Bon Jovi

 I have had a crush on Bon Jovi since the 6th grade. It was then that I remember listening to his casette tape over and over again on my walkman. I have been in love ever since! Jason surprised me with concert tickets a few weeks ago! 

I was talking to my sister Tracy who saw the concert in I think February, I was so jealous and told Jason we needed to find out when he was coming to Vegas. Little did I know that he had already purchased tickets! So sweet, I was so excited! Even more excited when Jason's sister Amanda was giving us raving reviews of the concert she had seen in Michigan a few months ago.

The concert was amazing. He looked so good!! After so many years...The whole show was great, we new every song, every time he smiled the crowd went wild. My only complaint was our seats were way too far from the stage, next time I will have to get the tickets. It was a great evening. While we were there we saw the Croppers who were not sitting too far away from where we were! 

Youth Conference

Jason and I participated in our Youth Stake Conference this weekend. The theme was "Mission Possible," focusing on missionary work. We met at the Stake Center last night and sat up on the stand with the other "mission presidents" and all the youth sat in the benches and waited their mission call. Talks were given by a sister missionary who only came home the day before, and the first counselor in our Stake Presidency who shared personal missionary experiences. We sang called to serve, and then they began giving the calls. We received four young women ranging in age of 14, 15 and two 16 year old. They were eager to participate, and quickly asked, "so what mission will we be going to." We decided to go with the Chile theme, (Jason's mission). We set out our mission memento's, and we had empanadas, salad and some other barbecued meat Jason had purchased at an Argentine restaurant, there are no Chilean restaurants in Vegas. I also made cookies, and a Spanish tortilla. The boys were excited to have these young women or "pretend missionaries" in our home. After dinner we had a lesson in which we talked about the missionary handbook and shared scriptures and experiences from our missions. It was a great night. I was reminded of how much I love my mission and the impact it has had in my life. I had so many wonderful experiences. Besides marrying Jason it is the best decision that I've made! I'm grateful for this experience, we had amazing youth, they brought such a special spirit into our home. We will be having breakfast with them this morning and then taking them back to the Stake Center to continue there conference. 

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend started out with an early morning hike in Boulder City. The boys were so excited to go walking through all the rocks and going through six tunnels. It was a hike on flat ground, however, so there wasn't much variation for the kids to get excited about. As a result, our first 15 minutes of the hike were enjoyable and without complaint. The last 2 hours, on the other hand were not so fun. I had to resort to bribery of stars on their chart to get the complaining to stop. Thankfully, it did. Jason & I appreciated the great views of Lake Mead more than the boys did.

That afternoon we drove to Apple Valley to spend the weekend with my family. Laura was already at mom's with her triplets. Whenever Laura does something, she does it big, so she had over 100 Easter eggs that I helped her fill that night, some were plastic filled with money & candy, and the others were real. Then Jason & Steve had the task of hiding them all over the inside and outside of the house. The kids had a blast finding all their eggs.

Apparently, they didn't find them all, because this week Lucy found real eggs under the couch. Thank goodness they hadn't started rotting yet or Julie would've come home to a sweet smelling house.

The rest of the weekend the cousins had fun playing with each other.

Here is Luke with his sweet grandma. And Luke again snuggling with his cousins BJ & Cassidy.

The highlight of our trip was on our way to Apple Valley, I heard Luke saying "Hair, Hair, Mommy. Hair." So I turned around and saw a sucker I had given to him earlier had gotten stuck in his curly locks. He refused to let me touch his head when we were in the car, so I had to wait until we got to grandma's house and then cut it out. He has since this sticky event, received a haircut, but is still adorable.

Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke is 2 years old! He was born on October 5, 2005. He shares a birthday with his Aunt Amanda and cousin David. I loved having an October baby! He was my easiest delivery. I arrived at the hospital at 6:00pm and Luke was here 3 hours later.
Jason's parents had met us at the hospital to take Cade and Josh home, but everything went so fast that they ended up staying. So Cade and Josh were there minutes after Luke arrived.
We celebrated his birthday last Friday with family and friends. He had a construction truck birthday party. We served subs, chips, veggies, salads, and a dirt cake to put his tractors on. I got the dirt cake recipe from my sister-in-law Rachelle, it is quite tasty and kids love it! Before we could finish singing Happy Birthday, Luke had already blown out a candle. It was his favorite part of the party. He could hardly contain himself!

Luke at 2!
Mamma's Boy
Adores his brothers
Never lacks attention, he can scream louder than his two brothers when he needs something
Loves to say "Mommy where are you?" or "Daddy where are you?" (in his baby talk), it melts our hearts he usually giggles when we reply "Luke, where are you?"
Other favorite sayings, "What?", "Na Na Batman!", "Ceweal" (Cereal) , "Wha, wha" (water), "Dadda", "Mamma" "Pappa", and anything else his older brothers ask him to repeat.
If anyone besides his mom or dad can get Luke to hold him, he will cuddle and give the biggest hugs.
He loves to give everyone kisses goodnight before bed, sometimes even his stuffed animals.
When his brothers are sad or grumpy, he can turn their frowns into smiles in an instant with a silly dance or song.
He has been such a blessing in our home and we love him with all our hearts! Happy Birthday!


Cade and Josh with Mommy and Baby Luke!



First time at Disneyland, 7 months old.

Fall is here!!

More than a month since i have posted, lot's to say! Fall is here' boys are in school and we are no longer using our pool it is so sad. Cade started all day kindergarten, he is in a spanish immersion program where they teach half day English and half day in Spanish. The first week he loved it. He would ask, do I have "escuela" tommorrow? by the middle of the second week he is wondering how many more days he has to keep going back to school. It is a big adjustment from being at home all summer to being gone from 9am - 3pm. Now, 4 weeks into it he is loving it again, he is very social and is loving all of his new friends. He is a chatter box and loves to tell me all about his day at school, and I love it. Josh is in preschool Tues. and Thurs. afternoons. He is going to a marvelous little preschool in our neighborhood, a few kids from our ward go with Josh. He loves it. He is growing up so fast.



Joshua's first day at school, lil' brother Luke is sending him off.

Josh is excited for Mrs. Dove's class

Cade's First day of Kindergarten!

Boys with grandma after shopping for new school clothes.

Christina and Celine Dion Week!

My cousin Christina stayed with us this last week Mon - Wed. It was so great to see her and Jon whom we hadn't seen since the accident. He is looking really good, a lot better than we had expected! It was awesome to visit with him, we were so glad he was able to make it here too! Their 4 girls are all soooo beautiful and all have their own look and personalities! The boys had a great time with them they swam a lot and when they weren't swimming they would put on plays directed by Rachel (Christina's oldest). Which we were all made to sit down and watch. Animals were the theme for the plays this week, and at the end of each play there were individual bows and a group bow, it was really cute. But, the fun did not end there! Jason's cousin Allison, was coming to a Celine Dion concert here in Vegas, and had invited Jason's mom who invited her daughter in laws which 3 of us were able to make it (we missed Tiffany not there). The concert was amazing, her voice it not like anything I have ever heard before. The show consisted of lots of dancers and special effects and had a bit of a cirque de soleil feel to it. ( her show directed by the same guy as "O" at Bellagio.) It was a lot of fun getting together with my mother and sister-in-laws, with no kids and no husbands, we had never done that before, so thank you Allison and Diana for setting up such a memorable evening!

Photo of the boys

Here they are at San Clemente Beach.