Little Miss Avery is 5!

Avery requested a "Pet Party" this year. Of course with all the access to cardboard we have, I couldn't resist from making a few Pet Houses. They had fun playing in them, setting up dog dishes, folding up blankets to be welcome mats, and making name tags to hang on the outside. All of her guests brought a "pet" and we had some relay races, a treasure hunt with each question relating to our real pet Sadie, and musical footprints. And of course some face painting, ears, and collars :)

Avery thoroughly enjoyed all her presents she received. The poor girl sat so patiently through Carston and Macy's parties and presents, almost dying in anticipation of her own. She was very happy to FINALLY have her turn!

We had a sweet Pet Shop cake and ice cream.

It was an awesome party for one sweet little girl! She is always so pleased with everyone coming and celebrating with her.

We gave Avery a Princess Bike (the water bottle and holder were extremely coveted by all). I had to include this picture of Kate. She thinks she's a big girl, and kept climbing onto it until John gave in and took her for a ride :) She is definitely not the first born with all her big girl attitude and knowledge of how to do things :)

MACY IS 3!!! Or 5 if she has an agenda

This little girl was SOOOO excited for her birthday to come! She wanted a "Sleeping Beauty" party, and I tried my best to deliver. Three is such an amazing age where everything is magical and enthralling, and it is hard for me to exercise restraint when it comes to the birthday party. First up was makeup and nails...

Then we headed out to the castle...

I'm loving how pink is the color of choice...

We had a game of "Frog, Frog, Prince" followed by a treasure hunt left by the Prince...

We played "Pin the Kiss on the Frog", pricked our fingers on spindles and were awoken with a chocolate "kiss", danced to Princess music...

We opened presents and were so excited by all the new toys...

Had cake and ice cream...

And told our friends goodbye! After everyone left, Macy ran up to me and hugged my legs as tight as she could and said, "I LOVE YOU MOMMY!" This was one happy little girl who felt very special on her 3rd birthday!

PS-To explain the title of this post, Avery received a big girl bike on her birthday a few days later. When Macy was complaining saying she wanted one, we told her she could have one when she was bigger. "I AM BIGGER!" she yelled. So we clarified with, "When you're five." To which her response was not surprising, "I AM FIVE!" The next day when Chelsey asked her how old she was, she was still sticking to her story of 5 in the hopes of getting a big girl bike :) That sums up Macy :)

4th of July

Every time a holiday rolls around, I find our family packing in all sorts of stuff we've been wanting to do. The 4th didn't find us doing anything different. We went to the parade (first time it hasn't been blazing hot), spent some time there doing all kinds of free crafts with the kids, went straight to the park for a picnic with family. Carston, Avery, and I went straight from there on a hike with my parents while John went home to fit in sleeping kids and Fifa. Came home and crashed for an hour. Went to a family birthday BBQ for George's birthday, then went straight from there to the "Sidewalk of Fire." John and his brothers don't "do fireworks." Then have an event. We had music, preshow parachuters, there was a live band that came and played for awhile, and then of course the actual fireworks. I've stopped asking John how much money is going up in flames because while he thinks it is worth the experience, I'd rather have something to show at the end of spending my money :) But, it makes him happy, so I keep my mouth shut :) Even though I was exhausted by the end of the day, I think I still would have done it all again because it was a lot of fun!

Kate was hungry

I guess when you are child number 4, you realize there are times you might need to take things into your own hands in order to get what you want :) For some reason (i.e. he's not home all day with Kate), John found this particularly funny and decided to take a picture. I on the other hand (cleaning up her messes all day long), didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the event :)

NYC-Glenn Beck

How much fun can you pack into a 3 day trip to New York? I was pleasantly surprised that we fit so much in. I guess when you don't have to worry about buckling and unbuckling kids, keeping them dressed and bathed and their tummies full, and handling all tantrums that might come...it is AMAZING what two grown adults can accomplish on their own :) Many of you might remember John's video that he entered in a Glenn Beck competition awhile back. They decided to fly out all ten finalists and put them up in New York for three days as a prize. So, for the price of two airplane tickets, Ashlee and I were able to tag along with John and Brett. I love being a mom and doing what I do, but it is always a nice thing to go away with John by ourselves and remember who we are when we aren't being mom and dad. My husband, like myself, becomes a different person when it's just the two of us around other adults :) And where in the world would he find other crazy people like himself and his brother who are so into politics, spend their free time making videos, and are overall just funny people? Both Ashlee and I had to laugh at how much they were enjoying themselves.

We were able to spend a little time with Randy-and we can't wait until he has finished school and can party with us all the time. These boys are pretty funny when they are together and get going. They could pass for normal in this picture, but if you saw the one right before it, you'd probably stay pretty far away. I'm glad John has brothers who are as crazy and funny as he is :)

Glenn's people treated us all to a fancy dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was there I came to an important conclusion: I am not a fan of fancy food. I'll take my plain and simple food anyday over the crazy things they served up there. Heather, you would have died! This was also the day that John and I headed over to church. I got a serious chuckle over the fact that I was able to accurately pick out two other Mormon couples on the walk over to the building :) It made me wonder if everyone else can spot us as easily as I can :) I love going to church in other places, it always gives you things to ponder.

Old and still super hot! Just kidding. Although this was kind of our celebration for our 9 year anniversary. I can't believe we only have one more year until we hit 10. Newly Married, that seemed like forever away, and now I can't believe it is here. I look back to when we got married and I'm kind of astounded at how shallow our love was when we couldn't imagine loving each other any more. Through these last nine years, we've been through a lot: unemployment, struggling to get pregnant, getting pregnant unexpectantly, depression, job changes, house buying, living with parents, ear infections and surgery, various callings and responsibilities, etc. And each one of these things we have faced together. We have helped each other in our struggles, we have leaned on each other through our hard times, we have cried and laughed together, we have watched each other stretch and grow. No one- not even my mom, sisters, or children-knows me as intimately as John does. And the deeper you know someone, the more you're capable of loving them. I love you babe!

Superficial Me-The Secret is Out

Whenever I recognize that my barely conscious thoughts are steering toward the superficial, it makes me SO MAD! Case in point...High School Reunion. Of course I find myself thinking that I want people to think I still look good. Ugh. It's embarrassing for me to admit it, but I know it is something all of us women do right? But I very much don't want to be like that the rest of my life. I mean seriously, do I REALLY care if people I haven't seen in 10 years think I let myself go, or if they take a cursory glance and decide yep I'm pretty? No. I really don't. And yet I seem to always find thoughts like that popping up. You know what I really care about. I want people to interact with me and feel like I have true charity, that I care about them. I want people to walk away from me feeling uplifted and feeling better about themselves. That is what I really want. Now the only challenge lies in eradicating all superficial thoughts. Any great ideas on combating the most prevalent campaign aimed at women? I'm hoping confessing and writing it down will aid me in the challenge.