The Mission Reunion

We are still trying to figure out how we did it but some how we were able to pull off a last minute Mission reunion in the mitts of a very busy weekend. With the Young Women Broadcast dinner and other activities going on it was a bit of a stress... but well worth it. I am so glad Otis had the opportunity to go and reconnect with old Mission buddies.

This is a picture of the Mission President, President Gonzales who is now in the Quorum of the Seventy. He spoke at a Fireside and to his surprise several of "his" Missionaries were there waiting on the front row to surprise him.

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Left to Right: Smith, Powell, Lara, Blanchard, Hermana Gonzalez and Pres Gonzalez, Moffit, Sorenson and child, Stephens, Zwahlen, Ellsworth, Cubano and Bingham

Blanchard, Lara, Zwahlen, Aikens, Ellsworth, Cubano and Powell

This is Otis's MTC companion, Elder Gleed. He was very surprised to run into him at the fireside.

They met at "Elder" Blanchards house were they ate traditional Ecuadorian food, and they talked......

They looked at old pictures and talked........


and talked ..................

and talked....................

Otis called me after the first night and informed me that they stayed up until about 3:00am just talking and telling stories. I didn't think guys could talk like this??? No wonder why Otis was a zombie when he got home.

I know that Otis had a great time.

Spring Break in a nutshell......

During Spring Break the kids and I went to Utah to visit family. We had lots of fun just hanging out and playing rockband for hours at a time. Funny thing is Rockband is what we did most but I didn't get one picture of us playing it. Oh well it was a blast!

Here are some of the other things we did during the week:

The kids got to walk on the moon at Hanson Planetarium.

They also walked on Mars!


We got to go see the kids cousin Shane in the "Music Man". Great job Shane!

We went and ate lunch at the Lion House and took a tour of the Beehive House, which was Brigham Youngs house.

We walked through the Joseph Smith memorial building.

We went roller skating.

We went to Walmart at Midnight in our PJ's to wait in line for Twilight..

We got Twilight! Yeh!!!!

We just hung out all day helping Shane paint posters to run for Student Body Officer which I think was the most fun of all!!

Father and Son Campout

My two Cute boys!

What a fun overnighter! Otis and Braiden had a great time on the father son campout. It was such a good bonding time for them. They both came home covered in dirt and with at least 3 loads of laundry for me to do but it was well worth it.

This is where they camped out. Beautiful camping area not too far from home.

All the boys found big sticks as weapons and had a big "battle". Not just the little boys the big boys too (dads)!

Otis actually caught a little cat nap in the hammock.

After the cam pout was over and everyone left they pulled out the guns and did some target shooting. This is a picture of my friend Janeans little boy Britt and her husband Blake. I think this was his first time shooting a gun! Look at the smile on both of their faces, too cute!!

Black Powder Gun Shooting!

For our Priest/Laurel activity we went black powder gun shooting. We got up early and headed out to Oak Flats for shooting and some good food! It was a great turn out and lots of fun!


What a pro!

Are you sure it was your first time Janean??? You did good!

Good job Jenny! You hit the target! If you listen real close you will hear the "ting" that's the bullet hitting the metal target.

Botox!!!!!

Otis and I went out on a hot date to a basketball game Friday night and the entire game he kept saying is my lip swollen? I never noticed anything. So, the game was over and we were heading to our car and I glanced over at Otis and his bottom lip was about doubled in size. He said it kept itching the entire game he couldn't figure out why?? so, we came to the conclusion that it is some type of allergic reaction to something?? We think it might be the raspberry lemonade that he drank at dinner. Looks like he is going to the doctor for some allergy testing, he's been having some weird symptoms lately. His eye keeps swelling up whenever we go to soccer practice at the park. I told him, "hey people pay allot of money to have lips like that!" free botox!

80's day at Peralta Trail Elementary!

Today was 80's day at school. Brooke and Braiden had fun dressing up!

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1st grade performance!

Brooke had her first grade performance. It was really cute. The songs were written by the music teacher and he based the songs off a children's book called, "Something Good". It is a book about a little girl who is sick of her dad going grocery shopping and only buying healthy food, she wants, "something good" like soda and cookies. It was so fun and they did a great job!

Here's with Brooke with some of her friends. (Left to right)

Angel, Brooke, Lauren, Sydnee

Brokee and Mommy!

Blue and Gold Banquet

Blue and Gold Banquet! Braiden loves going to Scouts. It is the highlight of his week. Braiden and the boys in their troop wear their scout shirts to school every Tuesday (which is scout day) they are so proud to be a boy scout. I am so grateful for this program and the opportunity Braiden has to be part of it.

This years theme for the Blue and Gold banquet was an American theme. Each boy had to decorate their own cake. Braiden decided he wanted to make a big American flag cake. The Bishopric judged the cakes and Braiden got the award for the "most fruity." It was a fun family night. By the way... Braiden was having a tough time smiling as you can tell, he just had 5 stitches in his chin the day before, he was in a little bit of pain.

Go TMMS!

Briana made the Thunder Mountain Middle School cheer team. She has been staying after school everyday practicing and cheering at games. It has been allot of work, but she has had so much fun and we have had fun going to all her games and cheering her on! Good job Bri!!!

Not bad for a middle school team. They do full extensions (which means they are able to extend their arms strait up when holding a girl up) Briana is in the middle group.

To the snow we go!!

Presidents day we went up near strawberry to play in the snow. We went with our good friends the Powells. It was a beautiful day! with just the right amount of snow for sledding.

Briana's friend Bryce came with us. These two have been friends since first grade. They are good buddies!


Brooke and Lauren two peas in a pod. What would they do without each other???

Braidman, the entire day looking for the fastest most challenging slope. We really need to get this guy on ski's.

Jenny and I getting ready to go!!!

Of course the day ended with a nice hot meal at Wendy's down in Payson. What a fun day!

Valentines Day!

Braiden and Brooke getting ready to go to school for their Valentines parties. I think they like Valentines parties better than they like the Christmas parties!



It has been a tradition for the past 4 years to take chocolate dipped strawberries to school for Valentines day. It's a fun treat and the kids look forward to it. In fact, one kid in Brooke's class eye's lit up when I brought them in. He said, "hey! I saw those in a magazine once" I was glad to give him his first taste.

The kids and I decided that for Valentines day we were going to go Heart attack the car while Otis was working at the restaurant. So, we snuck to the back of the restaurant and put hearts all over the car. We also surprised him with one of those big heart shaped cookies from Paradise Bakery. It was fun!

Peter Pan!

We went to Apache Junction High School for the annual play that they do every year. The kids look forward to seeing what they come up with year after year. This year it was Peter Pan with a ticking Alligator and all!

My little Brooke!

Brooke was the Character Trait Student of the Month for the Month of January. The Character trait that she displayed is Responsibility. Brooke works real hard at being responsible while at school and home. Good job Brooke!!

National Pie day!

Believe it or not there is an official national pie day! January 23rd!

"Created by the American Pie Council®, National Pie Day is dedicated to the celebration of pie. As part of our American heritage, this day is a perfect opportunity to pass on the love and enjoyment of pie eating and pie making to future generations."

This is the official national pie day poster.



My friend Cindi found out that there is an official national Pie day. Since our 2 boys love pie and are just a little bit obsessed with pie we decide to have a little "pie party" in celebration of national pie day. So we picked up some yummy pies and surprised our boys with a pie party. We ate pie and played some games, it was a fun night! Thanks Cindi :)

Steelers won the Superbowl!

I know! I know! we live in Arizona how can we not be cheering for the Cardinals?? Well, Otis has been a Steelers fan since he was 8 years old and he has passed the love for the Steelers on to Braiden. Although, when the Cardinals play anyone but the Steelers we cheer for the Cardinals. So, to us it was a win, win situation. this was a great game!