CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Summer of 2010

WHAT A SUMMER!  Talk about packing a million things in!  Noelle was born at the end of June and then 3 weeks later my mom and sister, Kenna, came down to Texas for a week.  We celebrated Molly's 2nd birthday and then we jumped in the car and headed up to Montana.  Matt had to stay home since he just started his new job at Wells Fargo.

THE DRIVE
The drive from San Antonio to Glendive, Montana is about 1600 miles.  That translates into one motel room, a few naps, several...no...many movies in the car and snacks, snacks and more snacks!  Noelle did amazing only crying a tiny bit and Kylie and Megan were awesome.  Molly was...well...she needs improvement when it comes to traveling!  She did not enjoy the drive and wanted to sit in the front, then the back and she wanted food the whole time.  When she got the food, chips, sandwiches, suckers, anything, she would throw it at Kylie and Megan and she thought that was so funny!  Surprisingly we made the drive in only 2 days thanks to Kenna's help driving (and we only had one near death experience...hahaha).  Here are our traveling girls!

Yep, I know...taking pictures of crazy Kenna...maybe not the best idea, however, this was not our near death experience.  :)  Love you Kenna!

Such a good little traveler.  What an angel!  I was worried how she would do with her tender little tummy, but I was pleasantly surprised.

AT GRANDMA'S HOUSE
We were so glad to finally pull into Grandma and Grandpa's driveway where we were met with hugs and kisses.  We rushed the tired kids off to bed and Molly insisted on sleeping in the bed with me.  She was not too sure about the crib.  I think she thought I was going to drop her and run.  As long as I let her sleep in my bed she went to sleep and stayed there with no problems.

My sister, Carli, came up for a few days and brought her adorable girls.  Hannah wanted to sleep with Kylie and Megan in their bed.  Here are the little slumber partiers...although it only lasted about 30 minutes and then Hannah went to her mom's room!  :)  Cute picture though!

Occasionally I would lose my little baby.  I would often find her curled up with Kenzie while she was watching TV.  Thanks for all the help, Kenz.  I love my sisters!

Noelle was getting so strong.  She would hold her little head up and it made Grandpa giggle.

Have I mentioned that I love my sisters?


This is the first time I got Noelle's smile on camera.  Kenzie and I were sitting her up against the back of the couch getting her to smile and she kept falling to the side.  It was adorable and we thought it was pretty funny especially since it looks like she was laughing along with us.

My sweet little baby at 6 weeks.

10 YEAR CLASS REUNION
I can't believe that 10 years have gone by since I graduated from high school.  It was so convenient that my class reunion was just a week before my brother's wedding.  I really enjoyed getting together with all my classmates and seeing where life has taken everyone.  I was so lucky in school to have a strong group of friends that made high school fun and it was easy to make good choices!  Only a portion of our group was there but it was wonderful to reconnect with them.  It is crazy to see everyone with spouses and children but so good!  I only wish Matt could have been there.  The last day of the reunion we had a picnic and everyone brought their families (this photo was taken there).

Eric, Celeste, Kristin (with baby Lucy), Jessie, Susan (pregnant), Stephen (my locker buddy and trading card partner), Denae and Kevin Pena with their little guy.

THE FIRE PIT
Out on the back patio Kenna has a firepit for all her gatherings.  It was so much fun to go out at night and sit around the fire making S'mores and talking.  The big girls loved it.  The weather was gorgeous up there and the temperature cooled off at night so it was pleasant sitting around the fire.

Molly hated the fire.  It terrified her!  She came out this night but stayed inside every other time we did a fire.

My dad baptized a man in Australia on his mission and he came to Glendive with his family while we were there.  His daughter, Sydney, just turned 8 and she and Kylie had so much fun together all weekend.

There is Molly keeping her distance from the fire!

RANDOM PICTURES FROM GRANDMA'S HOUSE

I love my mom so much.  She is my best friend!  I am so glad I was able to go and spend a month with her.

This makes me laugh so hard!  Molly was "helping" Grandma do the laundry.  She would only take the underwear out of the dryer and she wanted to wear them all.  It was so funny.  She wore them around for about 20 minutes before she would take them off.

CALEB AND SARAH'S WEDDING
My not-so-little brother got married to Sarah on the 14th of August.  They were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos temple at 8 am.  That was a little early for the kiddos but it was so lovely to be there.  The sealing was amazing and Caleb and Sarah are so happy.  We snapped a couple pictures outside the temple while we were waiting for them to come out.

All the kids rushed Caleb after they came out.

This is while we were taking pictures and the kids were soooo not happy!  Everyone was tired and hungry.  Luckily we were almost done.

My mom really wanted a picture of all her grandkids together.  Things didn't go like we had hoped and it was rather difficult to get the three 2-year-olds to sit for a minute for the picture.  This is the best one I got that had everyone in it.  :)

At the reception there was a dance floor with a mirror close.  The kids loved dancing in front of the mirror, including my Megan.

Katelyn and Kylie

After the Utah reception we drove back up to Montana for the reception up there.  It was beautiful and here is a picture of Grandpa dancing with Molly and Evie.

Congratulations Caleb and Sarah!  I am so happy to have a new sister-in-law and look forward to the many memories we will make in the future!

GOING HOME
After being gone for a month we headed back to Texas.  The girls were anxious to get home and start school.

Goodbye Montana

This was the funniest sign.  Apparently there are speeding problems here on this road but not when we went through.  There was an accident that caused slow traffic but Matt and I thought it was so funny that the speed limit was 55 and we were only going 5...hahaha!  I think this was somewhere in Colorado.

The last few snapshots in the car...we were only an hour or so away!  Anxious to be out of the car!  Silly Megan and sleepy Molly.

Still friends after about 5000 miles of driving!

Still smiling...and being silly.


What a wonderful summer trip full of family, friends and fun!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Back To School

Where did the summer go?  Today marked day one of 1st grade for Kylie and kindergarten for Megan.  My little girls aren't so little anymore!  Both girls were so excited and looking forward to today.  They both popped right up out of bed the minute I said it was time to get ready for school.

They are each meeting new teachers and classmates today and have a year ahead full of learning and fun.  I look forward to watching them learn and grow over the school year.  My heart aches a bit as well as they are getting more and more independent and developing their own attitudes and personalities.  Oh, how I love my daughters.

Here they are right before we left the house (of course Molly wasn't going to be left out!).

Last night before bed Matt gave the big girls a father's blessing.  Matt finished the blessings for Kylie and Megan, when Molly said, "Mines turn!"  Absolutely adorable and it almost made me cry.  She sat super still as Matt gave her a blessing as well.  I am so grateful for the priesthood in my home!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Noelle's Blessing Day

Today was Noelle's blessing day.  She had a lovely blessing from her dad.  She wore the same dress as all three of her sisters.  Our fourth little girl.  How blessed we are!

Matt is slightly outnumbered!  All these girls!

The whole crew.  Matt's brother Jason, Matt's sister Lynse, her husband Keeper and their kids Parker, Carson, and Camy, Grandpa Rick, Grandma Sherry (Matt's parents), Grandma Leta (my mom), my little sister McKenna, as well as my growing family!

Aren't they beautiful?!  Oh, how I love them!  Responsible Kylie, loving Megan, silly Molly and my sweet Noelle.

Molly is 2!

My little Molly Marie came into this big world on July 17th, 2008.  What a wonderful little baby she was.  We were so glad to have her join our family...girl #3!  We moved from Montana to Texas just 3 weeks after she was born and her first month of life is kind of a blur.  I loved watching her grow and the 3 year gap between Megan and Molly really allowed me to enjoy those little stages and moments all over again.  We are so glad to have her in our family!

Here is my little Molly at just a few days old.

Molly at age 1.

Molly on her birthday.  The poor girl had a fever and wasn't feeling well but still gave us smiles and had so much fun opening her presents.

Kylie and Megan wanted to help her open every present and it was painful for them to watch her do it so slowly.  It made me laugh.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Friday, July 9, 2010

4th of July

We celebrated this 4th of July with our friends, the Hardman family.  The kids loved shooting off fireworks and doing sparklers.  Molly was a little afraid of the noisy fireworks.  She kept saying, "Go home, I scared."  It was rather cute.  We had such a fun time and enjoyed our own little firework show.
Molly would not do the sparklers and instead wanted to chew on her light stick necklace.  Are those non-toxic...I doubt it.

This is how Noelle enjoyed her first 4th of July.  She slept right through all of it!

Molly parked herself on my lap after the fireworks started getting noisy.  She was so afraid the ones that went high in the air were going to drop on her.

Megan, Kylie and Asher...what a lovely time!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Noelle's First Bath

On Sunday we gave Noelle her first bath.  As you can see it wasn't her favorite experience in life!  I am certain she was thinking that it was much too cold and all that water was no fun.  Those counter baths are no good but have to do them until that cord falls off and all my kids seem to keep theirs for a couple weeks.  So, sorry, Noelle...looks like we have several more of these before you can enjoy a real bath!

Noelle was screaming before we even got her to the water.  She was mad when I undressed her and took her diaper off!

I love this...her moment of "alright...just do it...but I don't like it."

Look at that look she is giving me!  I think it was traumatic!

Had to take this one for my mom so she could see the amount of hair this girl has...

...then I had to comb it down for Matt!  :)  Megan said it made her look like a boy.  Hahaha!

Finally all wrapped up and warm...much better!