June 2013

June meant the start of summer, Spalding reading class for Lauren and Ellie, and traveling to CA and Utah or the big event of the year- my little brother Andy's wedding to the wonderful Chelsea L.

I'm so grateful for the summer reading class taught by my good friend in the ward, and love that my girls spend the first few weeks of summer living in their jammies and reading books. 

J's work had the annual company party at the ice arena and we dug out our pants and sweatshirts and had a great time.

 

 Thankfully we also had time for some fun play dates with wonderful friends from school and church.

I got to sneak up to girls camp for a day and give a little talk about missionary work and my lucky girls got to come with me. They loved having a sneak peek at camp and the bigs totally braved the 30 foot cargo net, with five year old Ellie making it all the way up and over.

 

 

 

 

  

Baby bump at 18 weeks:

  

  

and finding out that baby number four is a BOY!

and BANGS! So far, so good. 

Finally, the long awaited trip and eternal marriage of these two love birds! It was a wonderful day and we loved being there to share and celebrate with them.

 

Recoginze anyone else we say that day in LA?

 

After the CA wedding, we moved north on the road to Utah. We spent a few fun days in St. George (thanks to the Philipp's generosity in opening up their vacation home to us) and loved touring the historic church sited there, seeing Mary Poppins, and celebrating Father's Day with my dad and the sweet father of my children.



We made it to Utah to help get things set up for the wedding reception there. It was a lovely event in the mountains on a beautiful spring night, and only the key to the moving truck (back left pocket J) put a hitch into the evening.



We then had a few days in Utah to visit 7-peaks, ride on Bruno (my Grandpa's electric stair chair ala Up), spend time with our Robertson grandparents, and have a playdate with friends who'd relocated to Utah from Phoenix.



 

 

At the end of the month J returned home to work for a few weeks and I joined him a few days later, leaving our kids in Utah with their grandparents for a week. Our parents were both so wonderful to watch/entertain/feed/care for the girls, our kids loved having quality time with their grandparents, and J and I made the most of our time alone back at home.

Maybe it will become a yearly tradition??? :)

May 2013

May was a wonderful month. J and I celebrated our 9th anniversary with a fancy dinner out and sweet presents (bought with their own money) from these 3.



A few weeks later, the Cougars came to play baseball at ASU, so Daddy took his girls on a date to see it.

We enjoyed the ward camp out and didn't poison anyone with the breakfast that we were in charge of making. I ate a gourmet mothers day breakfast in bed (J really outdoes himself every year) and appreciated the kindness of my sweet family.






On memorial day we took a day trip to Sedona and loved seeing that little town, climbing the red rocks, and hanging out together.

 

And I just like this picture that Claire took of us at the library. Reading is the bomb.

Showered with love

I have the best friends.



Truly.



Jenn, Nelly, and Nicole, with the help of many other wonderful women threw me the most amazing baby shower. The food was fabulous, we had lots of time to visit and catch up, and I recieved the sweetest presents for this little boy on the way.



Many friends who couldn't make it to the shower were so kind to call, visit, bring a present, and in so many ways let me know that they're excited for our new arrival. 



I left the party feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for the many wonderful women who have influenced my life.



J and I moved here to the desert not knowing a soul, and over the past 7 years have developed friendships that will last a lifetime.





I have relied on these women to mother me, inspire me, nurture me, teach me, help me, correct me, and be there for me and mine. I am so grateful for each of them and consider it a true blessing that our lives have crossed paths at this place and over this time.



I love my friends and don't know what I'd do without them.

 

April 2013

Blogging took a back seat through the spring/summer months when I was in the first trimester of the pregnancy and my house (and life) often looked and felt like this.

However there were some fun events that took place in April that I don't want to forget. First, we have a lovely long weekend visit from my Grandma Pat and my parents. They came over J's birthday and we enjoyed celebrating together. J is a great man, husband, and father and I'm daily so grateful for him. 

My grandma is an avid shopper and spent a few hours at Last Ch*nce and the used book store. I love that my kids get to see and spend time with their grandparents and I'm grateful that they made time to come and visit us. 

Lauren played a piano piece with her friend Daniela in the school talent show, and showed great courage to get up and play despite her usual shyness. We also finished up the Let's Play Music class (that I teach) for the semester and both girls performed so well in the recital.

 At the end of April we had a lovely almost two week visit from my sister Claire and her two kids. We enjoyed our time with them, and I loved having another adult around to talk to and have help from all day long. Maybe sister wives wouldn't be such a bad gig... :)

 Finally, Ada made her debut visit to the dentist and we filled up all of their avilliable chairs with our 3 girls getting a checkup. We've just had word that Lauren is already going to start phase 1 of ortho care and we're destined to spend a lot of money on our children's teeth in the near future.



As the summer heat came on we got on our suits and got outside to play in the water and didn't get out until just this month.

And that's an April wrap.