Finally - Emily's birthday! August 16

This is the end of the day on Emily's birthday. We had cake and ice cream with our family.

For Christmas one year, my mom gave each of us a plaque that she had purchased bricks with our names on them in the Gateway Plaza. Fun gift that keeps on giving!!!


Enjoying the fountains at the Gateway.


We gave Emily a trip to Build-a-bear for her birthday. She picked out a really cute bunny. The first picture is the bunny un-stuffed. The second picture is the bunny getting stuffed. The third picture, she is giving her bunny a bath. Fourth, she is naming it and getting it a birth certificate. Then, it's all packed up and ready to go. She named it "Cutes". That is what John calls Emily. But now she calls it Princess Cutes.

A tradition for our family is to have your 8th birthday at The Lion House. I remember going to parties when I was little and pulling taffy. So the 8th birthday, being such a special one, I thought it would be nice to celebrate at the Lion House. This is the cake with a gumball baked in it. Whoever gets the gumball in their piece, will have good luck for a year. That was a tradition with Brigham Youngs family.

These are two of Emily's cousins. Anna and Caroline. The only two who left their bonnets on. They are eating lunch. The next picture is Emily hugging little John and telling him thank you for the gift he gave her.

These are the party-goers. There was quite a division between the boys and girls. Until the hostess of our party got a little upset. I finally told them that the next person to say anything about "the boys" or "the girls" would leave the party room. That was the end of that.
The boys: Kyath Moore, Nolan and Clay Fulkerson, and John.
The girls: Caroline, Anna, Julia, Kristina, Emily, Lauren, Meredith, and Lisette.

Outside in the garden to open gifts and inside in the party room playing "button, button who has the button" and "hide the thimble" game. They had lunch, went on a tour of the Lion House, played games, pulled taffy, and had cake and ice cream.
It was a nice day for Emily and all of us.

All Work...And Play - August 24-25

We went to the cabin to clean up two wood piles, remove an old, ugly, mouse infested couch, and bring the boat home. This first picture is Jack. "Hey grandma, it fits". The second and third are on the deck at the cabin. And the fourth is Sam being cute and patient while we work, work, work.

The kids played Monopoly with two boards. Go figure. Emily pulling a beautiful face. EVERYONE worked hard to get things cleaned up. Especially Jack. He is his fathers son. He worked and worked and worked. He worked more than me. We hauled off two truckloads of wood and the couch. It felt good. And we were all happy to help the cabin look nicer.

The first picture is the two empty spots that use to be piled with 30-50 years of old wood. The next picture is the front room of the cabin all cleaned up and ready for the next visitors (without the couch). And the third picture is John pulling his boat out of its resting spot. Goodbye sailboat. You were fun. All three times we played with you. The best memory was being blown away in the wind and tipping over at Smith and Morehouse.

Cute cabin (without the boat). The kids and I are posing in front of the cabin. And the kids and Max are riding in the back of the truck down to the river.

We had a lot of fun playing and swimming in the river. It was cold.

But even Max enjoyed swimming. Everyone is cold and ready to go back to the cabin. It was a nice trip and we wished we could have stayed for 3 more days. The cabin is always so nice and relaxing. We just love it there and are determined to go more often.

Bikeride on Antelope Island

On August 18, the kids and I went with the cub scouts to family pack meeting at Antelope Island. John and Emily and several others road their bikes on a "rugged" bike trail, 5-6 miles to Garr Ranch. At Garr Ranch, we had lunch and awards. There was a cowboy talent show going on. This guy was pretty good with ropes. And the last picture is Thomas and Jack playing "cooking".

John was at Thanksgiving Point for his annual OC Tanner golf tournament. They came in 4th this year and won $100 to the pro shop. He also won a $50 gift certificate to a gastronomy restaurant. And came home with the usual shirt, hat, bag, and golf towel. He played 37 holes and loved every minute of it.

Out Of The Mouth of a Babe

John's suit is hanging on the closet in the hall. Jack brought it to me this morning and said: "Mom, this will look cute on dad".

My beautiful not-so-little girl

click on
www.higginsonphotography.com

My sweet Emily made the home page of the website. Rob did Emily's baptism pictures the other night. He is quick and does an amazing job. Thanks Rob!

And Emily....slow down. I only have one of you.
I need to cherish every moment. It goes too fast.

Happy 6 months my little bear

I haven't had a child be such a mover this young. When I lay him in his crib to go to sleep, I'll check on him several times before he falls asleep and he will be at opposite ends of the crib, on his stomach, on his back, and several times, stuck in the bars. When he wakes up, he plays. And this is how I found him the other morning.

He loves to eat now. Baby cereal, vegetables, biter biscuits, and drink water from his cup. He does a good job. He can't help but smile. No matter how hungry or how sad. He makes us laugh when he shakes his head back and forth over and over. He also chomps his gums. He is going to love running around with the boys (and probably too soon).

Jack loves him soooo much. Too much for my taste at this point. Sam looks at me in fear when he sees Jack coming. We work on "soft" and "gentle" every day. He hasn't grasped the concept yet. "Sam, eat my foot." I just had to pick Sam up because Jack was trying to stick his feet in Sam's mouth. It's a constant battle. But he loves him to pieces.

His 6 months was actually yesterday. I LOVE YOU SAM I AM!

Do you ever lose your groove?

Things were going great. We haven't eaten chicken nuggets from Wendy's in a long time. Dinner has been on the table every night and I thought, wow...this is nice. I'm being a mom, a wife, and a homemaker. Whew!

Well, so much for that. The couch and I have become best friends this week. My eyes are going blurry from staring at the computer and I'm sure I've gained 5 pounds. And here is a picture of the D.I. pile.....yes, right inside the front door. (But tomorrow it will be organized and leave my home. So if you want something, claim it now.)

So what can I do to get out of my slump? My poor house. My poor kids. My poor John.

How about, poor me!!!

Jolie, where are you?

So, I got my hair cut, went back to Weight Watchers and I did clean my kitchen today. So it must have done some kind of good.

THE QUESTION IS:

Once you get in the groove, how do you stay in it?

John John on KSL

A pretty neat storm passed through this evening. John grabbed the camera and snapped a few shots and sent them in to KSL. They were used during the 10:00 P.M. weather. It was pretty exciting to see little John on tv.
Little John didn't even get to see it. I wish we would have known beforehand that the pictures made the cut!!

High School Musical

So have you joined the craze?! I think it's great to have a wholesome thing be so popular. I love love love to watch dance so this was fun. (anyone else enjoy a good Michael Jackson video?)

Lil John, Emily, and I watched the sing along High School Musical 2 on Disney channel at my mom's Sunday night. It was great.

And even better...the time spent with John and Emily.

Emily said this is Spencer (Emily's uncle) with brown skin and lots of hair. I thought the same thing even before she said it.