Phillip's FHE

Phillip was in charge of asking someone to say prayer tonight during FHE. For opening prayer he decided that I would say the prayer. For closing prayer he decided he would say the prayer. So we all got ready for prayer and I start helping him say it when he says...."It won't work". I told him it would be okay and would work, and he kept saying "it won't work". Once he finally started saying the prayer he informed everyone *mid prayer* that he was being good and folding his arms.

It's so hard not to laugh when something like this happens during prayer! (Really we were laughing, but we tried not to let him see it because it just gets worse when he realizes he's funny!) Where do they come up with this stuff?

8 Years

A little over 8 years ago Stuart and I met at the Denver Temple. That was February 21, 2001. By May 6th we were engaged. Stuart is a determined man....he sure knows what he wants! We were married 96 LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG days later.

In the last 8 years we have gone through a lot together! Stuart calls it "8 years of Wonderfulness". I call it 8 years of bliss. Either way we've had our ups and downs, but there have been a whole lot more good times than bad. I remember Stuart's dad telling us before we got married that the love we had for each other at the time would pale in comparison to how much we would love each other in the future. At the time I thought he was crazy, how would it be possible to love him more than I did at that moment in time? As it turns out he was right. I do love him so much more than I did when we were married, and I look forward to my love for him growing in the years to come!For some reason the only picture I can find is from 4 years ago at Stuart's graduation. I don't have any of our wedding photos on a disk, so this is as close as it gets right now....which of course is 4 years after we actually got married.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Happy Birthday this is YOUR special day! Happy Happy Birthday from me to you today!

Happy Birthday Samuel! The big number 6!

Samuel as a baby-2003
Samuel Christmas 2004 (about 16 months)
Kisses! Mom & Samuel a few months before he turned 2 (2005)Samuel and Daddy shaving- about 2 1/2 -Christmas 2005 (date on picture is not correct)
Samuel's 3rd birthday 2006....don't you just LOVE the tie!
Samuel age 5 (2008)- Doing one of his favorite activities...Soccer!
May-Grandparents tea party for the Kindergartners....doing something else he does really well...READ!
My handsome 6 year-old!

My 6 most favorite things about Samuel:
1. He is a Cuddler! He LOVES to cuddle at night and help make up stories before bed.
(I think this may be the last time I'm allowed to mention this fact!)
2. His love for reading....everything....all the time...including books left in the bathroom....like Harry Potter.
3. He's ALWAYS cheerful and energetic....ALWAYS!
4. His LOVE for learning! He is always excited to learn something new!
5. His smile, no matter how crazy he tries to make it.
6. His love for his bike!

*Note* I do have pictures from Samuel's 2nd & 4th & 5th birthdays...however in the about 40 CD's I pulled out with pictures on them those particular pictures weren't on them. And, I ran out of time to look through the rest. I think I might have a picture addiction!

Idaho

Somehow time keeps passing me by....I know...wierd. Summer is only a few short weeks from being over, well as far as school goes and I took these pictures at the beginning of July. You'd think I'd be more on top of things. I supposed because we've traveled so much this summer I feel like it was just yesterday that I took these.

These are pictures from when we were in Idaho Falls for the Staples family reunion. For those of you who aren't members of the Mobley family (or aren't closely associated enough to know)....the Staples is Stuart's mom's side of the family.

Happy 4th of July! We had a great BBQ at Stuart's parents house. Thankfully his parents have a fairly large house on a couple acres. The kids had a GREAT time playing with all of the cousins (all but 4 cousins were there.....We MISSED you guys!).
This handsome young man is Godwin Mobley. It looks like he just got done playing in the water.Here we have Mahana Mobley, Xela Brewer and Naomi Mobley...aren't they adorable?!?!

This is Stuart's sister Rachel and his Grandma Staples
Left to right: Joshua Brewer, Ellen Mobley, Katherine Crumpley, Annie Mobley, KatieJo, Ellen (seated) and Aimee holding Noah
If you notice Ellen has a pink splint/cast on her arm. That is the result of jumping on the trampoline with a lot of other cousins and having a run in with someone's head (we're fairly certain that "someone's" head was Samuel's)
I think the boys were getting ready to roast some hotdogs...I think. There was a lot going on.
L-R: Benjamin Brewer, Andrew Crumpley, Stephen Mobley and Scott Brewer
~Stephen's arm is NOT a result of trampoline. He came with it like that. However, he is Ellen's older brother so it made it a little ironic that Ellen hurt her arm.
Miss. Maija, I just liked this picture.
The girls being silly. L-R: Katherine Crumpley, Annie Mobley, Ellen Mobley & KatieJo
Katherine, Annie & KatieJo are all the same age.
For some reason I LOVE this picture. They are all a tad bit silly!
They are L-R: Katherine Crumpley, Samuel and Annie
Again, I love this picture. This is Helam Mobley.
This picture is just CrAzY! Stuart's oldest sister Alice volunteered her basement for a Cousin's sleepover. I think she had 17 kids total in her house. They had an AWESOME time!

For some reason I don't have very many pictures of the adults. All of Stuart's uncles on his mom's side were there and a vast majority of his cousins as well, some he hadn't seen in years and some I've never met. We had a wonderful time!

Ucreate

I had to share because I LoVe, lOvE, LoVe this blog!!! (notice the 3 exclamation points...that has to mean that I really like this blog.) In my spare time I like to do crafts, sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking you name it (except knitting) I like to do it.

I stumbled upon this blog today...go ahead and click on the logo....you know you want to!
There are a whole heap of tutorials on all kinds of wonderful things. I found a plethora of things that I have been wanting to do but didn't want to spend the money to get a pattern.

I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I do!

Cheers!

Washington

I'm really not sure how many people read this blog, but I enjoy blogging so I guess it doesn't particularly matter. I figured since I said I would post pictures that I probably should even though it's been a while since they were taken.
We had the opportunity to visit our friends Holly and AJ Haddenham and Lorne and Cathy Spooner (although we didn't get to see Lorne because he had a shingles outbreak) in Republic, WA the last week of June. We had a GREAT time and the kids had a blast playing with their kids and the animals....particularly the horses.

AJ (who had just gotten back from riding Dew...he was preparing for an endurance ride in which he finished 15th out of 37...not bad for his first endurance ride), Holly and Phillip...and don't forget Dew!

Holly and Miss MaijaCathy & "her baby" Maija...she likes to claim her anyway.
Samuel, Nolan, Phillip and KatieJo

KatieJo the cowgirl...complete with pink cowboy boots. The two girls are Echo (left) and Sabrina.Samuel...the handsome looks great on Tilly the ornery pony. When Tilly doesn't want to be ridden she gets up on their porch.Phillip....the horserider extrodinair. He LOVES horses, particularly Holly's. Oh, and he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his "Wally" aka Holly.

I have a whole lot more pictures from Idaho. I'll have to do those in another post.

Things I've learned

I've learned some things in the past few weeks that I thought I'd share, partially because our computer's chord is having issues so I can't put pictures on my blog and partially because I haven't blogged in a LONG time.

I've learned that.....

*KatieJo has to wear her glasses. Normally we park them for the summer on her desk, so when I took her in to get her eyes checked in June the Dr. asked me where they were. I told her and she said that if I didn't want her right *lazy* eye to start wandering she'd better start wearing them ALL the time....OOPS!

*My kids are good travelers, but even they have their limits! I.E. back to back vacations for almost 6 weeks in a row is a little bit too much.

*Seeing cousins after about 8 years is awesome, and it's great to catch up again.

*Potty training on the road is a J*O*K*E!

*Sunscreen is a must! My poor kids have burnt more this summer than in their whole lives. I forgot after spending last summer under the trees in my parents backyard that we have to have sunscreen.

*Being home is WONDERFUL!

*Having clean laundry to take out of your suitcase when you get home is WONDERFUL!

*Having to resume life as we knew it before we left is nice and sad at the same time....it's always fun to see friends and family.

*My children LOVE animals, particularly horses that they get to ride (my friend Holly's horses)....as soon as we get our new computer chord I'll post video of that that I took with my *NEW* video camera.

*Trampolines with LOTS of cousins on them equal disaster. (Samuel's head + Ellen's wrist (our niece)= Ellen's broken wrist in a cast)

*Meeting the new niece and one of our new nephews was fun.

I think that's all for right now. I'm sure there are more things I've learned, however they'll have to wait for a future post.
We hope you are having as much fun this summer as we are!