Happy Independence Day!

We celebrated our freedom in southern Utah as part of Steve's family reunion. New Harmony has a traditional pancake breakfast followed by a parade, fun festivities, games and more food :).

~Our super cute patriotic trio~

...waiting for the parade...

-the parade participants throw candy -that keeps the kidos' attention :)-

After the parade, a cousin with horses offered to give the girls their very own trot around the block -okay, down a couple streets and back. They were in heaven!

Lexi found several animals to love -here's just one...

They both thoroughly loved this kitty which I allowed for awhile then hurried them to wash their hands before I started having an allergic reaction.

Lexi with cousins Katie and Natalyn and their prize fans :).

Tuckered out at the fireworks in St. George. He's a sweet little reminder of why our liberty is so precious to us!

God bless the USA!

Big Day!

So I 'm finally getting around to posting about our twofold big day that was April 26th.

First , we got to bless our little son. It took place at home as it was our stake conference. We were grateful to have both our Dads and my bro. Jared join in the circle. It was a very precious blessing. We sure love you Sky!

Mom made Sky's darling little white tux. Yeah buddy, you're spoiled!

Hmmm... I wonder where those baby blues came from.

So grateful for the priesthood-

-which brings us to the second part of our big day... Steve was released as Elders Quorum Pres. and called to the Stake High Council. He was ordained by his Dad to a High Priest after stake conference -another wonderful experience. Mercifully he was assigned to our ward so Sundays he can sit with the kidos and me (be there in case I need to take Sky out). I have to say though that I was impressed by some thoughtful ward members who, before they knew where Steve was assigned, offered to sit with us regularly.

Mom also helped me finish these dresses for the girls the night before. She was a major trooper toughing it through with me until 3 AM. Love you Mom!!!

And don't they look adorable!

The darling matching shoes that they've almost outgrown because it took me so long to get around to finishing this project :). This is ME after all. Look close... they have strawberries on them :D!

Playing Catch Up!!!

Thank goodness a picture says 1000 words because I'm just going to update y'all of our last month or so with a bunch of 'em :).

This was a primary activity at which I did the face painting :). Lexi chose a purple flying unicorn, and Micaela a floating rainbow.

Do you like Lexis bangs? She cut them herself.

Micaela doing some funny relay.

Alexis sporting her tap costume and all the sass that goes with it :).

We participated in the neighborhood garage sale this year and Steve helped the girls bust out an orange juice stand as well.

Lexi with best school friends Madison and Halle at their school olympics.

Steve volunteered me to paint these visors for Lexi's entire kindergarten class. Okay it wasn't so bad :). They were the "Zoom Team"! They won at tug of war against the other kindergarten class -"The Class Clowns".

It eventually got hot enough that the kids were dunking their heads in buckets of water.

Lexi on her last day of kindergarten -technically two days early because we had flights to California the next morning :).

Skylar's first trip to the beach. We went to Swami's to enjoy the tide pools, but the tide was a bit too high for much.

Sky isn't a fan of the water just yet.

We enjoyed a great park with Grandma and Auntie Kris :).

Then, it was a day of fun at Legoland. Thanks Uncle Lance!

Of course, we made good use of the pool:).

I'm a super sucker for swimsuits with strawberries!

It starts! My sister Deb and I used to do stuff like this to our younger brother Mark.

You're in for it now Sky -your sisters have discovered how fun it is!

So I finally busted out the paint for the girls and they thoroughly enjoyed creating their works of art that now hang by the fridge.

At the same time Sky had a blast with his play mat from Grandma & Grandpa.

Happy Father's Day x 3 Steve!

We received some Bees tickets from a neighbor and made the mistake of inviting Matt & Annie who were in town (just kidding guys) unaware of the pox they bore regarding Bees games. This was their 3rd time in a row getting rained out while attemping to enjoy a Salt Lake baseball game.

We went for ice-cream instead :).

It was great to see you guys!

The next evening we went to a Salt Lake ReAl soccer game since Lexi had been invited to join her friends' soccer team to walk on the field with the pro. players. That's Lexi with #15 of the Canadian team. We saw Paul Pickett and Allen there on the field (helping ref.) ReAl won 3-0.

She got a free t-shirt :)!

Sunday (yesterday) Sky at 3mos 1wk. He's sure good at giving us smiles now.
There now you're current :).

Resurfacing . . . (cont. from previous post)

...And then one day around the 5th week the sun breaks through and you get your first real smile. You feel like you've finally been paid and suddenly it's all been worth it!

Skylar @ 2 months (yesterday)

-Cool headress little buddy!-

-2 month photo shoot-

-First smile captured on camera-

So, although it's still a constant battle of the goop, life is slowly returning to a more manageable state, and we can see and enjoy the loving little person inside our new bug.

I'm A Survivor!

I need a t-shirt with a picture of our little angel that says, "I Survived the First Month!" Mostly I just toughed it out in a zombie-like state. Not too much fun involved with nothing more than constant ick coming out one end or the other and serious sleep deprivation.

His welcome home banner :)

The 1 month photo shoot :)

~His first bath~


I had all the help I could stand :)

-Sweet baby-

~Enamoured big sistas~

-precious boy-

(first day home)