JK turned 3

Julia Karen - you are 3 now. You love the color pink, ice cream, cinderella and minnie mouse. You were Cinderella for Halloween and I don't think there was a day that went by from the day you got your costume until your birthday that you didn't wear it. You are beautiful and you love to tell us that you love all of us. We say "I love you" and you reply, "No I love Mommy, and Daddy and Cay (Trey) and Kerby (Toby)". For a long time you called Toby Poopy - so Kerby is an improvement. You have just really started to talk during these last couple of months and it is so fun watching you grow. You have learned to love nursery and your love for all babies makes me think you will always have the nurture bug in you (even if you do love to yell at all of us if we aren't doing things your way). To say your brothers adore you would be a huge understatement - sometimes they will say "isn't baby cute". Yes they still call you baby and I wonder if they will ever stop. I am becoming more comfortable with the fact that our family might be complete - but I know that it is because of you that I can feel this way. I have often said that Trey is my joy and Toby is my heart - you my girl are my smile and that has always been very precious to me. I love you JK! Happy 3rd birthday!

Remember the time when....

Trey and Toby started school! It was a rough start for Toby who thinks taking a nap is for the birds (I kind of agree) he got into the swing of things though and both boys have been loving school ever since. Toby loved that Pa came on his first field trip to the fire station with him and that his daddy went with him to the Pumpkin patch. I helped run the "Indian jewelry" station for the big thanksgiving feast - needless to say this kindergarten class has been on the go and it has been fun watching Toby learn and grow as he has started school. Trey has been busy going on field trips to a corn maze and a gem show - he is working on multiplication and still loves to read - he makes us look like awesome parents who work with him as he works a grade ahead - but honestly it is all him. Enough of the blagging, right? But yeah for school!

Remember the time...

When we went to Boise for summer 2011 and it was AWESOME!

















We get to Boise and Lars and I can't get enough of the cool grass that you can lay on for hours - something I took for granted growing up out west but will never again! There are NO fire ants there and we spend hours in the grass for that reason. We can't get enough of cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma and PaPa - and that goes for all of us. I get to spend time with my cousins - JK and E even went to a princess camp that my cousins girls (who we LOVE) put on. We spent time on BSU's campus and the boys will do a sports camp there this coming up summer - we play outside - make crafts (you should see JK's pillowcase dresses that my sister 'taught' us to make)- every night is a slumber party - we swim - we laugh - we do photography sessions - we walk to Powells candy store - we get snowcones - we spend time downtown at the farmers market and at the fountain - WE LOVE SUMMERS IN BOISE! This year we planned a wedding (Kelsey I need some photos) and then added a new tradition - a reunion in Kanab! I think Kanab may be Lars' second favorite vacation destination now because of my family there - he thinks they are the greatest. My cousins take him on 4 wheel rides even if it is at 11pm. And then he gets to spend a day riding which is his favorite - weanwhile my kids get to do all the things that we don't normally do (shoot guns, ride horses, etc). Even now as I write this post - it is Christmas time - and I am aching for carefree summer days surrounded by those we love! Good thing it is only 6 months away, but who's counting!

Soccer 2011

I NEED to post about this summer and our new house but for now - I have a couple of boys that are tearing it up on the soccer field. If you had told me last year that Toby (the boy that spent last season prancing around the field - honestly he could have put many dancers to shame with his sa'shes) would be the same kid sometimes scoring 6 goals a game this season, I would not have believed you. But there they are loving every minute of it. Our family spends 2.5 hours on Monday and Friday and 2 on Saturday at these soccer fields so I am glad they are liking it. The boys have also loved that the Tennessee Longneckers, Hall Family, Pa, Grandma and Aunt Natalie and baby Kenedi have all been able to watch them play - thank you all for coming, it really does make them so excited to play with you watching them!

Funny Toby

Before I forget:

On the morning of Toby's birthday Lars brought out a new uniform polo for Toby to wear. Toby said, "You shouldn't have, No really daddy you shouldn't have"

Since Toby was little he has struggled with croup and always has to get a steroid shot. This week I had to take him to the doctor and he was HYSTERICAL about getting a shot. The doctor told him he doesn't give shots (technically true -- the tech does) Toby started yelling at him, "you're a liar, you're a liar. you're a liar!"

The next day Toby had to go to the dentist and on the way he started (in a sing-song sort of way)saying, "please Jesus please don't make me wear the gas mask". Good to know the South is rubbing off on him!

Heaven help me with this little guy - I am either laughing, screaming or saying my own 'please Jesus' comments with him nonstop!

Then and Now

I can't blog about our summer without finishing up our crazy May. In the middle of school ending, packing up our house and moving all we had into storage space -- I flew across the country to hang out with these girls! Just thinking of it makes me smile and relax. Amanda kicked her husband out of their beautiful home for the weekend and us girl lived it up. Talking until 3am, laughing NONSTOP, laying out by the pool, EATING, shopping and JUST BEING TOGETHER was heaven for all of us. I am blessed to have each one of these women in my life and I can't wait for this years trip (watch out NYC:))

Last of the house

Since we are currently homeless (I am in Idaho and Lars is bachelor padding it with a friend who's wife is doing the same as me in Montana) I felt I needed to finish the posting about our first home. Some memories of all these rooms include Lars redoing the kitchen and bathroom by himself (completely infuriating and impressing me all at the same time), the family bed also known as our bed:), the boys room and our nightly cuddle parties and the books we read on the bottom bunk together, and how awesome is that crooked tree in our back yard!

I'm not sure that we will ever be able to recreate the charm that our first home had on its own not to mention the boys' BFF's (the Campbells) right down the street. We are excited however and feel like we have another dream team of neighbors in our new location - so on to the new (even if I feel a little bit of sell-out for moving from a historical district to a new construction). We'll miss you old home but maybe not our 300 dollar heat bill in the winter....

Memorial day weekend

After closing on our house we headed to the beach for a wonderful weekend with friends. The house we stayed at was fantastic (fantastic as in Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have a beach house in the same neighborhood - we sure appreciate our friends who made this house a possibility for all of us!). We saw dolphins each day, the kids got to try a little fishing at night, and only once did I put on something other than a swimsuit and pjs. It was heaven. Toby's favorite part was the outdoor shower, Trey's was the boogie boarding and JK liked the sand this year - progress! Lars and I loved being with friends and each other after all the craziness of moving.

Mothers Day

It looks like all is a go for our house selling - which means we have 20 days to get ourselves out of our first home and into.... still don't know yet.

In honor of Mothers Day I am posting this room. Back when we bought this home we just had Trey and Toby - we knew they would share a room and so the extra room would be our guest room. At that time Lars' mothers cancer had come back and I wanted this room to be a room that if she ever needed a place to 'get away' it would be hers for the taking. It is bright and airy with tons of light looking out to a lavendar tree and our neighbors "popcorn trees". Although she did not live to use it more than 4 or 5 times, I constantly think of her and feel her love in this room. This room has also been a place where my own mom has stayed for weeks at a time - when she is here our own bed becomes so much roomier because the kids find their way into her and love to cuddle with her each morning. And now it is JK's room - and if I had a wish for her it would be to always know the greatness that she is named after. She bears the names of the two best women I have ever known - EVER. I hope that she lives a life full of love, happiness, and purpose just like her grandmothers have.

No Words

My heart is full for so many people here in Alabama and in the South. I have been glued to the news watching as the number of deaths is rising constantly. I wonder if the rest of the country really understands the destruction down here. There are towns that are gone. People are still missing - it is overwhelming. Our thoughts are with all of those that are hurting.

More of our house

Okay after only 3 weeks and 4 days on the market we have an offer and a signed contract on our home. I know that in this market this is very rare, so we are really excited - but there is a catch - we have to be out in exactly a month! So while the blessing of a sold home (it is considered contingent for another week) is wonderful, the timing of it all has left me in a state of confusion. Do we move to an apartment? Or maybe I should just extend my time in Boise and have Lars slum it while we build - lots of stuff to work through but while we do I need to keep my house posts rolling so that I can always remember our first home.

The living room is where our family does everything. Many Friday nights a mattress is pulled out for a giant slumber/jumping party complete with popcorn and movies. When there's no matress on the floor our serious regrets of buying a couch with removable cushions is always on display as the kids build a "pillow pit" in the center of the room.

The screened in porch is what kind of sold me on this house - it just seemed so southern and charming. The blue ceiling was the icing on the cake. During the first summer we lived here our AC went out over the 4th of July making it hard to get someone out to fix it. During that time we LIVED on that porch and it was AWESOME. We debated sleeping out there like they used to before AC and all my pre-teen love for the movie Man in the Moon seemed to come to life. During the summer it is called our popsicle room and I have loved throwing showers at our home and using it to set up a 'drink station'.

Easter 2011

Easter was just right around here (does it get any better than 80 degree weather). It was the perfect combo of treats, egghunts and dying eggs, as well as a great day at church to remember what it is all about.

Hope your Easter was just as nice!

Our house

Our house is on the market and I want to take time to blog about each room and the memories we have made here before it sells (it's good to be positive right?). And since we had three showings last week I am REFUSING to clean the house today - so why not blog about one of our favorite rooms. This is the room that my children bless the food each night and on a very regular basis ask God to "make this food taste good". I love that it is seperate from the kitchen and can be closed off to the rest of the house or open with it's three doors. Many dinners, showers, church meetings, conversations and crafts have been held in this room and I want to always be able to remember it.

And if I could, would you mind answering a question for me? Do you buy into the thought that I should remove all personal photos from the house while it is on the market? I really hesitate to ask a question on this blog - I never have before (if only 2 people comment does that mean I only have 2 friends? - neurotic thoughts like these keep me from asking more) but a friend recently told me that I should probably remove the photos and I am torn....

Thanks

Congrats!

My baby sister is getting married. Let the party planning begin! Not that we need an excuse to plan a party during the summer (it's what we do best) but come on - isn't wedding planning the best! And as though Lars needed another reason to love BYU football she is marrying a BYU football player.

Congrats to Kelsey and Mike! Love you guys!