Eye Of The Tiger

Jonathan loves Just Dance.  His signature dance has always been Eye of the Tiger.  This weekend we pulled out our old Wii American Idol karaoke game.  Jonathan discovered that his signature karaoke song is also Eye of the Tiger!

Happy Happy Birthday... Again

Kylie, Jess, Chris, Kaitlin, Jonathan (minus Lauren)

We celebrated Jessica and Chris' birthdays at Genghis Grill on Saturday evening.  The kids are so cute and grown up.  Lauren was so grown up and sitting with the adults that I accidentally missed her while I was posing the cousins for a picture.  Sorry, Lauren! 

Jess babysat Kylie all day while Kristin, Glen and Lauren were at a conference and Chris and Kaitlin were at band.  Afterwards we met up to celebrate Chris' 17th birthday.  I had only eaten at Genghis Grill once before.  It was a serious meat-fest!

Jess is a HUGE Avengers/any super hero fan. Fred ordered Jess and Chris an Avengers cake.  I know that Jess was thrilled - no so sure about Chris.

We had a great time celebrating with the Simmons and didn't get to visit with them enough.  We don't get to spend nearly enough time with them and it was hard to visit in the restaurant.  Hopefully, we can get together before life gets crazy.  We enjoyed spending the day with Kylie.  She has a way with words and we always love the crazy little things she shares with us!

Crazy Cousins!





Rooted in Christ

Now, we will compare the word unto a seed.  Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief... it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves - it must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to challenge my soul, yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.

-Alma 32:28

Hunka Hunka Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

It has been an Elvis kind of week!  Today at work the party committee served up peanut butter and sandwiches in honor of Elvis.  They buttered them up and made them on a George Foreman grill, so that it would be the best reenactment of a fried peanut butter and sandwich possible in an office environment. 

They played Elvis music while we ate our sandwiches.  I tuned the Elvis music out.  It still makes me sad...  Elvis will always remind us of our Aunt Judy and it can be hard to listen to most of the time.

However, in honor of Elvis and Aunt Judy, I did try the sandwich.  I am a huge proponent of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  I can eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I can eat them when there isn't anything else to eat in the house.  They are a favorite of mine.  I have never had one warmed up and I certainly don't know what Elvis was thinking having them fried.  I must say that they were very good warmed up.  The banana and peanut butter was super good warmed up.  Mark it down someone!  I tried a new food (sort of).

Aunt Judy and Elvis, you are missed!

Flashback Friday: Aunt Judy and 'Elvis'

In honor of Elvis week, I thought we would celebrate Flashback Friday with Aunt Judy's Elvis Birthday.  Who could forget her very special birthday party?  She had the time of her life.  And, the rest of us had the time of our lives just watching her.  It was one of those days that you never forget.

In Honor Of The King

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.  There were two things that my Aunt Judy loved -- her family and Elvis.  So, on this day, I am remembering Elvis and Judy.  They are both missed deeply.

Sweet Jessica Celebrates Her Sweet 16

Sydney Crawford (Jess' friend from church, Ally, Jess and Madison)

We celebrated Jessica's Sweet 16 with a small family celebration. We went to Main Event for some awesome and very competitive Miniature Glow Golf.  Grandma, PawPaw Larry, The Garstka's, The DiSpigno's and Jessica's friend Sydney helped us show Jessica how much we love her.  (MaMaw had oral surgery and was  very sick, so she and Grady didn't attend.)

The obligatory crazy/silly shot

The girls had a great time and kept their game non-competitive.  In fact, I heard the birthday girl do a little cheating while she was writing the scores down.  She wanted everyone to get at least a 3 on the last hole.

The big people were more competitive.  During college, Fred, Dave and Angela worked at Mountasia (a miniature golf establishment) so they took this very serious.  Stacey seemed to take it serious too.  I have depth perception issues, so I didn't take it serious.  I just wanted to the game to be over.  Jonathan (always the odd man out in our group with all girls) played on the men's team.  I think he talked a lot trash, but couldn't keep up with his mouth!

Jonathan

After the ever-so competitive game of golf, we let the kids play games.  Ally (who is competitive like her mom) racked up lots of tickets and that talked the big girls out of some of theirs.

To end the day, we dropped Sydney off (who had plans later in the evening) and then we went to Applebee's for dinner. Jess had picked Applebee's as her restaurant of choice.  I was skeptical, but it turned out to have great service and the food was pretty good.

Our waitress was so sweet and said that she thought that we should not make her stand on her chair for the 'Happy Birthday' song.  Jessica was ever so grateful.

We had a great time celebrating Jessica's birthday.  We love her so much and appreciate all that she has been through and all that she has accomplished.  She is an awesome young lady and we hope that she continues to work hard and live up to her potential.   She has come so far in 7 months and we are pleased with her progress.  It wasn't easy and there will still be tough times ahead, but if she remembers that her parents love her and that her Heavenly Father loves her then she can do anything.