Zachary & Ashlee's wedding

Zach & Ashlee's wedding ~ it was a beautiful day in Rexburg and there was such joy in their faces!

And it was a joy for me to see this side of the family again.

The Rexburg temple has beautiful wheat motifs throughout in the stained glass, carpet, etc and outside on the east side of the temple was a golden field of ripe wheat moving gently in the breeze - just lovely!

Ray & Sandy, Ashton, Brittany, Cory & Hunter

Ashton practicing his photography on the temple with Cory, Hunter, Brittany, Kjiersten, Jeremy and Ray

Hallelujah!

Historical fiction, I really enjoyed reading Featherstone's account of Handel writing the Messiah. I had to turn the music on and listen to it while I was reading and I am still singing!

Family Fourth of July Fun

I'm trying to catch up on all of the summer fun . . .here are some shots from the week surrounding the Fourth of JulyEthan and Megan playing at Willard Bay with the kids (James, Ashton & Charlie)
Hunter catching a few winks under the shade at Willard Bay Beach

Building sandcastles while waiting our turn on the Jet skis

Arianne, Ethan, Ashton, Grace, James, Brittany, Charlie

Showing my true colors - I love this country we live in and

I am so grateful for the freedoms we enjoy

"Freedom isn't free

You've got to pay the price

You've got to sacrifice for your liberty . . ."
from Let Freedom Ring, by Paul & Ralph ColwellWe all took turns cooking . . . Jesse & Cori served these colorful Patriotic Parfaits for breakfast on the 4th.

We were all really impressed by the well organized and fun events planned by Westpoint City . . . for several days there were lots of fun activities in the park for children and adults alike, a parade, fabulous fireworks, team competitions, races, lots of food, and educational displays.
Our cheerleaders at the Westpoint Independance Day Parade
Charlie, Jacob, Grace, Sydni & Grant

Jesse, Grant, Cori & Grace

Charlie, Arianne & James

I've always said our children have a healthy competitive spirit . . . and they were all gung ho to join the pie eating contest. Brittany, Damien and Ethan joined about twenty others to see who could gobble a strawberry, banana cream or chocolate pie the fastest . . . Damien tied for first place with another young man! Goooooo Demo!!! And can you believe they were all still hungry for pizza after this????

Watching the parade

Funny faces galore . . .

Jacob, Sydni, Ashton & Kourtni

Cori & Cory, Ethan & Ray formed teams for the Horseshoe contest - they didn't win, but came close and had a great time competing. Playing in the park one evening~ Kourtni, Grace, Sydni, Grant and Ethan

Cori & Jesse hiked Mt. Loafer trail and spent the night near the summit. Grace, Grant & I went up to drop them off at the trailhead in Payson Canyon.

Summer fun in Grandma & Grandpa's backyard.

Sydni, Allyson, Grace & Kourtni - our little sunshine girls.

Doesn't that look like pure joy? Kourtni & Gracie - catching a few rays . . .

We made several batches of playdough ~ Grant & Jacob created some interesting monsters. . .

Sydni and Grace cooking up something good to eat.

One of our favorite places to camp

Ashton, Grace & Grant at Payson Lakes

That's one lucky Papa Ray getting a backrub from Grace while Cori mans the grill.