Summer

I'm anxious to get caught up on the blog here so that I'm not posting my back-to-school pictures at Christmastime! :) This past summer was a crazy summer. A whirlwind of emotion. We started out the summer doing all of the normal fun summer things and then three weeks in, we found ourselves preparing to move. It all happened so fast--only four weeks between putting our house on the market and moving out! It was exciting and hard--mostly hard. It was a lot more difficult to leave than I thought it would be! Probably because it was our first house, and we brought home most of our babies there, and we really made it our own. That house was pretty bare bones when we moved in and we had done much to improve it--everything from a full-repainting, to a complete yard re-do, updating cabinets and woodwork, etc. It was ours and it was beautiful. Although the tiny space was driving me bananas! And of course, the neighborhood. Leaving friends and neighbors was so hard as well. But...we felt it was time to move on and gain a bit more square footage. We still miss the house a lot and feel sad sometimes, but I'm guessing that is normal for awhile. Anyway.....some good stuff happened this summer too. This sweet little guy turned two in June! Isn't he just darling? He makes us laugh every day.

We went out to eat at Chili's as a family and then spent a quiet evening at home, opening gifts and playing with them. The following Sunday, we had a family dinner and enjoyed some yummy strawberry pie.

My two-fisted pie eater!

Emma had her piano recital in June. Emma invited a few friends to be there along with the relatives. It's always amazing to see her progress!

The Fourth of July was spent with the Familias, per tradition. We always have such a blast eating our hearts out, laughing, being crazy, lounging, fireworking, and feeling glad to be American. We love the Familias and we love America!

Early July brought swimming lessons. Sarah and I love to chat while we watch our littles learn new tricks in the water. Good times! All the kids really love to swim and learn a lot during lessons. Rachel lost a lot of her fear this time and it was great prep for our trip to Texas, where we swam nearly every day!

July mostly meant packing and prepping to move. We said goodbye to this house....

...and this yard.

Thankfully, we had a super fun trip to Texas to see my family planned right after we moved out of our old house. The timing could not have been better! Seriously. We nearly killed ourselves all weekend moving out and cleaning, had two days to rest at my in-laws' house, and then jetted off to have fun and relax for two full weeks. We really needed it--all of us. It kept my mind off of the sadness of moving and the work of moving in that awaited me when I came back. The kids needed the extra love and attention. And we all needed to PLAY! And play we did. Here are some of the things we did: *SWAM! A lot. Almost every day we spent 2+ hours at the pool. *Rodeo. Can't beat a Texas rodeo! *Frozen yogurt, ice cream, popsicles.... *Park *Cousin birthday party *American Girl tea party *Visit to the Alamo and dinner downtown *Cousin playdates *Pioneer ward party *Saw Despicable Me 2 *Shopping *Game nights *Movie nights It was wonderful to be with family and have so much fun together. Thank you mom and dad--you are absolutely perfect hosts!

On August 10th, a few days after we got back from Texas, we moved into our new house in Orem. Pictures to come soon, I promise! We live just a few blocks away from beloved Aunt Sue and we have been loving it. Sunday family dinners outside are always fun. The kids love Aunt Sue's dress-ups.

I can't thank everyone enough for their help in getting us moved out and moved in this summer! My dear in-laws took us in for several days and cooked for us, cleaned for us, watched our kids for many hours, so we could do the work we needed to do. And so many others helped us along the way--we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Though we are sad about moving, we love our new home and neighborhood. It is nice to feel like we are not tripping over each other all the time!

Pioneer Ancestors

We recently visited the graves of our pioneer ancestors Lewis Wight and family in Brigham City. We had never been there before and discovered that the Wights are buried among Lorenzo Snow's family. Lewis Wight's family came across the plains in 1850 as part of the first Perpetual Immigration Fund group.The burial plots are located at the intersection of A Street and Center Street for anyone interested in visiting. There are many other pioneer graves there. It was quite moving to be among so many who sacrificed so much to escape religious persecution and to build a place of refuge in what was then a barren wilderness.

Marvelous May

May was, as always, a very crazy month filled with end of year shows, performances, graduations, recitals, etc. Super fun, but super busy. Rachel showed off her skills in a gymnastics performance. We tried out the program at AF Rec Center and were pretty happy with it.  She is third from the left in this lineup. 

Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival never fails to disappoint. Always so beautiful!

The kids all randomly started holding hands and it was so precious I had to capture it!

May means Mother's Day and it's always great to feel the love. :) I'm trying to start a tradition of taking a picture outside with all of my children. I love them all so very much!

Luke graduated from Miss Maureen's preschool. We are oh so sad about not being able to do it again this year. She only has an afternoon class for Luke's age group and the time will just not work with Max's nap. We loved this preschool. She was an amazing hands-on teacher who always did great projects and activities with the kids. I highly recommend her! And being able to just walk around the corner to school and back was a huge benefit as well.

Grandma was able to come, as well as Dad.

Here is the lovely Miss Maureen!

Rachel graduated from kindergarten. She was so darling singing her little heart out during the program! I loved the songs they sang. Daddy was able to come too and that was pretty special.

Love this happy girl!

This is her good little friend, Rachel. It's so funny because last year one of Emma's good buddies was named Emma. And this year Rachel became friends with the other Rachel in her class. Aren't they cute?

Mrs. Milner was a wonderful teacher. I was so impressed with her ability to relate to the kids and her unconditional love for all of them. We will miss her!

And we can't forget Emma! She loved Mrs. Moore (especially her great taste in fashion!!!).

It was a wonderful school year for all the kids. It is so difficult to blog about this now that we have moved. It makes me miss our neighborhood and the memories we made there all the more!

Emma is 9!

Emma is now nine years old!  The happy day came in early April and we had a great time celebrating.  She wanted a friend party this year.  We decided on an American Girl doll themed party and it was a lot of fun to plan.  Many friends came and it was a success!  Here she is on her actual birthday opening gifts.
 

We did a fashion show with their dolls.  The girls chose outfits to dress their dolls in and then they each took a turn walking the runway, complete with music and a spotlight.  :)
 
The whole crew!


 

 I made regular sized cupcakes for the girls and mini-sized cupcakes for their dolls.  So cute!

 

Being silly!


 


We had a family dinner the following Sunday and Emma requested red beans and rice, cornbread, a veggie tray, and fruit salad.  Yum!  This is her birthday cheesecake.  It was delicious!
  

We are entering the 'tween' years with this little girl and I can't believe it!  She still has her stubborn, strong-willed streak, but is also very sweet and funny.  We love her so much!

 

More Family Visits

My sister and my dad came out for General Conference weekend in early April. I haven't seen Alexandra in a year! We went out and played during the priesthood session, eating at Cafe Rio and getting frozen yogurt with the kids. Then on Sunday night, we had more family over for a big chili dinner. It was SO MUCH FUN. There was a lot of baseball-playing, Tinkertoy-building, hair-braiding, and laughing. Good times!

Easter

Max's first egg hunt! The weather was absolutely beautiful on Easter weekend, which made the egg hunt so enjoyable! He learned the words
 "candy," "jelly bean," and "chocolate." :)

 
Luke, our sweet tooth, ate all of his loot in record time.
 


Dyeing eggs on Easter morning. I loved doing this when I was a kid. 
 

Easter morning!

 A big creepy Easter bunny. So we were eating dinner over at my in-laws' house. I look out the window and see a giant bunny just wandering around outside (my in-laws have a big commons area behind their house) holding this big fake carrot. It kinda scared me for a minute! And then I called for the kids to go outside and meet the Easter bunny! Even shy Max was brave enough to greet the bunny and give him a little love. Such a funny, unexpected event on Easter Sunday. The kids were pretty thrilled!
Our Easter weekend was not as lovely as it usually is. We started refinishing our kitchen cabinets (pictures to come!) that weekend, which turned out to be a very difficult and exhausting job (but worth it, I suppose). Also, I caught a terrible cold and Ben was completely wiped out on Easter Sunday from doing the cabinets. But we still tried to do all of our traditions and I even managed to complete my goal of doing a mini-devotional each day the week leading up to Easter. It really made a difference and helped our kids learn more about Christ's life and gain a greater appreciation for this most sacred and special time of year. Hope all of you had a great Easter too!