The Neves Family

For Grandpa

2011-08-24T15:21:00.000-06:00

I have had the priviledge of being Paul Hunter's granddaughter. He is one of the sweetest, most loving, and generous people I know. As a little girl I couldn't wait to come to Utah to visit. I was so excited when we got to finally move to Utah and then live with Grandpa and Grammy for a few months. I loved riding horses with him and he was extremely excited when I married a cowboy who could talk horses with him. I love his laugh and the way his eyes would light up whenever we came to visit. I love his belly that he was proud of and that would shake whenever he'd laugh. He was so proud of my preggo bellies cuz they matched his. I love the tight squeezes he would give that he never seemed to want to let go.

He was so excited when we told them we were expecting our first baby as she would would also be the first great grandchild. I was lucky to have him give me a blessing while I was pregnant and then watch him cry after and tell me how special he felt her spirit was. He was in the hospital with pneumonia a few weeks before we had her and bugged the nurses constantly to call labor and delivery and sent them running to check to see if I was there because he was certain I would want them to wheel his bed in next to mine while I had her. What a funny man he was! We went straight there from the hospital to let him meet our little Brynlee.

Brynlee's Blessing
January 2007

My Grandparents were kind enough to let us have all 3 of our babies blessed in their home. It was a huge task but I'm so glad we had that unique experience so that Grandpa could be there and participate in each of their blessings. I'm so glad we did it that way. It wouldn't have been the same not to have them there.

Will's Blessing
December 2010

Katelyn's Blessing
March 2009

We were so blessed to have Grandpa and Grammy in the temple with us as we were sealed for eternity. I am so greatful that he was feeling well enough to come and that as we walked into the sealing room he was there with his big smile and bright eyes. That was one of the most special days. I'm so glad I was able to share it with him!

I am so greatful that my kids have had the chance to meet him. Brynlee remembers him and how fun he was. I hope she won't forget how special he is!

I was a little hesitant at first to name our son Royal. But now I am so greatful that Dave pushed it. I hope our boy realizes how lucky he is to share a name with such a wonderful man!

How wonderful it is to have the Gospel in our lives so that we can know that we can be together as families again. I know that Grandpa is out of pain and happy and probably doing missionary work already. Brynlee reminded me that I can't be sad, He'll be resurrected soon. I feel so blessed to have been his granddaughter and to have spent time with him. I miss him already and always will. I won't ever forget him. I hope he knows how much I love him!

Here is his obituary:

Royal Paul Hunter

March 6, 1941 ~

August 22, 2011

Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend returned home with honor after an extended illness early Monday morning. Paul is greatly loved and cherished by all who were blessed to associate with him. He is kind and generous, and blessed numerous lives. Paul valiantly served his Savior Jesus Christ and was an enthusiastic missionary all his life. He served in variety of callings including; seminary teacher, stake missionary, Seventies Quorum, executive secretary, Stake Mission Presidency, and a temple worker. He was an amazing father and his greatest joy was his family. Paul will be remembered for his wonderful sense of humor, story-telling and the twinkle in his eyes. He dearly loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing and raising Arabian horses. He freely shared that love with his family and friends.
Paul was born on March 6, 1941 in Provo, Utah to Alma Royal Hunter and Mildred Viola Nielsen. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Ilene, his granddaughter, Annie Jones, and great-granddaughter, Kaja Soto. He was married to Bonnie Jean Bloore for 49 years. He is survived by his wife; his children: David (Carolyn) Hunter, Kylene (Jonathan) Jones, Natalie (Mark) Holden, Craig (Lorinda) Hunter, Yvonne (Tony) Davis, DeAnna Stock, and Nathan (Maria) Hunter; 28 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren; and his siblings: Linda (Ken) Crandall, Beverly (Jim) Llewelyn, and Glenn (Kathy) Hunter.
Please join us in rejoicing a life lived fully and valiantly. Viewing will be held at Anderson Funeral Home, 94 West 300 North, Nephi, Utah on Thursday, August 25, 2011 from 6-8 pm. Funeral services will be held on Friday, August 26, 2011 at 11 am at the new LDS chapel in Mona located at 800 South 100 West. A viewing will be held prior to the service at 10 am. Paul will be buried in the Provo City Cemetery.
A memorial account has been established at Wells Fargo Bank in the name of Royal Paul Hunter. In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made to this fund. Donations may be made at any branch.

Katelyn is 2!?!

2011-04-08T20:51:00.000-06:00

My little Katelyn is already 2! She is such a sweet girl and I love her so
much! Because her birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, she got to
have two parties. She loved all the attention! Since
Ariel is her favorite, Aunt Suzie made her an Ariel cake with a
treasure chest dripping with treasures. It was a huge hit. She got lots of help from cousins opening her presents. What a fun day in the world of a bubbly 2 year old!

Yay for 4 Year olds!

2011-03-15T14:17:00.000-06:00

My little girl is
now 4. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. She is growing up so
fast. I love her dearly and can't imagine my life without her! Happy
Birthday Brynlee!
She had a fun party at Nana and Papa's house with lots of her aunts and
uncles and cousins there. She only wanted spaghetti for dinner cuz
that's her favorite. We're still eating the leftovers 5 months later!
Silly me....I accidently deleted all of the pictures but this one from
her birthday party :( I knew there was a reason I NEVER delete the pics
on my camera!

Introducing....

2010-10-14T14:51:00.000-06:00

Royal William Dale Neves

(Willy...or Marv or something!)Born September 27, at 1:22 pm. Edging past his sisters weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and Measuring 22 inches long.

Unfortunately, we had a terrible experience this time around. We went in Sunday night to be induced, and when they finally started the pitossin Monday morning around 8, the contractions started. They didn't believe me when I said I was ready for the epidural, so I suffered through till I was almost a full 10. I know, I'm a wimp. Lot's of people endure labor without drugs, however, I'm not one of them! By the time I was pain free, our little munchkin decided he wanted to be difficult. He was turned up and to the side and not wanting to come down.

After nearly an hour of pushing (I know, wahh! But the girls were both only 3 pushes and they were out) This monster tore his way out of me. He seemed fine at first, but after a few minutes the doctor and nurses realized he wasn't doing so well. He couldn't get a good breath, so they whisked him away before Dave and I knew what was happening. A few x-rays and hours later, they concluded that he had partially collapsed lungs due to the pressure of swallowing the merconium and being so broad coming out of such a tight space. His chest and belly were filling with air and they weren't sure his lungs would patch the holes on their own. After he continued getting worse, they decided to call the transport team and take him up to the NICU at Utah Valley. Dave went up and stayed with him in Provo, while I stared at the clock, stuck in my bed in Nephi, waiting for the doctor to come back and release me so I could be with my baby.

Fortunately, we didn't have to do anything serious, like chest tubes or surgery or anything to help him get better. He was able to go off the oxygen and be only monitored by Monday night. He had to keep his iv in until Thursday morning to get antibiotics to prevent pneumonia. It was a long 4 days and 3 nights of sleeping in the hospital parents room, trudging back and forth to the NICU to feed him and snuggle him every few hours. I even fell asleep a few times in the rocking chair, I'm sure with my mouth hanging open and drool running down. It was probably very entertaining to the nurses.

I can't even imagine how parents handle having their babies in the NICU for months before bringing them home. It was a very difficult week, both physically and emotionally for all of us. We are so fortunate that everything worked out well. I look up to any of you who have had to deal with this at all, and those who have had even harder times. You are amazing!

So, we are now home. I can't tell you how glad I was to sleep in my own bed! I fell asleep feeding Willy, and woke up to find both girls in bed with us as well. Talk about crowded! It's amazing how only 2 weeks ago we were impatiently waiting for the baby and now it seems he's been here forever! The girls are proud as can be! They love their little brother. We're all glad he's finally here and healthy!

Totally Unfair

2010-07-09T11:59:00.000-06:00

This is what my family gets to do for fun.... Brynlee is a big girl now (or so she thinks) riding on Roy all by herself
Dad and Katelyn get to snuggle in together riding around with Bryn
And I get to be stuck on the ground taking pictures and being kicked to pieces by this little guy. How he gets stuck in my ribs and dances on my bladder at the same time I haven't quite figured out yet!
Ps. I think the secret is out. It didn't last very long. And guess who spilled? DAVE!

It's a ....girl who will be a brother!?

2010-05-13T17:35:00.000-06:00

It's official...Baby number 3 is on it's way, due September 29th. We had our ultrasound on Tuesday and everything is perfect with our newest little one. For some strange reason, my silly husband wants to keep the gender a secret. I haven't quite figured out why yet, but maybe he'll relax in a few weeks so I can spill the beans. During the ultrasound, the tech was trying to show the girls a few features like the face and the hands and feet, and every time Brynlee would say, "Ok, fine. But is it a boy or a girl?" This silly girl gets her impatience from her dad, who actually took time off work to come to the ultrasound. I think he was afraid I wouldn't tell HIM what it was if he didn't. So Brynlee knows what the baby is, but if you ask her it's a girl who will be her new brother. You all can decide what this means! We're all excited for this newest addition to our family, and we (especially me) hope that this summer is mild and goes very fast!

Brynlee has a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb....

2010-04-24T11:38:00.000-06:00

Which means Mommy gets to bottle feed these 3 newborn lambs every few hours! How did this happen? I guess I shouldn't complain too much, except that I am exhaused! The girls love them though. They try to help feed which isn't very effective most of the time, but it makes them feel good. The one time it was warm enough for them to run outside, they followed Brynlee around the yard. It was so cute! Both of the girls just giggle the whole time they're playing with them. I'm a little embarassed to mention their names. It was Daddy's idea I promise! We have 2 boys, and one girl. Jacob, Sam, and Bella. Bella was named Edward till we figured out she was in fact a she. I know, it's pathetic that my 3 year old loves the twilight saga and knows all of the characters and begs to watch the movies. I really don't encourage it...really! We always get to say good morning and bye if we go anywhere. We get to go pet them every 5 minutes, and laugh at their silly sounds. I thought that was why we got a dog?!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-24T11:01:00.000-06:00

We had a little Easter party and Nana and Papa's. The kids loved the big Easter egg hunt. Brynlee did awesome this year, finding more than her share so we had to give some back. She even went into the big kids area and started finding eggs! Katelyn had a hard time getting started, then once she found the first egg, she didn't want to keep going. She even threw a fit and ran into a tree when I tried to encourage her to keep going. Little Stinker! They were both happy to eat their candy. I'm not sure why they're scowling! Here's all the cousins that were there. It's getting to be a huge group. So Nana gave all of the kids a candy bar. Brynlee got hers from her dad, but for some reason...these 3 reasons in particular....Katelyn never got hers. Daddy and Aunt Aly and Uncle Kyle ate hers all gone without even giving her one bite. I'm pretty sure that's stealing candy from a baby. Not the nicest thing to do! Hanging out eating candy. Easter morning was much the same as Christmas morning. Katelyn ran to her stuff first thing while Bryn just stood to appreciate the Easter Bunny's arrangement of their stuff! They both appreciated the candy, since they didn't get enough the day before! Even though we didn't have church because of conference, they wanted to wear their new dresses. So we got all dressed up for the fun of it. They're such cute little stinkers. Most of the time too cute for their own good!

Merry Christmas!

2010-04-24T10:36:00.001-06:00

This year Christmas was so much fun! Brynlee was super excited and couldn't wait for Santa to come. "Santa" had many adventures trying to hide purchases while the little tykes were around. Brynlee was a big help making cookies and finding a place to put them so that Santa would find them. She wanted to put them right on the wood stove, but we convinced her Santa would find them no matter what.

This year "Santa", Aka Mommy, wanted a cricut machine. So we got up at 3 a.m. and headed to Walmart the day after Thanksgiving to get one. I couldn't wait till Christmas to use it, so an empty box was wrapped under the tree for me to open. I had lots of fun making little name tags for all of our presents, and I even made a few gifts with it. It has been lots of fun. Santa sure spoiled me! Our loot. Yes, even the dog got a stocking. Don't judge. Christmas Morning, we had to wake up the girls or they would have slept all day. Bryn just stood and stared at the presents trying to work up the nerve to walk over and see if they were actually real. As soon as Daddy put Katelyn down, she ran straight to her stuff. The only thing Brynlee wanted was a Woody doll from the movie Toy Story. She still drags him everywhere and loves him to death. Good thing Santa got the letter asking for him. We did have to take a potty break. Woody apparently had to go real bad! Our poor girls are so not morning people! We had a very nice quiet morning opening presents, playing and eating sticky buns and orange julius. Christmas is so fun with the girls who get excited over everything.

Family Christmas Party

2010-04-24T10:06:00.000-06:00

We have a super cool Nana who invites Santa to come visit us for our family Christmas party every year. We have a big fancy dinner and then open our exchange gifts. Then Santa surprises us with some little treats. All of the grandkids take turns chatting with Santa and then we finish with the nativity and new jammies from Nana and Papa. The kids love it and its great to spend time with family that we don't see very often! As excited as Brynlee was to see Santa at the "North Pole" she was not happy about seeing him at the party. Even when bribed with candy she wasn't happy. Then, she dragged Aunt Aly to sit with Santa and she was a totally different kid! Silly Bryn! Katelyn admired Santa and Mrs. Claus from a distance. She even said hi and shook their hands.... Then she sat on Santa's lap. What a stinker! This year Santa let any of the adults sit on his lap that wanted to. It was...interesting. The adults got to tell Santa what they wanted while everyone was watching. Great Fun. Papa and Nana took their turns chatting with Santa along with a few other aunts and uncles. Even Daddy sat with Santa and asked for a new truck. Right, that's gonna happen right after my boob job! Luckily no one had a camera handy when it was my turn to sit with Santa! The girls love their new jammies from Nana and Papa. We're so lucky to have such great grandparents that spoil us from both sides!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

2010-02-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

I know, I'm the worst blogger ever! It's only been 5 months since she turned one. Maybe we should have her 2nd birthday party early so I'll post on her birthday! We had a ginormous cake because Brynlee picked the only princess cake they had. It was a cute crown cake made of cupcakes which makes serving super easy. Katelyn had a blast with lots of aunts and uncles there to celebrate with her. She got lots of fun toys and loves to fight with her sister over them! We are so glad we could have a special day for her. We sure love her and the smiles she gives us everyday!

Santa

2009-12-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

This year Brynlee is soooo excited for Christmas. She's been asking since October if Santa is coming yet. I kept telling her no, but when there's lots of snow then it will be Christmas time. Well, now there's lots of snow, but it's still not Christmas. We've had to make a chain and do a little advent calndar and she still wakes up every morning asking for Christmas! I thought it would be fun to take her to see Santa. She kept asking if we were going very far to the North Pole because that's where Santa lives. It's so fun getting excited again from a little kid's perspective. I love it!

Bryn was so excited to see Santa, she stood back and just laughed, "Mom, look! it's SANTA!" She finally went to talk to him, and chatted his ear off. Luckily they weren't too busy. This is our very expensive memento from our outing. Katelyn started crying about 1.7 seconds later, so it turned out ok, minus a few smiles!

More Pics

2009-11-22T00:21:00.000-07:00

We decided it was time to go and get new family pictures for the Holden side. I think I was 13 in the last one we had taken, so these were a little overdue! They turned out pretty well considering all the hormones and attitudes running rampant in the studio! It was quite an experience! I couldn't get the pictures to crop so these will have to do! I had to leave some out as well because I couldn't rotate them. It's probably for the best, so this wont be the longest post ever!

Mark and Natalie
So Sweet!

The Group

The Girls

The BoysThe Grandkids

Neves Family
Thought this was a cute collage of our family!

Dave and Nikki

Dustin and JacquiCasey

CandaceShelbyShantelSeth

I think they all turned out pretty good. The only one missing is Austin, who is on a mission in Nebraska. We love him too! My mom is going to decorate(finally!) in the front room and put these all up. I think it's going to look great!

New Pictures

2009-11-22T00:04:00.000-07:00

I took the girls in for their new birthday pictures and they turned out really cute! I always go overboard, but its so hard to say no to such cute kiddos!

I love this place that I take them to called Portrait Innovations at the Riverwoods. They really do a great job! And they give me a disc with all the pictures that they take so I can do what I want with them at home. It's awesome!

I looked out the window....

2009-11-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

AND what did i see? A nice big buck eating apples under my apple tree! GRRRR! Too bad it's 2 weeks too late!

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween

2009-11-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

Brynlee was so excited to pick out pumpkins. She would beg every time we went to the store since they put them out in what September, maybe even August. Anyway, I finally gave in and we brought home our pumpkins. A few nights later, after the kiddos were bathed and in jammies, Dave came home ready to carve pumpkins. I realize Bryn is naked again, and in a diaper again. I promise she's potty trained, except at night, and I do put clothes on her, at least occasionally! We just didn't want to get her jammies gunked up with pumpkin stuff! Katelyn stayed a safe distance away, watching contentedly. I'm afraid of what she would have done if we let her down. Maybe next year she can contribute more than just smiles!

We carved 2, but only took pictures of the one. We were very disappointed when we got home Halloween night and someone had stolen our pumpkins and smashed them all over the yard. Bryn wanted to go buy more, but we talked her out of it till next year. It was very sad!

Anyway, these were the girls cute halloween outfits for before the costumes and pumpkin picking and such. I love how cute they are! They were very suitable too...Bryn's says 'Daddy's lil pumpkin', she's totally a daddy's girl, and Katie's say's 'Mommy's sweetie', she's been a mommy's girl since before she was born! Anyway, I thought they were super cute!
Brynlee's friend Jocelyn gave her a few toys and dress ups that she had out grown, and one of them was this Snow White dress. From the first day she got it, Brynlee said she was going to be Snow White for Halloween. She stuck to it too. She was so excited that she got to wear makeup and be a beautiful princess! Jacqui even made her a perfect red bow for her costume! We were going to have Katelyn be TinkerBell, but went with the Bumble bee instead. It was super cute and a lot warmer for her to cruise around in!

We went trick or treating in my parent's neighborhood and came home with quite the loot. The girls had tons of fun getting candy. Bryn keeps asking if we can go trick or treating again and get more candy. I don't think anyone would think we were sane if we showed up now, so we'll wait until next year!

After Trick or treating, we went down to Dave's parent's house for more candy and a little birthday party for Aunt Robyn. Brynlee re-applied her lipstick just before so she wouldn't move her lips. She is so stinking cute! They snuggled into Papa for awhile after the long drive down. It was a lot of fun, and we're already planning next year now that we know how much fun it is!

Happy Snow Day!

2009-11-12T01:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we had our first snow of the season. It didn't last long, and our snowman was quite pitiful, but the girls had fun playing in the snow. I told Brynlee a while ago that Santa would come when there was snow on the ground. She was so sure that he was coming that day. She was a little confused when he didn't show up. Sometimes it's hard explaining time concepts to a 3 year old!

Grandma and Grandpa Holden gave the girls these awesome coats for their birthdays. They are super cute and the girls love them. We were glad to put them to use!

We strapped on the snow suits and headed out into our mounds of snow. See how deep? It's up to their knees! ;)Katelyn had a tough time moving in her snow suit. She didn't stay happy for very long. But hey, she was toasty warm in it. So much that she was sweating when we went in!

Brynlee loves the snow! She would have played in it all day if I let her. She was eating it and picking snow ball fights with me. It was so much fun!

So maybe the snow wasn't that deep if making a snow angel showed the grass underneath! It was still a lot of fun and we can't wait for more snow!

Happy Birthday Brynlee!

2009-11-11T23:34:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe Brynlee is already 3! She is growing up so fast. I'm so lucky to be able to stay home and watch her learn and grow. I love her more everyday! What an amazing little girl I have!This year she got to have 3 parties! Lucky girl! The first was just a small family party on her birthday. The only thing she wanted to do when she woke up was make a cake. We made her a cake and then when Dave got home she got to open a few presents. She was so excited! The next day, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for a little party with my family, and another cake. Then Sunday, we had a little dinner with some of Dave's family and a third cake. We were pretty worn out by the end!She wouldn't even let me get her dressed before making the cake! She was so excited!
Brynlee and Katelyn had so much fun at Chuck-E-Cheese. Dave won't admit it, but he had as much fun as the girls! This is while we were waiting for the family to get there. Brynlee was mad that she couldn't go play yet.

Dave was pretending he wasn't happy to be there. Secretly, he was mad that he couldn't go play yet too!

Brynlee has been begging for an umbrella. She finally got one and was so excited. She kept insisting that it was raining in the restaurant and we needed the umbrella to stay dry. She was pretty sad when it was raining in the truck on the way home and we wouldn't let her open it. Silly us, I guess we need a bigger truck so there's room for an open umbrella! The picture is a little blurry because someone...(Shelby I'm sure)....got food on the lens. It's still a cute picture though!

We had this plan to buy Brynlee a bike, so a few of my siblings went in on a helmet and elbow pads to go along with it. Bryn opened the helmet before we brought in the bike and was super excited and content with it. Who knew a helmet would have satisfied her? Ta Da! The bike! She was so excited she took off riding it in the restaurant. All of the other kids were jealous of her. They all kept eyeing the bike and walking close so they could see it. Kids are so funny!

And we're back to the umbrella. She insisted it was raining while she was on this ride. Silly girl!

We took a break for cake. It was so yummy! Brynlee kept digging the icing off and putting it into the princess toppers so she could eat it. She ended up with a blue tongue. She's so cute!

This is Dustin and Jacqui with Brynlee. Everyone else's pictures turned out kind of silly and I knew they would all be mad at me for putting them on so I didn't.

Here's my proof that Dave has as much fun as Bryn. He was so focused he couldn't look up from the game to smile. I love how they have the same silly look on their face!Dustin and Dave were supposedly helping Brynlee. Oh, but wait! Where's Bryn? She was off riding a different ride a million times while they played. Silly boys!

Katelyn had so much fun! She wouldn't let us take her off the rides that moved.

We finally pried Dave away from the shooting game long enough to climb up this big toy with Brynlee. I'm still not sure how he fit, but he did. I don't think he was supposed to go up there either, but they probably figured that if a guy his size went to all the effort of getting into the toy, they may as well let him stay!

This was at the dinner with Dave's family. Brynlee wanted to show off her new bike for everyone.Posing with a few of her presents, and the rest scattered all around on the floor!
This time she was a pro at blowing out the candles. So much so, she blew them out prematurely right after we started singing. So we sang to her again and let her blow them out again. Silly girl! We had a lot of fun for Brynlee's birthday. I hope she'll remember it and know how much we love her!

Deer Hunt

2009-11-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

This year, Dave was determined to get a deer. We left the kiddos with Shelby and packed a few horses up the mountain. It was a very long ride up, especially with a stubborn horse that kept making us stop. After about 7 hours on the horses, we got about 2 minutes from the top when our pack horse gave up. He decided he wasn't going any farther. We pulled and pushed and nothing worked. He finally got sick of Dave pulling on him and reared up and then rolled down the mountain a little way. This time, we gave up and made our camp next to where our pack horse stopped rolling. It was quite an adventure. The next morning we rode up to the top confident we would see something. We didn't. After seeing nothing at all, even a doe, we decided to go home and try somewhere else. At the bottom of the mountain, almost next to the truck, we saw 2 doe. And that's it! A whole lot of effort for 2 silly doe! It was so frustrating, I didn't manage to take any pictures of Dave and I. Oh well.

The next morning we decided to drag the girls and Shelby out of bed and go road hunting in a different canyon. This is what we saw...

Not quite what we were looking for! But maybe the fact that Brynlee was in charge of the binoculars had something to do with why we didn't see anything but a million sheep!

Dave decided to get out and walk to the edge of the mountain to see if he could see anything. I thought it was way sweet watching Dave and Brynlee looking for deer.

So Precious!

Apparently, 2 year old chatter isn't the quietest thing in the world, so even if there were deer, they took off pretty quick!

Katelyn was so good in her seat. What started as a quick drive up the canyon turned into a few hours, ok, maybe 5. The kids did awesome considering!

The next weekend we decided to try yet another canyon. This time Dustin came with us. We saw quite a few doe this time, but still nothing we could shoot legally. Although, a bear probably could have walked up and snuggled in next to these two and they wouldn't have noticed. I'm pretty sure that their snores were about as loud as Brynlee's chatter! Silly boys!
So, as determined as we were, we still didn't get a deer. We have a lot of fun stories to tell from this hunt. Hopefully next year we'll come home with a deer along with the stories!

What? Summer's OVER?!?

2009-10-02T23:44:00.000-06:00

Wow! I can hardly believe it's already OCTOBER! It's crazy how fast time goes when you don't really do much of anything! I've definitley been a blog slacker the past few months, so I thought I would catch up now. Here's a look at our crazy, busy, slow, lazy, summer!

The highlight of our summer was definitley our trip to California in June. After that, it was just a lot of hanging out....

Some overdue pictures of the 4th of July....

We had a parade that runs on State Street (also the main highway) that runs right in front of our house. Brynlee has a blast every year running for candy that the paraders throw out. The first few minutes Shelby has to drag her out there, but by the end she knows what to do. If only she could be more aggressive and not let the 12 year olds steal the candy from her, life would be better. I do get a little worried after the parade is over. After encouraging her to run into the busy road, it's a little hard for Bryn to understand that she can't keep playing in the road once the cars come back. My nerves get a little exercise for a few days after the parade reminding her that cars will hurt her!

After the parade, we went up to Dave's sister's house in West Haven (Ogden) for a little bbq and fireworks. I think Dave had the most fun making fire!

After the 4th, we did a lot of hanging out....

We rode horses a few times....

We went swimming a few times.....

We went to lunch with Stephanie and Toby.
I'm pretty sure the girls had fun running back and forth, and I'm pretty sure there were a few people who wished they'd picked a different resturaunt!

We went to the canyon with Amanda, Scott, and Logan for tin foil dinners.
It was fun, but I forgot about the camera till it was time to go! The kids (and their dads, ok...mostly the dads) thought it was expecially fun to throw rocks into the river.

How many generations does it take to walk two little Shih Tzu dogs? Oh, 4. My uncle Craig came down for a visit from Tennessee and the dogs needed to go potty, so.....Everyone took a walk! Then, someone had this great idea to throw rocks at a sign across the street. No pictures of that one. Didn't know that would be so fun!

Bryn decided to use my lip gloss as mascara. She came out saying, "Mommy look! I'm beautiful just like you!" All I could do was smile and take pictures, then take half an hour trying to clean it out of her eyebrows, eyes, hair, clothes. You name it, it had lip gloss on it!Katelyn gets a little anxious when she can't see me. She figured out that when I'm in the shower she can stand on the little potty and see me. This picture was so funny cuz she fell asleep standing up! I'm pretty amazed by her balance! Now she just curls up on the mats to sleep. Sometimes I remember what it was like to shower alone... Sigh....
Bryn's decided that she's a budding photographer. I didn't realize how many times she's taken the camera until I was putting the pictures on the computer. There's 47 pictures like this one. Most of them are of her chest or chin, a few ceiling shots. No wonder my memory card fills up so quickly!

Oh, yeah! Ready for some super exciting news? Katelyn WALKS! She started walking a while ago, I'm just a super slacker posting the news. Now, I have two little monsters that run away from me, but in seperate directions! Maybe now I'll lose some weight since I never sit down!
Brynlee is a super big helper when it comes to helping her sister walk. She likes to hold her hand, which irritates Katelyn a little cause it slows her down!

Look! Katelyn's first piggy tails! Not a lot to them, but they are there!

We have FIRE!
Our latest renovation. Last year, we had the stove temporarily thrown together sitting on a piece of plywood. Then we took it out so that the house would show better and hopefully sell. Well, the house didn't sell and it got cold again, so we brought the stove back in. This time it's permanent though. Dave and I had a few extremely late nights bricking the hearth. We still need to fix the carpet around the edges, but it looks a lot better than last year. Now we need to figure out how to keep Katelyn away so she doesn't get burned!

Bryn is turning into such a good big sister. Yesterday we went to check on the horses and Brynlee kept her arm around her sister and shared her sucker with her. It was so precious! Too bad I was driving so I couldn't capture the moment very well. That's about the extent of our summer....a whole lot of hanging out. Bryn's birthday is this month and Katelyn's is next month and then Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully I'll be more motivated to keep up on blogging stuff!

Grrr!

2009-08-10T06:11:00.001-06:00

So I tried to change the background and the main picture this morning, and It kept going crazy big or too small. I'm a little frustrated, so I'm giving up! Guess that's what I get for trying to do stuff so early in the morning!

California

2009-07-10T07:26:00.001-06:00

Wow! Its been a really long time since I've posted anything! We finally decided that it was best for me to quit my job as an interpreter at the school and stay home with the girls. It was so hard to decide because I loved the kids that I worked with. But, I love my little girls a whole lot more and they need me at home! I'm excited for this new challenge of never leaving the house! With the decision to quit, I had to sacrifice my beloved laptop! I was almost tempted to stay just for that! No, I'm just kidding. But that explains a little bit why I never get on the computer anymore. Ours is just too slow. But today, I'm suffering through it to get everything updated!

We went to California last week with my parents for my cousin's wedding. The girls had never been and when my parents invited us to ride along, I jumped at the chance. I wish it could have been longer! We left Thursday night and got home Monday night. It was a little crazy with the girls in the car that long and that quick of a turnaround. Even a dvd player in her lap didn't stop Bryn from getting a little upset. She broke my heart when she cried, "Mommy, I just need you. I want you bery bad! I just need to nuggle you!" After all the fight, I'm still glad we went. Brynlee had so much fun. She keeps telling me that we will go back to the beach tomorrow! I know its a lot of pictures, but we crammed a lot of stuff into a few days so bear with me!

This was taken about 5 minutes into the ride. See how they are still smiling? Another 5 minutes and it wasn't the case!

Casey decided we had to stop at In-n-Out in St. George on the way there and coming back. It was nice to get out and stretch for a few minutes. Greasy burgers on a long ride, maybe not so good!

We got to my Uncle Gary's in Fresno Friday morning about 5 am so all the cousins were still sleeping. Brynlee wasn't in the mood to go back to sleep quite yet so we tried keeping her quiet with a dvd. It was funny to see Casey and Seth and Brynlee tryning to watch Monsters Inc. on this little 7 In. screen when there was a huge tv in the next room that I'm sure they could have used!

My uncle has a pool at his house and as soon and we opened the curtains and Brynlee saw it, it was the only thing she wanted to do. We couldn't get ready fast enough! She walked around ready to go swimming for almost an hour!This is Krista, Lexie, Brynlee, and Laurel getting used to the cold water. Even with it being over 100* the water was cold!

Katelyn was excited by all of the attention getting ready.....
And then we put her feet in! It was a bit of a shock! Not to worry, she warmed up to the idea of lounging pretty quick!

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! Brynlee had so much fun with Lexie and Laurel! She keeps asking where her friends named Lexie and Lawarawel are! We swam most of the day friday, and then before the reception saturday. It was way fun and a relief from the over 100* temps and humidity! This is one of my other favorite pictures!This was saturday outside the temple. Don't they look cute! Thanks Jacqui and Dustin for the dresses and hair flowers! Bryn is such a cheeser! Here's the Holden fam, minus a few
The kiddos. Katie wouldn't wake up and Bryn was being a 2 year old and wouldn't look!

I had to put this one of Papa(my grandpa) with Katelyn. He NEVER looks at the camera! Usually I get a hand covering his face! Surprised the heck out of me when he looked AND smiled!
Thanks Papa! With the exception of about 1 minute here and there, Katelyn wouldn't let anyone else hold her. We were all surprised when my cousin Kayla turned out to be her best friend! She wouldn't go to Shelby or Grandma. Only Mom or Kayla!

Seth, Brynlee, Becca, and Frank. Congrats guys!
Brynlee wanted a picture with "the pretty princess" but she was too scared to go by herself...Hence Seth is in the pic
FINALLY! The Beach! This is all Bryn talked about. I think she might have enjoyed it if it was a little warmer, but she had fun running away from the water that was coming to get her.

Casey, Brynlee, and Seth. I'm glad she has patient uncles to walk up and down and run in and out of the water with her.

Grandma and Grandpa being silly!

Just a fun picture to send to Daddy. We were sad he couldn't come with us, but the thought of 13 hours in the car with 'the in-laws' was far less appealing than staying home alone for a few days!

Neves Look-alike Meter

2009-05-16T16:34:00.001-06:00

I saw this on Amanda's blog a while ago and have been meaning to do it for a long time. I think it's funny that it says Brynlee looks more like me! No one ever says that! Everyone thinks Brynlee looks like Dave and Katelyn looks like me. Funny stuff!

Track Meet

2009-05-11T09:14:00.000-06:00

The deaf kids that I work with at school think it is the coolest thing that I have a blog. Last Friday, we had a district wide track meet for all of the 4th-6th graders. It was a very long, busy day. I was running all day making sure that they got to their events. Then I would start them in the race and run to the finish line to tell them how they did. I was exhausted! In all my running I didn't have time to reapply sunscreen so I'm fried as well. Oh, well. It's a sign that summer is coming Yeah! Anyway, the kids made me promise to post pictures of them on my blog, so here they are. This is who I work with all day!

This is Stephen, a very cool 6th grader!

This is Julie with her best friend Makenzy on her back. Silly gooses!

After 2 hours of waiting in line, Stephen finally got to do the softball throw. He threw over 80 feet! It wasn't quite enough to win a medal, but he still did well!

This is Stephen running the 400 meter. He is the one in the orange behind the front 2 boys. He stayed with them until the very end, but didn't quite make it. He took 4th of all the 6th grade boys. He was pretty bummed that he didn't get a medal, but he tried his very best!

Julie is on the left running the 100 meter dash here. She had to do it 3 times and took first every time! By the end she was really tired, but she pushed through and took 1st place of all the 4th grade girls! She did awesome!

The "Podium"

Julie's 1st place gold medal for the 100 meter. She is so proud of this!

Julie and Makenzy showing off their medals.

This was the 4th grade MPE girls relay team. They took 3rd Place! Good Job girls!

The ZOO

2009-05-01T11:08:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, the girls and I met Aunt Jenny, Megan, and Zach at the zoo. We had a blast! It was so much fun for Brynlee to see all of the animals. It took her awhile to wake up from our 3 hour drive up there, but once she did, she loved it! She only got tired at the end, and made Jen carry her. By the time we made it to the car, she crashed and slept most of the way home. Katelyn, on the other hand was perfect all day and then didn't want to be confined to her carseat. It made the day extra long for me with her crying the whole way home. I can't tell you how relieved I was to see our house! Brynlee still talks about all the animals that we saw and what they were doing. She was very sad that Daddy couldn't come with us. She keeps saying, "We need to go to the zoo 'adain', but this time you will go 'wif' me and see all the animals!" Then she gets this big silly grin and claps her hands and then gives him a big hug! She is so stinking cute! I love being a mom! I know it's a lot of pictures, bear with me! They were all so cute, I couldn't decide which ones to pass on!
When I told Bryn that we were going to the zoo, she got all excited and came up with this great plan that we were going to ride tigers. I would ride the mommy one and she would ride the baby one. When we saw the tiger statues, we couldn't pass them up. I don't know if this is quite what she had in mind!

We rented a wagon to carry our things. Bryn only stayed for a few minutes throughout the day. Megan(13) and Zach(8) got the most use! I thought it was funny when Bryn helped push Megan up the hill!

Katelyn was so good all day! She loves being outside. I'm not sure if she really appreciated seeing the animals, but at least she was happy!

Brynlee loved the turtles! She hadn't seen any that are this big before!

Waiting for the Carousel. Megan and Zach are Brynlee's favorite cousins! We're so glad they came to the zoo with us!

Brynlee rode the tiger, of course! She wouldn't let Katelyn stay with her cause
she is "very heavy!"

Megan and Brynlee

Happy Katie Bug!

On the ginormous elephant trunk.

Bryn and Zach by the zebras.

By the giraffes.
On the train. Bryn loved it! She wished it was a longer ride.

It was crazy busy the day we went so we had to park at the back of the zoo. We made our way backwards through the animals and ended at the globe. Brynlee was so cute playing in it. She would fill her hands with water and then walk over to Megan or Zach and throw it at them. Of course, by the time she made it to them her hands were empty. She didn't notice, and she thought she was super funny. Then, she decided to drink the water out of the bottom. YUCK! All those dirty kids playing in it all day!
By the time we made it almost all of the way through, some more cousins showed up. We got to walk through all of it again. Fun, huh? Did I mention that it was a really long day?

Poor Bryn was so exhausted by the time we left. And, poor Jen who got to carry Bryn the rest of the way cause she wouldn't let me!

We had a really great time, and believe it or not, we're going again in a few weeks. If anyone wants to come we'd love the company!

Egg Hunt

2009-04-30T11:47:00.000-06:00

My mom insists every year that we have an egg hunt. The only problem is that there is only 2 grandkids! It's the funniest thing to see 6 dozen boiled eggs spread all over the front yard, and 5 teenagers and one grandma-teen helping one 2 year old find them! Katelyn found one and was content to sit and bite it.

A few weeks ago, grandpa took her out to see all the snakes in the yard (yuck!). Now she is terrified of snakes and their yard. We opened the door and told her to go, but she stood there and said, "No, the 'nakes' will eat me! Candace, you will get them for me!" She's a smart one... willing to sacrifice others! Once we convinced her that they wouldn't get her, she wouldn't pause to smile for a picture!

Katelyn is such a smiley goose! If you even look at her she breaks into a huge grin!

Easter

2009-04-16T09:13:00.001-06:00

Easter this year was so much fun! Brynlee is finally catching on to the whole Santa and Easter Bunny thing, and Katelyn just smiles and laughs no matter what you do as long as she gets attention! Brynlee has been talking for 3 months about what the Easter Bunny was going to bring her. She was with me when one of the goodies was bought and I had to lie and tell her that I forgot it at the store. She never forgot! She would say, "Mommy, we better go to the store and buy a mew(new) one, cause we really forgot it at the store!" I tried to help her forget, or tell her that maybe the Easter bunny would bring her a new one. She was so excited when she came down to find it in her basket!

I decided I'm a matchy nerd! Everything was matching except the baskets and that's only because I couldn't find one similar to Brynlee's from last year. Brynlee decided She needed the new one from this year, so hers was passed to Katie.

Brynlee stood and stared at the baskets for ever before she got the courage to touch it. She saw the barbies and dresses and you could see her little brain working trying to decide which basket she wanted!
Lovely hair! No matter what i do before bed, it looks like this in the morning!
Katie got the Belle barbie cause her middle name is IsaBELLE. I thought it was cute. You can think I'm a nerd!

The "goodie" that we forgot at the store! She still won't let it go. We had to go back home and get it cause we forgot it!

Katie's new Easter Dress
Bryn's new Easter Dress
This was the only picture we could get of them smiling in their new dresses. Definitely not the most lady-like! But I still think it's cute!
Shelby got to come stay with us for easter too. I felt bad that she didn't get a barbie from the Easter Bunny too, but I think she understands! I made her pose with her basket too cause Brynlee and Katelyn were. Once again, I'm a nerd!
Shelby got a new dress too! Glad the Easter bunny found her!

Katelyn's Blessing

2009-04-15T10:48:00.000-06:00

I'm a little bit of a slacker! I started this post like a month ago but never finished it! Ooops! We had Katelyn's blessing in March at my grandparents' house in Mona. My Grandparents are wonderful! I think we ended up with 48 people in their new house! Poor Casey had the privilege of making pizzas for us all to eat. I felt bad that we were late too because of Daylight Savings. My phone never change! I thought I was leaving an hour early when really I was leaving when it was supposed to start! I was super embarrassed. Oh well. It turned out great. We are glad that everyone could come and share Katelyn's day with us!

Brynlee and Katelyn were a little overwelmed by the rush of everything. This was the best picture we could get!

With the Grandparents from both sides.

The Circle

Poor Katelyn! She got super hungry! I thought this was a sweet picture though!

A Happy Mess

2009-03-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

We are FINALLY updating our kitchen! We kind of started last summer, but got stuck until now. I was in such a hurry last year to change things that I didn't take any before pictures. I took some now, but they don't show how old everything really was! We painted the cupboards and put new knobs on, which made a huge difference. Now we are doing all the rest. Here are a few before pics...
Dave started taking out the counter while I was gone so one side of countertop is missing but I think you get the idea! Everything is matching in that 70's goldish color! We got a new fridge about a week after moving in because it was the same color as the stove and the counter and the sink and it was just too much!

Yes....This is CARPET! It was great fun vacuuming everyday. Not so much fun cleaning up the raw eggs that Brynlee dumped out of the fridge!

This is our the fantastic yellow ceramic sink. Sadly, only 3 of our glasses survived, no matter how careful we were about setting them into the sink.

The process got a little overwelming. The kitchen was torn apart with no end in sight it seemed. We got to be good friends with the subway workers and pizza place by the end! Without a sink and all the construction mess, we didn't have much choice!

By the way, that's not mold on the walls. That's what I thought too at first. It's tar that they used to hold the laminate backspash on! It doesn't come off, so don't ever use it!

But WAIT!!!!!! It's DONE!!!!!
I can't tell you how excting it is to have the mess gone!
We still have a few minor details to finish up (like get a new stove that's not gold),
but it looks 100 times better!

Our new floor! I can wipe it up and know that it's clean!
My favorite is seeing Brynlee's little footprints across the floor after her bath!

I love my new sink! It's big and shiny and doesn't leak! It's wonderful!

I just wanted to show the color of the outter walls. We had a hard time picking colors for everything because of the white cabinets. We picked the dark counters to add some depth and then had to find coordinating colors. Since apples are the theme, we went with red for the backsplash and gold for the rest. I know, that blasted gold color that we tried so hard to get rid of! But it's different, I promise!

Our Recent Family Pics

2009-03-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

When Brynlee was younger, I took her in for so many pics! Then, along came Katelyn. I felt terrible that she was almost 3 months old and had no professional pics taken. We had to go in and catch up! Hopefully she won't feel neglected any more! We took some of her blessing dress, even though she won't be blessed until next week. When you live in Sanpete, it's a little bit more difficult to make it up for north for things. We got a few of the rest of us too. Just wanted to share!

Hide and Seek

2009-03-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Dave and Brynlee decided it would be fun to play hide and seek. It was all Dave's idea, just to show you how big of a kid he is! It's probably a good thing that he won't read this(i hope) cause I doubt he'd forgive me for putting up pics of him in his underoos! Bryn's hiding place...Pretty good huh?

Daddy's hiding place. That's right, he emptied out all of the blankets from the chest and climbed inside. I'm still not sure how he fit!

A few minutes later, we heard Bryn yelling for help. We ran in to find her high-centered and stuck trying to get into the chest by herself!

The rest of the day, Bryn was in this chest playing or reading. What fun!

There were some other cute pics of Dave and Bryn inside, but I knew for sure Dave wouldn't forgive me for those! Maybe next timehe'll get dressed before he plays!

Ready....set....go!

2009-02-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, here goes! I thought I'd start posting stuff today. Some of it is random and from a while ago, but the blog looks too empty without it! Enjoy!

I've finally jumped on board!

2009-02-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of people asking me about a blog. I've been a little sluggish until now, but I decided today is the day! I can't promise to keep it updated but I will do my best!