Aubrey and Ronins' Birthdays

Hello blogging world...it's been far too long since our last post.  Yes, we're still alive.  Just popping in to say hello and post a few updates of our family.  Yesterday we celebrated Aubrey's sweet 16th birthday and Ronin's 11th birthday with our extended family.   

Dishing up ice cream and cupcakes after the presents.  My parents and brother, Cory, with his wife and kids came too.  :)

Sweet 16 Party

On the day of Aubrey's actual birthday, she had a friend party at our house - she had a great turnout.

They played the game 500.

 Afterwards, they played Eenie-I-Over.

 

A close family friend, Kendra, stopped by to give Aubrey 16 balloons...well, it ended up being 15 since one of the balloons popped in the car.

 The rest of the evening they played a few other games and laughed a lot.

 The evening was topped off by opening up gifts and cooking up smores.

Aubrey & Alexis.

 Aubrey's childhood friend, Keneisha, who moved away years ago stopped by and surprised Aubrey.

  Now that she's 16 she is old enough to officially start dating boys too - I'm not sure Jed is ready for that.  From the looks of it, I'm not so sure Aubrey's all that comfortable yet with male attention either.  :)

The only boy in the group that Aubrey welcomed physical affection from - her brother, Connor.

But even that is only allowed so far.  

After the family party yesterday, we went and visited my brother, Troy's, grave.

Happy Memorial Day from our family to yours!

So Much to Catch Up On!

Well hello everyone!!!  Yes, I'm still alive.  It's been awhile, right?

Life got crazier with me having to start working full time a few months ago along with a new church calling - Primary President.  Those two things along with trying to keep everything going at home has kept me very busy to the point that it's been hard to find the time to blog or do much of anything else that I personally enjoy doing.

Sooooooo, lots of catching up needs to be done.  Here's just a few things that we've been up to over the last few months.

First of all Happy belated Veteran's Day!!!! The Marine Corps birthday is one day before so Jed and I headed to Utah for the weekend to attend the Utah Marine Corps Birthday Bash.  Jed got to catch up with some of his military buddies that night.  Good times.

Happy 238th Birthday, Marines!  Oorah!!!

  (Jed at his Marine graduation...so handsome!)   :P

Jed's military contract ended in September.  After much thought and discussion with me, Jed decided not to sign on again.  He just received his honorable discharge from the military in the mail about a week ago so I guess that makes it official.  As much as I love what opportunities the military has given us, I'm also happy that we'll get to see more of Jed.  With Aubrey only having 2-3 years left before she graduates high school and moves on with her life, that alone was enough of an incentive for Jed to take as much time as he can with his family.

Speaking of Aubrey, she got her full-fledged driver's license a month or two ago.  Yeah, that's weird but really nice too...now I don't have to be the one doing all the driving. 

Aubrey was pretty excited...who wouldn't be right?

So, Aubrey, me and Rigdon went out and celebrated with some milkshakes...Aubrey's favorite treat. 

 For the first day of Kindergarten, Rigdon got to ride to school in style on his daddy's Harley Davidson motorcycle.

He really likes his new teacher Mrs. Eaton but sure misses his pre-school teacher.

Ronin is officially a 5th grader now. 

Aubrey's a Sophomore.

 Connor's a 8th Grader.

Jed and I took a motorcycle day trip to Mesa Falls in Island Park.

We ate a picnic overlooking one of the waterfalls.

Such beautiful scenery....loved being there!!!  Personally, it was one of the best dates we've had in awhile.  Such a simple thing...just getting to hang with each other...no interruptions, no technology, just nature and a motorcycle ride.  It was perfect.

Ronin just finished up his football season about a month ago now.  He said he had a great time although did have to sit out for a few weeks due to a strained back per the chiropractor's orders. 

 That's about all I've got time for today.  How's everything going in your life today????