My dad celebrated his 60th birthday this week. Hooray!

We enjoyed the afternoon in Hobble Creek Canyon at my aunt and uncle's property there.

My sister and I with my Grandmother

My parents

For all these great pictures, the credit goes to my little sister. These are my wonderful sisters-in-law Nina and Stephanie. We're standing on a hill so we all look like the same height. Ha!

My Grandpa with his third son, the birthday boy

A large gathering of Mortensens (also appearing are my aunt Carrie and Dylan, uncle Tad and his family, aunt Suzanne and uncle Dennis)

My dad began his final chemotherapy treatment yesterday. We anxiously await the results of this months long treatment and wish for him a full recovery toward health.

I have very few pictures of me posing with my great-grandparents, though I knew almost all of them. We have a lovely picture of my little sister on my great-grandpa Mortensen's lap that we all treasure. 

I've made the mistake of not wanting to bother my grandparents with taking a picture with my kids. I didn't want them to feel that they were a tourist attraction just for still being alive. Ridiculous, really.

I'm so glad I just went for it a few Sundays ago and took pictures of my kids with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Paul.  

I think my kids will appreciate it, too.

April sure is a busy time of year and it's only half-over.

I'm glad it gets a kick-off with General Conference. I love that family time and the feeling like we're in touch with the whole of the church, getting filled with hope.

What's been going on with us? (Facebook hiatus requires such a post)

Bryce: Loves Kindergarten. Loves Mommy. Loves adventures with his brother. Loves imagining with his sister. Loves to run, jump, climb. He has tendons like a spring-loaded monkey. He can be such a good helper as long as you don't take him to run errands.

Ella: Likes me. She REALLY likes me. She's never been one to climb all over me, but lately she's been full of kisses and need for attention. She loves drawing and is determined to be an artist. She doodles flourishes like I do. LOVE that. She is such a gentle, serene person.

Dane: Is so glad that the weather is warming up! He really enjoys scouts and his technical piano skills are great. He's always astounding us with his wide-spread knowledge. He seems to be a factoid-sponge. He is an amazing helper with his brother and sister (if she'll let him). As long as something is his idea, he'll absolutely excel at it.

Cami: My world at home has been school/genealogy/school/genealogy/housework?/school... I really wonder if I'm meant to go back to school. Math is a lot harder than I want it to be. The final will be complete in just over two weeks. I face doing it all again, only harder, for Summer semester.

The best part of this month so far was a very special event. Last Saturday, I went to the temple with my aunt, uncle, cousin, mom and Grandma Sharon so that she could be sealed to her parents. It was a perfect moment for her and we loved being a part of this.

The best news I received this month (with ALL the credit going to my wonderful husband) is that Dead Can Dance is coming in concert. I'd thought them long broken up, but now I get to see them live. Oh. Wow.



Cameron: Life at work isn't easy, but he, as ever, has a positive attitude. He loves his kids and he makes it so obvious. I try to give him an easy-out on things like piano recitals and such because he is so busy, but he doesn't take me up on them. He's there for them whenever they need him. He's the best parent to go to when they need someone with whom to talk.

Of course, we did Easter with cousins at my Aunt Jone's house.

The next day we were back in Spanish Fork with Cam's family hunting an amazing amount of eggs, thanks to the enthusiasm of Aunt Alesha.

More good stuff to come in April and the rest of Spring. I must finish my retaining wall. I must turn 36. I must replace my toilet seats.

Have a great day!

Our busy/crazy week started out with a bang on the Fourth of July. We made our annual trek to Provo for America's Freedom Fest and the early morning balloon launch. We set out our blankets, the kids are still in their jammies and we have breakfast while the balloons fill around us.The extra special balloon this year was none other than his Darthness. Very cool for all of us. He was 69' wide and 85' tall and fulling sanctioned by LucasArts.Cam amidst the Kids Area chaos.The kids got their faces painted (um, that's a tiara)and had fun doing crafts under the tent.On Tuesday, came the joy that I will never have to clean this kitchen again, because as the day continued...the room disintegrated into this

then this,

then this.The kitchen demolition began and has continued through the week.

On Tuesday, my friend Angie and I started a kids summer activity effort, beginning with painting rocks masked with letters from their names. Each kid will get a set (it took me a while to get the paint sealed for the out of doors) when they're delivered. (We have since done a fireworks notebook and pen craft and a field trip/walk. Tomorrow, we're going to attempt making animal zipper pulls out of polymer clay).

Tuesday night, my friend Anisa stayed at our house with her kids. Our kids had a lot of fun together, like no time had passed. After bed time, Anisa and I got to do some scrapbooking...until her little boy woke up, his mouth full of blood. She finally took him and his little brother to the ER and I stayed up, in the fear that her oldest would come looking for her and find everyone gone. Since my craft room is right across from my guest room...I got a lot of pages finished! Anisa stumbled back in the door at 5:45 AM and she and the boys crashed. I got to sleep for an hour (thanks, Bryce) and got Brenner and my kids breakfast. After a reasonable rest, Anisa headed home to get her boy to the dentist (where the trouble originally started).

I basically stumbled through the rest of the day. Not well.

Cam started his new class that (Wednesday) night.

Thursday, Cam and I went to the Gallivan Center to see Toad the Wet Sprocket.

It was so awesome! Cam loves this band and he had a great grin on his face the whole time. He sang along (I did too, but) and we danced and jumped around with the crowd. Glen Phillips has such a great voice and was so gracious and down-to-earth. I really enjoyed myself.

I spent all Friday looking for a present for THIS WEDDING!

My little brother got married!

Ella and Addy were flower girls, my new nieces (the bride's daughters) are just behind them.

Eric and Stephanie make their vows.

The wedding, luncheon and reception were all at the house of a friend of Stephanie's parents.

Parents of the groom.

It was a wonderful, beautiful wedding. The rain had good timing. My brother is so happy with his new wife and new family. I think he's doing quite well with being insta-dad.

My little brother's getting married. This is Stephanie, his financée, and her daughter and my daddy. The groom is the one with the big grin on his face. We got the two families together at my aunt's family's property in Hobble Creek canyon. It's so heavenly up here.Bryce see-sawing w/ Stephanie's older daughter.Bryce is going down the zip line with my brother Ryan. He did it a few times. Considering he'd just had his stitches put in the day before, I was a bit freaked about it.Mom! I did it!!!Ella's getting more comfortable with swings all the time.This is near the end of the party when it was just our side of the family left.Someone left Grandpa's cool cycle unsupervised, so I told Bryce he could try it out. That's his tough guy face.
Eric's only going to be single for EIGHT MORE DAYS!!! We are so excited to have not only one bride, but three new people join our family! Hooray for weddings!

Since our computer died weeks ago, we've found ways to survive...

Daddy's new I-Pad has helped.

It's obviously a fascinating piece of technology. I guess we've gotten used to it. I tried to "swipe" the screen at a Red Box, trying to rent a movie. This month, my sweet nephew was baptized by my dad and confirmed by my grandpa.

On that same day, my cousin got married and we hung out at the beautiful reception center with our family.

Here's Mandy, my sister and Bryce

Zealand loved going over this little bridge.

You've gotta take photo ops when you can!Cam took last week off of work so that we could work hard in our back yard. We got a lot done on Monday. He built a few square-foot-gardening boxes, took out portions of our lawn and leveled out other areas in the yard.I began to build my retaining wall by first hauling around 2,000 lbs of stone into the back yard.

The more it rained, the more our plans seemed to expand. We started getting bids and ideas for remodeling our kitchen.

This is Dane at a granite-slab showroom. Heavenly Father sure made some incredible rocks! We're pretty sure we've got the company chosen to do the cabinets, but there's much to be done before then. First and foremost is to do nothing until after I host my brother's fiancée's bridal shower.
But after that, Cam and I will play demolition crew and get the job going! We're really excited!

This is Bryce's last week of preschool. It's bitter-sweet. Thankfully, he's completely excited for Kindergarten and is looking forward to having Ella's teacher, too.

I'm going to miss the string of waves he gives me as he runs up to his teacher's home. Today we celebrated B's birthday. She will be my niece as soon as her mother marries my little brother.This is our attempt at a grandkid photo. It didn't go over well at all.

The rest of the month is busy as well. Bryce is enrolled in swimming lessons. So far, so good!

Ah! I'm so glad to be back! I've missed blogging and hope that our computer troubles are at an end.