Jump for Joy---"It's Joslyn's 21st Birthday"

I can hardly believe our oldest turned 21! I loved this picture of Joslyn because she is the family cheerleader. She is always cheering her family on. She is such a developer and with her positivity she makes you believe you can do anything. She has such spunk and tenacity. She has always been like, "The Little Engine that Could", she believes anything can be accomplished, and truly believes not only in herself but in others.
I love that she is the oldest because she is always there to help her siblings and has been such a great example to her family. She truly cares about others and has such a love for people. She has always attracted tons of friends! Everyone feels like they are her friend. She is so consistent and constant in her mood, faith, behaviors and her approach to life. You can always count on her. Growing up she was truly a mother's dream little helper. She has always been going on 20 and now her maturity is more like 30. I learn from her everyday how to be a better person.
She is always full of laughter, fun and knows how to live life to the fullest. Her laugh is contagious along with her smile. She has a humility about her and is always cheerful! She has such a love for the gospel and has a close relationship with her Heavenly Father and Savior. You can tell in her countenance.
It seems like just yesterday I was holding this beautiful red head in my arms. Being the first grandchild , I would always say, "I've never known a child to receive so much love" I think that is why she has so much love to give in return. She came into the world with such self confidence. She thought the only pretty hair color was red and felt so sorry for Laurisa when she was born with brown hair.

I love the close relationships she has with her family. She treats each sibling as her best friend. She also has an amazing gift with children. ALL children adore and love her and ask their parents continually if she can move back and babysit them. In Highschool she always juggled so many activities and also managed to keep a job. She has always been quite independent. I can never remember her asking us for money. She is also a very appreciative person which always makes you love to do things for her. In Highschool I never heard her say one unkind word about anyone and if someone wronged her she was always willing to forgive. She loves to serve and is always willing, if you need a haircut.Joslyn what a blessing you are in the lives of your family and so many. You have been a true "JOY" and we jump up and down to celebrate your birth.

Back to School

Back to School was an exciting day for these two brothers who have been so anxious for the opportunity of going to High School together. It made my heart skip a beat to see them drive off together. This mom had mixed emotions, I love seeing them grow-up but it is a little hard seeing your baby drive off to High School. It makes it easier when I know how ready and excited he is. It is so wonderful to see how close these brothers are and the love they have for each other. Since we were out of town on back to school night I was more worried for Jake to find his classes and figure everything out than he was. Mitch kept telling me not to worry that he would help him. I'm so glad they have each other.
One of the things that brings me the greatest joy is to see growth and development in my children. Today is a day I will always remember!

Everyone loves LIGHT

Laurisa's last Light show in Arizona. She had such a following this year. The Dover's were so excited to come and sat on the front row. They were Laurisa's biggest fans! Cousin Holly was visiting from Nebraska and also came to see Laurisa perform. She invited a returned missionary from her home town. It was hard for me to know this was the end of an incredible experience for Laurisa, she has loved every minute and we loved being entertained all year. It is such a "feel good" show. She is off to San Francisco and L.A. for her final performances.

Family Vacation

On our way home from the family reunion we had a family vacation in Las Vegas. I have to admit my very favorite thing is to spend time with my family. Wade being the maximizer that he is bought us all power passes for 2 days. It had a list of activities that you could do with the passes, but the catch was you had a 48 hour time period to fit them in. We went non-stop for two days straight having a complete blast. We went to 4 shows, Planet Hollywood, Madam Tussuad's Wax Museum, New York New York Roller Coaster, M&M world, the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus, the top of the Eiffel Tower, the Dolphin and Lion exhibit, F-1 racing, Cosmic Putt Putt golfing, and swimming. It was a great way to end a fun summer. Now I need a vacation to relax from the vacation! Whew!

Funnest Family Reunion Ever!!!

I don't even know where to begin with writing about the funnest, greatest, craziest, funniest, family bonding, action packed, 4 day Whiting family reunion. I love this family so much, everyone of them, they are so inclusive and have always made me feel such a part of their lives.
Day one of the Family fun started out with getting the royal treatment by Joslyn. It was so fun to see her darling salon where she has been going to school all summer. She is so good with hair and spoiled me with a fancy doo! Laurisa came with us and had her hair done by Lacey. It was so fun to be with my two girls. We have really missed being together!Then we went to This is the Place Monument and had a picnic lunch and had fun seeing all the sights. There was so much to do that we couldn't get to it all in a day. We went through historical homes, rode pony's, rode a train, made pioneer crafts, saw our great great grandparents home, performed songs on a stage, acted like we were students in a old one room school house.


We came home and were thoroughly entertained with many talented acts at our very own "Whiting Idol". The talent was bursting at the seams. We had a young version and old version of Sonny and Cher. They sounded amazing, and were very entertaining. All the cousins did such an amazing job and I have to say I was amazed at my husbands talent and big guns! I'm a lucky woman. It was so fun to be apart of the Idol judges along with Simon and Paula. They were so professional and spot on with their judging. Hollywood here they come!

We started the next morning on a breathtaking hike up Bridal Veil. It brought back such wonderful memories of my early married days working up at the top of Bridal Veil falls. The weather was so beautiful, I love Utah in the summer.

We came home and Great Grandma Whiting was there to join us. She even went to the ropes course with us.It made the reunion complete to have her with us. We all made foil dinners for our dinner that night. Megan Gazaway (a dear friend of the family's had everything all prepared for us.) I don't know what we would have done with out her, she fed us every meal for the three days.
And then it was on to continued fun at the ropes coarse and team building games. We all have so much fun together and the competition began. The fun part of it was we worked together to accomplish the goals.
Look at these faces to see how much everyone enjoyed the giant swing and zip line. The best part of it was to watch Everyone participate. I was proud of JoLyn conquering her fear of heights.

After we went to Nunn's park and enjoyed a wonderful outdoor meal. We played outdoor games,played charades, talked and had an amazing tin foil oreo smores (thanks to Meg)
Sunday was a day that we tried to cram every last bit of togetherness in. We stayed up until 3 in the morning and it still wasn't enough time, but it never is! We celebrated Dad Whitings' birthday. Wade performed magic, Joslyn had a salon in the garage for anyone in need of a haircut, played more games, made crafts, made shakes, cleaned out Grandma's fridge of expired food, and recorded our voices on everyone's cell phones so we wouldn't miss each other so much.

Life is a Highway part II

On the "Highway of Life" we had more bumps in the road. Actually the same exact experience happened, two weeks later, back rear tire popped. This time I wasn't driving so it wasn't as scary. But I knew exactly what to do since I had been in the same situation a few weeks prior. I was the one letting everyone know where the tools were and how to get down the spare tire. I decided in trials there are so many things that help us, the first being if you are prepared you shall not fear. Preparation is the key. But if you are not, there is always help readily available to us. Having this same experience happen before, made me so much more at peace and better able to handle the trial. I think that is the same with life. Going through experiences and trials, especially some of the same ones over again help us to know from experience that we can overcome them. And going through them as a family with family support makes it that much easier.Mitch and Jake were able to learn how to put on a spare tire. And we also learned that sometimes you can be prepared but things happen outside of our control, like a lug nut being stripped. After a few hours delay we were on our way back on the "Highway of Life" We arrived in the Salt Lake Valley after 14 hours. What is there to complain about, after all it took our ancestors months. And I wonder if a broken tire was just every day routine for them. We felt so blessed to be in the arms of family upon our arrival and had such an amazing welcome. LIFE is GOOD!!!