school, crafts, vegas

the latest. mostly pics.

 homemade crayons

 hard to come up with enough ideas to keep kiddos busy all summer!

 couch potatoes

 girls' trip to vegas with maile and camie!! at serendipity3. my 1st time to vegas, it was big, incredible, DIRTY, gross, probably will not be going back. but the BEST girls to go on a girls' trip with..thanks ladies!!

 cirque du soleil: KA. i cannot put into words how amazing this show was. insanely impossible, it was 'epic'..and i hate to use that trendy word, but it just was. i could see it a hundred times. now i want to see all of the cirque shows!!

 had to take this pic for nate :)

 love ya girls!

 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

 Caitlin 4th grade, Abby 2nd grade

 emma was almost in tears because she wanted to be starting kindergarten so bad :(

 their school is an old jr high, so they get lockers

 Emma's first day at Little Fireflies Preschool with Mrs. Kristie! (Cait and Abs 2nd day of school)

 Emma has LOVED this preschool...she asks every day if she has preschool, and if she doesn't she cries.

 this is how greyson plays in the van. oh boy.

 this is the pic nate txt me when i was in vegas. missed my babies.

 maile and i had been in vegas maybe 20 minutes and she decided to use ONE dollar and try a penny slot. we got carded in about 2 minutes. boo yeah. ugh.

 lazy river at the resort we stayed at...love. thanks maile!

 i remember i used to take pics like this of my feet and the palm trees in the background when we lived in arizona. i miss az, i miss the beach pool, i miss the palm trees!

 coke store/factory/whatev. yes camie made us try ALL of the flavors from around the world. one of them was concentrated benadryl i swear. some of them were really good, some were the most disgusting EVER.

and that's all for now folks. just don't have much spare time anymore, but i've GOT to be better about keeping up on the blog. :)

birthday boy

good morning birthday boy!

where has the past year gone? this little boy fills our lives with joy beyond measure. the first few months (ok 9 months) were really rough to say the least. sleeping and crying issues made for a seriously perma-exhausted momma. he's finally started sleeping a bit better, and he's a joy when he's awake. i love how he already has such a funny sense of humor. and this little man LOVES his daddy. he has 3 teeth (two bottom middle ones, and one top fang). he is walking like a champ, and climbing on everything. he is pure boy...only likes to play with things if they look like a sword, car, wheelbarrow, lawn mower, or if it looks like he'll get filthy playing with it. he melts our hearts, and i can't imagine our family without him in it. we love you sweet baby boy!!

 greyson's party was GOING to be so cute. cute decor, everything all laid out perfectly, etc... well, the wind had an entirely different agenda for his party. it started blowing and raining about 2 hours before the party. the rain stopped about an hour before, but the wind was ruthless.  it was insanely windy, almost the entire party. i'm talking decor blowing away, we couldn't even get enough tape on the tablecloths to get them to stay on. people would get their plates of food, look down, and anything light on their plate was gone (chips, etc...) if you set your plate down..it was gone; blowing around the back yard. irritating. BUT, the party was fun, the food and friends and family were great. and of course it's not about food and decor, but about celebrating our sweet baby boy's 1st birthday!!!

you can see the camp chairs didn't have a CHANCE against the wind.

 grandpa brian & carla

 sooo glad joseph came! he got the kids all riled up having fun water fights. i think the kids won though.

 birthday boy stealing people's food that had blown off their plates.

 there's a first for everything. he found someone's blown over hot dog. guess he likes them.

 greyson's cute birthday banner. (and heather's model pose)

 cupcake stand had blown over about 10 times

 he was pretty timid at first with the cupcake. he would dip his finger in a teeny bit of the frosting, then lick it off his finger.

 ok, maybe that IS good!

 how did the frosting end up on his rear?

 choco face

 oh honey, you have something all over your face!

 2 chocolate cuties. i'd say they are on par to get married, but she's taller than him!

all-in-all it was a great party! thanks to everyone who came to celebrate, and a HUGE thanks to those that came early to help set up and help with kiddos. (and buy milk for me at the store!)

he's back...FINALLY!!!

my awesome little brother returned with honor from serving his 2 year mission in new jersey!! it was a LONG two years, he and i have always been very close. he was such an amazing missionary, but it was sooooo nice to see him again finally! congrats on a job well done poots!

waiting and waiting and waiting

 the posters...you might need your magnifying glass to see abby's

 leader of the pack...that was the longest time i think it ever took anyone to come down an escalator!!

 1st hugs are always for the momma

 yes.

 the welcoming committee

 cafe rio after airport...didn't take him long to get back to his goofy self!

misc. pics

this double rainbow out our back windows was AMAZING the other night! 2 complete rainbows...the girls were going crazy.

 had to snap this pic, i went to check on greyson, and he was holding the nipple of a binkie in each hand. my sweet little man.

 the girls took this pic while i was cleaning. is that a couch potato in the making or what?

4th of july

our 4th of july was great! we went to the HUGE elberta, ut parade (wink wink), then we went to a friend's neighborhood 4th of july party, which was amazing!

patriotic kiddos

 ems going to town on the pinata

 and the bounce house-awesome.

 at this age the girls were terrified of fireworks. greyson LOVED them. such a boy.

*ps-just trying to catch up from the whole month. many more posts comin' in a few....

fhe

for family home evening last night we learned about modesty, temples, and temple marriage. we busted out my old wrinkle-laden wedding dress, a dance dress, and my baptism dress and let the girls try them on. they had SO much fun, and it was fun to see them in these dresses that one day they will have and wear of their very own. and then of course they begged me to put on my wedding dress and veil. and of COURSE right when i got them on, the doorbell rang. embarrassing.

i promise i don't play dress ups in my old wedding dress all the time.

 nate kept singing 'pioneer children...' when the girls tried on my baptism dress.

 nate said to strike a sassy model pose. clearly i have no idea what any model poses are....

 all because two people fell in love. (corny, yes, but so true.)

 i had to add these sweet pics of my boy sleeping. just so i can remember, he is growing so fast.

 he loves his blankie

 and he always always crosses his legs when he's sleeping, and usually when he's eating too.

 and he is into EVERYTHING. favorites: toilet plunger (gag), and unrolling entire rolls of toilet paper.