Weston's 9th Birthday

For Weston's 9th birthday he wanted a STAR WARS cake,
So I made two fighting light sabers.

It turned out pretty good, and he thought it was cool!

Before school Weston got to open a few presents!

New Shaq shoes!

His very own CD player/radio for his room!
Now both Ellie and Weston can turn up their music, and try to blast each other out!

Family Party

Blowing out the candles!

Presents, presents

and more presents!

All the kids and fun playing balloon war!

Draper Temple Openhouse

Our family, went with the Berg cousins,and Grandpa & Grandma Berg to the openhouse for the Draper Temple, on Monday. It was awesome for the kids to get to see inside the temple and catch a glimpse of what Momma & Daddy do when we go there to serve the Lord.
Since I didn't take any pictures of the event, I found an article about the openhouse written by Maurine Jensen Proctor,who is the Editor-in-Chief of Meridian Magazine, so we could remember what everything looked like and what the things were made of.

Made of white granite from China, the temple rises to 50 feet, but the spire that carries the golden statue of Moroni soars to 168 feet.

The Draper Temple will glow above the valley floor, tucked into the southeast corner, in a place appropriately called Corner Canyon.

The recurring motif in the Draper Utah Temple is the sego lily. The sego lily motif is also carved into the carpet in the Celestial room and the paneling and ceilings of other parts of the temple. The sego lily, is Utah 's state flower

Every temple has a baptismal font where work is performed for the dead. It is a loving God that provides a way for all of his children from all ages of time to be taught his gospel and be offered a way to return to Him. Baptism for the dead was certainly known among the early day Saints. As Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? The baptismal font rests on the back of 12 oxen, representing the 12 Tribes of Israel.

This art glass with its soft blues and sages, allows light to flood the temple. It was designed by Tom Holdman.

This elegant room is where a bride comes to finish getting ready just before she gets married.

Throughout the temple, the floors are made of limestone from France and the wood, pictured here with its elegant patterning is Makore from Central Africa.

The Draper Temple has two ordinance rooms whose walls are original murals depicting the beauty of the creation as God designed it. The mural in this room, painted by Linda Curley Christensen, who also painted several original oils for the temple, looks like a scene from the Wasatch Mountains. Colorado artist Keith Bond painted a landscape of yellow aspens for the walls of the other ordinance room.

As a patron leaves the first ordinance room in the temple where the murals are painted, he or she moves into an ordinance room like this where the light is brighter, as a symbol of moving closer to the presence of God.

The craftsmanship in the Celestial Room is beautiful. It is a little taste of what Heaven is like.

The crystals in this chandelier is from Austria, but natural light fills the room through frosted, art-glass windows. Elder Ballard said the temple is designed to maximize the light, a symbol of the light that can fill the souls of those who come.

Even the waiting areas of the temple are calm and peaceful, meant to draw those who attend away from the world into a closer communion with God.
We had a wonderful experience with our family in the Temple. We encourage all of you live close to the openhouse to go. It was worth it!

Kamas Pool Fun!

On Saturday we got together with my brother, Corey, and his family and went to the Kamas Pool! It was a great day to play in the water, because it was raining outside!

Weston & Mac just relaxin'

Bekah & Emma

Beckham

Samantha

Ray & Ellie

Mandy & Brigham

Ray going down to little blue slide by himself!

Bekah going down the big yellow slide w/out a life jacket!

Weston

Samantha

Group picture: CW~ Sydney, Mac, Corey, Beckham, Brigham, Bekah, Emma, & Mandy
It was a fun, relaxing day!

Ray's 4th B-day!

Since Ray's birthday was on a Sunday this year, Ray got new church clothes for his b-day.
Look how handsome he is!

Ray wanted a Power Ranger birthday, so I picked an easy cake. Also the power ranger figures were on clearance at the Disney store. which was an added bonus.

Ray showing off his new Power Rangers, and new t-shirt too.

Ray's cake

Blowing out the candles!

Some of the cousins

One of Ray's favorite gift's was the elk night lite. It really illuminates the room, which is nice for us, because I hated to leave the bathroom light on all night. It kept waking me up!

The Toy Room Project!

So for Christmas we decided that the kids needed a playroom for all the toys that continued to clutter their rooms. So around Thanksgiving we decided that maybe we could finish the toy room by Christmas. Well, we didn't start totally from scratch, Lyn had been working on the down stairs room for a little while off and on. We had been trying to decide the kind of lighting and he had put up some of the sheet rock. However, it still hard a lot of work to be done in 4 wks.
We forgot to take pictures before we started the project, but we did take some along the way.
Here is the Rock Work for the stove/fireplace. Lyn did it all himself, with the kids' help. We used some left over rocks from our friends(the Lances) house, that they just built. I really like the country look.

First few rows

It's looking really good.
The Insulation took a couple of bids, but we finally went with Hansen Insulation out of Lehi. They did a great job and were able to work us in fast.

We put the blow-in insulation in for better sound proofing, that way we don't have to hear the kids when they are in the playroom.

Putting up more of the sheet rock.

Ready for the Mud!

Our friends, father(Grandpa Dennis) came and did the mud and texture for the walls. He did a awesome job! He added the texture as a surprise, cause he doesn't usually do texture without his crew. In the closet, he had the kids put their hand prints in the mud it looks really cool.

Ready for paint!

It really like this color, it's called "Baked Scone" before it dried it was kinds of peachy, and I was worried but it turned out perfect.
Lyn found half of the trim in a dumpster at a job in Park City, and was lucky enough it find the rest to match.

Here is the pad all layed.
My brother Corey, changed out the carpet in his house right before Christmas, so we were all to use their old carpet and pad.

One of Lyn's friends and former boss, Jose, came and helped Lyn lay and clean the carpet. He did such a great job!

We had a lot of friends and family who donated their time and skills to help Lyn to put this toy room together for our children. We truly appreciate all of your hard work!

Lyn's mother, Susy found us the couch from one of her friends, and bought Lyn the pillows for his birthday. I really like the dk. brown couch in the room.

The rock work turned out great! I love it!

Organized toys!

The library, my "special" books are on the top. It took a lot for me to put my favorite children's books in the playroom.

So y'all will have to come over for a play date. We didn't finish it by Christmas, but it was well worth it. This weekend we are supposed it get our new entertainment center, another freebie from a friend. Then we will be all set for company!