Sad Goodbyes

We've had to say some sad goodbyes in the last few weeks.  

The Stephenson's moved to D.C.  

The Budge's moved to Montana.

And the Quinn's moved to Utah.

All were sad and a little teary but saying goodbye to the Quinn's was particularly hard.  They're part of our family here in Virginia along with the Harris's and Evan's.  Our kids are all the same age and everyone gets a long so well together.  Our four families did a lot together including spending every holiday together.  We're happy we'll get to see them in a few weeks when we go to Utah, but life here in Cville just wont be the same without them.  We're already staring to plan reunion trips to the Outer Banks all together.

The crew of kids: the Evan's have four girls, the Harris's have four boys, the Quinn's have 2 girls and 2 boys.  We were the tie breaker when we had our third boy.

Mason, Caleb, Liam, Andrew, Gavin, McKenna, Mae, Abby, Katie, Zachary, Gavin, Lucy, Claire, Jonah and Chloe.  (Not included the babies Grayson and Amelia)

 Rich, Ryan and Jared.  (We missed Bret who was still in California gathering his data)

 And while I still hate all post baby pictures of myself, I have to include this because these are some of the finest ladies I know and three of my very best friends.  Me, Amy Quinn, Jodi Harris and Emily Evans.

Graduate

Three weeks ago we hit a major milestone.

Abby graduated from Elementary School.

I've gotten over the "Oh my goodness, how did she get this old" emotion, but not the "How in the world am I old enough to have a daughter in Middle School?!" emotion.   It's crazy.

Abby and her best friend Evelyn

Eveyln, Melina, Spencer, Abby and Kate

Abby and Melina

Evelyn, Lauren, Jade and Abby

After her graduation ceremony Bret and I took her out to lunch to celebrate.

The next night she had a graduation party for some of her friends.  Here they are all using these green decrative balls as microphones while they sing along to One Direction.

They played minute it to win it games...

They sang and danced to lots of their favorite songs,

and then had choclate fondu...

She's really got a great group of friends.  

"The Gang:" Spencer, Jade, Madelyn, Kate, Melina, Abby and Madeline.  (Missing Katherine and Lauren)

Happy Day

Saturday was a happy day around here.

The kids made these posters...

 We drove to the airport and held them up...

 And welcomed home this guy!  

Like I said, happy happy day!

Last Day of School

School has been out for a week now, but never to late to post last day of school pictures!

Abby on the first day of school...

She had a great year with Mr. Humphrey and is ready and prepared to take on middle school.  

Last day...

McKenna on the first day...

Darci Palmer will always have a very special place in my heart.  She was a fabulous teacher.  I've never seen McKenna so excited about learning before.  What a great year it was for her.  

Last day...

Zachary first day...

And last day of first grade...(of everyone he's the one who looks the same to me.)

And we can't forget about Gavin!!!

First day of preschool...

And last day...

Here's the crew and their friends getting off the bus as summer officially began with our last day of school party!

McKenna stepped off bawling and gasping for air.  It's always hard to say goodbye to a loved teacher.

Bradeon, Zachary and Jake...all ready for second grade!

McKenna, Kate, Erica and A.G., the big fourth graders!

Luckily Bret was home this weekend to help me pull off end of school parties and graduation parties.  There is no one quite like him... throwing pizza to everyone before taking them all up to the pool.

Happy Father's Day/Anniversary

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful father's in my life.

To my dad: 

Who has taught me the importance of loving the Lord first.

Who has taught me the priceless value of the scriptures and a personal testimony.

Who has a lived a life of dedication, service and faith.

Who continues to be one whom I call with my triumphs, joys and sorrows.

Who loves and supports me.

Thank you Dad.  

I love you.

And to the father of my children, the man who makes my heart skip a beat, and who I am ever so blessed to spend eternity with, not only is it a Happy Father's Day to him, but a happy anniversary as well.  13 years ago I married the man of my dreams and my best friend.  Just wish we weren't 3,000 miles apart today.

I love how my kids eyes light up when he walks in the room.

I love how he is teaching them the importance of the Savior in their lives.

I love that he teaches the important of work, play, service and faith.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend started when I picked up the kids early from school on Friday and drove down to Virginia Beach to pick up Bret at the airport who was flying in for the weekend.  What normally is a 3 hour drive took 4 1/2 hours because of all the traffic heading to the beach.  The kids had been praying all week for Grayson that he would be happy in the car and I told them that their prayers were answered because he only cried for 45 minutes of the entire trip!  No small miracle when it comes to Grayson in the car.

That night we had a picnic on the beach and it was so wonderful to be together as a family again.  We actually stayed until about 9:30 and had to drag Abby out of the ocean.  That girl is such fish when it comes to anything with water.

The next morning we met up with McKenna's team at this huge soccer complex for their first game of the day.  McKenna and Kelly (who were still feeling the affects of sprained ankles) got their ankles taped by the athletic trainer they had on sight.

 Go Navy Force Disasters!

There were teams from all over the East Coast.  The first team they played happened to be from Pennsylvania.

 McKenna had a great game.  Playing amazing defense and midfield positions.  The coaches told me that their strategy for McKenna knowing she was not going to be there for the Sunday games was to play her so hard on Saturday that she wasn't going to be able to walk off the fields.  They came pretty close, she worked her little heart out with very few rests despite the heat and humidity.  It was a tough team they played, but were able to pull out a victory winning 4-3.

During lunch we slathered the girls with frozen wash clothes and tried to keep them in the shade as much as possible so they could rest up for their second game.

 The second game they played a team from the area and won 9-0

 She played a little in the goal

 And laying it all out had some great stops...

 After the second game we went back to the hotel where the team was staying and swam that afternoon with them.  That night we had a pizza party all together before our family wished them luck in the next days game and hit the road to come back home.  This was one of those times where it was hard for McKenna to choose the right.  Her team was playing in the semi-finals Sunday morning and she felt like she was letting her team down by not playing on Sunday.  It made it even harder when we got word that they lost 2-0.  But she knew she made the right choice and never questioned it even though it was hard.  Bret and I were very proud of her.

Monday morning we got up and had a little Memorial Day devotional with the kids, went swimming and then on the way to take Bret to the airport we stopped by an old cemetery that had veterans buried there as well as soldiers from the civil war and the kids put flowers on some graves.  It was a neat tradition that I'm sure we'll continue for years to come.