Our start to summer..

The day started with this handsome little boy, squishing his face up against my pillow, sleeping in bed.





Then we picked up Claire from her last day of Kindergarten with her teacher Mr. Byrd. She is now officially a 1st grader! What?!?!?




Then we met up with all the cousins in Utah. It sure is a zoo/circus when we all get together. But I do love each one of those stinkers!

Sam wasn't too sure about it all.

I told them to laugh, and things really got crazy from there.








They had fun staying up late and eating popsicles.

Then we headed to the splash park the next morning. It was so hot! Jake was having a blast after his meltdown the day before at the fountains at City creek mall, where you HAVE to wear shoes.













Then us girls headed to the Granddaughters of Brigham Young luncheon at the Lion House. Despite a few hiccups, we had a great time and heard a very inspirational speaker talk about her challenges as a quadriplegic.



The lights are so pretty in the Lion House, pink glass.


And Sam just chilled under the table.






Just had to put one up of the roses at Granny's. The kids were bringing us flowers and they were so fragrant. Love them.. We had a great trip, and now I'm exhausted.

Superhero invite

Planning for Jake's birthday is in full swing and it's a good thing it's his birthday soon, because he's been driving us crazy!

I sure love him but I'm not too sad to see 3 go, here's to hoping he's a good 4 year old..

Circus

I've been so busy, I've hardly had time to breathe these last few weeks. On top of everything, I got this idea to do a circus theme for our upcoming Reunion. It was so fun for me to plan. I think I should have been a party planner in another life! We did cotton candy and sno cones, face painting by aunt Amy and our very own clown (uncle Ben) who the kids were enthralled with. We had a bouncy house and uncle Jerry brought his beautiful old Calliope which was perfect!


                                 

I've got that done, now on to plan Jake's birthday party!

Oldies

I was picking out pictures I wanted to copy from my mother-in-laws stash and found these. I can't believe how much we all have changed. Chris and I look so much younger, not to mention the kids!

Some of those pictures feel like another life. I miss those tinies! They have gotten so big. And I official do not want to age anymore myself either.

Ironing board for over your dryer

I've literally tried blogging this three times, but couldn't get it up! I've been busy busy.
So I found this on pinterest of course :)It's an ironing pad that has magnets so it sticks to your dryer. I pretty much made a pillowcase, put batting in there and magnets on the sides, sewed up all the edges, and then sewed along where the magnets were to keep them in place. I can just leave it up there because it's cute and iron without having to get out the ironing board. Which is good because I don't need any excuse to keep me from ironing.

Plus ironing is dangerous business!

The Circus!

I'm helping with our family reunion and we came up with a circus theme. I'm actually pretty excited about it! Here is the invite, I made it using some free printables at One Charming Party. Such cute stuff.

Dear Mom..

It's funny how each year I realize more and more just how amazing my mom is for raising five children. I have a little bit better understanding this year with the addition of Sam. Three kids is a lot. How did she do it with five?? I guess I never realized how hard it must have been, because she made it seem effortless, fun. But I know now, just how hard it really was, and what a good mother she is. I was thinking about a lot of the ways she helped me become the person I am and I wanted to say thanks.

Thank you mom for being so fun growing up. Thank you for letting us dream big, and be kids. Thank you for taking us on road trips, for thinking we were beautiful, and telling people how beautiful you thought we were. Thank you for making me listen to NPR and for loving snow days just as much as us. Thanks for driving me and my friends out for dessert at midnight in torrential rain. Thanks for getting up every morning of your Christmas vacation at 4 am so I could do my paper route because you believed in me, that I could earn enough money to go on my dream trip to Europe. Thanks for going with me and the memories I will cherish forever. Thanks for forcing me to go back to the school after I skipped my French final. I knew I needed to but I couldn't do it alone. Thanks for teaching me how to sew, and for not getting mad when I accidentally cut a hole in the skirt I was making. Thanks for giving me freedom and trusting me. Thanks for driving me to school everyday after seminary and for stopping at Great Harvest just about every morning on our way, to get scones and juice. Thanks for taking care of me when I got burned at work and for finding someone to give me a blessing if I wanted it because Dad was out of town. Thanks for being home..when I called home from school to tell you I got the lead in the 4th grade school play, or when I was sick or needed something. Thank you for being present, because I know how ridiculously hard that is. Thank you for making me feel better after I missed my violin recital by taking me out for ice cream anyways and telling me your embarrassing school stories. Thank you for making me work (what seemed like) endless hours in the garden, for teaching me hard work and the joy of reaping what you sew. Thank you for packing me lunches for 12 years and doing countless loads of dirty laundry, for doing it cheerfully! Thank you for encouraging me so nicely to go to the stake center to watch conference after I had worked a long shift because it was that important to you and by bringing candy to make it enjoyable. Thank you for bearing your testimony and for being so proud of me when I read the Book of Mormon all the way through. Thank you for giving me your adventurous spirit and for flying across the country with a bad stomach countless times to be with me when I needed you, when I graduated college and when I had each one of my kids. Thank you for showing me how to be the mother I need to be.

I sit here holding a sleeping baby in one arm and typing with the other, wishing you could be here so I could tell you all these things in person and cry these tears on your shoulder. I want so much to be a good mom, and yet I fall so short. But I get up everyday and try again because you taught me to.
Thank you Mom, I love you.