Family Reunion!

Niki, our shiba inu, had 3 puppies back in January. We sold two of them and kept one. It's been 4 months since we've seen the other two puppies so we thought it was time for a family reunion. I am a little biased however I have never seen more beautiful dogs.

Rylee and Max

BRAVO!

Last week was the opening week of the Utah Shakespearean Festival. I was fortunate to attend 5 out the 6 plays that will be performed throughout July and August. Kennedy and Rylee even attended 2 of them. Saturday we (Me, Steve, Ken, Ry, and Megan) saw "The Secret Garden". It was spectacular. The girl who played Mary was phenomenal. She couldn't have been more than 14 and was in almost every scene. We were also pleased to watch Brian Vaughn, one of the theaters top performers. Every time he is performing at the festival we are honored to see him. Another favorite was Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors". The costumes were wonderful and eye catching and the performers were top quality. The other plays I attended were Shakespeare's "As You Like It", "Foxfire" and "Private Lives" by Noel Coward. The only Play I did not see is "Henry V". I hope to see it before the end of the season, mostly in part to Brian Vaugh playing Henry. I can appreciate the play because I enjoy Shakespeare tremendously, however I believe I would not enjoy it as much as the others.

I would recommend to anyone living in or near Cedar City to take advantage of the renowned theater and festival that is here. People come from all over the country to see the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City and I am sad to hear that most residents here do not attend even one play throughout each summer and fall season. It is expensive, however when we consider the culture that we are privileged to have in such a small town, I believe we owe it to the members of the festival if not to our children to keep it alive, and the only way to do that is to attend. They really do hire some of the best actors I have ever seen. I hope it will be a great year for them.


We love it when Megan's here with us!

NEW INSPIRATION

Every week, or day for that matter, I recommit myself to my workouts and eating healthier. As I sat in the dentist's office waiting for all my children to have their teeth cleaned, I open a magazine and was hit with this picture. I ripped it out immediately (which normally I'm against). Dara Torres is my new hero. We'll see how my commitment goes waking up to this picture each morning.

Rylee's 6 year old pictures

(taken only a few days before she managed to acquire scars on her face)

Rylee's Crash

Rylee had an awesome 6th birthday. She now believes she is too big for her bike. She wants a bike just like Kennedy's. She can't even get on the bike without help but then she can ride it pretty well. Her bike is the perfect size for her but she feels it is just too easy. Monday night she was turning on her bike just a little bit too fast on the loose gravel and here are the picture of what happened next. Needless to say she will not be getting a bigger bike for the moment.





On her 3rd birthday she feel in the bathtub and busted her two front teeth. They are now a very dark color because all of the nerves died. Luckily they are her baby teeth and for 3 years now we have been waiting for the day they will fall out. I really hope we have somewhat of the same chance with this incident. I hope her scars will not be permanent. Rylee has a perfect face and I feel so bad this happened.

Rylee's 6!

Rylee turned 6 on Friday. We had her birthday party with friends on Thursday. She had a cooking party. It was all girls this time. She did feel a little bad because she has several boys that are her friends, but the numbers are climbing rapidly and therefore, we limited it to only girls. I love throwing parties for my girls. I say girls, because up till now that’s all the parties we’ve had. Jack is expecting a party this October when he turns 4 so I’ll have to start figuring out what to do at a boys party. I made each of the girls an apron with their name on it. I’m pretty sure they all liked them. The party lasted 2 hours and I’m sad to say that we ran out of time and didn’t get to everything I had planned. They did get to paint plates, decorate cupcakes, make pizzas, play games, and make brownie sundaes. The build up is always so great and then in a short time it’s all over, but it’s definitely worth it.










Out of all my children, Rylee is the most like I was when I was a child. I’m not happy to admit it, but that is not a positive thing. She is very stubborn and quite a bit defiant. No one can tell her what to do. She does what she wants, when she wants. The reason that I have hope is because I was the same way, and look at me now. (What else is there to say!)

Rylee is very smart. Kennedy was always so easy to teach and advanced very quickly with everything. I was quietly a little worried that Rylee was not progressing in quite the same manner. Kennedy was reading to her class in Preschool and Rylee didn’t start reading until the end of Preschool. Kind of a silly way to judge it right! However, Kennedy was almost an entire year older than Rylee was when she went into Kindergarten, because of their birthdays. Anyway my point is, is that Rylee is just as far along. I have very smart children and of that I am very proud.

Rylee is left handed and we think she’s extra special for it. I’m sure it has a little bit to do with her creativity. She is, of all my kids the most creative. She loves doing crafts and is very much a perfectionist. She is also good at figuring things out and is the most patient at things like that. The largest puzzle our family has is 750 pieces. Rylee would sit at the table for hours working on the puzzle, day after day until it was finished and this was over a year ago. (She wasn’t quite 5 yet!)

Rylee is an amazing girl. She will go very far in her life. I am positive she will achieve great things. With all the hardship she gives me, there are way too many positive things about her that I would be very ungrateful if I didn’t tell everyone how blessed I am to have her as my daughter. I wouldn’t want her any other way.

Happy Birthday Rylee! I love you with all my heart.

Friday Rylee picked Chili's for her birthday dinner.






Friday my mom arrived from Connecticut for a weekend visit. Saturday we went to Kanab to visit cousins.

Picture in The Paper

Saturday was a cold and windy day, a good day to stay inside, however that's not always possible, especially when there is a kite flying compitition. It was the fifth annual Kite Flight for Sight contest sponsored by the Cedar City Lions Club. There weren't that many people there but the ones who went had a little bit of fun I think. Kennedy got her picture in the Sunday edition of the Spectrum. That was the best part about the activity.

Christopher Onstott / The Spectrum & Daily News Genna Gillette, age 9, helps Kennedy Knell, also age 9, launch her kite, Saturday, at the Cedar City Kite Festival. (Christopher Onstott/The Spectrum)

Zion 10K

Here's me and my first two roommates my first year of college. We were pretty silly. We liked to hang out at the boys apartment upstairs. One day we snuck into their closets and took their pants and hats. We were so COOL!


We finally, all three reconnected after about 12 years.
Shanna lives in Delta and Jamie lives in Clearfield.


Saturday morning (at 5:30am) we drove to Zion for their Centennial 10K run.


It was the first 10K for all of us. We all made it through the finish line, without needing emergency care.


Afterwards Jamie and I headed to Vegas for our reward. Here's 1/2 of the second piece of cheesecake I brought home. None of them lasted long enough for me to get a good picture. We drove all the way to Vegas to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. I love it that much. I think I've converted Jamie into loving it as well. (it was her first time there)


Besides not being able to walk very well today I'm happy we were able to get together and have a good time.

Spring Break

Steve took the girls skiing last Thursday. They had a blast. They both love to ski.





Unfortunately he forgot to get their goggles out of the car for them to wear. Men seem to forget a lot. This is the result. Their eyes ended up getting severely burned. Kennedy got the worst of it.





We got a surprise a week ago; three ducks and three chicks. They are cute but what do we do with the cute little things? (more work for me)(yeah)





Saturday we started off the day with the town's Easter egg hunt at the park. We've never missed a year and every year it's been freezing. However it's tradition, we have to go.



Sunday we spend concentrating on Jesus and his sacrifice. We seem to get too caught in the Commercialism. I'm grateful Easter is always on Sunday. It makes it easier to cut the world out and concentrate on the true meaning and reason we celebrate Easter.

I love holidays, they give you an excuse to spend more time with family.

Megan's Song

Megan is an amazing singer. She recently recorded a song for the New Era. It's a beautiful song.

Tender Mercies of The Lord

If the link doesn't work here is where to find it.

1. Go to lds.org
2. Click on Prepare a lesson
3. Click on Magazines
4. Click on New Era
5. Click on Music
6. Click on Tender Mercies of The Lord (Piano and Vocals)

We all are so proud of her. She does so many things that I cannot even imagine one person doing and staying sane. She is always going from here to there and always does it with a smile. We all love you Megan.