Happy Birthday Brighton!

My sweet Brighton - where are the years going? On Saturday you'll be halfway to 18 - a scary age for a mom to think about. I will so miss you on your birthday but want you to know that Dad and I will be thinking of you the whole time we're gone! I am so proud of the helpful, sweet, beautiful, smart, righteous, caring girl you've become. You're more than a mom could ever hope for in an oldest daughter. I love you so, so much!

Summer Vacation

Months ago I had planned out our wonderful, beautiful, relaxing trip to Destin, FL and we'd been looking really forward to it. But then BP had to go and mess that one up for us. 2 days before we were supposed to leave the oil hit the beaches there and we quickly changed our plans. I have NEVER planned a vacation just 2 days in advance, but we stayed up until 2:00 am that night reconfiguring things. We ended up going down to South Padre Island (the very southern tip of Texas) with a few stops on the way. First we stopped off at Ben and Emily's in Temple, TX and went to a water park and Children's Museum there.
The next day we were off to the beach! The kids had a GREAT time there. No, it's not the white sand and crystal clear water of FL, but I was actually quite impressed! Much better than any other TX beach I'd been to. I guess that's what 10 hours of driving will do for a TX beach. Our condo on the beach was great and the girl's especially LOVED boogie boarding in the water. I was surprised at how nervous I got watching them swim so far out in the ocean, but they loved it. One of Sydney's favorite parts was being out in the ocean with Chris and watching a huge group of dolphins swim right past them and around them less than 30 feet away. And the boys loved the sand and water, too.



We also celebrated sweet Carter's 4th birthday at the beach. He kept saying the whole time how "I know everything now that I'm 4". He was so excited to finally be 4 like his cousin Tanner. Happy birthday sweet toehead!

Then on the way back we stopped in San Antonio to take in a few sites and then headed to Sea World the next day. We spent most of our time there at the Sea World water park since it was so hot, but another fun day in the sun!


We just love family vacations - the only bad thing is that Chris has to go back to work when we get back!

Look here, young man!

The other day we were at the pool and a boy about 4 years older than Carter took his ball. Carter then said to him "Give me back my ball, young man." The boy then asked me "Did he just call me a dumb man?" Why do kids make me laugh so much?

Still Playing Catch Up

My mom was able to fly back with me from Guatemala because I had vericose vein surgery on my leg (my pregnancy with Gav did a number on me). She helped take care of the kids and keep me off my feet for a while, which I GREATLY appreciated. I think she realized what a crazy, loud house we have, but also realized how much we loved having her around and how much my kids really miss her when she's gone.

 

Just some cute shots of Gavin with a sucker one afternoon - he was SO happy with this thing!

 

 

We are just loving our big backyard - the kids love to have water fights out there.

 

 

Brighton and Sydney performed in their dance recital earlier this month, Brighton for her Hip Hop class and Sydney did tap from her tap/ballet class. Call me crazy, butI just love dance recital time!

 

And Carter sang his infamous "Do Lord" song in his preschool end of year performance (amongst other songs). Very fun!

 

 

Guatemala Visit

Gavin and I were able to go visit my parents in Guatemala for 5 days for the first time since they moved there back in August. I loved having that alone time with them and finally being able to see where they live! The weather there is perfect - hi's in the 70's and lo's in the 50's year round. We were able to do some little road trips as well, which was fun (and Gavin made rather interesting at times). I have learned that he's not much of a traveler, but it was 3 adults to 1 kid the whole time, so definitely manageable. Thanks Chris and Lauren for all your help with the 3 older kids!

Here we are in Lake Atitlan. The volcanoes in the background were beautiful and the grounds at the hotel were just as pretty as can be.

 

 

My dad and I hiked up the mountain and did the 9 zip lines down while my mom stayed back with Gavers. SO much fun!

 

I also loved Antigua with their cobblestone streets and colorful homes and shops. Here we are shopping at the local markets.

 

 

Thanks for such a fun trip, Mom and Dad! I love you!

Southern Singing

Carter goes to a non-denominational Christian preschool, and comes home singing all kinds of Bible Belt songs. It's pretty cute! So here's one for your enjoyment:
If you're wondering what exactly what he's saying, here are the words: "Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me. Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me. Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me. Look away, beyond the blue. I take Jesus as my Savior, you take him, too. I take Jesus as my Savior, you take him, too. I take Jesus as my Savior, you take him, too. Look away, beyond the blue." We've all been humming this all day as well. And he loves to pretend he's reading his Book of Mormon and singing at the same time (he calls the BOM his Bible Scriptures and loves to bring it to preschool to show his non-Mormon teachers). And our favorite part is how he really "twangs" the "take" in "you take him, too."

General Conference

All the adults in my family (minus my sister-in-law Emily) were able to go up to Salt Lake City to watch my dad speak at General Conference 2 weekends ago. It was such a wonderful, uplifting, fun, relaxing trip! We were all so proud of my dad - he looked so comfortable up there and it brought me such joy to again realize what amazing parents I have. I feel so blessed! My dad was able to get us quite close seats for all the sessions, which made it so much better. And to be so close to all the apostles and prophet was so wonderful.

Chris and I with my parents

 

My sisters and mom and I

 

Us girls out shopping while the guys were at Priesthood session

 

All of us as dinner. And can you believe it - NO KIDS! We were lucky enough to have my in-laws fly in and watch ours for us (a HUGE thank you to them, because that's no easy task). Yep, and total of 15 kids left behind (my 13-year-old niece Hailee came).