Veterans Day 2009

Because it's Veterans Day I wanted to post this picture of my brother Brad when he was in Iraq. He has been home for a few years now but the 18 months he was gone seemed like forever. I know it seemed even longer for Marni, Rylee, Skylar, and River. With the shootings at Fort Hood last week and all the soldiers who have died in Afganistan and Iraq. It has really made me think about the unselfish men and women who have been willing to lay down their lives for our freedoms. I know not a lot of people read my blog, but I just want to thank my brother for the sacrifice he made.

Ellie's Baptism Day

Ellie was baptized in September. It was a such special day. We are so proud of Ellie for making the decision to be baptized. She is such a sweet girl. Ellie is our little comedian she is always making someone laugh. We love her so much. Ellie is such an important part of our family, we are so blessed to have her.

Ellie with her Grandma & Grandpa Slater and Grandma & Grandpa Hansen.
Ellie's cousin Kelsie took some awesome pictures of Ellie in her baptism dress. These are just a few of my favorites. Kelsie did such a great job, I'm so lucky to have her. Thanks Kelsie we love you.

August. First day of school & Ellie's 8th Birthday

For her 8th Birthday Ellie wanted to get her ears pierced. So on her birthday after school, I took Ellie and her friend to the mall to get her ears pierced and to get some ice cream. She was so brave, I think I was more nervous than she was. We had Ellie's Birthday party at Ellie's Aunt Leslie's for two reasons. Aunt Leslie has a swimming pool and because Ellie wanted Leslie's famous spaghetti and meatballs for her birthday dinner.








The first day of school! This year it was a little harder than other years to send the girls back to school. Annie started Jr. High this year, where did the time go? She is growing up so fast.

Ellie started 2nd grade this year. She is loving school. She has a great teacher and lot's of friends.

Slater Summer 2009

This summer we went camping at Rock Creek our favorite place to camp. We are so lucky to live so close to the mountains. Every year we take a little hike up to the top of the Upper Still Water Dam. This year we went a few more miles to the top of the reservior. It's such a beautiful place to hike.


Leslie, Me, & Randy


The Family


When we got to the top of the reservior, we couldn't believe how low the water was. Usally the water covers all of the rocks the kids are playing on in these pictures

Jon

Skylar, Annie, Ellie, River
Ali, Laynie


Dad & Brad
River & Ellie

One day we drove over to Moon Lake. It was so cold some of us were a little happier than others to be there.



This is a picture of me and my friend Sherron. Our parents have been friends forever, when we were little our parents would take us camping to Moon Lake.


Who said that you can't have fun in a tiny little blow-up pool? It's the best 10 dollars I spent all summer. River came to play a few days this summer. They spent a lot of time in our back yard playing in this little pool.
River, Laynie, Ellie
Ellie as "Water Girl"
Laynie
Ellie
River

Laynie

Ellie, River, Laynie


Laynie's 2nd birthday. Laynie was lucky she got to have two bithday party's this year. On her birthday we had a party at Grandma & Grandpa Hansen's house.





Ellie, Katie, Laynie, Annie, River, Skylar



A few days before her birthday we had a party at her Grandma & Grandpa Slater's.






This summer Ellie played coach pitch. There really isn't a lot to say except she HATED every minute of it. She was such a good sport to stick it out the whole season.


The past two summers, Jon has taken a trip tp Colorado to watch the Rockies play. He loves baseball and he looks forward to it all year long. This year he had to go to Minnisoda and Kansas City for work. He was lucky, both the Twins and the Royles were in town while he was there. So he got to see both teams play.



Annie's 12th birthday, I can't believe how fast time has gone by. For Annie's birthday she wanted to go shopping at the mall. We had so much fun. She loved getting new clothes and I loved watching how excited she was. The best part about turning 12 for Annie was that she got to go to Young Womens. Her birthday was a week before girls camp, I had a girls camp calling so I got to go with her. We had a blast I will never forget it.

We had a little problem with somesomes hand in Annie's cake. It was okay it got fixed. (This might be hard to believe but it wasn't Laynie's hand.)

Skylar, Katie, Ellie, Annie, Rylee, River, Laynie and Grandma


Jon's parents are serving a mission at the Heber Valley Girls Camp. We went to visit them over Memorial weekend. They have all kinds of fun activities to do there. My girls loved the zip line. It was a lot of fun. The girls love to be with their cousins. They had a blast.
Lydia and Laynie. I love this picture.

Lydia, Laynie, Odie
Odie, Ellie, Jessica
Annie, Ami, Emmett, Zac, Nic



Annie on the zip line
Ellie on the zip line
Laynie was to little to have a turn, but she liked watching.