NERGGLE Family Reunion!

2010 NERGGLE (Elggren spelled backwards) in Island Park, ID and West Yellowstone! Here are picture galore! Big Springs

I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream! and believe me there was screaming!

We played til we passed out!

Did I mention it was cold?!

Brandon and Will in the river in Yellowstone! I was none to thrilled!

Amazing Geysers, everywhere!

From Williams perspective...

Don't jump in!

Waiting for Old Faithful.... waiting, waiting....

There she blows!! (ok, we were all kind of disappointed!) It was pretty lame!

The best picture we could get with the waterfall in the background. It took 2 1/2 hours to get there! SMILE!!!

Me and the love of my life!

Tantrums a plenty!

And last but not least, Buffalo EVERYWHERE!!

Our country is amazing and so is our family! Love you all!

Pleasure, Pretty and Pyros

This 4th of July was celebrated at our 3rd Annual Elggren Family BBQ and Firework show! This BBQ has become a tradition and was bigger and better than ever this weekend! B right at home on the BBQ! I think he cooked for 60 plus people! Pure PLEASURE!
Will with a sparkler! FIRE!

Mara in her swimsuit on the slip N slide. PRETTY girl!

Anna pushing everyone down the roller coaster!

Me, Aly and Nicole.

There is a method to this madness!

LET THE SHOW BEGIN!

WAITING, WAITING, WAITING.....

This had to be the coolest one!

The Men behind the Fire! Gotta be able to play with fire sometime!

And they literally BURNED everything!

Few..... glad he put his back into it! The fire is officially out!

Movin on up...

SHE DID IT! KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION!

Ok, so I always knew she would do it, I just cant believe how fast this year flew and fast Mara is growing up. In just a couple of weeks, she will be a 1st grader! Ok, so I think I may cry. I didn't cry on her first day of kindergarten. Mostly because I knew I would be seeing her in 2 1/2 hours. BUT ALL DAY?! What's a mom to do?

Getting her dipolma from Mrs. Thayer!
Dad, Mom and Mara!
Mara and Mrs. Thayer! SHE IS WONDERFUL!

Mara and her little boy crush Gavin! These two are inseperable!

AND, if you are wondering why they are dressed so silly, they had a zoo day. They had to combine a mammal and insect and learn 3 things from each animal. CUTE, but I am just glad I convinced her NOT to dress like a kangaroo/ caterpiller!

Mara's kindergarten friends! Peyton and Halle!

Thoughts from me....

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, and yet for some reason I can't remember much. This month has been such a blur. Things have happened this month that I am not at all interested in remembering, HOWEVER, a lot has happened that I never want to forget.

Like...

• The simplicity and joy in my childrens faces everytime I come home or their dad walks in the door.
• How well they are all swimming.
• How Mara loves taking pictures of everything.
• Their love for each other and their cousins.
• How my kids fight and then turn around and stand up for one another if one of them gets hurt.
• Their love for seeing movies. BTW, toy story 3 made me cry.
• How Mara laughs the loudest in the theater.
• Maras excitement to do homework and read!
• All of their excitement of going to church and all that they learn there.
• I am thankful for all of their teachers. Thank you so very much!
• How I never want to forget my husbands face and how I fall deeper in love with him everyday. Is that possible?!
• How grateful I am for how hard he works for us, even in time of poor health. He is the truest form of Superman!
• How William rides his bike so fast that I want to cover my eyes. He absolutely loves it.
• I love how my kids hair goes more blonde in the summer sun!
• Anna's pure love for her binky and blanket, darn it! I'll pay later!
• Their deep blue eyes when they are happy and how thier tears can actually make me cry and hypnotize me to feel their innocence for one brief moment.

There is so much more that I can write, but will stop for now. The chaos of my life sometimes drives me crazy, but I know someday I will want to remember the messes, boogers on the wall, toys thrown all around, dirty shoes, non matching sock drawer, SO, I will try and keep up everyday. Writing and remembering...

On another note...Being a mom has been the hardest thing for me. So I am figuring this out as I go. Although its been hard, it has given me so much that I never thought about before. I have discovered a lot about myself. Good, bad, ugly, beautiful and sometimes down right weird. I have discovered my severe impatience with a lot of things and my extreme patience for others. My hard headedness, fear of the unknown, my loving capabilities, charity, faith, hope, fear of darkness, love of my Savior and his plan for me and my eternal family, passion for teaching, my testimony, confidence, bravery, geneology, lackof housekeeping capabilities, how to be a daughter, sister and true friend. The reason behind this crazy life. Temple work and the absolute importance. How to embrace the moment, how to say yes even when I want to say no. Sacrifice. Selflessness. (still working on that). Importance of my marriage, acceptance, knowledge, everyone is a child of God and should be treated as such. My sudden love for country music. How I get distracted so easily by good music or a good story. My need to read to my children more. All of this and I could keep going. Every morning is a gift. A little nudge to wake me up and get me moving more often than not comes from my children. And although I keep wishing they would sleep in just one day, I know that day will come when I wish they would get their butts out of bed. Being a mother is beautiful. It's not always glamourous, but my kids and husband make me feel like I am the most beautiful woman on earth even when I wake up with bad breath and crazy hair.

Today.......

My life has been full of prayer lately. I stumbled upon this poem today and it HIT me! Enjoy!

PRAYER

'Mid the discordant noises of the day I hear thee calling;

I stumble as I fare along Earth's way; keep me from falling.

Mine eyes are open but they cannot see for gloom of night:

I can no more than lift my heart to thee for inward light.

The wild and fiery passion of my youth consumes my soul;

In agony I turn to thee for truth and self-control.

For Passion and all the pleasures it can give will die the death;

But this of me eternally must live, thy borrowed breath.

'Mid the discordant noises of the day I hear thee calling;

I stumble as I fare along Earth's way; keep me from falling.

"I want to be like Tiger."

Mara and Will are taking golf lessons this summer and they actually did pretty good!
Although, Mara said " I hope someday I can be just like Tiger Woods!" Hmmmm.... Let me think about that one for awhile. Not really sure what to say!

It's all over.... at least until fall

Our 2009 Fall/ Spring soccer season is officially over! WHEW! Mara did great and we made through as the coaches! I must say even though Brandon and I know NOTHING about coaching soccer, it was so much fun and I am a little sad that it is over. When we started, our little 5-6 year old team also knew NOTHING of playing soccer or playing as a team, but it was amazing to watch how they learned and went from being competitive towards one another to helping each other out! This lesson was HUGE for Mara! I am so glad we did this and CAN'T wait for next season. Mara even scored a goal in her last game! She was so excited! Coach Brandon (Dad) and Mara!
Assistant Coach Mom, Mara and Anna (who BTW, was NOT thrilled to go to games. She wanted to play too.)

This is Mara up against her friend Gavin from school. He pushed her and his mom yelled from the sideline, "Don't push Mara! I didn't teach you that!" Cute! She was out there with some really big boys pushing them around!

Mara and Mya! The only girls on our team and they were AWESOME!

The WHOLE CLAN! (Notice the worlds UGLIEST uniforms!!) We actually lost a player because of the uniform color!

Way to go Mara! We are so proud!