Matt's First Trip to the Temple

 

Yesterday I got to take three fine young men to the Bountiful temple to do baptisms for the dead. Matt has been twelve for three weeks now and has been anxious to have this experience ever since he got his recommend. So he invited his two best friends, Jack and Tannon and we found some time after school. It seemed like a particularly good idea with the temple dedication tomorrow. These three are such good friends and such good boys, I am proud of all three of them!

Temple Day!

It seems like so many of our friends and neighbors have already been to tour the newly remodeled Ogden temple. Well today it was finally our turn! To make it even more special we got to go with the whole Butler clan plus Aunt Gloria who was visiting from Minnesota.

 

The kids wanted to take a picture of their feet all together. I thought I was super clever coming up with the hash tag "standing in holy places". Love these feet and the amazing kids they are attached to! 

Josh was my only child who would let me take his picture in front of the temple. I'm sure this means he will receive extra blessings! 

After a wonderful tour of the beautiful new building Grandpa took us all to Chuck-a-rama, or kid heaven as it could also be called. I don't think the kids have had this much fun at a meal together since the cruise. There was a bit of a wait so Abby and Brittany used Matt as a pillow for a little nap. 

Love these crazy people! 

It all ended with all kinds of crazy desserts, the craziest created by Matt. Yes those are French fries he poured ice cream over. He swears it was delicious. It was a fantastic day. One of those perfect ones you wish you could stretch and make last forever.  

Park City 2014

This was one of our favorite weekends off the year, it was the weekend we spend in Park City.

 

This year we started in Salt Lake with a visit to Smash Burger and a favorite toy store. I'm so glad they aren't too big to have fun there.

 

 Then we hit the outlets for some school shopping and of course the pool. We ate a lot of yummy food too.

 

We love the Arts Festival, it really is one of our happy places. This year it was even better because Annie and Roberto joined us with darling Gigi.

 

That cute face makes everything more fun! 

 

Just a few of the fun things we loved seeing.

 

The last morning we decided to try something new and we all rode the alpine slide. This was the view when you got off the lift.

 

It was great fun, I was so proud of Matt for overcoming his fear of heights to ride the ski lift up to ride it

Josh right before he went down.

 

Brittany coming down. It was great fun!

 

Then we finished with a movie the kids have been really excited for Guardians of the Galaxy. Our family has had a great time seeing Marvel movies lately. It is fun to find a movie we all like at this stage. Such a great weekend!

Fitzgerald Family Reunion 2014

This weekend was the Fitzgerald Family reunion. We all headed up to Oma and Opa's place for some family bonding.

  There was a lot of playing on the swing, crazy games the kids made up, going down the slip and slide, tubing the canal, four-wheeling, star gazing and movie watching. We missed Brittany since she was finishing up EFY.

The little kids are always one of my favorite parts of hanging out as a family. It seems my son feels the same way. Little Jaden had Matt totally wrapped around his little finger. He was his little buddy all weekend. Unless he had a dirty diaper and then he was all cousin Klarissa's!

 

 

It was so fun to get to see baby Giselle too, even if she was kind of afraid of us! She does love her big sister though!

A great weekend in beautiful surroundings! We sure are grateful to Oma and Opa for making it happen!

Bear Lake 2014

This is one of our most favorite weeks of the year! It is our Butler week at Bear Lake. Today was the first day at the beach. Which sometimes means some fun surprises like Grandma jumping in the inflatable raft for a ride.

 

  It also means a lot of digging in the sand for us. And castles and sand sculptures are a big part of this week.  Grandma, Grandpa and I helped Josh with a Castle and village, Brittany sculpted Thor's hammer, Matt made two connecting holes, and Uncle Nate made a dead elephant. He specifically told me it was a dead elephant. Yikes! Those are just theones I got pictures of! It was a great day, even if it was a little rainy and overcast

Bear Lake Day Two

Joshua's Baptism

This weekend was a busy one for us. Joshua was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Here are my wonderful kids as we got to the church. Josh was a little nervous. I can't believe  all three of my kids are now baptized members of the church, time is going too fast!

 Josh with Mom and Dad before getting ready to be baptized.

 Joshua with Grandma and Grandpa after getting dressed. Love how happy they all look. I can't believe I didn't get one with Oma and Opa!

 This is Josh with his friend Jordon Kokkola who also was baptized yesterday. Such cute boys!

 Already to go with Dad!

 And with Mom jumping into the picture.

 

 Brittany took this cute thumbs up picture, ready to go! Joshua's Dad did a beautiful job baptizing and confirming him a member of our church. I was so proud of them both. Then after our Bishop asked Brittany if she would bear her testimony which she did, completing a perfect day for me!

Then we went back to out house with all of our wonderful family, most of whom I failed to get a picture of. There are so many things to do when having such a party that I forget important things like that! But it really was a wonderful day full of great memories!

July 4th 2014

 

 I love the Fourth of July. So much fun for relatively little stress. This year ours was even better because the Sorensons decided to spend it with us. These are all of the Butler cousins waiting for the parade to start. Aren't they the cutest?

Face painting while waiting for the parade to start is a tradition among my kids. Josh is patriotic puppy in case you wondered.  

 Brittany and Libby being fabulous while Matthew tolerates me taking his picture.

Brittany and Matt trying to catch something good.

After the fireworks we had our annual Meatfest. I tried to take pictures but there just was too much meat. It was awesome. Then we took the Sorensons to our favorite spot for fireworks. Half of the reason the kids like this spot is because there is lots of room to throw a Frisbee and horse around while you wait for the show to start.  It is even better when our friends the Dopps join us too!

The cousins all lined up, ready for fireworks. I love moments like this. I know it won't be long before these kids want to spend the Fourth with friends or have  a date or some such thing. But for now I sure loved having them all together.  

Happy Fourth of July! 

Brittany turns 15!

We had another birthday at our house this week! This time it was Brittany's turn. I can't believe my baby girl is fifteen! We had a great time celebrating her.

 

Sunday Grandma and Grandpa came with the Sorensons for dinner, cake and ice cream and presents.

This is Grandma's cool new birthday gift. Money balloons. Big fun!

 

After she woke up we zipped over to Boondocks to get a little driving practice in. We lucked out and Abby and Libby were spending the night at Grandma's so we got to spend the next day shopping with them.

 

See Brittany in her pretty birthday crown? Kind of an evil smile, it does showcase her new braces though.

 We ended our fun day with gelato. Yum!

 I love that theses girls love each other.

 

Then went home to more presents! It was a fun day, I hope Brittany had as much fun as I did! She is a fantastic kids and I'm so grateful she is ours!

Josh Officially turns Eight

Today is the day Josh has been waiting for! Today he is eight! 

 

The morning started with presents.  Then his dad took him to Boondocks.

 

Lots of racing, mini-golf and bumper boats. Followed by lunch at their favorite Habit Burger. Grandma and Grandpa came for dinner and cake.

 

Have I mentioned we have the most fun grandma ever? First, Grandma's new, cool gift is to load money into balloons along with a lot of confetti.  Then the lucky recipient gets to pop them and keep the money. The kids love it. It was a little scary because Josh got a new pocket knife which the male members of our family encouraged him to use on the balloons. Luckily everyone survived but the balloons. 

Then,  because it has been a tough week after Matt's tonsil surgery Grandma offered to make Josh's cake. It was amazing! The best frosting ever inside and out and decked out in candy!

And now Josh and his dad have headed back to Boondocks for more fun. I hope our boy has had a great day, we are so lucky to have him in our family. He is a sweet, smart, funny boy and we sure love him!