While Mom Was in Chicago...

While I was in Chicago with my orchestra having a great time, Corey held down the fort.  Annmarie had a choir concert that was held at the Cross Church.  It was combined with the Cooper JH choirs.  

On December 17th, Westley proposed to Alejandra and she said YES!  So now we will have a daughter-in-law.  Hooray!

Jonah had his band elementary school tours with Wind Ensemble.  He got to play with the band at Groves and I pulled photos from the Groves Facebook page.

And last but not least, Nathan had a school field trip.  Stephanie Brown, a neighbor down the street who has a daughter the same age, Charlotte, chaperoned and sent me photos.

 

Anniversary--Twelve Years!

On June 21st was our twelfth anniversary.  We were in California staying with Corey's mom, so we left the kids with her and took off to a movie "Man of Steel" and dinner at Outback.  It was nice to have an evening out without the kids and to have an actual babysitter on hand!

A look at the last twelve years in a nutshell:

2013--Sixth child born in March
2012--Traveled to Northern California, Southern California, Arizona, and back to Utah.  Paid off the Ford Focus
2011--Fifth child born in March; Corey becomes a store manager; molar pregnancy in November
2010--Purchased our Utah home
2009--Corey becomes a second manager and graduates with bachelor's degree; moved to Utah
2008--Traveled to Texas; first child starts kindergarten
2007--Fourth child born in December; Corey goes back to school at ASU
2006--Third child born in September
2005--Corey becomes a third manager, purchased our Queen Creek home
2004--Corey becomes a fourth manager, moved to Arizona, second child born in October
2003--Moved to California, first child born in May, Jenna quits teaching, Corey returns to In-N-Out
2002--Moved to Idaho, Jenna teaches bilingual kindergarten, Corey quits In-N-Out
2001--Married!!

It's been a great ride and hope it continues to be great!

Marriage Retreat at Aspen Grove

Every September since 2010, Corey and I have signed up to go to the Marriage Getaway at Aspen Grove. It's a two-day, one-night little getaway that includes a room, meals, and workshops on marriage. This year we invited my brother and his wife to come along. We really enjoyed it, as usual, and will probably return next fall.

Mountain Retreat

This past weekend, we left the kids with my cousin (all the kids, even Jonah!) and went to a marriage retreat up in the mountains nearby. It was a nice little getaway. The fall colors were just starting to pop up. We took a nice little scenic route to get there, enjoying the beautiful scenery.

The retreat included dinner on Friday, and breakfast and lunch on Saturday. There were four workshops on marriage taught by a professor of family sciences at BYU and a marriage counselor. The retreat also includes quite a few fun outdoor activities and hikes, although we weren't able to take advantage of any of those this time around, as we arrived late (there was football game traffic) and had to leave early on Saturday (after the workshops) to get the kids and so I could go to the General Relief Society Meeting at the Conference Center.

Hopefully next year we'll be able to enjoy more of the recreational activities and it would be even cooler if we could get some other couples to come with us! It really is great, people!