Recent Gems around our house

Tessa (age 3): "No fair!  I never get to drive."

Trenton (age 6):  Wanting to open the door.  "It's the anchovy witnesses!"

Trenton (to his great Grandmother):  "I'm really going to miss you when you die."

Watching the movie, "Newsies," Trenton was excited by the choreography and was dancing around.  He thought the newsies were pretty cool with their moves, calling them "Ninja Newsies."

Kira to Trenton:  "Trenton, saying 'Me and Dad' is ungrammatically correct!"

*Apparently, upon further investigation, "ungrammatically" is actually a word.  I still take issue with her usage here, though.

Trenton is Da Man

Trenton turned 6 earlier this month.  One of the things he has been wanting for a while is a suit, so he can look handsome.  His friend, Craig, wore a suit to our music recital in the spring.  Craig got a lot of attention for how handsome he looked, and Trenton has wanted one ever since!  I asked his Lita (my mom) if that was something she might be able to make for his birthday.  She did and sent this to him in time for his party.  Here are some GQ shots of my little man (6 yrs. old!).

I realize he is looking solemn in a lot of these (that's the GQ thing).  He was really excited about the suit and how handsome he would be in it.  At first, he thought it came from the store.  He was so impressed when he realized Lita had made it herself.  He went around singing her praises proclaiming that she makes things as good as the stores do (better in many cases)!

 

 

Now if I can just keep him from getting toothpaste/frosting/dust/etc. on it all of the time!

For Lita - Tessa

I have so much to catch up on, but we're skipping that for now, so I can show my mom some cute pictures of my kids in the clothes that she made.  This dress was a woman's skirt I inherited from a friend.  It was an unfinished project hanging around my house.  My mom took it and offered to turn it into a dress for Tessa, and this is what arrived in the mail with Trenton's birthday present.  Que bonita la senorita!

Tessa's Proud to Be an American

Look who's...

SMILING now!

I know!

Pretty {fiesty} Kira

I took these pictures of Kira to submit her for a fun photoshoot she is going to do next month.

They wanted to see her personality, so I had to get the sweet and the sassy!

Speaking of sassy, Kira has been working on her blog a bit and would LOVE some comments!

Alec's Blessing Day

Alec was given a name and a blessing at church on June, 6, 2010.

His father blessed him and Uncle Bobby and Grandpa (Halterman), were there to participate in the circle.  What a blessing are worthy priesthood holders!

Afterward we came back to our home for some BBQ and pictures.  (Big thanks to Mom and Mikelle for all the food they provided to make this low-stress for us!)

Of course, picture-taking can be an adventure with a group with this many children.  Here is an outtake from when I was testing the lighting.

And a few more lovely outtakes of my little family:

This looks like a movie/TV poster to me, because the all look like they have attitude:

(CSI: Laveen???)

But here we are for real

You can see Alec isn't thrilled about his photo session.

He actually didn't make a peep during the entire blessing!  He was an angel.  But everytime I pulled out the camera, he threw a fit.  Finally, Barry got him calmed down, just long enough to take some sweet pictures...

"Shoot, shoot, shoot!"  He said.

...and he started losing it again.

"I know I'm handsome, Mom, but really?  Is all of this picture taking necessary?  I'm done!"

Remembering...Laveen Parade (Feb. 2010)

Happy Memorial Day!

I was looking for something to post on my other blog this Memorial Day and found these great photos from when our family participated with our ward in the Laveen Community Parade back in February. The theme was "Honoring our Soldiers." It became a great opportunity to remember some of the heroes in our family and to pass their legacy on to our children.

In preparing for the parade, the organizers from our ward asked for photos of any family members who had or were serving in the military. Thanks to the genealogists in our family, we had these great photos of Barry's grandpa and great-uncle Phil. Both were pilots during WWII. Grandpa became a trainer for other pilots. Uncle Phil was shot down over Europe after completing his part of a dangerous mission.

The children carried these photos through the parade.

It was neat to see them get excited about their heritage.














The week before the parade, Sister Papp came into the Primary to get the kids excited about it and give us the details. She happened to hold up the pictures we sent and Trenton immediately recognized his great-great uncle Phil, and wanted to tell everyone about him.

Tessa decided not to cooperate and stay in her stroller for the mile-long walk, but it made for some neat Daddy-daughter bonding moments, along the parade route.

These planes signaled the start of the entire parade.

I'm feeling rather patriotic today, or at least mindful of the incredible sacrifices made by so many in our behalf. I hope they can feel our gratitude! God bless America!

Tessa, Talia, and Shanda

I just love this picture of these cute girls!

Tessa LOVED having Talia around! She didn't go with them to church on Sunday, and Tessa's first words out of her mouth when she got home were, "where is SHE?" They got along quite well, most of the time.

Talia really loves her mother!

See?

And Tessa, too!

I have no idea what she is thinking, but I love this face!

And both these girls have such pretty blue eyes! I hope they grow up to be great friends!