This Girl of Mine

Miss J is quite the character -- here are a few of her latest shenanigans.

On our way to pick up the boys from school, Jilli insisted that I roll her window down so that her stick horse, Banjo, could get some air.  I couldn't help but wonder what the cars behind us were thinking.

Last Friday Nate, Jilli and I went to lunch to get sushi.  When our food was brought to us, Jilli was SO disappointed -- she thought we were going out for a SLUSHY, not SUSHI.  Poor girl!

The other day Jilli was playing a game on the IPad where a man runs a course and you have to steer him, make him jump, etc.  At one point, after trying unsuccessfully, to get the guy to jump far enough, I heard Jilli mutter, "Looks like someone needs to lose a few pounds."

Love this girl of mine!

i HEART my parents!

I love my parents! I'm not quite sure what I did in the pre-existence to deserve such wonderful people, but I am eternally grateful that I have them!

The funny thing about my parents is that they have LOTS of admirers, not just me. I'm always amazed when I mention to people that my parents are coming for a visit that they will say, "Oh please invite me over to meet them!" or if they've already met them, "Don't let them leave without me coming over to see them." And after meeting them people will say things like, "Your dad is so sweet, I just want to wrap my arms around him!" or "When your mom opens her mouth I want to be sure to take in everything she says!" Even weeks after my parents have gone home, people will continue to say, "I loved meeting your parents and I hope I get to see them again."

I've often time wondered why my parents get such a reaction from people. Is it because I sing their praises at any chance I get? Maybe. But I actually believe it's the sweet spirit that my parents constantly carry with them. They are kind, humble, charitable, wise people and others recognize it and are immediately drawn in.

In a blessing that I received as a teenager, it mentioned that if I live righteously that my posterity will love me with the same love that I have for my parents. What an awesome promise and excellent source of motivation that has been for me. I could only hope and pray that my children have that kind of love for me.

I love you, mom and dad! You really are wonderful in every way! I count myself truly blessed to call you mine!

School is Back in Session

School is in full swing around here, so I suppose it's time to post the kids "first day of school" photos.

Mac, my 4th grader: He was lucky enough to meet his teacher, Ms. Parks, during the summer at the house when she carpooled to a meeting with a good friend of ours. Mac thought she was beautiful and when she left the house he turned to me and said, "I have a feeling it's gonna be a good year!"

Jaxton, my 2nd grader: A couple weeks before school started we found out that his teacher's name was Ms. Baker. During those couple weeks, when people would ask who his teacher was, he would quickly say, "Ms. Cooker." I'd then have to remind him that it was Baker and not Cooker, to which he would frantically say, "What if I do that in class?" Here's to hoping Ms. Baker has a sense of humor!

Beckam, my Kindergartner: If I didn't know any better, I'd think Beckam didn't miss me at all being at school all day. Fortunately for me, though, when I come through carpool line each day for pick up, he's waving his arms and yelling, "Mom, Mom!" It makes my heart happy!

Miss J, my PreK girl: She wasn't quite sure what to do with herself when the boys started school and she hadn't yet. Poor girl got used to having a full-time playmate around all the time. Luckily she only had to wait a week before she started school three mornings a week.
Unlike my boys, who always moaned when I came to pick them up from the preschool playground, Jilli runs to greet me and wraps her arms around me when I come to get her. I'm trying so hard to relish these moments with her before the year is over and she begins school full-time with her brothers.

As for me, I'm coming to terms with being alone three mornings of the week. With cleaning, errands, volunteering at the school, working out, church callings, painting at the gym, helping others with their kids, etc., there's always something to do. It still seems strange to not be toting another little person(s) around with me everywhere I go, but I do admit, it's a nice trade-off for all those years of toting around lots of little people everywhere I went.

Here's to another great school year and 10 hours of "alone time" each week.

Summer Time

This summer we kept busy with our regular daily summer adventures as well as fun family outings. Here's the basis of our summer captured in 17 pics . . .

Goodbye lazy summer mornings, sunshine, swimming and humidity -- hello school, cooler weather and pumpkin flavored everything.

Fancy Fourth

I not only don't have anymore babies, but I officially don't even have a toddler.
How can it be possible that my youngest is four now? It's mind boggling, really!

Her birthday also marked the last day of summer vacation, so what better way to celebrate a little girl and the summer than swimming?!

For dinner, Jilli was adamant about going to McDonald's and when we realized that her mind couldn't be swayed a different way, it was off to McD's for kids meals all around and some playland fun, followed up by a shopping trip to Target to round out the night.

The next day we had a Fancy Fourth birthday party for Miss J.

I found much joy in the party prep and honestly I may have been more excited about the party than the honoree herself.

Here she is, all fancied up!

Mac, Beck and Jax agreed to be the party's butlers.  This consisted of Mac greeting the guests at the door and saying, "Greetings, princess __________." And then with a wave of his arms he would say, "Your party awaits."  At that point Beck would take the guest's gift and Jax would lead them in by saying, "Right this way."
Now if that's not love, I don't know what is!

Our Fancy Fourth consisted of making fancy necklaces, painting fancy fingernails,

having a fancy photo booth,

and eating fancy finger foods.

And what party would be complete without a fancy cake (and ice cream)?

Here's to seven of the fanciest little friends I've ever seen!

Speaking of fancy . . .

she wears fancy well, don't you agree?

Love that girl to the moon and back!

(For recording purposes, at 4 years old Jilli weighs in at 36 lbs (58%) and is 41 in. tall (70%).  Interestingly enough, the doctor is predicting that she won't quite get to my max height of 5 ft. 8 3/4 in. and instead he's guessing she'll max out around 5 ft. 7 in.)

VaCaTiOnS!

Now that we have two days left of summer vacation, I think it's safe to say that our travels are over for the season. In June we took an impromptu trip to the mountains and had a great time. We took in all the sights that Grandfather Mountain had to offer, including crossing the Mile-high bridge, which was incredibly scary to cross. Even though it is now made of metal, it still sways in the wind and makes a whistling noise that adds to the eery idea of you being a mile above ground level.

(And while it may appear that Mac is peeing off the edge of the mountain in one of the above pictures, I can assure you that he was not.)

Unlike other years where we've gone home to Utah for a good portion of the summer, all of Nate's family decided to make the trek east to see us this year. All five of his siblings, their families and his mom joined us at Sunset Beach for a week of sunny, sandy bliss! We're definitely thinking that we should make a tradition out of this and I'm hoping to get all of my family out here at the same time very soon.

(These girls have found that having a cousin your age is one of the best things ever!)

(Thanks to Kim for making the shirts for these 14 kiddos, but getting them to all cooperate for a picture was near to impossible.)

The last of Nate's family left our home on a Tuesday and that Thursday we headed to Ohio to spend a weekend out there for our nephew, Porter's, baptism. While we were there, we also hit up King's Island, which was a big hit!

It's always sad when events are over that you've been looking forward to for so long. It seems like you wait forever for them to come and then they pass so quickly. I can't believe that summer is basically over and that the kids will be back in school for another year.
Time flies when you're having fun . . .