Mommy Luncheon!

I am busy, busy getting ready for my Mommy Luncheon that is tomorrow. I am so excited! It has been just over a year since I have planned and carried out one of these events and I can't wait. I am hitting it hard with 3 parties in three weeks. I have Talons First Birthday next weekend and then a Primary Teacher Appreciation Party the week after that. It takes about a week of planning for each so I guess you know what I'll be doing! Look for pictures of the first party in the next few days!

Oh what do you do in the summertime??

You go to the beach!
We have not gone to the beach very much but we did have a lot of fun this day!! It's really hard for me to enjoy the sand and the heat with a baby and it's usually a little stressful . It is ALWAYS fun at some point during the adventure but it is also ALWAYS stressful at some point. Talon kept eating the sand. Isabella was terrified of the water...ohhh....Talon was too. Hailey loved it. I can see why having older kids and going to the beach would be a lot of fun. I tried to get Isabella and Talon to take a nap...not because I am an over scheduled mom (even if I am) but because they were SO tired. Talon slept for a few minutes and Izzie just never could get comfortable enough.



You do fun family activities!
We went to the Virginia Beach Aquarium and although we were very excited about going (especially Izzie) we were NOT impressed. If you are from around here and you are thinking about doing it...DON'T. Seriously. It's a huge waist of money. We had fun being together.

You stay in your pj's until 11am!
My girls have played lots together this summer. Izzie is finally not a baby anymore and I love it! They still have there moments...OFTEN...but when the stars line up and they find fun together and no one ends up crying it's the best! A rule at our house is that if you can't (or don't) want to play with your sister, you will not be playing with friends. It is a great motivator for Hailey to be sweet to Isabella and include her as much as possible. They were playing so sweet together on this chair.
You learn how to crawl!!
Talon is getting so big! He is 11 months old and is learning new things everyday. He learned to crawl in June and from then on out he has been so much happier. He has had a lot of ear infections and that has been painful for him and I!! The doc says that if he has one more this summer then he wants to put tubes in his ears and from what I hear...that makes them so much happier!


You learn how to ride a bike and swim!
Hailey has learned to ride her bike without training wheels and she ahs also learned how to swim! She is loving being able to play outside with friends all day long.
You get potty trained!
Isabella has potty trained herself. Her little friend Hope was going to the bathroom in the potty and Isabella told her that she gets a piece of candy when she is finished and next thing I knew, she had pulled off her diaper and was sitting on the potty. It's been since Monday and she has only had one accident (in the bathroom) as she was trying to turn on the light...she just couldn't hold it any longer. We are so proud of her! I am so excited to only have one bum to change and it saves us a ton of money on diapers and wipes! We were spending $100 a month!
Summer is the time to travel!
We drove to Ohio for the weekend. We basically spent 3 days in the car! Johns fathers family does a reunion every year at a cabin on a lake and we wanted to go atleast once before we moved out of the East (who knows if that will ever happen!) The kids loved the boat and enjoyed the water very much. I forgot my camera at the hotel so I have no pictures of the event! Hailey was able to drive one of the boats and she thought that was pretty cool!
We picked up John's brother Peter in Washington DC and he came with us to Ohio. It was so fun to have him with us.
We only stay at hotels with pools because of the kids (if at all possible). It usually makes our trip so much more fun for the kids!!! Talon decided that he likes to put his face under the water. I couldn't get a good picture of it but he just kept doing it over and over again and he laughed every time!
Hailey is sleeping in the closet at one of our hotels. She loved having her own little room!
Aren't summers always filled with picnics? We have about three picnics a week and invite as many of the neighborhood kids as we can. I love it because it's fun but it also keeps my house clean!

Lame

I know...I have been the lamest blogger this summer. If you could get fired at blogging...I would SO be fired! Our internet has been down for TWO weeks as we have been awaiting the Verizon Lazies to come and fix it. I have SO much catching up to do!

Gonna Be A Bear

In this life I am a woman. In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you are a bear you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months; I could handle that. Before you hibernate, you are supposed to eat yourself stupid, I could deal with that too. When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping, and wake up to cute, cuddly, partially grown cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a momma bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

YUP, GONNA BE A BEAR!!!!!!
Thanks Mom...this was too cute!

Our Lil' Trip to Georgia

John helped me pack the car up the night before our trip so that we would be all ready to go at 4am. Because we left so early, we got there by 2 in the afternoon. That was with 2 hours of breaks. That didn't seem so bad to cross three states!
It was so great to finally get there and to see all of our families sweet faces. There home is beautiful and I loved their city. We got straight to having fun!!!


So I hope that little Sophie's mom doesn't kill me for putting these compromising pictures on my blog but I can't help but crack up when I look at them. I am already laughing...check out these girls faces and neck regions....They are HILARIOUS! They were having so much fun jumping around together.

Still more fun to be had!

John and James mom made these dresses...and they are beautiful. It was so fun to have all of the girls wear them to church on Sunday!

I just love my sister-in-law! From the moment that I got engaged to John she has been so welcoming and loving and fun!! I talk to her on the phone constantly and she is such a great person to get ideas from, or to just laugh with! Visiting her was so special. She spent SO much time in the kitchen preparing some of the YUMMIEST dishes and desserts ever. Jen is incredibly thoughtful and just wanted us to have a good time...and we had a great time! Some of my favorite things about visiting Jen and James:
1. I took my first trip to World Market. It wasn't exactly what I was imagining but I did enjoy it a lot!
2. I took my first trip to IKEA. Although my decorating style is not really modern, I LOVED IT! I didn't love the furniture as much as I loved all of the little doo dads that you can use to spruce up your house. And the organizational items are always a favorite with me. We spent a really long time there and I am so glad that we did. We ate lunch at the little cafeteria there while the kids watched a movie that was provided. That's my kind of day!
3. Jen had a Little Miss Priss party for me! Thanks Jen! That day was filled with baking, cleaning, and preparing the product! What a fun party it was though. It was so great to meet all of her friends. One of those wonderful friends happened to be one of my BYU roommates which was SO fun to catch up with her. On Sunday I ran into another roomate of mine from BYU Idaho...what are the chances?
4. Eating dinner on their covered porch. It was perfect.
5. Our kids played fabulously together! I wasn't so sure how that was going to go but I was so surprised when they hardly argued!
6. Icecream Pie, Nanimo Bars, Lemon Bars, Chocolate Lava Muffins!
7. My kids always miss their daddy so much when we are away from him. That part...I do NOT love. But what was great was that Johns brother James played the daddy dummie. Seriously...my two youngest must have been so delirious because they thought that James was John. Atleast...they accepted his as daddy while theirs was not available. Talon did not want anyone but me...or James. Isabella would ask when daddy was coming home all day long. As soon as James walked in the door she was all over him! So do they smell the same? So they breath the same? Do they talk the same? Do they look the same? I don't think they do...Thanks James!
8. Johns littlest sister was visiting Jen and James at the same time as us and she was a huge help with the kids. Thanks Hannah!

We LOVE Visitors!!!

It was so fun to have a quick visit from my sweet friend Chrissy and her ADORABLE family! They were passing through and we were so glad that they could stay the night and the kids could play. She has 4 children and they are so great! Isabella will randomly ask if she can play with Khloe (and she always mentions the stroller that they both wanted!!!) Too Funny! I was sad that we couldn't spend more time with them but look forward to the time when we can.