Another get together....

After the setting apart, we all went to dinner and had a great time. then we decided that since the next day, friday, was mom and dads last day before going to the MTC saturday morning, we all decided to get together one more time. This time at the Wagstaff's, it was a blast! They had a big blow up slide and pool for the kids, yummy food, lots of laughs, and sad good byes! Mom and Dad left around nine but all of us kids stayed until about 11, All the guys told funny mission stories and talked about how mom and dad are going to have some pretty crazy experiences. We laughed so hard and it was so fun. Thanks wagstaff's for such a fun night!


Travis is proud of this picture, a sprite, a popscicle and a candy necklace, it doesn't get better than that.
Brig also loves his popscicles, he is teething and it feels so good to him, whoever thought of White popscicles was genius!
Some of the Good byes, my nieces had the hardest time and cried almost all night after mom and dad left, they were all talking about how old they will be when they get home!
Gpa giving James a little advice for his own mission which he will go on in December!
Parley loved this scooter, he rode around with Abby all night!
My Little Brigham will be almost 4 when they get home!

The Setting Apart....

My Dad and mom were set apart on Thursday June 19. What an amazing awesome experience it was. They allowed all of my brothers and sisters and their spouses to come. My dad was set apart by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the 12 apostles and my mom was set apart by Earl C. Tingey of the seventy. I can't even tell you the feeling we had as we walked through the building knowing that it was the offices of the 12 apostles and prophet. Just before getting on the elevator we bumped into Elder Holland and jokingly he said, "You'll get through it, its not that bad". These are such amazing men and the feeling there is such a feeling of reverence and peace, i loved it there. We went into elder cook's office and he sat us all down and asked my dad to tell him about himself, My dad introduced all of us and then proceeded to tell him about his life in a nutshell. It was so cool to have such a personal experience with an apostle of the Lord. Then Elder cook asked elder tingey to give my parents some advice. The first thing he said was to get to the Philippines and unpack your bags, then he looked at all of my family and told us to let them unpack their bags. It was advice my sisters and I didn't want to hear but definitely needed to hear it. He said if you need a recipe, don't call your mom! Then Elder cook started in again and actually was a little emotional as he told my mom and dad that this is the best thing they could ever do for their 30 grandchildren, because it gives them the opportunity to pray for their gma and gpa every day. We all were a little emotional. But what an amazing experience this will be for my mom and dad. They both gave beautiful setting apart blessings to my parents and the spirit was very strong. We all were wondering what they were going to set apart my mom as, and they set her apart as a full time missionary for the church, cool huh? My testimony was strengthened as i felt the power of God through these great men! What an awesome church we belong too!

The Farewell....

My mom and dad's farewell was on Fathers day, so it was a very wonderful and emotional day! i am really struggling with them leaving but i am also very anxious to get them out of here so we can work on them coming home :) jk, This really is going to be such an amazing experience not only for them buy for my whole family, what a blessing this is for us. Thanks again for your example to serve.
The chapel and overflow were totally full, It was the first sunday in this brand new church and they were using every chair in the church and they still needed more, The other ward that was there gave up their chairs in their priesthood class and they all stood during their lesson. wow!Mom and Dad were overwhelmed and their hearts were full! They both did a wonderful job and will be amazing mission presidents!
We had a yummy lunch at their house after, it was fun to see all the family!

Mom and Dad and their 7 children.

Trav and I with mom and dad, who knows where our kids were?

A Big shout out to Travis for being such a wonderful dad, he didn't get a nap on fathers day and i know that is one of his favorite things to do, sorry babe! Thanks for being such a great dad!

Everyone was trying to fit into the shade, it was a hot day!

My mom and her sisters and one brother, She has one more sister, My aunt karol passed away from cancer about 4 years ago, and we miss her dearly!

My dad and his brothers and sisters, he has also had a sister pass away, my aunt Darlene.

Hayden, Boston and Parley enjoying some cake, Parley thinks he is so big when he is with his cousins.

doing the dishes after the party.

all the yummy desserts.

two of my darling nieces Brooke and Jessica.

More yummy food.


The hardest part about this whole day was seeing my mom and dad say goodbye to these 2, Uncle Eldon and Aunt Marcia, they have been best friends for years, always going on vacations together, golfing, many sleepovers, late nights, trips to hawaii that i was fortunate enough to be apart of. etc. etc. Mom and Marcia just cried, knowing they wouldn't see each other for 3 years. I don't like good byes and i am not ready to say good bye! Ready or not ,right?

Our Last Big Hurrah...

My parents are entering the MTC this Saturday for there mission to the philippines so our family decided to have one last get together with all 46 of us there, our last one for 3 years! It was a lot of fun! We stayed at a cabin in Timber Lakes, just up above heber city, It was a nice cabin but only slept 20 and again there was 46 of us, it was quite a site seeing everyone find a place to lay there heads! Since Trav and I have a baby, we got one of the quiet rooms downstairs with mom and dad, it ended up that Brigham slept great, but Parley didn't so much, he coughed all night and had one of those coughs turn into throw up, so while everyone else upstairs was thinking we were enjoying our night in our own private "suite" we also went without sleep just like the rest of ya upstairs! I don't think ours was quite as comical though! All in all it was great to all be together one last time. Can you believe there is 46 of us! I love my family!!

Parley and Lilly in the swing!

Grandma and Brig, he will be 4 when she gets home,aaahhhhhh!

Parley follows his big cousins everywhere, abby and sydnee are a couple of his favorites, its nice for me because i always know he is safe with one of them. this particular time i couldn't find him and its because him and abby were hiding!

PRK Lasik Eye Surgery and other things that happened in May...

Travis had Lasik eye surgery on May 23, about a week before it, he was told that he had really thin corneas and so they wouldn't be able to do the traditional surgery where they cut the flap, fold it down and then laser it. instead he had something called PRK, which is where they scrape the surface of the eye and remove the surface cells, then they laser directly onto the eye. It is just as effective but much more painful. The surgery went great, i was able to watch and it was so crazy, everybody in the waiting area with me kept saying how beautiful his blue eyes were. He could see pretty good right after and he wasn't in pain yet, so we had high hopes for an easy recovery. WRONG!! The next 2 days were the worst, i had never seen him so miserable before, he couldn't stand any kind of light, so during the day he basically hung out in our closet where it is pitch black, and if he had to come out, he would have a blanket over his head. I felt so bad for him and he was wondering if it was worth it, but things are going good now and his sight is close to perfect!! The thing that he was the most upset about was that he couldn't go to church, he said that was probably the first time in forever.

This was his first day out of the house. He couldn't go far without his shades.

Happy birthday Gpa Shupe! WE celebrated his birthday on memorial day with a bbq and just being together. we love you Gpa shupe!

Our poppies bloomed!

We went to the lake for family night last week, the water was a bit chilly,but Kyle, shane and amy were brave enough to get in. We had a yummy dinner and then headed home, i hope we get to go more this summer, Parley loved the boat and was finally good about wearing his life jacket, he has finally grown into it, he kept saying moto boat, moto boat. so cute!

We were at shupes last week and we were there later than i though so i didn't have the boys jammies and they were so messy from playing outside, so we bathed them and they wore some of jessie's t shirts, parley loved it, he though it was so cool.

We celebrated Great Gma Shupe's 80th bday in may. We all attended the bountiful temple for an endowment session and then had a party out at joseph smith building. It was a great night. Happy bday Gma!
Parley fell asleep on the way home from the party, he had his jammies on and his church shoes, he looked like this when we got home.
Parley's latest is to get in bed with brigham whenever he wakes up. The first morning he did this, i went in there and found this, he had put every stuffed animal that we own and the basket that they go in into the crib on top of brig, then he jumps in head first and searches for brigham's binky, i always hear laughter coming from brig's room when this is happening but it usually isn't from brigham.

Brigham is 9 months old....

I know i say this every time but i really can't believe where the time goes! Brigham is nine months old and he is the sweetest little baby boy. He had his 9 month check up and is doing great. He was 8% in his weight, 41%in his height and 71% in his head. Our skinny little boy with a big head. I know why he is so skinny, because he has been crawling now for 2 months and was constantly doing push ups before that, he is very active and is in to everything. He is my little explorer, i don't remember Parley getting into everything like this. He loves the toilet, toilet paper, garbage cans, etc.One day i couldn't see him anywhere, i finally found him in his closet. His favorite thing is to crawl around the whole house and find all the door stoppers and then he loves shaking them so that they make all that noise. i always know what room he is in by the sound of the door stopper. It is the cutest thing, he will crawl into a room and swing the door shut so he can get to it, it amazes me how smart he is and how fast he learns. He doesn't love his baby food, but will usually choke it down. He is way more interested in what the rest of us are eating, and honestly i don't blame him! but i want him to get all the nutrients he can so i persist with the baby food! he is sleeping pretty good, still wakes up sometimes once to nurse, but then goes back to bed fine. He loves his big brother and follows him around everywhere. He loves to take baths but doesn't get to very often because of his skin, he has exzema pretty bad (so if any of you have any suggestions, let me know). We love our little Brigham and don't know what we would do without him.