It's Official...

Yes, Travis is Married! YEAH!! I knew when they started dating that this was the LAST girlfriend of his that I would have to meet. I remember telling Travis ..."that if you screw this relationship up- I'm done! Don't bring any more girls around!" No one could be as nice, darling and beautiful as Ericka. The road, as it always is, was a little rocky. But, they looked inside themselves and realized that together is where their true strength was. Welcome to the family, Ericka- although we inducted you long ago! :D Congratulations to you both and all our LOVE! Thanks for letting us be apart of your Glamorous day!!

And They Lived Happily Ever After!

Ben and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We went out to the Melting Pot ( a fondue restaurant) in downtown Boise. While it was super fun, I couldn't help but think as we were boiling our meat dishes in the yummy broth...."Here we are for a night on the town- and we're COOKING our meal?!?!" Still it was a night to remember- (the dessert tray alone will always have a special place in my heart! :D)

I can't believe that it has been 5 years already... although looking back on the pictures, all I see are two baby faced kids!! :D We have had our share of adventures, heartbreak and days that I could smother him with a pillow in his sleep... He has been patient and my best friend! And through it all, I've come to respect and adore my husband more than I could EVER express! I am truly grateful to my Heavenly Father for the lessons that we have learned together and for the road that is yet to be traveled...

Mason and His LADIES!!

Mason has two little lady friends that he just loves to play with and the feeling is mutual! The three of them will just spot each other across sacrament meeting and go "nuts", jumping on the pews (sp???) with totally jubilee having found each other! Today there was a chorus of "MASON!" "MASON!" during sacrament from Chloe and Sydney who did the first spotting. The three of them are just ADORABLE! Last week we, the mom's and the three musketeers, ventured on an outing to Roaring springs- A super cool water park! Mason dug it with a BIG 'ol shovel! Chloe was FEARLESS on the tube slides, Sydney conquered the lazy river after her mom nearly DROWNED in the under tow of the water fall! :D--- and Mason couldn't get enough of the wave pool!!! We had so much fun that I believe a season pass, for next year, is in order. Heres some cute pics of the three of them!!!

Girls Camp 2008

I had the opportunity to go to girls camp this year- I lept at the chance to hang out with the girls/leaders again since I am now in Primary. It was a blast! (Probably due to the fact that I didn't have to do much of the planning! I likened it to me being the "cool" Aunt who swoops in to play with the kids after the Mom does ALL the hard work for them! :D) Nikki did a FANTASTIC job as GC Director. She planned an Army Boot Camp theme this year with the motto "BE all that you can BE!" and modeled EVERYTHING after Pres. Hinckley's talk on the seven "BE's". It was a HUGE success! There was a physical obstacle course one day and then a mental one the next! We even had an Spiritual AIR-RAID at 2:30 in the morning!...The girls jumped out their beds with joy for that one- NOT! They were able to have a spiritual reflectiveness as they walked through the woods. And the stars in the sky were enough to take your breath away!

We had some great laughs and shed a few tears....BUT MOSTLY LAUGHED! I'm so amazed at the youth- Their true colors shined that week and WHAT A RAINBOW IT MADE!! I will never forget the memories made there and I hope they know how much I look up to them!!! Thanks for letting me TAG ALONG!!

Don't Forget To Write!!!!

We'll last Sunday we finally released Rocket back to his home... at least- We think he'll like it there! It was very sweet- Mason said a very heart felt "'bye, turtle!" and waved as Rocket entered the water. In a sort of "Thanks for everything!" kinda way- He swam in a little half circle and looked back at us before he submerged down to the bottom of the pond. (If you look closely you can see him in pond just in front of Ben and Mason!) Good Luck Rocket! :D

Ben's Wildlife Rescue!

So Monday night, I'm just picking up the house-waiting for Ben and Mason to get home from locking up the church building. I heard the garage door open and thought,"Man, they're taking a while coming inside.."

They finally came through the door, Ben was carrying a bucket and seemed boyishly excited, "C'mon Mason! Lets go in the backyard!!!" as he rushed through the house.

I didn't know WHAT they were up to 'till I saw the the shadow of the head of, what I thought was, a snake! As I was bolting up the stairs to lock the door, Ben realized he better let me in on their little adventure. All he said was,"It's a turtle. I SAVED IT!"

After a HUGE sigh of relief, I just laughed and shook my head- This is SO Ben and yet...the last thing I expected all at the same time. So I joined them in the backyard where Ben relayed the events to me of driving down the busy road and seeing the turtle crossing it. Fearing for it's safety (AND he thought Mason would think it was COOL!)- He drove the few blocks home, grabbed a bucket and went into ACTION!!
That night we had an impromptu FHE of building a turtle habitat out of Mason's old pool. We threw in some fresh lettuce out of our garden, a couple of rocks for him to perch on and a flower pot for him to sleep in. Ben even grabbed my patio chair and placed it partially OVER the little pool so the little guy could have some shade from the HOT sun. Mason LOVED every minute of it! He kept saying,"Hi Turtle! What doin'?"

We've had a FUN week with him. We've named him ROCKET due to his ability to kick it into high gear when we try to pick him up. We've had some turtle races and Mason loves to pretend to be a turtle and crawl on his belly next to Rocket. Mason has helped change Rocket's water and feed him apples. (Rocket's Fav!) Yep, It's been fun but it is drawing to a close as we will probably be releasing him back into the pond near our house. But we hope that he will have lots of great stories to tell his fellow turtle buddies about us. AND that he'll stay away from the busy road!!!! :D