A farewell

Elmo and Judy are going on a Mission! They have been called to Kennewick, Washington to serve in the mission office. Their farewell was yesterday. We spent the whole day with them trying to get our lasts fill before they left. They head to the MTC this week, will stay for about 10 days before heading out to Washington. The family is really excited for them.

We have been trying to get our fill with grandma and grandpa before they left, but it seems like no matter how much time is spent, it's never enough. I'm kind of sad at what my children will be missing with them for the next year and a half, but know that their bonds with reconnect when they come back.

Here was the farewell dinner the family had. We met at the Olive Garden. One of the last family gatherings! Don't let the happy faces of our kids fool you in these pictures. Both were sick with a really bad stomach virus. The worst messes I have had to deal with in my life!

Bye Grandma and Grandpa, we will miss you!

The September Itch

The holidays are just around the corner. I know it's only September, but I've already been plugging away at Halloween and Christmas crafts and things. It just gets me excited. Here's what I've been up to lately:

I can't take full credit for this project. My sister-in-law, Taraleigh had the idea and I copied :)

13 days to Halloween. A countdown with activities to help enjoy and celebrate the days prior to Halloween. Each day is represented by a cute numbered tag hung on the tree. On the back is listed an activity to do that day, such as making caramel apples, or harvesting our pumpkins, etc. I'm really excited about this idea!

We picked out Jackson's Halloween costume. He is going to be a dragon this year. Although he picked it out, he doesn't know what to call it. I keep telling him it's a dragon, but it has wings on the back and so that confuses him. He settles for" dinosaur-dragon-fly." So that's what he is this year. A dinosaur-dragon-fly. He loves the costume and wished I would let him wear it all day long, every day, and even to bed.

This is our Christmas countdown. Numbers are on each side of the blocks that we will rotate around to show how many days are left until Christmas! I still want to make a base for these to rest on...

End of Summer Business...

Summer goes by way too fast! I can't believe fall is upon us already. When I think of why summer seems to whip by, I like to think that it's because we are so busy and active all the time. But just because it's fall, doesn't mean things start to slow down around our house! Brian's parents got their mission call, I started teaching another round of yoga classes, Brian's been traveling, we've had family events, and the list goes on.

Last week my sister and her family were in town. It was so fun to have her. She took her rounds of staying at different homes throughout the week. We got to have her towards the end of the week and hosted the highlight event of the baby blessing for Parker. Baby blessings are one of my favorite things! There is always such a sweet spirit and tender feelings felt. He is such a good baby! We loved getting to meet him for the first time and having them in our home. Our family is getting so big! It was an amazing feat just to get everyone to look at the camera...and we had to take a TON of shots to get a good one!


With all of our business, we forgot to tend to the garden for a couple of weeks! Check out the size of these cucumbers! Brian had to trash 3 of the 12 pumpkins we were growing because they split and started rotting from the inside-out. Bummer...but we still have 9 left. We can tell the gardening season is coming to a close soon. but we will have plenty of cantaloupe, tomatoes, and squash to keep us more than satisfied!

Jackson has been forced to go on a "juice free" diet by his mother. I got tired of sticky juice spills and his addictive attitude. Quick fix...no juice! Problem solved! He eats better and I have to mop less. His been without juice for a month now. But tonight we served our homemade grape juice with dinner, and that's all Jackson would put in his mouth. He was going on a binge! After dinner (Jackson's "juicer") his tummy was so tight and round and full...his belly button was popping out a little! He kept complaining of his tummy hurting...but all we could do was laugh. Does that make us bad parents?

Teething is for babies....

Can I just say I hate the teething phase? Despise the teething phase would be more like it. Nothing can turn a regularly sweet baby into a monster, or a normally well-rested baby into a sleep-deprived whiner, like cutting teeth.

Zoey has been teething like crazy lately, she cut three in last week and I think two more are trying to make their way in. Last night was one of the nights among the past three weeks where Zoey hasn't been able to sleep through the night. She'll wake up in pain, screaming and crying for at least an hour or two each night. It's beginning to wear. Last night, we did what we could: gave her medicine, tried to calm her, but with no success. After a while, we just had to turn on the fans in the bathrooms to create a sound to muffle out the cries.

I was in that phase of sleep where the sounds from reality start to mingle with the dream world. When I finally awoke, I realized it was Jackson who was crying and not Zoey. He had heard her screaming, and woke up scared. By the time I got to him, he was shaking with fear and had that hyperventilating type cry. It took a good hour to get him to calm back down (Brian was an amazing help though all of this too, thank you)! By then, Brian and I had only about three hours left of sleep before we had to start our day all over again.

And the whole house is whiny today.....can you imagine why?