Family Pictures

Our family picture proofs came back a few weeks ago! There were a lot of pics to choose from. This is one of my favorites and maybe will have this one over the mantle. This is a fun one of all the girls! Courtney Ryan, our photographer, has done a close up of the girls the last three times we have used her and it's fun to put them together to see the changes through the years:)

My handsome guys!


I love this picture with the flowers. I wanted flowers! But the lighting was not good on any of these pictures. Courtney warned us but I loved this background. If all else fails trust the photographer!

I love this pic too. Me and my girls!


This is one of the first we took and one of my favorites! My family is growing up!

Rick and I. So happy together:) Life is good!

Even though family pictures have ALWAYS been stressful this one went pretty smoothly and our photographer was great. Her company is called Lizards and Ladybugs and her prices are very reasonable.

Skylar's Open House

Saturday was Skylar's Open House that we have been planning for a month. We had many friends and family some to wish Skylar well as he will be leaving in a few weeks for the MTC. We had it out at the pavilion which fit everyone quite well! A fajita dinner was served and I hope everyone enjoyed it. It was a HUGE amount of work and I am so grateful to all those who traveled so far to support Sky. Here he is with his cousin Dalton......they have been buddies since they were little. Here is a pic of Grandma Fern who flew back from Tennessee with aunt Kathy to be here on this special day. Emily McNeil and my beautiful niece Jenni smile for the camera:)

Uncle Pete and Terri are one of the many from my side of the family to make the trip from Las Vegas. I know it was such a long trip for everyone but that sacrifice has meant so much to me as I think about the weekend. My only regret is that I wish I could have spent more time with my fam just visiting. There were so many people to attend to.

Grandma Hafen and Adam pose for a picture w!ith Uncles Scott and Paul in the background

Ashlee and Nicole, my nieces from Vegas. This was their very first time to Grantsville:)

The whole weekend was wonderful if not a little crazy. Sunday was such a highlight as Skylar had his speaking assignment. He spoke on the restoration and did an AWESOME job. I know I am a little biased as I say that. My heart was filled with such tender feelings as I saw more and more family enter the chapel. Family is EVERYTHING and Rick and I are both blessed with supportive extended family. The best part of the day, in my opinion, was after the meeting when we gathered at my home and Rick was able to give Skylar a blessing in preparation of leaving and having all of his uncles and cousins who were able to stand in the circle. I love the Priesthood and how it blesses so many. Skylar will be able to use this power for much good as he serves in Paraguay! THANK YOU TO ALL who were there on this special day!

Home Renovations

I thought I would throw out some pics of our latest home renovations. This is the upstairs kids bath. I painted this a couple of months ago but just got new countertops 3 weeks ago. I have never had granite countertops and I am really liking them. This bath is decorated in brown, green and orange. I love the way those colors look! We had this same coutertop put in the master bath and it goes great with our red/gold color scheme. This is my main floor bath. I love the way it turned out! I was bold and chose an olive green paint. It is accented with dark brown! I love the smell of fresh paint! This countertop is dark green with black and gold flecks.

We also had new tile laid in here.

Oops, I just noticed the open drawer:(
We had the outside restuccoed a couple of weeks ago and we have been waiting for our shutters and flower boxes to be hung. I am thrilled with the way this turned out. I was worried about having so much dark with our white trim but I think it came out nice. Whaddaya think?

Here is the whole front. We have two more flower boxes on order and they should be here next week. They will go on the upper and lower bay windows. I'm a little nervous of keeping those flowers alive. We just planted them yesterday.

We planted some bulbs to come up in the spring! We'll see how it goes!

These have been pretty big projects but our house is 15 years old and needed some updating. I'm glad it's finished:)

Skylar goes to the temple

I love Sunday mornings. It's very peaceful in our home. With teenagers, they like to sleep in 'til they are actually made to get out of bed. Rick is off to the church by 6:00 every sunday morning so it's just me and the quiet walls of our home for a few hours. It's great!
Last Thursday was a momentous occasion for our family. Skylar, preparing for his mission, was able to recieve his endowment in the Salt Lake Temple. Can I just say that it was wonderful! Thank You to all those who were there. I love the temple and know that through the ordinances performed there we can be a family forever! That is the most important thing that we can do while we are here on the earth!