CELEBRATING ALL MONTH LONG

I'm turning 50-years-old in a week.  I'm actually excited about it.  I started celebrating two weeks ago.  Here's how it started:

My sweet friend, Janis, took me to lunch and a movie that I had been wanting to see: Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.  We had so much fun visiting and the movie was great!  I liked it even better than the book.

I love this lady!

The following day, my daughter and my grandson came to visit for my birthday.  I managed to get the best babysitter in Shelbyville to watch Skittles while Scott, Kiara and I went to see Spamalot at the Shelbyville Theater downtown.  It was loads of fun.  Spamalot is the musical version of Monte Python.  So this show was outrageously stupid, but done so well that we laughed and laughed.

"Always look on the bright side of life!"

My BIG birthday present was from Kiara.  She got tickets for her and I to go to a One Republic concert in Indiana.  It was AH-MAY-ZING!  We had so much fun!  The music was awesome!  Ryan Tetter was/is soooooo talented!  And the best part was spending the whole day with my daughter!  

Got our One Republic gear!

This girl is definitely one of my best friends EVER!

Mother and Daughter

Huge One Republic fans!

"I Ain't Worried" featuring Maverick AND Ryan Tetter

We thought this water "bottle" was hilarious.

I promise it is only water.

The rest of the week was spent playing with my grandson and my daughter.

Besties

Skittles played HARD!

Exploring Shelbyville downtown

I pass this flower often... and love it!

LOVE that smile!

Amy and some of her kids also came to visit.  It was so fun to watch Skittles and Starburst reconnect.  They have been besties since birth.  And it was as if no time had passed since they had seen eachother.  They laughed, hugged, played, and were silly together.  Raisin also enjoyed hanging with Skittles and Starburst.  The three of them made this grandma's heart happy!  I spoiled them all with blue icees of course and took pictures of their "blue tongue disease!"  (I've been a firm believer of spoiling kids with "blue tongue disease" since my daughters were old enough to enjoy the sweet treat.)

Bedtime hugs!

Playing together!

Same size!

Crashing cars!

Jonah and Nathan

Jacob and Aaron

Raisin and Skittles

BLUE TONGUE DISEASE!

Skittles, Raisin, & Starburst

On Friday, I took my four of my best friends (Scott, Kiara, Amy and Nicole) to see the Giants.  Skittles had been begging Grandpa and me to take him to see them again. We took all the kids, and had soooo much fun (even though it was raining.)  I love everyone of these awesome kids!

There is absolutely nothing better than holding your grandson's hands with your husband!

Skittles loves his grandpa soooo much!

These kids make me smile!

Starburst and Skittles

(Let's be real - they are ADORABLE!)

Kiara photobombed - to make them smile.

Like Grandpa, like Grandson!

This picture makes me laugh.

Neither boy wanted to pose for a picture, let alone be in the statue all by themselves.

You can see it in their FORCED smiles.

Being a grandma is THE best!

"Look, Dad, I found a dragon skull!"

Scott and I posing with some of our favorite kids EVER!

I LOVE this man!

And I LOVE these two characters!

I know there will be a lot more celebrations for my birthday... but I wanted to blog the past two weeks first. 
I'm ending this post with all the mushrooms I saw at Bernheim Forrest with the Giants.  There were so many cool ones.

PRICELESS

 Is there anything better than the temple of the Lord?  I contend that the covenants we make in the temple are eternal and rewarding in and of themselves... but sharing the temple and the promises with those we love is even more wonderful!  We were able to share our love of the temple with our extended family as Sheila and Kapp took out their own endowments on Thursday.  They both waited for Scott and I to be in Idaho so we could attend this sacred occasion.  It was wonderful!  My entire family (except my mom) were in attendance.  (My mother was worthy to be there and was definitely there in spirit, although her health did not permit her to be there in person.)  The tears of joy were in abundance as I hugged my niece and nephew.  I'm proud of them.  I love them.  I'm grateful that families are forever because of the temple.

Kapp - Me - Sheila - Scott

My Nephew and My Colorado Daughter

Chance, Zane, Kapp, Sheila, Tara, and Ender

Gary, Emily, GJ, Sheila, Ken, Mariah, and Shanae

My Daughters

Katia - Sheila - Kiara

"I love to see the temple!"

DeGOOYER DAY 2022

DeGooyer Day is one of my all time favorite holidays!  I love celebrating being a DeGooyer.  And this year, since our entire family (except Scott and I) live in Idaho, we decided to make DeGooyer Day a two day experience in Boise.  We had a total blast with our daughters, sons and grandson!

Once we got the kids from Rexburg, we drove to Boise and began our holiday with a 4-wheeler excursion with my brother's family.  It was super fun, dirty and exciting!  Unfortunately Skittles wouldn't have been able to "handle" 4-wheeling, so he spent the day with Aunt GJ and Aunt Shanae and Berry.  They had fun swimming too.

This was our 4-wheeling Crew!

Thanks, Ben and Kristi!  This was a total blast!

Lollipop and Kade

Skylar and Katia

Jolly Rancher, Kiara, Me, Cucumber and Ben

Kristi and Sage

Scott and Cody

Jolly Rancher and Kiara

Cucumber and Me!

Cucumber and I nicknamed our ride The Mouse.

Reinacting Shanae and Sheila's epic crash last year.

The roles of Shanae and Sheila were played by Sage and Jolly Rancher.

SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!

Look how dirty!

Skittles was learning to kick his feet with Aunt Nae Nae

Aren't they the cutest grandsons ever?!

We are so blessed!

Aunt GJ loves our grandsons!

Aunt GJ spoiled him rotten....

He made chalk art with her.

Then the next day, we all went white water rafting.  It was tons of fun!  And beautiful!  We are so glad our newest son was our guide.  His family were all DeGooyers for the day to help us celebrate!  (Thanks, Browns!)  I would have taken more photos of the rafting, but I didn't want my phone to "drown" and become obsolete.

Our DeGooyer family continues to grow!

We are grateful the Browns married in to our crazy crew!

And of course, we added our Colorado daughter, Sheila!

I love this lady!

Alicia Brown and Me

Eating lunch.

Skittles loves his Cheetos.

Love this guy!

He was "in his element."

He loves the water.

I think he wants to join the Browns in their rafting hobby.

Was DeGooyer Day a success?  YES!  I love my family!  I'm soooo grateful for this silly, wonderful tradition of ours!  I'm already looking forward to next year!