First activity in the "Year of Dave"

 The first activity Dave opened in his birthday "year of Dave" gift, was a trip to the shooting range.  My dad has several pistols which he let us shoot!  It was AWESOME!!!

 Dave was an amazing shot!

  I wasn't that good but shooting the .22 was way fun!

 This is mom shooting a 9MM glock!!  Go mom!! If you look close you can see the gun is in motion after being shot.  That gun has quite a kick! Especially compared to the .22

 Dave shot the glock too and a 45!!  Pretty powerful guns!

 Dad showed off his skills for us as well.

 I loved watching my dad help my mom.  She's actually a really good shot!

 I shot the 9MM glock a few times until one of the hot shells went down my shirt and burned me!  I had NO muzzle control so I decided to pass up the rest of my turn and go back to the .22 :)

It was really fun although having wanted a gun of my own before this I think I'll just go shooting with my dad every once in a while.  They can be fun to shoot but a little freaky :)  It was fun to go do something out of the box!  We had a great time and I really wouldn't mind going again!  Thanks mom and dad!

Crazy Carlee

Oh, my dear Carlee...  I went to the school to pick the girls up early so we could go pick up the rest of the stuff for Dad's birthday.  On our way to the car Carlee walked straight into a "pick up - drop off kids" sign.  It was scary but hilarious!!  How in the world can you walk right into a sign that's right in front of you?  The funniest part was she blamed me because I came to pick them up from school.  Poor Carlee...  I'm just glad it wasn't any worse than it was.  She went to dinner at Ihop with this lovely bump on her head. It doesn't show up as well as it did when it first happened but with the other "injuries" she already had, it looked like she had a large #4 on her forehead!  Oh Carlee, Carlee, Carlee.  I love all your silly stories! :)

Dave's birthday

 Happy Birthday Dave!!  This year for Dave's birthday we did the "Captain America" theme.  It was pretty fun.  He seemed to like it.  The girls each picked him out a gift, which is customary.  The girls had a great time choosing what to get him - especially because they always get him toys.

 Carlee picked out a Thor club that actually shoots little bullets.

 Chlo picked him this HUGE nurf gun.  It doesn't shoot very well but it sure looks cool :)

 Jaylee's was the most comical.

 Jaylee picked out Dave his first barbie!!!  This one is hilarious too - you can record your voice saying something and have Ken say it back in either his voice, your voice or a higher voice.  Dave is great to play barbies with Jaylee and now he has his own he can use.  He's actually had some fun with him already!

 I had his cake custom done for him.  I think it looks pretty sweet.

For his birthday this year I put together a "year of out of the box Dates".  I've called it "The Year of Dave" :)  Each month I have something planned for us to do that is out of the normal for us.  His first envelope said we were going to the shooting range to shoot some pretty big guns.  I can't wait for this one.  He gets to open one envelope at the beginning of each month.  He also gets a quarterly activity with one of the brothers.  I can't wait to see what they come up with.  It should be an exciting year!! I'm just super lucky to have a friend like Miss Crystal who came up with this idea!  Thank you friend!  Couldn't have done this without you!! Happy Birthday Dave!  I hope you have a great year and all your birthday wishes come true!

Day with Julie and the girls

 While Julie and her girls were in town for Taylor and Ryder's funeral we decided to take advantage of her being here and went on a girl's adventure day.  I checked the girls out of school and we went to the Gateway to the Children's museum. The girls LOVED it!  It was super cute to see how much fun they had all together.

 This is a picture of the Jackman Nieces.  Aren't they SO cute?? :)

 Chlo was nice enough to take a picture of the grown ups too.  I think we had as much fun as the girls did :)

After the little girl adventure we met up again for dinner with the grown up ladies.  It was awesome to have all of us together for dinner and an activity.  After eating at La Joya (something like that) Groves we went and played croquet.  We were laughing SO HARD!!  It was fun and I think all of us needed it.  Thanks for the fun night ladies!! XOXO

Little Angels

It has taken me a long time to work up to this post.  The things that have happened to my family over the past little bit have been ... well... amazing yet tragic.  We were shocked to get the news at midnight on January 30th while we were in St. George that Nate and Becca's babies had come early.  We decided as a group to head home first thing the next morning.  None of us slept because of our worries and the unknown.  The drive home was long...  Over the next few days we were overwhelmed with the love of family here and beyond the veil.  I have personally never felt closer to the spirit or to heaven.  The precious lives of Taylor and Ryder were enjoyed for just a few days but have left an impression on me that will last forever!  Watching Nate and Becca's strength was mind boggling! Words cannot express the feelings I had seeing these precious little angels with their mom and dad! Nate and Becca were so tender and loving!  It was amazing to see the incredible miracles and tender mercies that went hand in hand with this experience!  Our family seemed to truly bond and grow closer as we prayed and cried together.  Thank you Taylor and Ryder, you perfect, perfect children for choosing our family to come to!  I can't wait to see you again and smother you with hugs and kisses!  We are truly lucky to have been able to be touched by angels!  XOXO sent up to Heaven!!