Christmas 2011

Highlights of the loot:

Gracie: doll crib, doll highchair, boy/girl Barbies.
Ava: Justin Bieber Barbie (against my will), modeling clay, doll with rocking horse.
Breck: Lincoln Logs, camo play tent, bike.
Jesse: blocks, carpenter play set.

I feel truly blessed to have these adorable kids and great husband to share this Christmas season with. The Lord has truly blessed us in 2011, and I'm looking forward to 2012.

Late Night and Nonsense

My kids know I hate sleepovers and so they have stopped bugging me about them and started bugging me about "late nights." I'm ok with the idea of late nights cause my "late" is round about 8 p.m. So Gracie had her twin friends Katelyn and Kiersten over the other night for pizza, a movie, and a facial. They had SO much fun!

Sunday morning the kids wanted to break out the camera and play around. What else is there to do when church starts at 1p.m.?

Ya ya so I'm starting to grow a double chin....what's new? I also saw a granny arm starting to hang as I blow dried my hair the other day. Ah the joys of nearing your 30s.

Oh and we can't forget our new kitty we got from the neighbor. She is meowing in this picture hoping to get away from Ava ASAP, but she is actually really really sweet. I love having her around at night for company when the kids are in bed. Gracie says her name is Whitney so I just call her Whit.

Lisa and Van's Wedding

My sister got married on Sept 30th. I couldn't be happier for her! I wish them both all the best and every blessing the Lord has to offer. Jesse, Breck, and Jackie's boys Gavin and Oakley.

Jesse's 1st Birthday

So it's come and gone. My baby's first birthday! I can't believe he is now 13 months old. His favorite things to do are pull pans from the cupboard, pull hazardous cleaning products from the cupboard, scream at the top of his lungs for attention, and give "loves" to his favorite people (i,e mom and mom).

I was trying to balance a video camera and digital camera at the same time so I wasn't able to capture any still shots of Breck and Ava. Ava got a vampire face and Breck got spiderman or superman or some other man. I can't remember. Gracie was dead set on getting a snow leopard in pink, blue and white. She was the first one in line. I think it turned out cute.

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped celebrate. I honestly don't remember if I sent thank you cards or not. My brain hurts!

Jesse and Grandpa Moulton.

July 4th

I am way behind in my blogging. Between the kids being out for the summer and starting my new job, my blog has been neglected. This is my way of journaling so the guilt is mounting. We spent the 4th at my sister Dana's house. We appreciate her hospitality. My kids love playing with their cousin Autumn and I love chatting with my sister all night long. We rarely get down to Utah county, so this was a treat.

I am grateful to live in America and I hope that I can pass this gratitude onto my children. I hope they can be grateful for everything they receive and take nothing for granted.

p.s Yes Gracie does have long hair in some pics and short in others. We got her hair cut in the middle of the day!

Gracie will not pass up an opportunity to practice her gymnastics.

Flashback Friday

The 4th of July is upon us. A lot has changed in 4 years!

Bows For Uganda

Don't we all want our kids to learn about compassion? This is something that is so important to me. The girls were thrilled to put together bows and headbands for women and children in Uganda. They even give them to old grandmas to make them feel special and beautiful.

Not sure what happened to this pic, but here are the bows ready to be shipped.

Flashback Friday

This is my grandpa. I found his picture and thought I would tell a little of his story cause it's worth telling. This is the man that my baby Jesse is named after and I couldn't be prouder about it.
Grandpa was about 8-10 years old when he got sick of the lies his stepfather was telling his mother about him so he struck out on his own and walked from Salt Lake to Provo. He ended up living with an aunt and uncle. His uncle didn't treat him as kindly as his own sons and told him the reason he didn't was because my grandpa didn't have a father. He worked very hard on his uncle's farm from sun up til sun down, minus the few hours in school. He would study his homework late into the night after his work on the farm was done. He made it to 8th grade before quitting to work full time on the farm.

He married my grandma at the age of 28 and had a beautiful, dark haired baby girl (my mom) at the age of 30. He was a police officer for Provo City for 17 years and the Chief of police for Provo City for another 17 years. Him and my grandma served a mission to Auckland, New Zealand and later worked at the Provo temple.

Grandpa never made excuses about his childhood; he decided, rather, to make lemonade out of lemons. I am proud of both sets of my wonderful grandparents!

Jesse

Although it is Friday I decided not to flash back very far. I wanted to include some pictures of my darling baby. He is growing into a beautiful baby. Ava is one of his favorite friends. She can get him to crack up by being her silly self.