Grandpa Simmons wedding

Burke's Grandpa got married last Friday. We are glad we were able to attend. They were married for time in the Bountiful Temple. That's not a real common marriage to attend in the temple, it was the same, just different wording. It's nice they won't have to live the rest of their lives on this earth alone. They seem to have a lot of fun with each other, I'm happy for them. When we were all about ready to go into the sealing room the temple worker said that the parents and grandparents should go in first and then everyone else after them. We all just chuckled and said that the bride and groom ARE the grandparents. He thought that was great - so funny!

It was such a foggy morning. Kind of cool. You couldn't even see the top of the Temple.

The trees looked cool and frosty.

Grandpa (Jake) and Carol. Such sweeties.

They had a luncheon at the North Salt Lake Country Club afterwards. It is such a pretty place. I loved this chandelier idea.
Isn't it so cool??? I want to create some of them myself.
Oh, yes and the desert table. I decided not to have any. Burke wanted to try two different kinds, just to taste. I didn't want to get one, but he made me go get one so he could try it. What a nice wife I am! I got it and went and put it right at his place so I wouldn't even be tempted, it worked. I was fine. They sure are pretty though. :)

New Beginnings

Our theme this year was Pattern Your Life After Christ. The whole idea was out of one of those great books that tell you everything to do and then, you just do it! So great!! So we decorated with sewing things and pictures of Christ. It looked really nice.

Center pieces on the tables:
The girls did an adorable skit - also from the book. They had little singing parts, it was just so cute.
Megan was the main girl trying to make a dress for prom. They likened everything to the YW values.
And then WALA her dress was done! Hahaha!
The girls sang "To Be Like Him" by Jenny Phillips. It was beautiful! I felt like a proud mom listening to them sing.
Robin got her YW medallion for finishing her Personal Progress. Danielle, has the girls stand on a chair and take a bow while we all cheer for them. It's from the 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Wilske. They do that in their class when they get a good score on something. It's so cute.
And Jordan taking her bow. :)
And then desert was served. Slush and cake. Perfect.

Another recipe for you :)

Baked Oatmeal

1/2 cup applesauce or oil

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup milk

1 cup brown sugar (I used 1/2 cup honey)

1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon (I used 2)

1 tsp maple flavoring (optional - I didn't use this)

Mix all together, pour into a greased 8x8 pan. Cook for one hour in a 350 degree oven. Serve warm or cold.

This was pretty yummy. Just a fun different way to eat your oatmeal. I'm sure it would be even better with the brown sugar instead of the honey, just trying to cut calories. But for my kids I sprinkled brown sugar on top of theirs and they LOVED it! I told them it was oatmeal cake. So it could really be a breakfast or a healthy desert! I really liked it.

Pizza Sauce

I just had to share this recipe. I found it on the blog Smashed Peas and Carrots. I haven't had great luck with Pizza sauces, so I was VERY excited when this was so delicious and easy. Here ya go:

Homemade Pizza Sauce

1 15 oz can of tomato sauce

1 6 oz can of tomato paste

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp onion powder

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Mix all the above ingredients in a medium size bowl. Spread on your pizza dough.

Kaiya's 7 year old photo shoot

So I put these on my photo blog also, but I need them here too so that they are in my book when I print it. I took Kaiya out for her 7 year old photos. If she's in the mood for pictures then watch out! She goes to town with the posing, so adorable. I just love capturing all of her cuteness and personality in pictures. What a sweet girl.

She used to be this little: ( I just can't believe it!)

And now:

I just love her to pieces! I'm so grateful for her. She is such a kind and fun little girl. So smart - she loves learning and helping others. I'm thankful for her sweet example in our home.

She was so good, but dying to go and play with Kaleb and Katelin in the corn field. So right when I finished, off she ran to play with them.

It was such a pretty afternoon. I'm glad we got to get out and explore for a while.

Fancy Nancy Day

In the First Grade they do Fancy Nancy Week. The learn new fun, fancy words all week and then on Friday they get to dress up all fancy, eat a special fancy lunch and just have fun. Kaiya loved it all. Through out the week as I would look at the work she brought home it would say "MARVELOUS" instead of great work or something like that. It was so cute. They learned some of the simple French words that are in the Fancy Nancy books and she'd say them to me every once in a while.

We decided to do her hair up with curls pinned to her head. She looked so pretty and she LOVED it! We gave her this tiara for her birthday so she could wear that too.

She got this pretty dress from Grandma Simmons for her birthday. Perfect timing, she was really happy to wear it for this special day. She got the boa from Omi a long time ago, that came in handy for this fancy girl too.
Here's Kaiya with her cute teacher, Mrs. Hunt.
Then I was going to take a picture of her and some of her friends and the whole class came on over. It was adorable. They really are all her friends anyway, so there ya go. They were all excited to dress up so nice for school.
This year the sixth grade did it too. They meet with their sixth grade buddies every Friday for reading, so they got to meet with them and have their special lunch in their room this time. What a fun day!!!!

Kaiya's 7

First lets begin with the cake, shall we??? Kaiya wanted a Rapunzel cake this year. So Burke went all out. I baked two round cakes and then he used one for the face and the other he broke up and made it into hair. I just love this cake. It turned out so cute. He did a GREAT job, as usual.

I made her the hat, jacket and skirt for her doll she got from Omi for Christmas.
She is showing me her cute new bracelet she got. She is wearing one of her new shirts. This year I let her pick out a few outfits she wanted for her birthday. This one was a dance shirt and the sleeves you can put on and take off on their own. It has a little hole for your thumb. She was SO excited about this. She looked so cute in it.
Cheers!

She wanted a Taco dinner. Mmmmmm.
The night was hers. She wanted to play the Hannah Montana game from my mom. We made Tinker-bell gummies from a box that she got also. The kids thought they were great, Burke and I took a nibble and that was enough!
Kaleb had fun with the party hats:


Happy Birthday to you!!!!
This is her cute face thinking of what she wants to wish for....
...still thinking. I think she finally settled on a million dollars. Good choice.

FHE gone bad

Yesterday we had to go to Price for some shopping. As we were driving home we decided we'd better do our FHE in the van since it would be too late when we got home. Burke asked me to think of something, but when I wasn't ready with an idea he just started talking about the Plan of Salvation. I thought it was a great idea and we hadn't talked about it in a long time, so great! Well, Katelin was having a moment so we didn't get very far. So when we got home and the kids were all ready for bed I thought maybe we could finish then. So away we went talking and all was going well and then we came to the part in the plan where people die. Um...this is where you should stop! Hahaha! At least with our kids - or my friend says she just talks about their animals this way - great idea! They got so serious and Katelin said something about not wanting to die and then Kaleb saw her sad face and he started to cry. Then while consoling him, Katelin ran out of the room and we thought " WHAT IN THE HECK IS GOING ON!!!???" So I run into her room and she is on her bed bawling saying she doesn't want to die. It was really crazy. We talked and talked and talked - Kaleb then asked what will happen to the earth and Burke kindly replies..."It will be destroyed." Kaleb didn't like that either. My eyes grew HUGE, and I mouthed STOP to him. I tried putting in the nice stuff, but I don't even think they heard a word I said because everyone is now afraid of everyone dying and the earth being destroyed. Oh, boy what a lesson. So now every so often today Katelin would tell me how she didn't want to die or how she didn't want so and so to die and so forth. Or she would say "Can we take our toys when we die?" or "Can we eat food when we die???" Where is she getting all of this! So I didn't want to worry her any more, so I just said "I don't know, we'll have to see." Wow. What a lesson.

Cheer Camp

Kaiya participated in cheer camp again this year. I just love this little program. It's only 5 days long, they practice everyday after school and then perform for a half time basket ball game the last day. So much fun!

When the girls were waiting for the cheerleaders to show up from the High School they would twirl around in circles with each other and dance around to music. Then when the girls showed up they would do stretching and a few fun games to warm up.

I went one day to watch and record their dance so she could practice at home. She had it down pretty good, but was excited to do it for us with the music at home - over and over again. :) We loved it every time too! :) They were practicing some little stunts this day. Go Kaiya!!!
Here's a few of her friends as they wait for the other girls to show up. Belle, Kaiya, Ava and Collette.

The girls for their group met at the High School at 2:30. We brought some popcorn for the wait. Her friends were happy.

Cute little eyes. I just love this little girl. She's almost 7! Next Wednesday, time flies. She's grown up so much this year. She used to be terrified of new things - dance being one of them, even though she loves it. Just the big crowds were scary - and who doesn't get afraid in front of crowds anyway?! But she did it anyway, with some coaxing from her mother of course. :) And I'm so glad, she is such a cute little dancer. She is now so excited for things like this - I didn't hear one worry from her. She did such a great job!
Here's their group of girls. Their cheerleaders were Miranda and Melissa. Such cute girls.
Getting ready for their dance at half time.

Collette and Kaiya got to be the bottom of the pyramid, here they are setting up ever so seriously.
I love how they're looking at each other like, "we got this!". They did a great job.
So cute! I can't wait until next year. I tried to post the video of her dance, but it's not working. When we were driving to the school Kaiya asked me if their dance was going to be on TV. I told her it wasn't and she was disappointed because she wanted Omi to see her dance. I told her I would put it on the blog so she could see and she was happy with that. But pictures will have to do. Maybe she can do it for you LIVE when we come mom! :)