4th of July

Around here the 4th of July stinks. Seriously. Fireworks are not for sale and it is blazin' hot outside even after the sun goes down. A thirty minute firework show used to be the best and now it seems like it goes on and on while we swelter in the heat. So most of our holiday revolves around the food. And oh the food was soooo good this year. Darren was on a diet at the time, trying to win the Biggest Loser jackpot at work, (Which he did, by the way, losing 30 lbs in 10 weeks!) and so our menu consisted of lean proteins, and lots of veggies and fruit and grilled on the bbq - love grilled pineapple! We threw together our red, white and blue jello as well -sugar free this year. There was so much good stuff to eat. I'll forever be grateful that our kids aren't picky eaters. It allows us to ALL enjoy a great meal.
Later that evening we busted out the contraband sparklers that Grandpa Wells gave us. Elijah wasn't too sure about them though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Ten Years

Wow it's been ten years today that Darren and I were married. We had a lot of history then, or so I thought. We started out our marriage with $400 from his last check in Ogden and the first month's rent already paid on an apartment in Orem. We were living on love and a prayer that things would work out. Hey...we are still doing that. Darren and I were married at 21 and now as I write this I realize that I have been in love with this guy for half of my life. I realize that we could have easily become a statistic, but it wouldn't have happened. I had seen that picture of the Manti Temple on my parents wall for years and knew what it would take to get there. Plus I was bound and determined to marry a returned missionary and we knew what it would take to get him there too. It helped a ton that Darren was a good guy and felt no shame in being good. It is one of the reasons I was drawn to him.Ten Random Things About Darren & I Together:

1. The first time I cut Darren's hair was in highschool. It took me three hours. He looked like I gave him a buzz cut in the end. He never complained once about it. I still cut his hair all these years later. He still never complains.
2. I barely talked to Darren for two months after he bought my engagement ring. Talk about cold feet!
3. The first time I saw Darren after his mission the gap in his teeth took me by surprise. I had forgotten he had it.
4. Burger King holds a special place in my heart because we always went there after his baseball games and he would eat the other half of my whopper.
5. Our first fight after being married was about how to arrange the books on the bookshelf. We both wrote about it in our journals.
6. Darren and I generally like the same books. He finished all of the ones we were supposed to in highschool for our English class and then told me the endings if I didn't get it done.
7. Darren once cut a slice off of a stump, carved our initials into it, and sent it to me while I was away at college.
8. I still have tapes that Darren made for me just talking to me. I WILL NOT let him throw them away...ever!
9. Aerola, Colorado...nuf said.
10. When we were 18 I was on a cheerleading trip and shopping with some of the other girls. We must have been in Hallmark because there was a machine that you could make and print your own custom card. I made a card for Darren that day. The message inside said... "Even after all of these years together, you are still the one I run away with in my dreams." ...that message still applies.

Rare Photos Indeed

While we were in New Mexico I made a point of getting some pictures of Darren's family. Anytime his dad sees me with my camera he tells me, "Don't take my picture hon." If he sees me trying to sneak a picture of him he stops whatever it was he was doing. That's what happened right after I took this picture of him playing with the bubble gun and all of the little kids. I was determined to get a great picture of Darren's parents with my kids. I don't think I even have one with them and all three kids in it and we are getting ready to add another.The sweet little lady in this picture is Darren's grandma - the kids' Great Grandma Stewart. Alexia loves to measure up against her whenever we visit. If you look closely you will see Alexia is seriously on her tip toes trying to look taller than Grandma. It's close, but Grandma still wins. She lives right next to Darren's parents in this house.

This sweet little girl with Alexia is the other grandchild of Darren's parents. Her name is Olivia Ruth aka Sweet Pea. She and Lexi share the same middle name and coincidentally so do their mama's.
Teressa is always telling me how much Oliva reminds her of Alexia at that age. Once I headed to my scrapbooks I could see why she says that. Here is my girlie at about the same age.
You can't tell they are related can you?

PS. Thanks for holding still Jerry! ;)

Wells Family Reunion

This year's family reunion was a working vacation. We all converged on my parents house with the lofty goal to re-shingle their roof. It was a huge project to undertake, but with some help from the EQ and a friend of my dad's things eventually got done.

Because of my six month baby bump at the time, Darren told me there was no way was I getting up on that roof. My three sisters (Alena, Becca, and Melissa) probably logged as many hours on the roof as my brothers did though. Way to represent, girls!Down on solid ground we kept busy with a project of our own...humanitarian Education Kits...36 of them. I brought 20 that the YW in my ward had started which needed some tlc and a missing item here and there and then we did 16 from start to finish. It to turned into a lofty project.
Pictured here are Rebecca, and my SIL's Lindsay and Kristin doing the all important material sort.

Kristin showing off her mad sewing skills.The finished product.

We capped off the weekend with pinewood derby races for the kids. They thought it was so much fun.
While we didn't really get to spend a lot of time talking to each other besides meal times, it was fun to see and spend the weekend with everyone. Having the cousins get together is important to me, as there are some in my family that I wouldn't be able to name. It's always fun to see how much the little ones have grown.
Most everyone went home on Sunday, but there were a few stragglers left and they all headed back outside early (6am) Monday morning. Alena ended up seeing the project to completion later that week.

We pulled out the home videos and had a few laughs. We even found one that must have been the first we ever took. I was probably ten years old in it. I don't remember ever watching it before. It gave my brother Scott a good idea for next year's reunion which he will be in charge of organizing.

Girls Camp

I was counting the other day and in 10 years of marriage, I have been working with the Young Women for all but three of those years. In that same amount of time I have been to seven girls camps as a leader. Whew! My family has come to realize that every summer includes a few days of fun with just dad while mom is off in the woods some where. This year was the first time I had been on just a ward level. Wow it was a lot of work but we had an amazing camp director.

We had 29 girls at camp this year and it was so much fun. What was amazing was that we didn't have one fight or any girls in tears the entire time. And if you have spent any time at girls camp you know how incredible that is.

They were such a fun group of girls to go with!

This was my favorite view of nature. I took so many pictures of the blue sky, white clouds, green needles and dark brown tree trunks. I'm starved for color here.

This game (Storm the Castle) was a huge hit. It was done with bungee cords and a helicopter net. It looked so fun. I wanted to climb up it but was so afraid to get up there and get stuck.

Three of the leaders, including our camp director, were pregnant this year. The three of us roughed it a tent and still managed to crawl out of bed each morning. Maybe next year with a new baby I'll get a bye.

Jump Around...Jump Around...

Jump up jump up and get down.

That's really all I think of when I see these pictures. They have been sitting in a folder waiting to get posted for a while now. So while I get organized with my pictures from the last three weekends I'll get you something new to look at.
These pictures were taken the weekend of Alexia's baptism. My youngest sister Melissa is a pro at these shots and she was trying to get us all in on the fun. The idea is to strike a great mid air pose and catch it (in focus) on film. She was busy giving pointers to my sister Rebecca and Alexia. It took a lot of tries to get anything good.

Here they are getting started...Lexi just kept forgetting that she needed to bend her legs mid-air.Apparently Lexi jumps better with her tongue stuck out. Sound like anyone else you know?Pretty soon Melissa stopped giving pointers and got in on the fun. I told you she knew what she was doing.They finally got one with everyone jumping up at the same time.
This next one is my favorite of Alexia. Look at the height she gets and that tongue and hair. That's my girl!

Kindergarten Celebration

June 2nd, 2008

Parker graduated from Kindergarten. I've never been to a Kindergarten Graduation but next time I'll know it is a big deal and make Lijah dress up a bit for it. Parker had the opening part and did a great job.

They put on a small program and then the families all headed to each child's classroom for refreshments and awards.Here Parker is receiving the "Greatest Ball Player" award from Mrs. Mendoza. Hence the humongous smile on his face.
Parker and his good friend Alazain.Parker and his Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Ruth Mendoza.
Parker and Eliza...the little girl who told him she thought he was cute. She is moving in a few days and Parker is really sad about it. I caught him moping around yesterday while we were cleaning bedrooms and thought he was upset at having to do all the work I was asking for help with. "I was just thinking about Eliza moving tomorrow mom and it made me kinda sad cause I'm not going to get to see her again." Does anyone else notice the fact that he has his arm around her? Sheesh...we need to have a personal space talk with him.