The two girls who pierced her ears.
A few tears fall after they finish.
The new earrings.
Cassidy healed from her ordeal (with her new pink hair)!

I have always told Cassidy that for her 8th birthday she could get her ears pierced so she has been anticipating this birthday quite a bit. She was really nervous to get it done so I called ahead to make sure two people would be working so they could do both ears at once. She was awesome and so excited after they finished that she couldn't stop taking about all of the cool earrings she gets to wear now.

Cassidy and her friend Hadlee at the bowling alley for her party.
Christina, Sarah, and Cassidy wait for their turn to bowl.
Jason playing with baby Elivea, the baby we borrow all of the time.
Elauna and Ellie, Zack's friends that came bowling with us too.
Cassidy blows out her candles.

I can't believe it, my little girl is 8 years old! It is crazy to think it has been that long since we had our first child, I certainly don't feel like I am old enough to have an 8 year old. She had a fun party on the Friday before her birthday at a bowling alley in Roy called Sparetime Family Fun Center. It was tons of fun! We bowled, ate pizza, had cupcakes, and opened presents. For her actual birthday, on Sunday. She wanted chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and Navajo Tacos for dinner, too funny. We had my friend Emmalene and her girls over for her birthday dinner and had a really nice evening. Her baptism is scheduled for August 2nd at 1:00 and I am starting to get ready for all of the company that we will have in town for the special occasion. It is sad that the new Stephenie Meyer book comes out the same day, I will have to wait until everyone leaves before I have a chance to read my copy.

I thought I would throw in a couple of pictures of us at Lagoon with Jason's brother Matt and his family the end of June. They came and stayed a weekend at our house on their way through to their new home in California and we loved having them here. Zack and Brayden had so much fun playing together and Shelby is a doll. Matt and Cassi are pretty cool too. :)

A few candids of the newest addition to the Byrom family, baby Sam. He is one of the happiest kids I have EVER seen. The only time he cried was when he was hungry and as soon as he was full it was back to his happy self.

Me and my hot husband chilling in my parent's backyard over the 4th of July weekend.
Kim and and her boyfriend Justin doing the same.
Monte, Crista and Sam joined us as well.
All of the grandkids swinging on the swingset.
The kiddos making a 4th of July treat while they play in the sprinklers.

Well, here are the pictires of the 4th of July trip to Page, I am finally blogging them almost two weeks later. We had a great time at my mom and dad's house over the 4th, it was so HOT though. I never remember a 4th of July that hot in my youth but I guess it was a lot easier to handle back then, another sign of being old I am sure. We had a fabulous time at the parade, park, rafting the Colorado River (pictures to come because we took those on a waterproof camera because I didn't trust myself enough to take my own), eating (of course), and visiting with family. This was the first time since last Easter that we had all been together, in fact I hadn't even met Sam, Monte and Crista'a baby, yet and he was born in December. The kids got along and played so well together and it was so nice to see everyone. My mom and dad even babysat the kids one evening so the siblings and their significant others could spend a night on the town, Page actually has a crazy good sushi place now. It was such a wonderful trip. Jason and I left the kids in Page for a week of camping with grandma and grandpa.
It was so wonderful to have some alone time with Jason, I loved EVERY minute of it. I mostly worked on Cassidy's room while she was gone. I painted it and redecorated it for her 8th birthday present, her birthday is on the 20th of this month. She seemed to be really happy with how it came out, I just thought it was time for a change since her room had been the same since she was 2 years old. We also went to a few movies and dinner a couple of times, relaxed at home, and went to Bear Lake for a night. We coodinated our schedule with our friends Mike and Rachelle and they sent their kids to St. George to spend time with her parents at the same time our kids were gone so we hung out with them a lot as well, in fact they went to Bear Lake with us. It was great, we will have to do that annually!

FINALLY, our yard is complete, and it only took like 7 years to do it! Here is a picture of Jason and the kiddos enjoying our basketball court, Jason put up the hoop last night.

The world's most perfect birthday cake, decorated by the one and only Amy Pfister.
Kadin and Scott doing some bowling at the party.
All of the kiddos with their birthday cake.
Cassidy's first day with glasses.
Eating at P.F. Chang's in Salt Lake City with Papa Ted and the girls.

Well, we are back from Montana and I don't have a ton of time to blog but I wanted to get these pictures posted before I forgot about them. We had a great trip to see Jason's family, we missed you Jill and fam, and had tons of fun. We ate and ate and ate, which is usually the case in Montana, but at least I was able to get Jason to run with me a couple of times. We went to The Ox twice, of course, and ate some delicious meals at both Ronna, Scott and Amy, and Rex's places.

On Tuesday evening Ronna had a birthday party planned for all of the grandkids, since all of their birthday's are back to back in the summer, at the local bowling alley. We had pizza and bowled, Jason and his brothers were pretty fun to watch try and beat each other at a game and Cassidy was determined to beat Uncle Matt. Then, Aunt Amy had decorated a cake with six squares sectioned off, one decorated for each kid, is there anything that woman CAN'T do, and Grandma Ronna had a gift for each granchild to open. It was too cute.

We also went on a picnic to Memorial park, looked at Grandma Ronna's almost done house, went to a movie, the guys went golfing, and we just sat around and visited while the kids played. Brayden, Zack, and Kaleb are all pretty close in age so it was a love - hate thing going on with them. We had to seperate them a few times but all in all they had a great time. Cassidy played little mother the whole time and really like playing with the litrtle ones, Shelby and Kadin. The kids had their annual eye exams while we were in Helena at Grandma Ronna's work, Montana Eye Care, and it turned out that Cassidy was in need of her first pair of glasses. Jason was mad at me for being a little depressed about it but he didn't wear glasses from the time he was 8 or 9 until he was 30 like me either. I am trying to look at them as a cute fashion accessory and not as the pain in the butt I thought they were.

We got home on Saturday night then went to SLC on Sunday to meet Ted and his girls at the airport on their layover from Orlando and volleyball nationals, where they took 17th place. We took them to luch downtown then headed back home to make it to church.

We had so much fun and are looking forward to having Matt and Cassi come and stay at our house this weekend on their way to their new home in Sacramento.

Me in my flight suit!
It's a bird...
it's a plane...
it's Allison!


I CAN FLY!!! Seriously! Jason is the coolest! He had an entire evening planned, babysitter and all for my birthday. After Cassidy's baseball game we took the kids to my friend Emmalene's house to play with her kids. I have been really excited to try a new restaurant called the Sonora Grill in Ogden so we went there for dinner, he didn't even need to ask me where I wanted to go just drove me right there. After a huge dinner and four Diet Pepsi's we walked back to the car but he didn't get in. He lifted the hatch and he had my tennis shoes and socks in hand. I asked him if we were going for a walk but he said that he thought I would need my shoes to fly. I have been dying to try skydiving for quite a while now and about a year ago they opened a sports complex with an indoor skydiving place called iFLY inside, the same building where I took Jason surfing for his birthday. Well, Jason let me fly! I can't belive how incredibly sweet and perseptive he is sometimes. What a very lucky woman I am to have such a wonderful husband! There ws one other guy there with his wife, it was his 38th birthday, so he and I took turns in one minute flights. I thought I might be sick with all of the food I had in my belly or pee my pants from all of the soda I drank but I made it through just fine. Skydiving here I come!

I have decided that the saying "You are as old as you feel" is really true. I don't feel 32 that is for sure! I can't remember feeling any different than I do now than I did in my 20's. I look pretty much the same as I did then and I actually am in better shape than I was then, especially since I was pregnant twice in my 20's. It is just sad that so much in today's society is hinged upon how old you are; I can't remember the last time I filled out any form that didn't ask for my age. Why does it matter so much? Just one of those "things" I guess. I wonder why birthdays are such a time for reflection. A time to sit back and contemplate where you are and where you are going. We took the kids to Kung Fu Panda over the weekend and it had one of the most profound lines in it. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that is why they call it the present". Cool, huh? I really hope I can try harder to reflect on that as I continue to age. :0)

A family picture at Zack's preschool graduation.
The graduate all decked out in his cap and gown.
Zack and his teacher Miss Hillary, I'm sad I have no more children to send to her school.
Cassidy and Zack, looking cute as always.
Zack's preschool class the last day of school.

Not the best picture of me ever by far but I wanted to show you my cute new haircolor, BLONDE, and how fun my hair is when my hairdresser and good friend, Emmalene, straightens my curly locks for me.

Look at those muscles. This is Cassidy at the finish line of her Kid's K.
A picture of mom and Cassidy after we kicked butt in the race.
The runners and Zack say cheese!

Looking so pretty, and sunburned after a day at the pool for field day, heading to the recital.
The girls waiting backstage for their turn to dance.
Cassidy and Stacey all set to do their thing.
Cassidy and her dance teachers.

Cassidy ready to play her first game on the "Oreos", that is a hard word to say.
Cassidy and her friend Hadlee, the broken arm girls. Hadlee just got her cast off after breaking it at school on the monkey bars and Cassidy had to wear a brace for a week after falling off the swing set at home again.
Waiting for their turn to hit.
Cassidy's first at bat.

Zack all ready to play his first game of t-ball. He is so excited to be on the Pirates of the Caribean team. :)
The dugout and the kids waiting their turn to bat.
Zack's first turn at bat.
All ready to hit the ball in the batter's helmet, what a ham!

What a busy couple of weeks that we have had. I can't believe that the school year is over and summer break is here, too bad it hasn't felt like summer outside, brrrrr! We have spent the last little while ending a few things and starting a few others.

Cassidy is done with soccer for the season but her and Zack will both be playing in the fall. She is also done with dance and had her recital on the 19th of May. She has decided that she does not want to dance again this fall but would rather play basketball. I have explained to her that dance in Utah is very competitive and if she wants to do drill team in junior high/high school that she will have to take years of dance to keep up with the others. She says she doesn't care and wants to be done. My checkbook is excited because dance costs a fortune so I guess it isn't all bad. Maybe she will end up in the WNBA someday. Zack and Cassidy are both playing baseball this summer, Zack t-ball and Cassidy coach pitch. Between the two of them we have a game to go to every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night through the end of June. Whew! Zack had his preschool garduation on the 16th of May. He was so handsome on the stage in his cap and gown as his class did the ABC's in sign language and sang a few songs. His favorite part was choosing where we went for dinner after, Cafe Rio of course. I have LOVED his teacher, Miss Hillary, who also taught Cassidy in preschool years ago. She is an amazing teacher and we are going to miss her greatly. Thank goodness a few kids in the neighborhood are going to be in her class in the fall so we can get updates as to how she is doing. Finally, Cassidy decided she wanted to run a foot race so when I found out that in conjunction with the Ogden Marathon they would be doing a Kid's K I thought why not. I wish I would have had the guts to run the marathon but that is a different story. Cassidy was AWESOME. We ran a few times around the neighborhood to train and she was so ready to run. She ran the race in 7 minutes, not bad for just under a mile, then we went straight to her last soccer game. It was a screaming 85-90 degrees that afternoon, a bit hot for a 12:30 run and a 1:00 soccer game but Cassidy rocked it all.

Jason has been busy taking down the carport we made over the boat last year, we were fined by the city foe being too close to our neighbor's property line so it had to come down (too bad we are law abiding citizens). I wanted to fight the city over it but Jason hates confrontation so it came down. Now, like a giant jigsaw puzzle, we are putting it back up over the deck in the back of the house (then the city won't know it is there). We worked on it all Memorial Day weekend, when the Oregon type weather would allow, and hope to have it finished soon so we can set up our patio furniture and enjoy it. I'll post pictures when it is done.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend and enjoys their summer.