The Graduations for Peter

Onto Peter's big events.






Last year Peter asked us to mark our calendars for April 9th and 10th 2010 to attend both his college graduation, and his officer pinning in the Army ROTC program, so now the event is already here, and the excitement of it all was really fun to watch not only in Peter, but in Jessica as well. Both have worked so hard for this accomplishment, and made many sacrifices. Of course there are many more to make, but that is all part of the adventure in the future.








I was so grateful to see both Peter's sisters were also there for support, as well as Jessica's sisters and a brother.



Peter had both is sisters, and Jessica do the pinning,








and asked Anthony to participate in the program by presenting a millitary coin to him, and Peter would then present back a coin to Anthony, which was a silver dollar dated December 7th 1879, One hundred years before Anthony's birthday. It meant allot to Anthony to be asked to participate, but to receive this thoughtful gift was very touching. After the exchange then Anthony would Salute him as an officer.






We are all so very proud of his accomplishments, and his willingness to serve our country.

Onto Rexburg Idaho

After a couple busy days in Utah we were onto Rexburg Idaho to join up with more of the family for some celebrating.
Anthony had flown into Portland, then he and Tony drove on Thursday which ment that we all arrived into Rexburg about the same time Thursday evening. Mariah decided to join us on our travels to be with JoAnna for her first time to the temple. It was just one of the many events we enjoyed this trip.
JoAnna was so excited to be able to finally go through the temple. Something she has prepared for, and the big day finally arrived on Friday the 9th of April in the afternoon. It was very nice that so many of the family members could be together for this day. As a mother I must say it was quite a tender experience sharing this time with JoAnna, and feeling of her emotions as she received the blessings promised to her in her life.
Zack and his dad Russ were also their to share this great time, and of course to take the first step in preparation for the big day the following week.

Naomi and Mariah left the temple before joining us for pictures, to go pick up the babies from the baby sitters, but Lauren did join us after dealing with the finalization of there old apartment. They spent the week moving from one apartment to another, dealing with finals at school, and preparing for the family to arrive. Talk about trying to be focused.


After the temple we all went to lunch at Bajios where we joined with Zack's mom Cindy and brother Danny for a relaxed celebration and visiting.

Journey to Utah

I will admit I was a bit concerned about Naomi and I venturing on our own with the two babies on a trip to Utah. What normally would be a 13-14 hour drive could be miserable for an adult, yet alone a little one. As it worked out however both Savannah and Lexi were such troopers. We would stop every 4 hours or so to get out, stretch, and let the babies play for about an hour. The popular place was McDonald's play yard. I'm OK with the idea of never going to McDonald's again. Anyway I thought the journey was going pretty well until we got just 4 hours from our destination, just outside of Snowville. We received a call from PJ in Plain city Utah saying that they just got hit with a snow blizzard that left them with no power. Since we were without both snow tires, or chains we decided to press forward at least to Ogden for the night in hopes that the blizzard would blow through and leave us alone. As it worked out we slowed way down in Snowville when the snow was really coming down. Our position was pretty nice however following a truck who was following a snow plow. It was amazing how many cars continued on there way at full speed ahead, only to be slowed down miles down the road when they would hit ice and flip the car or truck in the middle of the highway. So the last few hours were a white knuckle ride. We arrived at PJ and Cole's at about 1:00 am for the short night. Pour PJ had to work the next day, so we had little time to visit. Her little guy Gage seemed to have fun with both Lexi and Savannah in the morning, and he is all BOY ! When he was using his machine gun full with sound effects, Savannah was putting the gun to her mouth and also did sound effects of a trumpet or horn. Both Angie & Warren came by for a quick visit. It was fun to see how excited Angie was as she prepared for her up coming wedding on the 17th of April, just the day after JoAnna's wedding.
After a short visit, and Savannah getting lost in the snow with excitement, we were back on the road toward Lehi Utah. The destination was Linda and Hal's were we could visit with many more family members, but also for Naomi to visit with room mates from the past. She hasn't been back to Utah for years, so this gave her time to show off her cute little ones.
We spent one evening at Elisha & Paul's, and Sandi & Eric's. It was fun to see all that they had accomplished on there home, but also there little one. Savannah always would get excited when other children were involved.
One evening we went over to see Jeff & Jen Card with all their children. Once again Savannah was swept up by the children, and off she went to play. I was so excited to see Brynlee Card, and how well she is doing with her health. She had just got a cute hair cut and style. Yes, she has all her hair back. Yippee !! She loved playing, or holding Lexi. What a hard road she has traveled the last couple of years, even still she is so good natured.
It seemed that the two days in Utah were very full, and come Thursday midday we were back traveling to Rexburg Idaho for more fun and adventure. Mariah decided to conclude her time off work by driving also to Rexburg for JoAnna's first visit to the temple, so the two cars carivaned, and sometimes played leap frog.

Easter in Oregon

This has been a very busy, and enjoyable few weeks that I am in hopes of catching up and sharing, so please bear with me as I back track a bit.

Saturday April 3rd Naomi, Savannah and Lexi flew into Oregon for a 2 week adventure with us, which got them here to have Easter with lots of family on both sides. Everyone was excited to see them. We started with our own Easter egg hunt in the morning,

then went to Grama DeRoest's for lunch.

Naomi and Jessica both decided to color their hair red without knowing about the other. The funny thing was that it ended up being the same color.





Lexi was not to sure about Uncle Randy's beard.





















For dinner we went over to the Dover's. Savannah was soo.. excited to play with kids, and there were allot of them.








It was a full house with 4 of the Dover children and families there, so lots of excitement to be had, and delicious food to enjoy, and one amazing egg hunt, or should I say a collection of eggs. The kids didn't need to look to hard to find these eggs, and they all had a blast collecting them.