Family Ties....

Memorial weekend gave my family an excuse to get together. This was the first time since Christmas 2007 that all of my siblings and their kids have all been together. I was missing a brother in law because of work, but I am so grateful that Joseph let us steal Jennifer and their 3 boys. This was also the first time that my kids were able to see their newest cousins, Haylee & Peyton. I had not seen them since they were in the ICU and weighed about 5 pounds!

So, all in all, it was a great weekend and I had such a wonderful time being around all of my family. I will get to the fun part....PICTURES!!!

Jennifer & Joseph live in Des Moines. They have 3 beautiful boys, with a little one on the way!

Javien Kassius Tytus

Kasey & Cory just moved to Idaho Falls. They have 2 sets of twins....10 months apart! And no there were no fertility drugs involved!!

Gage Taya Haylee & Peyton

Joy moved Idaho Falls from Seattle a little while ago. I love having her so close!

Baylee, Joy, Graison, & Tate (Joy's son)

All 10 grand kids

Graison is so proud of how tall he is getting!

We were lucky enough to have a hotel that was right on the falls. Scott & Baylee..and Max...walked down and took some pictures. Baylee doesn't know how to pose at all!!

Day Trip....

On Mother's Day, we took one of our famous day trips. This time instead of going into the mountains we went the opposite direction and found a place called Lucky Peak. People were out on boats and enjoying the beautiful weather.

We had a lot of fun, and loved looking at the beautiful water. The kids are more daring than I am, and climbed down to be near the water.

Of course, we brought Max with us. He is getting to where we can't leave him for too long. I was impressed that he could climb on the rocks. He tired out quickly, but it wouldn't have been a family outing without him.

Dance Festival

One of the things we have come to love about being here in the Boise area, are the extra activities that are offered to the Youth. Every 4 years multi-stakes get together and have a Dance Festival. This year it was performed in the Taco Bell Arena on the BSU campus. You have to be 14 to participate, but our stake was short boys so they allowed the next 4 oldest Deacons to take part. Graison was reluctant to volunteer, but after I pushed...just a little...he agreed. The theme for the YM/YW this year is "Be Thou an Example of the Believers." So the theme for the Dance Festival was Dance to a Different Beat. There were 6 stakes involved which equals to over 1500 Youth. I was shocked to see that within a 10 mile radius we have 6 stakes!! (Can you believe that Sikeston??!!)


















(graison is 2nd in line)


(yes, a little blurry sorry!)









The youth from our stake





Each stake was assigned a different dance style. Some had the Salsa, the Tango, Swing, and Cha-Cha. Our stake was lucky enough to get the Country Swing/Line dance. Hard to believe i had not been to 1 of the practices. So I had no idea what the routine looked like. But I have to tell you that I was amazed at how well they all did! It was awesome!

Besides your stake dance routine, the entire 1500 youth performed an Opening number to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the movie Hairspray. It was so much fun seeing all these young adults dancing and having fun.