MEMORIAL DAY!

The kids had fun seeing all the flags and flowers at the cemetary this year. It is always a humbling experience to go there for a visit.


Here we are looking for my Grandpa Mortensen's flag.

I love this statue. And I actually know the guy who did it. (He's really good.) But my favorite is the saying that they put on the stone. "Lest we Forget." I think it is very important to never forget the sacrafices that have been made on our behalf.

My Grandma and Grandpa Mortensen's grave.

We also visited Jared's Aunt Fauntells's grave, but I forgot take a photo of it.

Field Day

Josh had a lot of fun at his schools field day. And I had fun being able to attend for just a little while.

Happiness.

I just love this picture of Grandpa Jardine giving the kids a wheel-barrow ride. Everyone is enjoying themselves! So fun.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Happy Birthday to Jared (who turned 31)! We love you so much!

We had a little party for him at home, then went to Kip and Linda's for a BBQ with hot dogs and stuff. We were going to go up the canyon, but that didn't work out, so we used their fire pit instead and forged ahead with our plans. It was a lot of fun.

The kids love giving Dad their gifts.

And for breakfast, we always have a candel in some kind of breakfast food (ie...french toast, pancakes, or something...)

We also held a family part with my family and Jared's. Thank you to everyone who came, and for the wonderful gifts!

Snow? In May? Yep!

We woke up on Monday, looked out the window, and saw....SNOW! Not just a little dusting, but a full on dump! (These pictures we taken later that day, and already much of it had melted.) And I think due to it being...well...MAY, it was really wet and heavy snow. So it was landing on trees that were filled with leaves, and some of the branches just couldn't handle all that weight. There were broken branches all over the place! Luckily none of ours broke, but many of our neighbors did. All morning you could hear, "crack!" And you knew that another one "bit the dust." It was pretty amazing! And by 4:00 p.m. most of it was gone. The kids snowman lingered throughout the night, but the next day was beautiful warm weather! So it didn't survive to long.
But go figure... snow in May. I guess that is Utah weather for ya.


The kids loved it! They built this snowman all by themselves!

Breanne's Preschool Graduation!

I can hardly believe that my little girl graduated from preschool, and will be in Kindergarten next year. While I was getting her ready, I just kept thinking of when I was getting ready for my high school graduation, and I thought of how fast time flies. I said to her..."now it is preschool, then it will be Kindergarten, then 6th grade graduation, then 9th grade graduation, then High School graduation, then on to college, and then get married.....HUH!!!" (Dad came in and asked what was wrong.... "Oh nothing, just mom watching Breanne grow up before her eyes in like two seconds.") It feels that way sometimes. The time just flies by with kids. You want them to grow and develope, but you also want them to stay little forever. (Thank Heaven for photography!)
Anyway, Breanne had a wonderful time during preschool this year, and is totally ready for Kindergarten! She is such a wonderful little girl, and excels in everything she does. She really loved this preschool, and had a lot of fun going on the field trips, playing with friends, doing her "papers", and learning to read.
The little graduation ceremonies were short and sweet! But just perfect! They got a year book, a diploma, and a little hat. Plus a DVD of the pictures and events throughout the year. Then they had cookies! It was a lot of fun!
Good job Breanne! WE LOVE YOU!

I'm mean, Seriously? How cute is she?!!!!

We got a shot of her just before we left. We did her hair with curly pigtails, and made bows special to match her dress. She looked so beautiful!

Baby #5
Ultra Sound at 21 weeks along.
And...It's a BOY!
And we are so excited!
(Just need to think of a name.)

My Mom's Retirement!

My Mom is retiring from School teaching this year! She has been teaching Art at Northridge Elementary for a while now, and is very good at it! She will be very missed! I'm glad she is such a hard worker, and has been so successful in all that she does! Congradulations Mrs. Mortensen! You've been the greatest teacher I've ever had! (Luckily you will never retire from being a great mom!) We love you!

We all went out for Pizza to celebrate!


The school put on a retirement openhouse for her, and some of the other teachers that are retiring. Here we are enjoying some of the brownies!

My mom and dad.

Me and my Mom.

"Look at the Dandilions, Mom!"

What a lovely arrangement of flowers the kids put together on our deck the other day! They were so proud! So creative!

Fun Train Field Trip

So this family all built houses by each other on some land (by where we live), and then they put in a little train to "connect" everything. It is so fun, and every spring they invite some preschools and kindergartners to come have a ride, and learn about trains. It was such a blast! And we had great weather that day! What a fun secret! (I wish we could have a train going around our "property"...someday maybe!)


Here are the kids playing train themed games.

The "conductor" (the nicest guy...who owns the trains...)

The cute little engine! (And the cute little Scottie!)

Here we are...ready for the train to leave the station!

(The train isn't that big, and it doesn't go all that fast! But a fun experience non-the-less!)

The hole repaired!

They filled the hole! Now we just have to wait for our lawn to recover (they did put the sod back over...I just took the photo before that).

Field Trip to Thanksgiving Point

As always..... we had a lot of fun going to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. It was a beautiful day, with great weather, and everyone had a lot of fun seeing all the animals.

My Dad's Retirement from the Tabernacle Choir

My Dad has served in the Tab Choir for slightly more than 20 years. They generally "kick you out" after you have either served for 20 years, or if you turn 65. So he was in it for the 20 year thing. And I think he actually served for closer to 22 years, due to some randome scheduling things. But anyway, it was a really neat thing to have as part of our lives for so long, and I know that he will miss it dearly! So we had to throw him a party! Here are some pictures of the party we had, and some of Sunday morning when we went up for his retirement program at the tabernacle.



This table dispalyed only some of the many places he visited with the choir, and people he met while serving. There was also a picture his kids at the age we were when he started. Hard to believe how fast time flies!

Here are the girls saying a few words about our Dad and our Mom, who both sacraficed a lot for the choir.

Walking back to our car.

Temple Square looked so amazing! I wish my yard could look half that amazing!

(And I wish Breanne would have smiled for this photo...oh well.)

Inside the tabernacle.

This picture is kinda fuzzy, because I had my zoom on, and in the super low lighting, it didn't turn out the best, but that man sitting in the middle is President Monson!!! It was really cool to be so close to the prophet. And it was really neat that he was there to personally thank the members who were retiring. It made me realize just what a big deal the whole thing is. I was very grateful for the chance to be so close to, and to be able to hear the voice of the prophet in such a personal setting. He was the one who gave each member thier plaque, and they got a picture with him. I can't wait to see the one my dad got. Pretty cool.

Eli, and the kids....having to be patient through the program.

Cheryl and Eric, Melissa and Jake, Brent and his girl friend Kirsti, and some other aunts and uncles and cousins.....All made it up to Salt Lake to see my Dad. It was really nice.

Jared and the kids, looking for my dad, and watchig the program.

It's a BOY!

I will scan the ultrasound picts soon.
but just wanted everyone to know that.....

IT'S A BOY!