#15 is........................

Due in January - #15 is a boy!!! His name is Asher James. Parents Jacob and Mandi are sooooooooooo excited and we are too! Wondering what color hair this little guy will have. Mom's hair is naturally almost white while dad has dark hair and mom's siblings have red hair. Hmmmmmm. Any bets on this one?

More of our vacation.......

Forgot to grab my camera when we were with #3 so I stole this off her fb page! She is Serina's oldest.

Here is #11 (Todd's daughter) - beautiful girl but the smudge on her nose is from our dirty van - she was trying to see inside - I didn't realize how dirty the van was until I saw her nose!!!

Here are Ty's two - #8 and #6 in the back of our van. We're on our way to a trumpet lesson for #8 and girl's camp for #6.

Candy with her mom Betsy. We had such a good time that we went back again on our way home!

Here is #9, Serina's daughter (above) & #10 , Trent's daughter (below) at Cape Disappointment. They wanted me to bury them in the sand but I had them dig the holes first!

3 of Serina's girls #5, #9, & #7. Growing up way too fast!!!

Retirement............ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........

Retirement didn't come soon enough but once it did we took off to visit friends and family up north. Here is a picture of #13 all dressed up with no place to go. Notice the mitten on his right hand. Hmmmmm.


Here #12 tries on her new hat which was a gift from her great grandma. You can see #13 in the back with his new red hat - note: one size does NOT fit all.

And #14 is quick to take off his new hat from great grandma. Had to snap a quick picture for her.

Dau family reunion with two of my cousins (sisters Dawn & Bev). We used to have some wild tea parties as kids. I grew up with two brothers and a neighborhood full of boys so this was a real treat for me!

More pictures coming soon.

You know it's hot when........

....Snickers favorite hangout is the sink! When the outdoor thermometer starts climbing up past 90 this is Snickers favorite place to sleep. She started doing this soon after arriving in Arizona almost five years ago. Good thing this isn't a sink we use very often! Note how she barely recognized my presence - napping is more important!

Melissa's baptism......

Was spending 28 hours driving worth it? YES! Melissa turned 8 last month and was baptized and confirmed on May 1st. There were about 40 people there - didn't get a picture of everyone but here is one of the family - Larry, Kathy, Gwen (Joyce's mom), Joyce, Todd, Melissa and her great grandma (Gwen's mom).

The program.

Duchess on the way home. She wormed her way onto my pillow which was on the console between the front seats. She travelled the whole way home like this!

Another shot from the front this time.

Fishing Derby 2011 at Pacana Park.....

I think we've been to the fishing derby every year since we moved to Maricopa.

Today Duchess and I walked to Pacana Park to see the kiddos fish. There were 150 that could sign up and with their $5 registration fee they got a fishing pole with reel and accessories to fish. This event is a catch and release kinda deal. There was a barbeque after the 90 minute contest.

Duchess liked to sit and let the kids pet her - you know those little ones love distractions and she was a great one!

Here's Duchess taking a little break.

This little girl posed for me. What you may not see at first is that she has two identical fish on the line. Yep! She had two hooks and caught these little beauties at the same time! What luck! Click on the picture and you'll be able to at least see the two tails!

I took several pictures of this young lady after she caught this catfish. She did NOT want to get close to it. Nope, not at all. But the camera was ready and with some encouragement she did her best to get closer!

Notice the fists? This was sooooooooo out of her comfort zone.

Duchess and I were sitting on the grass so my angle wasn't very good but I'm sure they got some great shots of her with her prized fish - something for posterity to see!

Maricopa Stake Relief Society Program.....

Today was the culmination of several months of preparation for our Stake Relief Society Women's Program. We had a wonderful, wonderful event!!!! The food was superb not only in taste but also presentation. The committee outdid themselves!!! The decorating committee lined the walls with silhouettes of families and adorned each of the 25 tables with vases filled with white branches that had photos of families and sayings hanging from them. Awesome! The Young Women provided classes for the children and were great at working with them. Thank you! The music was so perfect! The first number was a children's chorus of four boys and four girls ranging in age form about 6 to 10. They were awesome. The second musical number was performed by a soloist accompanied on the piano - it, too, was perfect. The last number was sung by three women who were just plain amazing - they were accompanied on the piano as well. The words to each of these numbers were so inspiring! The speakers were our Stake Relief Society Presidency who spoke about spending time with our families, communication, and family values. Our Stake President then spoke to us about the importance of women in families. We truly have awesome leaders!
Table decorations.Children's classes - ages from toddlers to 11 year olds.




Doyleen & Debbie prepping brunch.Silouettes on the walls.

The brunch menu was a breakfast casserole, fruit cocktail with whipped cream and a cherry on top, a slice of orange, and muffins.



Our Stake President.

About 200 were fed both temporally and spiritually today!

Our Stake Relief Society Presidency - me (Secretary), Barbara (President), Jamilee (1st Counselor), Rhonda (2nd Counselor)