Brothers in name and heart

Recently Benson and Parker have really come to love each other. Benson takes it as his personal responsibility to watch out for Parker, and in turn Parker smiles and laughs every time Benson talks to him. When I got pregnant with Parker I was worried about these two boys being so close in age, but I already am seeing the benefits. I hope they will always be best buddies and rely and count on one another especially through the hard teenage years. We always ask Benson who his bother is and he says, "it's my Parker."

Super Super Cute!!

Okay my fellow bloggers, you have got to link to my friend Cally's page for a chance to win one of the cutest bag-o-monsters EVER! She is soo talented you will not be sorry for looking!

My Best Friend

I have the BEST husband in the world. Hopefully most of you feel the same about your own spouse, but really I think Doug is the best. He is my best friend in the world and he is always concerned about me and our little family. He seems to always know what I need when I need it, and he works so hard to give me a comfortable life. A couple weeks ago I was having a particularly hard week. I was feeling a little down about life and I think my attitude was a little bad. It was a Wednesday, and Wednesdays are always really hard days because Doug leaves for work early and goes straight to the church from work and usually gets home around 10:30 or 11:00. So it is a long day. Anyway, it was about 6:00 and the doorbell rang. I went to answer the door and sitting on the porch were these flowers and treats! Isn't that sweet!! He did it for no reason expect that I was having a hard day. Doug is a practical man, so when he does something really romantic, I appreciate it even more. I love you honey, thanks for being the best husband in the world!

A Good Article

My mother in law sent me this link to a newspaper article from Belfast Ireland on the subject of Baptisms for the dead. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we believe in and practice baptisms for the dead. "Jesus Christ taught that baptism is essential to the salvation of all who have lived on earth (see John 3:5). Many people, however, have died without being baptized. Others were baptized without proper authority. Because God is merciful, He has prepared a way for all people to receive the blessings of baptism. By performing proxy baptisms in behalf of those who have died, Church members offer these blessings to deceased ancestors. Individuals can then choose to accept or reject what has been done in their behalf." (lds.org)

This article on the subject was great. It was fair and objective. Click on this link to read it.

Pajama TIME!

A couple of weeks ago I let Brielle invite all her little girl friends over for a pajama party. She has been begging me to do this for months and I finally decided that it was time for her to have some fun. My good friend said I must have been on something to invite six little 4 and 5 year olds over for a party, but it was a blast! They came over about 6:30 and I started out by giving all of them their own party supply bag. (They are the cute green Hello Kitty bags shown in the picture.) Inside they had paper, crayons, a ball, and lots of snacks. Our first activity was to color princess pictures, what little girl doesn't love that. Then we played a game of hot potato with our balls. Then we moved on to the movie portion of the night, where we watched the new Ariel movie and ate our snacks, and popcorn, and by Brielle's request everyone got a Capri-Sun to drink. After the movie was over we ended the night with a good round of painting toe-nails. that was a little interesting to make all the girls sit still until they dried. :) The girls parents then came and picked them back up around 9:30. I am not crazy enough to have them all spend the night! They are still a little young for that. To say that brielle loved the night is an understatement. She still talks about it like it happened yesterday. I love that little things like that can make such great memories for kids, and I think she will remember that night for a long time!

Finally our trip is exposed!

Well, here I am finally getting caught up on my blog. We have only been back from Utah for about 3 weeks now, I know I am doing really good. But I wanted to capture the highlights of the trip more for me than for anyone so I will remember the great time we had. The first Saturday that we were there we got to be in the South Weber Days parade for my dad who is a state legislator. It was a great time and the kids loved waving and cheering for their grandpa! Then that night we were able to celebrate our 7th anniversary by going to the Bountiful temple! It is the temple we were sealed in seven years ago and it was so neat to be there again. Below our the highlights of the trip that I actually captured on camera, happy reading!

Temple Square

One of the best days of the trip was spent at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Just the five of us drove to Salt Lake and showed the kids the Temple, the visitors centers, the Conference center, and the Tabernacle. Growing up in Utah made me really take these beautiful sites for granted, but it was so neat to see them again "for the first time" through our children's eyes. They loved it. Benson just kept pointing and saying "hello temple!" We even got to see a new little family of baby quails running along the sidewalk! It was a perfect day! The steps of the temple


The baby quails
Doug and the kids in front of the reflection pond

Parkers blessing Day!

The first Sunday we were there we were able to bless Parker. My dad is the Bishop of a singles ward and Doug's dad is one of his counselors, so we decided to bless him on their ward. Needless to say the singles were a little shocked at how loud sacrament meeting was with all the kids, but they said they loved hearing all those little voices again. My sister in law Missy blessed her little baby Taylor that same day, and it was a great experience to share that with them. After the blessing we had a little get together with family and friends at my in-laws house! You know us Mormons, we can never have a function without having food!!
Our little Family
Parker with Grandma Lyda and Grandpa Larry
Parker with Grandma and Grandpa Dee
The three new babies!
My favorite Great Grandma Burton (for those of you who know the story she is the one who had the dream about me!)

The Dee Family Cabin!

Half of the time we were in Utah we stayed in my parents cabin in Star Valley Wyoming for our first "Dee family Reunion". It was the first time in about 3 years that my whole family was together. It was so fun to be with my brothers and sisters and all their kids. We were a big crowd with 25 of us their, but we had soo much fun together. we worked on the cabin, spent the day at the lake, had great food, watched the little cousins have ablast staying up late and playing together, and of course the nightly treats and olympic watching! We had a wonderful time. I love my family so much and I am so blessed to have a great relationship with all of them.
The Pirate treasure Hunt
The Kids with their homeade shirts
Painting Rocks


The Pinata
At the Lake

Lagoon Days!

Oh I have so many great memories as a kid going to Lagoon. Lagoon is amusement park, for you southerners it is a lot like DollyWood. Anyway, while were visiting we were able to go on a girl date with the kids and play at Lagoon. I haven't been there for ages and honestly when I walked in I had flashbacks of being a teenager and looking for cute boys! HEE HEE! We spent most of the time taking the kids on Kiddie rides and Brielle loved every minute. Doug was so sweet and stayed home with the boys so Brielle and I could enjoy the rides without the babies. She loved playing with her cousins and still asks me just about daily if we can go back to "Magoon". (That is what she calls it.)