Karlee's Baptism

Sunday was a big day for Karlee. The primary put on their annual program during church and then that evening Karlee got to be baptized. It was special to get to be interviewed by her Grandpa Hyde, who is her bishop, and baptized by her dad. Kyle said a really nice opening prayer. I am glad she chose him and that he was happy to do it. Her and her brother and sisters sang 'When I am Baptized' and then her Grandma Burton-Kennedy gave a talk on baptism. Following her baptism, Gerry gave a talk on confirmation and the Holy Ghost. She was then confirmed by her dad with Grandpa Hyde, Uncle Rob, Pops (Warren), Mel McArthur, and Bro. Caturia in the circle. Her Grandma Hyde said the closing prayer. Then we had a bunch of different types of donut holes for refreshments. It was a special evening and we are grateful for all those who came and participated. We are especially grateful for Karlee. She is a special daughter of God.

Karlee's Birthday Party

On Friday Karlee got to take some friends to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday party. The girls were all patient as I ran a few errands. (I had to take advantage of the trip to Billings;-) They played games and ate pizza and chocolate cake. I was surprised that so many of them were scared of Chuck E. They all earned enough tickets to get a small prize. For some of them it was their first time there. They all seemed to have a good time and got along great with each other. Since I was the only adult it made the trip a lot easier to have such a well-behaved group of girls.

Soccer

We had a beautiful day last Saturday for the final games of soccer this year. This was a happy thing considering their first couple games were played in the rain. Kyle, Karlee, and Allie all had a great time and really enjoyed playing.

They were each on a different team and Karlee and Allie usually played at the same time. At least most of the games were at the same park and I could stand in the middle and turn from field to field hoping I didn't miss out on anything. It got a little more complicated when Journee had volleyball games at the same time and one of them had to play in Cowley.

Talon was having fun teasing Kyle.

Azurdey picked me some dandelions.

Later that night.....

We were working at the house and the kids were playing outside. The little neighbor girl had her bike out and Allie wanted to ride it. I told her not to because it was too small for her. Well, I went back to work and the next thing you know Allie was screaming. She had been riding the bike and crashed. Hard. Here is proof...

You would have thought she would have learned from the caterpillar incident. Are you seeing a pattern here? I hope she is.

(I think it might just beat Justee's goose egg. Go here to compare.)

Karlee Turns Eight!

September 22, 2008

Happy Birthday Karlee!

We sure love this girl. Karlee is such a big helper and hard worker. She is always the first to give or offer help and usually the last one to quit. She even tries really hard to help without being asked. She is a good big sister and loves to pack Talon around the house on her hip. She is affectionate and sensitive, and wants to make others happy. We are very proud of our sweet, caring girl. She is looking forward to getting baptized next Sunday.

Karlee has been so excited for her birthday. She is now 8 years old!

One part of their birthday that the kids really look forward to is taking a treat to school. She picked dipped apple bites with sprinkles. We dipped them in melted peanut butter chips and rolled them in lots of different sprinkles. I was sad to realize I forgot to take a picture of them before I sent them to school.

Anyone who knows Karlee, knows she loves dolphins but what you may not know is that she loves Killer Whales almost as much. Well, that was her request for her birthday cake this year. I asked her if she wanted it to be black or pick another color. After much deliberation, she decided she wanted a green one. (I picked the shade) She had a hard time letting it get cut to be eaten. She wanted to just save it. I think it actually hurt her feelings when I did cut it.

We had a fun little get-together with Grandma and Grandpa and Rob's family.

Being the jester that he is, Gerry put trick candles on her cake. I think she got as big of a kick out of it as he did. If you look close you can tell she is laughing in the last picture. She was laughing so much she had a hard time blowing the candles out (again and again!).

Karlee got lots of fun presents including; a Polly Pocket set, a Tinkerbell picnic set, a thumbdoodle book, a gel pen kit, a princess Wii game, and the traditional (when they turn 8) BB gun. Hope she had a fun birthday.

Paint and Tile

I probably should have made the title the same as I accidentally did when loading the pictures (pain and tile). Really...I will be glad when we are completely finished with the tiling. My knees, hands, and back will be grateful. I have had these pictures for a little while now and thought I should probably get them on here since I have a couple minutes at home. I should be folding laundry.....

If you look in all the bathrooms, laundry room, and entries you will be able to see where we started all the tile. We are now almost finished. We just need to grout 2 of the rooms. We are waiting to touch up the paint until the doors and trim are all done. The kids rooms may have to wait even longer to get all their decorative work done. It depends on time but will probably have to be finished after we move in. Yes, they all have bright, colorful rooms but it is fun for them and they are very excited to add more of their own touches. You can see in the corner of Azurdey's room where I have started the squiggles that will go all around the border. I will also embellish the flowers and add butterflies around the room.

A Huge Thanks

My cousin, Jessica, did something so amazing for us, I just had to share and let everyone else know how thoughtful she is. I received an e-mail from her with a note and these pictures.

She had read my previous post about wishing I lived closer so that I could decorate Jada's gravesite for her birthday. So she did it for us and put 11 balloons on her headstone.

These are her cute kids at the cemetery.

Kamryn, Bryson, and Kenadee

We were so touched that she would do that for us.

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

Thank you, Jessica!

Jada's Birthday Balloons

Thank you for all of the special messages and kind words and thoughts. It had been a cool drizzly day and we were wondering if it was going to get too cold to have a successful balloon launch. However, as school ended and practices got over the sun came out and it was a beautiful evening. It was such an appropriate day for Jada's birthday. The clouds and the rain and our sorrows of missing her will always be outdone by the sunshine and light she is to us. We can't help but be happy to think of her smile and laugh and how she would love the sweet messages and balloons we let off for her. We let the balloons off from the house we are building. I have had a hard time thinking about moving into this new house, we had always talked to her and the others about some day having, and not having her there. We'd talk about how she would set up her bedroom and now I feel an empty space without it. Yesterday morning, though, as Ger and I worked at the house I could feel her near and I know she is very happy for us and so we thought it would be a good place to celebrate.

Teri and her family decided to have their own little party for Jada in Colorado. We thought that was pretty special. They let off balloons there, too. To see her family's celebration and messages to Jada, click here. Thank you Durtsches!

I decided to make her a hot air balloon cake, vanilla with white mountain frosting, her favorite. It was a special day and we all loved getting to spend time together.

Happy 11th Birthday Jada!!!

We love you!