Happy Birthday To Me

Another year older and wiser too....maybe.  Not sure about that last one.  It was a good birthday doing what I love most:  Being with my family.

I share a birthday with Emma and Jaxon at Grandma White's house.

On my actual birthday, we went to my favorite restaurant The Cheesecake Factory.  My family loves it too.

We always get our cheesecake to go.  So my family actually put a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday to me.

Birthday shenanigans at Grandma Haacke's house.  Cake decorating courtesy of Jaxon.  Don't I look great for my age??

Summer Karate Camps

Kayden was lucky enough to go to two karate camps this summer.  One in June and one in July.  He loved them both!  Just check out some of his moves:

This camp was a Nerf Karate camp.  He got to bring his Nerf gun to camp each day to shoot in addition to doing karate.

He attended the second Karate camp that taught how to do karate stunts.  Kayden enjoyed this camp too.

 This is a mean looking spin kick and he looks like he is having fun doing it!

 

 The karate stunt team of the week!

Because Kayden attended both camps this summer, he earned his blue belt.  Congrats Kayden!

Independence Day 2018

We love going to Uncle Paul's house for the 4th of July.  The parade and fireworks never disappoint, but mostly we love being with family and having fun on the river!

The day started out with the 4th of July breakfast that is held at the Osgood Chapel.  They have a great patriotic program to start with and then a tasty breakfast.

We were glad for the sun on this chilly morning despite it being especially bright!

 

 It was a particularly cold day this 4th of July so we put on our jackets and wrapped up in blankets for the 4th of July breakfast and parade.  Jeremy got so cozy that he fell asleep during the parade!

 The whole gang at the parade.  Once things started warming up, it got warm fast!

The cousins had a good time together!

 

 And of course Idaho Falls really knows how to put on a fireworks show!

The afternoon of the 4th and the next day we spent playing on the river.  Jeremy is always brave to ski and surf.  This year he had no problem getting up on one ski and he got up on his first try ever wake boarding.

 Josh (left) and Kayden (right) tried some knee boarding.  It was Kayden's first time and opted to stay on his stomach but had a really good time.  Josh tried his hand at doing some tricks.

Tubing behind the boat is always entertaining.  Uncle Paul sure knows how to make some waves and then hit them just right.  I have decided that riding in the boat causes me less anxiety than riding on the tube so I stayed dry.  It was a fun filled couple of days and always a time that we look forward to each year!

Jazz 3 on 3 Tourney

Josh and his friends signed up for a 3 on 3 tournament that was hosted by the Utah Jazz.  They had kids and adults that participated in the tournament.  It was a hot day but we had a great time!

We had a surprise at the tournament!  Right in the middle of on of Josh's games, some Jazz basketball players decided to stop by.  Donovan Mitchell and a couple of players intermixed with the kids.  Josh's game was put to a stop so they could go and check the players out.  The boys sure thought it was cool!

Because the tournament was outside on the blacktop the boys were pretty tired and dirty by the end of the tournament.  They had fun and played well!

Purple Belt

 Kayden advanced from an orange belt to a purple belt.  I got to go see him show off his moves, skill and all that he as learned over the past few months.  He did great!

The belt ceremony.  Kayden paid respect to his old belt and welcomed his new belt.

Happy 23rd!

Jeremy and I have been married for 23 years!  We decided to take the kids that were home (Jaxon is still at EFY) and go hiking in the Unitas.  We drove up through Kamas and then up into the mountains and hiked up to Wall Lake.  That is where Jeremy had taken the boys backpacking before.  It was a beautiful simple hike and very enjoyable.

Kadyen and I enjoyed sitting by the lake and skipping rocks while Jeremy and Josh climbed up to a ledge to consider jumping off into the water.  Brrrr!

 Here we are enjoying the view and each other from the cliff that Josh and Jeremy were on.

Josh and Jeremy atop the ledge for jumping.  Josh originally said he would do it if Jeremy did, but then Josh changed his mind.

 

 Jeremy opted to jump anyway.  Crazy guy.

It was a great way to spend the morning celebrating 23 years of marriage!

On the way down the mountain we stopped by to see Provo River Falls.  I had never seen it before and it was wonderful!

Josh and Kayden at the falls.

Then on the way home we stopped in Kamas and had some lunch.  We ate at a little pharmacy called Hi-Mountain.  They had some great burgers and shakes.  We loved it and will definitely have to make our way back there again....maybe for our 24th anniversary!

Farewell Elder

Good-byes are hard.  Especially when it is your oldest son leaving for two years.  But the time has come and gone and McKay is officially serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lima, Peru.  Here are some events leading up to his departure:

 

McKay and Jeremy had one last arm wrestle to see if McKay could finally beat his dad.

 McKay couldn't win left handed either.  His dad still has it!

McKay gave a great farewell talk in church.  He was overly worried about the talk because it was supposed to be 10-15 minutes with the subject being prophets.  I told him to say what he wanted to say and call it good.  His talk was about 8 minutes and was perfect.   After church, we had friends and family over for lunch to wish McKay well and to spend time with him before he leaves.

 

 Here is McKay with two of his best friends, Justin and Parker.

 The Haacke's came down from Idaho.

  

 Group hug!

A lot of other people came to the house after, but when you house is so full and you are enjoying everyone being there, you forget to take pictures.

 Emma, McKay's cousin, wasn't able to make it to his farewell, so she came to visit him the next day before he left.  They are good friends!

Monday night our stake president, President Juchau, came to the house to set McKay apart.  He asked each of us to go around and say something about McKay.  It was tender.  Jaxon came home from EFY to see McKay set apart and to send him off at the airport.

These two brothers are the best of friends and watching them hug it out after McKay was set apart was hard on a mom's heart.

We had to leave for the airport at 4:00 AM to get McKay there on time for his 7:00 AM flight.  One last picture at home before departure.

And he is off!  A piece of my heart will be wandering around Peru for the next two years.  You can follow McKay's adventures at eldermckaywhite.blogspot.com.