Thank You For Being a Friend

That song came out the year I was born and the Golden Girls have been using it ever since! But, speaking of "Golden Girls," I got to spend a little time with some of my favorites recently. These women are just awesome and I don't know how I got so lucky to meet them 10 years ago! It's really probably because Heavenly Father knew I would need them. We have known each other through the birth of almost all of our 16 children, lots of new jobs, houses, hair colors, etc. To quote another song, "I get by with a little help from my friends." These are the girls who've seen me at my worst and help me be my best. Love you ladies!


We decided it was time for a girlfriend picture retake. The original below was five years ago, and is looking a bit dated. I'm sure that has nothing to do with us getting older. Obviously we still like pink... :)

Happy Father's Day

I feel so blessed to have two amazing Grandfathers and a great Dad for our kids! Can't think of a more important thing to give you a good start at life!

Hope a new tie and steak dinner let you know just how wonderful we think you are.

Happy Birthday Cupcakes

Today's project, to help celebrate some friends' birthdays, is these fun cupcakes. Aren't they cute! Inspiration from the always inspiring Annie's Eats. Happy Birthday Shane and Rochelle!

Mt. Rushmore's On The Way

We just returned from a marvelous weekend trip to Mt. Rushmore. We have seriously been talking about taking this trip for 8 years, but it's never been exactly on the way. Ok, it's not on the way to anything, but there is definitely enough there to make it a destination of it's own right! I'm so glad we finally went and had some great friends for company too.


"On the way" we stopped at Register Cliffs in Wyoming to see the Oregon Trail pioneer's names carved into the rocks. Very cool. Below are the wagon ruts worn into the rock from all those wagons passing through!

We toured Jewel Cave in South Dakota. You have to fit through this box to be able to go on the spelunking tour. Eleanor and I could both do it - course that doesn't mean I would! Here are some of the jewels from the wall of the cave. Beautiful.

Katie trying out her Western skills at Wall Drug. It was a shame to hurry through this spot, but now we've been there we know how to find it again. J/K if you've been within 200 miles of the place you've seen enough road signs to find it easily.

We really enjoyed our time at the Badlands. We were lucky enough to happen by this mountain goat family with several babies. Just out of the shot is the crazy man who was scaling the side of the mountain to get his picture. Thank you telephoto lens.

It would be fun to do some more hiking here!

This is the model the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore made before beginning the work. I never knew it was so unfinished. It was cool to see both together.

It was lovely driving through Custer State Park. We passed several hundred buffalo on the way. The tunnels are a great way to get your first view of Mt. Rushmore.

This is such an inspiring site. Loved it! I'm so glad we finally found our way there.