Love Dinner 2012

For the last several years, we've celebrated love in our family with an annual 'love dinner' - special food, special gifts, special people!

This year was no different. The special food included shrimp, steak, heart shaped ravioli (thanks Costco!), asparagus, roast potatos and my homemade rolls. Marcy impressed us all with a beautiful pink cake. Bethanie brought a lovely heart shaped cake as well - no shortage of sweets around here!

There were gifts to go around as well - something special at each place. Randon and Bethanie joined us - and jumped in on the gift giving as well - more on that in a later post.

As for special people, words aren't enough to express how thankful I am to be part of this group of folks - a wonderful husband, 7 matchless children, and 2 perfect daughters-in-law. I couldn't have handpicked a better group myself. I love each one with all my heart and wonder sometimes how I got so lucky.

Here's to a future filled with many more 'love dinners'!!

Roller Derby

Gotta love a stake youth activity at the roller rink. Max and Chap (3rd and 4th from left) sported some wheels and took a few laps. Even Daren, Marcy and I did some skating - what a ride! I only fell once - but it was all worth it.

byulacrosse.com

Hey - the Cougars are hot. They've started the lacrosse season at 3-0. They're on a road trip right now in southern California and look to extend their winning ways. Player to watch - that #20, whacking opponents on long pole defense. Go Tanner! Check out byulacrosse.com to stay up to date throughout the season.

He's not always wearing a white shirt and tie . . .

Here's Bret's description of this picture. " This picture is outside our house. There is a coconut tree that is super tall. To take the coconuts down we had to climb on top of our house and bash the coconuts of the tree with a shovel. It was pretty fun. (The black bear technique of hugging the tree all the way to the top didnt work too well.)" Now that's really livin'.

Elder Tagg

Breton's doing well in Brazil. He passed his year mark a while back - and has about 11 months to go. He's serving as a zone leader there - and has his first North American companion. He enjoys teaching, baptizing, studying, and serving. We look so forward to his Monday letters. We miss that boy - but are so pleased with his selfless service. Yeah Bret!!!!

National Champion.

Yep - BYU did it again. In 2011, they won their 4th National Lacrosse Championship!! The big difference this time - they had none other than Tanner Tagg on the roster. He spent his time on long pole defense and enjoyed roughing folks up whenever he got the chance. While that meant occasionally spending some time in the penalty box, it was all worth it. And yes, these National Champs are wearing rings to prove it. Go Cougars! If you ever get the chance to watch some archived Cougar games, listen carefully - that's Les you can hear, cheering from the bleachers!

I love to see the temple.

Dear sweet Shawney (on the left) went to the temple for the first time over Christmas break. It was a lovely temple session - full of aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, parents, Gram, and even a couple of cute friends. The temple has blessed the life of our family in countless ways - not the least of which is Shawney's personal desire to make and keep sacred covenants. I really do love to see the temple - especially with people that I love so much!