3rd Annual Devine Family Reunion - tons of pics :)

We kicked off the reunion with a circus show downtown. A clown, some contortionists and SUBWAY for lunch, then to Mandys house for manis/pedis. It was super fun to just hang out, chat and laugh like turkeys, cackle cackle cackle.....lol
Mandy made cookies that were to DIE for....so yummy and I think we ate all 6 dozen. This year we began a new tradition of spotlighting ancestors, which was so cool to hear stories about them and see pictures. I decided to start another blog for our family keeping the spotlights and photos for the generations that follow us.
An early morning stroll (umm trudi tried to tag it a "hike") at Floyd Lamb Park. It was such a nice (hot) morning. We walked around the lake and then had a picnic breakfast. Ryan kept the geese away by chasing them and Nana said it wasn't nice to scare them...lol
After the park we went back to our house for water games and then to In-N-Out for lunch.
We had a SURPRISE that Sam, kids and I had kept from the rest of the family. We drove them to an AMAZING pool that we had rented for a few hours. It was SUPER fun...slides, cliffs, swim up bar, a bridge, volleyball court and relaxing patio with the biggest sectional sofa Ive ever seen.
We finished up with the buffet at the Silverton, where Sam pulled a fast one and got us in through the VIP line so we didnt' have to wait two hours. His good looks seal the deal every time.....
Saturday morning we all attended Mandys father in laws funeral. Garth Abbott was a great man and so kind to our family. We will all miss him dearly and know he has gone ahead to do great things on the other side. After a really nice family lunch we came back and finished up our family spotlights, had a talent show and hung out for the rest of the night.
It was a really good time......relaxing, laughing, eating and sharing some tears together. We're already planning for next year and maybe looking at an out of state location....hmmmm??? YESSSSS!!!!

Fourth of July 2011

The 8th annual Salsa congress was in Las Vegas July 4th weekend so this year Sam came with me. It was AWESOME!!!! Amazing performances and amazing dancing after, until 3 in the morning. I'm already prepping for next year.....hahaha! You can see my favorite performance here
The last couple of years we've had a new tradition of staying in Las Vegas to celebrate the fourth of July. We have a big pool party and BBQ during the day and at night all the neighbors come outside and share fireworks.
Somehow this year our house seemed to be the center of the party and we had lots of neighbors hanging out on our lawn so we decided to share a desert and soda. It was fun but before we knew it, it was 10p.m and we had to shut it down and get to bed. Here are some pictures of the night.

Pool Parties up the wazooo.....

If there is one thing we know how to do....its have a pool party! We love it!!! Memorial weekend is when we officially open the pool. This year we had Selena and her family in town. Mandy, Lucas and family came over, Trudi, Tyler & Noah were here from Idaho on their way to Ireland, and Joe, Amy & Lucy. Sam cooked a mean BBQ and we swam all day. The Sunderland kids have grown up with ours and its so fun to get together at least once or twice a year and have the kids get along so well. Our gang is growing.
In years past we've had one big END OF SCHOOL pool party but it gets a little crazy so this year I decided to have a day for each of the kids to invite their friends. It was soooo much better and they could each invite more friends. I didn't take pictures of the boys but here's pictures of Kami and Baili's party!
And alas, the young women pool parties at mi casa.....why stop with just my own kids.

Kicking off Summer

class of 2022 isn't that crazy???

I have seriously almost given up blogging. What the heck? Summer has been busy ever since the kids got outta school and we've been having fun. The first couple of days were tough trying to figure out how to make it three months with no real structure but once we made a weekly schedule and understood that every day WAS NOT going to be party central at our house, we were good to go.
At the end of school, Ryans teacher, Ms Jensen had the cutest little graduation program ever! The kids went through the whole 1st grade year and what they had learned with songs, poems and skits. Ryan went from being a big ham to being "too cool" to do anything, including singing and I found myself snapping my fingers trying to get his attention and warning him, through grinded teeth to participate.......loving as I am.
The parents beside me were falling off their seats, laughing at one of the songs because Ryan was so "street" and "funky" with his "gangster" hand jesters....yeah that's us...so hood! This picture is when he was "bustin a move" and yep those are antennae on his head.......lol
We found out about a great local deal for the month of June at Primm, NV and spent two separate days out there having free fun. They had rides, free movie and the CRAZIEST roller coaster ever created.....I actually lost my voice for two weeks because I screamed so much. The kids had so much fun we went out a second time and each of the kids brought a friend.

KinderGrad

Kami graduated kindergarten this year. They did the CUTEST little play EVER. Kami was the "CAT". Nana came with cousins Tyrone and Niamh. Ryan was so sweet and brought Laes for Kami and her teacher (his old teacher) Mrs Gehring.

At the end they sang "Start spreadin the news....."

Touching the Temple

Our ward challenge this month is to "touch the temple." I think the idea came from the youth TREK TO THE TEMPLE. After our 20 mile walk, the temple president challenged the youth to go up and actually, physically touch the temple, but more importantly to let the temple touch them in their lives.

So the kids and I took a walk around the temple last week. We took these pictures. I told the kids about the tree in the second picture above. When the kids were much younger, actually I think Ryan was the baby, we used to take field trips up to the temple and just sit on the grounds. I remember bringing bubbles for the kids and I would sit them up in that tree and they would blow the bubbles. Its amazing how small the tree looks now, time has flown.

The peace on the temple grounds is almost tangible and I love it there. It brings the important things in life to the front of my mind and all the other things seem less important. It reminds me of family, love and great memories!

Life & Death

The newest addition to our growing family - ISLA MAEVE ABBOTT. She is so precious and beautiful and I satisfy my maternal needs whenever I get to hold her. This is Mandys fourth baby, bring on the meds....just kidding! Mandy is so calm and organized, she is a wonderful Mom. Isla is a very calm and peaceful baby. She always looks like she wants to say something or is in deep thought, with the best expressions!Our dear, beautiful friend MaKenzie Hanover passed away on Memorial Day (May 30th) after a year long battle with brain cancer. We will miss her but her passing strengthened our beliefs in life after death and knowing that she has gone on to do work on the other side. We had some good conversations with the children about life and death. Jacob said the morning after we found out MaKenzie was gone, "its just weird that someone is here and then gone." The sadness that we feel for the loss of our loved ones is human and real but the knowledge that their spirit continues to live is extremely comforting and gives hope to those of us left behind.We took this picture the last time we got to visit with MaKenzie. Our kids really loved her, as I did. I'm so glad we have this picture to remember how great it always was to be around MaKenzie. The picture below is from YW camp two years ago of MaKenzie and her friend McKenna, both girls used to babysit our kids.

Anxiety No More

a little pic from a couple of years ago.....ahhh da beach!
Today is the last day of school (hold applause)!!!! I dont know how I feel about it (Bad Mom)!!!

My kids love school and I love that they love school, because I love them to love school. It creates schedule and a little bit of order in my insane life. Its not bad to want that.
Ok, so Ive had a little anxiety about the whole thing, what am I going to do with them? They get tired of the pool after 3 weeks, everyday is party central with 50, 000 kids in my back yard, the house goes to pot, they eat more, they whine more, they dont want to come the gym *big problem because I teach* ugh, just thinking about it makes me wanna sit in the corner with my thumb in my mouth - back and forth, back and forth - hee hee!

SO the positive person inside of me is thinking.....

1. It'll be fun not to have to rush out the door everymorning, with Jacob stressing out because we are late (didn't he get the memo that were always late)
2. I can actually spend time with the little darlings....no sarcasm, they are little! ...ok and darling.
3. We can go to the YMCA to change things up a bit.
4. Pool parties / playdates are rotating things, so they can go to other peoples houses also...breathe!
5. We are all SUPER excited for family reunions at the end of July into August. Devines here in Vegas, Bainbridge in Florida.
6. Oh, free movies at the theatre - although I think my kids might be getting over that now :(
7. Last but not least - GIRLS CAMP will kill a week and might kill me?

So there you have it, it's going to be GREAT!!!!
You should read THIS blog by my hilarious friend Denae and if all else fails, head to Walmart for Benadryl, Darts and a Happy Meal.
p.s. I'm sooooo far behind with my blogging posts, so much to share......coming soon!