Once upon a time....

there was a "little one" who celebrated her 24th birthday...

the decorations were all put up and just screaming "let's party!"

...all the fairys were invited...

...these 2 fairys were the masterminds of the event....

...the purple fairy spared no expense to come...

...the green and silver fairys flew all the way from Utah to surprise the "little one" on her big day !

...OK, I know you're all dying for a "close-up" of silver fairy!

...the fairys made a special cake for "little one"...(OK, I admit we ALL know she doesn't like cake...but "little one's" Mom does!)

"Little one" needed some help to blow out 24 candles! Good thing purple fairy and orange fairy were close by to lend some wind!

"Little one" got some sweet gifts---I think this was one of her most favorite ones!
...and everything happened happily ever after!!!

Best Buddies

This is Lea and her good friend Zac. They went to the prom together several years ago when they were both still in high school. She hasn't seen a lot of him since high school, just around town here and there.

I was talking to Lea's case manager, who also happens to be Zac's as well and she mentioned that Zac wanted to see Lea more often. She suggested to Zac that he set up a weekly lunch date on Mondays. As you can see, it was a successful Monday! (I wonder if they talked and coordinated their shirts?)

Week 3......C*A*Y*M*A*N

Week 3 of our nomad life found us traveling to Cayman for our annual Roney family reunion. It's SO much fun to travel all together as a family. Sitting on the floor of the plane and playing cards with a group of cousins is a ton of fun.

Somebody had a birthday while we were in Cayman. Happy 25th Birthday Ty Kekauoha Roney!

Lea had a BLAST playing in the pool with her newest sister, Sloane and brother Ty.

The sunsets were stellar...

Mom and some girls enjoying this sunset.

Cousins came to play with us and hang out...here's Jarom at his best!

We all did a lot of reading in Cayman. I actually read 3 books while there! (A Stolen Life, Joy for Beginners and The Hiding Place)

Miss Lea sure enjoyed her music

and some of us enjoyed taking naps!

Ty had a great time sharing Cayman with his new wife, Sloane. Here he shows her a cool red starfish.

A family photo on our last night in Cayman.
Bye Cayman....see u soon!

Ahhhhh.......

Lea with "Silverwings"....so cute...need I say more?

Everybody has one...

yep, that's right....I'm talking about a HERO. My heros are those people that inspire me to be a better person. Yes, I'm probably talking about YOU as well. My life is filled with people that are kind and generous and just want to make the world a better place. Here are just two heros that have been influential to Lea. This is Dave Braithwaite, Lea's physical therapist since she was a baby. He was instrumental in about EVERY milestone in Lea's life....from sitting up when she was 2 years old....to eventually walking when she was @ 6 yrs old. Lea loved to work with Dave and always gave him her all. She always wanted to work hard just for Dave!

Isn't this just the sweetest look on Lea's face...she's thinking...hey, I can do this walking thing!

This is Lea's 1st grade teacher at Canyon Crest Elementary...Miss Cannon. She LOVED having Lea in her class and made sure that she treated Lea "just like everybody else". Lea blossomed in Miss Cannon's class and made tons of friends.
SO, who are your heros?

Traffic stoppers

This is what we ran into (not literally) the other day as I was taking Lea to work. There was a whole "line" of elk and the car in front of me stopped for them to cross the road. There were about 15 of them and there were several males with antlers a growing.

Around here, these guys have the right of way. There are several places that are considered "wildlife corridors" on my way to town. So, you gotta pay attention!

He's REAL !!!

Yep, I still have a believer!! I love it...keeps Christmas in our home so much fun. And her innocence is so sweet. We just had our ward Christmas party and when Santa walked into the room, I thought she was going to levitate, cuz her arms were flapping so fast and furious cuz she was EXCITED that Santa was there. Maya quickly got her 1st in line to see Santa and she was the happiest camper all night. Looks like this Santa could stand to eat a few more cookies....he's SO skinny!

She visited with this Santa after Kara had a Christmas dance recital.

This looks like a Santa from another ward Christmas party.

Santa even came to Nuskin this year!

But our favorite Santa of all time....had to be this guy...Dave Braithwaite. He was Lea's physical therapist when she was a tiny one and he would come every year to our house to see Lea and bring her what...naturally, a book.

Lea's door

at Disneyland in Fantasyland...you probably all know this door...well it caught our eye "way back then" and now every time we go to Disneyland our trip is not complete until we get a picture of Lea and "her door"!

there's about a 17 year difference in these photos!

On the road again....

to Laramie, Wyoming!! Why? Lea needs to go to the eye doctor. Yes, Laramie, Wyoming...where the University of Wyoming is located. We go to this particular doctor because she is that GOOD. It's a good 6 hour drive from Jackson. Here are some of the highlights as we drive along...especially on I-80. This is Sinclair, Wyoming...guess what they do there?

When we see the wind farm, we know we're less than an hour away!

Lea and I make a fun time out of it...staying in a hotel and going out to dinner. Just the two of us.

I-80 is quite the interstate...I have seen some REALLY interesting stuff traveling on this road...like these GIGANTIC tires.

And the scenery isn't much to see once you're on I-80, but we were lucky to have bright blue skies and some cool cloud formations.

Fall Sports

Volleyball, Swimming, Cross Country, Horseback Riding....oh my! These are the things that have kept our family of girls REALLY busy this fall since school began. Everyone had practice after school (except Lea..thank you girlfriend!) and they all ended at different times and in different places and usually all the way across town from each other! It was a juggling logistical nightmare. But now, they are all over and this mom is shouting Woot Woot! Maya was our volleyball player.

Check out how high this girlie can jump!

Sky doing the "fly"!

Swimmer twins

I know, lame picture, but I don't have a photo of my runner girl running...her in her uniform will have to do. She loves it though...is this kid mine?

And last, here's sweet Lea who just returned from Special Olympics held in Casper, Wyoming. She did horseback riding and garnered two golds and one silver. Woot Woot...go Lea!

"I heard it's your birthday..."

Yeah, you heard that right! This cool gal just turned 23 years old! What did she do on her special day? Well, she went to the hospital and spread a little joy around, along with the weekly newspaper and some juice. Then she went horseback riding with a good friend at JH therapeutic riding. She is one HAPPY girl!

You all know that she doesn't like cake, or pie or ice cream or candy....SO, one has to get creative with her birthday treat. I do know that she likes unfrosted, plain sugar cookies. So, being inspired from all the cooking shows I watch on TV, I came up with this. I think it turned out rather cute.

It took her a few tries to blow out her candles....then some sisters decided to help.

The next day, Lea planned a party for herself with the help of some girlfriends. She is quite pleased about it by the look on her face.

Another birthday treat? Yep, this time it is a strawberry jello with mandarin oranges in it...yeah, she LOVES jello! This time we only put two candles...much easier to blow out!

The whole gang...Crystal Lee, Samantha, Jules, Katharine, Lea, Micah and Heidi. After a feast of pigs in a blanket and some jello "cake", they watched the movie "Grease 2". Lea had a great time with her girlie friends!