Wedding Entertainment

Here is a video of Ted and Shelia's girls singing at their wedding reception. Hopefully you can hear it okay. I thought they did really well and I'm sure their parents appreciated the show.

Trip to Idaho Part I

Our first night in Idaho we stayed in Rexburg with Cory and Andrea. Down the street from them in the park they have this little water area.
It was a little cool when we went there, but the kids really enjoyed it.
At the top of the slides is a bucket that fills with water and then spills over the whole thing. The kids loved this part and if you look close you can see them under all the water.
That night we took a tour of Rexburg including a stop at the newly opened Rexburg LDS Temple. It was nice to see Cory and Andrea at their apartment and spend some time with them. Andrea is due to have her first baby in 2 weeks, so I hope everything goes well with her while Cory is away at Becky's funeral.
On the way home from Boise we stopped in Twin Falls, Idaho to see the newly constructed LDS Temple there. It will not be dedicated until next month. There is definately a similarity between the two buildings.

Our trip to Idaho Part II

The reason we went to Idaho was to attend Ted's wedding. The news of Becky's passing made the event bittersweet, but we were glad we could see everyone. This is the Scott Gropp family with all 10 children.

The reception was beautiful with good food, cake, a slideshow of the couple and dancing too.
Uncle Les and Kyle standby and watch the teenagers of the group "boogie" on the dance floor.

Here is the happy couple. This was the first time I had met "Uncle Ted". His new wife was beautiful and sweet and I was glad to meet them both.
Grandma and her kind escort enjoyed the festivities too. It was nice to have some of the Gropp family together for a short time. We are glad we made the trip, especially under the circumstances.

The Passing of A Loved One

As some of you probably already know, Kyle's mom Becky, passed away today at home in Waco, Texas. We are in Idaho this weekend for Kyle's cousin Ted's wedding. We will be heading home on Sunday and going to Texas on Monday. The funeral is tentively planned for Wednesday. We plan on being there two weeks so we can spend time with the family, Kyle's dad, Chris, and see my family too. We are very sad to have to say goodbye, but we know she has gone to a better place. We appreciate all of your love, prayers and support during the past 3 years.

Landon's new bike

Landon got a bike for his third birthday, but it was still in the box. So yesterday Kyle put it together and Landon got his first ride on it.
Today he tried it out in the driveway with his helmet on. It is still alittle big for him, but it won't be for long. He wants to ride around everywhere like his brothers.

Landon turns 3

Landon is our youngest child and he had his third birthday today! We actually celebrated yesterday with Mindi and Jason and their kids and Ken and Julie Derrick and her son Justin.
We had dinner and opened presents and then had cake. Landon's big brothers helped him open his presents.
He got a bike with training wheels and a Diego helmet and knee pads. He also used the money he got in the mail from everyone to get "Cars" stuff (mack and cars to go with him). The bike wasn't put together yet but he had fun with the helmet and pads.
He blew out the candles on his banana cake (he wanted a banana cake so I made a yellow cake with banana flavored icing).
He is three and is getting so big. We are now officially potty training (again) and this time no more diapers! Happy Birthday Landon!

Boy Scout Camp

Kyle went to scout camp this week to volunteer as the aquatics director at the camp. The camp is located just north of town, so Tuesday night Kyle invited the boys and I to share his tent and check it out.
By the time we got there it was dinner time, so we didn't witness any merit badges. Since Kyle is over the water activities, he spends most of his time at the lake.
He really enjoys helping out with scout camp and learning new things. He is sporting the texan look with his cowboy hat and longhorn council shirt.
The night we were there they had skit and song night. They also had some guys from the American Legion there to retire some flags by burning them. It was a really nice night and the boys seemed to enjoy it. Of course it hasn't been easy for me with Kyle being gone all week. The boys do drive me crazy at times so it has been a long week. All that being said, I am glad Kyle has found a way to help others in the community and learn some wonderful skills. Afterall, that is what being an Eagle scout is all about, right?

Independence Day 2008

This 4th of July we celebrated independence day by having a barbeque at home with some friends. Here the boys posed in their new patriotic shirts. Of course they only stayed clean until the company showed up and we ate lunch.
After lunch all the kids (our 3 and their 4) had a water balloon fight in the backyard. The 200 balloons lasted about 5 minutes, and the kids were soaked in the end.

After the water balloons, they had a water gun war. Landon was the first to give in and go inside. Overall, it was a great day, even though we didn't go watch fireworks because Kyle didn't want to get eaten alive by the bugs. Happy Birthday America!

I'm back

We had a little problem with our internet last week and we are finally back online today. We had wireless internet through verizon, but we had to switch because you can only use 5 gigs a month with them and apparently we use more than that. So we have a cable modem now and are back in touch with the world again.
While the internet was out:
I lost 2 more lbs on the biggest loser this past week.
My garden is really starting to take off.
We went to the outdoor pool twice.
We got new blinds for our family room (they had to be special ordered because of the funny size).
Our kitchen sink got really stopped up so after several days we broke down and called the plumber ($120 later it was working again).
I've been working on a digital scrapbook for family history. It is my first digital scrapbook on my new computer and I hope it comes out good.

It is nice to be back online and catch up with all you other bloggers I've missed this past week. What did we do before the internet?