Happy B-lated Father's Day

Since we were in Cortez on Father's Day, we celebrated a week late.  Mike is such a great dad, and the boys learned from his example, and are also great dads.  (our son in law Matt is an awesome dad too.) 

Lani brought Dad's rootbeer to our Father's day dinner.

The Adult table doesn't quite have enough room for all the adults.

Lani and I got to sit with the boys.

Part of the Big and Middle Girls, (Molly and Abi were at their Trek fireside so they couldn't come)

The little girls.  Such a fun night, I love when we can eat outside!

 

Cousin PIcnic

About a month ago, I went to visit my cousin Kathy in the memory care center.  She wasn't doing great, and I called her sister Wanda and was telling her about my visit.  She said she was going to call her sisters and see if they could all come and see Kathy.  Within a couple of days, Jerrie and Gail had tickets to come, and Donna and Wanda had made plans to drive.  

We found out Uncle Bud would be in town and so we planned a cousin picnic in my backyard, and invited Bud, Boyd and Ila Fae to join us.

Amazingly enough, all of the Birks cousins who live in Utah were able to join us!  We asked all the Utah cousins to bring some kind of a salad, the out of towners brought desserts and everything was delicious!  Sooooooo much good food!

The weather ended up being perfect!

Kristen, Chris's friends brought him down from Heber, and Uncle Bud and Ila Fae took him home.

So fun to be together, (and not have it be at a funeral)

The highlight of the night was when Jeff gave rides in his car!

One of the nights, while the cousins were in town, we went to a fun Beatles concert.

They did such a good job singing all our favorite Beatles soings.

 

Lani's Birthday Celebration

We were planning a birthday party for Lani' on her birthday. We found out Tatia's family would be in town the week later, and decided to postpone it so that everyone could get to see Tatia and she could see everone.  When I woke up the morning of the party, I checked the weather and it had a 60 % chance of rain that evening and crazy winds  predicted.  YIKES, that didn't sound like party weather.  We had it planned for a park in Lehi, since we have people coming from Salem in the South and Taylorsville in the North.  I called Jamie and Emily, who have an amazing house in Lehi, and asked if we could possibly do it there.  They were so gracious and said we could.  

When we arrived they had a fun Happy Birthday sign out front.

Krista made a delicious chocolate cake, I made cupcakes and we had 5 flavors of ice cream.

This boy LOVES chocolate!

THANKFULLY, the weather turned out to be perfect at their house and we were able be outside.  Jordan brought his fun axe throwing game that the kids loved!

They have the nicesst back yard. The bosy played soccer.  

We all had fun visiting.

The twins and Savvy played on the trampoline

Savannah is a bit taller than Gracie, and most 3 year olds.

Lani, Carissa and Nora

There were people everywhere. It was so fun!

Our trip to Cortez

Paula and Bob have been working on their house for about 6 years.  They bought a 5 acre lot in Cortez Colorado and began builing a house.  They have done most of the work themselves, it is amazing.  

They have a huge garden area with all kinds of vegetables.

Paula has planted tons and tons of wildflowers.

They have fenced and landscaped about an acre.

They have the most beautiful view

It was so much fun to see them and all their hard work.  Bob is the best cook and make us lots of delicious food.  It was fun to relax and enjoy the scenery.

 

Activity Boys Father's day gifts

For Activity Days, we made key chains for the boys dads for Fathers Day.  I gave each of the boys a sheet of paper, and had them design a key chain.  Then they transferred it onto the shrinky dink plastic.  

None of them had ever heard of shrinky dink projects, so they LOVED watching it shrink up and thicken.  They watched the whole process, luckily it happens in 2 minutes.

All of their keychains turned out great!

 

Pioneer Trek

This year, Jamie and Emily got to be Ma and Pa on trek for their ward.  

Molly and Abi were able to go too.  They had a great experience and were so glad they went.

I LOVED this picture Jamie sent!

Hailey and Aida got to go with their ward and survived too!

I got to tend Kelsi and Oliver, they played with friends almost the entire first day, but by the second day, they were ready to play with cousins.  Jack and Gabbie live right by In and Out Burger, which Kelsi and I love, so we wanted to go there for lunch.  Unfortunanly, Oliver is not a fan, and wanted to go to Wendys, so we compromised, and grabbed his lunch at Wendy's and ate out on the picnic table at In and Out.  After lunch, we picked up Jack and Gabbie and our first stop was Scheels for a ride on the Ferris Wheel.  I'm always amazed at how big it is, and how much the kids love it!

We hit Cafe Rio for dinner, and the next day went to Dry Creek that unfornatley, wasn't dry at all.  It was full and there was caution tape all over warning not to get in the water.They had fun climbing the trees and playig on the playground.

It is so beautiful there. We had our last family pictures taken at Dry Creek.

Since they didn't get to play in the water, we set up Kelsi's water slide.  Their backyard is in three tiers, and they have the perfect area to set up a water slide. They also have a hot tub, isn't their backyard AMAZING!  We had such a good time together, and before we knew it, it was Saturday afternoon, and their parents and sisters were home.  They were excited to take a shower and sleep in their own beds.

Jordan River Temple

Every Tuesda is temple day for me.  I serve there from 4:00am-10:00am and then ususally do a session or an initiatory after, since I'm already there and dressed.

On Thursday, Mike and I were able to go to the temple together for the first time since before Covid.  He has not felt great for a long time, and we are so grateful that he is doing a little better and was able to go.  

I was also able to go with Lani one day last week and Krista the week before.  So nice!

 

Memorial Day 2023

We started our Memorial day at Wasatch Lawn Cemetary, we took flowers to and visited Mom, Dad, Jerry, Paul, Grandma and Grandpa's graves.  

Sophie came with Lani to the cemetary, and we met there at 11:00

Jeff, Jen and Ric came too, along with Chandler and his cute little family

Chip and his sweet family came as well, so it was a nice group to get to visit with.

Afterward, we went to the yummiest Mexican place called El Chihuahua.  They had the best chicken taco salad I've ever had, It was HUGE!

Our next stop was Larkin cemetary to visit Grandma Clines grave.  So glad they had her headstone set.

Then we stoped by the Jordan River where we put Grandpa Cline's ashes, and left a flag.

It was a really nice day, so grateful for our parents and grandparents.