Trey's Blessing

What an awesome weekend! To start off last week, Tyler's

parents arrived from southern Utah to come play with us and

of course be here for Trey's blessing. My Brother Troy and

his sweet family made the 10 (but took 12) hour trek from

Dallas to also be here for the blessing and to just hang out

and let the cousins play for a couple days! (More pics to come!!)

Then my parents arrived on saturday to join the party and

play with us too for a couple days! We have had so much

fun with everyone and are so grateful for families and the sacrifice

many of them made to be here for this special occasion! We

are truly blessed with a wonderful family!

My Favorite!

This little guy was absolutely perfect for his
photo shoot sunday afternoon! Not an ounce of
tears just smiles!

okay i lied...maybe an ounce when this particular
set up was being shot!

My Sweet boy!

The McFadden Clan with some Hansen's mixed in!
Gotta love those cute kids! I'm their Aunt
so I have bragging rights don't I??

My handsome boys!

Grandma & Grandma Hansen on the left and

Grandma & Grandpa McFadden on the right.

Our little family!

Over the river and through the corn fields to Bear Creek we go!

About 4:30 on a Friday night we decided to head up to Bear Creek

and have our very first family camp out! So I scrambled

really fast to get food ready and all the kids packed up ready to go

while Ty packed the car with all of our essential camping needs.

Bear Creek is the designated church property for all

the stakes here in Iowa for girls camp and ward camp outs.

Our fun little camp site up at Bear Creek!
Yes we all fit in this little thing! It was nice and cozy.
We all stayed very warm!

Mamma's got a crush on this little guy!

And this little guy did better than....

This little girl!

But i do have to say they both did great Trey was just

a better sleeper and trooper through it all!

The wood was to wet to get a good fire going so

we improvised and used the hibachi to make our smores!

There is a fun little river that runs through the camp grounds.

Addie had a blast playing in the river especially going

"commando" style! This girl loves to be outside!

"nudy rudy!" Trying to keep it "G" rated!

Getting ready for bed.

Mmmm...gotta love those kissable cheeks!

Can't get better than Daddy telling bedtime stories

late at night while listening to the crickets outside our

tent chirping along!

Finally something other than the Magic Eraser....called Randomness!

The Dress shirt Dress!

The pudding mustache!

(Not as good as her friend lukes but pretty close!)

A beautiful day at Raccoon River Park.
This girl can't get enough of 3 things:
Water. Shovels. Dirt.


My Handsome little guy!

This was during her "wear a hat outside" phase.
Good thing this one didn't last too long!

He was a great traveler when we went to Salt Lake.

My Beautiful kids...and Trey's wild hair!

Addie introducing Trey to trucks for the first time!

Yeah for smiles!!!! I love it when they start smiling.

Love this...PART 2

Just the other day I found another reason to love this magic eraser...

Like I said before my sweet little 2 year old hasn't quite

grasp the concept of "you only draw on PAPER" or

"if you want to draw you can ask Mommy for some PAPER!"

So the other day in a rampage she took a Red colored pencil to every door and

wall of our upstairs. I immediately grabbed my Magic Eraser

and was about to clean it up when it dawned on me.

Ah-HA! Guess what??? The Magic Eraser is very

kid friendly (Small, soft, light weight)...needless to say i put

her to work cleaning up every

single pencil mark she made (hoping this would teach her a lesson)!

Works so good even 2 years olds can use it!

Love this....

I couldn't it more simple...I love this thing!!

It has brought so much simplicity into my life when it comes

to cleaning...(something i think we all don't really like to do!)

The magic eraser is simply amazing..if you've never tried it

grab your purse get in your car now and go buy it!!

It is essential to have in your house especially if you are a mom or

grandma with lots of grandchildren. I stock up on it like its food

storage due to my daughters lovely artistic and climb ability

to find any pen or crayon and go to town on our white walls

or linoleum floors!

So my Thanks to the wonderful person who invented this amazing

thing and a special thanks to my dear sweet

friend Laura who introduced

me to it 2 years ago!

Nothing like bringing family together!

My Family had such a great time together. My Grandma

always had a way with bringing family together. This time

was rather unique in the fact that all my siblings were together,

staying under the same roof (Thanks to our dear family friend

Dorothy who let us all stay at her house),

without our spouses. (We all love our spouses just didn't work

out for any to come!!) It was like old times before any of us

were married! We had a blast reminiscing on old childhood times as well

as our fondest memories of Grandma Cook.

And this little guy didn't get any love at all ;)

(Trey and my bro Troy)

Love these two! Mom and Dad McFadden

All my Brothers and sisters!
Gotta love these times together and capture these cherished
moments! (Although this was complete torture on the
boys for the 10 minutes that we were taking pictures!

Thought this was a sweet moment.
My Brother Jeremy embracing my Mom at the
Grave site.

It was suppose to rain but turned out to be a beautiful
day! Grandma cook lived a great life full of adventure,
love, and service.

Grandma Cook

August 1916-April 28, 2009

She lived an amazing life and will be

missed dearly...however, her wish was

finally granted; now she and Grandpa

will be together again...Forever!

Its a bitter sweet moment for us all.

We will miss you Grandma (Great Grandma for Addie to Trey)!