11 years of marriage!

We had a great anniversary yesterday! Lindsay and Will watched our kids Friday and Saturday so that Aaron and I had quite a bit of alone time. It was really nice! Saturday morning we got up and went on a bike ride together and walked on a very secluded trail and talked about old times. I'm so grateful for my sweet husband and for the fact that we got so lucky to find each other and to have made the decision we did to marry in the right place. He has been a great strength to me and our children. Yesterday was a really busy day! After the bike ride we went back to get the kids and helped out with a fundraiser garage sale. All the cousins are raising money for a trip to Disneyland and Disneyworld. The kids did really well... almost reaching their goal! Then, we rushed off to Christian's baseball at 2. He played a great game and pitched a couple of innings. The strikers won 10 -1, I think. We actually had to leave early for Christian's piano recital at the Liberty building that started at 4pm. Christian is an incredible piano player, and he loves it! We then got to relax a little and went and ate at Casa Lupe with Aaron's family. Grandpa took all the grandkids to ice cream afterwards. For all of you who wanted to come to his recital but couldn't make it, we got a video of him playing. He even did it without music! I could never do that! Meliah really looks forward to starting piano lessons this fall. She's already writing her own songs. She wants to be able to write her own music too!

Are we really at the end of May?

I can't believe how quickly May has flown by! We have been so busy with what turned out to be Meliah's 8th birthday which was Cinco de Mayo but turned out to be a month long affair! She hasn't even been baptised yet so I'm sure that the celebration will continue. Anyway, here are some of the pictures of her huge birthday party with so many friends and family it was amazing! Thank you to everyone who came, helped out and made it such an amazing and memorable birthday for her.

The kids decorating their cupcakes!

Lizzy and her buddy, Maddie (notice Jacob's excitement in the background).

Meliah with her funny card from the Eccles! She loved this one!

Meliah with some of the last kids left at the party... Mom finally had a little more time to take an organized picture.

The line waiting to go on the waterslide... the kids were all so amazing and well behaved.

Some of the little ones in the baby pool. We've had that pool since Christian was a baby... it's held up so well and has seen lots of fun times!

Meliah with her gigantic cupcake. She thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Sweet Laura found a frog and was able to stay entertained by it at the end of the party. She is such a critter girl!

Meliah got a bike.

The favorite of the party was definately the bounce, waterslide! It was a blast to watch the kids...

I sure wish they'd have had stuff like this when I was a kid. I remember a lot of water fights and picking 25 of my mom's gray hairs for a penny a hair so I could go down to the public pool for 25 cents. But I do remember that feeling of being soo excited about something that I couldn't contain myself! If only we could keep being so real about our emotions as we turn into adults.

My talented track stars!

Meliah with her cousin Sierra

Christian running in the 100 yard dash finals

Christian pitching for the Live Oak Strikers

Christian and Meliah ran in the Hershey track meet on Saturday and did amazing! Meliah got 1st in the 400 and 3rd in the 200 and in the relay. Christian got 3rd in the 100 and 400 and 4th in the long jump. Christian also played a baseball game that day. It was a long day outside in the heat! The kids also performed in a talent show at the church that night. Christian played the piano and Meliah sang 3 songs that she had written herself. Elizabeth drew a picture that she shared for her talent. It was a fun evening and so great for the kids to share their talents and become more confident about sharing them.

Meliah is 8

Today is a special day for Meliah. She is 8 and ready to be baptised! It's amazing as a mother watching your children grow and learn. It strengthens my testimony of the gospel to see how wise our Heavenly Father is about when certain things should and can happen. It has been within the last few weeks that I have seen Meliah start to take more responsibility for herself. She is so aware of what is right and what is wrong. It will be a great blessing for her to have the Holy Ghost to help her and guide her. Some of the many things I love about Meliah are these:

1. She laughs a lot and always looks at things in a positive way
2. She loves her family a ton (including cousins, aunts, uncles, G & G's)
3. She always fills me in on her life, school, her feelings, her dreams, the books she's reading etc. (which is something Aaron nor Christian are very good at.)
4. She is Elizabeth's teacher (She has taken the responsibility of teaching Elizabeth how to read).
5. She is a leader! Other kids follow her around to find out exactly what they are going to play and how! I told her it's time for some missionary work.
6. She wants to do what is right! (I hope she continues to be such a great girl)

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