Family Lagoon Trip

Another summer has rolled around once again so it was time for our annual family Lagoon Day! (we didn't have one last year!) As soon as we got to the park and met up with Parker, Heather, and Caleb all Caleb could say over and over again was "We're at the BIG park!" It was so dang cute! He was so excited to go on the rides! He looked pretty darn cute too in his little hat and plaid shorts...I just love that kid to pieces!

Just startin out our day at Lagoon!

Caleb and Lucas' first ride TOGETHER! Pretty sure Lucas cried the entire time and Caleb was like "this is weird...!"
I was so excited to get my turn to take Caleb on a ride! He loved this one in fact he went on it a couple times I think...not sure...

Caleb also wanted to ride the helicotor so bad so as soon as we got off the dinosour he ran over to it!

Caleb and Lucas steering the whatever you want to call it ride. I think it was some kind of a boat or something I'm not sure... Lucas actually liked this one!

Parker, Heather, Caleb, and I riding the kiddie boat thing...they have some pretty cool ones these days!

I will ALWAYS be a kid at heart!

Caleb on the swings!

Lucas L-O-V-E-D us for sharing our dippin dots with him! that was until his mom said "he hasn't eaten lunch yet!" ha ha

Bear Lake

On our way to Bear Lake we couldn't resist stopping along side the road and taking some pics because it was so green and beautiful!

Mike and Raquel! Isn't her little belly so gosh dang cute!? She is about 7 months along!

Ya gotta mark the occasion in the sand!

Oh how I love him!
Alex and Mike being chickens and not getting in the FREEZING water!

Us girls were the only ones who ever really got in the water. Alex got in for like 2 minutes and was out of there and Raquel and I sat our there and talked for quite a while. Of course we were farther out then what the picture shows....a little bit...ha ha

Mike & Raquel once again. They are so stinkin' cute together!

Logan Cruise In!

What is the Logan Car Show and Cruise In without your friends!? Alex and I went early in the morning on the 4th to find us a good spot to watch the cruise in. We just backed the truck up into a car stall at Smiths and it was one of the best seats in the house!
Mike & Raquel...you'd think we were all connected at the hip becaue we are ALWAYS together! They are our best friends in the whole world! AND COUSINS AT THAT!

The "gang": Alex and I, Linda, Will, Mike & Raquel, & Dennis...all of Alex's cousins except for his brother Will.

Mike & Will

Chee!

Fireworks!

Waiting for the fireworks to start at Romney Stadium. We didn't go inside the stadium, we just parked the truck in the parking lot and it was a perfect view!

The fireworks were GREAT! To be honest, it was one of the best firework shows I'd seen in awhile...

Mike & Raquel sat in the bed of our truck with us and it was a really good time!PRETTY!

Camping at Silver Lake

On Saturday afternoon we packed up all our camping gear, picked up Alex's two cousins Eric & Dennis who also live in Logan, drove to Pleasant Grove to pick up Alex's buddy and his wife and dog and headed up to Silver Lake which is up American Fork canyon. All in all in was a 2 1/2 hour drive up there but it was worth it. We only camped for the one night, but spend the whole 2 days fishing, riding the quad's, shooting the guns, and just hangin out. It was actually alot of fun. Here are some pictures. As you can tell, it wa GORGEOUS up there! The sun was so bright and after only one full day, we came home

F-R-I-E-D-!-!-!

Alex and his cousin Eric standing next to Silver Lake

Alex and I standing my Silver Lake at dusk....it was so peaceful!

The view was amazing!

Taking a break from riding the quad and giving Boomer a snack!

Alex through Boomer and his friend's dog Dawkins into the Lake and they loved it but got out pretty quick cuz it was freezing!

Boomer and mommy standing by Tibble Lake on our way down from our campsite on the way home. It was just as beautiful!

I LOVE BOOMER!

Our own little family standing my Tibble Lake...it was a fun weekend!

OK so I HAD to post these two pictures because they are just way too funny not to share them! Just like all of us, Boomer was POOPED from the sun and exhausted from playing with Dawkins the whole trip that the minute we got going on the freeway on our way home he was OUT like a light! He looked sooooo uncomfortable but he was so asleep it was ridiculous! I had to take a picture! He was way dirty just like all of us too so I apologize for him looking lke a slob dog!

Stampin' Up Party!

This blog is a personal invitation for all those family and friends who live nearby namely: Aunt Peggy, Kara, Paige, Aunt Lynn, Emily, Shannon, Jessica, Monica, Aunt Jo, Ashley, Mom, Katelyn, etc etc etc. I know I've missed plenty of people but ANYONE is invited and bring a friend!

I went to one of these parties that a co-worker was the hostess for and FELL IN LOVE with making cute cards! They are so cheap, so cute, so personalized versus buying a card from the store, and you have a blast making them! I am hosting my own Stampin' Up! party and here are the details:

Stampin' Up! Party

Date: June 19th (Friday)

Time: 6:30 PM

Address: 1585 N 400 E #523 North Logan, UT 84341

RSVP: 435-225-4330 (me) by Monday June 15th

*It is a 10 cards for $10 party. The exact cards below are the ones we will be making. Two of each one and then the baby cards are just one of each (1 boy and 1 girl) for a total of ten ADORABLE cards!

RSVP to me as soon as you know if you can make it or not so I can make seating and table arrangements. I need to know how many people you will be bringing and how many sets of 10 you want so we can make enough kits for everyone. Also, June is the last month for some really cute stamp sets before the new catalog comes out in July and they are discontinued so bring your checkbooks for some great deals! Even if you can't make it to my party but want to place an order with Stampin' Up! or want a 10 card kit to do at home yourself just let me know. I have a list showing which stamp sets are being discontinued if you are interested in any of those. If you want to look online at the catalog you can and write down the item #'s you want and you can still place the order with me.

Father's day is just two days after the party!
You can make this card into anything you want because there will be lots of different stamp sayings like "Get Well Soon" "Happy Birthday" "Thinking of you" etc.
The little felt button in the middle of the flower is so cute!

I love the colors of this one and it's so cute!

Baby Boy Care

Baby Girl Card

Labor Day Weekend Camping

Shooting the 12 Guage shotgun! It's really kind of a rush for me because it kicks so hard!

Hangin out by the fire eating the usual sunflower seeds

Playing UNO with Raquel

Boomer loved going on four wheeler rides!

A mouth full of seeds and a cheesy smile from me!

Boomer LOVED his first camping trip! He always stayed close to camp, played all day long, and when it came time to go to sleep he went to sleep! The ONLY issue we had was he didnt know what fire was (I was worried about this to begin with) and he walked right through it to start of the trip. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt cuz the fire was tiny but it still scared the crap out of me. He learned though and we never had another problem.

Chillin by the fire and enjoying my time away!

This is the camping gang we went with! Alex and I, Boomer, Mike and Raquel, Mike's little brother Isaac, and Raquel's little brother Austin. We only stayed for one night up on Raquel's family land in Mendon but it was alot of fun. We also took the four wheelers up so we had a riot. It was my first camping experience without my parents so I had to plan the food schedule and all that goos stuff but it turned out great!

Garrett's Graduation!

Garrett is officially graduated! YAH! When they called his name the crowd and all the graduates went wild, stood up, and clapped so loud! Garrett is just a lovable kid! I think it was more of the fact that no one was sure he would be able to make it that far when he was diagnosed with his cancer. Thank goodness he did!
Marching in....
Pre-graduation

Katelyn and G Baby

B Gaby and I

Caleb and Uncle G Baby

Parker, Caleb, and G Baby

All the siblings with G Baby (except Heather, Robyn & John)

The proud parents with their newest graduate! Fifth one from Burley High School!

Alex and I with G Baby

Katelyn and I waiting for all the pictures to be done!

A New Toy!

What's life without a bit of excitement right? We have debated for a few weeks now about buying some kind of fun toy that we can first of all afford, secondly BOTH enjoy, and thirdly use alot. What a better choice than a four wheeler! It's a 2005 Honda TRX450R. It is way nice and so much fun! We just got it on Saturday the 16th and rode it for the first time on some hills today (Sunday the 17th). It is so much fun. It was either that or a bullet bike and so for OBVIOUS reasons I talked Alex into the four wheeler.

Alex thought he was cool drivin it through a tiny puddle but the picture actually turned out pretty cool!

If anyone wants to go ridin' let us know! We aren't very experienced ourselves yet other than the times we've gone with Alex's cousin who are WAY experienced riders, but I still think it would be alot of fun!

Mother's Day Dinner

Alex's cousin who has a house out in Tremonton invited all the family over to her house on Mother's Day for a family dinner and family home evening. It was really alot of fun. Not everyone in Alex's family on his mom's side who was at this party is LDS or active LDS so the fact that we had a family home evening together was really neat. Alex's cousin Mike (Return Missionary) gave the lesson and bore his testimony and it really touched me. The food was great too: carne esada, beans, rice, pico de gallo, homemade salsas, etc. I love it when the Mexican side of the family throws parties cuz the food is fabulous and the people are even better! I LOVE OUR FAMILIA!!! The picture above is of Alex and his cousin's little girl Lilly. She is so stinkin' cute and just loves Alex to pieces!

This is Alex's cousin Linda. She got bored at the party and wanted to play a good game of solitaire I guess!

This is Mike and Raquel. Mike is Alex's cousin just a few months younger than him and he was just married in November. They are 6 months pregnant with their first son! We hang out with these 2 at least 2 nights out of the week if not more. We even sleep over at their house when we throw all nighter movie marathons! It's great! WE LOVE THEM!

Of course this is us...

Mike and Lilly again

Nene and Obed just chillaxin on the couch. Nene is just a close family friend and Obed is Alex's uncle. (Mike's dad)

Mom and Dad Nelson and then Alex's Aunt Claudia in the back!

Will (Alex's brother), Alex, and his Aunt Leite (Mike's mom)

Boomer

We have been loving this beautiful Spring weather recently. We have been taking Boomer to the park every weekend to let him stretch his legs and get some fresh air. We feel bad that we work all the time and he has to stay at home in the bedroom by himself. He gets soooo excited to see us every day when we come home for lunch or come home from a full day of work. In fact, sometimes he gets TOO excited and piddles! Its kind of funny! I love that little boy!!! Anyway...
Here are a few pictures from this last weekend at the park. We don't have any pictures showing this, but he is the worlds best dog at fetch I swear. We never taught him this formally, he just loves to run and get things and then drop then perfectly in mommy's hand so I can throw it again. I got him a cute doggie tennis ball that he runs after and let me tell ya.....I don't think that thing will ever get old to Boomer!
He's so stinkin cute! We haven't really noticed him growing anymore but then again we see him EVERY day so maybe you have noticed he's gotten bigger. He's a strong healthy little boy!

I LOVE MY BABY BOOMER!

I LOVE MY MOM AND GARRETT!!!

Since today is Mother's Day AND Garrett's birthday, I want to do a shout out to both of them! Let's start with mom:

Top 10 reasons I love her:

1. She is the best gift giver ever! She always gets you something you need/want!

2. She is a great cook!

3. She has a testimony of the gospel and shares it often

4. She raised 5 AMAZING children who still love and respect her after all these years

5. She is all of our #1 Fan. She was always the one cheering for us in the stands at the top of her lungs during our sporting events and the one yelling at the refs! (takes after grandma Moore!)

6. She is the sweetest grandma. My future children are so lucky to have the love of a grandma that is endless and so compassionate

7. She is the most generous person I know. She would rather you get seconds at dinner time than her have anything!

8. She has the coolest laugh. It's very contagious!

9. She has a beautiful smile! I look forward to seeing my mom cuz she will give me a big grin when she hugs me!

10. SHE LOVES ME! "There is not a greater feeling than to love and be loved in return"

I love you mom! You are the best mom anyone could ever ask for! I know sometimes we have our moments with each other but you still put up with me and love me anyways! I am so lucky to have been raised by such a wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and strong woman like you! You are such a great example to me. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Next is Garrett. He turns 18 today! For some reason, I always and forever will just see him as my little 10 year old brother. I know he's not but....Let me tell you, even before all this cancer crap hit him all of a sudden I knew Garrett was special. He was always so chill and relaxed, always happy, down to earth, easy go lucky, and had the "come what may" attitude. I always wondered how a 17 year old could love life so much and have everything turn out the way he wanted all the time! I started analyzing his characteristics sub conciously and came to this conclusion as to why everything with him was the way it was: It's because he chooses the right ALL the time, he follows the rules, he has never ruined my parents trust that I know of, and he has a testimony of the church that radiates off of him 24/7! Then it hit....cancer....How could something so horrible be a part of Garrett's life when everything else was so perfect??? Then I remembered what I've been trying to tell myself alot lately to help me deal with all my infertility stuff: "Heavenly Father would never deal us cards we couldn't play. He would never give us trials in our life that we weren't strong enough to handle" and it HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS! Of anyone in our family, I think Garrett is the one strong enough to get through this and he will! He is my bright and shining star. He is my hero. He has taught me so many life lessons these past couple weeks since he was diagnosed that I will NEVER forget. He is such an amazing example to me of fighting till the end and giving life everything you got. He is honestly the srongest person I know! I will never forget his attitude through all of this. He will come out of it, he will pull through, he will survive, and he will always and forever be my hero because of it! I love you Garrett! Happy 18th birthday!

Family Support

We freakin rock! Livestrong FOREVER!

I LOST 10 POUNDS ON THE CHEMO DIET!

YES these are REALLY Garrett's pants! He lost all that weight in just the first 10 days of Chemo!

Baldies!

BEFORE!

HALF WAY!

CHECK IT OUT!

PARKER DID IT TO TO SHOW HIS SUPPORT!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
LOOK AT THOSE WHITE HEADS!

Garrett Made It To Senior Prom!

Garrett was feeling well enough to go to Prom with his BEAUTIFUL date Paetyn!

The "famous" Prom picture!

Eating dinner with their group before the dance

Like Father like Son

Garrett and Parker

Of course, my favorite picture of Garrett and I!
Mother Son dance at Promenade

Garrett and Paetyn being recognized at Promenade! They looked so great!

Taking a break from all the dancin' and sportin' a cute smile for the camera! Isn't he so handsome?

Livestrong!

I came across these pics from a gal's facebook page that is Garrett's age at school. For those of you that don't know, Burley and Minico are ARCH rivals. BUT in the face of adversity, this time being Garrett's cancer, they have come together. Just typing this brings tears to my eyes! Notice the homemade arm bands that BOTH teams are wearing. They are yellow like the Lance Armstrong Livestrong bands and they say G-5 for Garrett! What an amazing thing! I love how Carli added the color affect on the second one. It makes it look so much more meaningful that it ALREADY is! Thanks Carli!

WOW!

More pics of G-Baby in the hospital

Here are a few more pics from the hospital. Garrett will be release on Thursday morning if everything goes well! YAH!

Sportin' one of the new Beanies his girlfriend Peyton got him and doing what he does best: X Box!
Lucas and Garrett getting in their bonding time
Four of G-Baby's favorite girls and one of his favorite nephews!
Garrett and his girlfriend Peyton. Isn't she just a doll? She bought him a HUGE coloring book and crayons so when she came to the hospital in SLC to visit, they sat and colored for awhile and had a great time! What a sweetheart!

Snugglin with my little bro!

Garrett and his best friend and team mate Sam Harris

Garrett receiving his does of Chemo Therapy for the day. The chemicals they put inside his body to kill the cancer is so toxic that if it gets on his skin it will burn him so the nurse administering it to him has to be all decked out with gloves and apron so she doesn't spill on herself or Garrett's arm. Crazy...

Mama Lyons and Garrett just trying to stay positive!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

I've been wanting to make a fresh strawberry pie since I started seeing strawberries on sale! They are like $1 a carton now and I LOVE IT! Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits along with rasberries but FRESH strawberry pie is even better! Looks pretty good huh?

G-Baby Pics

I apologzie for posting some of these pictures that were already posted on gbabybattleback.blogspot.com but I couldn't resist putting them on my personal Blog as well! The first picture is what Robyn (with the help of Katelyn and I) filled out for the nurses to get to know G-Baby better! Of course we were sarcastic through the entire thing pretty much, but hey....we had to get Garrett while he was down! :)

These beautiful flowers were delivered to the hopsital (I beleive) from the Cassia County School District. They are still in full bloom and have made the hospital room smell so nice this entire time! You walk in the door and the smell of them overtakes your sense of smell!

As you can imagine, G-Baby gets ALOT of sleep while he can. He's been sleeping relatively good at night with all the pain meds and all that. During the day he'll break for a nap between visitors, meals, etc. Especially right now, he's starting to get EXTRA sleepyt because the chemo is breaking down his immune system which tires him out. Poor kid....those hopsital beds aren't comfy let me tell you! Each of us sisters have been taking turns snuggling with him in there and it never lasts long because the bed sucks!

This is one of my favorite pics of Garrett and I this week (there were PLENTY of them!) I love laying with him in the bed and either watch him play X Box, watch a movie, or just talk. He's such a good sport! He's been so respectful to all the doctors, nurses, and CNA's. They all just love him to pieces. They said they love getting assigned to his room because he's young enough to actually talk back and NOT on his last breath! Most of the patients on the cancer floor are like wayyyyyy old and grouchy! You know Garrett: smiley, happy, go-lucky, outgoing kid!