What's Been Going On.....

I guess it has been a while since I posted about the happenings of our family, so here goes a quick catch-up.

Father's Day

Our Father's day was great. We started the day off by making dad breakfast of scrambled eggs and hash browns. Poor Chris still had church meetings that day, but was treated like royalty to the best of mine and the kids' ability! Church was good and afterwards we had my whole family over and Chris' parents over for dinner. (This year was so exciting because all the guys that came are Fathers. It was Enrique's first official Father's day!) Chris said he wanted Chicken Enchiladas, so that is what he got. Each Dad got there favorite pie for dessert and they were so gracious to share with everyone else. My dad even shared the whipped cream, amazing!

My brother Matt is such a great father to his little girl Madilynn! I love to see him with her, for she already has him wrapped around her little fingers! He smiles so lovely at her and teaches her everything he can. She knows how to reload a bullet better than me and loves to talk about guns and hunting. (in her mother's defense, she also must always have her nails done.... She will be one awesome girl that all the boys are going to love but be afraid of!) My brother has taken on his fatherly role quite well just as I knew he would! He hates to see her hurt and would do anything for her or his wife!

My brother Enrique has really proven to be a fantastic father to his little girl Emily! How lucky Emily is to have such an awesome father! He loves her beyond his own life and would do anything for her! From the moment she was born he told her he promised to be the best dad he could be! And he has lived up to that so far! The way he holds her and protects her shows his fatherly instincts have kicked in! Oh Emily, I pray for your father's sake you are a good kid, for in his eyes you will never be able to do anything wrong! He is a hands on father and always willing to help out!

My Father-in-Law Jim is a great father! I am so lucky to have married into this family where love and the Gospel are so important. Jim is such a loving and patient man and really has set a great example for my husband to learn by! Jim has shown Chris how to be a hard worker and the importance of a good job to provide and support for your family! Whenever Chris is in need of advice about just about everything he values the opinion of his father the most. My kids love their Grandpa 'Snickers' and Katelee just beams when she sees her Grapa! Jim would do anything for his children and especially his grandchildren!

My husband and Father of my children Chris is such a great father. I don't hesitate to leave him with the kids when I have somewhere I have to go. He never complains about being alone with them every Wednesday night when I attend Mutual and at night we try to do as much as possible with the kids before they go to bed. There are nights and days when we both wonder why the clock is moving so slow, and why Ethan and Katelee have so much crazy energy, but I never wonder if Chris still loves his kids! He ALWAYS does! Chris loves to take Ethan with him to do a food order or help someone out, so he can install in Ethan at his young age the importance of service! He looks forward to the day he can take all of his children with him and teach them how to work. He often tells me that we need to get a lot in the mountains so we can take our kids up there and teach them how to work.... I remind him that we can teach them how to do that at home, but he really wants them to work at a higher elevation! Chris can be a push over with Ethan and Katelee at times, more so with Katelee than Ethan, but he can also be pretty strict! I'm grateful for him as my husband and as my kid's Daddy!

My Father is the ultimate example of what a Dad should be! Growing up my dad would work all week long as a carpenter at the Hilton and then on Saturday he would turn into the Pool guy for a few different people. Often he would take us with him, where we helped him by staying out of the way and later we would get a slurpee! At a young age my father taught me the importance of doing a good job at whatever you were doing. My brother and I took on a Lawn Mowing job for a family friend around the corner from our house. We mowed the lawn, but that was it. One time my dad came with us and really showed us how to accomplish our job to the best of our ability. He mowed that lawn to perfection and then did some random clean up and trim ups that went above and beyond! From this I learned that you should always do more than is expected of you! Many Saturdays were spent with my dad and brother in the mountains where we would shoot, knock over dead trees, hike or play penny poker in the camper. He taught us to enjoy our beautiful earth and never take it for granted. My father is by no means perfect, he had his moments where his patience had been tested to the limit and a doll went flying through our window, cars were called things I never knew existed and he taught us the wrong pronunciation of peoples names or told us rude things to tell other people when they were rude to us or treated us unfairly. But because of this I have learned even more about how normal everyday men become hero's. My father has never won an award for saving someones life, however he has saved mine multiple times by being there for me. He is known by me, for our conversations in the car when I was growing up and still to this day, the encouraging words spoken to a girl who feels inadequate as a player of a sport and as the player of life! He has taught me to enjoy my kids for who they are, for the craziness they bring to my life and for the precious gift they are to me from my Heavenly Father. He has taught me that no matter how we might disagree with someone we still must love them and support them and fulfill our callings to the best of our ability! My father has never turned a calling down and can always come up with at least one positive for having it! I don't think my dad has ever met a stranger, he will wave obnoxiously at a restaurant when he sees someone he knows or go out of his way to say hello to someone he recognizes. My Father was the one that told me that my Grandpa Stewart had died and he gave me the most loving hug I will ever remember! He has always been willing to share his opinion on things and especially his belief in the Gospel. He is not the best public speaker but when he does speak he speaks with emotion and love! He is always on my side and supports my family beyond imagination! The longer Chris and I have are married the more I see that I have actually married my father and I couldn't be any happier about that decision! My dad has always gone without to support us! He has and continues to work hard at a job he hasn't enjoyed for years to continue to support my mother and all of his kids and grand kids! My kids love their Grandpa 'Jiggs' and get so excited to see him! I have been truly blessed to have this wonderful man and example in my life! He may seem pretty crazy to some but to me he is the perfect Father for me. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he sent me to my Father and Mother! I love my father more than anything in the world and hope I can give to my family everything he gave to me!

Chris' Birthday

Two days after Father's Day it was Chris' Birthday! Chris had to work at his clinical on his birthday but I bought him a fancy Marie Calendar dinner to take with him for lunch! After work we had a bar-b-que for him where he did his own grilling! Sorry babe, but you are so good at it I didn't want to ruin the meal! Before Chris left for work he opened presents from the kids and me. I think all in all he enjoyed his day! I'm grateful that Chris was born into this world and especially that we were able to meet, a girl from Vegas and a guy from Texas! Love you babe! Here's to many more birthdays for you!!

Fourth of July

I love the fourth of July, it brings back memories of my dad setting off REALLY LOUD fireworks at my aunt's house that scared me when I was already inside the house! It reminds me of swimming, bar-b-ques and family! This 4th was a little different, for us it really started on the 3rd. Ethan and I headed over to Uncle Matt and Aunt Anjali's and rode with them out to the Boulder City parade, where we walked in it with Jerry Wiese! This is Ethan's 3rd or 4th parade that he has gotten to be in! I doubt he will ever want to just go and watch one! Then we headed home and hung out with each other as a family. While we were at the parade daddy put up the kids' new bunk beds! They are amazing and I'm sure I'll post about them later. Then later we headed over to Jerry's house for a bar-b-que and swimming. They recently remodeled their pool and had a slide put in. What fun that was for me but also for Ethan and Katelee! By the end of the night Ethan was going down it backwards and loving every minute of it! Katelee loved it as well and had no fear of going down by herself! We left the bar-b-que early so we could get Katelee home and in bed. Then when it got dark we headed outside for a few fireworks we had purchased. Of course Ethan loved it and even did the sparklers this year! The 4th was a Sunday so we did the normal Sunday stuff of going to church and then Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner. After dinner we let the kids do some sparklers and Katelee loved it! This girl has no fear of anything which I think is fantastic and horrible all at the same time!

Just quick on the reason for the 4th of July!~~~~ I love this country! I have only been to Mexico so I really don't know what it is like firsthand anywhere else, however I can say with all confidence that America is the BEST!!!! Why else would people want so badly to live here or worse why would people want so badly to ruin or harm us? I may not be happy with where we seem to be heading but I still love this country! I love that I can practice my religion however I want, and that others are afforded the same option. I am so thankful to all those men and women that have valiantly fought for our freedom and who continue to do so. It amazes me how someone is willing to put their life in danger to fight for our country, to value this country so much! My parents have always taught us to love and respect this country, to put our hand over our heart when we say the pledge or sing the national anthem, to stand when a flag is being presented. I have seen my father get tears in his eyes from hearing the national anthem or seeing pictures of our soldiers fighting. I love this country with all my heart and pray I can give to my kids the same feelings and emotions about America as I was given! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

Fun at the Lake

We have some great friends that invited us to the Lake with them and their three sons! We of course jumped on the offer and headed out with them on Monday morning! Ethan loves this family, so much so that he will pray for them each night! They get more prayer time than Ethan's parents do, lucky! Anyways, we launched the boat and the fun began. We took Ethan and Katelee this time and Katelee loved the wind in her hair. This girl loves to go fast and get bumped around. I think she wore a smile on her face 90% of the time we were out on the lake. Last year Ethan would not jump into the water and even hated being in the water, but his year was completely different. He jumped right in and continued to do it over and over and over! I was in the water putting a life jacket on so I could carry Katelee in the water. Ethan jumped in and Katelee thought it looked like fun and jumped right in too! I rushed over to her, got her out and she was right back in once I had the vest on completely! CRAZY GIRL! Daddy went wake boarding a few times and then it was time for the surfboard to come out! Ethan did it with Chris this year, and I'm not really sure he enjoyed it! Then we decided to let Katelee give it a try with Chris. To say she enjoyed it would be an understatement! She smiled the entire time and wanted to do it more! One time Chris got in the water to do it by himself and she threw a fit, she screamed and screamed until we let her go with Chris again! We got video of it and she is just the happiest girl alive riding on the board with her daddy! (of course I can't figure out how to get it off my phone and here!) Ethan was happy just spending some time with his best friend Luke and we were pretty happy just hanging out with our friends! It is always fun going to the lake with the family and good company!

And that is it for now!