I have an 11 yr old!

Siera's first baby picture 11 yrs ago. We had such a rough time getting her out and after 10 hrs of labor and pushing for 2 hrs we had to do an emergency c-section. We were so blessed to have her born safe and healthy. She has been such a joy in our life. She is such a sweet girl. She loves to sing, dance, and draw, she is a great artist. She loves to laugh and she has such a great sense of humor. She is such a wonderful help to me. She babysits all the time and helps me so much with the kids. She has grown into a wonderful lady.

1 month old

7 yrs old

8 yrs old


9 yrs old and wearing her birthday outfit from Grandma Sela.

10 yrs old

With some friends at her dance performance a few weeks ago. She takes hip hop and is very good at it.



Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

PS She had a fun birthday party with her girlfriends and we took lots of pics and then I lost my camera at the school last week taking pics of their Christmas program. I am still praying someone will turn it in. :)

Football is over, Thanksgiving and more.....

Well football is over. I am so sad. I love this team, the coaches and the families. They are all so great! We have enjoyed watching Joshua play so much this year. It's his 2nd year and he did so great. He really enjoyed it and didn't complain once about the practices or games or the schedule. There was more then once that me and Lloyd were just overcome with pride watching him play. His team did so well. They went to the playoffs and lost, but it was their first time to the playoffs and we were so proud of them. We had the football banquet a few weeks ago. I think we were all sad to see it come to an end. They are hoping to keep the same boys together next year, with the same coaches. We can't wait. I love football and the unity that the boys get from the team. Now we move on to basketball and this year Josh is trying out wrestling. He loves it so far!

Josh with his 2 trophies. One is what all the players get for being in the league, the other one is what the coaches gave him. He got the Offensive MVP award for our team.

Josh and his good friend Skyler. Skyler also got an extra trophy for the Heart of the team award. This is so true. Skyler is our quarter back and without him, nothing would be accomplished. He is a great player and is truly the heart of the team.

I adore my Solomone!

One of the Mom's brought a cake with the team picture on it. The boys loved that. They all wanted to have the piece with their picture on it.

Well moving on. For school Joshua had to do a project of the Utah map. It turned out good. We procrastinated of course and didn't do anything on it until the night before, nice huh? So we were up very late doing it, but we were happy it was done and that it turned out well. We painted the rivers and lakes with blue paint. Then the deserts we used cinnamon, chocolate chips for the mountains and basil for the greenery.

Also we had a great Thanksgiving. It was just our family, my parents and my sister Cindy and Noah. My other siblings were with their inlaws. It was fun. The food was delicious as always. Cindy did some fun things with the kids later in the day to keep them entertained. Here is a picture of them making turkeys out of graham crackers, oreos, frosting and candy corns. They loved it. They also had a coloring contest and decorated some snowman ornaments. She is such a great aunt! Me and my Mom and Cindy went to Wood Connection earlier in the week and found wood block letters to decorate. At first they were a nightmare, but once we figured out how to cut the scrapbook paper and put it on, we loved it.


Siera has been taking voice lessons for the past 7 or so months. She had a concert that she performed 2 solos and then some groups numbers. She has a beautiful voice and she did so well. We were very proud of her. She wore this red dress that we bought her for an early birthday present for the concert and then they had a snowman number where they changed and dressed up as snow-women with top hats and all. She was reluctant to want to dress up, but her teacher really wanted them to. I think she looks really cute and it shows me that she is growing up and maturing more than ever. I can't believe she turns 11 in a week. She kept laughing and saying she looked pregnant! Whatever! Anyways, we sure love her and are so proud of her accomplishments as well.

Happy Halloween!!!

This year Halloween was super easy. Siera and Joshua both wanted to be football players. Creative I know. They both are older now and are not wanting the cutesy costumes anymore. Kind of sad but it made it very easy for me. Of course we already had all the football stuff for them. Then Savani and Milika both wore costumes that we had from the years before. So I did not spend a dime on Halloween for costumes this year. Hope your Halloween was as great as ours!



Joshua and his friends.

The kids and their friends getting ready to go trick or treating.

New family additions

About 2 years ago my brother Kelly and his wife Cherish decided they were going to adopt some children from Ethiopia. They currently have 4 kids of their own the oldest being 10 and youngest almost 3. My sister in law Cherish, her father has a home in Ethiopia and lives there as well as here in Logan, UT. So that is how they were able to hear about this family. They adopted 7 kids ranging from age 16 to 2, all siblings. Of course we all thought they were crazy and couldn't believe it. I still think they are nuts! But man what an unselfish brother and sister in law I have. They are such wonderful examples and people. We all fell in love with these kids as soon as we met them. They are the sweetest kids. They arrived with them 2 weeks ago and came to my Mom's so we could all meet them. This first picture is the 16 yr old and 15 yr old. Their names are Dibabe and Chaltu. They were corn rolling Siera's hair. They did it so fast, she loved them. I think she would of loved to just go home with my brother and them.

This is a picture of them with the 3rd oldest, Tayiba, I think she is 12 or 13. Siera really connected with her.

I got a picture of them all in their new van in their seats, all 11 of them. This little girl was adorable. Her name is Fatiya and is a sweetheart. I could of taken her right home with me.

Off they go. Good luck we all said and waived goodbye!!

All the kids were so sweet. Along with the 4 girls, they adopted 3 adorable boys, I wish I would of got some pics of them all playing in my Mom's backyard. They all ran up and gave us hugs. We couldn't help but adore them.

Gotta love Football!!!

On Friday me and Siera were able to go to the BYU game. It was a blast! We had so much fun. We never get to go, Lloyd and Joshua always go, but it was finally our turn. We loved it and of course loved watching our favorite player #11 Manase Tonga who is rockin it this year! That stadium is so fun and loud and it's great to be with all the fans. We can't wait to go again.
We are sure enjoying Joshua's football season. He is on the Gremlins A team. We have such a good team this year. The coaches are Awesome and not just because Lloyd is one of them. ha ha All 5 coaches love all these kids and want them to succeed and push them to do their best at every game. I know all the kids have learned so much and have improved so much because of these guys. In our division we are 3-0 and are doing great. Yesterday we played Highland and beat them 35-0, Joshua had 3 touchdowns, one of the two point conversions and 2 quarterback sacks. His bestfriend is the quarterback and they have such great chemistry on the field. Everyone of Joshua's touchdowns have been a pass from Skyler and he is an awesome quarterback. We can't wait to see how far this team can go. It's been a blast! Joshua's #21.
Here are the girls with their friends entertaining themselves at the game.
Savani always hangs with the boys. She is such a flirt. I know I am in trouble with this girl!
Here are some of Joshua's plays from the game, again he's # 21.

Goodbye PJ for now

Last Thursday morning my cousin was killed in a car accident. As I write this I am still in so much shock and disbelief. He was one of my very favorite family members. I adored him. He was such a kind and respectful person. Everytime I saw him he gave me a hug and was always so sweet. Our families were very close growing up. We spent all the holidays together and family reunions every summer. We all loved hanging out together. He's had a hard life over the years in struggling with diabetes. I am so greatful that in March I was able to go to the Bountiful temple to see him sealed to his beautiful daughter Zaida. I am so greatful for my beliefs and knowing families are forever. The funeral was very nice. My brother Kelly spoke and his brother Tim. Their talks were wonderful. His sister read an entry from his journal that he had written on Aug 13th. He said how much he was excited about starting school and pursuing his dream in law enforcement. He was able to attend one class before he died. He also said how he knew that this was a new start and beginning for him. Amazing! They gave some open time for family and friends to speak as well. His good friend Isaac performed a couple of beautiful songs. He will be missed dearly by so many!!

The casket and flowers were beautiful!

Me and my sister Cindy with my cousin Tim, PJ's brother. I love him. He is such a wonderful person!! I am so thankful to Tim and his wife for all the family parties they had that I was able to go to and see PJ. Also to my uncle Mark for the annual Memorial Day BBQ's. Those BBQ's will never be the same.

Our family all together at the burial.

His siblings and parents.

Some memorabilia of PJ's. He was a huge BYU fan and so you know him and Lloyd got along great. He always watched the BYU football games with his Dad.

The family gave all of these beautiful marble plaques to close family and friends. His brother Tim told me they want to make sure he is not forgotten. I was so touched by this and I love it, it is sitting on my piano where we can remember him always.

Some of my favorite pics of him in the last year or so.

I love this picture of him and his daughter Zaida.



Isn't he adorable?? It's interesting how death affects us. My uncle and aunt Pj's parents divorced about 10 years ago and it kind of divided our families a bit. It was so great to all come together during this time. After the funeral that night my cousin Tim invited all of us to his house that evening. It was such a great time to hang out together. Time is precious and you never know what may happen with your loved ones. Life is too short. We love you PJ and can't wait to see you again!!