One BIG birthday bash...

We have six birthdays between December 18th and April 23rd....we are heavily stacked at the beginning of the year. Add to the mix Garrett and Elise (both in April), we've got 8 birthdays in five months. So, this year Mariah asked if we could go to Benihana for our birthdays.  She missed the December Benihana event.  We went..we ate...we had a really good time! 

Mariah and Garrett (can I tell you that they REALLY enjoyed the meal and themselves)

Me and Riah

Bradley and Elise

Dom and Dean

Elle was missing...she was at a softball tournament in St. George.  It wasn't all tragedy...at least Elle was there for the December Benihana fest.

Part of the fun of Benihana is watching the making of the food. Our guy was cute...he put the fried rice in the shape of a heart and made the heart "beat" with the spatula.

Yummy veggies and shrimp appetizers

Add the seafood and chicken

Add the red meat...

The cheesy and requisite birthday drum and tambourine

Ice cream and candles for all birthday celebrants.

Extinguishing the candles

Back at home....a cake for Bradley (made by Dom)  See everyone laughing?  What you can't see is that Garrett is just out of this picture...and for sure he has said something hilarious...he's always saying hilarious things.

If you only knew the escapade it was getting those candles lit, you would understand why I took the action shots of the candles being blown out.  Let's just say that kindling and flint is not an effective method for candle lighting.

 

Dean and Bradley

Life is a journey, not a destination.....

When I graduated from Virginia Tech, my friend Leona gave me a bracelet with that written on it. I wore it proudly on that day back in 2007. I've always liked that phrase, and I've always tried to enjoy the journey.

I'm a firm believer that I can influence the path that I take in life by making certain choices, taking some calculated risks, moving outside of my comfort zone, working hard, admitting when I'm wrong, letting go, and by moving forward...always forward. The path is not always easy, and sometimes my life journey has weird detours that are unexpected.

One thing that makes my journey worth it is Dean. I love him very much, and together we've been able to tackle some difficult things. When the kids are all moved out, we'll have each other. He's my best friend, my confidant. I tell him everything. I trust him. I love him, and I'm so glad that we are on our journey together.

When we had our family photo shoot a few weeks ago, I asked my friend Daisy to take a few pictures of us walking down this gorgeous path. They turned out so wonderful, that I had to share them. These pictures remind me of that "journey."

To see other amazing pictures taken by my friend Daisy, you can visit her site by clicking >>here<<.

More Images from Sedona

Dean and Wendy at Chicken Point

Our "Trail"

The beautiful views

Exciting News

...for anyone who thought the first sentence of this post would be, "we're having a baby," GUESS AGAIN! In fact, if that ever were true, you probably wouldn't read about it...because I'd be crying so hard that it would probably short out my keyboard. (And...I mean sobbing, crying....in a BAD way!) We have four lovely children and are quite pleased with the challenge they provide. But I digress...this is not about me, it's about DEAN!

On Saturday, Dean got a call from our Stake President, and today he was called to be in our newly formed bishopric. He will serve as second counselor to our new bishop. He's quite excited and nervous all at the same time, but mainly, he just wants to do a good job.

We're very proud of him! We'll miss sitting with him on Sundays most of all, but it's a small (and hopefully temporary) sacrifice.

He's a great father and husband, and now we just get to share him with the ward members who are sure to love him as much as we do!