father's day and a week with the bradburys. june 2014.

earlier in may chris and i had watched nick and nickie's girls so they could celebrate their anniversary-

i tried to enlist chloe, evy and olivia to help make english muffin pizzas but they were too excited to get back outside to the trampoline!

                      

so i single-handedly made about 40 little pizzas!

                      

to end the night we popcorn and spread the blankets and sleeping bags all over the living room to watch "Frozen."

                       


the week of father's day we had some special guests for about a week.  nick and nickie were in the process of moving out of their apartment in salt lake city so took the girls for several days before they joined us for a few more.

we got to celebrate father's day together-



nickie made her sticky buns and i made bacon, eggs and OJ.  she got all of the kids together to draw cards for their dads and put together a little candy gift.  in case you can't read it in the picture the note that went with the candy said, "we love you to 'pieces!' And are 'snickering' a bit, but we decided you're worth 'a hundred grand.'"

and then we served them breakfast in bed

                    

chris and nickie snapped this photo to send to their dad while at church

i stayed home with zach because he wasn't feeling well so i got a  head start on the dinner prep. the guys' had very extensive wish list for their dinner: steak, shrimp, corn on the cob, oven roasted potatoes, asparagus, salad, and watermelon.  it was delicious!

                     

i took these pictures of the kids for their daddy and grandpas-

we are so lucky to have chris as a husband and daddy.  he works so hard for our family, never lets the stress of work interfere with his love and attention to us and makes us laugh all of the time.

for the rest of the week we made sure to get in some Settlers of Catan-

and cousin fun!  the kids eating free lunch at the school one afternoon-

having a snack of goldfish crackers outside-

                         

                         

they had camp outs in the back yard-



popsicles, trampoline fun, waterguns and playing in the sprinkler and pool-





nickie and i did a special project too and made these 4th of july wreaths for us and one for each of our moms too.  we thought they came out pretty cute, especially since we made them up using some holiday burlap we saw at walmart!

                        

it was a great week to spend together before we won't see them for a while when they move

father's day 2013

since father's day is fastly approaching again, i need to get last year's photos on here.  somehow i missed an opportunity to get a picture with chris and the kids, or even with me!  we i got a great picture of him and his dad, his mom and dad and his sister chelsae, who made him some delicious brownies!

Pumpkin Patch. Fall 2011.

For General Conference weekend we went down to Grammie and Grandpa's in Burley.  It is kind of a tradition that we've had when we've lived in Idaho and the kids love going to the pumpkin patch in Rupert every fall to get our pumpkins!  (See last years' post for lots of pretty pictures!)

Brady has now lost four of his teeth, including his two top teeth!  It's so fun watching him change, grow and get so big!!!!

Reunion

Each year there is an annual Jones family reunion in Almo, Idaho.  This is Chris' mother's patriarchal side of the family.  We have tried to attend as many of these reunions as we can.   The kids love riding the "train" and ponies every year:

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Chelsae, Chloe, Olivia, Grandpa Morgan, Grandpa Graf and Daddy...Happy Birthday to you!!!"

I've said it before, July is the "crazy birthday month" in our family with 6 birthdays and 1 anniversary to celebrate!!!  We did a pretty good job of celebrating everyone's birthdays this year.  We weren't able to celebrate ON Chelsae's 18th birthday but we did get to spend some time with her after.  We had a Dora birthday bash at Grammie and Grandpa Graf's for Chloe's 2nd birthday.  We had a great time with Grandpa Morgan while he visited here and sent him some b-day cash in the mail after he left and then had a small family party for Olivia's 3rd birthday and Grandpa Graf and Chris's birthdays.

Brady and Olivia enjoying the birthday meal at their own little table

Proud birthday girl...she walked around for two weeks sticking up her middle three fingers and telling people that she is "free!"  Now she tells everyone that she is five....

Opening gifts....

Make a wish!!!

Silly big brother!

Somehow we didn't get a good picture of Grandpa or Chelsae...but we did get one good picture of daddy!  Thanks for the Reeses Nickie...they were of course, a hit!

To some GREAT Dads!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chris and I are both so lucky to have wonderful Father's who have truly blessed our lives in many ways!!!

I missed my dad a lot yesterday as we are far apart so I posted this picture of him and Brady from 1 year ago!!!

We went in with Uncle Andrew on a new step-ladder for Grandpa Morgan and Brady helped me make these cards and colored a picture to send to Grandpa in the mail

TO OUR DADDY:

"You're the best in the world!"

(That's what Brady always tells Chris!)

I am also so blessed to have a wonderful husband who is also a good father to his two beautiful children! He is loving and funny and always makes the kids laugh! They love you so much Daddy!

We kicked off our Father's Day weekend with a special Salmon dinner that I made for Chris on Saturday night:

Then on Sunday morning I suprised Chris with breakfast:


(a hot breakfast wouldn't be complete in our house without some
Frank's hot sauce and ketchup!!!)

* * *



After breakfast and cleaning up I gave Chris and Brady haircuts and then we did some quiet activities before getting ready for church. Brady and I made cards while Daddy and Livy rested and Chris went over his lesson (he teaches Elder's Quorum and we both teach Sunbeams!!!)

After church we headed on down to Burley to have dinner and an evening with Chris' family. Chris' Dad, Dan had a wonderful and sentimental time opening his cards and gifts from his kids! It's always touching to see a Dad when he's emotional! It's been really nice being close to Chris' family again even though it's been hard for me to now be apart from my family.

* * *

Dad Graf opening his gifts:


He recieved a special package in the mail from little niece Lexi in Philadelphia (Chris' sister Nickie's daughter) Grandpa got lots of handprint art between the three grandkids!!!







From Mom Graf and Shawnae and Chels he got a grill basket, some cologne and these "sauve" swim shorts!!! He'll be the coolest Grandpa around!




Then Brady gave Grandpa a great big kiss and a picture he colored and his card that he helped make:

I did a combined "Father/Son" gift for Dad and Dan:

the Ultimate Movie-goers Kit including tickets to go see the new Terminator movie (although I accidentally wrote Transformers! LOL!)

So this Tuesday night they are all going to come up to our place and us girl's are going to have a "Girl's Night In" while the guys have a "Guy's Night Out!"

* * *

I also gave Chris some new shirts and a belt for work as he was DESPERATELY in need of these!!! All of his white shirts had small rips in either the elbows or armpits!!! He was down to only three white shirts and they also all had some pen stains in the pockets (no more twisty pens!) He wears his shirts out fast since he wears them everyday and often helps out his car preps with prepping the cars before rental.

4 new white shirts, a reversable belt and 2 new blue shirts

(a new color he can wear at work!!! YAY!!!)

We love our Dads everywhere!!! (and our Grandpas and Papas too!!!)

Thanks for being such wonderful men that we can look up to and love!!!