Little Miss Ali

This is going to be a HUGE post.  Larry is out of town and wants to see ALL of Ali's day so we are going to start right at the very beginning.......

This was the start of her spectacular birthday.  Brought her breakfast in bed.  Her cousins already there at the crack of dawn.  Was going to be a fun day!

Had to get a good pic of Miss Madi in the morning.  She has some pretty crazy hair.  She cries everytime I go through it with a comb and cries for her daddy to save her.

Her grandma came over in the morning with some lip gloss as a gift and a bow that she just had to wear in her hair :)  Such a diva!

She is so stinkin girly.  Blowing a kiss for dad.

Then there is Kolton the HAM.....seriously a killer smile here :)

So this pic Ali said "K everyone this is for dad"  So I took it and said "why aren't you smiling?"  Because it shows how much I miss him.

One of Ali's BFF's is Griffin next door.  She wanted me to take her to McDonalds because we never go so it was a big treat.  So the second they jumped off the bus we took off.  They are so silly together.  I love their conversations, they crack me up!

Up in the play area.  Ali and Griff

They kept posing and wanting their picture taken.

Well that is sideways......when we got home we rushed to dress up like princesses for the big party!

This is a love/hate relationship.  Can you tell?  At least Kaden was a good sport.

Holy 6 year old girls batman!!  

Tea parties, games, and....

princess crafts!!

The girls had fun!  They were alittle boy crazy after Zac though.  Good thing my mom came to help.  I could not have done it without her!

Made a cake in the middle of all this chaos......

Here are the little 3 year olds.  Had the cousins over for dinner :)

One more gift from Grandma and Grandpa....she LOVES it :)  Wants to wear to school tomorrow.  Not happening.  Although grandma looks at me and says its up to your mom.....nice :)

The Garner family sings to Ali.....

The princess finally rests her head.....little does she know that I put a pea under her mattress.

WHAT A LONG DAY!!!

Birthday Madness

So another year, and another birthday to start it off!  Do any of you have any suggestions how to enjoy a birthday that is on the biggest hangover of the year!! ie no sleep and tons of junk food plus add in a few GRUMPY kids :)  I know it is all in my attitude right?  Next year I am leaving the valley...don't know where yet.

ANYWAYS, the one fun thing about my birthday is we seem to celebrate it for a good week after.  A couple things that we did were go up to Preston Idaho and enjoy bowling with the Garner family at the Pop N Pins.  Never been there, but supposedly that is where they filmed some of Napolean Dynamite.   It was so fun!

Then I wanted to do something I hadn't for a long time, you know feel young again, so we went ICE BLOCKING!!!  It was a blast!!  We went up to Old Main Hill at USU (I guess it is illegal now, didn't know that)  TWANDA!!!!

Bocelli or Bust!!

Larry and I and our parents took off to 

Vegas this weekend!  Not a huge fan of Vegas, but there

was someone that was going that made it

100% worth it!!

ANDREA BOCELLI

So here is a short preview of our short trip:

This bed was @ our hotel at the Aria.  

It was so stinkin comfortable.

I felt very, very spoiled!!

Christmastime in Vegas, I have to admit,

is kind of magical.  Everything

was so LARGE even next to the short men in my life :)

These are my parents!  We had so much fun with them :)

My father imitating Budda....they were so fun to be with!

Our window from our room overlooked the strip.

Larry was fascinated!  He LOVES Vegas :)

Larry's biggest thing he wanted to do was go to the

Hash House a Go Go (WaHoooo)

This is my dad's massive blueberry pecan flapjack!

Ok, I can't remember what this dish is called.  

If you know Man vs. Food, then this is the dish!

It was SOOOO good!  We all shared it!

He was so excited you can almost see his eye twitching :)

I know I have crazy eyes, but SERIOUSLY 

DREAM COME TRUE!!!

This is us in the MGM Grand about to watch

Andrea Boccelli :)  I LOVE HIM!!

Here are my darling in-laws!  It was so much FUN!!

I uploaded way too much of the concert.  It is being a pain so I am

going to publish and see if I can fix things........  K, the video above is just clapping

I am going to try to download a song....

So stupid, I cannot get the right video...If you would like a video of the concert

(only about 4 min long) give me your email address and I will try it that way :) sorry

Family

Today I am so grateful for family.  Tonight is my cousin's benefit concert for his family.  There has been so much service and love given to them.  Friends of mine who don't even know them have donated items for auction.  I feel so much love inside for everyone.  My heart breaks for Brittany, Montana, Milan, and Hank.  I pray that they can feel their Heavenly Fathers love for them and comfort.

I have also been following Stephanie Nielsens blog this morning.  Her story is so moving.  Today's blog is about how motherhood is a gift.  I sometimes wonder how people get through hard times like losing a spouse, or almost facing death.  I know it would change your view on life and the way that Stephanie shares her testimony I love her strength and her gratitude for her life.  How precious life is!

I am so grateful to be a mother.  I love my children more than I ever thought I could.  I love the experiences we go through in life.  They are hard.  This life is hard and full of trials, but that is how it is suppose to be.  Yes, we can feel joy and happiness here, but we also feel sorrow, and pain, and hurt.  I am so grateful to my savior for his sacrifice, for his love for us.  We are all going to get through this life, and we are all going to pass on as well.  I pray we can all have the strength and faith to do hard things and to know that we will find peace and happiness in the next.  I also pray that we can help pick each other up when we are down.

Anyways, just felt like writing my feelings.  Here are my sweet angels.  So grateful to have all of them!

Hello Again!!  Wow!  It has been over a year!  Not intentionally.  I forgot the password into the gmail that was.....well it is a long story and boring so I finally figured how to change the old password and VIOLA  here I am.....is anyone out there??  Here's a recent pic of our family taken in October this year down at our vacation in Zions.  Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!  Love the Francis family

FunNy FaCe

Alison is very aware of the wrath she gets when she plays with my camera, but I am constantly finding these treasures every time I am looking through my photos. What am I going to do with her???
If looks could kill......her poor husband :)
I don't even think she knows what this sign is.....wonder where she got it.
This is Larry's fav!

This girl is just one of a kind, and for those who know her you would agree :)

Island Park, ID 2010 !!!!

This is the longest post EVER!! We just got back from an amazing, blissful, stressfree trip up to Island Park. A HUGE thank you to my parents who put the whole thing together. Here are a few of the many things we did all week! Just wanted to share with all my friends.
Our second day was spent in Yellowstone. Here are a few highlights....mostly the buffalo herd behind them here, and the geysers.....other than that it was alot of ARE WE THERE YET???



These are pics of THE GATHERING PLACE!! You should check it out online. It is on vrbo.com.

Larry was able to come up with us for the first 3 days. Our highlight was this ride up to Big Springs. No I wasn't hunting, my mom was determined to not let me freeze.....thought I was going to die I was so HOT!!!
There was a fun pool table in the basement and Syd and I played a real crazy game. Guess you had to be there, but the pics talk for themselves. The 8 ball was here throughout the game and by the end all the other balls were surrounding it which made it pretty CrAzY

We had craft time....it was a success. Melanie and I took the kids on a nature walk and we painted rocks.
Here you have us out in the yard playing a mad game of kickball. Go DAMON!!!
We spent most of the week 4-wheeling all around Island Park. They have some amazing trails and it is breathtaking! Grandpa let the boys drive and they did so good. Here is Sydne, Cora and Randy plus some of my dad with the kids.....


This was the momma moose spotted right by our cabin. It had a baby just a couple feet away. Can you say RUN!!!! (I read Hatchet when I was a kid so I aint no dummy :)
After the wee little ones were put down to bed, we would play card games! Actually we played all day too when we weren't out on the 4-wheelers and playing with moose in the backyard....
Sorry Syd...ha ha I had to put this. It was the funniest moment because right before I clicked the button to take the picture, they were both looking in a totally different direction. They both turned and pulled a face at the last second.....not even planned. I am going to miss these guys ( I know, I know they live just down the street, but I honestly never cross paths....sad.)
Here's the gang at the Sand Dunes on our way home from the week of bliss..........
My fam took a trip up to the Dunes right before Larry was going to come home off his mission. One last trip with all of us together (except for Wes who was on his mission). This brought back some FUN memories....it is so much fun to see my kids creating the same.....
Not as high as I could get back in college, but still impressive right?

On our way home we stopped in Rexburg at the Sand Dunes! The kids LOVED it!! Here are some of our favorite pics......