It's Good To Be Home

It is always good to be "home" in Utah with all our family. And, it is good to be home in my own house after a good visit. That is exactly what we just did, visit home. Thanks to Del taking compassion on my homesickness while he was away fishing in a canoe on the the Boundary Waters, I took the kids back to see Grandma's and Grandpa's. I was very nervous about flying with all three of them by myself, but they really were amazing on the flight and in the airport. Even when our DVD player wouldn't work, and the kids couldn't get to sleep on the plane, they were good. The only breakdowns came in security, both times, when Will had to take off his shoes. He does not like that. And when we were walking down from the plane to the terminal and Will and his car seat fell out of the stroller and hit the door jam in front of the gate packed with people. I got some weird looks after that, but it is not like that doesn't happen every day of my life.

Good Things Utah. Lauren arranged tickets for me, my mom, and my sisters to go to a taping of this cute morning show in Utah. It is just kind of a current events and popular style show hosted by these woman. We had fun and got our picture with them after the show. There weren't all that many of us in the audience that day and they wanted us to be enthusiastic enough in our applause to make it sound as if there were. That is a lot of pressure! We did our best!


All the cousins on my side of the fam.


My baby girl.


Grandma and Grandpa.

Owen and Grandpa on the motorcycle.


Emma, Georgia, Nikole, and Cadance.

Wally at the Bingham mine. The kids loved this. I thought it was really cool too. Those trucks are as big as my house! Worth a visit weather you are young or old!

Will and my mom in the rain at the mine.

Wally and cousin Gabe on the ferris wheel.

G

Graduation Day!

Last week was the first of what are hopefully many graduations in Wally's life. The pre-school graduation. I am proud of Wally for making it through. Last year, I really wondered if that would happen, but now he is so excited to move on to kindergarten, so it was all worth it, On to moving from primary to young mens, junior high promotion, seminary graduation, high school graduation, college graduation, and whatever else you want to attend a ceremony for Wally, I'll be there! I love you!


Okay, this was staged, I accidentally turned my camera off for the actual receiving of the diploma and handshake. His teacher was so nice about it.

Brothers

Wally and his diploma.

Father and Son's

I wanted to post the pictures that Del took of the boys last week at the Father and Son's camp out with our ward. He also took the boys to a nearby lake and they caught fish with a piece of line and a jig attached to a stick. Del didn't have a pole, so he rigged up what he could, and the fish were hungary! The boys LOVE going out there with him. Like father, like son. I guess I better learn how to fry up a good fish with all these outdoors men in the family!


Wally holding his fish.

Will holding his fish

Wally with his friends Warren and Clay

Warren and Will. The boys think that Warren is about the coolest thing around because he is almost three years older than Wally, so they idolize him. Good thing he is so good and cute Candace! We are sure going to miss you guys!

A Regular Day In May

Well, as the title clues you into, We are having some pretty steady times around here. I guess that would translate to boring and sometimes that is just fine by me. So I thought I would just type up an update on everyone and post some random pictures.

This morning we woke up to the tell-tale tarps that would indicate that someone ACTUALLY, FINALLY, wants to live next door to us! When we moved in almost four years ago, we joked that the lots right next to us will end up being the last to go, and with the exception of only a very few more, it has been true. I think our builder has actually even sold out. So I am interested to see what this house looks like. Now we just have to hold our breath that it is not smurf blue or something. I'm telling you, THAT joke had better not come true!


My tulips took their time blooming this year. I finally got a picture of them.They were the last of all the tulip friends out there to show off their pretty petals, I swear. But now, mine are in bloom while all the others are gone. I love them, it means Spring!


I found this picture lost deep inside my camara. I don't even remember taking it. What should we call them? The "Bandaided Bandits?" So silly. Wally's latest news is that he graduates from pre-school in a week. Will is in the midst of an adamant refusal to potty-train. He begs me for a diaper when I put underwear on him, and yells "Oh no, it's coming!" as he has an accident all down his legs. I know that now I have to wait for him to be ready, but I am sad because he can't go to his fun little summer day camp if he is not out of diapers. Maybe next year.


Here is one of Georgia doing what she does best these days, getting into everything. She has been running a fever for two days and isn't a very happy camper. But she is a cutie as always. She is very fluent in her language, and is talking constantly. Whatever she is saying involves a lot of "sha, sha, sha" sounds. Her latest is trying to fold her arms while we pray. So sweet.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I love you Dad, and hope your day was great. And thanks for being so nice when I called you crying because I looked at the wrong month on my calendar and thought I had missed calling you on your birthday. I am glad I actually got it right on. But I am a dork, so thanks for loving me anyway. You have been so good to me and our family, and I will never forget all that you have done for me, the big things, as well as the little! You are such a great Grandpa too, and the kids LOVE you!

Mother's Day Tea

I was able to go enjoy the Mother's Day Tea at Wally's school. It was a lot of fun to be with just Wally for a while and see him in his classroom. They kids made place mats for the moms and sang us a song. We had lemonade and cookies, and played with the toys.

Me and my Wally

This is my place mat. They were hilarious! We were all comparing the funny things our kids had said about us. This is what Wally wrote about me:

My mom is 27 years old. (super impressed he remembered how old I am. Most of the kids put 10 or 13 or some funny age.)
My mom looks pretty because her hair is yellow and she has green eyeballs and her name is Jessie. (my eyes are blue, but close enough.)
I like when my mom makes dinner for me. She makes all kinds of food and all kinds of stuff. ( This is so sweet to me because Wally is always talking about how I make dinner. It is as though this is something he can count on and he takes comfort in it. It is a regular part of his day, and I just love that it gives him stability, so I thought it was cute he wrote about it.)
My mom always tells me, "Be nice." (among other things I always tell him)
My mom is funny because she makes this funny face, rolling eyes and sticking out tongue.


The class singing us some songs. Wally just stood there and smiled. No singing for him.

Wally and Jacob. I hear all about Jacob, and according to his mom, he talks non-stop about Wally.

Improvised sword fight.

Me and my guy.

Happy Birthday Georgia!

We have been celebrating Birthday after Birthday at our house! It is actually really emotional when I sit and think about each of my children one by one on the day they came into my life. It is kind of nice that they are all so close together because it makes me see what a blessed life I have.

Georgia Janell is one year old tomorrow and we can't believe that it has been that long since our little baby came! She has been such a blessing, to me and Del and the boys. She is such a light in our lives.
Georgia is our only baby that didn't need medical attention right away when she was born, and it was so amazing to sit and hold our new baby together in a quiet room for a while. I will never forget the look on Del's face as he carried that new little pink baby around the hospital room. That memory will always be something I treasure.
Georgia got her name from the brilliant mind of her older brother Wally, who would not stop referring to the baby in my tummy as Georgia. He was calling her that before we even knew she was a girl, and it just kind of grew on us and stuck. Her middle name is after my mom. For the story on just how my labor with Georgia started, (with Wally's help) check out my blog entry called "Memories..."

Georgia is truly a smart little girl. She is definitely an observer. She watches us do everything very carefully, and then when we least expect it, she puts her new found skills to good use. She can already reach up and open some of the doors in our house, she tries to put lids on sippy cups, and hair clips in her hair. She can often be found crawling around with several hair ties and clips caught in the hood of her sweater, where they land after she attempts to put them in her hair. I have been surprised several times, when I am telling the boys sternly to get down from a piece of furniture, I hear a little echo behind me of, "Dit dow!" It is Georgia chiming in with her two cents.

We did have our little medical scare with Georgia before she was a year old. We decided that she just couldn't feel left out of the pack with her brothers on that one. Del and Georgia had a fall on the stairs, and Georgia ended up being life flighted to a children's hospital in the city. We were so blessed and comforted by all the people who were praying for us and five week old Georgia, and we know all those prayers were heard and answered, and our baby's brain injury healed and we were able to bring her home just fine. Thank you so much to everyone who prayed for us! We were overwhelmed with how many people were so concerned.

We are so grateful to our our sweet, but determined little girl in our family. I can't wait to see what kind of woman this girl becomes. She is definitely eager to try everything, and has a little stubborn streak in her. I am so glad to be the mom of this little girl! Happy Birthday Georgie!!!