Changes

David's Turn!

Well, David hit a big birthday year!  12 years old, which means priesthood, temple baptisms, young men's, and scouts.  It has really been a blast watching David become a young man.  He is a deacon in every aspect... high energy, sporadic impatience, devotion to duty, and sincere questioning.  He is also working on pushing the boundaries of bedtime!  I love David because he never takes himself too seriously.  He is a friend to everyone, including his siblings.

We had a special treat this year because the Barnhurst family was in town to help us celebrate. Kent (13) and David have the same birthday and after all these years, we finally managed to be together.  The entire day was spent on Grandma's hill, followed by hamburgers and sushi for dinner.  Happy Birthday David!

Happy Birthday Ruth!

Oh how I love my sweet Ruth!  I have a parenting book that describes the age seven as "heaven".  It truly is.  Ruth is caring, energetic, and bold.  She can out hike any of us (hence her choice of a camelback for her birthday present), swims like a mermaid, and can't stand on missing out on anything fun.  As tradition commands, we had a swimming birthday party, with lots of cousins joining us afterwards for pizza and cupcakes.  I feel blessed to have this little lady in my life.

The blog must continue...

Well, with the birth of Johnny, and the new craziness of life, I secretly decided to close the chapter of my blog writing days.  I've always known that I'm not writing this for anyone but myself.  The children, however, revisit my blog books again and again and even quote from them.  Today Emmy declared, "thank you Mommy!  Thank you for taking pictures of me!"  (this was after she had just studied the book from her year as a baby).  So, here I am again...

Though money was desperately tight this summer, Joseph and I splurged on an anniversary date to see Giselle, starring the beautiful and famous Misty Copeland.  It was everything to be expected and a much needed break from the stress of moving, pregnancy, and summer chaos.  I still dream of being a ballerina.

 

Happy Birthday Joseph!

Day after Emmy's birthday: 14 year anniversary.  Next day: Joseph's birthday.  As it usually happens, we were quite wiped out on our anniversary, so we decided to spend the day home with the kids.  After eating leftovers form Emmy's birthday, we showed them pictures and videos of our wedding day and even pulled out the tuxedo and wedding dress.  The kids were quite interested, except when it came to the mushy pictures of us kissing!  Our official anniversary date will be this coming weekend to see the ballet, Giselle.  

Joseph turned 38 this year.  He sure makes 38 look great!  Since I am in a lackluster phase of cooking, I picked up a few of his favorite sushi rolls for dinner.  We topped it off with carrot cake (a tradition) and he impressively blew out all 38 candles in one whiff!  I am grateful to have Joseph in my life.  Though we've had quite a bumpy year with all the changes in our family and living situation, he remains my anchor, always showering me with love and ready to help in any way.  

We like to celebrate

Emmy's birthday marks the first of our nonstop summer birthdays!  Lucky for her, we had 3 families of cousins in town for the day, which made for quite a wild party!  Emmy was given a Minnie Mouse dress, which was perfect because this girl loves pink!  We also went to the store that day and picked out a minnie mouse balloon, so she was quite happy.  I must mention that David sweetly made her birthday cake.  

I love Emmy because she is smart, happy, and a great little companion.  She is learning how to put on her own seatbelt, sound out letters and short words, swim, and ride with training wheels.  I am so grateful to have her in our family.

Happy 4th of July

The kids had so much fun this year with decorating their bikes for the bike parade at our church pancake breakfast. Lucky Ruth won sunglasses for "best decorated bike"!  We also spent the rest of the day at Pam and Dave's eating yummy hamburgers and lighting sparklers.  Despite our efforts, the kids all HAD to light them well before dark.  At around 9 pm, Joseph and the boys snuck up to the top of the hillside to watch the fireworks while I listened to them pop from the comforts of my bathtub.  It was a great day!