Taylor has accomplished a lot in the past few weeks. He had an opportunity to play in Salt Lake at Abravanel Hall in the All-State band. This was quite an amazing experience. The band was wonderful. We were all quite impressed-even Grandpa! (and that says a lot!) Taylor also finished the requirements for his Eagle Scout award! We were able to attend his Court of Honor the same weekend as Abbey's baptism, so Grandma and Grandpas could come. Taylor is a great kid! He always has a smile on his face and he is a wonderful example to his brother and sisters. We couldn't ask for a better oldest son! Thanks Taylor for being who you are-we are very grateful for the character that you have.

Our little Abbey turned 8 on January 30th. Wow-how time flies. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was in the hospital in Salt Lake awaiting her early arrival. Abbey was a little miracle baby. She was born at 31 weeks, weighing only 3 lb 8 oz. She thrived and grew in the hospital for 6 weeks and was able to return home to her family in March. We love her so much. She has really added a sweet, kind, caring Spirit to our home. She also is a little fighter and has been from the start. That is what pulled her through the rough start that she had. She has always been healthy and we are so grateful for this. We are so glad that she is a member of our family and made the decision to be baptized. They took these photos of Abbey when she was about 3 weeks old and had them up on a bulletin board in the NICU. I always thought that they were so cute! Our cute Abbey a few days before her baptism. Right after her baptism-looking so clean! We had quite a crowd for the weekend-42 in all! It was a blast. We were sooooo grateful for all of the family making the effort to come and celebrate with us! Abbey wanted to go to Zions for her birthday. Luckily it was a beautiful day so we loaded up the kids and went on a picnic. The kids had a ball hiking to the emerald pools. It was spectacular to see the run off into the lower pool-quite a waterfall!

Our Valentines Day outing. . . better than Disneyland?!

So on Valentines Day, we were trying to think of something different to do with the kids. We mentioned bowling and the kids were on board with it. We traveled to Hurricane-(yes, an hour!) to go to dinner and then we headed to the bowling alley. It was so cute. All of the kids were soooo excited-Abbey in particular. She said "Mom, I love bowling! This is better than Disneyland!" So there you have it-we don't need to travel 7 hours and pay the $60 admission fee, we just need to head on over to Hurricane and hit the $2.00 bowling alley. Sporting the most fashionable bowling shoes. (I like John's the best!) Anna was content just riding the 25 cent cow (I think that is what it is). Tanner was Ally's helper. The goal was just to get the ball to roll fast enough to make it to the bowling pins without having to run up the alley and help it out!