The Jared - Laurel Thing

Friday, August 19, 2016

Family Pictures July 2015

Credit goes to Lindsey Shaun Christensen, the best darn photographer in the great state of Utah! We had so much fun getting ready for this, and even more fun experiencing it.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

2015 Summer in Texas

After Isaac gave his final GT presentation on this tiger,

We could all relax and let loose a little

Take time to dress up, take a selfie, pretend and put on a puppet show

Summer has begun!

With some glorious mornings


There were days spent at the pool.

These were our last swimming lessons with our Beloved Bailey before she headed off to college, and now, a mission (Japan)! Her mom is my favorite. It was so great to catch up with their wonderful family. And having a sweet, sleepy baby made these days by the pool kind of heavenly! The boys were having too much fun to catch on camera.

There were days at doctors' offices...

Ellie had to have her eyes checked after an accidental poke in the eye during a car ride with Noah. I thought she did awesome! And her tears glowed in the dark afterward.

We even had our own picnic at the park, to shake things up.

Tubing on the Medina River in Bandera with friends was a highlight

Friday, July 22, 2016

Ellie's 5th Birthday! (yep, still over a year behind)

Ellie at her Birthday Breakfast, May 2015

My little girl is growing up! For her half-decade birthday, she chose to have a princess party at Pump It Up. Blurry pictures means they were having too much fun to stand still. Ha!

Crazy Kids

Some of my babies, including my newborn in my friends arms

Finally got her to pose because she was adjusting her sock!

SO many FRIENDS

The Princess on her inflatable throne

This Coldstone cake was AMAZING!

Eating and watching the slideshow of pictures...that somehow we never got...

And then she went and graduated from preschool. All grown up now!

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Just Me and My Baby

I might be a little obsessed with my new baby. Such precious, fleeting days!

In my lap, awake...

...on my shoulder, asleep...

...swaddled for naptime and grumpy...

...or just sitting on the the tub, tolerating her mama....

Friday, July 8, 2016

Beautiful Blessing Day

It surely is a good thing we had posted all of these on Facebook, because they'd be gone (computer crashed). That would be sad, because this day was so wonderful and I want to remember it always!

Friday, July 1, 2016

A Little Bit of Grandma in Your Life

My sweet momma came to visit her newest granddaughter a few weeks after she was born. How we love to have a grandma in the house! Natalie was able to meet her and the other kiddos were able to go on walks, read and play with her. Such moments make our lives so rich!

What SHE's said

"I love Daddy. And I love Mommy. And I like shoes."
(Binky dropped) "Mom. Get it." ("You have legs. You can do it. You're a big girl.") "No, Ellie's a PRINCESS."
"Mommies like pumpkin pie."
"My name is George EleaNOR Batman."
"I burped. I burped a princess burp in the pink princess spaghetti."
"You don't have any hair!" ("Aaah! Where is it?!") "I flushed it down the toilet!"
"I don't like tickles!" ("What do you like?") "Cereal."
"Not JA-Pan; Peter Pan!"
"Every day we sleep!! IN THE WORLD!"
"I wish I had wings so I could fly with you." ("Wings like a bird?") "No, wings like Tinkerbell."
"I don't love salad."
"Ack! If you say that again to me, it's a BAD CHOICE."
"He's OLD. We have to get a new daddy now."
"Mom! Look! A Crut-knacker!"
"I hate songs. I hate 'glory to God' songs. I only like 'twinkle star' songs."
"I need to dance like a girl"

deep thoughts by noah-since 2011

"I have super-vision-seeing eyes!"
"Mom, put batteries in my car. Then you can use GOODERIES...for Cheerios!"
"I'm going to toot on you. And toots are made of fire."
"My arms can stretch really long to Alaska, Mom."
"I'd be laughing my head off! Laughing my HAIR off! Then I'll be like Daddy!"
"That's a funny sound! Thanks for doing that!"
"I'm never gonna whine like that [like Isaac]. I'm gonna whine a different way."
"I use the 'yeah' word because 'yes' is a little bit ugly."
("I'm gonna clean the kitchen for 10 minutes") "Shh. Mom's gonna eat cake!"
"Hey diddle! I'm gonna JUMP on Diddle Diddle...."
"Robin Hood doesn't hug boys--only girls."
"My king says your king likes to lie."
"I feel good when I use a sharp knife."
("Heck, no!" "Heck, yes!") "Hecknology."
("Boys and girls, this is Elder Bednar") "Ha. That's the kind of smile you have when you're about to kill someone."
"When I grow up, I'll call myself DOO DOO HEAD because I hate dads!"
"When I was a boy, I used to be sneaky."
"How did you do that?" ("Daddy Powers.") "Nobody has any powers. Only scripture powers!"
("'Free is the best place to be.'") "The potty is the best place to pee...?"
"I'm sitting on the end so that THAT Ridiculous Head doesn't [accidentally] punch me in the face again."
"Why do you have to treat me like Oliver Twist??"
("How sure are you?") "Ten times a million more than a giant."
"Mommy, do you know why poop is sticky? Because it's made part of tape and part of glue. And part of stickery!"
("Goodnight. You smell like gum...?") "That's because I HAVE gum." ("Where??") "There's still gum in my boot-y footies!"
"All teeny tiny things are squishy...except for metal...and other things...."
"My pinky toe is the longest toe on me. Just take a look at pinkytoe.com"

Isaacisms 2011-present

"I dreamed I was falling off planets in space and getting caught in cloud windows."
"I'm sad because Ellie bumped her head AND the missionaries are gone. I saw the garage door close and I waved to their kind souls."
"When I grow up and blow a big enough boogar, I might have to wear a Kleenex all the time."
"Ridiculous. They made me wear a pink lifejacket!"
"Teachers at school need more respect than mothers."
"How's this joke? Your kneecap is the capital of your knee!"
"I just zipped my courage up like a zipper and decided to eat it."
("How come you're so smart?") "Because there's a school inside my body. That's even a smart way to say it."
"Noah, I'm so glad I get to spend all these days with you." ("Me, too.")
("Are you a hot pepper?") "No, I'm good and cheesy and ice cream-like."
"Sinks are everything to me. If they don't have a sink...too bad, so sad, your dad."
"That was the best I've ever slept. Good! Great! Good!"
"Daddy, what part of that is true?" ("I don't know.") "Then why did it come out of your FACE?!"
"Grandpa, you have yellow crusty toenails."
("I've been alive over 10,000 days! What did I do?") "I hope you haven't done ridiculous things!"
"You're the commander and I'm the king." ("I command you, king.") "You can't command the king!"
"...Please help any temptation that comes my way to be overthrown by my courage--SHOT!..."
"...And please bless Daddy to not look to see if kids are not being reverent, because they're always reverent, and it's not likely that they're ever going to not be reverent..."
"You guys are lucky to be parents of superheroes. We can give you lots of good advice."
"I hate you, stupid underwear that won't stay down!"
("Noah, did you know there are some grown-ups who are smaller than you?") "Yep, they're called hobbits."
"Noah, cheer up. This is a very very sunny place. Monsters live in dark swamps."
(sigh) "Most movies don't make my legs fall asleep, but these ones do."
"I live here, so I pretty much knew that."
("I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.") "I don't think we're gonna get dessert if that happens."