Quick Trip to The Great Salt Lake!

Monday night about 5:30 Eric and I headed off to the airport to fly to Salt Lake City. Eric's niece was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on Tuesday morning. We were lucky enough to stay with Eric's cousin Becky while we were there. Getting in so late, (midnight) this is quite the generous act of Becky. Since I have never been to a "live" temple session I told Eric I would love to be able to attend one. Eric's Dad and his new wife Betsy joined us for the 7:00 session. It was a joyous occasion and I am grateful that we were able to manage it. We finished the session and ate a quick breakfast in the cafeteria and then we were able to witness the sealing of Alexis Lowe to Ryan Pagel. It was a beautiful ceremony and Eric and I felt blessed to be taught by the sealer as we witnessed this ceremony. We learned so many things one of the most profound things that Eric and I both came away with was the essence of TIME and the importance this is in raising a family in today's world. Our children need to know that we want to spend time together. That Mom & Dad want to spend time by ourselves and that Mom & Dad want to spend time with each child by themselves. We made a deal to really focus on this aspect of our lives. We are excited about implementing these things in our family more fervently than before. We had lots of time in between the sealing and the luncheon and so Eric and I walked around Temple Square and we really enjoyed our time together feeling the beautiful breeze and the love of our Heavenly Father. It is truly an amazing experience. We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for a fabulous lunch. The raspberry poppyseed vinigerette was divine and the chicken cordon blue was scrumptious. After the luncheon we walked over to the Conference Center and took a tour of the building. All I can say about that is WOW! What an amazing place inspired by President Hinckley. All in all this trip was Fast and we feel blessed that we were able to make it happen. Enjoy the pics!
Alexis & Ryan Pagel

The whole wedding party!
The Tim Lowe Family
Tim is Eric's brother, from left to right Tim, Madison,Alexis & Ryan, Spencer, MacKenzie, Tanner and Lynne
Eric and I standing outside the temple
The Beautiful Salt Lake City Temple
And last but not least, for the young at heart! I present for your viewing pleasure:Allen Lowe- Eric's Dad skipping along the temple grounds! I'll have you know he is 79(I think). Thanks Dad for doing this for us! The kids love it!

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers!

Leah's New Do!

It was just too long and boring! I love the new look, it is full and soft. I had my RS President's daughter fix me up. She did it a bit darker and put some red tones in it as well. Then she gave me bangs and layers so I have body.
Front

Back

Happy 10th Birthday Derick

Derick we love you and are so happy you chose to join our family! Wow, it is hard to believe you are 10 already! Where has all the time gone. We love you because you are smart, helpful, brave, kind, handsome, loving, adventurous, and a hard worker. Enjoy the slide show of pictures of you! Happy Birthday Son!

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For......

We received the call today at 4:50 pm that Zachary's glasses had come in. We feel blessed at such a quick turn around time since all day yesterday Zach laid on the sofa and complained of a terrible headache. So we drove right down to get the glasses. Here is a picture of Zach sitting on the tall chair so his glasses could be fit to his face.

Before The Big Moment:

You can't tell he's EXCITED can you?

After The Big Moment:

A whole new world to see! He looks sharp with his new glasses.

One man's junk is another man's TREASURES!

We decided kind of last minute that we had too much junk at our house so we rummaged through it all and had a sale. I invited a friend down the street to join with me and we had quite a success on Friday. It was my first time ever selling on a Friday. Traffic was pretty steady all morning. We closed down about 11:00. Then on Saturday my cuz Elisa from Heber drove down and joined in our Saturday sale. It was a success on Saturday too and we sold most of our junk. What we had left we graciously donated to Deseret Industries. Now my garage is empty and I'm feeling good about my lack of clutter. Yeah! Here is a couple fun pictures of the kiddos having their own garage sale fun!

Lemonade, water and girl scout cookies. It was cute to watch them yell at all the cars passing by. They were all sure that they would get more business if they set up shop across the street so the cars would stop there first. I think they would have done just as well on our side of the street.

Our lovely Vanna greeting our customers! The sign says: For Sale OBO.

Eyes 4 U!

We've got new in our family! Zachary had been complaining about headaches for the past month. I finally chalked it up to maybe he needs his checked. So I took him in to Dr. Reed and as he was asking Zach to read line #7 I was beginning to think the kid didn't know his letters. Come to find out the poor little guy can't see. So he got to choose some cool glasses. I took a picture of the try on pair at the office.

Zach actually chose the color slate (it's a bluish gray frame). I think it looks great on him. He wasn't happy about coming to the realization that he needs glasses. When he put this pair on he said Mom I see the same. So I think he'll be in for a real surprise when his glasses come in. It will take about a week & his new will come in and I'll post a picture of the real deal. Until then enjoy our new !

No Cavities!

This was Olivia's first trip to the dentist.

Livie opening her mouth big so Kelsie her hygienist can clean her teeth!

Even though she doesn't use toothpaste when she brushes her teeth the Dr. found NO cavities! YEAH! I explained to the Dentist that Livie doesn't like the flavor of ANY toothpaste and he said that water and the toothbrush were fine. He did say that the purpose of toothpaste is the flouride so he recommended that I use the Act I bubblegum flouride mouth wash. He said to just use a q-tip and paint her teeth with it.

Dr. Staker checking Olivia's teeth!


One happy little girl, showing off her lipgloss necklace prize the Dr. gave her! Thanks Dr. Staker!

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!

I used to sit on top of Livie and brush her teeth once in a great while. Usually when I could no longer stand her dragon breathe. Now I'll just brush them really good with water and paint on some flouride. Yeah for good dentists!

What I love about Spring!

I love beautiful flowers!


I love green grass!



I love the rain, and especially the smell of the earth after the rain.



I love to watch general conference. This past conference was very special to me as I felt the love of our new prophet. I sustain him and pray for him and his counselors as they lead our church. I was touched by the many talks but most especially those that spoke to me personally. It was comforting to hear the prophet speak to me directly as a young wife and mother. I appreciate the love and encouragement given to me and to each and every mother in this world. How comforting to know of our Heavenly Father's love spoken directly from his servants here upon this earth. It gives me great hope and the desire to continually do good and to improve myself as I learn to be more like Christ. I pray the Lord's richest blessings upon each of you this Spring time, enjoy this wonderful season! Especially if you're from Arizona, because it won't last long!

Our California Adventures!

So the first kid to figure out we were going to California was Derick. He is very inquisitive and wouldn't stop asking questions. He was so sure we were taking him to Disneyland. We led him to believe that we were not going to be able to go to Disneyland by discussing how expensive tickets are to enter the park. So Friday Morning we loaded the kids in the wagon and talked about what a nice day it was and how nice it would be to go to the beach. So in their little heads we were going to the beach. We walked across the street and down a little ways to the entrance into Disneyland and this is where we told the kids we were really going to Disneyland! They were all thrilled! I think Zachary was the most surprised!


Just leaving our hotel the kids thought we were heading to the beach!
The weather was beautiful!


We just told the kiddos to turn into the Disneyland park! They were so excited. I think Zach was still trying to figure out that we really were going to Disneyland!


Olivia found this "O" spelling out the word California and she said Mom that's my name so we took a picture of her in the "O". She thought she was big time!


And of course "L" for the Lowe's~


Some of the Kids with Snow White, Zach was missing, he wasn't feeling the love of the princess thing. Derick was there but as you can see not so thrilled!


The Tower of Terror, and yes I was terrified. That will be my first and last stay in the "Hollywood Hotel"!
The Lowe Family pictured on the bottom right.

Stopped by for a quick pose with Rafiki (spelling?) after riding the wild river in California Adventure. It was definitely our family favorite~ We were all soaked!

Splash Mountain~ need I say more?

Saturday we journeyed to Newport Beach via Balboa Island. In order to get to the island we boarded a ferry that carries up to 3 vehicles and lots of people for a ride across the ocean. So much fun. Here we are sitting on the ferry. The kids thought this was awesome!

Eric watching Olivia at the Beach, the water was freezing, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in it.

Zach, Kimberlee, and Derick playing in the water . The water was so cold when they got out their bodies were red! To be a kid again! It was a fabulous trip, we really enjoyed being together and having a blast! April is a great time to visit California.


FYI- Wagon's NOT allowed in Disneyland!




When we got up to the gate to enter Disneyland we were informed that wagons were not allowed in the park. So our wagon got to spend the day with all the barking hounds in the Kennel Club. This is a picture of us retrieving the quietest boarder of the day! HEHE

It's Packin Time

While the kids were all at school today I packed the van with gear for a much needed family vacation! Tomorrow afternoon (when Eric get's off work) we will go to the school and sign the kids out for a surprise trip to Disneyland. The kids really have no idea. I have arranged with their teachers to take their spelling tests in the morning tomorrow since they will be missing school on Friday. We are going to tell the kids that we have an errand to run and weren't sure if we would be back in time for school to get out so we took them out early. Which is true, we need to stop by Tanya & Alan's home to pick up some tickets to Disneyland! (Thanks so much Tanya, we really appreciate it!) So we are wondering which kiddo figures it out first that we are really going on vacation??? We will let you all know about our journey and post some pictures and news. The wagon in back of the van is for Livie and Derick. Derick is still healing from his sprained foot so we don't want him whining about the walking. It should be a fun trip!

We are still trying to finish packing as you can see, while our kiddos are peacefully catching some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.


Kimberlee loves to sleep with a stuffed animal.

Derick out like a light!

Zachary always ends up the wrong way when he sleeps.

Olivia sound asleep with her lamb. All of this while these 4 little kids have NO CLUE about tomorrow! Gotta Love being a parent!

Arm + Rock + Force=

Derick was the lucky victim! Cell phone pictures don't do this justice but hey it's better than nothing. All it took to fix was super glue and a steri strip. Yeah for modern medicine!

Just Jammin

Yesterday a couple good friends of mine came over and we made homemade strawberry freezer jam. It is delicious and it was alot of fun. We jammed 3 flats of delicious strawberries. Now I just need to get down the homemade bread thing so we can really enjoy them both!