My Very FUN Week

I had a busy 10 days. I started it off by a quick trip to Seattle to see the Gustins. I had so much fun. We had a T-Ball game in the morning and all three boys got great hits off their coach's picthing it was awesome. Then we went Letterboxing. We had a fun time "storming the castle" . I came home Sunday only to take off to chicago for a business trip on Monday. The seminar was so boring but luckily Dixie and the kids came to stay with me for a night. We stayed at the Hard Rock hotel and had fun discovering the city. We went to Millenium Park and Navy Pier. After my Seminar was over I dove back with them to Indiana. I got to stay the weekend there and we spent sat at Kings Island. The kids loved it. and so did I. I am sorry I don't have any pictures to post, but I don't have a camera. I love wathching all my neices and nephews growing up and am so greatful for the oppertunity to get to see my family taht lives so far away. I love you all. Thank you for all that you do for me.

A little video of Halia.

This is a little video of Halia the day after fathers day! She was trying to talk and smile!

It's Almost Time...

We only have 6 weeks left!!!

This week we took our announcement pictures. We cut some wood and tied the ropes and made a beautiful swing. Christi came with us to Oak Flatts and took some AMAZING pictures. She really is great you guys. She doesn't even know her own skills! Donald climbed like a million feet in the tree to hang the swing but, hey, that's why I'm marrying him. Then Christi worked really hard editing them for me. I know they will turn out really great and very different. Because I'm very different.

Wedding plans are coming along very well. I'm surprised at my self at how organized I am. I thought I'd be freaked out. But I'm pretty calm and having a lot of fun with everything. MOST things. I love you guys and all the help you give me. Family is the best! And I hope you're all excited to come to the party.

Love,

Shannon

P.S. I'm registered at Bed Bath & Beyond in case any one needs to plan ahead or anything. :) (is that lame?)

Wakeboarding 101

So we went to lake today, just us. Which is great, it just is sometimes interesting for the driver, to drive, flag, watch the skier, keep the kids sitting down, you know... Well today the kids finally got brave enough to try to wakeboard, with Todd for their first time. It was so awesome!! They all did great! Kolton went first, then Bryton, and then Kaden. They loved it and were very excited to have wakeboarded! :) We were told by someone (I think one of you guys) that this is how you start a child to learn the feel of it, before trying them on their own. So I had to enlist my kids to also be the photographers today. So they took these great pics (the 1st two), and really wanted to share the exciting news. Brody and Tallie did not try the wakeboard today, tubing is more their style, but they did have a great time flagging, swimming, eating, etc... It was actually 90 degrees today, so I got in for the first time this summer. It was finally warm enough for me! :) It was fun to wakeboard again, it had been a whole year!

BUZZZZZZZ!

Isaiah got his first buz cut! He looks like a big boy!

OUCH!!

Okay so Isaiah came RUNNING in the room with a SCREW DRIVER in his hands. As I tell him not to run and before I can get to him he trips on the rug and falls and hits his eye on the hearth. Thankfully the screw driver did no damage! He is recovering nicely! He wanted to tell his cousins to never run with screw drivers =)

Keep your eye on the ball...

Kolton
Bryton
Kaden

So we had our last T-ball game of the season today. The boys had such a great time and they REALLY loved the trophies they got! We loved our coach. The boys really improved and can hit the coach pitch balls now (instead of off the tee). Tallie and Brody had a fun season of playing on the sidelines, in the dugout, in the bleachers, on the park, on the field, etc...:)

Tis 'sweet' to sing

So I wanted to have some worthwhile teaching moments with the kids this summer... and I was remembering when Grandma Jean used to pay us a dollar to memorize the hymns. I want my kids to learn the hymns also, but I knew I needed to motivate them with something else (money doesn't work yet). So I thought that they could earn a big candy bar (something we never buy) if they learned all the words. I started with 6 hymns/childrens songs that I wanted them to learn. I put the motivation out on the counter so that they could be reminded of it often. I made a tag for the jar (nothing like you scrappers would make, but oh well...) with the song name on it and when they pass it off, they get to take a candy bar out and sign their name to the card. So far it is working well. They will ask me to help them work on it, because they want to earn the reward. Which is a lot better than me nagging them to work on it. :) If they do pass them all off before the end of the summer, I think I will pick the next 6 songs. It is kind of fun to hear them singing some new songs. We are also memorizing D&C 25:12 that I framed and put on the counter with the jars.

Picking Strawberries

We went to a local farm to pick strawberries with some of our friends. We all had a great time and the strawberries were SO good! Way better than the ones in the store. Steven and I were sharing a basket - he was carrying it. I was picking the strawberries and putting them in his basket. After a while, I noticed there were NO strawberries in his basket. He was eating all of them as I was putting them in!!! We ended up with enough strawberries to make several containers of freezer jam and ate lots of them plain, too.

Lets make some plans...

OK, so I hope everyone is as excited about getting together is a few (about 6) weeks as I am! I know it is going to be so fun! We talked about making some plans to help everything go a little bit more smoothly, and I think everyone was happy to do the holiday theme. So here is the rundown: Everyone (except Shannon of course) will have a day that is a pretend holiday, they are in charge of the dinner for that day and any activities that they want to plan. This can be as simple or as grand as you want it to be. You decide what you want to do with it. If you live locally and want to host dinner and activities at your house that day, you can. If you want to have everything at Mom's thats fine too. You don't have to have the WHOLE day planned and you can if you want to. We still will want to swim, got to the lake, just hang out, etc... so don't worry about trying to plan every minute. Hopefully this will help us to get a little creative, to have a lot of fun together, and to make some memories! If you can't do your day or want to get a different holiday, I am sure someone will switch with you. So here are the days:

Wed the 6th - New Years - Moores
Thurs the 7th - Easter - Gustins
Fri the 8th - CincoDeMayo & Birthdays - Mom/Dad/Nancy
Sat the 9th - The official Donald & Shannon Day :) (we will all be available to you two!)
Sun the 10th - Thanksgiving - Aumuas
Mon the 11th - Halloween - Daly's (Megan/Rob)
Tue the 12th - Christmas - Starks

If anyone else can make it for the fun (Jacksons, Dares, Downings, etc.) you are all invited but don't worry about assignments, just come to have a good time!

The "Gustin Warriors" Go Letterboxing

So we found this funnest thing to do with the kids - letterboxing. Its like a treasure hunt, you try to find a hidden book and stamp using clues that you print from the letterboxing website. When (if) you find it, you stamp your team stamp in the book and date it, showing that you found it, you also stamp your own book with the hidden stamp to keep your own record of found boxes. The kid LOVE this and so do Todd and I! It is really entertaining for all of us. The kids like that they get to be discreet so no one sees them gettting the box out and re-hiding it. They are all over, every state and area. You guys should all try it, it is so fun. These pictures are from a park right by our house where we went this last week. We also went today on a 1.5 mile hike (walk), in a state park, with the kids today where there were nine boxes along the way. It was so fun!! Nancy was here so that made it even funner! If you want to see the letterboxes near you...check them out at letterboxing.org.

Our little Peanut

We had a Doctor's appointment today and we got to see and hear baby's little fast heart beat (129 per min). It was very exciting. we also got to see baby, which looks more like a squishy peanut than anything else. baby is 8.5 mm long and 2.5 mm wide. I was measuring 6 weeks and 6 days. In 12 weeks we can tell the gender (rob is counting down- he is hoping for a boy) I have an official due date now, for February 5th. We are so happy and thankful that we get the oppurtunity to bring this sweet baby into the world.

We tried to scan the picture in but it wasn't working. so I had to take a picture of the picture. the bright white dot is an arrow pointing to the baby's heartbeat. HOW CUTE!!!

Sunday school island style.

Well, can you all stand one more picture of Zayah? Susan would have posted this if it had been on her camera so I will do it for her. :0

Grandmas day out

I decided I needed to get out today. So I invited Jon, Grant and Sadie to come with me to the Arizona Science Center. There was an exibit showing there that I just had to see. GROSSOLOGY!! Both human and animal. Well, they said "Sure grandma, we'll come with you." We had a great time. Grossology was great and all but we all agreed that the best part of the museum was "Forces of Nature".

Our Handsome Boy

Remember when we used to put pantie hose over our faces =) this brought back some funny memories! Zayah will be 21 months old next week. He is growing up so fast! He is saying a lot more words and LOVES to be outside. We got him a kiddy pool so he doesn't have to swim in the yucky dogs water anymore. He looks at the blog everyday with me and loves seeing his cousins, aunties and uncles. We love you all and can't wait for our reunion!!!

Morning Smiles =)

This morning after Halia had a bath we were just hanging out on the bed. Halia was so happy, She was cooing and smiling =) I had the camera close by and got some very cute pictures. She turned 1 month old yesterday and is growing growing!! We love her so much!

love you guys!

check it out, we made a personal blog. love you family!
http://dalything.blogspot.com/

Kaden's Kindergarten Graduation

Kaden's last day of school was today. They didn't have a graduation ceremony but they sent home a diploma and his report card. He got to meet his new 1st grade teacher also today. I can't beleive the change in Kaden this year. It is just mind boggling - He grew up so much!! I thought that maybe I could capture it in these before and after shots, but they don't do it justice. The pics on the left are from the first day of school, the right are from today. One thing is for sure we are definately a lighter skin tone in the northwest! :) But he has changed soooo much this year that I feel like we sent a baby to school and he came back a big boy! :) We are excited for him as he gets older and bigger and we can't help be a little sad at little things that he is now past! :) Happy Summer!!!

Coleen Runs a 10K

On Saturday I ran in a 10K race, that our stake puts on. It was just for fun and not such a huge deal, which was good for my first time. I know this isn't an accomplishment for some people, but for me it was a stretch. I don't have a ton of time to train, and I haven't been running for very long, but it felt good to push myself and run it. I ran it in 65:41 minutes and its about 6.2 miles. Todd had the kids at the finish line with these adorable posters that they colored for me, but he forgot the camera. So we snapped these pictures when we got home.

I think most of you have heard...

On last Friday night Donald and I and my friend Kelly went out to dinner and a movie. During the movie I was having a hard time getting comfortable, I thought maybe I ate too much. On the ride home I felt a little under the weather, I thought it was just gas. That night I couldn't sleep at all. I kept tossing and turning and every position felt like someone was kicking my stomach. It was weird because I never had gas that kept me up all night. I had to work early the next morning. Donald drove me because he was worried I might fall asleep at the wheel. I was not feeling any better. I knew my body was telling me something was really wrong. So I asked him to wait at my work and I told them I wasn't feeling well and I left and we drove straight to the Emergency Room. I told them I thought I had gall stones. The doctor thought I had them, too. after a bunch of tests I had an ultra sound. But he said that came back negative for gall stones. I was stressed. I asked him about my appendix and he said that because some of the other test results he didn't think that was it but he wanted to rule it out so i had to get an MRI. They brought me my yummy 2 liters of Barium drink (YUCK!) Then after the MRI the doctor came and said "yup your appendix is inflamed and it's gotta come out, the O.R. will be ready in 30 minutes" I was kinda scared. I've never been in the hospital before or had surgery. And i had no time to physically or mentally prepare myself so it was surreal. But it went so well. Donald didn't leave my side. And my Mom came to be there, too. I only had to stay over night my appendix hadn't burst. Now I'm fine, just a little sore. I am so glad to be back at work! I had to take a week off work and I was getting Cabin Fever!

Thanks everyone for your prayers! Thanks Grant, Johny, and Sadie your mom said you pray for me every time. That makes me feel so happy! Thanks Len and Jaba for coming down to the hospital on a moments notice to give me a blessing. It really means a lot to me that you guys will do that for me. And I feel loved by many.

Love,

-Shannon-

Me and Moms Adventure in Utah

We went to Utah to go shopping for a wedding dress with SLEEVES! We left really early in the morning. We took a bus from the Airport to the Train station and took the Trax down to Sandy. Then we had a short 7 block walk to the bridal shop. Check it out bridalexpressions.biz The designer only designs for that store and another in Canada. It's the most original and hugest variety of modest dresses there is. I found the dress of my dreams in 15 minutes. It was only 350.00! YESSSSS! As I was checking out there was another bride walked in who was also from AZ and had flown up just for the day with her mom to look at dresses and she thought she was nuts to be doing that. It was funny.

So then me and mom walked back to the train and went back downtown. We had a nice lunch at the Rooftop Cafe of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. Walking back to the train we ran into Larkin and Susan Palmer. :)

It was a long, fun, tiring, productive day. Thanks mom for going with me!

Another recipe....

Okay....I'm pregnant....I am CRAVING everything sweet!!!! I have been doing really well, but this week I just HAD to try some new sweet recipes. This one is from my Weight-Watcher-loving pal. I don't think it's that great for points (I think 40 points for the whole cake - but I DIDN'T eat the whole thing!), but it's less points than a regular cake mix cake and it is SO good (and the easiest cake I've ever made). Just try it...

1 strawberry cake mix
1-12 oz can of diet 7 Up or Sprite
1 tub cool whip (I used fat free)

That's it. Mix the cake mix and 7 Up together. Pour into ungreased 9X13 pan and bake according to mix box directions. (30 minutes or something). Cool. Frost with cool whip and store in fridge (if there's any left!)

Kaden's Kindergarten Concert

Kaden had a cute music concert at the school yesterday. (Yes we are still in school) He took it all pretty seriously, but he did such a great job! He has been teaching us the songs for weeks! After his concert we went out to lunch to celebrate.

Let the summer camping begin...

We camped for the first time this season, last weekend. It was 71 and sunny, which was a whole lot nicer than staying home. We went to Licoln Rock State Park. It was a great spot and the lake was great but freezing! The boys flew a kite so high in the wind, they were so excited! We had such a fun time with some friends from our ward. We were definately missing all of you!

PS - The headline in our local newspaper today was "It is Warmer in Siberia Today", so wherever Siberia is...they are even warmer than we are! :0

A Really Yummy Treat

We made this for FHE yesterday and Brooklyn wanted me to share it with all of you. You will need a Janiece bowl...

Caramel Corn

3 bags popped microwave popcorn
2 cubes butter
40 marshmallows (1 bag)
1/2 Cup brown sugar

Pop popcorn and remove any unpopped kernels. Melt butter, marshmallows and brown sugar together in pan. Pour over popcorn and mix well. (It's like making rice krispie treats, but with popcorn.) You can add nuts if you like. YUM!

Baby Daly!!!

Hey all,

We went to the dr's today and had the first baby visit and first ultra sound. It was so excitng seeing that there really is SOMEBODY in there. well kind of... all we could see was the gestational sac. I had a feeling I wasn't as far along as "we" (Rob) thought ;D
When we first found out, I figured that I was just a few weeks but after Rob spoke with Todd they decided I was 8 Weeks, (since todd is quite the baby's daddy, we went with it)
I was wondering why I haven't really been that sick... well hopefully it won't ever come but i doubt hope will stop it from happening.
they measured the pictures they took and they think i'm about 5 and a half weeks but they won't be sure till next week, that is when I will get a due date!!! well we are so super excited. we love you all.

Who's Walter or Say Cheese....

Well, This is Walter. He puts up with a lot and purrs all the time. He is waiting patiently for all the cousins to come and visit him. He and Zayah are good buddies. (Well, most of the time:))



Tasting Cheese for Shannon and Donald's wedding reception. Some passed the taste test and some did not. It is a good thing we tested first is all I can say.