The Trip

I know that I already talked about our trip, but I have more to say. It was long...... and I mean really long!!! Kendra and Ethan were superstars though and when we were on the home stretch, right before Bozeman I think, they started playing like this.Preston had finally gotten permission to join them in the back seat, (what a horrible mom I know) and they built themselves a fort. It was too cute. Just outside of Ennis we stopped at a rest stop that is on the river. We played simon says and a few other games and it worked wonderfully at getting some of that pent-up energy out.
These little puppets were a huge hit! I got them at the dollar store before we left and each of them had their own animal. Aubrey and Preston would crack up when I would put them on my hands and use silly voices. Sadly the trip ended with all of the stuffing being pulled out of the pig. I guess Aubrey was done with him.
On the way home we stopped in Reno to get some In-N-Out for lunch while we still could. All of the kiddos LOVED it and no joke, Aubrey finished this bad boy off all by herself along with some fries too. She doesn't normally eat burgers but she really liked In-N-Out, OF COURSE!
Aubrey took good care of her baby doll on the trip and that is how I often got Aubrey to calm down. I would just tell her that her baby was hungry and she needed to give it a bottle. She loves it when I swaddle her babies up in a blanket!
Preston did a lot of this in the car! He was pretty good about falling asleep and staying asleep. Aubrey, on the other hand, would fall asleep and then jerk herself awake after about 30 minutes.
Josh did a lot of this while in the car! He didn't let me drive at all! He never lets me drive, and I don't complain. I definitely don't mind it, I just feel bad that he has to be behind the wheel the whole time.
The kids loved playing at Uncle Darren and Aunt Lizzie's house! Ethan told me that Gavin, "has some sweet toys." They all loved the pool too!
These two cousins are just a few months apart. Sometimes I think that Aubrey looks just like Hadley, it is spooky!
TOO CUTE! They get along really well.
Aubrey got a really nasty eye infection on the trip. It was rather gross. Once I quit messing with it and resigned myself to the fact that she was going to have goobers all over her face it started clearing up. In fact by the time we left it was almost gone and now I think her tear duct may have opened up. I can't tell for sure, but that infection may have fixed the problem. YEA NO SURGERY!
This is my set of twins! They are so sweet and play so well together. Of course they fight and yell at each other and make each other very VERY mad. But for the most part they are best friends and do everything together, I love it. So there is a little more about our trip. I do not suggest taking a 19 hour car ride with an 17 month old baby. It is rough. But you will survive, and so did we. And we miss our family already!

A Special Baptism

On Thursday last week we loaded our kids in the car and headed for Sacramento California. I was born in Sacramento and lived there for the first nine years of my life. I have lots of family that live there including two siblings, and lots of cousins. When we first moved away to Sheridan Wyoming when I was young we would visit Cali once or twice a year to see my aunts, uncles, and lots of cousins. I have fond memories of making the trek out there. We would always take the back seat out of the van and lay down all of the luggage and blankets and Amy and I would claim the back to sleep and play in. I am sure that we sat on the seats sometimes, but I mostly remember playing and sleeping in the back. It was usually only my mom and the four or five youngest kids making that oh so long journey. Right after High School I flew down there for the first time and I couldn't believe how fast it was, I never wanted to drive there again. Well Last Thursday I made that trip once again. Only this time with my own four little ones and no comfy back bed like we used to have. It was long and hard, especially for little Aubrey. By the time we got there I felt like I had tortured the poor thing. But we had one amazing reason to go so it was all worth it.

My older brother who lives in Cali was baptizing his wife. I get all weepy just thinking about it. I have pretty much been an emotional wreck since Lizzy, (his wife) started taking the discussions. My older brother quit attending church when he was a teenager. He is a full 10 years older than me so by the time I was eight he was already out of the house. I saw what his falling away had done to my mother from the eyes of a child. I remember her crying as she wrote him letters (no e-mail back then) and sharing her testimony with him. I remember her talking about him in the talks that she gave in Sacrament meeting. I know that it was hard for her and something that I hope that I don't have to go through as a parent, it definitely made an impact on me. So when Darren began taking the necessary steps to be able to baptize his wife my heart was full. It has been over twenty years since he was active in the church and last Saturday he entered the waters of baptism and baptized his wife into the church. Repentance is the most amazing thing. Without it we are all lost, our savior loves us and died for us so that we can repent and return to live with him.Here are the six of us, all grown up! I love my siblings so much. They are all amazing people with big hearts. No one is perfect and occasional we hit that, "you've gone too far" moment but we love each other and that is what matters. And now you can see where I get my height, look at those brothers of mine! Sorry Nicole, you missed out on that trait :)
My older siblings, Darren and Nicole. I just love this picture, I think this is the best picture from the entire vacation. I love seeing them laughing together.

So there is more to the story, if you are ready for it. Growing up my mom and her sister were really close, they are best friends. When we lived in California we always lived close to her, as in walking distance close. She had five children and we had six in our family. These cousins are the cousins that we did everything with, vacations, Sunday dinners, everything. The oldest son, Dustin, and Darren are the same age. They have always been close, like brothers actually. They live within walking distance, their wives are close, and their children are close too. Dustin also quit coming to church when he was a teenager. Although he has taken his children to church pretty regularly in recent years he didn't participate. His wife has taken the discussions previously and attends church with him occasionally. Well she also decided to get baptized. Dustin also took the steps necessary to baptize his wife and son who recently turned eight. It was the most amazing baptism I have ever been to. My sister Amy spoke on baptism and my mom spoke on the Holy Ghost. I cried just about the entire time. I know that there is no way that I could be a parent in the world today without the gospel in my life. It helps me strive to be the best mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend that I can be! Some of you might be completely lost right now with everything that I have said, if you want to find out a little more then you can visit www.mormon.org or call or e-mail me. So yes we had a great reason to make that long journey out to Cali but we made it and it was worth it.
Preston and Presleigh got a little loud during the second half of the baptism so I took them out and entertained them with food and the camera.

And of course, Aubrey joined them too! She was done with sitting down reverently after that car ride.

A Wedding

In mid-June Josh's step sister got married. It was a beautiful wedding with perfect weather. Kendra was asked to be the flower girl and the dress was to be silver, perferably with a blue sash. I am all about the colored flower girl dress, especially when the little girl is over the age of five. And Kendra has always been a little more on the mature side. I think she passed the foofy white dress stage ages ago. Luckily Brittany agreed with me. So the hunt was on and it turned up NOTHING. I even started months in advance! There was nothing out there that fit what we wanted. I had a feeling going into the search that making her dress was an option. Maybe I had been inspired by my sister's fabulous creations for her daughter. It wasn't what I wanted to do but finally I conceded and headed to the fabric store. The dress turned out wonderful and the only complain that I have is that sewing with special occasion fabric is not easy! The kids had fun at the wedding and it was a wonderful way to spend the day. Congrats Brittany and Tyler!The wedding was an afternoon wedding with no dancing so this is the time that we headed home.
And this is what we got from the backseat. The kids had ran and played so hard that they were both out at 6:19. Josh and I almost didn't head over to his dad's for dinner but decided it was just a little too early to let them be out for the night. So we took them home, woke them up, changed their clothes, and then headed over to Kevin and Denise's for some yummy food. Preston and Aubrey eventually woke up and played some more and then slept soundly that night.
Aubrey is finally getting some hair! Something about that magic 18 month mark seems to make my kids sprout their hair.
The flower girl and ring bearer. The wedding was out at Oscar's Park and the ceremony took place right on the river's edge. That place was so cool with old buildings and an old train station building that was transplanted there as the main building. If our anniversary wasn't at the end of October then I would have our party there. But I think this place is definitely suited for spring and summer with a huge wrap around porch, it was tons of fun.
I love how Ethan tries to sneak into every picture!

Fourth of July

These are completely out of order but I can't seem to drag them any more. Oh well! I really have to think hard to remember our Fourth of July. A lot has happened since then. Hopefully I will get it all right. It was a Sunday so we went to church and then came home and let the kiddos nap. Fun right? After that we went out to my mom's for a bar-b-que. We actually didn't have any plans until the night before since we hadn't gotten an invite anywhere. We were going to have meatloaf and mashed potatoes but were thankful to be able to go to my mom's. We had some family over there and ate yummy food and I am sure that we played some games, although I can't exactly remember. Afterwards we headed out to Laurel to watch the fireworks display. They kids were so super excited about going to Laurel and had been talking about it for days! It got late and pretty soon they were all ready to go home. At one point I don't think any of our kids were even watching the show. SERIOUSLY! They had been so excited, even Kendra was laying on the blanket not looking. Aubrey was really nervous about all of the noise and the extremely bright lights, but she warmed up a bit and by the end she didn't need to be held or have her ears covered.
This is what Preston did after the fireworks started. He watched them for a little bit but eventually fell asleep in Josh's lap. He fell asleep last year too so we weren't too surprised with this one.
I tried and tried to get a good picture of the fireworks and this is the best one I got...pathetic!
Before the show started we got sprinkled on so we brought our umbrella with us. We thought we were going to get poured on but we were glad we didn't. The whole day wasn't really hot, it was really nice. So here is Julie and Aubrey playing with the Umbrella.
All the girls in the fam. We had more fun getting ready for the show to start than when it actually did.
All those boys!
Mom and Dad, you can see the sprinkles on Josh's sweatshirt.
My precious kiddos
Ethan is such a little model, he can really strike a pose. He put on this little outfit complete with his new aviator sunglasses and came upstairs. I just had to take his picture. He kept posing with super serious faces and I had to talk him into smiling for the camera. He is a hoot! So our forth of July wasn't anything too exciting, fireworks, food, and family. That is what it is all about! It is nice to just relax and appreciate the freedoms that we enjoy and the country that we live in.