Sod, Finally!!

After nearly a year and a half, we finally have sod in the front yard!! It's been lots of work, and taken much, much longer than we ever thought it would, but it looks great!! Here's my dad, supervising the work crew, doesn't he look great?



Scott, Scout and Bella came to help, and two of Ammon's friends stayed over the night before just so they could help us. I am so glad we had so much help, it made the job go much faster.




Now all we need to do is finish planting the hillside with shrubs, bark that area, build the sand volleyball court, put in the stepping stones and pathway down the hill, add on to the patio, build a block planter, refinish the deck floor, add a staircase down from the deck, plant trees along the back property line, put in the rest of the sprinklers, finish planting the "forest", concrete the pathway from the driveway to the patio and fire pit, put in the fire pit, plant more shrubs, bark that area, put in the basketball hoop and garden archways/gates, and grass the back yard, then we'll be done. Thank goodness we aren't still trying to have a wedding here! Maybe by the time Michael gets home next summer? Tell me why I thought an acre was a good idea?? It will be worth it in the end, and if the front is any indication, it will look great when it's done!! Love it!

The Wedding Reception

The reception hall had been booked and paid for, but we were a little nervous as to what we were getting. The owner/manager was not the best communicator/business person to deal with, but we were getting a bargain. Fortunately for me, my good friends arrived before I did, and were getting things handled. The tablecloths were on the tables, but several of them were stained. The serving table skirt had chocolate dripped on it from a chocolate fountain, and the floor was filthy. None of the serving pieces I had asked for were out, so we had to scrounge in the kitchen and back room for them. We also had to wash them all before they could be used. Apparently all we had rented was the hall, tables, chairs and linens. The owner was under the impression that we were doing everything else ourselves, and she was doing us a favor by 'letting' us use her dishes. Thank goodness for friends that had my back! Wedding days are stressful and emotional enough without adding any unnecessary drama!! In fairness, the owner did fix the problems and make things right, and by the time we returned for the reception, everything was beautiful.

The guest book table

The food table. We kept it simple, chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, and dole whip! The dole whip was definitely the biggest hit!

Centerpieces

Who are these good looking guys?

Practicing with the bubbles for the big send off!

In the end it was a beautiful evening. We felt loved and supported by our family and some of our dearest friends. We couldn't have done it without their help. We ended the festivities with the traditional things: cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet and garter, father/daughter, mother/son dance, and the couples first dance. Then they left through an archway of bubbles to begin their "happily ever after."

As a mom, it's hard to turn your daughters over to someone else to take care of. As any parent, it's hard to let your children go. I feel so fortunate and blessed that both of my daughters have chosen such wonderful men as their eternal mates. Even though it's hard for me, I know that they have wonderful lives ahead of them, and that all of our lives will be blessed by the choices they have made. We are glad to have Cassidy join our family and know that we have many more special times ahead of us. This is only the beginning for their family, and we look forward to see what great things the future will bring!

Jayme and Cassidy's Wedding!!!

It was a fairy tale come true!! But first a little background. Jayme and Cassidy met about five years ago while they were both attending SUU in Cedar City. They were crazy about each other, but both very young. Cassidy left to serve an LDS mission in Hong Kong, Jayme went to work for Disney in Orlando. Cassidy returned from his mission in the spring of 2010, and they renewed their friendship. By the time he went back to school that fall, they were still "just friends". At Christmas, he introduced her to his family as his 'girlfriend', and the first of April he asked Dennis and Jordyn and me if he could marry her. We warned him and grilled him pretty well, but he was determined. We even took him to Disneyland with us, and even that wasn't enough to scare him off.

The wedding was originally scheduled for August, and Jayme wanted the reception in our backyard. That was great, it gave us a deadline for getting the yard finished! We made plans and ordered the dress, but then.... Cassidy was offered a great job, but it required him to be down in Cedar City to work much earlier than anyone had anticipated. The wedding was moved to Monday, July 18. There was no way we would have the yard done that soon, and so other arrangements were made, and we crossed our fingers that the wedding dress would arrive in time.


The dress did arrive, and we drove up the canyon to the beautiful Sundance area to take Jayme's bridal pictures. They were beautiful!


The wedding day arrived very quickly, and it was a beautiful day. The sister assigned to Jayme in the temple turned out to be Dennis' third grade teacher, and she knew all of the Stone's in Lehi. The sealer was wonderful He spoke slowly and emphasized all the important parts of the covenant, and he didn't ramble on and on like some of them do. It was perfect!


Here are a few of my favorite pictures at the temple, the professional ones will follow soon.

"The Cousins" always so supportive!!

Don't they just look so in love?

Even Elder Stone made an appearance or two!

Such cute sisters!

Daddy and his baby girl.

Who's got the most 'tude?

Sassy!

After taking pictures, we all went to a delicious luncheon at Em's Restaurant in Salt Lake. It was nice to just sit and relax for awhile. Next up: The Reception!

Western Regional Wrestling

Ammon's coaches have always wanted him to do some summer wrestling, but we have always felt that it was just too much. This year, Ammon was pretty excited about the possibility and worked hard to qualify for Nationals and Western Regionals. After seeing how much time and money would be involved for three more tournaments, he decided to only go to Western Regionals in Pocatello, Idaho. The week of June 20, he and I headed up to Pocatello for the tournament. USA wrestling goes by birthdate rather than school grade, so Ammon has always felt we cheated him by having him born in December '95 rather than January '96, but dang-- we didn't really think about wrestling then, we were more concerned with the tax credit! Anyway, those 5 days make a difference. Cadets this year were born in '95-'96, so he was smack in the middle. Ammon hadn't wrestled since the end of the state club season in April, and was a little out of shape, but we told him to just have fun and do his best. We knew what competition he had from Utah, but we had no idea what he was facing from the other nine states, plus his weight was up from 189 and he didn't want to cut so he wrestled 215 and was by far the smallest in his group.


There were some pretty tough kids there, but Ammon was able to win all but one of his matches in each style. He took second in freestyle and third in greco. He felt great about his performance, and I got excited for the high school season to see what great things he can accomplish this year! Way to go Ammon!

Moving On

It seems that life has a way of moving on at the speed of light whether we like it or not. Our family faces some big changes, good changes, but changes nonetheless, and I don't do change very well. Jordyn has finished kindergarten, she will be in school all day next year, and part of me will miss my little shadow. I'll be home all alone all day, and while I look forward to that, I still feel a little empty when I think about it.

Matthew graduated from the sixth grade this week. Next year he will be in junior high. He will turn 13 and be a teenager this summer. How is that possible? He's still just my little boy.

Ammon will be in high school next fall. He is already pushing boundaries and rushing to grow up and be independent. He is anxious to drive, and has friends who already do, which makes him think he has more freedom. I wish I could just tie him down and make him slow down a bit. He'll be playing football with the 'big boys', and has already started hanging out with some of the older kids. Ammon can't be in high school because he's only 12, right?

We're coming up on Michael's 'hump' day this summer. It's hard to believe he's been out almost a year. I miss him like crazy, and I hurt when he goes through difficulties, but I am so proud of him too. His mission has gone by much faster than I ever thought it would, but I can't wait to get him home, even though I know things will never be the same as they were before.

At least Jenn and Adam aren't changing anything this year. Thank goodness for that! I do need a little stability in my life.

Jayme has finished her bachelor's degree and is getting married this summer and moving to Cedar City. Talk about change! I am so proud of her for finishing school and getting her degree, it's been a long road, but she hung in there and did it. I'm excited for her to be moving on to a new stage in her life, but I will be a little lonely without her here. I don't know what I'll do if my kids ever move very far away, guess I'll be racking up some frequent flier miles or something.

Change is part of life, and I need to accept it, but I don't like it. I know it means progression and can't be avoided, but I still don't like it. People always say, "enjoy this while you can", but you don't really understand until it's too late. Good thing I'm enjoying the now, and look forward to enjoying the tomorrows. I may have learned that lesson late in life, but I'm grateful to have learned it. Can't I just freeze time for a little while though?

Best Week Ever!!

Last week we went to Disneyland and had a wonderful time!! Jayme and I have wanted to go for a long time, but the boys didn't want to go. Finally we decided to go for a graduation present for her since she graduated from UVU this semester. At first it was going to just be Jayme, Jordyn and me. Then Jennifer felt left out and wanted to come, but she felt guilty because Adam had never been before and she had promised that she would take him. Then, Jayme said, "If Adam is going, I want Cassidy to come" I warned them that we would all be in the same room, that I snore and that Cass would have to sleep on the floor, they still wanted to come. I also warned them that Stone family vacations are always an adventure and one never knows what will happen. They still wanted to come.

We spent five days in the park and had a great time. Jordyn was tall enough to go on everything except for one ride. She loved Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. It was more crowded than I expected, but we were able to go on everything we wanted several times, and didn't really have any long waits for rides. It was great to get to know Cassidy better and so nice to see everyone getting along and having fun.

We found our new favorite place to eat. It's at Big Thunder Ranch, and it's an all you can eat barbeque with ribs, chicken, beans, coleslaw, corn bread, and at dinner they also serve sausage and corn. Can you say yum? It was served family style in buckets, and we ate a ton!! I think we had two buckets each of chicken and ribs. That same day, my Aunt Kathleen and her husband Ed came down to spend the day with us. It was great to see them, and we had a super fun time with them.

On Saturday the adventures started. We got up and drove down to the swap meet, and were going to go to the beach for a while. Well, after the swap meet, the car was making a terrible squealing and grinding sound, and I felt very strongly that we needed to get it checked out. We pulled into a Midas store and the guy said there was a bolt stuck in the brake rotor. After four hours and lots of coercion to have more work done, we were finally back on the road, and we went down to the beach. We looked at the tide pools and found lots of sand crabs and hermit crabs. It was Jordyn's first time and also Adam's. We didn't bring swimsuits or anything, but of course we had to get our feet wet. Naturally we all got a lot more wet than we planned on. Jordyn was soaked!!

Jordyn didn't want to come home, and was really sad to leave. I was too if you want to know the truth. Sometimes I really miss California, but what I love most is being at Disneyland. I know I'm weird, but I love just sitting and enjoying the atmosphere. When they decide to open condos above the stores on Main Street, I'll be first in line! Until then, I guess I'll just have to settle for visiting every few years.

Jordyn's Dance Recital

It was the final big week for Jordyn's dance class with their recital. Jordyn did a great job!! She remembered to smile the whole time, and she remembered most of her dances. "Tik Tok" was a favorite, and she loved dancing with the umbrella to "Rhythm of the Rain" Good job Jordy!!!