Billings Family

San Diego

2011-07-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

What a great week we had last week. Afton, Bailey and I went with my parents to San Diego, "SanEggo" as Afton calls, to visit Jason and Dino and to watch Lexie's performance since they're not competing in Utah this year..booo...but it was a great trip.

Our hosts, Niko and Gio. Tiny tiny cutest things ever!

The day we got there we went to the fair and had a blast.

Afton absolutely loved every minute of it and Bailey was just content to chill in the stroller.

Though we didn't have the full experience because we refused to try deep fried butter and chocolate covered bacon (I'm not kidding, they had those there)

First up was the merry go round. Of course she discovered these at Hogle Zoo last year and still laughs hysterically the whole way around.

Then Jason took afton on....and Elephant! That's right. It was so awesome that they got to ride an elephant. And they even got extra time because he had to go potty :)

What a cool thing for Afton to do. I'll keep these pictures forever cause she probably won't remember it.

Then I got to ride on some rides with Afton. She chose all the rides and she loved every one.

The next day was devoted to the beach. Could there be anything better than perfect weather on a beach?

Dino and Bailey

It was a fight to get Afton towards the water where we were set up because as soon as her feet hit the sand, she was down playing in it and wasn't about to get up.

We did finally get her to the water and she played in it with Grandma and found shells with Grandpa

Her favorite thing to do was to claw the sand. She would do one claw and then move on to the next spot. She got quite a line in the end

Then that night was Lexie's performance. Both girls loved to watch the bands. Lexie was second to last to perform.

Afton and Grandpa had a great time during the intermission

Their show is called "The Devil's Staircase" and the colorguard are the devils, so they look a little fierce. But Afton still thought they looked like princesses.

Lexie got to be on Sabre this year. YAY!! That's a really big thing there. they don't let just anybody have sabres or rifles.

The next day we drove to her practice so we could chat with her while she did her hair and makeup before they got on the bus. I didn't get a picture of out leg oreo this year because well, it's just embarrassing.

It was SO hot here I couldn't believe they had been practicing out there all day. we were dying in the shade doing nothing. We were so glad to get back to Jason's house where the weather was perfect as usual.

Bailey and Jetson

Goofy girl

We were going to go to the beach again on the fourth so we got a little bit of an early start only to find a parade blocking us from the sand. So we went back to Jason's and got in their pool which was still really fun

Bailey has gotten into the habit of moving a LOT during the night. She ends up like this a lot and I think it's so cute

Then we got to go to Sea World!! It was so fun.

The Dolphin show. Later in the day we were wishing we had been in the splash zone

Jason and Afton at the Pet's Rule show. She trying to show the camera her Elmo fan Uncle Jason bought her.

The Shamu show, Unfortunately we were so hot and didn't have good seats so Afton wasn't really interested here.

Grandma took the girls to the Sesame Street splash pad while Jason and I went on the atlantis ride. Nothin' better than a bucket of water on a hot day.

We got to feed the dolphins!! It was so cool! If you can guess, Afton was ecstatic. They feel so different than I thought they would.

The sea lion show was one of our favorites

The last day we went to Universal Studios and saw some of the characters and watched some cool shows, like the animal show that was so fun. Afton didn't even mind when the hawk swooped right over her head.

She was really excited about meeting Shrek but got a little nervous when we got closer cause he was so big

Afton was most excited about this one. She even talked to him and told him her name. He was so funny.

Afton doesn't really know who Dora is so she wasn't too sure about meeting her

This is who we saw when we were coming out of Universal Studios. Jay Leno was interviewing people for his show that aired last night.

We had such a great time. Thanks to Jason and Dino for letting us come and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for taking us!

Universal Studios, Disneyland, Sea World

2011-06-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Universal Studios here we come! Charlotte Littlefield, Sylvia & Lynn Allan, Dallin Long, Jocelyn Bott, Gordon, and I had the trip of our lives. SSooooo much fun!

Here we are "ready to ride". Such a fun day ahead of us.

Jocelyn's absolute favorite . . . . Dora. When we entered Universay Studios she randomly said out of the blue "I want to see Dora". Ta da . . . Dora was the second character we came upon.

Curious George. Coincidentally . . . . that's what Jocelyn wants her new baby brother to be named when he is born!!

Jojo and Fievel Mouskowits. The characters at Universal Studios were very available. So fun.

Sylvia and Lynn in front of the "Waterworld" show. That was the coolest show. Dallin and Jocelyn absolutely loved it. (So did the rest of us!)

At Universay Studios, we saw an "Animal Actors" show. Jocelyn loved it. Jocelyn got to meet one of the actors named "Juice" up close and personal.

DISNEYLAND

Jojo and Bwama riding Dumbo.

Bwampa and Jocelyn on the Lady bug ride.

Bwampa and Jojo on the rocket ships.

Buzz Lightyear was a little intimidating for Jocelyn, so Grandpa joined her for the picture.

The flowers at Disneyland were absolutely gorgeous.

Tigger and Jojo

Minnie Mouse and Jojo

Woody and Jocelyn in California Adventure.

Jocelyn really wanted to ride on the double decker bus in Disneyland.

Jocelyn and Bwampa hanging out while Charlotte and I went into the crystal store (a store I've never been in at Disneyland).

We went to Sea World on Friday. Jason met us there to play with us. That was so much fun.

Uncle Jason bought Jocelyn a cute hat so her head wouldn't be so sunburned.

We each got a chance to feed and pet the dolphins. They are such amazing creatures. It was a highlight of our day at Sea World.

We went to the animal show which was so entertaining. Jojo and Dallin loved it.

The pig was Jocelyn's favorite.

The Shamu show was so very cool. We watched it two times.

Uncle Jason bought Jocelyn a bubble gun that she played with non-stop.

The dolphin show. It was very impressive.

Sylvia, Nikko, and Jojo

Dallin and Jason have always been best buddies.

Sylvia, Lynn, Charlotte, and Dino in the kitchen

After our day at Sea World we went over to Jason and Dino's apartment for the yummiest food that Dino made us. He made us Italian beef, funeral potatoes, the best salad ever (with the cheese and olive oil imported directly from Greece). We also did a mini celebration for Jason's birthday (which is in two weeks). It was so fun to be there with Jason, Dino, and Nikko (the cutest dog ever!)

Jojo's 3rd birthday at Chuck e Cheese

2011-05-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Playing air hockey with Aunt Lexie

We got to go to Jojo's Chuck e Cheese party because we had to miss her princess bounce party.

Opening presents

We gave her a Fur Real dog that she loved and had to ride with.

She is such a dolly and we are so happy that she has been in our family for the last three years. Bwampa and Bwama love Jojo!!!

Afton, Bailey, & Jojo

2011-02-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

Adorable Bailey Rose.

Jojo loves to hold her baby cousin Bailey.

Chelsea brought the two baby dolls up from Oak City to visit. Afton is modeling the outfit Aunt Lexie gave her for Christmas. What a dolly!!

Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Brown Family Christmas Party

2011-02-26T18:26:00.000-08:00

All the kids got to sit in Lynn's HUGE camp chair to show off their gifts they received. (As usual my blogging skills are lacking, so all these pictures are in reverse order.)

Jojo opening her gift at the Brown family party.

Santa brought this toy to our house for the Grandbabies to play with when they come.

This is how Shayla and Cory announced that they are expecting a baby in August. So cute!

Me and my lovely loot.

Lexie and Emma checking out Lexie's new Kindle she got for Christmas.

The cutest little horsey Jocelyn in the nativity story with Renae and Lizzie.

The entire cast and crew!

The three "wise" girls! Such cute girls Emma, Lexie, and Lizzie.

We did the nativity story with Sylvia's puppets. Here is Sam being the . . . um . . . . donkey (tee hee) and Rachael being Mary. Shayla was narrating the story.

Dallin got a new book to cut up into confetti.

Two darling girls Shayla and Mollie

Logan and Emma. Emma stayed with us over the Christmas holiday (until she went to Arizona to be with Rachel, Nate, and cute Gabe).

We had our traditional Pozole dinner for Christmas Eve. Rachael and Shayla gettin' grub.

It was a great holiday season with fun events, fantastic people, good food, and fun!!

Lexie gets to meet Bailey

2011-02-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

Lexie was in Santa Clara when Bailey was born, so Gordon and Lexie took a little trip down to Oak City on December 22nd so Lex could meet her new niece. I stayed at Chelsea's house for 4 days to help so I was already there.
Gordon brought gifts to Afton and Bailey to make sure they had proper head gear!! Such a cute baby cougar!

Cute Afton with her cougar hat.

Baby Bailey likes to sit like a contortionist while she stretches.

A very happy Aunt Lexie

Christmas gift to my siblings

2011-02-15T13:16:00.001-08:00

As our old Orem High School was torn down and a new one built I had the chance to buy a plaque for the "Legacy Wall" in the new school. I wanted all of us 8 kids to be on a plaque since we all graduated from Orem High School, so I bought 3 plaques to fit all the names of us "BROWN TIGERS". The set-up of the 3 plaques weren't what I had in mind . . . . . . but we had to flow with the brick layout. (Sorry these are out of order, but for some reason this blog post is conspiring against me.)

Our newest Granddaughter Bailey Rose Hathaway

2011-02-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

Chelsea and Tyson had a very long day on December 16, 2010. They checked into the hospital in Delta in the morning and at night Bailey Rose finally was born. Shayla, Jocelyn, Gordon, and I went down to play with Afton while mom and dad were in the hospital awaiting the arrival of Bailey. It was long past Jocelyn and Afton's bed time but they made it. We were trying like crazy to keep them awake as we drove them from Oak City over to the Delta hospital.

Afton finally got to meet her new baby sister Bailey Rose. Such a darling little family.

No greater thrill for a Grandma . . . . . . meeting the newest Grandbaby!

Grandma Elaine and Grandma Valerie thrilled beyond all reason!!!!!

Jocelyn finally got to meet her newest cousin Bailey.

Grandpa Gordon and Aunt Shayla meeting our new baby doll.

Way to go Chelsea and Tyson for bringing another beautiful baby into the world and our family.

Bailey Rose Hathaway . . . 7 lbs. 2 oz. . . . 20 inches. . . born at 8:30 p.m.

Afton's birthday . . . yes it was 2 months ago . . . . what of it!!!! :)

2011-02-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

Afton helped Lexie make Scotcheroos. She was such a dolly.

On December 11th we had a birthday party for Afton's 2nd birthday. She is such a blessing to our family. Shayla made Afton this very cute bear cake. Afton loved it.

Pauly-wog and Lizzie came to the party.

Afton and Tim renewing their favorite activity together from when they lived by each other in Logan.

Neilsens, Goldings, Allans all came to celebrate with our little baby doll. Thanks everyone for coming.

Chelsea had a little craft for the kids to do. They made cereal necklaces.

Pauly-wog giving the thumbs up on this activity.

Logie and Rachaelina!

Jocelyn with her masterpiece.

Dallin was consentrating very hard on his necklace project.

Cute little Ivy Star

. . . . . . and cute Lily Grace

What a cute dolly blowing out her 2 candles.

Of course we had yummy treats, and, yes . . . . Chelsea was 5 days away from delivering our new baby.

During Afton's party Sylvia and Lynn played "Deal or No Deal" with Lizzie for her birthday prize. It was quite humorous.

Afton opened up her darling gifts. Thanks everyone for such cute things.

Afton was so tuckered out after the party, she fell asleep on her new tiger that Ivy and Lily gave to her.

Bailey Rose Hathaway

2011-02-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

The newest grandbaby

Born December 16, 2010
7 lbs 2 oz.

Spring City with Rigbys

2010-10-10T19:34:00.000-07:00

On September 17th we went down to Spring City after work. Sylvia, Lynn, Yates, Gordon, and I all went down there for a super fun weekend. Lynn and Sylvia pulled their trialer down. We pulled Lynn's 4-wheelers down behind Sylvia's car. We got there kind of late on Friday because the trafic was hideous! We had dinner and talked, laughed, ate, then talked, laughed, and ate!! Such fun people! Yates had to go home, but Allans and us slept out in Rigby's yard in Allan's trailer.

In the morning the Backuses (from our old Geneva Heights Ward) came with their kids (and a friend) and 4-wheelers. We loaded up 8 4-wheelers with snacks and gear and headed out for the day. Lucky for Gordon and me the Allans are generous in letting us use one of their 4-wheelers. We started out from Rigby's yard and rode up over the mountain down into Joe's Valley. It took us a full 8 hours to go and come back. It was unbelievably fun. That was heaven for me!!!

Here were are taking a little break and look around up on top on Skyline Drive.

Gordon, Kelly, Lynn, Sylvia, Sherrie, and Ed Backus. Gordon was nice enough to let me drive the 4-wheeler all day long, so I'm sure I had much more fun than he did. I LOVE 4-WHEELING WITH ALL MY HEART AND LIVER!!!!

Sylvia, Sherrie, and Lynn on the left. Kelly and the Backuses over on the right.

Sylvia and Sherrie looking over the cliff before we started to descend down into Joe's Valley.

Me on the left all decked out having the time of my life!

We stopped a little secluded lake and pulled out our lunch and ate on a tree stump.

Lynn, Holly Backus, Sylvia, and Sherrie

Me chillin' on a tree stump by the lake.

Ellen, Holly, and Brady Backus.

A special thanks to the Rigby for the party, Ed Backu for the trial directions, and the Allans for the use of their 4-wheeler. What a fun time we had!

September, Shayla, & Lexie birthday dinners

2010-10-10T18:53:00.000-07:00

On September 13th we had our Brown Family September birthdays picnic at Springwater Park. As usual it was very fun. Everyone brought food to share and it was yummylicious! I accidentally deleted a couple of pictures from this picnic (dang it!) so these are the ones I still have. Here is Scottie, Cora, and Jamie. Not very comfy seating but I guess the grass was wet and the sun too hot at the tables.

I really don't know who the girl is that is laying down (sorry!)(I think she came with Greens.)). Jessica, Gabraylie, Ellary, and Lily enjoying the picnic. What is funner than getting together with good food, good weather, and good people?!?!?!?

Cute girls!!! Kailey, Lexie, and Emma. (Lexie went and got Emma from her dorm so she could join us.) Going down the line . . . . Karl and Renae, Lynn, Cory, Shayla, and Deskin.

Emma brought me these beautiful flowers for my birthday. Thanks Em!

On September 14th we decorated and set up the deck for Shayla's birthday dinner. It was perfect weather and fun.

I love my Fiesta Ware. It makes every Fiesta a party for your eyes!!

Jojo is sitting at the kids table with her two "babies". So cute.

Shayla with her gift from Goldings.

Shayla has a lame mother, so her birthday cake was actually birthday baby donuts!!

Jojo helping her mom open her gifts.

Our family was truly blessed 29 years ago when Shayla was born into our little family.

On Lexie's birthday, September 19th, we again decorated the deck for her birthday dinner. Rachael Miller shares Lexie's birthday, but they couldn't come to the dinner. Lexie's friend Gloria gave her these giant "20" balloons that added to our decorations. So cute.

Goldings, Allans, Botts, and Emma all came to make it truly festive.

Such beautiful girls. Shayla, Lizzie, Lexie, and Emma.

Lexie got an actual birthday cake (thanks to Smiths!).

Jojo tried to help Lexie blow out her candles.

Goldings brought these super yummy cup cakes that Renae decorated. (I'm told that they were super yummy!) Thanks for bringing them Goldings.

Awwwww cute! (And the girls are not bad either!! tee hee)

Jojo sure enjoyed Nae's frosting!

Chelsea needle-pointed this cute duck for Lexie. Lex loves ducks and the color orange, so Chelsea hit the nail on the head with this gift.

Our family was very blessed to have Lexie born 20 years ago. I can't believe it has been 20 years!!

Logan/Hathaways

2010-09-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Gordon and I went up to Logan to visit Tyson, Chelsea, and Afton before we went to the Skyview vs Orem football game. The game was a bust, but it sure was fun to visit with our Hathaways!

Such a cute dolly.

Putting a "beautiful" in Grandpa's hair.

G'pa & G'ma love to go on little walks with cutie Afton.

We took Chelsea the saxophone that she used to play in Jr. High and High School. She tried to remember how to play "In The Mood" from Jr. High. Afton was very intrigued by this new thing Momma was playing.

Maybe Afton will become a saxophonist like her Momma, her Uncle Jason, her Aunt Lexie, and her Grandpa.

Thanks Hathaways for letting us come crash at your house over night. We left their house by 10:30 a.m. so we could go to the Hale Centre Theater in West Valley City to see the play "Pirates of Penzance". I won tickets to it at my Secretaries Conference in August. It was very fun. Then that night we went to the Orem High School play "The Foreigner". We had a very fun weekend.

My birthday

2010-09-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

For my birthday Shayla came over and made me a yummy dinner. She made fajita shredded chicken, cottage cheese, and fresh out of her garden tomatoes. Yum Yum. I was so happy about it.

For my birthday "cake" Shayla set up these cute cup cake holders with carrots and snap peas with candles in them. Just perfect for my eating plan!! Jojo helped me blow out the candles (several times). Such fun times.

Everyone else got yummy actual cup cakes.

Lexie and Shayla

My cute girls!

"Can I blow it out 1 more time?"

Botts gave me a rice cooker/veggie steamer (which I've never had before). Yeah

Lexie made me these adorable blocks with the babies pictures on one side, their name on one of the other sides. She also made an extra block for our new baby coming in December to Chelsea and Tyson. So dang cute.

Gordon sent me these beautiful flowers to my office during the day. I was very happy about receiving them. He also gave me 4 movie tickets so we can go to the movies.

Thanks everyone for making my birthday so fun.

Joe's Valley - Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Karl and Renae's friends (Lorna and Steve) let us use their "cabin" in Joe's Valley over Labor Day Weekend. It was so unbelievably nice. They bought this mobile home and completely refurbished it. Goldings and I stayed in the house, and Lynn and Sylvia pulled their 5th wheel trailer up there and parked it behind the house. They had a trailer full with Tyler, Logan, Rachael, Mitch, Kelly, and Dallin. We started pulling Lynn's boat up with our newly fixed truck, but got to the top of Spanish Fork Canyon and the truck pooped out. So we switched the boat to Karl's truck and Gordon nursed the truck home and stayed there. I went on with the rest of the group to Joe's Valley.

Kelly pulled Lynn's 4-wheelers up to Joe's Valley. Of course that is the favorite thing to do right off the bat. Here is Kelly taking Logan for a ride.

Tyler taking Rachael for a ride. (Before the Sheriff stopped him and said that the law says that children under 12 must wear a helmet.) Ooopppsssyyyyy

They have built this cool fire pit in the front yard.

Lizzie and Sam on the front porch swing.

This is the view out the front of the house. Beautiful! They have a horse shoe pit, sundial, and all kinds of other games to play outside.

Allan's trailer and boat all ready to par-tay!

As soon as we got set up, the first load of boaters took off for the reservoir. Rachael, Sam, Logan, Tyler, Sylvia, Lynn, Kelly, Dallin, Mitch, and Karl. Renae, Lizzie, and I stayed behind and rode the 4-wheelers down to the lake. (My personal favorite thing to do!)

Lizzie rode on back of me. We stopped on our way to the lake at a little stream that was so pretty.

Lizzie took my picture.

The reservoir was gorgeous. There were only about 3 other boats on the whole lake. Carribean blue water and blue, blue skies. So lovely.

Lizzie and me on the dock. We just hung out with our feet in the water for the boat to return.

Renae and Lizzie

When the boat came back in, Lynn gave the rest of us a ride. Here is Kelly with his feeding bag on! There is something about riding in a boat that calms your nerves and your soul. Thanks Lynn and Sylvia!

Sylvia's Enchilada dinner on the front porch.

I must have my own 4-wheeler before my life is over . . . . . . so dang fun.

On Sunday we drove over the mountain to Daddy's cabin. There we found all the Neilsens/Greens/Katie Brown and her two girls. It was fun to see everyone there. Here is Lynn, Sylvia, Tim, Renae, Elsa, and Karl standing by the front door.

How many people can you cram in Daddy's cabin?!?!?! I think we had 39 in there at once.

They turned Mom and Daddy's room into a "bunk room". Here is Ellary Green, Ivy Neilsen, Addison Brown, Zoey Green, and Bella Neilsen having fun in the top bunk.

Tim, Brandi, and Elsa out on the deck. The boys have put on a nice new railing and gate on the deck.

It was such a great weekend. The only thing that could have made it better is if my family could have been there. Thanks to Renae and Karl for the facilities, and thanks to Lynn and Sylvia for the toys!

Girls just wanna have fun!! pt 2

2010-09-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

We took turns. First I painted jocelyns finger nails orange.

then I painted her toes

then she painted my toes :)

happy artist :D

jocelyn's attempt to take a picture of me

Girls just wanna have fun!! pt1

2010-09-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

We decided to make a scrapbook for mommy today :)

all the things that make for a good scrapbook

Picnic up the Canyon with Marlo and Alice

2010-08-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Marlo came to visit Alice in Salt Lake. Alice arranged to have a picnic up Provo Canyon for all of us to hang out with them and Canyon View Park. We all brought pot luck lunch and had a great time. It was very windy, but we managed to play on!

We started with a wild game of volleyball. At times it looked like a Special Ed. volleyball game. Here is Scott, Marlo, and me.

Annette, Byerly, and Ashley

Jojo just really wanted to join me and Shayla on the volleyball action.

Joel, Net, and Byerly

Marlo and Gordon in a battle at the net. Lynn, Scott, and Alice lending support!

Jojo and I decided to go play on the playground for a while.

Gordon's killer serve.

I think Kelly used Alice's face as the net on this great shot.

Tee hee . . . . Shayla's best pose!

Allie Baba and Marlo

Kelly, Mollie, Sylvia, Lynn, and Rachael

Shayla, Lexie, Gordon, Jojo, Gabriel, and Cory (just freshly out of surgery) They couldn't stay too long because Cory needed to get back to his bed. I was glad they could come for a little while.

Gabriel enjoying some watermelon

There were 6 of us siblings there at the picnic. We missed Murlene and Mel!

Then we got a shot of us siblings and our spouses. Very fun times!

Cute Dakota, Lizzie, and Kailey

Darling Cory Rose

Marlo, Alice, and Mitchell

Deskin, Ahsley, Renae, and Jamie

Cheryl and Marley

After the picnic Logan and Rachael came over to play for a little while. I just had to get a picture of Gabe and Logan together. I had to shoot quick because these two little boys don't sit still for very long.

Rachel, Gabe, and Nate left to go back to Arizona this morning after Rachel and Gabe being here with us for 3 weeks. They made it home safely leaving our house at about 5:30 a.m.

Back-to-School Family Home Evening

2010-08-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Every year in August on the Sunday before school starts Gordon and I host a back-to-school family home evening for the fam. We always enjoy it and we hope that everyone in the fam enjoys it also. I loved this year again.

Before we got started Rachel was helping Renae Skype Amanda and Paulie in Texas so they could "join" us. Here is Angie, Bella, B.J., Anders, Kailey, Dakota, Gabe's head, Ivy, Jessica, Annette, Renae, and Rachel.

Our three darling daughters, our two fabulous son-in-laws, and our two adorable baby dolls!

How many people can you cram in the Billings living room? We have 8 little people chairs for the little kids. It was a fun sight. The boy in the pink chair ducking is Tyson's nephew Mason Hathaway that came with Chelsea and Tyson. They were taking him home from Oak City to Ogden so he joined us.

Gordon gave a really good lesson including these cool puppets. It was about being an eagle and not a duck. I think the kids really liked it. Gordon also laser engraved some signs for everyone that had to do with the lesson.

After the lesson we had our talent show. We had Sammy play his violin. Lily showed us her cartwheels (outside in the rain). Byerly showed us his sweet paper airplane design. Gabraylie, Ellary, Zoey, and Kailey sang for us. Lizzie showed us a DVD of her dance performance. Lexie showed her VanGuard show.

Rachael made brownies all by herself. She shared her talent with everyone.

We had our traditional fashion show where the kids (that wanted to) modeled their new school clothes. We handed out everyone's back-to-school bags full of school supplies, then we had banana splits, cake, and brownies for dessert. What a fun evening. We also had a mini celebration of Ellary's birthday. Her birthday was the day before.

Lexie's Welcome Home BBQ

2010-08-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Lexie got home from her summer long tour of competitions with Santa Clara VanGuard on August 15th. We had a little impromptu welcome home BBQ for her to welcome her home.

I bought this cute whale pool for the little kids. Logan, Jojo, and Gabriel had a blast until they got too cold.

Lexie (with her black hair), Rachel Allen, Kelly and Mollie long.

"WoGee" and Amanda Long

My Jojo, Shayla, and Cory. (Notice my new curtains that I made for the back deck . . . I love them!)

Lizzie, Emma, Renae, and Karl. It was yummy food, I must say!

Lexie saying something profound, with Rachel pondering upon it.

We are glad to have Lexie home and safe after her summer living in a bus and on gym floors.

Visitors and Cousins BBQ

2010-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Rachel, Emma, and Baby Gabriel came to stay with us for 3 weeks starting on Saturday, August 7th. Emma flew from Madrid, Spain to Phoenix to drive up here with Rachel and Gabe. Rachel is helping Emma get situated here at BYU for school in a few weeks. Gabe really does smile and giggle a lot, just not for pictures.

He is so cute!

Goldings hosted a really fun BBQ at their house for all the out-of-town cousins to get together on August

12th. Amanda, Rachel, Emma, and Chelsea were all here. Kelly and Mollie couldn't come because they had a wedding.

What a cute picture of Lizzie and Afton.

We had 6 of the 10 babies born (in the span of a year or so) to cousins together at this picnic. Jamie/Cora, Amanda/Paul, Chelsea/Afton, Amanda/Logan, Rachel/Gabriel, Shayla/Jocelyn. So fun to have that many together at the same time. (The other 4 babies were Preston Hutchins, Kenya Brown, Anders Neilsen, Elsa Neilsen) What a fun bunch of cousins and babies!

The babies loved having their turn on the trampoline. Amanda is in position to make sure Gabe doesn't launch himself off the tramp.

Jojo in mid flight,

Renae was helping Afton "jump" on the tramp. (It looked more like a "stand" on the tramp.)

The teenage population of the party . . . . . Lizzie Golding and Dakota Green

Grandpa Joel with Cora Green. Jessica and Jamie.

Grandma Nae and Pauly-Wog. (We miss him terribly since they went back to Texas.)

Dakota had Afton laughing so hard while he was pushing her in the swing. It was so cute.

Joel, Kailey Green, Annette, and Scott Neilsen hanging out.

Renae, Jamie, and Jessica chillin'

Cory took 4 of the babies on a wagon ride. It was so cute. Here is Jojo, Gabe, and Logan.

Jojo, Gabe, Afton, and Logan. Such cutie pies!

Rachael giving Afton a little swing. How cute are they?!?!?

Afton loves bugs. She found a potato bug and loved to have it crawl all over her hand.

We were so excited to see Lisa and Cory Brown and their 3 boys Riley, Blake, and Colton. We haven't seen them for a few years.

The next evening Goldings came over. This is the only picture I got. Lizzie had walked over from the Scera Pool so her hair was in a towel and Afton couldn't really understand what was going on with Lizzies head!

Fun times!!

Our trip to Texas to watch Lexie compete with Santa Clara VanGuard

2010-08-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

We decided to DRIVE to Texas to watch Lexie compete with the Santa Clara VanGuard in Dallas and San Antonio. Since Amanda, Jared, and Pauly-Wog live in Ft. Worth and Marlo lives in San Antonio, we were excited to go visit them also. Marlo wasn't in town when we were there, but he was nice enough to let us stay at his house anyway.

We loved being with Pauly-wog, Manda, and Jared in their cute apartment.

Amanda, Jared, and Paul went with us to the San Antonio competition. ( We went to the Dallas one by ourselves because the tickets are pretty pricey.) It was at a high school stadium that was more like a college stadium.

The start of Lexie's show.

After the San Antonio competition, the entire corp went to Mi Tierra for dinner. We took Lexie with us and got there before all the buses did at midnight. Johnny Erdman and his Mom sat by us in the restaurant. He is Lexie's seat mate on the bus this entire summer.

Paul was so dang tired. (So was I!)

This is a lovely stick bug hanging around Marlo's house. It was huge!!

Lexie got to spend her free day with us. She only gets 3 free days all summer. We loaded up and headed to Gruene, Texas. We had such a fun day.

The Millers. We were waiting to be seated at our favorite restaurant "The Gristmill".

Ummmmmm the best onion rings and filet mignon on the planet!

We walked down to the Guadalupe River and on the way was this absolutely beautiful Buganvillia tree. It reminded me so much of living in Mexico. I love this tree!

Jared, Pauly, and Lexie beat us down to the river and got in the lovely cool water.

Nothing feels better on a beastly hot day to stick your piggies in the cold Guadalupe River. AAAahhhhhhh!

Pauly could have stayed for hours throwing rocks in the river.

We walked back up the hill and took our traditional pictures in front of the Gristmill sign.

On our way home from Gruene Lexie got a bag of Skittles. If she had golden candies in her bag she would win $20,000.00! She checked carefully . . . . . but no golden Skittles!

They had a blast playing with Marlo's Wii for the afternoon.

We had to take Lexie back to her bus by 9:30 p.m. in downtown San Antonio so she could continue on her tour until August 15th. The next day we drove back up to Ft. Worth and went directly to the Ft. Worth Stock Yards. It was very fun.

Two times a day they run these long horns down the middle of the road. It was cool.

Pauly loved riding on these fun horses.

That evening we went over to my cousins house Lucy and Hugh Bangerter. It was so fun to see them and their beautiful house. She fixed a yummy dinner for us then we just visited for a while. So fun.

Lucy's son James, Jared, Pauly, and Amanda

Such fun cousins.

Their living room is so beautiful. Hugh has several big beautiful fish tanks and awesome fish.

The next day we packed up Amanda and Pauly and us and headed home. Amandy and Paul came home with us so they could be here for Sam's baptism. The first day we went as far as Amarillo, Texas. The second day we went as far as Farmington, New Mexico. We ate at this place called Three Rivers Eatery then we played at this little plaza across the street in a little water fountain thing. Paul had a blast.

Paul was such a good traveler for 3 straight days in the car.

So all in all we drove for 8 straight days for our vacation. We were glad to get back to our own beds!

Park City with the Ward Gals

2010-07-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

On July 13th, 14th, and 15th I went up to Park City with 5 of the gals in our ward. We had such a great time gabbing, laughing, eating, shopping, playing games, etc., etc., etc., I didn't get many pictures, but we sure had fun. Those who went were Lori Turner, Patti Greaves, Marie Tuttle, Vickie Cherrington, Sylvia, and me. Ann Killpack joined us for one day and Marie and Sylvia had to come and go.

A picture from the loft. Patti, Sylvia, Lori, and Vickie. We just loved to sit a gab forever!

Sylvia (in mid story), Lori and Vickie

Patti Greaves

We had such a great time. Thanks gals!!

Next major project

2010-07-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

Our next major project is turning one of our empty bedrooms upstairs into a "nursery" for all babies who come to visit us. I just thought I would post what we are dealing with in this project.

This Humpty-Dumpty wallpaper was the first layer of stuff to remove.

The second layer to remove is this lovely stripe.

The third layer is this beauty . . . . brown flowers!

and . . . . the ever popular . . . . crayon drawing directly on the wall board!

CAN I SAY . . . . I HATE, HATE, HATE WALLPAPER!!!!!

Not to mention, the cottage cheese ceiling. (Gordon has that 1/2 scraped off.)

Whew, what a project!

Well that is what we are up against. I will post the AFTER pictures when and if they happen!!!

Lexie's Santa Clara Vanguard day in Utah

2010-07-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

On July 7 Lexie's Vanguard team came to Utah. We were all excited to see her and see their new program for this year. Her team practiced all day at Millcreek Jr. High School in Bountiful, so we headed up to Bountiful early in the morning to watch all the rehearsal. We couldn't hardly recognize her because they had to dye their hair completely black. When we got to Bountiful Chelsea and Afton were already there because she took Tim and Brandi to the airport earlier. Shayla, Jojo, and Lizzy came up at noon to join us. We had so much fun hanging out, eating lunch with Lexie, and watching the practice.

Lex was so excited to see her baby Afton and baby Jojo. They didn't hardly recognize her either.

Jojo loved spinning her new flag that Grandpa made for her. She went up by Lexie's flag team and showed them how she could "spin" and "toss". Lexie's team was so excited to watch her. They cheered, whistled, and jumped up and down when she would do it for them. It was pretty funny.

Lexie's fan club. Gordon, Chelsea, Afton, Jojo, Shayla, and Lizzie

All the girls.

Lexie got to stop to eat, shower, get ready for the competition, then load up on the bus to head to Weber State for the competition. We left and drove up to Ogden to meet Lynn and Sylvia (who came up for the competition also) for dinner at Chuck-a-Rama.

After the competition, we went over to the KOA in Perry. Lynn and Sylvia pulled their 5th wheeler up to the KOA for us to stay in for a couple of days. Shayla, Jojo, and Lizzie had to go home. So Chelsea, Afton, Gordon, and I went to stay in the trailer. It was so much fun. Tyson slept in the trailer with us the first night, but not the second night. We ate at Maddox's, swam, played games, generally had a fun time.

Afton was in heaven playing outside.

Thank you Lynn and Sylvia and everyone else for making such a fun 3 days. It was so fun to be with family and watch Lexie perform.

Fourth of July

2010-07-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

Shayla and Cory gave us tickets to the Grand Stand for the parade. We went down at 7:30 a.m. to save us seats on the grand stand and Botts came soon after with their friends. It was quite chilly in the morning, so we didn't think to get in the shade . . . . . but we soon needed it!!!

Jojo was so very cute.

"Roar for Orem High . . . . . . . . "

After the parade Tyson, Chelsea, and Afton stopped by our house on their way home from Oak City. It was so very fun to see them. Shayla and Jojo came over a played for a while too.

Cowgirl Afton

Afton and Jojo playing with the new mail center I bought at a garage sale.

It was pretty hot, so the cuties played in the spinklers.

So refreshing

Post sprinkler chillin' in the chairs Grandpa bought them on the deck.

Laying on Grandma's deck furniture being goofy.

We had such a fun day playing. JULY IS FULL OF HAPPY TIMES!!

Cowgirls Jojo and Afton

2010-07-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Wow 7 new posts in 2 days . . . . what has come over me!!

I bought these shorts and cowgirl hats at Wal-mart for my two baby dolls. I made the vests but they turned out too small (so much for making up my own patterns). So, somewhere there is a doll that can have a cute vest on.

HAPPY 4TH AND 24TH OF JULY! Yee haw!

Harper and Tierney Wilson's Reception

2010-07-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

Harper and Tierney were married on April 9th in Carova, North Carolina. So Jeff and Kayleen had a reception for them here up Provo Canyon on July 2nd so those of us in this neck of the woods could meet Tierney and give our congratulations. It was a beautiful evening up Provo Canyon at the Mt. Timpanogos Park. Shayla and Jojo went with us to the reception. The bride and groom were 1/2 hour late, so we amused ourselves by taking pictures of Jojo (of course!)

Dustin Baker came with his two beautiful daughters Liberty and Czrena. Josie is in Spain and Josiah in Oklahoma. They came down from Wyoming.

Talia Wilson setting up the pretty table decorations.

The two Baker sisters. Kayleen Wilson and Marcelle Jacobsen.

The bride and groom, Harper and Tierney. (Not a very flattering shot, but the only one I got.)

Grandpa and Jojo getting refreshments.

Such a big girl bringing Mommy a drink of water.

Strawberry

2010-07-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Lynn and Sylvia made 3 vehicle trips up to Strawberry to haul all of their toys for a fun filled 4 days (June 30-July 2). They took their 5th wheel trailer, their boat, and their four wheeler. They let me crash their fun party and stay in the trailer with them. Kelly and Mollie came up later that day to stay also. We had such a beautiful camping spot.

Lynn making sure his fishing equipment is ready for the great fishing expedition in the morning.

The first evening Kelly, Mollie, and I rode in their Jeep, and Sylvia and Lynn rode on the 4-wheeler to take a drive up the Strawberry Ridge. It was so very fun. Kelly had just got a new lift kit and new tires for their Jeep. It was a beautiful drive up the mountain.

Kelly had to try out his new Jeep accessories, so he climbed this stump on one wheel. I must say it was quite fun.

Kelly trying to look all studdly with an ax slung over his shoulder.

It felt so yummy to have this rip snortin' fire going at night.

Lynn and Sylvia's new trailer. Very deluxe!

The next day the Goldings brought their trailer up and joined us. Mitch brought Dallin up and joined us, and Tyler, Amanda, Rachael, and Logan came and joined us. It was one giant happy party. Dallin is looking particularly thrilled in this picture with Lizzy and her friend Sammie Gommes watching a DVD.

(Make up your own captions for these two pictures of Lynn!)

If you can believe it . . . . . . those are ear plugs!

Karl checking on our tin foil dinners that were fantastico!

The "three little Brown girls".

Gordon took the day off on Friday and came up for a few hours. We went home on Friday so we could go to Harper and Tierney Wilson's wedding reception.

Thanks Lynn and Sylvia for letting me bum off of your fun.

Brown Family picnic/June birthdays

2010-07-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

We had our Brown Family Picnic at Nielson's Grove on May 28th. Along with the picnic, we celebrated all the June birthdays (and Jojo's because we missed hers at the end of May). We have many birthdays in June! The kids are blowing out the candles in behalf of all the June birthday people. We couldn't get Jojo to even breath on the candles, let alone blow them out!! (She'll get the hang of it!!)

Cute Cora Rose Green

Jamie Green and Kelly Long. Kelly was here from Germany for a couple of weeks. Now he and Mollie have gone back to Germany until the middle of August.

Annette holding Cora, Ashley, Renae, Karl, Alec, Wendy, and Wayne Larsen

Grandpa made Jojo a new color guard flag so she can be just like Aunt Lex when we go see her compete in Ogden next week.

Jojo and Shayla went and dipped their piggies in the water fountain.

Zoey and Ellary Green and Lily Neilsen being cute little water babies!

Well . . . . . maybe Jojo dipped a little more than her piggies! She had a blast in the water.

Kailey Green, Annette and Joel, Karl and Renae

Les, Gordon, Lynn, Sylvia, and Kelly Long

This is the cute little outfit that Great Aunt Nettie gave to Jojo for her birthday, complete with princess shoes!

Tim, Brandi, and Elsie

2010-07-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

While I was in Logan, we met Tim, Brandi, and Elsie Neilsen (not to be confused with the baby shower Nielson's!) at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I love that place, and it was fun to visit with them. After we ate we all went over to Chelsea and Tyson's for games and ice cream. Can you believe how darling these two baby dolls are?!?!?!?

Tim chillaxin with Elsie and Afton looking on. We played in Chelsea's back yard. All of us played "Guillotine" which I love. Then Brandi and Chelsea had this wild match of "Spit". It was quite a tournament, and ended very funny. Good time!

For some random reason Afton just went an plopped down on Tim's neck. Tim was very patient!

Funny, cute girls! Thanks Tim and Brandi for coming to play with us.

Logan/Anna Knudsen baby Shower

2010-07-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

My cute baby doll, Afton!

Chelsea hosted a baby shower for Anna Knudsen. I went up to Logan to "help" Chelsea and have fun at the shower for my (other) daughter Anna. Jenny, Shelly, Laura, and Alaina came up from Orem also to attend. We had such a good time visiting, laughing, and crafting. We love the Nielson girls!!

Anna received some very cute baby things.

Our activity for the shower was to make wax paper stencil onsies for baby Knudsen. This is a sample of 3 of them. I think we made like 16 onsies. They were all so cute and very fun to make.

Shelly Nielson and Chelsea making their cute onsies. Chelsea did a good job a putting on a fun shower for Anna (her sister from another mother!) Now lets get this baby here, Anna!!!!

Kelly & Mollie sealing

2010-07-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Kelly & Mollie were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on June 25th. It was a great day for the Longs.

Daddy Lynn, Mollie, Kelly, and Sylvia

The whole group.

The temple flowers were so beautiful!

Congratulations to Kelly and Mollie. We love you guys!

Orem High School demolition

2010-06-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

Our new Orem High School was built in the south parking lot of the old Orem High. We moved into our new school on May 27, 2010 (the day before graduation . . . . yes, it was a wild week!!) The construction guys immediately started demolishing the old building. This is the view from my new office. To the right you can see part of the new building, and next to it you can see the old B and C gyms. (The A gym was torn down 2 years ago to make room for the above section of the new school.) The big hole at the left and bottom of the picture is where the shops used to be with the bomb shelter underneath it. (Notice the beautiful view of Timp that I have from my office window!!) Yee Haw!!

This is the pile of metal that came from the auditorium. At the bottom of the picture is our new cement leading up to the front doors of the new school (which faces north).

This picture was taken from the 3rd floor of the new school. You can see the "stair steps" of the auditorium where the chairs were in the balcony of the auditorium (where 1 parent got to sit for my graduation Bachalauriet . . . . . geez how do you spell that?!?!?!?)

This is looking down East hall that goes between the main school area and the counseling center and gyms. This area didn't exist when I was in high school. They added it later.

It has been kind of sad to see it all come down, but then I just look around our gorgeous new building and get happy real fast. Watching the demolition has really showed me how unsafe that old building was. Any kind of an earthquake and we would have been flattened. Goodbye old Orem High School and helloooooo to our new digs!

Great trip with 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters

2010-06-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

On June 9 -12, 2010 Gordon and I got to take Shayla, Jocelyn, Chelsea, and Afton to St. George for a little get away from life trip with us. We left home at about 1 and got to St. George at about 6. We made two stops to let the baby dolls run around and get their wiggles out in Fillmore and Cedar City. Here is Jocelyn and Afton waiting for us adults to get all loaded up and leave.

As soon as we got there the babies wanted to go swing and play on the playground. They so loved the playground with all that sand to play in also.

Jocelyn

Afton

"I hanging . . . . by mythelf"

Grandpa even joined in the swinging fun.

Ahhhhh sand!

Two cute baby dolls getting all that sand washed off.

We finally got to go swimming the next day. It was pretty warm the first full day so it was fun at the pool. The next days were quite cold so swimming was miserably cold (we only tried it once more).

The babies loved to run from the big pool to the kiddie pool non-stop. We also went shopping at the outlet mall. We ate an early dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and generally had a great time.

We found to coolest wading pool for the kiddos down town St. George on Main Street. It was so very cool, Afton and Jojo loved every minute of it there.

We had such a great time on our trip. These were are seating arrangements in the van. Afton got pretty excited to watch "Baby Signing Time" on the DVD player in the van.

We left St. George at 11:00. We stopped in Beaver and Fillmore for general running around for the babies, then on to home.

Thanks girls for going with us.

Pretty flowers/trees soothe the soul!

2010-06-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

Gordon and I went to Cook's Nursery early today (Saturday) and bought a bunch of flowers and a tree to plant in the yard. Then in the evening we went to Lowe's and bought some more flowers and this pot to make a planter by the entrance to our house. I thought it turned out so beautiful. We put these gorgeous orange lilys, columbine, and some little red flowers in the pot, then we sunk the planter pot about 5" into the ground. It is a lovely welcome to our front door (I think, anyway!)

There is a columbine flower in the middle of the lilys. I love columbine!

We also planted 2 snowball bushes along the fence in the front yard.

It will be a "few" years until they are as big and beautiful as Reesee's/Golding's, but we are on our way!

I'm so excited about this new tree we planted back by the deck/dinning room window. It is called "Goldenchain" tree. It is so pretty. This picture doesn't do it justice.

These are the blossoms on the Goldenchain tree.

These are the rest of the flowers we bought. We will have to plant them on Monday. I used to think that Reesee, Rudolph, Mom, and Daddy were so weird when they got so excited about pretty flowers, bushes, and trees and now I am totally there! I love, love, love all our new pretty flowers, bushes, and trees!!!!

Bear Lake-Memorial Day Weekend 2010

2010-06-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Sylvia and Lynn Allan invited us (along with Shayla and Jojo) to go up to Bear Lake for the Memorial Day weekend in their brand new 5th wheeler trailer. So we did. We drove up there Sunday afternoon and went to the KOA in Garden City. When we got there Goldings and their friends the Smiths were already there from Saturday. As soon as we drove into the KOA park it was time for the hay wagon ride. Shayla, Jojo, Lizzy, Sam, Parker and Teagan Smith all climbed aboard and had a ride around the trailer park. Jojo loved it. The care taker of the KOA was such a nice guy. He had all these activities going the whole weekend.

Allans new rig. So beautiful and comfortable.

Goldings rig next to us. Smiths and their family were across the "street" from us. When we got there Smiths family had dinner all ready for us.

They served enchiladas, beans, fruit, rice, and fried ice cream. Tiffany Smith also made these scooped out orange peels filled with muffin batter and cooked over briquets thingys. So cool. Everyone loved it all.

Jojo loved the play ground. Sammy, Lizzy, and Teagan Smith were her best play mates.

This was called a Bounce Pillow. It was pretty cool. Lizzy helped Jojo bounce. Mikaela Smith and Lizzy were doing some pretty spectacular flips and twists on this bouncy thing.

The inside of Allan's trailer. We were just lounging watching a show with Dallin (of course).

Karl Golding, Dallin and Mitch Long, Sylvia and Lynn Allan hanging out at the camp fire.

Mike Smith, Karl and Renae cooking up some french toast for breakfast.

Most of the group rented these bikes to ride down the road to Merlins Burger Place. Gordon, Shayla, and I waited for Jojo to wake up and then we drove down there. Those who rode said it was really fun.

Dallin and Mitch Long

Jojo got a little ride around the lawn as we ate our burgers.

We went swimming at the KOA campground. The water was so warm, but when we got out it was painfully cold. It was fun, fun, fun, and then freezing, freezing, freezing!

Us 8 adults had a really fun horse shoe tournament. Karl and Renae were the grand champions. Gordon and I took 2nd. Smiths and Allans were 3rd and 4th. Then the men had a game where Lynn and Mike won.

On Tuesday, June 1, when we were packing up to go home it was raining, raining. It was such a fun weekend. We were so lucky to be invited and loved every minute of it. On our way home we went home via Logan. We met Chelsea and Afton at Firehouse Pizza for lunch. It was so fun to see them also.

A great weekend with very fun people. (You might notice that there are no pictures of the actual Bear Lake!! That's because we never made it down to the lake!!!) (Funny, huh?!?!)

2010-05-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

This is just in case anyone is wondering. I put a pretty picture on the top just in case you weren't really wondering :D
Hey guys, are you ready to see the Santa Clara Vanguard perform their 2010 program Bartók!, consisting of musical selections from Béla Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra" and "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" This is my second summer marching with the Santa Clara Vanguard. We usually rehearse at a school near the show sites. Check the Santa Clara website for more information about where to find us, I usually don't know until the morning of but if you have a question just send me a txt or call me or something. I will try to answer asap. Here is our 2010 performance tour schedule! We're in Utah for three days so you can come visit if you would like it's up at Roy High School though so don't feel bad if you can't :)

June
20 Sun - "Family Day Preview" Pleasant Hill, CA
25 Fri - Clovis, CA Contest
26 Sat - DCI West-Stanford, CA Contest
27 Sun - Atascadero, CA Contest

July
2 Fri - Vista, CA Contest
3 Sat - Walnut, CA Contest
4 Sun - Rose Bowl Exhibition, Pasadena, CA
5 Mon - Riverside, CA Contest
******7 Wed - Ogden, UT Contest*********
9 Fri - Loveland, CO Contest
10 Sat - Denver, CO Contest - Drums Along the Rockies
13 Tue - Hutchinson, KS Contest
14 Wed - Omaha, NE Contest
17 Sat - Minneapolis, MN - DCI Regional Contest
18 Sun - Rockford, IL Contest
20 Tue - Van Buren, AR Contest
22 Thu - Houston, TX Contest
**23 Fri - Dallas, TX Contest**
**24 Sat - San Antonio, TX - DCI Regional Contest**
27 Tue - Ocean Springs, MS Contest
29 Thu - Gadsden, AL Contest
30 Fri - Murfreesboro, TN - Top 8 Contest
31 Sat - Atlanta, GA - DCI Regional Contest

August
2 Mon - Centerville, OH Contest
3 Tue - Massillon, OH Contest
4 Wed - Erie, PA Contest
5 Thu - Rome, NY Contest
7 Sat - Allentown, PA - DCI Regional Contest
9 Mon - Toledo, OH Contest
12 Thu - DCI Quarter Finals - Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
13 Fri - DCI Semi Finals - Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
14 Sat - DCI World Championship - Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
15 Sun - SCV Season-end Awards Brunch, Indianapolis, IN

For more information on the Santa Clara Vanguard and information on DCI, Check out:
www.scvanguard.com

Also, HUGE thanks to everyone that helped me with donations and supporting me and what not. I really really appreciate it!!!! Thanks!

What a great weekend!

2010-05-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

First of all I finished this cute little quilt for Pauly-Wog's (Amanda's boy) birthday. He loves, loves, loves Thomas & Friends. Sylvia helped me by serging the edge as a binding. Chelsea took it to the mail place, so I'm confident Pauly will get it in time for his birthday. I hope he likes it. I just quilted it on my sewing machine (a first for me.)

Second of all . . . . this little baby doll came with Chelsea to visit for the weekend. Chelsea went to a children's clothes swap with Shayla. She got this cute hat for Afton-the safari-girl! Tyson came down from Logan on Friday night, but Chelsea and Afton came down on Thursday evening after Afton's appointment at Primary Childrens Hospital.

Third of all . . . . . we had our big (52 people-including some non-Brown family members) Brown Family bounce house and slide party. I won the use of this bounce house on Facebook from this company called "Jump for Joy". I was just sick about the weather being so crappy all day, but the kids had a blast anyway. We had to move all the food under the patio because it was raining, but eventually the sun came out a little bit. Some people sat under the porch and some sat in the garage, but the kids played on.

Tyson and Afton

Cute Logan Long (with his cute new haircut) came with Mitchell.

Lexie, Lynn, and Sylvia played GIANT ball, volleyball.

Mr. Cheesy face, Dallin Long. He loved to just sit in the bounce house.

Ivy Star Neilsen in mid-jump and Zoey Green having a blast.

My baby doll Jocelyn and Cory. Jojo didn't feel very good, but she gave it a good shot.

Alice Brown and Shayla. Alice brought her bff's little boy Owen. He quite enjoyed the toy.

Afton with chololate on her lips from the scotheroos Jamie brought.

Jojo

Baby Kenya, Katie, and Addison Brown were in town so Katie could compete in a triathalon. We were glad to have them at the party while they were in town.

What cute girls. Lexie, Jojo, Chelsea, and Afton swinging in the swing before I swung in it and busted it!! SORRY!

Some of the adults trying not to freeze!

Lexie and Chelsea trying to keep warm.

Jojo swinging when the sun was actually shinning.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it fun.

Tyson's Graduation Weeekend

2010-05-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

This is the cutie that came out to greet me when I arrived in Logan on May 7th. Shayla sent up this bouncy zebra for Afton. She loved it.

This is the cute dress/panties that I bought for Afton and Jojo. They look so cute in it.

Chelsea worked all week on the food that she served at the Graduation Luncheon for Tyson. She made divine Cafe Rio salads and burritos. While they were in the kitchen getting the food ready, I was outside in their cute little back yard decorating the tables and the wall with grad cuteness!

Lisa Hathaway and Chelsea in the kitchen working on the food.

Valerie Hathaway and Tyson laying out the dressing, salsa, and pico de gallo that Chelsea put into individual serving cups for everyone's convenience. (She thought of everything!)

Some cuties that came to the luncheon. Zoey "cutie" Green, Ellary "darlin" Green and Lily "Hollywood" Neilsen. They all stayed at Tim and Brandi's for the weekend.

Jessica Neilsen and Jamie Green were trying to stay warm at the first of the lunch, then when we finished up, it warmed right up.

Ellary Neilsen wating for some yummy chicken or pulled pork.

Gordon got to visit with sweet little Elsie Neilsen while others got their food.

Annette Neilsen, Lily Neilsen, Dakota Green, Jessica Neilsen, Ellary Green, Brandi & Tim Neilsen. It was so fun to have everyone come to support Tyson.

Gabraylie, Jamie, Dakota, Cora, and Deskin Green. Tyson, Chelsea, and Gordon enjoying the food.

My baby doll Jojo in her cute birthday outfit.

I made Annette look like Gramdma Whetten with "a shawl for my legs Dolly". Alice Brown came up with Cory, Shayla, and Jocelyn. So fun to have her there.

Shayla and Cory Bott with Deskin and Jamie Green in-between.

Tim Neilsen was entertaining Afton with his phone app that giggled and talked. She thought it was pretty groovy. Brandi and Elsie looking on.

Chelsea trying to hold two squirmy baby dolls Afton and Jojo.

Tyson in his line up to actually graduate.

Tyson on stage receiving his empty diploma cover.

Afton interested in Daddy's funny hat and tassel.

Afton making sure everyone knows that we are standing under some very large bull nostrils!!

We had such a great weekend with the Hathaways, and we are so proud of Tyson.

2010-05-14T11:31:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!! So I'm leaving in about 2 weeks to tour the country with the Santa Clara Vanguard again. I still have more to pay on my $2100 fee and I desperately need some help! I know that not everyone can just give away money, but if there is any amount you can spare I would really really really appreciate it! Anything and everything would help. Even $5 would help me out.

If you're not able to donate I completely understand, your support will be more than enough :) Thanks everyone!!

--Lexie

DIY

2010-05-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

When I was down at Renae's Spring Cleaning project, I saw Reesee's old (maybe 60 years old) metal chair that was all rusted out and yucky. So I got the idea to (as a surprise to Renae) "steal" the chair and re-do it. So during Spring Break when Karl was home and Renae was in the middle of tax season, Karl snuck the chair up to our house.

Gordon helped me big time. He took the chair apart by having to saw the nuts and bolts off. We sanded and wire brushed the chair for days and days. In between snow and rain storms we primed, painted, and sealed it. I think it turned out so great.

Before

Gordon bought shiny new nuts and bolts and put the chair together. It was freezing outside on May 1st!!!!!

Tah Dah! I think it turned out so cool.

This will test the strength of this metal chair!!!

I took the chair down to Annette's Spring Cleaning project and surprised Renae with it. Annette said that she was the last one to paint that chair for Reesee and Rudolph back when she was in High School.

It was a fun project, thanks to Gordon it turned out better than it would have if I would have done it myself.

Hummmmm . . . . . . I think I have another little DIY project in mind!!! Stay tuned!

Spring Cleaning Co-op @ my house

2010-05-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Jamie taking a little break after all the cleaning was done. (BTW . . . her second cleaning service project of the day!) Thanks Jamie! Mitchell also came to help. He was a great help in being tall and moving the heavy stuff. Thanks Mitch!

(I am a Blogging SPAZZ, so just pretend that this is the first picture of the Blog!!)

This Spring Sylvia, Renae, Annette, Jamie, and I put together a cleaning co-op to go to each others homes and help out with big projects that we didn't or couldn't do by ourselves. It has been very fun for me. First we went to Sylvia's, then Jamie's, then Renae's, then it was my turn. I was so excited. I made a big chart list of everything I wanted done for the day, and everyone came. I cooked hambergers for everyone then we got busy with the list.

Sylvia had to come in the morning (everyone else came at 1:00) because they had weddings to go to. She did a bunch of work before she had to leave.

Renae and Jamie took down all my nasty dirty curtains and hardware. I am going to make new curtains for the living room and the dining room.

The before- take-down picture

The after-take-down picture (with darling baby Afton looking out the window.)

I didn't take pictures of all the projects, which I feel bad about.

Thanks to everyone who came (Jamie, Renae, Sylvia, Mitchell, Chelsea, and Shayla). Chelsea and Afton came down from Logan which made it extra fun. Cory and Gordon helped here and there also (thanks boys). It was so great. "I love it when a plan comes together"!

Next . . . . . . we go to Annette's and then on up to Logan and Smithfield! Woo hoo

Chop, Chop, Timber!

2010-04-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

{Dad cutting down the half-dead tree}

{Lex and Afton}

{Grandma and Jo}

{Jo helping clean up the branches}

{Afton helping too}

{Lex getting the branches down}

Maddox - final continuation

2010-04-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

Brian and Michelle and their family. Brian is the son of Dennis and Carol Billings.

Randy and Kira and their boys. Randy is the son of Steve and Linda.

Russ and Irish. Russ is the son of Steve and Linda also.

Deborah Hale and her son Tristen. (I didn't get a picture of Randy, sorry) Deborah is the daughter of Dennis and Carol.

Maddox - continued again

2010-04-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

This is Shae Billings telling me "you better not take a picture of me" She and Lance are having their 4th child. Lance is the son of Dennis, Gordon's brother.

The Billings siblings (minus Dick). Keith, Dennis, Barbara, Steve, and Gordon. Good to see them together.

I caught Dennis smiling on film! I'm a photografing genious!

Maddox-continued 2

2010-04-18T17:27:00.000-07:00

This is Linda Billings with one of her 15 Grandkids named Isabella. She is the daughter of Russ and Irish Billings.

This is Steve and Linda's daughter Robyn and B.J. with their two darling daughters.
Roxanne Billings with Robyn's two girls.

Barbara's only family there was the Wilsons. Jeff, Kayleen, Colter, and Trevor. It was good to see them also.