Adelia's 6th Birthday

We didn't want to do a real "party" but did want to get together with some friends at the pool.  With the promise of ice cream and a good time, we met at the Payson swimming pool with her good buddies from Santaquin and their families.

She also was surprised with a fairy themed cake (tied into the birthday present she didn't know about yet either) but the cake toppers were part of her other present :)

That night Daddy came up to Santaquin and we went out to dinner at one of our most favorite restaurants, Tadka, for some Indian food (per Adelia's request)

 We were all a little damp and sunburned.  Signs of a fun day at the pool

 Dinner proved to be too exhausting after a busy day of swimming.  Linaya fell fast asleep mid chicken tikka masala

Saturday morning the girls woke up to a birthday surprise that was actually for all of them.  They were totally intrigued. 

 "Come see us in Disneyland this September!"  We decided to tell the girls our plans for our family vacation.  The previous year's vacation happened to fall during Tianna's birthday and this year my cousin's wedding in California is when we planned to take a trip to Disneyland... we had later found out it would be the same week as Tianna's birthday again..  Not wanting it to seem like she gets more special birthday's, we felt it was best to make Adelia's birthday the time for the big announcement.

 Adelia's birthday present was a fairy house... it already outgrew it's container though.

 This picture doesn't really belong, but it was so cute I had to post it somewhere! Sweet little kitty cat!

Not birthday related, but a party anyhow, this was our going away spa party we held with our neighbor friends before we started spending more time in Price than in our home in Santaquin.  We truly miss all of these wonderful friends.
Tianna's best friends were Anna Smith and Ellie Roberts. Their mom's, Karen and Casey, were my really good friends too! 

Adelia's best friend was Anna's sister, Maya. 

Next door was my best friend Robyn Marchant and her little girl, McKinley was Linaya's best buddy.  Robyn's older daughter, Kassidy was between Tianna and Adelia and was super close to both of them.  

Our friends came over and we soaked our feet, did mediteranean salt scrubs, painted our nails and sat and giggled..... eventually we ended up with really big wet, soggy messes from the foot baths, but it was worth every spilled drop.  We sure are blessed with amazing friends. 

 That night the pampered princess slept very well. 

Our spa party was our last HURRAH before we packed up our clothes and what we needed to live at my parent's house for the remainder of the summer.    

Our first night in Price I went on a walk with Joy, my sister in law, and our friend Mindy on the Price River walk.... the beautiful sunset was a warm welcome "home" and a gentle reminder that we would find happiness wherever we called home. 

(not that I worried, I grew up in Price and looked forward to living by our families... it was just hard to give up so many people and things we loved about our other home.) 

Payson Temple Cultural Celebration

With Luke and I both being in the youth programs of our ward, we were blessed to be help them get ready for the cultural celebration, and even better, attend it! 

Earlier in the day we drove past the temple.. wow it is breathtaking!

 Pay close attention to the gorgeous sky-- filled with light, fluffy clouds.

 The event was held at BYU in Provo.  Leaving Santaquin, and even drying past Spanish Fork, the sky was clear, but hovering over BYU campus was a huge, angry rain cloud.

We got in our seats early to anxiously wait for the program to begin.  But shortly after we sat down the sky opened and the rain started to fall. And by fall, I mean, DUMP.  I have rarely seen rain so heavy in all my life.  Everyone ran for cover under the covered walkways of the stadium, hoping for the rain to stop.  Quickly we received a notice that the program would be cancelled if the rain did not lift.  We couldn't believe it! Youth all across South Utah county had prepared for months and months (they even cancelled our Stake Pioneer trek so the kids could focus and prepare for the celebration!) How could it get rained out?!

Everywhere we looked we saw small groups huddled together in prayer for the rain to lift.  Between huddling together to warm up the freezing, soggy children, we too offered the same supplications to heaven.  Please oh please stop the rain.

Hidden from our view, 3,000 youth knelt together in prayer on the other side of the stadium walkways to offer a prayer of gratitude for the new Temple and to ask for Heavenly Father to stop the rain.  Their prayer was answered almost immediately.

The rain ceased, the sky cleared up a bit, and the program started. We were blessed to have Elder Nelson and President Eyring in our presence.  The whole show as amazing... and if I do say so my self, the BEST performance was from the Santaquin stake.  They did a dance using branches with blossoms to represent the many orchards surrounding our city.  It was beautiful! And, especially neat because inside the temple are many representations of the local orchards in the stained glass to the upholstery.  It was awesome to have our stake represent something so particular to the Payson temple itself.

The whole program was amazing.... but most amazing of all, the very moment the program ended, the rain started to fall once again.  Throughout the whole show we could see the sky clear above us, but all around the stadium were dark looming clouds.  As we were exiting the stadium, the clouds burst and the rain came tumbling down.  It was a true testament to our youth of how much the Lord hears, answers and cares about our prayers.  We were grateful to be a witness of that miracle.

Busy busy busy days of June

June was weird this year.  Full and filled with a lot of good, but weird.  Luke started his new job in Price, but we hadn't packed up our house yet or prepared to move.  Plus, we had made plans before getting the job offer (I had Norwex parties and obligations)  we had already signed up for swimming lessons and so much more..Also, since it was so sudden, we all needed a little more time to adjust.   But, Luke's job started so he had to be in Price. He moved down to my parent's house where we would all stay during the home sell.  The girls and I stayed mostly in Santaquin to finish tie things up. It was hard and we hated being apart but we were so very busy that it went quite quickly.    

We managed some fun though :) 

 Not everything was "fun" though. I hate packing and moving.  Ohhh how I hate it. Little by little though our belongings got loaded into the trailer.

 In happy news, Luke's youngest sister, Courtney had her first baby:  Belinda "Jayde" Hinckley.  We stole away for a quick visit to Grantsville to meet the newest member of the Peacock family.  She was so sweet and teeny.

One particular Saturday we had a special visitor in our garage.  The Stupid cat just walked literally next to it and didn't even do anything about it.  Glad it was a day Luke was home... cause yeah. I couldn't have chased it off like he did.  Ewwww ewww ewwww. 

We made a visit to Castle Dale one day.  Baby Jayde was there and Linaya was enamored.  

One of my favorite Disney movies is Emporers New Groove.  One line in the show is in a diner where someone requests a steak cut in the shape of a trout.  I'd dare say this is the closest thing I have ever seen to a steak cut in the shape of a fish.  It was SUPER tasty (so much more than an actual trout!) 

One thing is for sure to be missed about Santaquin-- those sunsets.  Wow. 

We had my sisters girls visit for a few days.  We made our trip to on of our favorite little hikes: The Grotto

While in Price one weekend we attended the RODEOOOOOOOOOOO! Yeeha! 

 When the neighbor girls decides to do your 2 year old's makeup...... Watch out.

Another thing to miss in Santaquin will be the orchards.  One day I saw a sign inviting anyone interested to come pick your own cherries.  It was cool picking our own fruit and ohhhh they were delicious! We ate cherry EVERYTHING for days. 

Swimming lessons at the Francom pool (a private pool that did provides lessons right in Santaquin)

A Haitian family Luke knew on his mission came to Utah to visit (some of them live here now) When Mama Julien came to see her new granddaughter, we were able to meet up for a Haitian style dinner at the park in SLC.  We loved meeting them and eating yummy Haitian food.

We bought Daddy a new suitcase for Father's day.  With his new job he travels a lot and Tianna helped us decide the right size.