My always awesome husband made me a fabulous cake for my birthday. This is his first attempt at being domestic, and it was DELICIOUS! He even had to call Alayna for some advice on how to whip the cream. I was very impressed.

Sand Dunes

It has been since Dakota was crawling (over 5 years ago) that we attempted a trip to the sand dunes. We used to frequent this place when we were dating and first married, and Shane went here many many times before we ever came to be. His family loves to ride 4-wheelers and motorcycles and this is a beautiful place to do just that. We had a GREAT time relaxing, riding and enjoying each others company. The weather could not have been better--mild, even slightly chilly in the evening, but perfect for a place covered in hot sand.

Cody, Shannon, Katie, Justin, Bernice, Cade, Dori, Ryder (their new baby), Becky and Russ all came and camped right by us. Jake, Alayna, Dalton, Gunnar, and Ridge, Dallas, Randy, Ashley, and Malory camped in the next camp over and Weston and Brittany the next one over from there with some of their friends. We mostly stuck to our camps, but saw a little of each other and the kids all played the entire time. It is a great thing about cousins, they sure do get along well, we didn't have to break up fights or argue all day, it was awesome. That is Russ and Becky's motor home behind our tent and Justin and Bernice's van on the right. Cody and Shannon also had thier camper.

Our little family, Braxton, Geana, Cameron, Dakota, Shane. It was funny the boys are getting to where they can wear each other's clothes and people were confused by Braxton because he wore Dakota's jacket. In this picture Dakota has on Brax's hoodie and looks just like him.


The whole Gang that was there when we were packing up. (I think Dalton never took off that helmet the whole weekend) I have to say it was WAY more fun for me having all big kids. Babies and Sand just don't mix and it was nice having boys who didn't even care about the sand and love to be dirty. On Saturday Shane and I took a whole group of kids up on the dunes and let them play in the sand, which for me was the highlight. They jumped off the hill for over an hour and dug and built sand castles and rolled down just like you would a grass hill and they just loved every minute of it!!! I am sure we will have to start making this a tradition once again!!

Braxton--end of 2nd Grade

The three boys were playing outside with some old boxes and Braxton came up with this awesome creation, he is very inventive. He was sure it would fly on Sunday when the wind was blowing so hard, which it did, but it is just a little heavy for wind.

I love this picture, it just captures him with his childlike excitement and zest for life. He was very happy when we all watched and showed him we were interested in his creation.

Gma Becky, Gma Julie and I, got to see Braxton perform his 2nd grade puppet show. It was so cute. It was set in a baseball park and they moved their puppets around saying their script. I had a hard time hearing, but understood the major parts. His puppet's name is Jack.

Today I got to attend the 2nd grade awards assembly where he received an award for Math Excellence. I was not surprised he really does have a math mind! I was so proud of him, he is growing up so fast and I cant believe how fast his child years area flying by! For some reason the pictures in the gym were turning out really bad (that is his teacher Mrs. Mellott on the far right).

Dakota turned four years old the day before Easter and was so excited to be able to spend Easter celebrating him. He kept saying "I don't have to because it is my birfday". Shane and I were cracking up, he didn't have to do his homework, chores, or anything else he didn't feel like doing. We took 4 of his friends to Clearfield Aquatic Center the day before and they had a blast. Callee is the only girl, but he loves her and would not have a party without her, and she doesn't seem to mind. Dakota, Forrest McConkie, Callee Hill, Gunnar Weston, Braxton, Gavin Hill
Forrest and Dakota opening presents.

We started out his birthday with breakfast in bed as is tradition around here. He got a kickball, a T-ball T, and a Wii game. We ate yogurt parfaits and cold pizza due to lack of planning and a late night swimming.

Cameron, Denim, Dakota, Jake, Braxton

Saturday we went to the egg hunt across the street then to my moms with a ton of my cousins and their kids to dye eggs. There were 14 kids total, it was originally planned for my house, but after finding out the number of people it was relocated to save Shane from going into cardiac arrest (he cant stand that many people in our house and dying eggs--not going to happen.)

AJ, Jake, Troy, Denim, Dakota

Braxton, Marley, Cameron

On Monday we were going to make Butterfly Mosaic's for FHE, but it was late and we bagged the activity and went to bed so we made them on Tuesday instead. It is frosting and Jelly Beans, it was pretty fun.

Shane's mom (Becky) is an amazingly talented seamstress and Braxton needed a puppet sewn for his puppet shows at school. He asked for the Colorado Rockies on the shirt and a hat. I thought we could print something online and glue it on the front, but Becky outdid herself once again and sewed the entire thing, I was shocked when I saw the detail and I would probably die if I knew the time she put in. He is so spoiled and lucky to have a grandma who loves him so much and is so talented. She sewed 4 total puppets and all the kids loved them and all made sure to tell me to tell her thanks, because they were so well done!

I just got the second edition of Weston’s Adventures printed into a book and let me just say I really love how this blogging makes me appreciate and record more of the small moments in my life. I am a scrap booker and I love to do it, but by the time I get around to putting the pictures down on the paper most of my memory of the event has passed and the little moments or conversations are long gone. Now I can still scrapbook when I get around to it (about 6 months behind right now), or I can put it down within a few days and with much more journaling and it has a lot more meaning later when we take the time to read about it. One thing I have really loved is at Christmas the past two years I wrote down what the boys asked for from Santa, I will love having that in the years to come to help me remember what they were into.

I attended Women’s conference for the third year last week and what an amazing time I always have. I have such a wonderful time with my sisters and mom and get to hear great wisdom from our leaders as well as other women who are going through so many of the same things I am. I have high aspirations of typing up my notes and getting them put on the blog, so it is a goal, we will just see if it happens. I did learn one amazing thing during the concert. Hillary Weeks said she was sitting across from her 9 yr. old daughter and realized that she has all of Eternity to get to know her daughter as an adult, but what a small moment she gets to spend getting to know her as a child. I reflected on my own children as well as the children in primary. I am so happy to get to spend my time at home with my children in these few small moments that they are children and am so happy that I get to spend time with them in primary while they are there. I was thinking about how many years I have to go to Relief Society and hear those lessons, but for not very long will I be able to be right there with my boys every week hearing what they are learning and helping to apply it to our Family Nights to better further their understanding of Jesus Christ. My mom stayed in the nursery for two and a half years just so she could be there with Cameron and many people thought she was crazy, but now I know why. He will never go to nursery again and she had the pleasure of spending every week getting to know him better, what a blessing.

More to come about this, sorry for the rambling.