Blessing DiMaggio

On Sunday, July 5th we blessed DiMaggio. It was a wonderful weekend, as my mom and all of my brothers came into town to share our wonderful day. It meant a lot to me to see my husband and 3 brothers walk to the front of the church, knowing that they are all worthy priesthood holders, and bless my new son. It has been 6 years since my dad died, but his legacy was so wonderfully felt by every one in the room. He raised my brothers to love the church and have strong testimonies, and he loved Mark, and knew he was a great man. It is sad to think of all of the things my dad has missed, but I really feel that he was there with us that day. Mark gave DiMaggio a wonderful blessing, blessing him with a hunger for knowledge, a love of life, to be honorable, and many other wonderful things. It was a really great day! Thanks to all of my family for making the trip!

Dominique's dance recital

On June 6th Dominique had her first dance recital. She has been taking tap lessons for the entire school year, and did a great job at her recital. She loved being up on stage and is already planning her next chance to preform in front of an audience.

DiMaggio Striker Garr

Our baby was born!

On Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 11:19 am DiMaggio Striker Garr was born. It was after only 5 hours of labor, and he has been easy ever since. He was 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long. He has red hair, not a common trait in our family, but he is super cute with it. We chose the name DiMaggio Striker, because we wanted to use a baseball name (to represent Kara's family) and a soccer name (to represent Mark's family). Joe DiMaggio was a great baseball player for the New York Yankees in the 1930's. The name Striker is actually a position in soccer. It is another name for forward, and after going over too many impossible to say Brazilian soccer player's names, Kara finally agreed to Striker. He is a wonderful little man, and has done nothing but bring joy into our family. Cooper is proving to be a great big brother, and Dominique has really loved having a baby in the house again. Life for our family couldn't be better.

Happy Easter!

We had a lovely Easter this past weekend. We had to get up early because church is at 9:00 but it was worth it to watch our kids look for their baskets and eggs. What a fun morning. Mom even got up early enough to make Cinnamon rolls (from a can!). Then we got dressed in our Easter best and went off to church. It was a day full of wonderful meetings, and we were able to talk to our kids on the way home about what Easter really means, and the amazing blessing our Savior gave us when he was resurrected, our Eternal Family! We are really blessed to know that, and we are grateful for His sacrifice for us.

Spring Break in Utah

Our family made the trip to Utah for Dominique's spring break. It was no sunny day at the beach, but four days snowed in at a cabin in Park City! Mark's family had a family reunion there, and it was great to see everyone for the first time in over a year. Both Aunt Cherie and Mark took the kids out to play in the snow, and had a really good time. But it SNOWED! We took our van up in the mountains, and if we had to leave any earlier than we did we would have been stuck. Luckily the snow stopped on Saturday night and we were able to go home on Sunday. Before we went to the cabin we stopped in Bear Lake to see my Grandma, who celebrated her 86th birthday that week. We then had lunch in Logan with my brother Kellen, and then we spent the rest of the day at my older brother TJ's house visiting with him and his family. It was a great trip, and we are really glad we went.