Halloween 2008!

This is the gang! Let me tell ya! This was the busiest Halloween for me ever! I got all these kids ready and dressed, I started putting together outfits at 6 a.m, including Jared and his friend Kyle! But they all turned out great! I sure got alot of laughs that morning!
That will all change i'm sure when I we get the bill for the dentist!

Our little get away!

My wonderful husband treated me for a weekend get away! He is just wonderful, Yes a weekend just to ourselves! ;) I decided to go to Salt Lake, I wanted to go to temple square and shop, so that's what we did! He did that just for me, He is such a great husband!

Isn't he so darn cute! I love that picture, not only does he look great but it looks like Peter, James and John are giving him a blessing!

We heard the Mormon tabernacle choir, even President Monson showed up!

The trip was so much fun, we ate a little bit of EVERYTHING, from expensive dinners to brott worst just like in Germany! It brought out the vongrattenstein in us! Interesting, is all I have to say. But tons of fun!

Hunting trip!

This was our family 5 day hunting trip to Meadow! The boys didn't get a deer, but they sure worked hard at it. I enjoyed the rides and watching chick flicks while the boys were away ;). Mike found a small rattle snake, and it took that many guys to kill it, atleast they got that!!! That was worthy of a picture.

We also happen to get away for a few hours to enjoy the "hot spot" this was amazing! Talk about enjoyment! This was a complete treat for me! The water was so--- warm and realxing, as you can see the water was perfect! I used the salts for a scrub! WOW! my skin was Radiant! nothing like it! and FREE! That's what i'm talking about! Well, it was a great trip and great memories!

TOO COOL!!!

This is the crew, when school started. They just got it going on! Yup, dressed to impress and just too cool for school! NOT! The kids had a great first day, and Jared, this is just the way he dresses! No reason really, he's just cool like that!

Kason's B-day!

Kason turned eight this June, He loved having his party at Jumping Jacks! Talk about great! Let the kids jump and have fun and sit back, relax and enjoy the party! Happy bithrday Kason!

Happy 40 BABE!

In July my sweet babe turned 40! He is just too darn cute! There's Tyler providing the Entertainment for the evening! What more can you want?!

There's the picture of Bill's elk he got this year! YOU DA MAN!! I love you honey, you're the BEST!

Summer 2008

Family reunion camping trips! On this paticular day it started raining and EVERYBODY fit in our trailer, ALL 36 people! Talk about rocking the house!

There's Mike and his Squirrel catching he's popular for!

Even grampa Gull got in on the action of the water balloon toss! Then him and jared went off on their own ride, Seriously! They rode on his jazzie hauling down the road and even "JUMPED IT"! Yes, that's right! Grampa still talks about it! He wants Jared to take him out again, only Jared thinks it's time for an upgrade, maybe tricking it out a little bit, who know's!

The advertures of Charlie and Stinky!!!!

These two are one of a kind! NO LIE! Kason aka Charlie and Jesse=Stinky for very obvious reasons!

They are ALWAYS up to something,(and most of the time it's scary)! This is them making their own rice crispi treats, early in the morning I might add (as you can tell by their bed heads!) and then off to catching all kinds of lizards! This is besides the million crickets, spiders and bugs they happen to find pretty much on a daily basis!

They even cought A mouse!!! And decided to put it in the tank along with the lizards so they can be "friends". Trust me, their is NEVER a dull moment with these two characters!

summer swimming!

This has been one busy summer! The kids had a blast swimming, good memories!

HAPPY B-DAY JARED!!!!!!!!!

Today is Jared's 15th birthday! It's amazing to think that I'll be taking him to get his drivers permit!?! I can't believe that pretty soon he will be taking us to places (scary). WOW!
Jared as you can tell loves to have fun, everything he does he just has to be the best at it, just like his Dad. He really looks up to his Dad and enjoys being with him, and doing all that he does. Lucky for Jared he has a great Dad. Jared likes to play fight with me all the time, but to bad for him because I can still take him DOWN!!! Those muscles still have some growing to do;).
Just a few weeks ago I realized how much he has grown, we were all camping and Bill took us "scouting" for his Elk. After a couple of hours I decided to take the kids with me back to camp so that BIll could enjoy his time out, and Jared drove us all back to camp, collected some fire wood and stared a fire for us to keep us warm. He was there taking care of us and it hit me, he is growing up! I must say, I am very lucky to have such an amazing son. Hope you had a good day, thanks for making life interesting for the rest of us!

SO SAD!!! :(

I'm so sad! I just got released this Sunday from my calling as the second counselor in the primary. :(
I was called over a year ago, before I even got married! I remember the bishop called Bill one day and told him he needed to talk to both of us before church one morning, and here I walked in all confident thinking he was the one getting a new calling, when to my surprise it was me!!! WOW! I was so nerves yet excited because here I come to a new ward with such a calling, yet I love to teach, and primary is my favorite place. I knew this was the place I needed to be! Specially to have my husband be excited for me and support me in my calling. There was many times he would help me plan sharing times and was always willing to come and help. I couldn't be happier! It truly has been such a wonderful experience to be able to do something that I care about so much, and to see all my children there every Sunday, to listen to their talks, prayers and the spirit that they bring into our primary, they set such a great example, there's no words to really describe it.
These are the wonderful ladies I got to work with, I must say we were a good team ;). Carrie (President on the right) is moving, therefore a new presidency needed to take over, It really is sad to say good-bye. It has been great learning from her, she really is a lot of fun, sometimes she would say the funniest things in primary, and just make us laugh! She is one of a kind, I'm really going to miss you Carrie, thanks for the experience and the memories.

Nothin' but Puppy Love!!!

We have 9 very cute puppies, and the kids sure helped out today, it was time for their first shots. And this was a lot of work! They had to wake up early to help dry the puppies after their bath, and they carried them in to the Vet's office which was hard work to keep them all in one spot! Even the Vet got a kick out of seeing so many puppies and all the kids to go with it, he even had to take some pictures of them to post in his office! THEY CALL IT PUPPY LOVE!!!

Meet Missy!

This is our new pet, Missy! She is just so adorable! The kids love her so much, she sure gets a lot of attention here in this house. She loves treats, and playing with balloons! She hates bath time though (as you can tell)! She sure is fun, thanks babe for letting us have her.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY HONEY!

This is my honey! Happy father's day! I have to talk about this man, because I think he is so incredible! I always dreamed of a man that was honest, a man that had faith, who is strong and was a great husband, a priesthood holder, and most important a wonderful example and a great father to his children. And we have been blessed with such a man! He lives to make us happy. He loves the gospel and believes in it with all his heart! It's so wonderful to see him reading his scriptures and studying his priesthood lessons, he's a great teacher to all of us. What else could a person ask for. And to top it all off he is so talented, he loves being the best in all he does, and I in my eyes, he is. What I love the most about him is that he can be so silly, he sings all the time, and he makes us laugh so much! Honey, hope you have the best father's day ever because you sure deserve it! Thank you for making us so happy, and for being the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Family Vacation

This is our family vacation! Talk about amazing, crazy, fun and hard work all put together!!! We sure were very busy! This boat is so HUGE! In the whole week we were there I don't think we even got to explore the entire thing! But, we sure did get to do a lot! In the first pictures we were just leaving Miami. We started the day golfing and exploring! One of the first things we tried was the rock climbing wall! Now that was fun, I never thought I could climb something so big, but We all seem to manage well! The kids did so good, I think Kason might actually be spider man! He can actually stick to the wall like nothing I've ever seen! The kids had fun catching waves in the flow rider and having fun at the beautiful beaches we went to! And who would have thought you can ice skate in a boat? That was my first ice skating experience and I must say, I rock! I think I was the only one that didn't fall! And I out skated everyone there! Yeah-Who's your momma?!

Ashlee, had her hair braided in Haiti. It turned out so cute! The two waiters in the picture are Benedick from the Philippines and Fan Zheng from China! They took good care of us every day, the entire trip! And we sure had a lot of fun with them! The kids Sure do miss them so much! They just wanted to bring them home! They talk about them all the time! -Fan, when you see this, say CHEESE! And don't be shy anymore! because you are just too cute!

And just in case you were wondering about Jared, Why he's not in a lot of these picture? Well let's just say he was BUSY! (chasing girls!) Yup, he couldn't let them muscles go hidden, he just had to go show them off and apparently it worked because he managed to find a few girlfriends! What a guy!

Well, I have to say, the last pictures were taken at the waterfalls in Jamaica! Now this was unbelievable, we had an incredible time here. I love the way the kids look in these pictures! I will have to post a few more when I get them. It was just so awesome I have to share it all! ;) And I must say, I have such an INCREDIBLE HUSBAND! to make such a trip possible for his family, All just to see us together and have fun is the most important thing to him, this family is truly blessed! Thank you for giving us this crazy adventure! I love you honey!!!

FAMILY VACATION!

I am so excited about our family vacation! We are going on a Caribbean cruise for one week! This is the ship we will be sailing., it's called Freedom Of The Seas! It is so amazing, the kids are so excited, they have everything for everyone! They have a water park, ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, shows, kids adventure classes, there is just so much I can't even begin. This is just awesome! So I shall post again when we get back. Hoyt mate!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE!!!

This week we celebrated Jesse's 10th birth day!!! Time sure does go by fast! This is him with his award for winning 2nd place in the 50 yrd. dash at the hershey's track meet. To tell you alittle bit about him; He loves Bugs, insect animals ect... One day we found a 3 foot king snake in the yard and he picked it up and kept it in a tank for a day! (and yes, I did freak out!) so for his b-day he's getting a lizard, much better for everybody! He makes friends so easily, it must be the dimples! His favorite saying is chill-ax! (it's chill + relax) his favorite food, pizza and olives. Well, we sure love you and it was sure fun celebrating your birthday!!!!!!!!

MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy Mother' Day! I just had to say, this has been such a wonderful Mother's Day for me! I have really been blessed! I can't believe at times that I have such a big family, yet at the same time I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with so much, He has given me this opportunity and has trusted me with His children! It really humbles me to think of this wonderful blessing. I enjoy being A mother, realizing that my influence is the most important thing to my family, (although I'm not perfect and make mistakes) I will always strive to do my best and be that example for them. I love the saying "Mother's are the very HEART AND SOUL of the family". It is so true!!! I just want them to know that I love them all so--- much! And thank you for making this such a special day for me!xoxoxo

Fun In The Sun

This weekend we thought we would take the family to the lake and try out our jet-ski. These things are so cool! Talk about a rush!!! The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever.The weather was good only 70 degrees outside and I'm sure the water was probably less than 50 (easy), we decided that we would just ride and not get in. Well, right before we left Bill decided to take me on one last ride, and we tipped over! We went into the FREEZING water. I couldn't believe it. I just remember the shock, then pushing Bill in the water so that I wouldn't go under and I started hauling for the ski. He makes fun of me for doing that, but hey, do what you can and save yourself ;)!

MONSTER JAM 2008

This is Monster Jam 2008! It was SUCH a blast! We had the best time. And of coarse, everybody had to take a picture in the Grave Digger! If you haven't noticed yet, I have to do picture grids in order to get the whole family in and not leave any of the kids out. They enjoy seeing their pictures on my blog!

Celeste's Baptizm

This was an exciting day for Celeste, She got baptized!! We are so proud of her! Thanks to everyone for celebrating this day with us!

What A Hand Full!

The kids sure know how to entertain themselves. They enjoy building towers with plastic cups, And climbing the Volcano by our house and having a picnic.

America's Next Top Model!!!

This is Tyler! Some day's he gets a little bored, so he plays dress up and talks to himself. Although he likes to be in-tune with his feminine side, he actually likes to race cars and do "manly" things. :) Tyler, you sure can make us laugh!!

April Fool's!!!

This is what happens when you leave a teenager alone for a couple of hours! Jared and his friends decided to get me for an April fool's joke! They made my house a complete disaster, obviously! They used about 18 rolls of t.p. to create their master piece. This was all done inside the house and they did not miss a thing! As you can see he seems pretty proud of it too, either that or his "big muscles"! Well, when we got home he hid under the table because he thought I would be mad. I actually thought it was so cool! This was the first time someone has done this to my house, well done Jared!!!!!!!!!!!