Stanger Family Reunion 2009

We gathered in St. George, Utah for a family reunion on my mom's side over Memorial Day weekend. It was so fun to see family we've not seen in a long time or had never met. We had a great weekend and wonderful Grandparents to thank for making it happen. We love you!

This is the group, or at least a good majority who were able to come.

The People responsible for creating the bunch.

Uncle Chuck(Grandma's brother and his wife El),Uncle Maynard, Grandpa Dovell
Aunt Rula(Grandma's sister), Aunt Orvilla(Grandma's sister), Grandma Pamela Joyce

Our side of the family

Jeremy, Courtney, Dawson, MacKenzie, Addelynn, and Berlynn

Us

Troy, Janelle, Max, and Adam

My Grandma Afton Meldrum (My dad's mom)
She lives just down the street so we visited her while we were in town.

On Sunday we had this wonderful plan to try and keep the Sabbath Holy, SO what better way then to go take a walk around the temple and visitors center.
I went to take a picture of the kids on the St. George Temple steps and Kaden slipped and cracked his front tooth, of course it had to be a permanent one. He also split his lip open, so he's not smiling because everytime he opened his mouth to smile his lip opened back up and blood...

Dawson and Spencer

All these kids were so cute. They were playing with toy animals, gathering them food, water, and shelter. It was very sweet and fun to watch them all play together so well.

Ashton is batting balloon style

We all went to the water park and the kids had a blast. I love this picture. I just wish Ashton would have joined in, but he was being a momma's boy

Put him on a swing and he was in seventh heaven
I love this of the 3 boys

We went rock climbing there too, and it was a huge hit!!

Kaden and Spencer all strapped up ready to climb

They both climbed all the way to the top and rang the bell!

Ashton was even a part of it too. He thought he was SO COOL, and just like the "Big Kids"

Tyler wasn't going to miss out on the fun

On Memorial Day we took the kids over to the Cemetery to teach them a little bit about the significance of that day.

Spencer and Kaden stood there nicely and let me take a picture, not touching anything around them. Then Ashton gets up and wants his own picture and does he stand there nicely...NO, if you look closely he has his hand on the trigger of the gun on the statue.

I loved this monument and memorial that was displayed for all those who did not have a head stone. It's messege rings true and makes you PROUD to be an AMERICAN!!

Having 3 boys is a little scary when I think that they could possibly have to go to war one day. I hope that day never comes, but standing there reading all these names of men who died so that we might be free is very humbling.

Ashton wanted his picture taken by all the flags. He would go from one head stone to the next saying "Mommy take my picture by this one" I just kept hoping the families of them were not around.

On our way home we went through Lake Mead and over the Hoover Dam. They are building an unbelieveable structure. This huge arch will support a road that will eventually run on top. It is just massive, and pretty cool!

Maui-2009

The end of May Tyler and I went on an awards trip with Infusionsoft. It was supposed to be held in Puerto Vallarta, but due to the swine flu we ended up in Maui...not a bad trade off!

This was the first night we arrived at the welcome dinner. Coming from Arizona to this beautiful sunset...A*MAZING!!

This is where we ate breakfast every morning, the other side looked out on to the ocean. There were huge colorful fish in this pond.

One night we went to dinner at the Pineapple Grill with some friends and family from work.
We had such a great time!

We hung out by the pool, had yummy Lava flow drinks, watched unbelievable sunsets, and enjoyed wonderful company.

This was our favorite spot at the pool. Tyler was a reading machine and caused quite a stir. He would walk around the pool holding his book up out of the water, reading away. We heard from several random people at dinner about "the pool reader guy" apparently they got a kick out of it. He does look pretty hot though-love you babe

On Friday we had to be in the lobby by 5:45am to go on a snorkeling adventure to the famous Molokini Island. I was loving the fact I would be on a boat all day, I love it!! They fed us warm cinnamon rolls and fruit in the morning and BBQ chicken for lunch. We saw all kinds of colorful, amazing fish. We saw Nemo and Dori and many more. Then they took us over to Turtle land to see huge turtles swimming.

The sunrise from the boat

Molokini Island

Friday night we met at the harbor for an awards night and dinner cruise.

Me, Kym, and Amy

Tyler won the "Marketer of the year award" he didn't want his picture taken, the modest boy.

It reads: Marketer of the year
aka "El Animal"
25k miles and 25-hour days, baby!!!

Saturday came all to quickly and it was time to say goodbye to this beautiful hotel. We stayed at the Maui-Westin Resort and Spa

This is the lobby of the hotel. We were waiting for our bus to come and take us back to Beautiful Arizona...

We had such a wonderful trip and were so glad we had the opportunity to go and hang out with family and friends from work. Thanks babe for working so hard and being absolutely incredible at what you do!

Happy 9th Birthday Spencer

I can't believe my first born little boy is 9 years old today. I still remember the moment he was born. Kissing his sweet soft newborn cheeks, in amazement that I actually brought this beautiful, perfect, tiny little spirit into this world. He is a blessing to our family, by setting a wonderful example for his brothers to follow. He is so obedient, loving, driven, smart, loves sports, and truly wants to do what is right. I thank Heavenly Father every day for sending you to our home. We love you Spencer!

From the time we moved to Arizona Spencer wanted to go to this water park called Big Surf, so for his Birthday we surprised him and went on Saturday. He was so excited and had a BLAST!

Kaden and Ashton were pretty thrilled they got to benefit from Spencer's Birthday too. It was pretty hot and Ashton ended up wearing more of his Ice cream then he ate. Kaden kept offering to help him out, but of course Ashton was having none of that!!

Today Spencer had a camp out at school, took donuts to his class, and got to pick his favorite place for dinner, and to top it all off heard from all his cousins and family as they sang Happy Birthday. He was one Happy boy when he went to bed tonight.

Happy Birthday Spencer!!

New story time...

Friday, on the way to school I told the kids when they get home we were going swimming at Dave's house. Ashton 3, pipes up in the back and says, "Mommy, is Goliath going to be there too?"

Father and Son's Camp Out

The boys have been looking forward to this weekend all year. They love to go camping and explore with their dad. They went to a camp called Oak Flat, just over an hour away.

Saturday morning after a traditional pancake breakfast, they hiked up this mountain and found real Indian Ruins. All I heard about when they returned home was these ruins and "Tonto" the Indian (Tonto was part of a story Tyler told the kids around the camp fire).
You can see the little civilization up in the mountain behind the kids.

The boys were so excited and had a great time...Ashy, you can go next year

Happy Easter

We started the Easter weekend by going to the Mesa Easter Pageant at the Temple. We had never been before and WOW was it amazing! A cast of over 400 people take place in this every night for two weeks. What an incredible way to make the story of Christ come to life on stage. You feel the power of the spirit so strong, giving us a small glimpse into what it might have been like that last week of his life. The kids had a memorable time learning about Christ, walking around the temple, being with cousins, and loving all the soldiers and their swords...true boys!

We stopped at our favorite Cafe Rio and brought our dinner to eat while we were waiting a good hour and a half for it to start. Ashton was sitting on my lap watching so intently. He got so worried when he saw Christ being hurt and said, "Mommy, I don't like those Red guys they hurt Jesus. Why they do that?" I could not help the tears that began streaming down my face when I could not give him a Good reason WHY, because I had that same question. How could anyone have been so cruel to the Savior, MY Savior. I am so grateful to him for his sacrifice and love for each one of us.

On Saturday we went to Tyler's cousins for an Easter egg hunt. Ashton is in Heaven with his chocolate mouth kickin' back enjoying life. Then his cousin Lexie came over for a friendly "Hi." Oh boy, he grabbed his basket of candy and held it so tight saying, "mom shes gonna get my cannie!!!"

Spencer and Kaden went with Tyler to the Diamond Backs vs. Dodgers game and the boys were pinging off the walls...so excited to go, and maybe they would catch a ball! So, of course the little man wanted to go too but tickets were short. Instead he spent a fun night with mom coloring Easter eggs and watching Madagascar 2 It was a "mommy and me night" according to him.

Why is it every Easter I try for just ONE good picture of the kids in their Easter clothes and without fail, it Never Works. I hear, "I'm hot, the suns in my eyes, I don't want to take my picture, I closed my eyes, I'm tired, are we done........" So here is the best we did this year :)

Sunday night we all went to dinner at Tyler's other cousin and I think we counted something like 16 adults and over 30 kids...crazy! The Masks are wonderful and we love them for always making us feel welcome and including us when our familes are in California. Thanks for a great weekend. We love you all!!