot and red. What I wouldn't give to have that on video!

Really, Lakers? Is that all you got?

Don't fret, Zen Master. We still love you...even if your team (which includes the league MVP) crumbled like so many potato chips under the weight of an elephant's foot. There's always next year.

And Lazerbeams, with NBA playoffs in the books, you know what that means! One sport closer to...

Lots of Free Stuff

Hey fam,

I just wanted to take a quick second to tell everyone about freecycle.org. I know, you are probably thinking this whole working at the EPA has messed with my mind, I wont deny that, but this website is great. You just click "Browse Groups", then click on your State, and then your City like craigslist, and then you are in. It is a FREE craigslist. Nobody is allowed to charge anything. You can either check it periodically, or you can have it send you email updates. You will get lots of email updates (at least I do) but I set up filters to send most of them to the trash. Anyways, I just saw another new basketball hoop get given away (and I thought of you Michelle) and I have seen Laptops, I got a kids bed, a double stroller, and other great stuff. It really is great, so if you need anything, you should seriously check it out. People are often moving and just need something gone, so even though it is in good condition, they can't drag it along with them. Anyways, just thought it would be a good idea to put it on the blog so you can just click the link. Its great. Who doesnt love free stuff?

-Matty

"I do believe I have been changed for the better."

Most of you have probably heard by now about the passing of my roommate Chelsi Dawn Petersen on Friday, June 6th. I don't have a personal blog and I'm not about to do a write up on facebook, so I hope you can bare with me as I do a very modest tribute to her here on the family blog.

I moved in with Chelsi in December of 2007, after escaping Belmont 315 where (if you remember) I lived with Lauren. Immediately she had an unfair advantage in my eyes because she was being sized up against my most recent roommate who had hygiene practices that would make me gag, cost me hundreds of dollars in unpaid utility bills, and threatened to beat me up. Even if my former roommate had been Mary Poppins though, she still would have been perfection in comparison. As far as roommates go she was ideal for me: she was a clean freak, refused to borrow anything of mine, insisted that I use everything of hers, and didn't have obnoxious friends. Her biggest vices included running the dish washer when it wasn't full, doing laundry frequently, and listening to sappy love songs...as you can tell, I put up with a lot. Had she been a messy, mooching, stingy roommate with obnoxious friends, I probably still would would have loved her because all those things are trivial in comparison to everything else she had to offer.

Chelsi loved life more than anyone I have ever interacted with. She was passionate about the gospel, her family, her missionary James, and track. Chelsi's track abilities were admittedly incredible-she was hard working, unwilling to give up on herself, and thus, unbeatable. But as inspiring as she was on the track, she was more inspiring off. She was humble, generous, and a joy to be around. She had bright blue eyes and a smile that could light up a room. This probably seems like hindsight speaking, but it is not. Any one of my friends will tell you that I would brag about Chelsi's athleticism and sweet disposition frequently, so much so that they were concerned I had an obsession with her.

My favorite memory of her is from this one night when we had two attempted break-ins. Cherilyn and I let it go the first time but after the second time we went to Chelsi's room to make sure it wasn't her trying to get in. She came staggering out with bed head and half-open eyes wondering what was the matter. We explained the situation to her and she freaked...and I mean freaked. She, the strongest one of us all, the one who could probably kick the trash out of whoever it was trying to break in, was the one most scared. I loved what a pansy she was. Anyway, she called her mom and then busted out a carton of her nasty fat-free ice cream as we talked for the next hour about what to do. Finally, upon her request, we all migrated to Cherilyn's room where we'd sleep that night because Cherilyn had a lock on her door. Cherilyn and I joked that we actually made up the story about the break-in just so she'd hang out with us because she only associated with athletes. The truth is she was just too busy for us most of the time.

I have wanted to write about her since her passing, but I have hesitated for fear that nothing I say can do her justice. I have come to accept, however, that I can not avoid talking about her simply because of my incompetence. Rather, I just have to ask that you realize she is 1,000 times more amazing than the image I can depict for you. Hopefully you have gathered from what I have written though, that she was barely short of perfection. At first, this perfection made her passing extremely hard to accept. Why her? Why out of all the students in BYU, the person who had the very most to offer this world? Eventually though, this same perfection that brought about those questions also brought the answers to those questions. As her bishop stated at the funeral, she was just too pure for this world. The Lord has much work for her to do in heaven.

And instead of being bitter that I lost such a precious part in my life, I became so grateful for how fortunate I was to have had the privilege of her being a part of my life. From the first week we lived together her mom would tell me how I was the answer to her prayers. That she hated her last roommates and had been praying since they moved out for better ones. And I always replied that I had been doing the same, so we were an answer to each others' prayers. Turns out Cherilyn had been praying for the same thing and moved in a month later. How blessed are we that our prayers were answered and that we were placed in such a circumstance. At her funeral they played a song from the musical "Wicked." The first verse goes, "I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you..." and then a few verses down adds, "I do believe I have been changed for the better..." I can't think of a more perfect song to describe my sentiments in this whole situation.

This has undoubtedly been the hardest thing I have experienced thus far in my life but because of this it has also been the biggest opportunity for growth. I have been trying to learn and grow from it as much as possible and I have already seen so much progress in this past week and a half. I don't know that I could say the same though, if I had not had the love and support of you all and my friends here in Provo. It has been so humbling to see the extent to which my loved ones have been willing to serve me. Thanks for everything, all of you. And don't feel obligated to respond, I more posted this for me and my record than anything.

If this isn't the biggest bag over the head, punch in the face...you know the rest.

One guess as to the first thing to break in the new house. Yep, you guessed it.

Holy freak, where's the Tylenol!

Dad: The Freaking Genius Father

I have been thinking a lot about Dad lately. Seeing how I am a fairly new husband, a new father, and a new homeowner...I have had many things that have made me think of him. I mean, really, what can't he do. He built on the addition to our house. He did the electricity and the heating and air for the additoin. He can fix everything in the house. He has always maintained the yard and dug out the clay in our front yard with a little (and I mean a very little) help from his boys that seemed to take hours to find their shoes, tie them, and get outside to help. He has turned our backyard into a fruit producing paradise. He knows everything about repairing and maintaining cars. I was driving around in a Mazda that was like 15 years old with over 360,000 miles on it in the horrible Utah weather, and I was never concerned about the car because I knew dad gave it a nice checkup and inspection everytime we came home. He sure knows how to get a good deal on a car. What can't he do really.

I have daily reminders of how great he is. I look out the window into my back yard and I see my grass dying in several spots and think, what would dad do about that. I get into my nice car and remember what a great deal he got for me. I go through a drive-thru and use the power windows that roll down by pressing a button and think, I am so glad that I did not get the cheaper model of my car because Dad convinced me to get the nicer model for a very small amount a month more. Every time I go and get my oil changed I think, Dad never paid for this kind of stuff. He is too smart for that. Yesterday we had some friends over for dinner and they were telling me about a bunch of different improvements that they had to make on to their house because the bought a fixer-upper and to each one of the things they said, I thought to myself, yeah, I have seen my dad do all of those things. He is pretty much amazing. The thing that I appreciate the most, however, is something that I really came to appreciate while I was on my mission. I saw so many good kids and nice people that would come to church sometimes but that were not really active and not really committed to the church and to the gospel. In every case, either, no father was present in the home, or the father was not a member of the church, and in a few cases he was a member, but he was inactive. I have often thought about that and reflected on that. And as I look back on my youth, that is one constant that I can always remember is that we went to church on Sunday. I am so grateful that we were tuaght our whole lives that we go to church. It is so easy to see that everything good in my life has come through the church and living the teachings that we have been taught. So Dad, not only are you a completely amazing person, but I want to thank you for being such a great patriarch and example in my life. We love you Dad. You are awesome.

So...I am not sure how often Dad looks at this blog, but I figured mom could in charge of getting him to look at the blog.

My new favorite salad...

It's summer time and that means salads, salads, and more salads. Here's a recipe for my new favorite. It's a Pampered Chef recipe and my friend Keri made it for us this past week at our "recipe exchange."

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Dressing:
1 lemon
2 T white wine vinegar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 T vegetable oil
1 t. poppy seeds

Salad:
1/4 c sliced natural almonds, toasted
1 1/2 c strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/2 medium cucumber, sliced and cut in half
1/4 small red onion, sliced into thin wedes
1 6 oz. package of baby spinach

For the dressing, zest lemon to masure 1/2 t. of zest. Juice lemon to measure 2 T of juice. DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING BOTTLED LEMON JUICE AND BOTTLED LEMON ZEST. FRESH LEMON MAKES THIS SALAD!!!!! Add remainder of dressing ingredients, wisk, and refridgerate until you're ready to serve.

Combine salad ingredients. Top with dressing and Chow Down baby!

In case you were wondering, my menu for father's day...

Stake marinated and grilled on the bar-b-que
Strawberry spinach salad
Grilled zucchini from our garden!!!(marinated in Italian dressing and grilled on the bar-b-que)
Cherry cobbler (made from the cherries I picked this week)
Vanilla ice cream

It's gonna be a good day around here tomorrow!!!

Four days of summer vacation and I'm still alive...

I thought I would die...summer. All the kids are home all the time. AHHHHHHH!!!! So, Sunday night, I came up with a list of jobs that I want done before there is any playing. Each kid has their own chart that they get to check off (side note...except for Malia who came down tonight and said, Mom, I need to do my job. I asked her what her job was and she replied, "eating blueberries." Anyhow, the jobs vary but each child has to do two pages from their workbooks, practice their speech (Jake, Carter, and Bella are all in speech for "r's", read for 20 minutes, clean one room of the house which rotates weekly, clean their room, bruth their teeth, etc. etc. Then, when they're done, they are allowed 45 minutes of the Wii every day. When I was deciding how to enforce this, I decided there would have to be a bribe that would matter to them. For my kids, it's MONEY. They like to have their own money to spend and since we don't live by grandparents any more, they don't get any very often. So, they all get an allowance. The list that I posted a picture of is things that cost them money. They are fined a quarter for each infraction. Surprisingly, IT'S WORKING!!!!!! They are doing great. Jake always has everything done by the time I'm finished with the treadmill in the morning. I also planned some sort of activity for each day so that we're not just sitting around. In the afternoon I always take them swimming at somebody's house so they can burn off any excess energy they might have. We don't have community pools here, but lucky for us, we have plenty of friends who do have pools that are nice enough to share.

Anyway, I learned by day 2 that running errands with all four children is a LESS THAN PRODUCTIVE USE OF TIME. So, I give up. No errands during the day. That saves me gas money and the headache of driving the munchkins around. So, that's my summer schedule. What are the rest of you doing?

Cherries anyone?

This week and last week the kids and I got to go pick cherries at the orchard of a friend of a friend. The cherries were just falling to the ground because they didn't want to pick them. COUNT ME IN! They are Ranier cherries (white cherries) which are a mother's dream...no purple stains all over the kids when they eat them. They are in season right now so they're about $2.50 a pound...and we got them FREE! Some of them I froze for future use...cherry cobbler, cherry jam, etc. and we ate a few bags full of them. A friend of mine said she liked to freeze them on a pan and let the kids snack on them. So, I put a pan in the freezer to have for snacks later. Then I noticed throughout the day, the pan was slowly getting less and less full of cherries...and then the culprit. Carter and Malia. They were "sneaking" cherries all day. Jokes on them...that's what they're for. I just kept refilling the pan and they "sneak" snacks all day! I hope we get to pick peaches in the next couple of weeks...that same orchard has a lot of peaches and nectarines that aren't quite ready yet. Yummmmmm.

Behold...the harvest

Now, this is my first shot at a real garden and it's working! These are pictures of my garden...cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, oranges, apples, and basil. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. We at zucchini for dinner last night from our very own garden. I know you are not nearly as excited as I am...but feast your eyes on these pictures anyway...And, for our summer experience in Fresno, we even got to go pick Ranier cherries at somebody's orchard. They are the white cherries and they are very TASTY! Isn't Fresno great? (As long as you don't mind the heat, that is...)

The Ultimate Rip

So, we were driving to Justin and Katie's house for dinner. On the way, Brandon decided to wax philosophical and asked why people shave sheep's fur. I explained that the wool was used to make clothes, including the slacks I was wearing. This morphed into a discussion of cotton and steel. That morphed into a conversation about natural resources. Somewhere along the way, I explained that wool is different from something like coal because wool grows back, like hair after a haircut. Brandon then promptly responded by saying, "Well you're hair doesn't grow back. I've known you for like 9 years and it has never grown back. Maybe even longer than 9 years."

Folks, not really sure how to respond to that.

The ultimate compliment

So, Saturday morning is Brooke's gymnastics lesson. We were running a little late. So, I told Steph I was driving. We get onto Parker and start the journey (yes, journey - it is a long trip). We were behind granny out for a Saturday afternoon stroll and a furniture truck. That took altogether too long. Then, we got to where there is more than one lane and we hit every light. Then, we passed under the freeway and LA driving skills took over. As I was weaving in and out of traffic like any good LA-schooled driver would do when they are late to a very important date, from the back seat Brandon exclaims, "This is like the Piston Cup." After I heard that and looked over to see Steph - white-knuckled and biting her lip - I thought, "There is no higher compliment a son could pay to his father." From now on folks, just call me Mario, as in Andretti.

You'll rue the day, Trebek!!!

Happy birthday Marky! You guys, click on this picure and you'll see that this is out very own Mokey with his feet in Sean Connery's foot prints!* Is that not perfect?!?!

I miss Marky most when a UCLA game is on. It is impossible to be as fun as Mark is to watch games with. I miss getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch college game day and hearing "Every man, woman and child" which tipped me off that it was time to start 8-clap.


Mark is the only one who would put up with me during the week of AP tests and cheer try outs. He and I went on "non-dates" every Valentines Day for years and had the best time ever. He went on stallion road trip after stallion road trip with me, to San Francisco, Provo for General Conference and then our all time stallion road trip of the 26 hour trip to Provo and back where Mark drove all night so I could get up to Provo in time to interview for my job right after my mission and still get back in time for my regular work week.


He helped me detox after my mission and talked me down from doing comp study every day, went on countless memorable (and not in a good way) double dates, let me be the permanent third wheel with him while he and Carrie were dating (remember Saturday night "pre-PEC's" at Dorris' where we'd discuss how to get ourselves released?) and now lets me crash his pad when I come to visit. So, to the man who started sibling photos like this at weddings, we love you Mark. Hope you have the happiest birthday ever.

**The rest of the pics from the weekend of Kristin's wedding will be posted after appropriate homage has been paid to Marky!

Gentlemen bloggers ...

Paul Pierce's "injury" - real or faked/over-exaggerated? Talk amongst yourselves.

Another Classic Ashley Quote

Scene: Katie, Ashley and Nate driving down the street. They pass a house that is having work done on the roof.

Ashley: Mom, that house it a wreck!

Katie: Yeah, it is.

Ashley: Mom, what does a wreck mean?

"Just tell me when to stop..."

Another unforgettable quote from Mark. I've been getting a lot of requests for my copies of pictures, so I figured this was the easiest way to get the job. If you want the pictures, you know the drill...(in case you dont, double click --> picture will appear enlarged in the window --> right click and save). If you don't want the pictures, pretend you do because it took me like an hour to get them all uploaded.

Much love,

The Coach

Kristin's wedding...

For those of you who missed Kristin's wedding...here's a few highlights (from my perspective, of course).

The wedding was outside at a really beautiful clubhouse with fabulous gardens and an awesome lake. It was really pretty. Kristin looked gorgeous. She had an ivory dress and her flowers were coral and oranges. Right as the ceremony was going to begin, Carter disappeared. We didn't know where he was until the ceremony started and Mackenzie walked down the aisle with Steven and Kole. In front of them was Carter, as oblivious as ever, just making his way back to his seat. Priceless. Bishop Williams presided over the ceremony which was about 10 minutes. He gave them some great advice. When it was time to "kiss the bride," we were all feeling the love. All the parents had to shield their children from the view, but we were cheering for Steven. We're glad they're so passionate. After the ceremony, everyone went inside and had crepes with different fruit toppings as well as ice cream and toppings. Meanwhile, Kristin and Steven were being photographed by none other than our good friend Art, who keeps things lively (if you know what I mean).

After everything was over, everyone...oh wait, everyone EXCEPT ME AND MY KIDS AND LISA went to In-N-Out in typical Lisonbee style. I may or may not ever get over the fact that I was not invited. I mean really, my kids liven up the place, don't you think? It was a great day. It was nice to be together. We enjoyed the rest of Saturday swimming and eating Mexican food from some place in Canyon Country and it was TASTY! We wish everyone could have been there...but thought everyone might enjoy the pictures...