Fair Kick Off

 Parade with Calli & Laura

Every year we are gone the week of the parade because of the Keller reunion.  This year we were able to stay for the first 2 days of fair week which included the kick off parade. Cade & Ashley were so excited to finally go to the fair. 

 Ashley will be a cheerleader this year for 7th grade.

The 7th and 8th graders both marched in the parade.

This was the first time wearing their uniforms!

 Joe, Ty, & Valerie

Hailey was also in the parade showing off her gymnastic skills

Eight is Great!

 Hailey turns 8!

We celebrated her Birthday with the Kellers in Meridian.  We had our own party that was enjoyed by all.  Hailey got an ironing board and a Jeep for her American girl doll along with some clothes. She couldn't have been happier.

   

 My little gymnast.  I really don't know where she got her flexibility.  She has been going to gymnastics this summer 3 times a week and has fallen in love with the bars.  She is so strong!

Claire and Hailey got to have a dual Birthday Party!

Keller Time

When the Keller cousins get together there are lots of girls and few boys! Good thing for my brothers being around once in a while because Todd was unable to make the trip and Dave only made the trip for one night.  Of course we had a great time.  We missed Grandma & Grandpa but took full advantage of their house.  We overloaded Cam & Erin who are living at the house with a brand new 3 week old baby.  We moved right in and lined all the girls up to sleep on the family room floor.  

Roaring Springs for the older kids and park for the Littles occupied our first day.  We attempted to go boating but got up to the lake and found out the boat was not working. We were sad but at the same time relieved to get out of the thick smoke from all the fires.  We settled for swimming and eating at a little place on the way to the lake.  Good thing the kids just really like being together so it didn't matter what we did.

 Cade & Gavin

 Hailey, Anna, Claire, Madison

 Quincy & Valerie

 Floating the river is always a blast with the girls and uncles/brothers as guides.  This year was the first year for Hailey, Mikayla, Madison, & Anna.  They tight knuckled it for some of the time but all said they loved it.  Mikayla got brave part way through and rode the bull.  Funny thing was she made it through the biggest rapid and then jumped out for the next smaller rapid.  Cade fell in twice.  One time he was just demonstrating how not to fall in.  Brandon said more people went off that rafting trip than in his whole career. No one was hurt and everyone came up laughing.  Hailey was stoned faced most of the ride.  She sat down on the ground in the middle of the raft and held on for dear life.  She was just at the right spot that every rapid would come over the front of the raft and hit her right in the face.  She was holding on so tight even when going through the easy parts that she wouldn't even wipe off her dripping wet face.

 We celebrated Hailey and Claires Birthday by waking up to eat swedish pancakes and the heading off to the zoo.  We ate at Costco for lunch which was a first for Hailey!  That evening we had a party with lots of fun games and all the family.

 Eating doughnut off strings!  Huge hit!

 Freeze Dance

 The boys were too cool for freeze dance so they were on the tramp doing ninja fighting.  Gavin also sang to us a song from Colin Raye that he plans to sing at his wedding.....love is a river....

 Can't go wrong with the vaseline/cotton ball game

 Oh Ariel?

Ty loves baby Porter and still talks about him in his prayers at night. It is so sweet!  Ty has just started praying on his own without help and I love hearing what he has to say in his sweet little voice.

Chillin with the ladies

Ty loves the girls and is kind of a flirt.  He moves his eyebrows and tries to wink on command from his sisters.  He has big eyes that even get bigger when he wants something.  He reminds me of the sweet little cat on Shrek. Yes he is spoiled and loved and still the baby!

Tori came to visit for a week.  Tori, Shelby, Sydney, Ashley and Mikayla were living it up!
 

20 years and counting!

On the morning of our 20 year anniversary Dave walked

into his office and saw the above on his desk. (I was able to sneak in there the night before).

The theme of the gift/date was TIME hence the hourglass. On the hourglass there was a quote that said, "In time all things grow old and weak but my love for you only grows stronger and better with every second of every day."

Then he opened the TIME magazine and was invited on a road trip down Memory Lane.

A half hour after seeing his invite, a Time Capsule bucket was delivered to him. On the capsule it said, "Our Love is Timeless."  There was a card attached that instructed him to open one gift from inside the capsule every half hour starting with the gift labeled 1992 and ending with 2012.

Here were the gifts of what was inside the capsule.  Each gift went along with a song that we liked and had special memories of over the years.  I had really fun thinking of all these ideas and remembering our earlier years!  One of the gifts was our wedding video that I had made into a DVD.  Some gifts were cheesy like mints and others had more meaning.  The one I really liked was a willow tree figurine couple dancing called, "The Promise."  I attached that to the song True Companion.  

That afternoon we took off to Utah and left our kids to hold down the fort for one night.  That was the first time ever we left them alone overnight. They did great.  Dave and I enjoyed shopping, eating at cheescake factory, walking around the SLC temple where we were married, and just doing nothing!

I got braces!  They are only supposed to be on for a few months but we will see how that goes.  I was at an appointment for one of my kids when the orthodontist decided he didn't like how my retainer was working. (I have had to get two new retainers in the past few months because Ty has thrown them down the toilet).  Dr. Michealson said he was slow and would put the braces on right then!  He further talked me into it by telling me he wouldn't even charge me.

I was shocked when the doorbell rang and I had a special delivery!  I was even more shocked when I found out the beautiful flowers and yummy chocolates were from my Mom and Dad in Argentina!  Thank you!

 

I also decided for my Anniversary I would treat myself and finally put on the new bedding I have had laying around for 6 months.  I painted my walls grey (color found on pinterest) from sage green.  I got rid of my ripped up bedding and the old blue recliner that all my kids had been using as a bed. Still got some work to do but it is coming along!

Shirley Reunion

As always at the end of July we head down to Utah for the Shirley Family Reunion.  Our kids look forward to this all year long.  They love hanging out with their cousins and Grandma Shirley always has fun things planned.  This year we went boating at Lake Jordanelle (I didn't even take one picture).  Cade, Ashley, Kayla, and myself all tried surfing behind the boat.  Mikayla tried skiing and almost got the hang of it. All the kids enjoyed the lake trampoline and jet skiis.

One day the boys went to the shooting range while the kids played lots of games.  On Sunday we had our traditional piniata (actually we now have 4 piniatas because of all the many kids)!  Sumo wrestling and outside movie in the backyard were hits this year!  We can never forget all the food we eat!  Good food and good company make for good times!

Valerie, Elle, Evelyn

Olivia, Mikayla, Ashley, Garrett

Hailey, Maddie, Alex, Tio

Valerie and Kara

 

Kalin, Cade, Jacob, Lauren

My first picture with braces

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Shirley

Wyatt and Ty were buddies!  They followed each other everywhere!

Ashley

Ashley and Lauren Sumo Wrestling

Cade and Kalin Going At It