Summer Rain!!!

We were in the middle of a "Family Yard Work Day" when suddenly the rain came pouring down! We were in the front yard and noticed that a wall of rain at the end of our street that was quickly coming our way! It was really cool. We tried to grab the camera and get a picture, but we were too late! So we spent the next hour playing in the rain and irrigation we received this morning! We had a great time!!!!!

12 Kids!

This is what a family photo would look like if Justin and I would have had 12 kids!

For our first Family Trip to Lake Powell we told all of our kids that they could invite a friend. That would have been Justin and I and only 8 kids. That would not have been as fun as 12 kids! As you can see we invited 4 extra teenage boys from our ward to go! We had a great time! I think our girls were loving it too!

1979

Tanner came home from my mom and dad's house a few weeks ago and showed me this suit that he found in the closet. It was my brother David's suit when he was 8! Tanner insisted that he wear it to church, and now that so many people have complimented him on it, he continues to wear it! It cracks me up - he LOVES the vest!

He does look pretty handsome!

GIRLS CAMP 2010!!!!

Justin, Alyssa, Amanda, and I all experienced girls camp June 23rd through June 26th! We had a great time, filled with many memories! Justin and I were cooks again this year, and I was able to escape with no injuries this year!!! I love that we get to be there with our girls!!!!

Notice the tape X across the window in the background of this picture. That is the window I broke last year. As soon as we arrived at camp Waddie Allen wrote "No Melynda's allowed" all over the tape and put it across the window. A few times I over heard girls say "I wonder who Melynda is, and why they put tape across the window." I didn't say a word!!! :)

My great friend Elise came up to camp on Thursday to help us in the kitchen. She was looking too cute in her pink shirt and skirt!! (She came straight from work)

Girls making the afternoon snack look like a cool pyramid!!!

What a great looking group of ladies and girls

The Mess Hall Chefs!!!! I have to say we make a great team!

My little touch of creativity added to the kitchen!

This is the craft that the girls made. It is AWESOME!!! I have never seen such a great camp craft!

Two of my favorite people at camp!

Cute Amanda getting ready to leave on the 3rd year hike

Alyssa getting a little too CRAZY with the whip cream!

Alyssa modeling Savannah's cool boots with Taylor

My awesome husband working hard grilling 250 hamburgers!

Amanda and Whitney brought me these as a gift! Thanks girls, you are sweet!

Happy 4th of July

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!

From our Family to Yours!

A Few Things About May

This is a post of things I missed blogging about in the month of May. I think it has been one of the most eventful months of my entire life.

Justin and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. He wrote me the most amazing card ever. He wrote 19 things that he loved about me. It made me cry. It was so sweet! He said he had a lot of time to think while he was waiting for me to come out of surgery. I had a fist sized tumor removed from the right side of my face and neck. We later learned that the tumor was a low grade cancer. The doctor was able to remove the whole tumor and the lymph nodes around the area are clear. So, it looks like everything is o.k. I will just need to have an MRI every 6 months for the next few years to make sure it does not grow back. I am now trying to eat really healthy in an effort to keep myself healthy. I have also added a lot more time to my daily prayers. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, I know that He has a plan for me, and I know that I have to trust Him.

Memorial Day with 3 cute girls! They got all dressed up and we had a photo shoot!

We went to Lake Powell with all of the owners of the house boat and did a little home improvement! We added a COOL slide, touched up the paint, fixed some electrical problems and added a few new air conditioner vents. We had a great time between working. We really are lucky to have such GREAT friends!



My beautiful "Squeezer" Alyssa turned 15!! Hard to believe!!! (She got her nick name Squeezer, when she was a baby Justin use to always say "I just want to squeeze her")
We celebrated the "Last day of School" by going to a new, really AWESOME placed, that just opened, called Jump Street!!! It is really fun, I highly recommend it! (59th Ave and Bell)


Amanda looked like a Angel when she graduated from 8th grade. I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I will now have 2 in high school!


Alyssa and Amanda got to attend Especially For Youth at B.Y.U. in Provo, Utah. They had a wonderful time!

Alyssa passed me up - she is now taller than me!

Tanner and Addy both played their first season of soccer, and loved it! We were lucky that they were able to play on the same team. That saved us a lot of waiting and drive time!

Our family took a day trip to tour The Gila Valley Temple. It was beautiful, and the spirit was so strong as we stood in the celestial room. I am grateful that my kids were able to experience that. I pray that they will remember the feeling.
And last, but not least, I was able to go up to B.Y.U. and attend the BYU Women's Conference. I stayed with my very dear friend Karen. Karen and I became friends more than 20 years ago when we were both attending the Deer Valley Singles Ward.

"SWEET SUMMER NIGHT"

And so it went:

Your presence is requested, that's right

For a very fun

"Sweet Summer Night"

At the

Marshall Ranch Promotion Dance

Which is Friday, May 14th, by chance

7:30 to 9:30 in the evening, it's true

There will be great music and candy on the venue

On Friday night the 8th grade dance was again in our backyard. Because the kids did not eat the food at the dance last year, we decided to serve CANDY this year! And there was a TON of it! It was so fun to plan! Everything was bright colors and looked "sweet"!

The dance was a great success! I loved the paper lanterns that were suspended in the air with lots of clear fishing line. A HUGE thank you goes out to Rob Matthews for doing all of that for us - we couldn't have done it without him! And another HUGE thank you goes out to Justin for getting the back yard in tip top shape, and for putting together the poles with lights that squared off the dance floor. I saw the idea at a wedding, and asked him if he could make one of those for me. It was really cool! And thank you, thank you, thank you, to Bethany Matthews for EVERYTHING! She took over while I was down, and made it all happen! And also, a thank you to ALL of the great moms that came and helped put it all together on Friday. I think it was a night that they will all remember!