Gabby is 5!

Gabby Girl is FIVE!!!  I can't believe it! We did a little party for her on Saturday night, the night before her birthday.  I guess I shouldn't say little, because we had 14 girls there at one point....some left early.  But since for the last 3 weeks before either with the cruse and the girls going to Omaha, we didn't do anything fancy.  We had a movie night with Pizza, popcorn, candy, and PJ's!  It was fun.

Then on Sunday, her real birthday, we had a little family party.  And Nana & Grandpa called on facetime just in time to sing happy birthday with us!  She got a lot of fun toys from her friends, and our neighbor gave her this cool tennis outfit, and from us she got a new tennis racket, and a razor scooter.  She was so excited!

She has been wanting to take tennis for awhile, but you had to be 5 years old to sign up.  She turned 5 on Sunday, and Tennis camp started on Monday, she just made it!  And she did great today!

Gabby starts Kindergarten in a few weeks!  She is smart, spunky, and sweet.  We love her, and love that she gets to be a part of our family forever!

Happy 5th Birthday to our Gabby Girl!

4th of July

This year, on the 4th of July, we only had one kid.  It was weird having a holiday with all of our crazy kids.  But the girls were having fun with Nana & Grandpa in Omaha.  While they were gone, we really got to have some fun with Dani as an only child.  She is a funny little girl.  And very polite and well behaved when she doesn't have to fight for attention or control!  It was fun going out and doing things with her.  I have to admit, it was easy with one.  I missed all of my girls, but had fun with Dani.

On the 4th, we did our annual kids bike parade with our neighborhood.  Then we went to the pool at Ivory Ridge.  The night before we went up to Bountiful and watched their fireworks, so we just stayed in and watched fireworks from our back on the 4th.

In Omaha, at my Grandma Rosenthal's house, visiting. This was taken when the girls were there by themselves.

The next week Dani and I made the drive to Omaha to pick the girls up.  We stayed a few days so Dani could play with Nana & Grandpa too.  And I got to visit with family, and we took the girls to the zoo.  Then we made the long drive home.  With week we were in the cruse, and then the week the girls were gone by themselves, and then the week I took to get the girls, it was 3 week before Ben was able to see the girls.  But we made it home safe.  Gabby and Charley asked if we could make going to Nana's house a tradition?!  Charley went by herself last summer, and Gabby said she was old enough this summer.  I was worried about her, but she did great.  And they had a blast!  Now summer is almost over....1 more month before schools starts!

Alaskan Cruse

Last year for Ben's work they met their "BIG" goal.  They have goals they try and meet every quarter individual and as a department, and then also have yearly goals.  This is the first time since being with PCG that Ben's department has meet their yearly goal.  It is a pretty hard goal to reach, so as an insentive if they ever do reach it, they always told them work would take them on a big trip.  Welp, last year they worked literally all year til the very end to reach it.  Ben got the last pay-off to reach their goal on December 31, 2013.  But because of their hard work, we all went on an Alaskan cruse.  It was all the people in Ben's department and the partners and spouses that all went.  It was so much fun getting to know everyone better, and hanging out.  It was a great group to go with.  And because it was such a big group, there were always things to do with someone.

As far as the port cities go, our first stop was in Ketchican.  Ben went fishing and I went shopping!  Ben caught a 30 lb. halibut.  We then went to Juneau, where we hiked to Mendenhall glasher and waterfall. Our 3rd stop was Skagway where we did an all day bus tour and we got to go canoeing, and hiking. Our last stop was Victoria, Canada.  We didn't have anything planned for there, but ended up roaming the city and watching a movie with some of the other couples. One of the days we went up Tracy's arm and were able to get close to another glasier. Once we got there, they turned the ship 360 degrees so everyone could see it from where ever they were on the boat.

Of course we ATE a TON!  Ben took a lot of pictures, but they don't even begin to describe how beautiful it all was.

My mom and sister, Jordan, were here with the girls while we went.  We got home on a Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday morning my mom left and took Charley and Gabby with them for a week. I drove out with Dani the following week to pick them up and teach a dance class for OPS while I was there.