Happy Father's Day Matt!!

I always enjoy Father's Day. Truly, I do. I love to let Matt know how much the kids and I love him and appreciate all that he does. He is the best father and husband. This year I made him a coupon book per his request. The kids picked what they would do for him. They did a great job. Their coupons were very funny. They said things like, "take me to the movies, make me dinner, go on a run with me, watch a movie with me and make us banana splits". Poor Matt will be doing all of the work on these coupons. No, they were great and Matt was very happy about what the kids had done.
To end the night Matt and I had a killer game of Settlers of Zarahemla. He won one game and I won one game. Look at the satisfaction in our eyes!! We shall see who the real winner is when we play the 3rd game. Good luck Honey!
Matt you are fantastic and I love you and our lives that we have together as a family. Happy Father's Day!!! The final challenge.

Beth's win.

Matt's win.

The official coupon book.

Honey, you ROCK. I Love you!

The house was cold this morning and so most of them were wrapped up in blankets.

What a crazy crew!

He is acting surprised, but he knew when he saw the bag what we had done.


"Dad this coupon entitles you to take me to the movies" Madalyn
"by the way, I pay"

The girls loving their Dad.

Matt's Blue Lake Sprint Triathlon

Another sprint triathlon for Matt and his friend Rich. This time they went to Fairview, Oregon next to Gresham. They did the Blue Lake sprint triathlon and there were about 600 participants on Saturday. Again, they amazed me. Matt was amazing to watch. He had never swam in open water in competition before. This sprint triathlon was an 800 meter swim, 12 mile bike ride and then a 5K run. He rocked on the water. We bought him a wetsuit last weekend and he loved it. As I sat there and watched them, I thought to myself, "I can do this" and then reality hits and I say to myself, "I will just enjoy Matt competing". Do you all like their green caps? These caps keep everybody in order when swimming in the water. It is pretty funny to watch all of these colored caps bopping up and down around the Lake. Enjoy the pictures!!

Matt and Rich flexing their stuff before the swim.

Rich zipping up Matt's wetsuit.

I am sure that you can't tell, but he is wearing the green cap with his wetsuit around his waist running next to the cones on the right hand side. Look closely. He had come out of the water so fast that I didn't have time to grab the camera and take his picture jogging up the little hill to head to his bike. This picture was my ditch effort of capturing him.

Matt racing past these participants to head out on the 12 mile bike ride. You go honey, granted two of the people are women and one is an old man.

Returning from the bike race heading to the transition area to begin the 5K.

Look at that smile. This picture is my favorite!

Off to the races, pass that girl.

When you arrive at the triathlon, the sponsors put the athletes ages on their calves.

So, when you are competing you know exactly how old the person in front of you is.

Hitting the finish line.

Walk it off, walk it off.

Oh, happy day, it is over!

That's my MAN!

This is Kennedy with Rich and Matt. He goes to Matt's school. Rich is Kennedy's swim coach at the pool and so Rich invited Kennedy to join them for this triathlon, he did awesome. He was such a cute kid.

His number.

Time to go home! Nice work you guys!

Bailey turns 5!

Bailey turned 5 this week. Time has really flown by. I remember going to the hospital to have her in Albany. She is such a joy in our family. She makes us laugh and teaches us all important life lessons. On each of the kids birthdays, we make them a special breakfast and let them do whatever they want to do that day. Bailey wanted to eat french toast for breakfast, so the kids reluctantly ate it (NOT). They all love french toast. We had a birthday party at Papa's Pizza in Gresham in evening. She had a few little friends come and play on the playground. Mom and Dad came up from Eugene and brought her birthday cake. Mom made an amazing castle cake with princess' on it. Bailey loved it. Thanks Mom, you did a great job on the cake. Bailey is now officially able to go the kindergarten and ride a bus. Life is very busy now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY B. We love you!!!

Bailey getting ready to eat french toast!

Bailey sitting next to her castle/princess cake. Isn't it beautiful!!!

Grandma and B.

Bailey, Paige, Audri, and Tess waiting to find our seat at the pizza parlor.

Madalyn and her good friend Emelia.

The girls eating their pizza.

Me, Mom, and Paige eating the great pizza from Papa's

Carter and Hayden eating their favorite pizza---pepperoni.

Lighting the candles on her cake.

MAKE A WISH!

Blow out the candles!

Matt, Bailey and I.

Bailey received this gift from Mom and Dad. Bailey is a hopeless romantic and so this bride and groom made her very happy.

Tess, Audri, Bailey and Jack.

Carter, Ethan and Hayden pulling up the rear.

At home we opened more gifts and so the girls sat on the couch and waited patiently.

Madalyn was teasing Paige and would grab this toy princess that Bailey gave her. This is Paige yelling "NO, NO Madalyn". We got a kick out of this one.

Finally, time for good-byes! Thanks for a fun party girls.

Lovin' ARIZONA!

I have spent the last few days in Arizona with family. I flew down to do 2 jewelry shows at my sister-in-laws in Glendale and Tempe. The shows were great. Thank you to everyone who came and supported me. We had a great time together! On Monday, I went with Julie to work and watched her do her magic. She is the best hair dresser I have ever had. She then cut my hair and gave me bangs. What do you think? For the next two days we had jewelry shows and spent time together. One night, Amber, Aaron, Rich, Julie and I played a dangerous game of jungle basketball in the pool. Rich and Aaron were brutal (they did have some bruises and scratches when we were finished). I am not competitive or anything!! I ate amazing food and tried the best cookies ever. We bought them at Paradise Bakery. WOW!!! Julie and I did some shopping and it was just a great trip. Thank you for everything, Julie, I love you!! Amber you are awesome, and J.J. thanks for making your home so nice for the show. You are all wonderful!! These are some of the pictures that I took while there.

My adorable niece ISABELLA

Aaron and Julie!

Amber and I at a yummy Mexican restaurant.

Amber, Isabella, Julie and myself. We kept trying to get Isabella to look at the camera and this was the closest we could get. She is so photogenic, absolutely beautiful!! She is an angel baby.

I took a picture of a portion of my jewelry show set up at Julie's house.

Julie and I before the show started. LOOK at the lovely jewelry we are wearing.

Our jewelry show at J.J.'s home in Tempe. Julie and I were getting ready to go back to Glendale and I said I wanted to take a quick picture, so Julie is holding the roses and delicious cookies to take home.

Playing around.

Zac kept taking pictures and he tricked me, saying that the camera was just going off and I believed him.

Amber Jean and I.

I have known Amber since I was 14 years old. Crazy huh!! I love her to death.

J.J., Zac, Amber and Julie!

J.J. and Zac