The Real Deal

You may notice one common theme in all these pictures...that's my sweetheart and the 'MOM' that binds us all together. She doesn't know I'm writing this and would probably not want me to comment on how great she is. But, she runs full throttle all day long to the point of exhaustion just to keep this family going. I appreciate her more than words can say. Her only 'relief' is a bowl of ice cream (usually cookie dough or rocky road), a soft bed, and a Tivo from 9-10 pm each night after the kids are asleep. Here's a rare picture of her in her element! Somehow she gets up the next day and does it all over again. I love you honey! (And yes, I'll go downstairs and get you another snack.)

Swimmers take your mark......BEEP!

Here are our great swimmers on swim team this year. We are so very proud of them all!!

Oh the summer............

We are so happy to have all of our kids home ALL DAY for the summer. We are keeping busy! Abby, Braiden, and Caleb are on swim team. Even though it is a big commitment to get up and practice each morning, they are loving it and they are doing very well. Abby just finished up Volleyball camp over at Gilbert HS. She loved it so much! If everything goes as planned she will be a much better vball player than her mother. Braiden and Caleb will be attending basketball camp at Coronado soon. Braiden, however, doesnt think he needs to go because, "Mom, I already know how to play basketball!". Dayson and Emma are busy tring to figure out which of them is the boss of mom, the baby boy of the house or the baby girl of the house. So far Emma is winning. Spencer is keeping extremely busy with work, both at Intel and with our side business Agis Consulting. His calling in Young Mens is also keeping him busy. I am also trying to slide in some fun of my own this summer. I just got back from Girls Camp! It was 3 days of goodness and ZERO sleep. Yes, I did miss my snack and bed at 8:30pm. BUT I feel so lucky to have been around such an amazing group of Young Women. Keep checking back with this post, I will have more pics coming soon....................

Fun in the sun at ROCKY POINT MEXICO!!

"We Are Family!!! I got my all my 5 kids, wife and me...."

We had a blast staying at Las Palomas this summer. The pool was great, not to mention the beach and warm ocean water. Our crazy Braiden again proved to be just like his daddy and went flailing about in the ocean regardless of the stingray warnings that we repeatedly gave him. We had one great day of strong winds and big waves so Spencer and the kids took the boogie boards out into the ocean. Abby and Caleb were awesome boogie boarders. On our last day there we stopped by the aquarium and met Arthur the Sea Lion. The kids loved that however some of the kids loved him better from a distance!! Our ride home was a little less fun however! We were about 2-3 minutes behind a horrible car accident on the I-8. It unfortuantely took a life. We were stuck on the highway for about 5 hours. The kids were SO good and patient. We were so PROUD. To top it all off, Abby got stung by a nasty bee on her hand and in the coming days we found out that she is horribly allergic as our friend and great doctor Derek DeTemple explained to us....when the hand doubles in size that is not a good thing!

Women's Conference 2008

I was able to get together with the girls again this year and attend another wonderful women's conference at BYU. We had the priviledge of hearing from our beloved prophet, President Monson. It was sooo much fun even though there was NO sleep to be had! This posting is the G rated version of our trip. There are plenty more incriminating pictures so if anyone needs a good blackmail....contact me! (we've got you trapped Velvet...you better not ever move anywhere else!!!) We suprised Velvet with a little dinner in honor of the Bride to Be at a mexican resturaunt that Jen DeTemple was able to get for us. They were able to accomidate all 36 of us in one great room! Thanks Jen! Yes, we were also very miserable as it snowed on us while we were in SLC. Yet, I refused to remove my beloved flip flops for some more appropriate Utah wear. What can I say....I am a true Arizona girl.

Braiden's last Project in Kindergarten

We are so proud of our smart boy! He has had a great year of kindergarten and has made LOTS of new friends. Here he is presenting his shark report to his class. GOOD JOB BUDDY!!

Abby's 8th Birthday

We celebrated her birthday with all her great friends!!

Halloween 2007

Emma, as the ladybug. Dayson, as Peter Pan. Caleb, as the Black Spiderman. Braiden, as a transformer. And Abby as Hannah Montana of course!

Christmas 2007

Here we are at Christmas minus one of course. (Spencer was taking the picture)

Fall at the cabin

We love to go to the cabin. Here are some of our friends joining us this time. By the way, October is a great time to ride the ski lift and get free season passes for the kids! (right Foster family?!?)

We love to go skiing!!

This is the kiddos at the cabin this past winter! Abby, Braiden and Caleb are now independant skiiers! We are so proud!

Abby's special day!

Abby was baptized in November of 2007. It was so great to have our family and friends with us. Abby was baptized by her father. Abby's papa also gave a fabulous talk on the keys of the priesthood and the holy ghost. He was able to give her a special family heirloom as a tradition in the Lamoreaux Family.