Canada, eh?

It's been a long time since my last blog, but this is my first full day back from a nine day holiday in Canada. We left Friday the 12th and got back Sunday the 21st. It was an amazing trip and the very best part was the wedding of my fourth son, Mike to a beautiful, talented, smart, sweet, patient, serene and regal young woman from Norway, via Canada. There will be much better pictures from a professional photographer in a few weeks, but meanwhile here is the best of what I have. >>
This is the Cardston temple where they were married
>> These are all of Mike's siblings who could be there.

Relaxing after the wedding


Her good-looking parents. Now you know the source of her beauty.

It was a beautiful wedding. Truly beautiful. I loved watching her, but when I moved to see the face of my son, I cried. He looked so innocent, pure and gloriously happy. It was a wonderful day.

A Taste of Mexico in a border town

This past Saturday our church held its annual Stake Women's Conference.




I sang in the choir along with my daughter-in-law, and our oldest daughter played the flute to accompany one of the songs. It was beautiful. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of that. An amazing woman, Arizona's Young Mother of the Year, spoke to us. Then there were a couple of classes about making our home a more beautiful place both physically and spiritually. Finally, there was lunch and while we ate we were entertained by different people: a group who did Tai Chi, a mother/daughter duet on piano and violin, a young woman who sang a beautiful solo and finally, my favorite, Folklorico Dancers.

On Wikipedia it says:"folkloric dance" in Spanish, is a collective term for traditional dances that emphasize local folk culture with ballet characteristics - pointed toes, exaggerated movements, highly choreographed.

I love the beautiful, colorful dresses, the ribbons in the women's hair and the way they swirl and hold their dresses out. The music is geat, too. These were all older women, I've seen young children do it as well, but they were all very energetic. I love that we get to experience the Mexican culture even though we live in America. Here are some of the pictures I took that day:

My third son's first son's birthday

I know it's a complicated title, but I decided that if I titled this "My Granchildren" you would just run away. No one likes to hear someone else brag about their granchildren. Really, though, how can I help it?

Today was number two grandson's third birthday. Yesterday all the family living in our town came over to celebrate. I made spaghetti with meat sauce, his aunt made a great salad and his mom made homemade parmesan breadsticks which were fantastic. The girls made themselves sick eating so many of them. Here's the excited birthday boy. He's the blur in the front.










And here he is with his Dad. Genes will tell.













We had a lovely dinner together:















I just had to post this picture because of what daughter number three with the long blonde hair is asking at this moment. Can you guess? Yes, she's asking, "Is this going to be on your blog?" Well, it is now!

Birthday boy's sister and especially his cousins had fun.












Here's the whole gang:











We're missing our fifth son and his wife, sadly. They are too far away to join us-a thirteen hour drive away. And, even further away, 29 hours away, is our soon to be daughter-in-law. We can't wait until she's a part of the fun, too! Only twelve more days!


One last, but very important picture. The birthday cake was made and decorated by his Dad and he didn't even use a mold, in fact he was kind of bummed to find out that you could buy those. But, his effort is pretty amazing.

Some questions

These are random questions associated with having a houseful of children.

How much hot water do teenagers use?
Answer: All there is. Don't be last to take a shower.

How much food will teenagers eat?
Answer: All you buy, sometimes before you have a chance to make a meal of it.

What is eleven times anything?
Answer: Enormous, as in "Eleven hamburgers, fries and drinks, please."

What is eleven divided by anything?
Answer: Miniscule, as in pieces of pie.

How much food and household cleaners, etc, can you fit on a flatbed at Sam's?
Answer: You wouldn't believe it. Take a look at this:




I was cleaning out the pictures on my phone and came across this. It was too good not to share.

What are your questions?