First Day of School 2015

August 19, 2015

Big JD as a senior - my last year to photograph ALL my kiddo's on the first day of school.  Bittersweet moment.  I want sooo badly to keep them with me always and not let them get any older, and yet I can't wait to see the people that they become.

Sissy as a sophomore. 

 She had early morning (6:00am) cheer this day so we took her picture after school.

Mr. Scott as a big bad 6th grader

And the Molly Kit Kat as a 3rd grader

Friends

My kids have been fortunate to have wonderful friends!!!  One thing that I've always taught my kids is the importance of good friends.  Friends influence whether or not you are studious or if you're a drop out.  They influence whether or not you smoke and drink, they influence the type of people you date, which influences the type of person you marry.  They influence what type of extra curricular activities you do.  If all your friends are into rodeo, chances are you will be too.  If they are all into football, cheer, or even chess, chances are, you will be too!  I love my kids friends.  I love them for their friendship and example to my kids.  

On this particular day, Sidney and her friends got together and went to the Payson Temple openhouse.  Grateful today for good kids!

Annual Neighbor Day at Payson Lakes

August 10, 2015

Each summer we go with the neighbors up to Payson Lakes to spend the afternoon.  We usually grab subway sandwiches and drive up.  We eat lunch and let the kids raft, swim, find pot guts, and soak up the sun!  

Only the Adam's and Johnson's came with us this year.  Parry's, Jensen's and Knudsen's couldn't make it.  And at that, all the Johnson kids were unable to come except Andrea.  Oh well.  We still had fun.  I love that my teenage kids will still hang out with me some!

We lined the kids up in order of age.  I LOVE the height differences despite the age.

Saying Goodbye to 338 West

Saying goodbye to the only home that our children had ever known was hard.  We moved in when Jens was 9 months old - and SURPRISE! I had Sidney 9 months later.  We loved the comfort and joy we found here.  We loved the memories, laughter, fights, love and growth we had here.  It was a special place where everyone was comfortable and felt welcome.  I loved and will dearly miss the yard.  I loved the back yard with the beautiful big trees and the stream.  I loved the trees we planted around our yard, each of us having one that was "ours" and we even had a pretty little Laurel Cherry in the front in memory of Grandpa Gustin.  My kids were always entertained with fishing, building tree houses, playing hide and seek, selling lemonade, jumping on the trampoline, having camp fires and making s'mores.  We loved getting on the four wheeler and going across the street to the farmers fields and riding all over without a care in the world.  We loved going down into the fields on summer nights to watch the lightning bugs float around.  We even loved mowing the lawn!  Because it was our lawn and we liked making our home look pretty.  It will always be a dear place in our hearts.

Two months before we moved in, we poured the garage steps and wrote our names in the wet cement.

Our garage was a sad, little, ugly, unfinished place but I loved all the height measurements that we had of all the kids and their friends, cousins and neighbors that we had in there.  It was fun to look at and see the growth that had taken place over the years.

Three years after we moved in, we poured a cement pad on the south side of the driveway and garage.  We marked the cement again with our names and hand prints.

This little pad has always been my favorite because I love how it shows the difference in Jens and Sidney's hands.  Jens has always had these square, strong hands and Sidney's have always been long and lengthy.  I had Sid put her 15 year old hand next to her 2 1/2 year old hand print.

Ten years later - - We poured another big pad in the back and built a shed on it.  This time our family was complete but only Cade and Molly were the ones home when the cement was poured.  I had Molly place her 8 year old had next to her 2 year old hand print.

I did a couple re-create pics of the kids.  I had BIG, and I mean B I G plans to take them of all the kids but unfortunately we were so crazy and busy trying to get packed that I only got them of Cade and Molly.

So goodbye 338 West.  We may be gone from you physically but you live on in our hearts!  Thank you for the joy and all the life we were able to create there!

20 Year Anniversary

TWENTY YEARS! 20!  Where on earth did the time go?

Jeff and I went to The Grand in SLC to stay and then went to France a couple weeks later with Mark & Allison to celebrate.

When I think back on the last twenty years of life I realize how blessed we have been.

Four amazing, beautiful, healthy kids

More friends than one could ever hope for

Amazing family

Two different places to call home

A vacation house in St. George

Three cats

One dog

Countless fish

Health

A few fights and tons of laughter

And to top it off, we've been able to travel the world!  Jeff has been to every continent except Antarctica and I've been to every continent except Africa and Antarctica.

Family Vacation at Bear Lake

Instead of going to the Christmas cabin past year, Duane and Julie booked a cabin for the family at Bear Lake instead.  Typically we rent a condo at Ideal Beach at Sweetwater.  But we did a cabin on the golf course, just across from Ideal Beach instead.  This place holds SO many wonderful memories for the Higginson family.  We've been coming here for like about 35 years.  Year after year.  We've only just stopped coming consistently the last 10 years or so.  The little kids got to see how great this place is and why we all love it so much. 

We lined the kids up in order of age.  Its funny to see the height differences!

The boys went golfing and us girls watched them,(and took these pictures) right from our front deck of the cabin.

Ideal Beach had water trampolines to rent.  Some people had rented this one and weren't using it at the moment so Jeff decided he was going to go jump on it.  OH MY GOSH if you only could have seen him in real life!  It was hilarious!!!!

He got jumping real big and high and dove down on the slide to head into the water --- only problem was that he got STUCK on the slide!  It was the funniest thing ever!

JD dug a great big hole and decided to stick the younger kids down in it and bury them.

They were pretty much standing upright in the hole.  It was seriously a big hole.  They all kind of panicked in the hole too because the weight and pressure of the sand made it harder to breath.  None of them liked it while they were in the hole, yet everyone wanted a turn!

One of my childhood/adulthood BFF's surprised us by showing up on the beach and hanging out with us.  Her family was in from Delaware.  Kristin and her family had grown up going to Bear Lake with us for the past 35+ years so it was just like old times having her there!

After we realized how funny it was to watch Jeff on the trampoline, we decided to rent one ourselves.  We had a ton of fun on it.

At night after everyone was exhausted from the day on the lake, we would have dinner and watch movies.  I can't get over how much Jens and Katelyn look alike.  Their profiles are totally the same!  Same nose, same lips, same eye shape, same chin..... They could be siblings.

Chase, Gunner & Cade spent SO MUCH TIME trying to build this sandcastle.  Little Gustin and Canyon were little devilish destroyers and kept knocking it down before they could ever finish it.  Thankfully the boys were able to finish it before one of the little boys died! 

It was a great trip!  One for the memory books!