Catching up-May

May was the month of celebrations with anniversaries, graduation, Diesel's blessing  and a big birthday...Here is May in review.

The month began with Nick and Lindsi celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary with a little out of town trip.  We had the pleasure of watching Cashe for a few days.  I know they weren't sure they could leave their little guy, but we loved it.  

Bath time for Cashe.

Enjoying some time with his Papa.

Having Friday night dinner with Ben at Cafe Rio; Cashe loves that place.

I know Nick and Lindsi missed him so much, but we loved having him and you can go away anytime!

The next big celebration was Kristi's graduation from nursing school.  She was pretty mellow about graduation, but we were not letting her special day go by without a party!  Now, Kristi is tough to surprise, but we did it.  Jordan, Lindsi and I planned a surprise party with both families at The Roof. We had her high school graduation dinner there, and  it was the perfect place to have her college party! We had balloons and flowers and a great celebration before the ceremony.

Surprise my girl!  

The college had a nice graduation ceremony at the Wells Fargo Building.  Nursing school is grueling under the best circumstances, but Kristi finished while enduring morning sickness, work, having a baby and  she still managed to do it all and get a 4.0 her final semester.  We are so proud of you!

Congratulations baby girl!  You did it!

My nurses!

Brian and I enjoyed our anniversary dinner at our favorite Park City restaurant, The Grub Steak.  30 years and still going strong!

The next celebration was Virginia's 80th birthday party.  She really didn't want much of a fuss, but the kids wanted to not let her big day go by.  She has been through so much the last few years with her health, and we were glad to celebrate with her.  So we had a fun party at Schmidt's Restaurant in South Jordan.  They did a great job and it was fun for Virginia to see her family, cousins, and friends.

 The kids.......Brenda, Brian, Randy, Chris with Mom

It would not be a party without my cute girls and their famous candy bars.  Lots of pink treats!  Thank you my lovelies!

Happy 80th Birthday Virginia.  We love you!

Celebrating with my girls.

Catching up...April

April was a busy month with lots of fun activities; Easter, a wedding and trip, fun family time and a birthday.  Get ready for a huge photo overload.

Ben was in charge of the scout Court of Honor in April.  He did a nice job planning and conducting, and the troop was able to give a nice send off to their fabulous scout master Paul who had recently moved.  Each boy said what his favorite memory was with Paul and they had a nice cake with the scout emblem on it.   He took these boys as 12 year olds and helped them through their deacon years. I can't imagine the patience he had through all those camps and activities.  What a great guy!

Then it was time for Easter.  We were going to be in Seattle for Easter, so we celebrated a little early with the the kids.  It was so fun to find little toys and treats for my boys and Abby.  

Ben and his basket.  A few treats and a new golf shirt and shorts.

Cashe and Abby.  We bought Cashe some treats, some crayons, and a shirt.  Miss Abby enjoyed a few fun makeups items, a shirt and some treats.

Cashe enjoyed playing in the basket and scattering the grass.  We love this boy!

Diesel's first Easter basket from Nana and Papa.  We gave him some new onesies, some toys, a few treats and books.  We love him so much!

A few days later and we were off to Seattle for my niece Erin's wedding.  We had hoped to take the whole family, but with a  new baby and school and jobs, it ended up being Brian, me, my mom, Ben and Lindsi.  The weather was great and we had a fun time.  We missed Kristi, Jord, Nick, Ab, Cashe and Diesel.  It was Lindsi's first time away from Cashe, and she missed her boy so much.

Here we are on the waterfront enjoying a great seafood lunch at Ivar's.  It was the best halibut ever.  

My oldest and youngest having a sweet treat after lunch.

Before the wedding, Erin's mother-in-law honored her with a traditional Turkish henna party.  It was so fun and fancy.  Yummy traditional food, not sure what I ate, but it was fabulous.  

Here are the girls watching the festivities.

The Crooks/Pugmire Cousins

Jen, Erin, Kelli, Kendra and Lindsi

A sweet picture of Erin and her grandmas-Elfie and Blanche.  It was such a fun evening and loved seeing Erin so so happy!

We had some time to sightsee before the wedding, so we walked from our hotel to the Seattle Space Needle.  We took the girls there for a trip in 1991, so it was fun to go back there.  It was a chilly day and Lindsi didn't come with a jacket, so Bri and Lindsi had matching Seattle wear.  

Ben, Bri and Lindsi with the Seattle city view behind them.

After our sightseeing, it was time to get ready for the wedding.  Erin and Michael were getting married on a boat, and it was such a pretty setting

My handsome brother Rick walking the beautiful bride down the aisle.

Erin and Michael exchanging their vows.  It was a beautiful ceremony, and the judge who married them quoted from both the Koran and the Book of Mormon.  Such a nice way to celebrate both cultures.  

The reception was on the boat as well and it was good food and fun times.

Ben and Kaylee (Brian and Jen's daughter).  She adores Ben and wanted to be wherever he was that night.  I thought this was a cute picture

My mom, brother and me.  Love this picture of us.

We took advantage of a nice spring day and went to the park near my school to play with the boys.   

Kristi and Cashe headed down the slide

Lindsi, Cashe and Diesel. 

We celebrated Bri's b day on the 27th with a family dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then headed back to our house for cake, ice cream and presents.  

The fam at dinner.  Don't  I have the cutest family?  

Cashe, Papa and Nana.  

Bri with his presents.  All golf related except for the Boston Redsox book.

And here is the birthday boy celebrating #54.  Happy  birthday Bri; we all love you!!!!

We ended the month at the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point.  It was such a pretty day and the flowers were beautiful.  Spring is here!  Yahoo!!!

Love these kids of mine

Catching up....February and March

On February 4,  we welcomed Diesel Jordan Stephan.  He is the best baby, and we love  him so so much.  I can't believe he is already 6 1/2 months old.

Jordan and  Diesel, just a few minutes after his birth.  

We also celebrated Valentines Day, watched Ben play junior Jazz and just enjoyed having a cute newborn in our family.  We were getting tired of winter and ready for spring.

"Heart Attacked" by Lindsi, Abby and Cashe

Ben's Basketball team.  They were great kids and played hard every game.  

In March, the new City Creek Center opened up downtown and the girls and babies headed down on opening day to celebrate with some serious shopping.  I had been counting down the days and could not wait to see it.  What a beautiful addition to our city.  We had a great day!

And we didn't.....

Kristi, Lindsi, Abby and Diesel and Cashe ready to go.  The babies were the only boys allowed!

Cashe discovering the fun play land near the food court.

Enjoying a yummy lunch at Kneaders.

                             Diesel was a champ and slept through most of our City Creek adventure.

Cashe, Lindsi and Ab enjoying the fun.

Kristi and Diesel-I think this was Diesel's first big outing.

So..City Creek was worth the wait!  Loved spending the day with the girls!

Catching up and then some.....January

To say I'm behind in blogging in an understatement....so I am going to attempt to catch up month by month and hopefully I can remember everything we have been up to!

First, in January I celebrated the big 50 birthday.  I was not looking forward to this big day and honestly, was pretty crabby to my family.   I didn't even want my birthday mentioned but was sad that I thought maybe they weren't going to do anything special.   I just kept hoping that Diesel would arrive a few days early and we could share a birthday, but the little guy waited for a few more days.   I should know that my family loves birthdays and would not have let my day pass.

  For months Bri and the girls had been planning a surprise party for me and I have to tell you it was perfect!  They invited all of my favorite people and had a fun dinner planned on my birthday at Market Street Grill.  The girls took me for a pedicure and some frozen yogurt earlier in the day and we were planning on meeting up that night for a family dinner.  So when I walked in the restaurant and saw all our dear friends and family, I was very surprised.  Here are some fun pictures of the birthday:



Enjoying a pedi with my girls!

The cute invites designed by the girls.  So so cute!

The room at Market Street all decorated in my favorite color-Pink!  It looked so cute

My cake; it looked just like the one on the invitation.

Surprise!!!

My girls are pros at candy bars and they had all my favorite candies like licorice, pink mints, tootsie rolls and hot tamales....so so cute

Celebrating with the best girls and party planners ever!

          Celebrating with Bri-thanks for such a wonderful party.

We had a great night, enjoying a yummy dinner of halibut, crab cakes and salmon.  The girls had my guests fill out a "How Well Do You Know Cindi" with some fun questions like where was I born, what is my middle name, how long have I been married/taught school and fun questions like that.   The big winner of this game was my good friend and exercise buddy, Holli.  So I guess during all those early morning walks I must have told her everything about me!  

After the party, we came back to the house for presents and my fabulous family surprised me with a video of 50 years of pictures and memories.  The girls collected photos and Jordan scanned for hours.  It was the perfect way to end the day and look back at my life. It is truly a treasure!

Thanks to Bri, Lindsi and Kristi for such a wonderful birthday and for just loving me!  It was the best.  I love you all!!!