Catching Up from our busy schedule!

This little ma'am turned 6 months, and we can't get enough of her. She is so stinkin' cute and sweet. She is so easy to make smile. She is a very happy little girl. She looks almost identical to EmmaJane's baby pictures...which is crazy! She is eating baby cereal like a champ! I can't feed her fast enough! And, ever since we got back from California, she learned a new trick....

wait for it.....

Yep, she now can sit up! Woo hoo! She is loving the new view! It just makes her feel so old.

For FHE, we carved pumpkins with the cousins...which was a blast! It is fun to have family so close

We have been to like 4 Halloween activities. We were the Pirate family, even baby June. CJ just loved having a sword, and him and EmmaJane have been going to town with the sword fights. I'll admit I have hid them a few times. :)

We went to Thanksgiving Point for a Halloween Carnival. The kids had a blast. That night CJ was a Ninja!

Today, I ran my first half marathon! The Provo Halloween Half Marathon. Woo Hoo! I've never done a Half before. It was a lot of fun...minus the running. :) People were all dressed up in Halloween costumes. We go dropped off at Aspen Grove, past Sundance ski resort, and ran 13.1 miles down through the mountains/canyon. It was so pretty, but super cold. It was like 30 degrees when we got up there.

EmmaJane running with me to the finish line! She was so excited when she saw me. She just started running.

Me--post finish line...Right now, my body is like "What did you just do?" But, now I can say I did a half marathon! Woo Hoo!

Fun With the Cousins!

We got back from a week of visiting family in LA on Wednesday. It was such a fun trip. I love watching cousins play. It is just so cute. I wish we could see each other more often. My kids love being with them too. It is cute. I stayed with Lindsey and forgot to take pictures at Brooke's, so most of these are with Lindsey's kids.

Isn't it great to have sisters? We are totally missing June in this picture. We have one of these pictures from the babies of 2007 where we are all sitting on the ground with our new babes. It is so fun that we have 2 sets of 3 girls born around the same time. I see pen pals and college roomies in the future.

Nana with EmmaJane and CJ. Seriously, isn't Nana gorgeous? Also, doesn't EmmaJane's and mom's eyes look the exact same color?

I smell trouble with a capital T! 6 kids under 5...not including the 3 babies that were also there.

Brenna, Baylie, CJ, Paisley, Sadie, and EmmaJane

Layla 8months, June 6 months

It was so cute. They would get so smiley and excited whenever they saw each other. It was like they knew each other in heaven and were so excited to see each other. Haven't you found that most babies like seeing other babies? They totally interact with them.

Uncle Nathan with the 2 Little Ones after the Bath.

3 Little monkeys sitting in a Tree: Sadie, Emma Jane, and Brenna.

2 Silly Monkeys in a Tree.

While we were there, we went to the best pumpkin patch ever. It had tons of inflatable slides, bounce houses, and kid rides. They made them some animal balloons that they LOVED, and of course, they made CJ a dinosaur!

They all went crazy in here. They would run at the walls as fast they could and bounce off the walls.

Everyone had so much fun on this ride...except for CJ who cried the whole time. Yes, the one who is obsessed with Dinosaurs and Airplane, go figure.

CJ, Brenna, Sadie, Dallas, and EmmaJane

Then, Aunt Lindsey, took some wonderful pictures with Nathan's camera, and then, he used his magic to make them so pretty! Thanks Lindsey and Nathan! You guys are awesome!

EmmaJane 4 1/2

CJ 3 1/2

June 6 months

Little/Big Messes

I know this is a horrible picture, but I saw this at the grocery store. I thought it really put things in perspective. I am constantly cleaning up messes multiple times throughout the day. What mom doesn't? But, I loved this because soon there won't be as many messes to clean up and what a sad day that will be.

I have been reading several books by Richard and Linda Eyre. They are amazing authors with such great insight into parenting. They talk a lot about the prime of parenting and how it is a short period of time, and by the time you have got it a little bit figured out, your kids are out of the house. 18 years is all you got. They talk about how up to age 11, kids pretty much still easily listen to their parents and like being with them. What precious time that is!

But for some reason it is so easy to get busy. It is so hard to enjoy the little moments. It is hard to stop and smell the roses when there is laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, messes to clean up, etc. And how precious and sweet and innocent these little ones are...most of the time. They really have such great hearts, and are so easy to give love and to forgive.

Before church on Sunday we were talking to EmmaJane about how important it is to love everyone just like Jesus did. We talked about a girl in her class that was a little handicapped. We talked of ways she could be nice to her and help her feel loved. Later that day after church, someone stopped me in the hall. They said that "EmmaJane had sat next to this girl and held her hand. And that she was being so sweet with her and had been taking care of her."

Kids really are the best examples of Christ...Now, if I could only remember that and those precious moments when they start fighting or hitting each other...