Arden's Birthday

Arden is now 16 years old!!!
We are having a party for Arden at Sara's house on Saturday afternoon. Asian food is the theme: sweet and sour chicken and homemade chinese dumplings (I can't spell the Chinese name) will be on the menu. We will also bring the cake.

These are a few pictures that have been collected of Arden over the years. They aren't in any specific order. I tried, but I kept finding more pictures and I didn't want to keep switching things around. ENJOY!!!

Christmas 2006:
>2000?
Summer 2003:
Summer 2006:
Summer 2003:
1st grade:

Arden and Gabe: 2008Arden's model shoot at Dad's work (huge fan giving the effect):

Halloween 2002 or 2003:

Las Vegas 2006:
This one's a keeper! Before 2001:
Arden and Noah. He hasn't changed much!
Arden and her cousins in 2003 --

and in 2008.My, how they grow up!

Happy 16th Birthday, Arden! We love you!

Blogging Roses

First of all, thank you all for being there for our wonderful event! The sealing was so special, and having friends and family all there was just the icing on the cake. These were the only pictures that were taken, although the pictures in our hearts and minds will always remain. (Oh, great! I'm crying again). Gabe asked me this morning why Dad and I looked like angels in the temple. He's the one that looked like the angel coming in to the Sealing Room.

Gabe is such a poser!!!!!

Lalo loves to nap on the hoods of cars. He's just waking up and showing how difficult his life is. Sleep, eat, sleep, eat . . . . He loves to get on the hoods of the nurses cars. One day I was watching from the window as one of the nurses was leaving. Lalo was stretched out on the hood of her car, and not showing any inclination to move. She was trying to shoo him off with her papers, and he just looked at her and rolled over with that "scratch me" look! I was laughing as I finally sent Gabe out to get the cat off her car. Such a silly cat!

Ok, here are the roses and other plants. This is the strip of roses on the south side of the house. John has really chosen some great colors and they are blooming out so beautifully.

These are from the rose bush (Queen Elizabeth roses) at the corner of the house. They go all the way to the eaves of the house. You can see them really well from the inside, too.

Individual roses. You'll have to ask John the names. I only know that I love them!

This one is on its way out, but Gabe really liked the effect of the dark edges on this rose.

This is a climatis.

Tiny tulips.

We have 2 crabapple trees in the back yard. They bloomed out so pretty this spring. I'm glad I got these pictures when I did. The trees don't look like this now.

These pictures are from Gabes "non-birthday" party during Spring Break. We invited 5 friends from school to go bowling, play games and eat pizza. They had a great time. The girl is Allorah -- Gabe's first girlfriend.

These are some pictures that Gabe took of his things. This is a collection of toy bugs that his new cousin Michael gave him for his birthday.

This is Gabe's pet rock. It now lives out with the roses, not in his bed.

This is Michael Piep -- he's the nephew I knew at Utah State 20 years ago. I knew of the relationship between us, but he did not. We became great friends.

This was the Easter egg hunt at my brother's house the day before Easter. You can see that Gabe is having a great time.

The kids were led out of the house to the hunting grounds. Brent was the one leading them: he is my brother.

Here is Gabe with his Grandpa Bob -- otherwise known as my father. The cheeser behind is a grandson of Brent and Julie. I was so happy that Brent, Julie and my father were able to be in the temple with us last evening. For some reason, I think it was supposed to be that way. It is going to be fun to get to know my father a little better this summer. I've got time to visit a little more often.

Ok. So, that was a blogful of pictures. I hope you all enjoyed them. Again, it was great having everyone here to have a triple celebration. Each occasion was a special event, and ones that we will always remember.

Goodbye until the next blog.