~The Connolly Family-Est. August 11, 2001

Eight years ago Adam and I were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple. It was a bitter sweet day as we left one life behind and started another. Since then, there have been lots of tears and lots of happy times. We have two beautiful boys and another on the way.
What more can I ask for?

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

I am like a falling star who has finally found her place next to another in a lovely constellation, where we will sparkle in the heavens forever.

Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction.

Happy Anniversary Love

~Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

One of my goals for the summer was to learn how to make jam (or at least try).



This is a rhubarb bush. Apparently you can make yummy things to eat with this stuff!

This is Mary. The rhubarb bush belongs to her. When Adam first arrived to Alaska he did some remodeling work for her. She is a very nice grandmotherly lady. Adam mentioned to her, that I wanted to make jam. She said once her rhubarb bush was ready, she'd show me how.




This week she called and said that the rhubarb was ready... to come on over.



Mary showed me how to cut the rhubarb and add it with the strawberries to make the jam. It was very easy and made the house smell great!














The end product. Tasty Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.

I had so much fun with Mary, that the next morning I decided to make some jam on my own. I made a Candy Apple jelly and it turned out great too!

~Taekwon Do and "OH SH*@#!"

~Today was Noah's first Taekwon Do lesson. He looked absolutely adorable in his uniform and he did a great job following along. He can even kick as high and higher than some of the other kids in his class. I was a proud mom. At the end he was a little disappointed because he didn't get to break any boards. Boys will be boys! It's not real fun until you break something.

After class he was very tired...

~"OH SH*#@!"

Excuse the remodeling project in the back of the picture, but look closely at Adam's face. Yes, this picture was taken just after he returned from the dentist for a root canal. While the dentist was giving Adam the series of shots to numb his mouth he hears the dentist yell,
"OH SH*@#!"
and instantly feels pain above his upper lip (not anywhere close to the back of his mouth where he was supposed to get the shots). The blood started to flow and so did the apologies. The dr. said in his 20 years of practice he has never done that to a patient. He accidently shoved the needle into Adams upper lip, totally missing his mouth altogether! Adam said that every time his upper lip would stretch during the root canal it would start to bleed and they'd have to stop to wipe the blood...then he would start laughing just thinking about the dentist swearing.
Adam is a good sport!

~Frogs, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

~Well there are no snails or puppy dogs tails, but we did find a FROG. They were a little scared to touch it at first, but warmed up to it pretty fast. Hopefully Simon didn't kill it! He didn't want it to get away.

CUTE NOAH STORY
~This has nothing to do with frogs, but I thought it was cute. The other day the boys were given an Alvin and the Chipmunks poster at the movies. On the way home we heard Noah singing, so we turned down the radio and listened. Noah's favorite primary song is, "Follow the Prophet." He was singing, while looking at his poster, and I quote, "Alvin and the Chipmunks, don't go astray. Follow the prophet he knows the way!"

~Boys and Blueberries

I haven't really kept up on blogging since we've been back in Alaska, but over the weekend we went blueberry picking.
The boys had a great time.
Tonight we enjoyed homemade blueberry pancakes! Yummy!

~Noah's First Job

Noah has been wanting to get another Bakugan but his dad told him he had to earn the money. Adam also mentioned that Grandpa Connolly (relaxing there in the recliner) pays money to grandkids for folding his barber shop towels. Last night Grandpa ever so kindly employed Noah. After an hour, Noah finally got all the shop towels folded. He earned $5. (Grandpa pays well!) This was Noah's first job. This also meant that he had his first real lesson about tithing. It was great! Thanks Grandpa Connolly!

~other fun things we did in Eagar

~South Fork Rainy Day Adventure

We're up in Eagar again to visit Grandma Slade and she decided to do some fun stuff with the boys. The first thing was to take them fishing. She got Noah a cool batman fishing pole and we headed off to the lake. We first went to Nelson's but it was raining too hard so Grandma told us some true fishing stories (you know the one I'm talking about, "hook in the nose"). Then we headed to South Fork. Simon wasn't interested in fishing so he hung out with me. Noah had a great time telling Grandma to, "put another worm on the line!"

She's such a good sport.

Today's adventure with Grandma will take us to Show Low to go bowling.

Grandma's are SOOOO fun!

~Falcon Field

Falcon Field had an open house where you could go look at some really cool planes. Noah had a blast, jumping up and down and loving every minute. Simon was less interested, but it was a fun outting!

~Easter and Shane's Wedding

Shane's wedding was wonderful. Jennifer looked beautiful and as she walked in the room, Shane even got a little choked up. It was really sweet. We're excited to have Jennifer and Jaycee in the family.

Simon and the tie


Noah was the ring bearer. He was the cutest little boy in the room that night.



Shane's wedding was wonderful.








The dinner the night before. I thought the table
decorations were quite cute.
















SATURDAY MORNING BEFORE THE WEDDING.




Easter Picnic at Aunt Lana's new house! Look how lovely it is in Eagar. IT WAS FREEZING!

Easter Egg time!

Noah was very careful. It was really cute. But at the end, he re-dyed every egg a different color. Most of them turned out brownish.

Simon loved dying Easter Eggs. I think he dyed most of the eggs Grandma had.