Father's Day

I know I'm late but oh well. I had so many pictures to choose from to show Neil, the father of our little family, in action. I decided this was a good one because it always makes me laugh and it shows one of the many silly things he does to play with his daughters and also make me laugh. I couldn't have asked for a better father of my children. I love you Meil!

So I had been teasing Neil about getting him Scrabble for Father's Day. He made it very clear that a board game for any kind of gift is lame in his book. Needless to say, I couldn't resist. I'd been planning to get him an ipod touch but this made for the perfect delivery.

I was so excited, I had a hard time waiting until Father's Day to have him open it. I felt so clever. Let me just explain that Neil has this ridiculously accurate ability to guess what his gifts are(makes for an interesting Christmas). So if I can get him something and have him be surprised I count that as a HUGE accomplishment.

And to be honest, I have flat out lie about some things when it come to giving him things so Neil never completely believes what I tell him about his gifts. But I did tell him I was getting him Scrabble for Father's Day.

The Surprise! In the card its says "Adia and Evelyn insisted that this was what you really wanted for Father Day."

Now to my Dad. He is such a strength and example in my life. I've learned so much from him, I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without him and his guidance throughout my life. I love you Daddy!

And to the father-in-law I always wanted. I can't explain the bond that we seem to have. We don't see much of each other but we do have a special relationship. Thank you for being such a wonderful father to the father of my children. Love you Van!

Ashley

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to go through the temple with the family of a very dear friend of mine who was killed in a car crash a year ago June 9th. My heart aches for this family as I try to imagine how it would feel to lose a child. One of a father's 2 children, a brother's little sister, a mother's only daughter, and a fiance's sweetheart, Ashley was a great friend to everyone she met and could always make you laugh. It was a bitter sweet situation, one I had never experienced before. A wonderful and happy occasion knowing she is on the other side finally enjoying the blessing of being endowed in the temple. But sad and heartbreaking to know that she wasn't able to experience in her short life herself.

My first night in Fountain Green was spent on her basement floor. Not knowing a soul my parents shipped us off to Girl's Camp for our soon to be ward. Her Mom, Denice, was in the Young Women's presidency. Talk about being thrown into an experience. Our friendship took off from there. I always get a little teary eyed thinking of her, missing her silly jokes, and the great times we had skipping class, or having a lazy day on a porch swing, waiting for our latest interests to drive by. I get choked up hearing a certain song or two that was one of our favorites to sing in the car. Thinking of her, even after all this time still hurts, but it a good hurt, if that makes any sense. My mom described it as healing and I think it fits well.

I just felt the need to put my feelings out there and to honor her and the wonderful person that she was in this life and still is on the other side. Love you and miss you Marge

Uh Oh!

I knew eventually this day would come, and it has. Evelyn and Adia made their first "mess" today. Lets be honest we all know its not really a mess but this is the first time they've ever gotten into anything.

Adia's first time emptying the dvds. I know there are many more and much bigger messed that will be made and I can't wait to blog about them.

If you've ever held Evelyn you'd know that she has to know who's holding her. She has to take a look behind her every few minutes to make sure the person who was holding her last time she looked is still holding her.

We love cousins! Dusty and Kaylee(Felicia's) holding Eve and Adi

Adia never seems to want to play with toys, it always boxes or wet wipes or something like that. So Neil stuck the box on her head and this is what she did. We had a pretty good laugh.

Adia can now sit up pretty well. She still get over excited about going and falls on her face sometimes but not as often. Evelyn on the other hand has almost no interest in sitting up. Every time I go to sit her down she stiffens up, straight as a board.

I promise I did not stage this. As I've said before they can get around pretty well now and Adia decided she wanted to join in on Eve's fun with the Jumperoo. She ended up being Eve's step stool, and she thought it was really quite funny. So did I.

Memorial Day Weekend at The Ranch!

Every year for Memorial Day weekend we have The Bundy Family Reunion, which is my mom's brothers and sisters. We love it and look forward to it every year. Its always held at a place we call the Ranch, Mt. Trumbull, AZ. This is definitely the longest post I've done, but its only long because I took tons of pictures. It was Eve's and Adi's first time camping, and the LOVED it. They adore being outside so this was 5 days of heaven for them. We spent the night at my parents house so we could ride out with them early Thursday morning. Its a 4 hour drive down to Hurricane and then another 2 hours into the mountains of the Arizona Strip. Yes, a very long trip, but very worth it once we get there.

Our first morning out there. Of course the girls were up with sun so we just stuck them in bed with us to try and catch a little more sleep. Adia snuggled up with her Daddy.

You never really know for certain what kind of weather you're in for out there, so you kind of have to pack a little of everything. Being so prepared, I didn't bring the girls any sort of jacket or sweater. In my defense, its summer, and its hard to find small sized sweaters this time of year. But Chavonne, or should I say Misty had a couple extras, so she was nice enough to share with her cousins. Eve in Misty's sweater, hanging out with Daddy.

We decided since they were both getting around so much they wouldn't be too fond of being held the whole weekend so we packed up the Jumperoo and boy was it a great idea. Adia of course showing of her sober side for the camera, like always.

As I mentioned, Chavonne, Ross, and their two kids, Wyatt and Misty came out as well. This is Neil's rendition of a stunt Ross does with his kids all the time. Only Ross holds them by their feet. I appreciate that Neil realizes how nervous it makes me.

Ready for breakfast. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us ride out with you guys. We definitely would not have made it out this year with out you. Come to think of it we would not have made it the past 4 years with out you. Thank you!

My Dad and Ross conjured up a little area that was out of the wind in the table area, so we could still play games. There was space on the ground so we laid out a sleeping bag for the Eve and Adi to play on. Yes, that's Eve with her face covered with her favorite tabby blankie, if you look close you can see her little foot poking up between Neil's legs. One of my favorite things about this trip every year is that there is plenty to do, but you don't have to do a thing if you don't want to. Its all about relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

One tradition we have is the races. You never want to miss those because you're always sure to get a good laugh out of it. They start with the youngest group of kids, which is always cute, and proceed up to the oldest group of kids (like my Mom and her sisters, and then my Dad and uncles). Thats where we all get a good laugh at seeing how competitive they all are.

After the races are the games. Mostly for the little kids but in the picture above my little sister Corinne is taking on Uncle Newman (one of my Mom's brothers) in this silly game, I have no idea what the name of it is, or even if it has a name. Needless to say it was quite hilarious.

For the past few weeks Neil has been growing out his beard. Here Evelyn is rubbing it with her fingers. They love to feel Daddy's beard.

Most of my aunts and uncles have or are working on building these little one room cabins. There is however one large cabin with one big room downstairs and 3 or 4 bedrooms upstairs. It belongs to the family so whoever gets there first can stay there if they want. Anyway, this is Adia on the floor of my parent's cabin. As you can see Adia is getting so close to crawling all she really needs to do now is get the coordination down. Eve is about as close as Adia is.

We always take a trip to the Mt. Trumbull Cemetery. My mom next to her first husband Mike Penman, who was killed in a hunting accident a few months after they were married.

My Aunt Judy next to my Mom's oldest brother James LaVoy Bundy. He got some rare disease, I can't ever remember the name of it. The doctors didn't know how to treat it. He passed away at age 52.

Just 6 weeks after my Grandma had their first child, my Grandpa left to serve in World War II.

My Grandma and Grandpa Bundy. I never knew my Grandma Bundy, but being up there this past reunion I felt I got to know her a little more.

My great Grandma Chloe and great Grandpa James Bundy

My great Grandma Chloe's parents, Mariah and Newman VanLeuven. My great great Grandparents.

My great Grandpa James' parents, Ella and Abraham Bundy. My great great grandparents, Arizona Strip pioneers.

My Mom, Dad, Chavonne, Sienna, and Daisie at the cemetery.

On our way back to camp. Daisie and her three kids Houston, Peyton, and Sienna were also able to go to the Ranch. It was so great to see them, it had been a while. 

Sienna being silly. She is such a cutie.

I love this view, it never fails to take my breath away. If you look close enough you can see the lane by the School House, I wish the picture was bigger cause then you might be able see the actual school house. My mom and all her brothers and sisters went to school until, I think 6th grade, and then they had to go to school in St. George.

Caught in the act! Adia look like she really is picking on Evelyn in this picture.

Our last day out there my Dad decided they needed to take a ride, just the guys. My Dad with Peyton behind him, Neil and Houston, and Wyatt riding in front of Ross. They were only supposed to be gone 2-3 hours it turned into 8.

One thing that was kinda rough was nap time. Tents aren't exactly sound proof. So when they both fell asleep in the little play corner holding their bottles I thought it was pretty cute.

We took the pack 'n' play for the girls to sleep in. It didn't have all these blankets in there the whole time, I was just cleaning up the tent so it could be packed up and threw all the blankets in there. I just set Eve in there so she could watch me pack and the next thing I know she's snoozing. I thought it was pretty stinkin' cute.

I was so grateful to be able to make it out there this year. For a lot of the family it was their first time meeting Eve and Adi. I have really come to appreciate what an amazing family history I have and going out there always makes me that much more proud of my heritage. We have such an exciting summer ahead of us, I can hardly wait. But to me the summer just isn't complete without a trip to the Ranch to get it going.

What Day Is It Again?

So I was on Facebook today and just noticed how many people commented that it was Friday and how exciting that was. When I realized something, I never know what day it is. So when people get all excited about Friday I kinda laugh to myself, shrug, and think "I always think its Friday, in fact I thought yesterday was Friday". Now I'm sure if it was important for me to know what day it was I'd keep track. The only thing that really breaks up my days are Sundays -church, and every other Wednesday and Saturday- Neil has work off. So for the most part I am completely clueless to the day of the week and the date.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there, sorry its late.

Sunday is always a rough day for us because church happens to be right in the middle of nap time for these little dollies. So they snooze on and off during church, but are usually pretty grumpy by the end of it all. So we try to put them down for naps right after church which is usually a process cause they've had a million cat naps already and don't want to go to sleep. So Neil got out his acoustic guitar and just stated playing little songs for them to keep them happy. They enjoyed it very much and eventually fell asleep. So watching them smile at Neil while he played and sang was probably my favorite part of Mother's Day. It was so sweet.

Eve and Adi decided to have a little party under the coffee table today. I thought it was pretty funny that I had to fetch 2 babies out from under the table at the same time.

Showing off the cute skirts Mom got for us while shopping with Grandma May.