Birthday Dinner

The Brimhall's and Jeena had a birthday dinner for me last night. We had delicious corned beef and cabbage, and cake that my niece, Hadley and nephew, Hyrum, helped make.

Before this, I was wearing a very white shirt which I spilled strawberry juice on, unfortunately. (Maybe I'm really turning 3 instead of 23....) Angie was nice enough to lend me her "This is Kirtland" shirt. It was nice, I got to match Hyrum. Thanks Angie!


(Jeena seems to be looking at the wrong camera, or maybe just off into space....)

Oh, Adam! This was the best picture we got out of him. We were lucky at that. Laura told us. "I've just given up." It had to happen sometime.

Adam and Laura's baby Charlotte is just so cute!!! She couldn't get enough of herself in the mirror.
This was the shot of the night.

Charlotte loves to dance.


Thanks everyone for the wonderful dinner, and cake, and presents! It was a wonderful birthday. :)

Birthday Festivities

Well, on Wednesday I turned a ripe old age of 23. I don't feel any older probably because I've experienced so much in these last 3 years, it's kind of forced me to grow up. Plus, most of the people I'm around are 4-10 years older than I am. But, as I've pondered about my birthday, I realized that I'm happy where I'm at. When I was younger, I thought, "I can't wait to be 14 so I can wear make-up and go to dances" "I just want to be 16 so I can date and drive." etc. I thought that if I could just get to the next step, I would be happier being me. But now, I'm just glad to be me wherever I'm at. I'm just happy to be me. So I think that shows that I have grown up a little more.
Seth and I went on a birthday picnic to Shaker Lakes. We ate the yummiest chicken salad sandwiches, and fruit. Seth also made funfetti cupcakes which were delicious. Then we went on a walk and admired the beautiful houses and trees. We watched the movie "Roman Holiday" with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. I liked it a lot, but was a little disappointed at the ending. It was too real life. We had some good laughs though.

I felt very loved; a lot of people remembered my birthday, and dropped of a card, treats, sent an email, or called. It's not even over yet! We will be going to the Brimhall's for dinner on Sunday for more birthday celebration. Thank you all for making it a nice birthday!



For my birthday my aunts, Laura and Candi, took us to Cedar Point last Saturday. It was our first time. It was certainly a thrill. We had a lot of fun, and we had a great crowd to go with because Candi and Laura also brought their friends Gary, Stefan, Jonathan and Glenn. Seth said the funnest part about riding the "Raptor" was hearing Gary scream the whole time from shear terror. (Sorry Gary, it was a little funny). We went on the Top Thrill Dragster (120 mph. 420 feet in the air. 90 degree angles.) Yes, it was scary, and somehow we were crazy enough to do it twice! We did roller coasters all day long. It was fun to see my Aunt Laura at Cedar Point. She loves it so much. She was practically running, "Come on guys! We only have 5 more hours!" We had a nice picnic lunch, and ate Dip'n'Dots. I love them! We came to the decision that when you put them in your mouth it kind of feels like you just stuck your tongue to a frozen pole, so you panic a little, but then they melt one by one. It is a wonderful feeling. It's almost like a roller coaster in your mouth.

Labor Day Weekend - Squaw Rock and FHE

On Labor Day On Labor Day, we went with Jeena, the Brimhall's and the Magleby's to a place near Chagrin Falls, called Squaw Rock. There are some really nice trails, a great picnic ground, and places to swim.
All the kids loved the swings, and Uncle Seth was very obliging to all the "Underdog, Underdog's!"



That's Curt, just really far away.
Jeff, you're looking buff!
I love this Father, son shot.

Hiking on the trail.
Angie and Hyrum.
The Magleby family.
This is Squaw Rock. It was carved by Henry Church in 1885.

We didn't know to bring our bathing suits, so we didn't get to swim, but we had fun hiking and taking care of the little kids.


Hadley had hurt her big toe before we went swimming, and then hit it again on a rock. From her reaction, we were worried that she wasn't going to make it, but she recovered!
We got back to the Brimhall's after we ate the nice picnic lunch Jeena made us. Then people showered, watched some tennis and Napolean Dynamite, the we said goodbye to the Magleby's. They were going back to Washington D.C. Then, in the middle of dinner, an hour or 2 later, they came back! They said they didn't want to leave, or fight the traffic. So we welcomed them back for dinner and FHE.

This was one of our opening songs, "If you're happy and you know it" The kids were so cute!

Labor Day Weekend - Brimhall Cookout

The Brimhall's had a big cookout at their house on Sunday. It was nice of them to have all 9 of us Shepard's over on top of their own guests. Thanks Angie and Jeff and Jeena! We ate burgers, and hot dogs, corn, cheesecake bites, and yogurt pie to our hearts' content.

The kids took to doing acrobatics

It was fascinating to watch Eva all weekend. She's walking so much, and she eats with a fork!

There's Eva, digging again.

My corn matched my dress!
Trey was great with all the kids as usual. Hyrum enjoyed tying up his buddy.
Martha has developed an ingenious way to eat every entire corn kernel. I'd just like you to know that I have mastered it, and it takes forever, but you get a lot more corn out of it.

I really was intrigued by how Eva was eating with a fork.

Labor Day Weekend - Kirtland

My family came to stay with us for Labor Day Weekend. My parents and 5 of my sibling (all but Hannah and her husband Michael were there. We missed them!) It was very fun to see my family. It's amazing to think we can sleep 9 in our house! We went to see the Church Historical sites in Kirtland. The kids had never been to Kirtland. I'm glad they got to see it. It was another beautiful day!







This is us constructing a pyramid.


Amazingly, we were successful! From the bottom left: Claire, Jacob, Martha, Trey, Ashley, me.
(Seth took the picture. Thanks, Seth!)

I am grateful to my parents for making such an exhausting and treacherous journey
to our house and back. We love you!




It is wonderful to live so close to such an important place in the history of the church. I am grateful to all the faithful saints who sacrificed so much. They believed Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I believe that too. He restored the Lord's true church to the earth under the direction of Jesus Christ. Some days I wonder how I could possibly get through life without the wonderful truths of the gospel. I know it is a great blessing.