It's great to be 8

Trey turned 8 this year and chose to be baptized! He really did learn about it and decide for himself that he wanted to follow Christs example and get baptized. What a celebration it was with lots of family coming to celebrate with him.

A few of the Tennessee Longneckers were there too - but I didn't get a picture of them :( Some of our favorite gifts came from those family members that were not there but sent something fun for Trey - Aunt Alison sent Trey a white towel that had his name and baptism date embroidered on it and Kelsey and Mike sent an autographed Cougar football signed from all the players saying Happy 8th Birthday Trey!

Grandma made Trey an awesome blanket to talk about the Holy Ghost being a comforter - he LOVES it. Uncle Erik and Ben were the witnesses and Grandpa and Natalie said prayers with Aunt Kim leading the music. Trey did NOT want a special musical number - he is becoming more like his dad EVERY DAY!

What a weekend it was - there was also bowling and dinner (with 22 of us), swimming and a trip to the zoo! Thanks everyone for such a special weekend for such a special and loved boy. Trey, you are smart and kind and funny. You are tender hearted and a wonderful brother that would do anything to protect those you love. Recently your soccer coach described you perfectly - you are never in a hurry but always in the right place at the right time. I want time to slow down but I am obsessed with watching you grow and experience new things - you do it with such confidence and grace. You are very humble and shy away from attention but that shouldn't fool anyone because you are competetive to the core! We love you Trey!

Don't forget

Life seems to be going fast - and there are so many things that I don't want to forget.

Tonight while snuggling with my boys before bed, Trey got really serious and said, "Mommy, how do you do an armpit fart?" Toby asked what that was and Trey said; "It's this really fancy thing you do with your armpit!"

During spring break, I told the boys that I did not want to spend our spring break 'getting after' bad behavior - to which Toby replied; "Well everyday is your spring break mommy." So true Toby, so true.

During that same spring break a bunch (10 or so) of kids were at our house playing. Our neighbor invited us all over for lunch and so I yelled for the kids to come downstairs and waited as I watched them head out the front door. The house was quiet and so I locked up and headed over myself. Once there we started serving the kids and noticed 2 were missing.... I had left them alone and locked them in my house!!! As JK would say, 'Oopsie Daisies'....

A few Saturdays ago our family had been out for the day running errands when my neighbor called saying she needed to talk to me about something. It turns out while we were gone her son had come over to play and when no one answered the door he checked to see if it was locked - it wasn't (apparently I only lock the doors when I want to leave other peoples children alone in our home) he decided this was the perfect opportunity to spend the day with our Wii. She thought he was at another friends house and after discovering he wasn't there saw his bike at our place, knocked, and when no one answered her "spidey senses" went off - she checked our door and walked in to find her son enjoying the day in our Wii room. Good to know someone was holding down the fort for us! While she explained 'breaking and entering' to her son, we laughed.

Basketball 2011

The boys had another great basketball season with upward.org - We loved watching them play back to back each Saturday morning. On the day of their last game baseball tryouts started right after - there is no rest for the weary around here and they love it!

Remember when...

My little sister got married! This summer we had so much fun celebrating Kelsey and Mike! They met in a biology class where they both realized that the seating was tight for their 6'8" and 6'4" bodies - so they started saving seats for each other in the aisle where their legs would have some room to stretch and the rest is history!











What a wonderful wedding for a wonderful couple!

Christmas 2011

Christmas in our new house was a treat! We made gingerbread houses, watched a lot of Christmas shows, visited the lights at the zoo, looked to see where Elfie was hiding each morning, and loved every minute of being together!

Honestly, is there anything better than waking up each morning knowing that no one has to say goodbye to each other that day? We loved it!

JK was a delight this year as she "got it". She could not wait to see if she got her purple costume and kitchen Christmas morning.

The boys were thrilled about their new basketball hoop as well as their remote control cars and wii games.

I felt that this year the boys especially embraced the magic of decorating the house as well as the feeling of what Christmas is really about. We read Christmas stories each night and they couldn't get enough of them. We also read "the best Christmas pageant ever" as a family and loved it. I think our family time each night while we worked our way through that book and the Christmas stories will be something they always remember and want to continue each year.

We love Christmas!

Oranges and teeth

Over the Christmas holiday Toby's second front tooth came lose. One night while eating popcorn (we're lucky we found it) it finally came out. We headed to the kitchen sink, cleaned it and his mouth and then set the tooth on the counter. How cute was Toby with his two front teeth missing for Christmas - CUTE!

But perhaps I should have told Lars that the tooth was there - but what were the chances that he would clean off the counters?

That night the chances were great.

When it was time to go to bed Toby went to get his tooth - not there. Lars and I realized what happened at the same time and immediately started trying to think of a way to calm Toby.

"Let's write a note for the tooth fairy" -

"I bet I put it someplace safe".... Surely, I am a good sentimental mom that has other teeth stashed somewhere - Yes?...Nope.

Toby was heart broken and so we kept looking. And it was at that moment that my lack of cleaning paid off BIG TIME. On the floor was an orange seed - a glorious whitish, oval shaped big ORANGE SEED!!!

"Found it!"

Orange you glad I'm not your mom!

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!