I just had my 20 year class reunion and it was actually REALLY fun! I was so nervous to go since Alton was out of town and I didn't really want to go by myself. I called my good friend Janice and she went with me. She graduated the year before and I am so glad she went. I hope she wasn't too bored and had fun. I was amazed at how many people I talked to. This picture is of all of us that were there that went to Cherry Hill Elementary! I have known these people for SOOO many years. We were missing a few people but it was so great to see everyone.

I totally loved being able to catch up with everyone that I haven't seen in many years. What a great night! I will update more later but wanted to post this great picture.

What a great day. Marissa had her first Parade performance. She started taking Irish Dance about 5 months ago and has LOVED every minute of it. We can't get the smile off her face when she is at dance. She has WONDERFUL teachers and is really enjoying learning new dances. She is just one dance away from starting hard shoe which she is a bit nervous about. She has watched the riverdance and sees how fast people move their feet and she is like really they think I can do that! She learns really fast so it will be fun to watch. Alton and I walked behind the dance troop so that no little kids got lost. It was fun Alton was in his Kilt and EVERYONE loved his walking stick with the boot on the bottom. We really had a blast this day. More pictures and updated info to come. The other pictures are from the Play Beauty and the Beast. Marissa was in this as a one of the napkins from the be our guest part and also a villager from the gaston song. She had a blast but personally I am glad it is done as it is EXTREMELY time consuming! It was great to go watch her a few times and really was a great experience for her.

Marissa

Marissa and I went on an adventure one day. We went to Bridal Veil Falls. It was great because we hiked up to be right under the bottom of the waterfall. Marissa had never done that before and it was really fun to watch the fearless one climb and want to KEEP climbing once we were up there. I remember doing that many times when I was hanging out with my best friend Becky in High School... What great memories.

I wanted to add a few more pictures. They are from some summer adventures we really had some fun this summer. First picture is Wyatt's scout troop at Camp Bartlett, The second it Marissa on top of the rock she climbed up, the third and a HUGE thank you to Uncle Paul Wyatt holding a rooster... Yes Uncle Paul taught him how to catch them... He wanted to bring him home, mom said NO WAY!!!!

Oh my gosh it has been 6 MONTHS!!! Where does the time go... Well summer was busy but not with fun travels. Just crazy kids stuff. We started the summer with Wyatt going on his first Scout Camp experience. I was so excited that his dad was able to take the week off and go with him since they don't let moms tag along... They went to Idaho to Camp Barlett. He had so much fun!!! He still talks about it. He went the third week in June. He experienced lots of changes to the weather up there. It rained, was hot, hailed and they also woke up the one morning to SNOW!!! He really did have a blast.
He was home for one week and then off to Clear Creek Camp! gone another week away from mom that was hard. My son is growing up fast and I can't get him to slow down. After a week of him being home Marissa was off to Girls Camp! it really was nice having everyother week with only one child. Because there was NO fighting or competing at all! And I got some good one on one time with my kids. The rest of the summer was Scouts, Young Womens and me working. We did take the kids to Lagoon one week before school started. This year we finally got Wyatt to go on Wicked! thanks to his friend Tucker. They shook on it that he promised he would go and Wyatt kept his word. I was very proud of him. Marissa took her friend Lauren. Lauren had NEVER been to an amusement park so it was fun to see her experience the rides for the first time also. Marissa was also trying to go to as many Temples as she could to do Baptism's she really had a blast. We included one picture at the new Draper Temple. It was a beautiful day. First time I had done baptism's in 20 years!!! What a wonderful experience with my beautiful daughter. I really can't wait until we can go with Wyatt also in 4 months. Well that is our summer in a nut shell! I will update even more soon I promise!

Marissa's New Adventure

So April 5Th Marissa got something that she has been so excited about. BRACES! Why was she so excited, you ask? Well all her friends were getting them and she really wanted the colors and all the "FUN" that goes with having braces. The pictures don't lie she just smiled about it. Until afterwards... They hurt mom, I can't eat mom... Why do they hurt so bad. Well it is helping move your teeth so they are totally straight. Oh the tears that came once reality set it. She is doing much better it has been a whole week. She can even play the Clarinet and Sax with them on her teeth. Something she was really worried about! I am just so excited to have insurance that pays most of the cost for her straight teeth. And she still has a beautiful smile even with the metal track in her mouth.

Week in Review (warning graphic)

This week was a bit scary for a mother. My kids have never had major injuries, Marissa sprains her ankle often, has fractured her ankle, Wyatt broke his nose trying to have the dog pull him over a ramp while wearing his roller blades but only had a black eye. Well Monday last week was different. Wyatt went to the neighbors, he loves to help people and thought maybe he could help with something. When he got there he was setting his bike down and their dog growled a bit and then stopped he has been around this dog before and when he turned and looked at the dog and he stopped growling thought it was fine. Well as he turned back around the dog charged him and bit him in the head. He fell backwards and hit his head on a pole then trying to get up he smacked his head again on the pole. Stumbled back to get the dad and then they brought him home to me. I really have wonderful neighbors, they calmed him, brought him home and then drove us to the Emergency room. She sat with me the whole time as poor Wyatt screamed so loud they had to come close the door to his room. It totally broke my heart to see him in that much pain and not being able to take it away was even worse. The end result was 27 stitches in his head, needed stitches in his eye (but it was too close to his eye so they had to steri strip it) and a concussion.
We took him home after and everything didn't hit me until after I got my kids and Alton to bed and sat in the family room and just cried!!! I felt so bad for our neighbors because it was so hard for them as well as it was for us. This is their pet and they were now talking about putting the dog down. Wyatt did OK other than he slept ALOT. not like him during the day but he did sleep a lot and just cried the first three days because he was in pain. I really wish there was a way to take away your kids pain when they are hurting because it just breaks your heart! I also wish I could take away the pain, guilt and sadness that this caused our neighbors. How difficult to have to go through this and I wish that I could take that away from them also. This was a freak accident nothing more and to hear what people have said about the situation is very hard as they are friends of ours and we love them very much and hate to have people say anything bad about the situation. When you are in this situation with a friend you have to remember the word "Accident" it wasn't on purpose and they would NEVER do anything to hurt our kids. They love them and didn't deserve to have to go through this hard time either. I just hope they will be able to not feel guilty and they will know that we love and appreciate them very much.
As of today Wyatt went back to school today, For the first time he was very excited to got to school and not be stuck on the couch in pain. He is a trooper and I just love him. When I told Marissa and Wyatt that the dog had to be put down they both cried and said that wasn't fair he didn't mean to do what he did. Just had a bad day. We all have bad days. Wyatt got his stitches out today and he is looking good tomorrow is Spring picture day and he can't wait to have a picture with all his bumps and scars. He is now seeing that they are pretty cool and he has a story to share. Thank you to all who helped us through this hard time. We really appreciate it! Love to you all