Dear Mom Kelly,

Yesterday we went shopping at the Zappos shoe outlet that our friends had told us about and found some great buys. 

We thought of you the whole time we were there saying how much you would LOVE to be there.  Here is a break down of our deals.

Dress shoes:

Black pair: Naturalizers $19.20

White pair: David Tate $4.00 

Casual Shoes:

Megan's shoes: Stride Rite $16.00

Other pair that Alexis bought but later found out that they are Mens (oops!), they were in the Womens section and they were comfortable: Saucony $18.00 

Boots:

Snow boots: Tundra $14.40

Women's boots: Sudini $12.00

Total of  6 pairs of shoes for $88.62.  We can't wait to take you there when you come out next, we might be going back before that though, we wish we could have found shoes for Josh and more for Bryson.  Maybe next time.

Love,

Josh & Alexis

Visiting

We had a lot of fun in Utah seeing family.  It was great to see my little Sister, Tosha.  We are so glad that she was able to get a ride down so that we could see her. 

We were also excited to go see Kandis, Nic & Nixon.  We were 2 weeks too early to see baby Vann, but were excited to see everyone else.  We also were able to go see my Grandma while we were in town.

It was so great seeing all our family and wish that we lived closer so that we could see each other more often, but we'll take what we get.  We love everyone and hope to see everyone sooner than later.

Ice Skating

On our last night together we all went ice skating for family night.  This was the one thing that Megan really wanted to do while we were there. 

Connor didn't really enjoy it, and only lasted for 1 1/2 laps, so we took his skates off and he hung out with Uncle Steve. (Thanks Steve!) 

Bryson didn't really like it until he got a walker, then he was amazing.  He was pretty fast.  Here is a small glimps of him skating.

Megan was AMAZING!  I think that the roller blades she got for Christmas have really helped her out.  She LOVED it.  She was even spinning in circles.  Check her out.

It was a great night for everyone, but Connor.

My Family

Since we were ALL together we decided to take advantage and get some family pictures. 

So this is what we got!

The whole gang

My family

My Parents with all the grandkids

My mom & her kids

Me and my siblings

(BJ, me, Jess and Tosha)

Out for Dessert

After all of our hanging out and dancing we "decided" to take my Mom out to dessert.  We blind folded her since this was our gift to her and I couldn't wrap the dessert place, so we had to blindfold her. So we drove around for a little bit and ended up taking her to their church where we leaded her into the gym where she had this waiting for her...

I LOVED her reaction and so glad that my sister caught it in pictures.  You can see how surprised she was.

To get to this point was kind of hard.  Earlier in the day I helped my Mom pick out her outfit so we could "take pictures with my kids".  Then my older sister made up a hockey game that they "had to" go to so they couldn't hang out with us so they could set up the party and decorate.  We had to dodge them at Wal-mart and make sure that my mom would wear the blind fold.  My Mom wasn't too happy, but I think we made it up to her. 

The night consisted of cake, ice cream & brownies.  My sister made a beautiful video presentation of my Mom's life, and I had collected letters from all her friends and family and compiled them in a book and presented it to her.  Then people came up and shared stories and memories about my wonderful Mom.  I really enjoyed collecting the stories from people.  I didn't read all of the letters I received, but I did look at a couple and it helped me see my Mother through different eyes.  I have always thought my Mother was wonderful, but reading some of these letters helped me see the sacrifice and love that she has for everyone.  I love my Mother and I hope that I can be like her when I grow up.

Of course I am not the only one who loves my Mom.  The room was packed, and I didn't get pictures of everyone, but here are the friends and family that I did, you can just feel the love.

Happy Birthday Mom, you are loved my MANY!!

Bowling & IHOP Surprise

While in Utah we went bowling with the whole family, minus my little sister who is at BYUI.  We had a lot of fun.  Megan did awesome!  She took 2nd place out of everyone (including the adults), the only person that beat her score was her Dad!  I won't tell you how bad, good I did.

Bryson bowling

Megan bowling

On Saturday we pulled off another surprise for my Mom when my little sister came home from BYUI.  We all went out to breakfast at IHOP, my sister arrived there before us and was hiding, so once we all sat down she came walking in.  I caught most of it on video, but instead of hitting record I hit off so I missed my Mom's shocked look.  Luckily my Brother-in-law caught it on his phone.  But it was great seeing how excited my Mom was. 

I was so happy that my little sister was able to come down so that we could see her.  We all enjoyed a great breakfast all together as a family.

After breakfast we got ready and went over to see my Big Sisters new house and played some DDR.  Josh and Megan were really good at it.  This was Josh's first time playing and he took first place everytime, I don't have a video of Josh since my sister didn't want her on here, but you can check Megan out. 

Here is my little Sis and Megan dancing

with bits of Connor and Bryson

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Mom's Birthday!

For my Mom's 50th Birthday my Dad planned several surprises.  We had been planning her birthday for about 6 months with the idea in mind for a year.  My Dad had so many wonderful ideas to make this birthday a special one for my Mom.  We were just lucky to be part of it.  We were her first surprise!  We flew in on her birthday to surprise her.

Gift #1.  We were so excited to be there for my Mom's birthday.  We miss out on a lot living so far away that we were very excited to fly out there and be a part of this special day.  Thanks to my Dad!  THANKS!

That evening we went out to dinner to the Pizza Factory, but before we left we surprised my little brother since he didn't know we were there, and his now fiance.  Actually no one knew that we were coming, so it was fun surprising everyone.

After dinner we went home and ate cupcakes that my sister made and hung out.