My Sherrie Got Married!

This is something many people have been waiting for for a long time.... Sherrie and Jeremy have been together about seven years and when they announced their engagement I knew I had to be there!!! Thanks to my wonderful in-laws, I flew to Utah with my father-in-law for a nice little break and to be one of Sherrie's "besties" to help with all the wedding festivities!Pictures are in a little bit of reverse order but here are some of the beautiful things Sherrie did for the reception hall.
You can't see it very well in this picture, but on her bouquet is a charm with a wedding picture of her parents. Even though they have passed away, they definitely were a part of that sacred day; I think we all knew it.

The awesome Burt family!
Shawna, Sherrie, Me and Kristin.


It was a BEAUTIFUL day at the Bountiful, Utah temple. The ceremony was amazing and I will never forget it. It was a huge blessing to be a part of this amazing day. I will also never forget that I got the stomach flu (because I had left a few kids throwing up here in Washington) while I was there but rallied just in time for the wedding, Nate called one night in the middle of the night because he didn't know where Amanda was and I forgot my temple recommend! That part was exhausting but memorable as well and definitely didn't matter in the long run because Sherrie and Jeremy's day was the greatest (and I was able not to give the flu to anyone else which was a huge relief--to the bride and to me--hee hee)!
I also got to spend some time with Marci and her family which I absolutely loved, as well. I just wish I would have taken pictures of that too!
I just love my "old" friends and miss them already! So excited for Sherrie and Jeremy and their new life together!

Winter Wrap Up!

I hope I do a little better posting in the coming months but for now we get a seasonal wrap up of what we've been up to lately....We rang in 2012 with the Ritchies and Gills...


Happy New Year!

Of course our New Year's boy wanted to celebrate turning FIVE, too! So, at his request we had a football party! We had family over on New Year's day and then had some friends celebrate at the church with football games, team camp training and football cake and ice cream!
Megan got to get out of school to be my helper at the party that afternoon--she was a fantastic helper and I think the kids had a great time, too!
Hooray for snow days!




The fifth graders at Badger Mountain organize an annual sock hop school event to raise money for their Seattle trip. Bradley and I got to help run the games and we got to take these fun friends with us for the evening. They were pretty excited!
Bradley got plenty of attention as well, even though I couldn't get him to dress up.

After growing and growing out her hair, Megan bravely went in for a cut to donate her hair to Locks of Love. She was sad to part with it but the shorter hairstyle is adorable, I think!

Amanda went to Tolo...and "Molo" which is what they were calling the non-school dance put on by mostly LDS kids who wanted a more comfortable environment than the school dances currently are to enjoy. Amanda and her date, David, had two groups of great kids to go with and instead of having to try and choose they decided to give the school dance a chance as well and go both nights, hoping the attempts to make it a more appropriate environment were successful. Nate and I chaperoned the school dance and overall, the kids had fun both nights but were much more comfortable at "Molo" (which I have no pictures of because of the sock hop obligation). In addition to no pictures the first night my camera battery went dead the next night so again my picture inadequacies continue but you get a little bit of an idea....



Amanda and Brandie. Every day I am grateful for the great group of friends my daughter has. Though they have their differences and drama, they are good kids that try and help each other to stay that way. I love these kids. As a family we've had so many interesting discussions on how to stay clean, have clean fun and be an example without being exclusive, or reclusive for that matter. It sure is tough to try and figure out where that balance is. Again, sooooo very thankful we have families right there in the trenches with us to work on all the challenges of teenagerhood together. It's never dull!

So, there's a little bit of our winter to bring us up to date a little bit!