Bath Time!

Our little girl just loves bath time! I don't like filling up the tub and kneeling, so I just bathe her in the kitchen sink. Much easier on this old mamma with craptastical knees!

Gotta love that hair!

Wax Museum

At our Elementary school, when the kids are in 5th grade they put on a Wax Museum. Every student picks someone from history who has made a contribution to society. They have to do a research paper to learn about them. Then one morning they all dress like the person they have chosen. They have to sit perfectly still while parents and other students walk through.
Tyler was Milton Hershey. I'm pretty sure that the opportunity to eat chocolate factored into his decision. He is a boy after my own heart!

Unlike my other boys, he did not want any help from me. Until the morning of, when he informed me that he needed a mustache. If I would have had a little advance notice, I would have made one out of fake fur. But I didn't have time to look for it, so we had to settle for felt. In hindsight, I should have just drawn a mustache on him. But I totally did not think of it at the time. Duh!
He did a great job though, and it was fun to see him and all the other students.

Little Busybody

Rachel now crawls at the speed of light, and she loves exploring every nook and cranny in the house. She is learning and growing so darn fast! I sure wish she would slow down a little.

She can crawl up a few stairs now, but she knows she's not supposed to. I tried getting a picture of her, but every time she saw me, she would put her feet back down as if to say "Me? I'm not climbing the stairs mom." I'm pretty sure we are in trouble with this little one!
She followed me into the laundry room while I was starting up the washer. I took the load from the dryer to the family room and came back to see this:
She was absolutely enthralled with the clothes spinning around in the washing machine. The look on her cute little face was just priceless!

Little Drummer Girl

We've been hauling out all the old baby toys for Rachel to play with. I totally forgot about this little Leap Frog drum we have. The boys gave it to Rachel to try out. Once she discovered that it would make a noise when she slapped it, her little face just lit up! She went to town pounding on it, and she was so proud of herself. She is such a smart little whipper snapper!

Pretty in Purple

My sister Heidi gave us a bunch of baby clothes that Alyssa has outgrown. This purple dress was one of them. I had Rachel wear it to church today and she looked so darn cute. This lucky girl looks gorgeous in every color we put her in!

Christmas Traditions

I'm a sucker for Christmas traditions. I love them! Some of the ideas we've tried have phased out, but there are still several that we must do every year. Sleeping under the Christmas tree the day we decorate it is a favorite. The boys are so big now that they fill up the whole room, but they still love this tradition!Every year at the ward Christmas party all the kids get to sit on Santa's lap. Sometimes even the teenagers take a turn, but Spencer and Brandon opted out this year.
The line was so long that Rachel fell asleep before it was her turn. I was pretty bummed. But Tyler offered to hold her on Santa's lap, so I let him. It's better than nothing!

Horray for Finger Foods

I am always thrilled when my babies reach what I refer to as "the Cheerio stage". The stage in which they can feed themselves small pieces of food. Makes dinner time so much more enjoyable when they can sit in their high chair and participate without having to be handed every bite.
The downside to this stage is that they can also pick up tiny rocks, legos, crumbs, and every other piece of junk left laying on the floor. Which at our house is quite a bit. Ahem.

The art of feeding oneself in four easy steps:

Reach

Grab

Insert

Lick fingers clean

The last step must not be skipped, because it is simply adorable and brings smiles to everyone at the table. :)

Look What I Found Under the Tree!

We busted out the Christmas tree and decorations over the weekend, and of course Rachel had to get in on the action.
She climbed under the Christmas tree, so of course I had to take a photo. She soon discovered that the branches are quite prickly, and she crawled right out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went up to my parents' house for Thanksgiving this year. It was the smallest gathering we've ever had I think. Heidi and Melinda spent the holiday with their in-laws, and Matt was on vacation, so it was just us, Jon & Molly, my parents, and Aaron. It was nice and cozy. And I should probably have paid less attention to eating and gabbing and a little more attention to the pictures I was taking. I did a pretty cruddy job this year. Oh well, at least the food and company was good, even if the photos don't show it. ;)

First Snowman of the Season

Unlike his mamma, Justin LOVES winter! As soon as we got a good snowfall, he was outside shoveling the driveway. Not because we asked him to, but because he actually enjoys it. (I know, we're lucky.)
After the driveway was clear, he built a snowman. All by himself. He was so proud that I just had to take a picture. Don't you love how he used sticks to make a giant smiley face? Man I love this kid!

Families Are Forever

We had such a beautiful weekend. We were finally able to take Rachel to the temple and have her sealed to us. The boys were able to be right with us in the sealing room and the spirit was so strong. It was just amazing to all be there together with our family. I was afraid I would cry through the whole thing, but Rachel was so excited to see her brothers that she was laughing and kicking the entire time. Made it much easier to keep my composure.
We are so very grateful for this little angel girl and the joy she brings into our home every single day. She is such a blessing.

Lots of our extended family was there to share the day with us, and we are so glad they could make it. I wanted to be able to take a bunch of photos afterward, but it was freezing outside, so we couldn't. We just got a couple of our family.
On Sunday Wes blessed Rachel at church. We had another fun day filled with family and friends. Again I planned on taking lots of amazing photos. We stated, but the sunshine was so bright that they weren't turning out very well. I totally planned on taking some later, but got caught up visiting and having fun with all of our family that I plum forgot. I am so much better at taking pictures at other people's events!

Here are the horribly back-lit glaring photos that I managed to get:
I love how much she adores her daddy!
Wes took this picture of the two of us girls.
We are so grateful for temples and the knowledge that families can be together forever.

So Bloomin' Cute!

I have been saving up girl clothes since Brandon was a baby. One of them involves a funny story. We didn't know Brandon was a boy till after he was born. So most people waited to give us presents till after we had him. We were visiting with my Great Aunt Faye, and she handed us a beautifully wrapped gift. I handed Brandon to my mom so I could open it.

Inside was. . . a tiny little blue dress with pink roses and lace, a pair of bloomers and a matching headband. As soon as my aunt saw it she was mortified. She gasped and said, "Oh no! I must have sent the little boy outfit to my other niece who just had a girl!" She was totally embarrassed and offered to take back the dress and exchange it for something Brandon could wear. But I loved the little frilly outfit so much I told her I would just save it for when we had a girl. Of course I never dreamed that I would be waiting for 16 years. The dress has been carefully tucked away since then.

It was fun to pull it out and put it on our little Rachel. She looks simply adorable in it. I'm so glad I kept it!!

Halloween

The weather this year for Halloween was just gorgeous! I don't remember a year when it was so warm. It was awesome!
We decorated our pumpkins in an Angry Birds theme. The boys painted the base coat, and I did the faces.
Wes set up a catapult in the front yard.
And he and the boys built the "knock-down" structure where we put the pigs.
They had tons of fun!!

This year Tyler insisted that he was too old to go trick or treating. But of course he changed his mind the day before Halloween. Luckily we had a costume he could wear. He went as a skeleton.
I made Justin a pirate costume. He sure had fun wearing it! :)
And I had a blast finally making a girly costume. Rachel was a bumble bee.

Little Purple Dress

My friend Julie gave Rachel this adorable purple dress when she was born. She looked so cute in it that I had to take some photos.

Halloween Dance

Brandon went to the Halloween Dance last night with one of his good friends from marching band. She actually asked him three weeks ago, but he thought it would be funny not to tell us until the day before. So yesterday in addition to making food for the SEP dinner at the Elementary school, attending SEP's, baking 40 muffins and 3 dozen brownies for the marching band trip, hosting a football party at our house, and going visiting teaching, I had to come up with a last minute Halloween costume. Yikes!

They ended up going as a painter and a painting. He got home after midnight and had to be at the high school at 4:00 A.M. to leave for a marching band competition in St. George. Sure wish I had the energy of a teenager. I'm pooped today!

She Loves Her Brothers!

I was snapping some photos of Rachel today and trying to get a good smile. Spencer came up behind me to make faces at her. She immediately started laughing at him and I got this shot. So stinkin' cute!

It's Official!!

We went to court today to finalize Rachel's adoption. Our attorney is awesome, and we ended up with an amazing judge too. I had to answer most of the questions, and I totally cried when he asked me to share how I feel about our little Rachel girl. Our attorney told me that makes him look good though. LOL!
The judge asked each of the boys how they feel about Rachel. I thought it was very cool that he included them in the process.
After we were done Judge Davis had us come up and take pictures. He let each of the boys take turns wearing his robe. It was an awesome afternoon! We don't feel any differently than we did yesterday, but it is nice to know that she is now legally ours. We are so, so grateful for our little girl and for her birth mother who made the greatest sacrifice any mother can make. We are so blessed.





We went to court today to finalize Rachel's adoption. Our attorney is awesome, and we ended up with an amazing judge too. I had to answer most of the questions, and I totally cried when he asked me to share how I feel about our little Rachel girl. Our attorney told me that makes him look good though. LOL!
After we were done Judge Davis had us come up and take pictures. He let each of the boys take turns wearing his robe. It was an awesome afternoon! We are so, so grateful for our little girl and for her birth mother who made the greatest sacrifice any mother can make. We are so blessed. Adoption rocks!

Picking Pumpkins

We went to the Santaquin Barn this year to get our pumpkins. We went on the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. The boys had a great time picking out the very perfect pumpkin. And of course the best part is getting an ice cream cone afterwards. They have the yummiest ice cream!