Peach Days

I am so happy one of my best friends, Brooke and her cute family have moved back from their summer in NY! We got together with them for Peach Days, it was a lot of fun! It is quite the big deal in Brigham City, a huge parade, lots of food, big carnival...it was mostly fun to see them and cute little Bridget! I absolutely love Brooke and I am so thankful to have her as my friend and to be raising our kids together! I am constantly texting her questions. I love to know that she is basically going through all the same joys and struggles with her cute little girl!


Us watching the parade
Jeremy and Brooke with cute Bridget

Jeremy and Tory went golfing and the kids slept in their car seats, while Brooke and I got caught up! It was such a fun day!

Gordon is ONE!

I know this is a little late but Gordon turned one on August 8th! I can't believe how fast that year went! For his birthday we had a pool party/BBQ in his Nana and Papa's beautiful back yard! We had both mine and Tory's family come! It was a lot of fun! Before his party we went to farmers market with my mom and Lizzy and on the way there I decided to teach him to show everyone how old he was. So I would ask "how old is Gordon" and help him hold up one finger, it only took a few times of showing and he had it down, we even got a picture of him doing it as you can see above! He preformed his newly learned trick all day and still does it! It was the cutest thing ever!
All stripped down and ready for cake!

Scuba Steve cake! Adair and I (well I should say Adair) made his cake! I wanted to make it more healthy so I read that you can make a healthy frosting out of yogurt if you drain the liquid from it. We tried it the week before and it worked great, then when it came time to do the real one I bought a different brand of yogurt, and it didn't work as well, but it still turned out cute!


Not too sure what to think!

Pretty good!


Got to have the picture with the cake all over the face!

Gordon got a lot of fun books for his birthday! We love books! Thanks to all our family who came!

Gordons First Hair Cut!

Just before Gordon turned one we decided it was time for a haircut! Thanks to nana Jan for cutting Tory's hair always and now Gordies! He was very wiggly even with a sucker! it turned out so cute though!

Happy 50th Dad!

It was my dads 50th birthday on july 5th, all the daughters made him dinner to take to their house. Adair thought of having us all write a little something about my dad then all of us would read what wrote.Adair put them all together in a book for him to keep. While we all read what we wrote there was not a single dry eye! I love my dad so much! Words can not even describe how much love I have for him, but here is my sorry attempt!My mom and dad just after they got married. I loved this picture!

I know that it is very cliché to say “I have the best dad in the world”, but I think I can speak for all my siblings when I say, “we do have the best dad in the world”! While pondering on some of the many things that make my dad great, some of the things that stuck out to me the most were how patient and loving he is. While raising us 6 kids, 5 of them being very free spirited, dramatic girls, he taught and disciplined us in love and patients. Of course there where many times when we tested that patients and put it passed any human limits, but I can count on one hand the times that he actually raised his voice to us!

Another thing that makes my dad so amazing is his undeniable faith. He has the strongest testimony of anyone I’ve known! His faith in the church never wavers, and it seems that God, at times, is testing his faith on a daily bases, but he is always saying “I know that everything will work out”. He has always been the greatest example to me in faith. Aside from just his faith in the church, he also has great faith in people; this is a trait that I long to have! He never judges anyone, it is as though he sees them through Gods eyes and knows of there great potential. I have felt this from him in my own life, when he is talking to you, you feel that he is looking past everything and only seeing the greatness in you and your potential.

With my dad you always knew that you could go to him for anything, whether it was simply to ask him if you could have a sleepover after mom already said “no”, or if you were having a hard time with life and you needed his guidance or a priesthood blessing for comfort. You could always feel like you could talk to him about anything, there was never a barrier there unless you put one up yourself.

I have such great memories, of our Sunday “daddy daughter interviews”, when he would set aside the whole afternoon, for each of us to just talk and share anything, with no time limit. I never felt like a child from a large family who didn’t ever get my voice heard, because my dad took the time to hear me. Whether it was crying about how I hate sharing a room, or crying out in agony about the pain I was going through while battling depression. Looking back, those personal interviews with my dad while growing were so important to me, and needed. I will always be grateful that he selflessly took the time with each of us to let us be heard and make us feel that we mattered!

This has only scratched the surface of how amazing my father is. I hope I can one day have some of his wonderful qualities shine through in me and my life and that I can make him proud. Now I think I’ve started to make it clear why my dad truly is “the greatest dad in the world”!

I love you so much dad! Happy 50th birthday!

Love, Adriane

The 4th of July

All while growing up, I lived for the 4th of July. It was easily one of my favorite holidays! It's was a whole days worth of events, starting at 0700 with breakfast at evergreen park, then after that we would make our way up to my grandma's to watch the evergreen parade! Most years we would watch the parade and hop on at the end and throw candy, usually salt water taffy provided by Mark Lambert. Then we were off to the Country Club swimming pool, where they put on many activities such as; coin toss, gold fish in the pool, water melon catch...Then we would shower and put our Old Navy 4th of July tees back on and head out to watch fire works, we went to various places for fire works, on our way there we picked up our bucket of KFC and waited what seemed like an eternity for that first firework that would start the magical show!

I miss that exhausted feeling at the end of the fireworks when you can barley make it to the car and then falling to sleep on the car ride home, with my glowing necklace around my neck. Then pulling into the driveway thinking "there is no way we can be home already", (even though we sat in traffic for 45 mins, while everyone was leaving at once). Then falling to sleep before my head hit the pillow!

Those truly are some of my greatest memories of my childhood! Since we've grown a little, one big change is, no more Country Club since my grandma sold her membership. I told Tory that he has a few years til Gordon is old enough to remember his 4th of July's, to make enough money to get a membership! I don't foresee that ever happening, but I do hope that I can make my kids 4th as memorable as mine were to me!

This year no one was going to the breakfast, but I decided I didn't want to let that tradition die, so Tory, Gordon and I went! Then Tory Had to go to work, since this is usually a busy day at the Park. Gordon and I walked up to my grandma and grandpa's house and watched the parade. Then we went up to visit Tory at work, then went to a BBQ at my parents house and did the little fire works there. We went and picked up Isabelle because Trygg and Emmy were in no shape to take her to fireworks, Emmy recovering from a baby and Trygg recovering from knee surgery! Over all it was a fun day! We did catch some real fireworks on our way home and pulled over rolled down the windows and watched them! Watching them took me back to my childhood for just a moment. I love fire works, and I love the 4th of July! I am so thankful for this great country we live in and so very thankful for the men and women who fight for us to keep all of our freedoms and liberties! I hope we can all have them in our thoughts and prayers! Gordon and Tory at the evergreen park for breakfast
Gordon with great grandma Annie watching the parade
Us with Cacia and her cute new baby Adel about 2 months old. Cacia and her family grew up with us and our 4th of July traditions! Now we will start the next generation

Gord playing with a stick while waiting for dad to get finished with work

Gordon with uncle Carl at the cafe. Carl just got his mission call to Columbus, Ohio!
waiting for the firworks outside my moms house

My poor dad hurt his back. He spent the week flat on his back. Maggie is keeping him company while he eats!
Charly and Maggie
Tory showing Isabelle how to make the perfect smore
Gordons first sparkler! What a fun day!

Didn't Think I Had it in Me / Welcome Baby Henry

So I've always want to quilt, but really didn't think I could! I failed the sewing part of home economics! I decided to give it a try, and my sister in law was pregnant at the time so I decided to make her baby boy one, then after I made his I was so proud of myself and had so much fun doing it, that I decided to make her little girls one too! Then I thought it would be cute to buy them a baby of there own and with the left over material, make a matching doll blanket to go with them! It was so much fun making them, and giving them their blankets! They were so cute and excited when I gave them their blankets and dolls! I'm going to go for a higher degree of difficulty in my next quilt so we'll see how that goes!

In other more exciting news Emmy had her baby! He came a couple of weeks early, but he is healthy and doing well! And way tiny! My mom made the final production, so cute right?
Henry's blanket had sock monkey material, thus the giant sock monkey on top
Mia and Izzi's blankets were very similar, however there were a few differences in material to make them their own
Here's cute little Henry!

Mia loved her dolls blanket. It was more her size! (it was so cute to see her curled up on the floor except I couldn't handle that it was the hospital floor)




Mia and Isabelle, two proud sisters

Mothers Day

For Mothers day we went to Adair's apartment for dinner it was a lot of fun I didn't get a picture of my cute mom though! She was the one taking all the pictures! Happy Mothers Day MOM! I love you!

Charlie

Maggie

My newest nephew Holland David Watts

Gordie, just enjoying the nice weather and his roll

Will and Tory spent most the time on the swings

Look at how cute this guys is! I love him so much!

I think you are too old for that...

"I'm not too old for that! Give me a year or two"

Who is this Kid?

We had a family party on May 30th 2009. We went to the park and played kick ball! I was not planning on being able to play because Gordon was having a rough day and running on one nap! I put him in his stroller and positioned him so that he could watch. Well he sat there content for about 2 hrs! I could not believe it!

He's Going to be a Runner

Just before Gordon turned 9 months he would take one or two steps and fall. Then at about 9 and 1/2 months he started taking a lot of steps! Now he can walk (still a little wobbly) but if he want's to really get something he "runs", falls, and then crawls the rest of the way! I am so ready for the crawling days to be done! His harnds and knees are always dirty and he finds the tiniest things on the floor to put into his mouth!

The Indy 500

Last year, May 25th 2008 we were able to attended the Indianapolis 500, (which is the most coveted race to win in the Indy Car racing series) thanks to Tory's uncle, Roger Penske. He has 2 drivers in the Indy! I'm not going to lie, I did not want to go! I was about 6 months pregnant, watching a bunch of cars go around for 500 miles did not sound like fun! However, it was actually a blast, those cars are so fast and so loud that all I did for the first 30 mins was laugh! (No. I don't know why my reaction was to laugh!) We both had such a great time, and feel very lucky to have been able to attend the INDY 500! When we went, Roger's drivers took 4th (Helio) and 23rd (Brisco), but this year 2009 his driver Helio Castroneves,(You might know him better from dancing with the stars) won the race, making it his third win for the indy 500, and Roger's 15th win! When we were in Indianapolis last year, we got to meet Helio and he was such a nice guy! We are so happy for him! Here are some pictures from last years race...


We went to a fun parade they had down town the day before the race



We got to attend the dinner they held for all the drivers and the sponsers. We were able meet all of Roger's old drivers, including the famous Rick Mears!!!

Car number 3, driver Helio Castroneves

Car number 6, driver is Ryan Brisco

Tory's cousin, Jay Penske's car, driver Tomas Scheckter

Tory and me with are cool head phones, we could hear whatever the drivers and thier pit crew were saying and they also helped us from going deaf with how loud the cars were!

Rogers two cars and Jay's in the middle




Carl, Mikey, Trygg, and Tory in the pits before the race.