Playing with Cousins

The cousins had so much fun together!! The older cousins were at EFY together and the younger cousins had a blast at home playing. Tiana wanted more time with her friends Tyler, so he came up and joined the party for several days! They are all very creative and had so much fun playing together while we were sorting. We were busy, so I really didn't take many pictures, but here are a few!

The had so much fun running around outside. Here they are taking a little swim!
Tia, Tyler, Katie and Max

Tyler getting ready to jump in!!


My cute Tia!!


They had a blast playing just dance!!! It is so much fun!! I am hoping Santa will bring one to our house!!

They had a good time taking the Dune Buggy out for a ride!
Stetson(friend) Tyler, Larisa, Nic and Ryan

Nic is ready to go!!

Max, Tiana and Tyler had fun making up skits and performing them - I love their creative energy!! T hey all have so much fun together!!! I just wish that we all lived closer!!

Trip to Utah

On July 23rd we were supposed to leave for Utah. We were so excited to go and stay the night in Salt Lake with my sister and the go to, "the days of 47" parade. My brother in law, Donnie, was driving President Uctdorf in the parade and I was so excited to go!! Well, there was a storm in Detroit and our flight was canceled!! We had no idea that it was the first cancellation of 3!! (Long Story) We actually didn't arrive until the 25th!!! My sisters and I were all meeting to go through my mom's storage and special things. This was a hard task!! We said several prayers, made 6 piles and had many moments of tears!! We had some great memory sharing and of course, some laughter, but also a lot of missing our parents. One time I opened a box and there was one of mom's old aprons - tears came immediately!! I spent many hours by mom in the kitchen when I was little - she always called me her shadow. It made me miss her so much!!


We had pulled out several items that were things that we all loved and wanted. They were items that held lots of emotion for us! Some of the items were a clock given to Great grandpa Bennion, mom's wedding dress, a Santa my mom painted, service plaques, my dad's uniform, the flag that flew over my dad's Navy ship and other like items! We really wanted everyone to be happy and it really stressed us out to try and divide it. We called and talked to everyone about what they wanted most, said a prayer and then made the division. It was emotional and very difficult. Then, I looked in a memory book and found the testimonies of my great grandparents and read them to my sisters. I realized that the most precious gift that we can treasure every day is the gift that wanted to share most - their testimony. I have always known of my parents strong, unwavering testimonies! It is a part of my life everyday and a gift that does not need to be divided - it lives in each of us!! There is nothing more beautiful or treasured!! I am so grateful for amazing parents!! Now, the time I feel them with me the most is when I share my testimony with my children, play hymns on the piano or when I need them the most! What a beautiful legacy!!

Especially For Youth!!

Larisa had an amazing opportunity to go to EFY with year!!! We were able to go Ogden and stay at my sister's house and she went to the stay at home EFY with her cousins! They had such a great time!!! She misses her cousins and they had a blast together. Yep, she was the only girl, but that worked out fine, especially because a lot of the girls in her group had group had crushes on her cousins. The theme for the year was - "Courage to Stand Strong". What a great theme to help armor Larisa before she heads off to High School!! It was so fun to go and pick them up and hear them all talk at once about their adventures!! They felt the spirit so strong!! They had a lot of funny stories to tell and loved the things that they learned!! I loved that she was able to be around those with the same beliefs and that she was able to grow closer with her cousins!! We are already planning next year - our goal - EFY Nauvoo!!! I sure hope we can pull it off!!!

Tyler (Her cousin who is 2 days younger!), Larisa, Stetson (Tyler's Friend- another cousin for the week), Nicolas and Ryan

This picture is more their personalities!!

Stetson, Tyler, Ryan, Larisa and Nic!
First Day of EFY - I just love them all!!!!

Girl's Camp!!

Larisa was able to up to Girls Camp again this year!! She was so excited and she had a blast!!! She made new friends and strengthened old friendships!! She loves the spirit that she feels at camp and looks forward to it ever year!! The scripture for camp this year was, "...and they were exceedingly valiant for courage...true at all times." Alma 53:20 I love that she is not ashamed of the gospel and even wears her T-Shirt with the scripture on it to school! It is so fun to watch them come home and be on a spiritual high and giggle and laugh about all the things that happened while they were at camp!! We miss her so much at home, but we are thankful that she has the opportunity to go!!

This is Larisa with her friend McKenzie!! The only sad part about it was that McKenzie left early the last day to move back to Utah!! They shed a lot of tears at camp and we miss her a lot!!

A Million Meals for Haiti!!

We were able to participate in a really awesome advent sponsored by the Salvation Army. They were working with another corporation to send 1,000,000 to Haiti. We signed up as a s Relief Society to help and it was an amazing experience!! We spent our time measuring, weighing, filling and sealing bag of food. IT was so fun to work as a ward and community to help people miles and miles away!! My girls loved it and we stayed an extra shift! We tried hard to break records and get as much done as we could! We had such a great time that on Sunday after Stake Conference - we went back to do more!! This time we brought our friends the Storm brothers with us! They moved here from Haiti a few weeks before the earthquake and they were pleased to be able to help out some of their friends in Haiti! Thanks Chris - it was father's day and he was willing to skip out on having a nice dinner and head over and help!!

Tiana measuring out the Soy

Larisa Sealing the bags!

Tiana weighing the bags!

What an amazing experience!!

Cereal city

We went to the Worlds Largest Breakfast table again this year!! It was a lot of fun!!! WE had lots of cereal to choose from, bananas, juice, milk and Pop-Tarts. It is always fun to visit with our cereal friends!! Here is Tiana with the Keebler Elf!! See - she isn't very tall!!!!
How do you put a little pop into your morning- why with Snap, Crackle and Pop of course!!
And whats a morning without Tucan Sam????

They had a lot of various booths set up. Larisa was able to hold an alligator!! I am glad it decided not to go Snap, Crackle Pop!!!

They also had an injured owl that they rescued from the wild!

What a great way to start off your morning!!!!

Spring Soccer

This year both of the girl decided to play soccer!! I really do enjoy going to the games and watching my girls play!!

Tiana had an interesting year of soccer! Since I believe our memories are a gift we give ourselves - I will say that Tiana learned a lot this year!! She didn't learn much about soccer but she did learn patience, sticking with it, doing your personal best and accepting others. There team did not win a game all season. Tiana did great and was the only to score all season - I believe several of those goals were made when she was playing defense!! It was exciting to see her take the ball down the entire field to score!!! She has such strength and is having a great season this fall!!!

Team - Cotton Candy!!!

Larisa had an amazing coach this year! She learned SO much about soccer from him. She was able to make new friends and have a great time! There team won or tied every game!!

So much fun!!!

Duet and Choir Concert

This was Larisa's last concert for show choir. I LOVE going to the concerts and hearing my girls sing!! One of the requirements for show choir is to sing a duet or solo at a concert. The theme was show tunes this year. Larisa and her friend Emily Stewart decided to do a duet together. The sang a song from Little Mermaid! They were both nervous and really did not want to do it! These girls are so cute together. They laugh and giggle and the teacher loves the spirit that they bring to the choir!

Sadly, they had problems with their microphones. This video is of them starting to sing and Larisa's mic not working!!



I was so impressed with their confidence and grace in the way that she handled the situation. They didn't get frustrated, they just tried to figure it out!! They finally got Larisa's mic to work and then poor Emily's mic got lots of feedback!!! It was actually pretty funny! They were able to start over one more time an this time they made it through!!!

Here is one of the songs that the choir sang!

Can you believe how beautiful my Larisa is??? I am so lucky to her mom!!

Opps!!! There goes the mic!!

It is Show Choir - so they do a lot of acting in their song!!

Emily, Susanna and Larisa

Larisa and her teacher - yep the teacher is the one doing the bunny ears!!

Larisa decided not to choir in High school and I am really going to miss her concerts!!! Thankfully - Tia is still singing!!

New Friends and a Room with a View!!!

For Mother's day this year, Chris gave me this beautiful outdoor furniture! I love it!! It is nice to eat outside and I feel like I have a another room with a beautiful view! Thanks Chris!

Did you know that Chris has been in scouts for 8 out of the last 10 years??? Well in our ward we have the blessing of having two new Young Men that recently moved here from Haiti, Rosner and Stevenson Storm. They now know a lot of English, but at first Chris was able to use his french and translate for them. We take them home most of the time from church and we enjoy their friendship. On this Sunday we had them join our family for a little barbecue!
My view while we eat!! It has been a beautiful spring and Summer - love it!!!
Did you know that I think Michigan is gorgeous????

Girls on the Run!!!

Last year Tiana was interested in the Girl on The Run program, but I jumped on board a little too late and we couldn't do it - I promised her that she could participate this year! The more I learned about the program - the more I was impressed. I heard that they needed coaches, but I really felt like my plate was already pretty full. The night that I finished coaching the reading program at the school, a parent came up and asked if I would coach GOTR. I laughed and told her I would think about it. If you know me, you know that my exercise consist of lifting M & M's into my mouth one at a time!!! I presented the idea to Chris, and he said, "I think you should do it, I think you would enjoy it." I think I presented it to him so he would say, "Ah, Honey, you are already busy enough!" I thought about it for a few days and decided that it would be a lot of fun and a great experience for Tiana and I to share together! I called the mom that talked with me and she said that the position was filled. I couldn't believe that I was actually a little disappointed. Well about 4 days before the practice they called me, and they had one coach that couldn't do it anymore and asked if I would be willing to take over, and oh, and can you attend training all day tomorrow. I decided that I could do that!!

At training I learned what a great program it really is!!! It teaches girls about self esteem, being kind, nutrition, being a friend, to be happy being you and of course, we ran everyday. The goal at the end is to run the GOTR 5K!! I loved teaching it!! The lessons and activities were great and the girls were darling!!!! It was so fun to be with Tiana and have this experience together. I had a great co-coach and I made a good friend! During the last couple of weeks was when my mom was sick and I visited her and then attended her funeral. I felt sad to abandon my girls, but great ladies stepped in and took over. Tiana and I really wanted to run the 5K. We came home from the funeral the night before the run!! We were tired and still sad, but we wanted to do it. My mom was so proud of me for doing this. She would tell everyone that I was running a 5K and to her it was like the Boston Marathon! Again, I felt my mother's presence with me!! I could here her say, "Oh Valerie, you have so much fun!" as the girls were cheering and doing their cheers. I knew that she was with me as Tiana and I ran across the finish line holding hands!! It is hard to have her gone, but so wonderful that she has such a strong spirit that I can feel it at the moments I seek it!

I am hoping to be able to coach again this year! We were able to take a bus over to the run!

This is Tiana and her friend Eden!!They are dear friends. Eden is a runner and Tiana wanted to be by her for the race. I told her that we would try, but that we probably couldn't keep up since we had been out of running for a few weeks. Eden had stomach cramps during the run, so she had to walk a lot. I was sad she was hurting, but happy that we could stay together.

Hannah and the assistant coach Morgan

The 5 K was held at Waldo Stadium! The field was filled with excited girls!!!

There were 3 teams at our school!! This is our cute team!

What would girls run be without a little bling!!

Abby and Tiana with coach Teresa!



The girls had a great time making up a cheer for the Molly Barker the founder of GOTR! It was very cute and the were so excited to have a chance to preform it!

The girls all having fun!!

We did it!!! I was a little tearful as my little cutie held my hand running into the stadium and crossing the finishing line!!! A moment I will hold close to my heart forever!!!!