This is Emily

Actually, I really love her. I sincerely wish she lived closer. I hate not knowing when I'll see her again.

12 and counting...

We were bored yesterday, so after hitting up Menchie's we bought five new trees. :) That makes twelve, and we love them all!

3 Chanticleer Flowering Pears
1 Bloodgood Japanese Maple
1 Kwanzan Flowering Cherry
1 Malus Spring Snow
2 Blue Spruces
1 Norweigan Sunset Maple
2 Canada Red Chokecherry
1 Double Flowering Weeping Cherry

:) From the window, as I type this, I can see three trees. This is so exciting! Trees make such a HUGE difference in the yard. Opa!

Check Out These Dance Moves

I have no idea who taught the boys this, but I promise I hope they dance like this for the rest of their life.

Why We'll Never Fry Anything Again

1. It's not healthy anyway.

2. It made a mess of my kitchen.

3. Yep, that's my arm.

Please bless I won't get sperm-shaped scars...

This Is Family

We hurried back from St. George to make it to the birthday dinner last night - we had everyone there but Matt and Cassie and Julie and Robert. I wanted to give you a taste of my family -

Fat Wyatt:

Lounging after dinner:

Paige showing TJ her slide show:

Anna covered with the animals:

Mason playing in Wyatt's seat (love his face):

Grandma and loving Emma:

Parker and me with my birthday present - he made it all by himself. It's a picture of him 4 years ago taped onto a green pipe cleaner in a vase with rocks he collected in the bottom (including a REAL gold one). He asked if I knew why he chose green - silly me, I thought it was to look like a plant. It's because green is my favorite color. :) What other 6-year-old remembers that?

Paige and Tanner (he made her the same thing). He was SO excited to give it to her it seemed he would burst.

Adam walked in and went straight to the couch (skipping dinner). He did not move the ENTIRE night...

Little Lexi, who, at nearly 18 months, is finally getting some hair. :)

Holly flipping over all the cookies looking for the lightest one:

Tanner learning to dance with us (I'm obsessed with this video):

"Everybody look at Lexi!" Lexi always does this same dance when we sing it to her - a teeter totter sort of step. She's proud as punch - look at that smile.

The boys trying to get Grandpa:

Tanner giving Paige her present (it spilled and he was scrambling to pick it up before she saw it):

Emma giving Grandpa his birthday present (she is waiting for me to take a picture, ha):

Tanner and Mason singing into the microphone during family night (If you can tell, Tanner is singing "I love to see my temple" over and over and Danny is going on and on in the background):

Parker praying (I wish Lainee hadn't started screaming about her Squinkies right when I started recording... :) )

Our Own Parade

Have I ever mentioned that my family is large enough to BE a parade? Growing up our neighbors sat outside every Sunday to watch us "move" by - some on bikes, others on roller blades, some with soccer balls, others pushing strollers.

We relived this over the fourth on the way to the park. :) Yep, this is my family!



See the bike Tanner's on? We call it the Fred Flinstone bike - it has no pedals. :) He runs as fast as he can and loves it.

Patriotic

I love having cute things hang on my front door (well, any door really - I regularly hang things on my pantry door in the kitchen). TJ and I got the idea for this wreath from his mom's wreath last year, went on a date to Home Depot and got all the fixin's to make it ourselves. We spray painted last year and left it in the attic for many months.

TJ put it all together for my birthday and I love it!


Now doesn't that make a statement?