Emmy smiles!

...especially when Grandpa's around!

Emmy's blessing day

 Emmy was blessed Sunday September 1, one day after David's baptism.  Isn't she beautiful?  Hard to imagine life without this sweet baby.

The best we could do for a family photo...

The gang after church.  We sure enjoyed our special weekend together.

Coming of age

David was baptized last Saturday.  Though Joseph's parents were away in Africa on a mission, my parents were able to fly in for this much anticipated occasion.  We were also fortunate to have lots of friends drive in and many members of the ward attend.  David was glowing afterwards; he felt so great inside.  I am so proud of him and am grateful for the example that he is to his younger siblings.

Like father, like son?

My dad took this cute picture of James as he was trying to work with his buttons right before the baptism.

Back up to last week.  David attends his first cubscout pack meeting.  I love these uniforms- so adorable!

Baby Fun!

We have sure enjoyed baby Emmy the past few weeks.  Hard to believe that she is already 4 weeks old!  I have to admit, the long nights and fussiness are challenging, but these people only stay tiny for a short time, so we are enjoying it while it lasts!

This is Emmy's first bath... not so much a favorite for her.

Here she is all dressed up for church.  The beautiful quilt in the background was given to me on Sunday by a sweet woman in our ward.  I can't imagine how much time it took!  It really has been amazing to feel so much love and support from so many people.  One day last week, I was really struggling and prayed for help.  Within one hour, a friend called offering to bring me dinner that night.  It was a miracle.

Sunflowers!

On mother's day, Ruth brought home a packet of sunflower seeds from nursery.  The kids decided to plant them and 3 months later, we finally have flowers!  

Happy Birthday David

David turned 8!  He is sooo happy to reach this milestone and is eagerly anticipating cubscouts and his baptism.  We are so proud of our David.  He is a great helper and a happy-go-lucky kid.  Along with his scout uniform, we gave him a headlight to use in bed at night for reading.  The first night he used it, James came out of the room to say, "mom!  It's a spooky night!"  The glow from the lamp must've been a little scary for him.

Hamburgers and chocolate cake were the requested birthday menu.

Ruth turns 3!

Hard to believe that my baby Ruth is no longer a baby.  She seems HUGE compared to little Emmy.  For her birthday we invited family to a nearby park and celebrated with pizza and cupcakes.  It was a big hit!

We decided to amp up her selection of dress ups for her gift (since her only choices have been mostly starwars and superman).  She was very happy!

Here are the cousins that joined us for the celebration.