Hooray for Dads!

How lucky we are to have such a wonderful husband and father.  Brad is so good to us and we love him so much!  I am so blessed that I get to be with him forever and that he is such an example to us.  I hope the kids realize how blessed they are.  I love you dear. :)

Handcart Pioneer Trek

With Brad as Bishop of the 3rd Ward, we both had the privilege of participating in the Highland Stake Pioneer Trek.  Brad was trying to recover from pneumonia so I was really worried about him.  But, we had our own little tent, and he tried not to overdue too much.  I went as stake support.  My job was to help with the activities.  I got to supervise the kids making candles.  It was so much fun!

Our little pioneer family!

Some of my boys :)

Alex and Trevor Ward starting out with the handcart

Bishop McBride speaking to our Ward

Taylor and others pulling up "Testimony Hill"

Taking a well-deserved break after the brutal "Testimony Hill"

Everyone worked so hard.  I was so proud of them all.  What a wonderful thing for us to be able to experience.  I am so glad that I got to be a part of it and hope that Brad and I will be able to participate in the next one in 4 years.

Ryan's "Graduation" :)

Ryan hurt his arm, but thankfully it is not broken.  I just had to put this picture up because he is so adorable!

Greenfield Elementary had a "graduation" program for the kindergarteners.  It was so fun to sit there and see how cute they all are.  Ryan had a part and did great.  You can see how proud he is with his plaque and with his teacher Mrs. Dosil.

I LOvE Being a Mom!

Being a Mom is the BEST!  What a great Mother's Day!  I am so thankful that I get to be a mom to these 5 wonderful children.  I love them more than they will ever know (until they are parents themselves)!

Italia!

Brad and I were lucky enough to go on an amazing trip to Italy this Spring.  Emily came home from BYU and watched the boys and we took off.  I am planning on making a book of our trips and so I only chose a few pictures to represent each place we visited.  We saw so many amazing things that it was really hard to boil it down to just a few pics.  First we arrived in Rome!  We were able to see the Coliseum, the Vatican and lots of beautiful fountains.  Sadly, we were not able to see the Forum because it was closed for a holiday.  So we will save that for another day!

We rented a car and drove through Tuscany.  It was so beautiful.  We stayed at a little vineyard outside of a place called Rhiadda in Chianti.  It was still a working vineyard and very quaint.

Next, we stopped in Florence.  I loved Italy so much, but I think that my very favorite place was Florence.  We stayed in the heart of the old town and got to go to all the museums and eat at little cafe's in the old piazzas.  It was heavenly.  We got to see the "David" by Michelangelo and I was struck by how tall it was.  It was huge!  We even got to attend church in Florence. :)

Our next stop was Venice!  I have ALWAYS wanted to go there and it definitely did not disappoint!  We stayed in a hotel overlooking the Grand Canal.  It was so awesome!  We wandered around and explored and of course had to take a boat ride.  It was very romantic.  :)

On our way home, we even got to spend a couple of days in New York.  We got to wander around town and saw "Mary Poppins" in Broadway.  It was great getting to stop there for a few day because then we weren't so jet-lagged when we got home!  Thanks Brad for the "trip of a lifetime" and for all the wonderful memories.  :)

Gilbert Golden Scholar

Danny was honored in Academic Night tonight for getting strait A's all year.  We are proud of you Danny!

Beauty and the Beast

Taylor worked hard and got a part in the Highland Musical this year of Beauty and the Beast.  I was hoping to get the part of Gaston, but got the part of Belle's dad.  We are so proud of him that he got a major singing part!  He got to sing a duet with Belle and there are more scenes with him in it than there were in the cartoon.  He did a great job!  We were so proud of him :)

 Taylor with Beauty (Danielle Shorts).  Personally, I don't quite understand the make-up.  They said it was to make him look old, but it was pretty freaky close up!

 More of the cast

 Ashley (Mrs. Wardrobe) and Taylor 

Shiner

 Poor Alex was playing volleyball and came home with a black eye.  Ouch!

Suns Fever

 

Lovin' the Suns this year!

Dan the Man

 Danny turned 11 this year!  He is in the 5th grade and doing really well.  He is in ALP and gets straight A's.  He likes sports and has lots of friends.  He is such a fun boy to be around.  Thanks for being such a good boy Danny :)

Spring Break and Snoopy

 For a few days of Spring Break this year, we got to go to Knottsberry Farm in California!  Taylor couldn't go with us for some reason so we took Connor Ward with us.  I don't know what happened, but I didn't get pics of Alex and Connor and I am not happy with myself!  We had a great time and of course got to enjoy some Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner :)  We love Knottsberry Farm!

 In Camp Snoopy, they were doing a little scavenger hunt that was fun for the boys.  They got these shirts and hats and binoculars.  Danny had just sprained his wrist the week before.

Taylor's JUNIOR Prom and MORP

Well, today I guess it's time to write about Taylor.  He is 17 1/2 and just went to his Junior Prom last weekend.  He went with a girl named Rachel Riggs.  I got to help make dinner for 26 people!  Prom is so expensive these days, that a bunch of the moms got together and made a fancy dinner for all these kids.  It was a lot of fun!  Plus, I got to take as many pictures as I wanted!  Taylor is also in his high school musical production.  They are performing Beauty and the Beast this weekend and Taylor is playing the part of Belle's Dad!  He is such a great young man.  He is very involved in music and church.

Earlier, he had gone to MORP (prom spelled backwards - we used to call it Sadie Hawkins) with Bethany Malan.  He sure has such a great group of friends.