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)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Funeral!

Well, last night I was able to attend my own funeral! It was so hilarious! I thought that I was going to my nephew's birthday party but it ended up that I walked into my sister's house and I was seated and handed a program to my own funeral. Everyone was wearing black and the table in front was set with pictures of me and a vase full of Calalilies. The program had a horrible picture of me and said, "Beloved years of youth, we will truly miss you. 40 years down, many more to come". It started with some prelude music (Celebrate, by Cool and the Gang), which if you know me that song is sooo me and one of my favorite songs of all time. My dad did the opening remarks. He told everyone stories about me as a younger child. He's so funny because he wasn't prepared to make any comments at all. At the end he started talking about butterflies because there was one above my picture on the program and how they start in a cocoon and turn into beautiful butterflies. Then he started talking about the mayfly and how short their lives are in comparison to the butterfly. My dad majored in zoology and somehow he has retained everything he has ever learned. Anyway, he related that to my life hoping my life would be like the butterfly. My mom spoke of past boyfriends and what an ordeal it was for her. I must tell you it was a bit uncomfortable because of some of the stories that were told of old boyfriends, how mean of a boss I was when I worked for the family, and how fired up I get (just like most members of the family)! But I knew that they were all joking around and it was so funny that I cried. Leah probably cried the most though! Meliah said, "Aunt Leah is a really good actress!" Aaron was so sweet and ended it by telling a story of how when we first met we went to same Unity Conference and that we ended up in different groups. He told about a little hike that we went on and and how somehow he chose outer darkness and I chose the Celestial kingdom and how I was able to come down and bring him back to the celestial kingdom. He said that I have been helping him with the spiritual things for our whole marriage. He is so sweet but really he's the one that keeps me trying so hard, because of his example. I sure love my family! They are so funny and it was definately a birthday party I will never forget (unless, of course I lose my memory soon, which is very possible since I'm getting so old).

This is my nephew Bradford who had a birthday on sunday! He is the cutest!

Easter, a new bed, a pregnant cat and random stuff

I am so grateful that my kids love their cousins so much and that they have so many that live close by. This is Lizzy and Bella on Easter day walking together.


Oh, how would it be to experience excitement like a kid again! (even about bubbles!)









Easter was great! We had sooo many easter egg hunts and there is so much candy in our house it's insane. Here are some of the pictures of Saturday and Sunday of Easter weekend.


We got a new bed from my mom and dad and we love it! It is beautiful! It's so nice to have a little more pride in our bedroom, it stays cleaner and I actually make the bed everyday. It is so high up and so big! We are so grateful for it!

Our Cat is pregnant and she is looking so chubby! She is an amazing cat that has been a good companion to Lizzy while the other kids are in school. She lets Lizzy hold her and hug her all the time. We are really looking forward to her having kittens! It will be fun for the kids to see the miracle of birth. A few months back Christian was having a lot of questions about you know "sex" and he asked us, "How do cats have babies, because they are always naked?" We had a little talk with him about the birds and the bees, Aaron did an amazing job! Hopefully we'll get to see Shelby give birth.

I woke Christian up the other morning and had to take a picture cuz he looked like little red riding hood. I have no idea how his blanket got like this but I thought it was pretty funny. The other day he got hit in the face with a play gun by his cousin, Bradford who will be 3 this week. He's a funny little kid! Christian actually really likes that he has a mark on his face, he thinks he might get a cool scar. He didn't want any sunscreen at his game the other night. He has been doing super good in the Minors. The 2 times he has pitched he has taken over with the bases full and only 1 run out of the six came in. They have a kid on their team that hit 2 home runs in one game and 1 in the last game (2 of those times the bases were full)! It's so fun to watch!


Lizzy got to go to the temple with us on Friday, thanks to my parents who brought her about the same time our session was over. We had a little picnic there on the beautiful temple grounds and enjoyed the perfect weather while Lizzy fed the geese.

Easter Egg Hunt

We colored eggs this morning and the kids have been having Easter egg hunts all day! They are very good at finding eggs! I am so grateful for my kids, they are so enthusiastic and give me so much joy! They are trying to earn money to go to Disneyland with Grandma. It has been a good insight to their personalities and their shyness. The project for this week is making bread and cinamon rolls for friends and neighbors. The kids walked around the neighborhood and sold to everyone they talked to! 100% success without Christian or Elizabeth saying a word. Meliah did all the talking (pretty much) and didn't seem to mind. I have really appreciated the small things lately, partly due to some of the conference messages and partly due to knowing that I have this time only once. But probably more than anything, I'm able to focus on them more than I've ever been able to before. The Easter egg has so much significance to the meaning of Easter. We have a set of eggs that my mom made for us that I love. It helps the kids to have a little fun and to hear about the resurrection at the same time. The eggs are numbered and they each have an item and scripture in them that tells of the story of the resurrection. The last egg is empty with the scripture in Matthew 28:6, "He is not here: for he is risen". I know that on the 3rd day after he was mocked and scourged and crucified that he was risen. I know that he lives and that we need to follow him, trust in him and try a little harder to be a little better!