We found out earlier this week that Derek officially has passed part one of his national board exam. I am so proud of him. He did pretty well! We are so grateful for the blessings that we have recieved. We even went out to dinner to celebrate. We went to Redstone Grill. It was really good. Definitely pricy, but it helped that they had just opened and ended up giving us Derek's meal free because of something that went wrong. It was really good food though. It is rare that we go on an expensive date, so it was nice to have a great reason to celebrate! Congrats Derek!!
After our trip to Palmyra we headed up to Canada to see Niagara Falls. They were beautiful. We were able to meet up with my dad and my youngest sister. It was good to see them! We went on the Maid of the Mist and we got soaked, but not necessarily from the falls! It started raining as we were getting on the boat. Good thing we had our ponchos already on! Hailey did pretty good and Ashlyn once again, did great! She loved being wet. She is such a good little girl, hanging out through everything. We also met up with the Roger's to go on the boat, good to see them again, they were also in Palmyra!
This weekend we had the opportunity to see the Hill Cumora pageant in Palmyra. It was a great experience and well worth it. We also were able to see a replica of Joseph Smith's log and frame home. We also were able to go to the Sacred Grove. Wow, just walking in you can feel an amazing quiet, calm, peace, and reverence. This experience was such a great confirmation of my knowledge of the truth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so grateful for the faith and diligence of Joseph Smith. His willingness to serve the Lord has given me what I have today, a knowledge of the gospel. I am so grateful to live in a place and time where the gospel is on the earth and I have the opportunity to freely worship.
Last week we got a chance to head down to the shore at Atlantic City and had a good time. The weather was just hot enough and the Boston's and Roger's came with us! Kelley even boogie boarded, and for the first time, I actually stayed on. It was a lot of fun. The boys even played some soccer! Ashlyn loved eating and playing in the sand. She kept running right into the ocean, crazy girl. Meanwhile, my little priss Hailey just watched the water from a far.
This year for the 4th I thought it would be fun to have a BBQ and games. It was a lot of fun. We ate yummy food from everyone and played some games. The kids had a sack race, the adults had a watermelon eating contest and a race to see who could get a frozen T-shirt on first. The guys also started a good game of wiffle ball. I am so glad so many were able to come and were semi willing to play games. It is always great to share good company!
Derek and I were married in February of 2005. In January of 2006 we were blessed with our first little girl, Hailey. In September of 2007 we had our second little blessing, Ashlyn. In June of 2009 we added our little boy Bryce and are currently waiting the addition of little boy #2 in July. We are loving life and each other!