Time In Wyoming

Back in May, I had the privilege of helping my sister throw a baby shower for our brother's wife Jamie.  We took the girls out of school for a couple of days (and since it was the last weekend before the last week of school, they didn't miss much), and made the 2 day trip up to Wyoming to stay with my sister. 

 

The day after we got to Wyoming, we drove to Idaho to put on the shower.  My sister did an awesome job with the food, and I helped with the decorations.

 

Baby name banner above all they super yummy food.

Onesie advice cards, on a clothesline, with an extra invitation hanging among them.

Game/project table.  Story time subway art plaques, wishes for the baby cards, and supplies to make some hairbows for the new wee one.

The guys took all the kids to see The Croods while we had the shower, and afterwards we just relaxed for a while, went to feed the ducks by the Idaho Falls temple, then went out to dinner together before heading back to Wyoming.  We were super excited that my brother and his wife were able to come to Wyoming with us so we could spend more time with them as well. 

 

We were able to stay the following day as well before heading back to Texas, so we went to Sacrament meeting with my sister and her family, then headed back to her house.  We spent time with the kids while the guys went fishing.  The kids all seemed to have a blast together, playing games and make believe and just being able to spend time together.  The only draw back of the whole weekend was that Genesis would not go to ANYONE the entire time we were there.

 

My sister, Georgia, and my sister's youngest (she and Georgia are holding hands while watching someone play a game).



Georgia and my sister's oldest playing a Kinect game.

 

 Gracie "teaching" her class of beautiful cousins.

 

It was tons of fun to go and see everyone and just spend time with them all.  Hopefully we will be able to do it again sometime soon because we sure miss them all!!

9 Months Old

 

A few photos from when Genesis turned 9 months old.

 

Sitting on Mommy's lap, trying to drink some water.

Silly girl sticking out her tongue at Mommy in protest of having pictures taken.

Playing on Mommy's lap while taking a break during a long car trip.

Mmmm Oreos!!

Hello Kitty and Pizza Fun

 

We have a restaurant here in Abilene that is located right next door to one of our post offices called Mr. Gatti's Pizza.  It is a lot like Chuck E. Cheese.  One day, right before the end of the school year, I was driving past on my way to the post office and I noticed a sign outside that said Hello Kitty was going to be there the following Monday.

 

Anyone who has been around Grace within the last year knows that the girl is obsessed with Hello Kitty.  Seriously, she is so attached to Hello Kitty that when she buys thing with her chore money, it's usually Hello Kitty.  At least three of her shirts are Hello Kitty.  And her list of Hello Kitty things that she wants to own continues to grow.  So when I saw that Hello Kitty was going to be at Mr. Gatti's, I talked to Rob and we decided to take the girls there for FHE on the Monday Hello Kitty was supposed to be there.

 

The girls were thrilled we were taking them somewhere for dinner, and that they were going to see Hello Kitty.  As I said above, Mr. Gatti's is a lot like Chuck E. Cheese, with a few differences.  Instead of ordering pizza and having it brought to your table, there's a huge pizza, pasta and salad buffet where you can choose different things to eat.  The games were pretty much the same, except a bit more pricey, but the biggest difference was they had rides there.  They had bumper cars, a train roller coaster, and the Frog Hopper, which only two of my kids were brave enough to go on.  Grace rode on a mechanical pony instead, but Gwen and Georgia loved it!

 



 

The best part?  Watching their joy-especially Grace's-when meeting Hello Kitty.  That was all they talked about for the following week.  Hello Kitty was the best part of their night.  It's so much fun to take the girls to things like this, and to see their pure childhood joy.  I hope we can continue to do things for them like this and create even more fun family memories.

 

My Exercise Buddy

 

Love my little trainer!!

My Cute Genesis

I found this video of Genni on my phone the other day...I think she's about 9 or 10 months old in it.  She's such a funny girl!!  So glad she's part of our family!!

 

9 Months Old

 

Just some photos of Genesis when she turned 9 months old (3 months ago...I am really behind on updates).

 

Rockin' an awesome hat that all my sisters have worn.

Ready to go pick up my sisters from school.

Sunglasses?  Mmmm...I don't think so.

Just felt like being all dressed up.

Gwen's Award Assembly

I am always so proud of my kids when they receive an achievement award at the end of the school year.  In our elementary school here, they don't give out awards to the kindergarten kids, so the focus was all on Gwen.

 

She did excellent this year, and was pretty disappointed to find out that she didn't receive a reading award this year (mainly because she was constantly reading chapter books instead of easy books, and unfortunately the chapter books count for the same amount of points as the easy books, so she didn't receive as many points-boo), but she received straight A's all year, so she received an award for that.

 

And I couldn't be prouder of her for all her hard work and all the problems she bravely worked through this year.  I sure love her zest for learning scientific facts and reading all sorts of books, and her love of telling jokes.  Can't wait to see what this new school year brings!!

 

WAY TO GO GWEN!!!  DADDY AND I SURE LOVE YOU!!!!

 

Gwen is in the red, next to her principal.

Gwen (in the red) coming into the assembly.

 

The video is kind of shaky, and you can't really hear them talking (all thanks to my sweet little wee one), but I thought family members would still like to see it!!