One year old{er}

Happy Birthday to our little Lexie! I can't believe a year has come and gone already. Makes me kinda sad how fast she's growing up. We have been so blessed to have this little girl in our family, and she has brought us all such joy, and bruises...she's a little bit of a biter, but we're working on that. She has started taking a few steps and LOVES trying to walk. She's also a big talker and will go on and on...nothing coherent, but she thinks it is. I can't get her to say mama or dada yet though, we have no idea why, but she just isn't interested in trying.

I love this little snuggle bug. I love that she sucks her thumb, I love that she LOVES to cuddle. I love her jibber-jabber, and I love her smile and the way she totally lights up when she sees me. She's quick to smile and quick to laugh, and when she isn't happy, there is no doubt about it, she'll let you know!

Lexie at one..Happy,Healthy & Beautiful!

A look at our little girl when she was a newbie. She was precious, but definitely a hard baby, I don't really miss those days a ton.

Our happy family with the newest addition, one year ago.

Lexie taking her first steps

In the bath, having fun & showing off.

We love this little munchkin! Happy 1st birthday Lex!

7 years

7 years ago today, Kevin and I were sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple. It has been a wonderful and amazing 7 years, and I feel so beyond blessed to have him as my eternal companion. He puts up with me, understands me, and always acts as though he's so excited by the little things I do, even though I know he could care less about the latest card I designed.

He will always motivate me to be a better person, and I promise I'll try harder not to forget everything, and I mean everything, seriously, with each kid I'm losing more and more memory. But I just want him to know that I love him and think he's so amazing!

Oh, and I'm not including any pictures, cause I'm writing this from my brand-new laptop! He out did himself on the gift, and I LOVE it, even if it makes me feel bad that I just got him a couple pictures.

Happy anniversary sweetie! I love you and look forward to another 7+ years!

Oh, What do you do at grandma's house

I've been a serious slacker when it comes to blogging, and now have WAY too much to catch up on. So, in an effort to get caught up, here are a few...or more....photos of just what the girls did on our little trip to cali.

We had a great time just hanging out and playing with cousins, nothing too extraordinary, but so much fun none the less. There was tractor riding, motorcycle riding, swinging, waterslides, park visits, funderland(not included in this post, cause we got a little camera happy and it'll take some time to go through all those), and just good old fun with family.

So be warned, there may be quite a few photos to follow.

Grandpa taught Halli how to drive the tractor by herself, and needless to say, she LOVED it!

He did have to help her steer out of harms way a couple times, but all-in-all she did really good.

I just loved this, she conked out while reading some of the books Jill received from the baby shower. She's turning into quite the little bookworm lately.

Chase looking handsome at the bottom of the waterslide. He's a total cutie and loved chasing Halli and his big brother Tyler around.

This is one of the kids very favorite things to do. My parents have three swings hanging just outside the back door on the deck. It's awesome and there is almost always a kid out there just swinging away! This is also where Halli learned how to pump herself a few years ago.

Tyler, seriously, when did he grow up? He looks so much older! He and Halli had a BLAST, it was so fun to see them devising ways to pick on Chase and Peyton.

Peyton enjoying the waterslide

Lexie is a little waterbug, and LOVED being in the water. She loved trying to keep up with the older kids and the pool is one of her favorite places to be.

She even thought she could climb the waterslide by herself, and I have to say that she did a pretty good job for a girl that doesn't even want to walk yet.

This isn't the best photo, but it shows just how high she got. She did it all herself too. (yes, someone was at the bottom of the slide, ready to grab her if she fell)

Me & Lexie at the park. It was nice to have someone else taking photos. Okay, not just photos, but gorgeous photos, many of which I'm using in this post. Thanks Kate! It's nice to have some of me with the girls!

Our little bookworm again. She loved just being outside. The weather was a crisp 70 degrees and was SO beautiful while we were there, even a little chilly at times. Made it hard to come back to 100 degree humid hotness.

Halli and Grandpa heading out on the motorcycle.

and off they go! Just around the block, but so much fun for her!

Chase looking darling. He and Halli were just laying on the grass, looking at the clouds, so sweet!


We had an amazing trip, and the girls miss their Grandma Shauna and Grandpa Logan. Luckily we'll get to see them again in a few short months when Jill has the baby. It's great to be with family and see long lost cousins, I know the girls miss playing with them and wish the boys lived closer....come on guys, Texas isn't so bad!:)

The very long awaited, and just plain long day

We had all been waiting for June 4th to arrive for quite some time. Well, some of us more than others. You see, we had been planning and preparing for this day since we decided to throw a suprise baby shower for my sister-in-law, Jill. Now, this wasn't just any old suprise baby shower. Jill live in Texas, but hasn't been here too long, so most of her friends and family are in California, which means we had to head out there if we wanted to do a shower.

This required some serious planning and frankly flat out lying to get her ready to go without knowing she was leaving the state. We told her my mom would be flying in for a girls week in Houston, full of shopping, sewing and immersing ourselves in everything baby. So, she got the week off work, packed up and headed to my place. This got her packed and work taken care of. We also made sure to take her out to lunch so we knew she would be in Houston in time for the flight.

After a quick lunch, where I almost spilled the beans at least twice, we headed home and let her in on the secret. Check out the video to see just how excited she was. I had butterflies before we gave her the invitation to her own baby shower.

After a long plane ride with three kids, we arrived in Cali and had one day to get the finishing touches together and cook all the food for the shower. My mom is amazing and did SO much getting everything ready. If any of you have wondered, yes, I get that need to go overboard on things from her. She had been sewing and planting in her back yard for weeks to get ready for our amazing garden party. Then the weatherman said it was gonna rain the day of the shower, so we moved it all indoors, and the day ended up being beautiful, silly weatherman.

Here are just a few pictures of the shower. There was great company, great food and fun to be had by all, totally worth it and a great excuse to bring the girls out to see grandma & grandpa.

The guest of honor, Jill looking beautiful and happy opening gifts

Luckily, lots of my mom's plants were in urns, so we could move them in for an indoor garden feel.

Lexie trying to figure out the answer to the baby food game, you'd think that would be easy for her!:)

one of the many fabulous outfits from my aunt's store. If you're ever in utah, check out four and twenty sailors, talk about beautiful stuff!

The gorgeous blessing dress that was also used as decoration, and also came from my aunts store, love the perks of family!:)

Some more decorations. I made the plate with chalkboard paint, and can now say that I'm officially addicted and looking for anything that I can possibly make into a chalkboard.

The yummy lemon poppyseed cake with strawberry filling. I love California in June. All the strawberries are in season and you can always find a roadside crop where you can get the freshest strawberries, SO yummy!

Some more decor, and beautiful clothes for little LaNea

See what I mean, don't those just look scrumptious? Thanks to Kate for the awesome photograph!

These are just brownie bites, with some mint frosting on top. I ate WAY too many and can't believe just how good they were!

It was a beautiful shower, and Jill had a great time and got to see some of her long lost friends and family, which is always fun.

The next great thing I had been eagerly awaiting on June 4th, came just after we let Jill in on the secret. Our oldest daughter finished her first year of school. I went to pick her up from her last day of Kindergarten and we got on a plane. I couldn't wait for school to be over. I know Halli loves it, and will be excited to go back, but I sure have missed that girl this year. I am looking forward to having some time to spend with all of the girls without too many other "things" on our to-do list.

We've been enjoying our vacation, although the girls, especially Halli, are missing dad and are very ready to go home. I can't say that I'm looking forward to the flight, it was a little easier having some help on the way out. Tuesday may just be an incredibly long day, wish me luck!