Summer Summer Summertime

Means an annual getaway for Dave to the AGD conference...and this year I got to tag along to Baltimore...

Sans Kids....

It was a fun trip, relaxing, uneventful. By day 3 I really missed my little ones at home, but I love going away just the two of us.

Here are a few pictures of the Inner Harbor area of baltimore where our hotel was

Aquarium

old sailing vessel

One thing Dave loves about this particular conference is visiting with all his old army buddies from his residency. We crashed the Army AGD constintuency party the first night to visit with friends and mentors

Dave & Chris

The next day I hiked 12 blocks to visit the art museum and saw the Washington monument. It was set up on a hill so that ships coming into harbor could see it as a landmark.

A close up of the monument, it was the first monument dedicated to George Washington

That night we went to a BBQ and Orioles game

Statue of Babe Ruth, he was born in Baltimore a few blocks from Camden Yards

We got to watch batting practice while we ate dinner

The last night we went to dinner with all the AGD residents from Ft. Bragg NC who had made it to the conference, we missed Joe & Kathy, Glenda, & Valerie.

Dave, David (lives in Alaska), Chris (lives in Hawaii) and Young (lives in Germany)

They are all the exotic ones now and we are the boring Stateside dwellers! The residency threw them together 18 hours a day 6 days a week for 2 years so they are all good friends & it was fun for me to sit back and watch them talk shop, reminisce about being tortured by their mentors and laugh as if no time had gone by.

Next year New Orleans...

Baptism Day

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

3 John 1:4

Savannah looked so beautiful on her special day and had lots of family and friends around to share their love with her as she decided to get baptized. She was baptized by her father and confirmed by her father, with her grandfathers, great grandpa Teuscher, and her uncles Rick, Jon, Doug, Aaron & Matt, and the Bishop assisting.

She was baptized with her friend Brooklyn.

The after feast!!

Happy LATE 4th of July

I can't say enough how grateful I am to be an American. And for all the people who died and sacrificed and currently sacrifice for our country. God Bless America.

The 4th was spent in typical fashion with the kids waking up & begging for mom to make pancakes.

Tristyn was visiting us, and Dave & Matt were off on a bike ride so the kids got their wish.

Then they went off to see Ice Age 3 so Ben & I cleaned & cooked in prep for the BBQ and Baptism on Sunday

BBQ & Swimming at May's which I have no pictures of. Our 2 families have a wonderful friendship that has continued into the 2nd and 3rd generations. Bella was so happy to be with Gabby & Olivia again. She has been going through withdrawals since pre-school got over. Then after the party we all walk to Foltz's for the giant fireworks show.

Some very bad phone photos. David & Rick really wanted to get in on the action and light off fireworks this year, but the dad's said no. Brandon & Larry put on the most amazing fireworks show. It is seriously as good as a professional show. It is their favorite holiday in the whole year.

Happy Birthday America!

Sorry for the bad phone photos, my camera has been missing!

8 years old

We had an eventful birthday week, culminating in Savannah's 8th birthday, 4th of July, Baptism weekend extravaganza...too many pictures for one post. So to begin we started off her birthday right with a trip to her fav restaurant...Olive Garden. Uncle Scott even made a surprise visit home from his busy school schedule in Rexburg, and Uncle Matt & Tristyn drove all the way from Utah to spend this weekend with our family so we had a fun group.

Savannah & Adyson, best cousins, best friends. I am so happy they are such good friends, they just giggle and laugh all day long.

Is it a purse or what?? A scripture tote!

We visited the Portland Temple before heading to Deseret Book for some new scriptures

Swimming & Birthday cake topped off a fun day!

We love our Savannah!

My favorite things about 8 year old Savannah

She still wants to give me hugs and be held....I hope she never outgrows it.

Her beautiful expressive eyes, even when they are rolling at me.

She is so quick thinking, super musician on the piano and beautiful artist

She is a great big sister to Isabella & Benjamin, and is very caring and protective of them.

She has a sweet strong testimony of our Savior and the Restored Gospel and has even borne her testimony in church on many occasions. She is so much braver than I ever was!

I love her laugh and happy smile!

Puppy Power

We had a howling good time at Bella's 5th birthday party! Of course she isn't in this picture because she was too interested in the party gifts inside! But here are the other lovely puppies that joined us at the Keller Kennels!

Yes those are paw print cupcakes, and yes we do hire out our services for party planning (j/k)

The pictures are HORRIBLE. I left my camera at the beach and it hadn't been returned to me yet so these are all from my cell phone or my mom's camera which I borrowed after this.

Playing dog dog cat while we wait for our friends to come and get their faces painted

Pinata time!

Bella-isms

I can't believe my sweet baby is 5. My heart says stop, stop growing, but I thrill with each new milestone, and try to savor every laugh, every joy & their individual personalities. Bella is her own sweet girl and sometimes the things she says just crack us up. This is one bella ism related to me by my aunt Kimberly who lives down the street. The girls stayed with them when we were in Baltimore recently:

Scene: Sunday morning, all the kids are getting ready for church. Hayden (14) and Dallin (11) are tying their ties while Bella gets her dress zipped up and hair fixed by aunt Kimberly.

Bella (to Hayden): *dramatic sigh* when I wear this dress, all the boys faint

Hayden: Bella, do you know what faint means?

Bella: Yeah, it's when their knees get weak and they fall down because I am so attractive

When I got home from my trip she related to me that Hayden fainted twice because she was so attractive and so did Andrew who is a little boy in her class. And that Andrew always faints when she wears her yellow dress. Then Kimberly told me the story of the morning conversation and how her boys laughed about it all day long!

Bella just has her own unique sense of self & style and I love that she knows how beautiful she is. If only we can keep her this self-confident all the way through high school! I love my 5 year old girl!

what...

beachwear, I know it's too cold to put my face in the water, but I look cool mom!

She got 2 outfits from her fav friends Olivia & Gabby so she decided to wear them both, you can't see it but she has dr seuss striped leggins underneath the dress. So cute, she even wore them on Sunday to her sisters baptism under her dress! Mom was so crazy she didn't even notice!

Birthdaytopia

The girls, with another lovely birthday girl, gabby Gabby is 3 weeks older than Bella

My girls were born 3 years and 5 days apart...totally not planned...bella was 2 weeks late. So this week is always crazy, crazy but fun. We've had a puppy birthday party, a family birthday party. Some fun company come into town, mad cleaning of the house annd tomorrow is a birthday lunch for Savannah, then the 4th and then Sunday Savannah is getting baptized which means more company and fun. I am running on little sleep but happy to see my girlie girls so thrilled. I can relax next week when Dave & I take a trip to Baltimore. YEAH!

Here are some more pictures from June, Ben playing in the water fountain at the little league park. They had a little one for dogs that he really got into, head to toe soaked! Thanks cousin Jackson for helping him figure out how to turn it on...ha ha!