Fun Times

I was going through the camera today and found some pictures we've taken over the past month or so. They are mostly just random shots of the kids being cute so I thought I would post them for you to all enjoy. The one of Craig and Tyler is at Ashlie's dance recital while we were waiting for it to start. For Father's Day we took pictures of the kids and put them on aprons for Grandpa and Papa and anytime you try to take a picture with Tyler you can never be quite sure what you are going to get. We took about 6 pictures and finally got one we could use. The other was another shot that was typical Tyler with his arm in front of Sari's face pushing her away. Then the one in the pool is our three with a couple of Sari's friends from school. We've practically adopted them since they do FHE, scripture and family prayer, go to church, and eat 2-3 meals a day at our house.

13 Years

Well, today is our 13th anniversary. It is crazy to think we've been married for 13 years. I'll give you guys a sappy little love story for those of you who don't know it. I had just started my second year at Ricks and my roommates and I needed a ride to Utah for a friends mission farewell. A friend of a friend knew this guy who had a car (insert Craig) and he'd be thrilled to drive 3 girls to Utah for the weekend. So on Friday afternoon Craig shows up at our doorstep with his friend Chris McCabe to pick us up. One of my roommates actually had a crush on Craig so he was off limits to begin with but so not my type. He was so quiet and reserved. We all had a great time that weekend just hanging out. Craig and I started hanging out a little bit after that and before we knew it we were really good friends. We went on a lot of drives and just talked, a lot! I asked him out first to Preference. At Thanksgiving he asked me how I felt about marriage and by Christmas we were engaged. We got married the following June in the San Diego Temple. Fast forward 13 years and 3 kids later and here we are. We have most certainly had our up's and down's but we've managed to work through them and I think we are better because of it. Over the last year or so we've learned a lot about ourselves and each other and we have a much stronger relationship now. It's nice we can both say we are married to our best friend. It's kind of crazy to think where we might be in another 13 years.

Craig turns 30 something again!!!

Craig is getting to where he doesn't exactly enjoy his birthdays as much anymore. Unfortunately this one wasn't great because I was sick and he even had to do the dishes!!! I tried to make the day fun for him but I don't know how successful I was. We just kind of hung out most of the day trying to get me feeling better, which it worked!!! In the evening Ashlie had her dance recital so after it was over the family all got together and we went to Olive Garden (Craig's favorite) for dinner. We had a party of 22 so it was good to go later in the evening so it wasn't so crowded. He had a good time and we had Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream Cake for dessert.

Ashlie's Dance Recital

Well, the big finale has come!!! Ashlie spends all year going to dance classes for her one night of glory!!! She loves the dance recitals and the costumes. She was in three dances this year: tap, jazz, and ballet. This is a picture of her in her ballet costume with flowers from her some of her fans!!! Flowers are also another highlight of the dancing season!!! She did a great job!!!

It's Summer!!!

So we celebrated the beginning of summer vacation by doing one of our favorite family activities - swimming and the drive in movies!!! Well, actually, I didn't even attempt the swimming, I stuck my toes in and that was enough for me. Craig actually changed into his suit and then decided against it. It didn't affect the kids at all though. The girls swam and swam. Tyler swam for a bit and then when he could no longer feel his toes decided he was done. Craig turned the heat on in the hot tub and so Tyler got in there and hung out for a bit. Then we all went in and got changed and headed off to the movies. They closed the drive in down in Visalia so we have to go to Hanford about 30 minutes away. But we figured out the cost of gas, the admission cost, and snackies and for all 5 of us it cost less than $40. A few weeks ago we all headed out to the movies at the theatre and for tickets and popcorn for the 5 of us we spent $90. I think we'll keep driving to Hanford. We saw Speed Racer (again) and had a blast. The weather was perfect for a sweatshirt. We folded down the back of the car and the kids hung out in there and Craig and I had our lawn chairs right in front of them. Tyler enjoyed being able to run around in the back of the van and then he could climb out and over to Craig and I saw he thought that was pretty cool. We had lots of fun and are already planning our next movie!!!

I can't believe it!!!

I thought you all must know that I woke up this morning to an email from my english teacher. He accepted my paper, although he didn't say why, and gave me 17/20. Life will go on in the Dixon house!!!!

English Vent

Okay, so I don't use my blog as a vent very often but I felt like I needed to share a little. If you don't want to read just skip! I'm so bummed. I started my online english class last week and my teacher is pretty strict. He took the same work you would normally do in a 4 month semester class and condensed it into a 5 week summer class. So I have assignments due every 2-3 days. I'm spending hours (5-7) a day working on my english homework. So my 2nd assignment was due Tuesday at midnight. I managed to get it all done and even a little early. I had an extra assignment to do because we each have to take a turn doing the summary of our group discussion. I got to go first so I worked about 6 hours on it yesterday and about another 3 on it today to get it done. I did all of that on top of the regular assignment that is due tomorrow night. So I just went to email my teacher the assignment and I realized that it was due at noon today and not midnight. If you refer to the beginning where I discuss how strict the teacher is, in the orientation he specifically said that since this is such a fast moving class the assignments are due exactly at the time specified. Not one minute later. And if they come one minute late he will not accept them but just delete them. ugh!!! So I'm in tears. After working so hard and for so long and the silly paper is worth 10% of my grade!!! So I just dropped to a "B" in a heartbeat! I'm so frustrated. I still emailed it to him and we'll see I guess if he accepts it or not. It is so confusing when the times are different for different assignments. Try telling him that!! So, I guess that is my vent. Sorry you had to take part.

Ashlie's Pool Party

Ashlie came home from a month or so ago and informed me she had invited some friends over to swim and she gad given them my phone number so they could call when they were on their way over. After talking to her a little bit we decided that instead of just inviting friends over individually (they are only 7 and 8) that maybe we could just have a pool party. So the planning began. We ended up with 9 little friends here on Friday night. We barbecued hot dogs and had chips, cookies, jello and lots of capri suns. The kids had a great time and many of them left their phone numbers so we could call them to come back again. Most important, Ashlie had a great time and it made her feel really good to have a party with her friends. Since Sari is older it seems that she is always the one having the parties and having friends over. So it made Ashlie feel good to be big like Sari. Here is a picture of Ashlie with a couple of her friends.