Summer's Baptism

Best Buddies

Happy Day!

I love this little girl. I hope she will remember the sweet spirit we all felt this day at her baptism and confirmation. Grandpa Gary gave the talk on baptism. He told about a man a taught during his mission in Denmark named Olaf Olafson. Grandpa reminded us that Heavenly Father uses the Holy Ghost to help us find those who are seeking the truth of the gospel. David and Collynn played a violin arrangement for the musical number; they did such a nice job. Emily Neilsen (Collynn's future sister in law) played the piano for us; so kind, considering she had never met us before. Summer looked so sweet in the font for the baptism. It was special for me to help her get ready in her baptism dress and dry her hair right after the baptism. She said she felt so happy and she loved Jesus. When we came back into the room, it was just in time to see Ethan bear his testimony. While Summer changed, people had the opportunity to share their baptism experiences and testimonies. I gave the talk on the Holy Ghost; then Dan did her confirmation. It was a beautiful blessing he gave to her. It was a day I'll never forget. I'm so grateful to be a parent. This is one of the greatest joys; to have family gatherings to share testimony and feel the Spirit of the Holy Ghost together.

Grandma Eleanor, Grandma Linda and Grandpa Larry

Summer's Birthday week

Summer celebrated her 8th birthday on Wednesday this week. Went to Mimi's for dinner, Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum, then tried to figure out her new iCarly game on the Wii. Squeezed in as much as we could on a school night!

First time ever at the dinosaur museum. Awesome exhibits!

Nice pose, Sum Sum!

February in Utah

Scout Banquet: Ethan earned his second class rank. Ethan is getting ready to give my my Mother's Pin. I have learned to always wear a scarf to these events. It really decreases my anxiety related to the "pinning ceremony". Dan and Ethan went on their first overnighter this month in the snow! Dan's calling is in the Young Men's organization. I'm so glad they get to do scout activities together.

Summer inside the snake's mouth at the Mayan Restaurant. We had a girls night while Dan and Ethan were camping.

One of the main reasons for coming to the Mayan. Chocolate lava cake with the firework.

Caught picking her nose.

Sledding at Grandpa Henrie's is a great tradition. We've only had a few good snow storms this winter so we were lucky this one hit on a Saturday and we were the only ones there to break in the sledding runs. Grandpa has the best backyard, as we try to get as close to the bank, without falling in the river! That makes me sound really irresponsible, don't worry, the kids didn't even make it close to the edge.

San Diego

San Diego Temple

Imperial Beach- at twilight. This was our first time being at the beach as the sun was setting. People were having bonfires and it felt so calm. Only stayed for a short time, but it was memorable.

Summer wore her favorite shirt to the zoo - from her cousin Aubrye in Australia, it has koala bears on it. What a great surprise when it just so happened that it was Koalapalooza week at San Diego Zoo and it looked like she planned for it!

Ethan by the freaky needle nose alligator from India. It never moved during the 10 minutes we stared at it, trying to figure out if it was real or just a alligator sculpture.

Inside the Aviary. I don't really like being in Aviaries, since I watched the movie "The Birds". I was putting on a happy face.

We saw a California Condor eat his lunch at another exhibit in the zoo. It was a rat. The kids were mortified to see it tear off the arms and then suck out the insides. We have 2 spoiled pet rats and 2 kids who will probably never take their rats outside again!

San Diego

At the San Diego Zoo, you can pay $8 to attach your kid to this "jumping tree" with bungee cords. The kids loved practicing flips and acting like monkeys.

So wonderful to be in sunny weather in January! I loved the cool trees. We have decided to plan a trip to sunny weather every January.

My creepy little bugs.

Grandma with all of her kids and her sweet husband.

San Diego

We had a fun family trip in January to see my little brother Scott's graduation from the Marines. It was so wonderful to see him after 3 months. We crammed in a day at the military base, a lunch served by the missionaries from the ward he attended (so kind of them!), wandered around Old Towne San Diego, 80th birthday party at a mexican restaraunt for Grandma Betty (family reunion with the Robinson side!), day at San Diego Zoo, swimming at the outdoor pool (in January! awesome..), Coronado and Imperial beach (The kids were amazed to see Tiajuana across the bay, and that's as close as we were going!), and San Diego Temple (at night! beautiful...Summer plans to get married there!).

Christmas 2009

A few Christmas morning pics. We woke up at 7 and played with toys and cooked until 10 AM when Dan's parents (Larry and Linda) and My family (Gary, Janice, Spencer and Kate) came over for breakfast. We had a lot of fun visiting and opening gifts.

We're back!!

Time for the annual post. I've not done well at all this year with posting blogs. Well, here are a few Christmas pictures and I'll try to do better! We had a great Christmas together and are excited to work on new goals and hobbies in 2010. We are so thankful to have the gospel and scriptures to guide us in our lives. Hope all of our family and friends had a fantastic holiday.

Good Times in December

Summer is such an eager student! I'm hoping I'll be able to teach her piano myself.

All of the Robinson kids are in town! We had a great tubing afternoon at Grandma Henrie's hill.

First major snowfall! Had to get a quick picture before heading to work and school. Due to unplowed roads, it took me 45 minutes to get from my house to the Riverwoods area that day.

We cook a big dinner like this once a year. The leftovers were great!

Work Social

These are all the wonderful people I work with: (back row) Victoria Sucher-naturopath, Jenn-office manager, Kindra PA, Carly- medical assistant, Scott-medical assistant (front row), Stacy Kupperman -naturopath, Dr. Pam Vincent, and me. Stacy took a job in California, so this was her goodbye party at my house.

Robinson Halloween Party

Mom dressed up as Miss Trunchbowl from the Matilda movie. She really got into the character, waving her stick at the kids and making them eat chocolate "Brucie" cake. However, she didn't make them eat until they threw up. If this isn't familiar to you, you should watch the movie. It's very good. I'm Amy Winehouse, if you can't tell. Who else are you going to be with a black beehive wig?

My little cowgirl.

Little Ruthie is only 10 days old. So cute. We were so glad Collynn and Joy came to the party.

Zach is Optimus Prime and Jack is Donald duck.

Scott looks frightening. Fortunately, this picture cuts off his legs because his little nurse dress was super short and I don't think I ever want to see him in white nylons again.

Millie was a perfect fairy.

Spence is Obama, a little tough to see him though. We had a great time together. The kids love the tradition of trick or treating to all the doors inside my parent's house. All the adults hide in every room or closet in the house to pass out candy to the grandkids.