Making Memories...

1. Going to the Farmington Strawberry Days parade with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Tammy and Megan.

2. Cousins playing at Grandma's house, having the time of their lives.

3. Building a fort with the cousins in the horse pasture at Grandma's house, using tree limbs for the canopy, and braiding twine to make a rope swing.

4. Going to Cherry Hill and playing miniature gold with Grandma. Kaylie quickly learns to move the ball with her hand and putting it in the holes herself - I guess it is more fun that way!

5. Cooling off in the fountains at the Gateway in Salt Lake City.

6. Eating chocolates on the tour at Mrs. Cavanaugh's!

Visiting friends!!

When we can, we sneak in a visit with friends during our stay in Utah. This year we met up with our friends, the Ricks, who lived in Round Rock, but moved to Arizona last May. I was also able to visit my old college roommate, Suzy Christensen, and her kids. They stay with her in-laws in Kaysville. It's always fun to catch up on one another lives!

Tanner and Micah Ricks (our family friends who lived in Round Rock, but moved to Arizona last May) went to a basketball camp together that was put on at Open Court (at the point of the mountain, by Thanksgiving Point). Some of the coaches were ex-BYU players who had gone on to play NBA ball. Pictured here, although hard to see, is Tanner playing one-on-one with Travis Hansen (he played with the Atlanta Falcons for one year and now plays in Russia). Although he never scored on him, Tanner thought it was pretty cool.

While the boys were at camp, Jennie and I took all the kids to the barn at Thanksgiving Point. They had a little pony ride, go to pet some of the animals, and visit the jail.



On another day, we met at BYU and strolled around the campus to check out a few new facilities. While in a sports museum, the boys hunted down Robbie Bosco (the QB that led the Cougars to the National Championship in 1984). He signed a bunch of posters for the kids and then he smiled in a picture with all of us. I was happy because it helped me get a "group shot" without all the moaning.

This is Suzy and her son, Henry with Tanner. They had a great time playing together in the pool. Her daughter is Elsa and Elsa is just about a week older than Kaylie. They eventually warmed up with each other and enjoyed many popsicles. Suzy also has a baby boy, Ansel who was with his Grandma and Taylin just had fun swimming around with everyone. It is so great to re-introduce them all!

L A G O O N



I don't remember the last time I was at Lagoon, but I thought it was time to take the kids so we went with Aunt Tammy and Megan, and met my brother, Mark and his family, there. It was 100 plus degrees, but the kids kept cool by running through the fountains and on the log ride they, I mean, WE ALL got drenched. Tanner preferred the smaller rides, but Taylin went on most everything. No one chose to ride Wicked, the newest ride at Lagoon, and I wasn't about to try it either. And Kaylie had a blast with her cousin Christi going on ride, after ride, after ride.

4th of July

We joined Huy's sister, Linh, and her family in Kaysville for our 4th of July celebrations. Although it was a super hot day, we went to the city parade and some munched on cotton candy, others ate nachos, the kids collected a bunch of candy, most cooled off in the shade. It was the beginnings of a great day!

It is tradtion that all the "water" floats go at the end of the parade and cool things off a bit. Well, Tanner and Taylin and Huy were definately cooled off - they were drenched from head-to-toe with everything from water guns, hoses, water balloons, buckets of water, city water trucks, and fire hoses. Many people come prepared to fight back, but we were not some of the prepared. My family took it like real heros and they had a blast!!

After the parade and a wonderful grilled meal, we had our own fireworks show followed by two big shows. From Linh's house, we could see the Kaysville City fireworks and the Lagoon Fireworks. Happy 4th of July!!

Our summer vacation this year was a month-long trip to Utah to visit family and friends. I guess you would say it has become a tradition since moving to Texas. It was a great time, once again, this year. We did so many things that it may take several days to upload all of it, but who has checked my blog lately anyway? So...

Let the vacation begin!

We made a small change in our 22 hour route to Utah. We stopped in beautiful Durango, Colorado to see what all the hype we'd heard was about. To our delight, all the hype is true. It was so pretty there. We stretched our legs and took a little walk up the Animas River where the kids had a great time throwing rocks in the river and running their legs. They were feeling especially strong and decided to move this rock into the river!

Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, with still an hour to go, Kaylie let out a scream from the back of the car. We asked her what was wrong and then she calmly said, "I don't know!" At that point, we were glad we were almost there. We all had had enough.

At Huy's parents home, we unloaded and then took yet another drive (this one was only 20 minutes) to see our new cousin and nephew because we just couldn't wait any longer. Luke Jolley was born June 11th so he wasn't quite a month old when the kids were able to hold him. He was just adorable and so precious. I never wanted to put him down, but no, it didn't make me want one of my own. It was nice to hand him back when he did "you know what" in his diaper! Congratulations Linh and Mark!! He is a cutie!

The FASTest Frogs
Taylin and Tanner have successfully finished their second year with the neighborhood swim team, the F.A.S.T. (Forest Area Swim Team) Frogs! They were both very dedicated, making it to practice everyday after school for the month of May and then every morning, bright and early, 7:45 a.m. to be exact, all of June. There were some cold mornings, but they were brave and did it with a smile!

Tanner was only able to compete in one meet because of our family vacation and because of some football games. He did very well though. He swam...
25 Freestyle in 18.82 sec,
25 Back Stroke in 26.51 sec, and the
25 Breast Stroke in 28.42 sec.
That's a personal best in each stroke.




Taylin had an awesome year too. She added two new strokes to her list, the breast and butterfly. She was able to compete in both, as well as be an important part of the freestyle relay, placing first many times. Her stack of ribbons is amazing! She swam...
25 Freestyle in 25.56 sec,
25 Back Stroke in 29.16 sec,
25 Breast Stroke she is still working on to qualify, and the
25 Butterfly in 35.81 sec.


Check out her arm (that's how they list them so they can get them to their event, heat, and lane for the right stroke). At this particular meet, she placed in the top six in each event she was in! Way to go Taylin!!

She was very happy and worked very hard! Congratulations to both Tanner and Taylin for a job super well done!!

Da Binky!

And so ends the days of Kaylie with a binky. It's about time right? I mean, she is three and a quarter months old so it is about time, but sometimes, especially with the third child, there are battles you'd rather not fight and taking her binky away was one of them.

One day I just started cutting a little bit off (better that than have her bite a chunk off and choke on it, right?) in hopes she wouldn't really notice. Well, she noticed. She told me that her binky was "broken" and she wanted a different one. But I couldn't get her another one because this was the last one that somehow we held onto for about six months when we lost all the "extras" regularly. She didn't seem to mind too much when I told her this was the last one and so she continued to suck/chew it. Each week I tried to cut just a little more off, until last week - I guess I cut a little too much off. She put it in her mouth for a few seconds, gave me this puzzled look, and took it out and handed it to me. She said it was broken and then she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She hardly fussed that first night and it is now, finally, over.

Tanner's summer hairdo!

We decided to try something new for the summer. Our sweaty-head boy needed to somehow keep cool so we shaved his head. Well... most of it anyway! He looks mean and tough now and feels oh so COOL!

Fish or Mermaid??

It depends on who you ask. Kaylie has decided she is too big for her lifevest this year and so she started swimming around with Huy one day in a hottub. Then she started jumping into the big pool and hasn't quit. She hardly comes up for a breath before she is jumping back in and swimming around. You have to keep an eye on her constantly because she doesn't wait for you.

We had the following little conversation with her on that first day she started swimming...

"You're just like a little fish Bubbas!"
"No, I just like a mermaid!!"

We had a good laugh. Now we tell her she swims like a fish and she promptly corrects us, "No, I'n a mermaid!" She swims underwater with her eyes open too and we can't get her to wear goggles. She is one determined little girl!

Happy 7th Birthday Taylin!!

It was a special birthday for Taylin this year. We were in Utah just before her actual birthday so she was able to celebrate with some family there. We decided to go to Boondocks, a play center with an arcade, miniature golf, go-carts, and bumper boats, which is near the point of the mountain. (Tanner thought it was called Hoon Ducks which cracked me up!)

Taylin got to drive her first car, but she is far from getting her drivers license! She and Tanner had such a rush driving the go-carts that they did it several times, round and round this mini track, but they had it "cornering like it was on rails." (Name the movie and I'll give you a candybar!)










On this hot day, it was quite refreshing to cool off at the bumper boats. Tanner and Taylin didn't hesitate to spray each other and also the other stangers around them. One must save themselves at all costs. Their dad, of course, had the boats figured out down to a science in minutes. He quickly informed us when his first turn was over that if you rock the boat back and forth with your feet at the front, the sprayer would aim directly into other people's faces and actually drench them. Yes, he's one of the kids and that's why they love him so much!










Miniature golf was fun, but it was just too darn hot that day to really enjoy it. However, Noah showed us all how it needed to be done... wearing shades!










When we returned to our Austin home, Taylin had a party with her friends Logan and Marcos from her class, Synde and Brooke from church, and of course, her best friends Tanner and Kaylie. It was a High School Musical party where we played Musical Chairs, Charades with movie titles, and then the girls karaoked to the High School Musical CD. We enjoyed a yellow cake that I decorated with the movie's logo, and then Taylin opened her presents. She got things like water balloons, sidewalk chalk, Cheetah Girls 2 soundtrack, Cheetah Girls poster, the Gabriella High School Musical doll, the High School Musical DVD game, a Razor, a gift card to Target! We took Taylin and her friends to see the newly released movie, Surf's Up. It was pretty cute and the girls enjoyed sitting at he very top of the theater - their choice! She loved being the center of attention and what little girl wouldn't on her 7th birthday?

We love you Pooks and can't believe our little girl is 7. I'm going to have to send you off to NeverneverLand!!

Mr. and Mrs. Adam Koenig

married June 2nd, 2007

Crazy as it is, I didn't get a picture of the beautiful bride with the handsome groom, but don't worry, I got the best half! Just kidding Adam. But talk about a beautiful couple, Cindy and Adam are very happy to be married. The whole day was just beautiful! It was fun for the girls to be apart of it.
By the way, Cindy is Huy's cousin and is the daughter of Le (and Danh) who is the sister of Huy's mother, Lien. Got all that?!

This is Huy's sister Linh with the bride. You wouldn't know it, but Linh was expecting baby number two any day when this picture was taken.

Taylin was quite excited to be a flower girl. We got her a new pretty white dress, she put make-up on and she even let me do ringlets in her hair. She looked so pretty. She knew exactly how to toss the rose pedals from her basket and she was a great example to the other girls.

Kaylie was asked to be a flower girl too, but when it came time to put the dress on, do her hair, and wear the flowers in her hair, she was going to have no part of it. I wasn't about to push her so she sat with us as the wedding procession began. But when she saw her big sister and the other little girls, she pretty much hopped out of my arms, grabbed her flower piece and little basket and tackled everyone out of the way on her way up to stand with the others.

See how happy she is now!

The girls love their Aunt Linh.

Taylin loves the new baby too. She's already giving him kisses!

They loved seeing their Uncle Vu too. They shared some fun moments while we were waiting for pictures to be taken.

At the reception that night...
We enjoyed a wonderful dinner followed by some moments of karaoke with whatever microphone we could find, beautiful songs sung by Nathan, Elisha, and Tiffany (Huy's cousins, his Uncle Son's kids), and some dancing.

Congratulations Cindy and Adam. Thank you for sharing your special day with us!!