a celebration!!

since the first of this year we have been planning a surprise 75th birthday and retirement celebration for russ's dad. russ's mom, sister and we gathered a bunch of pictures of george from birth to present so that we could make him a special book of his life. i spent a bunch of time scanning old photos and designing the book. russ, his mom and sister wrote a really nice history to go with it. it turned out awesome and will be a wonderful keepsake for all of the family (everyone got a copy of it). on top of that we planned a big surprise party at russ's sister's beautiful home. we told george we were going to melinda's house for dinner. the house was beautifully decorated, there was a giant birthday cake and a table filled with food. george thought melinda had gone to all this trouble just for the family...it never occurred to him that perhaps his request to not have a big party was ignored. after about a half an hour guests started arriving, and they didn't quit! so many wonderful friends and family came to celebrate george, and it was the perfect night!

mia giving papa george a giant birthday card...

papa looking at the book we made him...

mia, eliza and kylie

russ's parents have known this couple since before they were married. jackie was dolores' matron of honor.

dolores' friend brought her daughter's dog, rexie, to the party because she was dog sitting. mia spent the whole night entertaining the dog...well, i guess the dog was entertaining her!

george getting ready to make a wish...

russ grew up across the street from this couple. they were like a second family to him.

i love the expression on george's face here...

kindergarten graduation

today was mia's kindergarten graduation. her teacher sure went above and beyond with the presentation! the kids were decked out in darling graduation hats and performed a poem and 3 songs (all memorized) for the audience. they did such a great job!! miss whisler even made a slideshow presentation of pictures from the whole year, which of course made me tear up. each student was presented with a graduation certificate, and miss whisler also acknowledged several of the mommy helpers. it was a great day to celebrate all of mia's accomplishments! i'm having a hard time preparing myself for the fact that my baby is going to be in 1st grade next year and will be gone most of the day. i guess i had better really soak up these next 3 weeks with her.

mia and her teacher...

mia and her best friend...

mia with grandma and papa...

proud mama and daddy...

mia and her 5th grade buddy...

a healthy snack

the other night after the kids had baths, mia sat down to eat a nice, healthy snack...a whole tomato. russ and i laughed because russ's dad and my gramps love to do the same thing!

ah, nuts!

about a week ago papa steve invited us over one evening to pick almonds. mia and george had the best time filling their buckets with nuts with their favorite nut, papa! none of us can believe that the ground squirrels didn't steal all the nuts this year, but we're sure glad they didn't!

pioneer day

our stake knows how to celebrate pioneer day! every year they put on a {HUGE} event, complete with a parade, tons of games and breakfast! usually the breakfast is pretty good, but this year we got gipped. they advertised that scones would be served, and honestly who doesn't love hot, fried bread with honey and butter? they went a little cheap and served pita pockets with squeeze butter and honey to which mia asked, "what is this??" good question, babe! the past couple of years the fire department has come and hosed down the crowd, which is one of the highly anticipated events in the 115 degree summer weather we have. as you can see mia had a great time getting wet and muddy. george liked the mist but didn't want to get his clothes wet; hence, the somewhat dissatisfied expression. i had to miss out on the pioneer day fun this year because the heat has been making me really sick this pregnancy. staying home to clean the house hardly compared to the fun the rest of the fam had!

a joyful visit from grandma jo

i had the great fortune of growing up in the same city as all 4 of my grandparents. i truly have a special love for each and every one of them, and i tear up thinking of what each one means to me. my grandma jo and granddaddy cornell (my mom's parents) lived about a 5 minute walk from the house i grew up in. we passed their home as we walked home from elementary school, so of course we stopped by almost every day to get some love from grandma (granddaddy usually wasn't home) and a homemade treat, which grandma always had waiting for us. my favorite treats were gingersnaps, ranger cookies and bread dough. nobody can bake like my grandma! shortly after russ and i were married, grandma jo, who was in her 90s, moved in with my uncle doug in st. george. things have sure been different without her living here. don't get me wrong...i am very grateful that she is in a loving home with all the amenities and care that she needs, but i miss her. very much. my uncle and his wife recently took a trip with some of their kids and grandkids, so grandma came to stay with my mom and dad for 5 days. my whole family was so excited. i made sure to see her each day she was here because i love the way she makes me feel, and i love watching my kids get to know her. she is 100 years old, and you wouldn't believe how sharp she is! for years she has been crocheting 3 inch wide, 4 foot long bandages for a leprosy colony. each bandage takes her 8 hours to complete. she crocheted the entire time she was visiting. i actually don't think i ever saw her without a hook in one hand and floss in another. i love my grandma's stories. she told me all about the birth of her baby sister, enid. she told me stories about her father. she told me stories about her horse, banjo. i could go on and on...

this is a familiar scene to me...grandma jo sitting on a couch crocheting, sewing or mending

the bandages are almost as tall as she is!! she is 4'7"!!!

we visited my granddaddy's grave on may 14th, the 22nd anniversary of his death. i miss him so much.

mia really took to grandma. she sat with her, talked to her and picked her fresh flowers. grandma talked about it for days.

left to right: jamie, josh, lucas, skaught, grandma, chelsea, and my mom and i are in the back

go cubbies!

russ's all-time favorite baseball team is the chicago cubs. their minor league team, the iowa cubs, played the las vegas 51s friday night, so of course we were there to cheer on the cubbies! even though i like the 51s, i enjoy to cheer with russ unless of course byu is playing utah...then i'm not loyal to my husband. we had awesome seats right above the cubs' dugout, which was really fun. we got to see ryne sandberg (one of russ's favorite former chicago cubs) up close and personal since he is now the iowa cubs manager. hopefully he'll be the chicago cubs manager sooner than later! the cubs kicked some baseball b-o-o-t-y!

ryno signed lots of baseballs and baseball cards before the game. we had a perfect view of him greeting the fans.

dressed to impress!

this photo is especially for grandma dolores! this dress was a birthday gift to mia rose from grandma dolores. in fact, mia received 3 beautiful sunday dresses from her grandma. this one, though, is her favorite because it twirls the best! mia got LOTS of compliments the day she wore this to church. i have to smile at this picture because you can see our neon "u" in the background.

sunshine dance company

mia had her dance recital today, and it was so much fun! she performed a tumbling routine to "friendship is a dance," a cheerleading dance to "popcorn," and a ballet dance to "how to believe." her teacher, miss amy, was able to secure the auditorium at desert oasis high school, which was awesome! the show went perfectly, and of course we were so proud of our little beauty! here are a lot of shots from the day...

i took some pictures of mia in her costume just before we left for the recital. i love her sneakers paired with her pretty dance costume. she reminds me of me...

one more hug before the show!

george was pretty patient through the performance (it was only 30 minutes). we cracked up a few times because he looked totally bored. little does he know he has a lot more recitals in his future!

our cute cheerleader!

in the fairy ballet, mia and gabby woke up the other fairies by tickling them with their flower wands

the silly dance contest!

mia was showered with praise and flowers!

the whole fam damily

aunt jamie gave mia some darling daisy earrings and matching bracelet

isn't miss amy the cutest dance teacher EVER!?!?

we love our little sweetie!

what a cool trophy!

i often go walking

we heard from my uncle gary that there were thousands of wildflowers on the drive out to nelson, nevada. papa steve took us on a saturday adventure to go and check them out. as many years as i have lived in southern nevada, i have never been to nelson. the drive was quite beautiful with literally thousands of yellow flowers lining the road. we quickly discovered that while i brought my nice digital camera, i didn't have the sd card in it! i was so disappointed. lucky for us, this little shop in nelson sold disposable cameras. i felt like i was taking pictures with a toy, and it took me awhile to get used to the fact that i couldn't immediately see my pictures! i'm glad we were able to get some shots of our fun day. i definitely want to do some more exploring in this area.

outside the shop where we bought the digital camera. we learned that donny & marie recently filmed a music video here, and they also took all their album photography here. it's a neat spot and has a ton to look at. it's also a great spot to come and take pictures. lots of interesting collections. i'll be back with my good camera!

the colorado river was blue and clear. we are most definitely renting canoes this summer!

papa and georgie were playing with a ladybug

mia next to ghost flowers, which are fittingly named because you can hardly see them!

look at all that color lining the street!

russ teaching george all about reflective striping

mia and i made a haku out of wildflowers. it took some finagling, but we got it!

george caught a ladybug in his hat!