Fourth of July Party

Chad and I hosted a Fourth of July Party with our friends, the Campbells, for over 50 friends. We started the day at our home decorating our bikes and wagons for a Patriotic Parade. I have always wanted to host a kids' fourth of July parade, and to be honest was the main reason I threw the party. Andrew said this was his favorite part. After the parade, we returned home for water games, ping pong, volleyball, playing in the backyard, and jumping on the trampoline. Ryan loved having access to all of the juice boxes we had placed in a little pool with ice. When I cut him off at 4, he found lots of willing friends who opened at least 3 more of them for him. When we were done playing, we headed to the Campbells for a cook-out. Ryan soaked his clothes eating watermelon, which is why he is wearing only a diaper in the pics. He doesn't seem to mind, does he? The kids helped make yummy snacks for the fireworks together after dinner. (Thanks Janine, Kim, and Shauna). Then we headed to Shallowford Square for the fireworks, which is always my favorite part of the holiday. The boys were asleep before we got home. (Which I think must have been Chad's favorite part. He was so tired after working all weekend to get our yard ready. Everyone should feel sorry for my wonderful hubby. His wife gets all of these fun ideas, and then he has to help me carry them out. Although, I do have to say, I think he looks super hot with the tan he got while slaving away in the hot sun for me). Enjoy the slide show! (Pretend there is a soundtrack of Proud To Be an American playing in the background. I could not figure out how to do it. Anyone know)?

Molly's 10 Weeks Old

Molly continues to be a fantastic sleeper, sleeping anywhere between 11-15 hours a night this week. Wow! She is the most contented and happiest little gal when she is awake. She smiles a lot. She has become a master at finding her hand and sucking on it.


Her brothers still adore her. Ryan walks up to her and says, "Molly like me." Andrew still tells her all the time that she is lovely, and beautiful, and adorable. (His wife will be a lucky woman).

Molly celebrated her first Fourth of July in style. A friend from church gave us this little ruffly outfit at my shower.




I have saved it for the Fourth. I think the big ruffly bum is cute and funny.


Molly was startled by the first firework at the Fourth, but then recovered pretty quickly, and seemed to be watching them intently after that.

Talent Share

Heavenly Father knew I NEEDED an Andrew in my life. He needed to be my first child, to teach me and to help me grow. As I have mentioned many times before in this blog, I don't enjoy doing things I am not good at. I have never had the self-confidence to fail in front of others. There are probably lots of things that I would enjoy in life, but I don't know because I wouldn't try them. But I am determined not to create this anxiety in my own children. I try so hard to let them be who they are, to not expect perfection, but I have to admit, it really is hard for me. I never had that problem with other people's children. I could accept them as they were, love them, adore them, teach them, feel no need to change them. But with my own it is completely different. Something I have to consciously work on daily. As soon as I think I am conquering this part of me, the Lord gives me opportunities to grow even more.

So a few weeks ago the primary talent share was announced at church. Andrew does really well memorizing and speaking and singing in front of others. I knew this was something he would really like doing and could do well. I thought about his many talents, and made a few suggestions.

Me-How about telling a few jokes, you are really funny. That is one of your talents.

A-No, that's too boring. (his answer for anything he doesn't want to do these days).

Me-Well, maybe you could play your guitar. You are doing a good job learning.

A-Nope.

Me-Maybe you could act out a story with some of your friends. You could do the 3 Pigs or the Billy Goats Gruff.

A-No, I want to sing.

Me-What do you want to sing? You know lots of great songs. You are a great singer.

A-I don't know. Let me think about it.

(A couple of days pass and I don't mention it again. Then one day we are driving down the road listening to a CD he got from his cousin Masen a year ago).

A-Oh Mommy, now I know what I want to do for the talent show. I want to sing "Life is a Highway!"

Me-Really? It is kind of fast, and we don't know all the words. Maybe you could sing "I won't grow up" from Peter Pan. You already know it really well. We even have a costume.

A-No, "Life is a Highway."

Enter the growing opportunity. Now myself, I would never choose to do something that was out of my comfort zone on purpose. I knew this song was too hard for Andrew. It is really long, it is really fast, and hard to understand. I knew there were many things he could do easily and do really well. I wanted him to be successful (meaning do the best job he was capable of). I knew there were things he could do much better, but I knew I needed to let this be his thing. So for three weeks we practiced this song. We looked up the lyrics on line so we could figure out what they were saying, but they were still hard to sing as fast as the song goes, even for Chad and me. We even cut the song in half. Andrew would only practice the song in the car with me and didn't want to learn any dance moves to go with it. So, I let it go. I was determined to let it be his thing. I didn't want him to not want to do something because it wasn't polished and perfect. I wanted him to have a good time.

Then the night before the talent show, he announced, "I think I will sing 'I Hope They Call Me on A Mission' instead." "Oh" I replied, trying not to act excited, though I was desperately wanting to encourage this train of thought. "Maybe you could dress up like a missionary and carry your backpack. That would be cool." "Great Idea!" he exclaimed. I was really excited, I knew this was something he could do well and be successful at. I knew everyone would be able to understand him and would think he was adorable. But I have been his Mommy for 4 and 1/2 years, I didn't get my hopes up.

It was a good thing I didn't hold my breath. He awoke the next morning determined to do "Life is a Highway." I told him I thought that was fabulous and we headed off to church. And that is exactly what he did. And it didn't go perfectly. And it was wonderful! The microphone wasn't on at the beginning, and no one could hear him sing, but he didn't let that bother him. He just kept right on going. (Even at 4 I would have been in tears and wanting to start over again or given up). I am so glad I didn't push my ideas or plans on Andrew. As you can see in the video, he is SO HAPPY. He had so much more fun then he would have, had he taken one of my suggestions. He enjoyed his performance and I enjoyed his performance. He was proud of himself.

The scriptures say, "Men are that they might have Joy." If Heavenly Father wants for His children to have JOY, then I can't aspire for any greater thing as their earthly mother then for my children to have JOY. And I challenge anyone to watch Andrew dance and see his face in this video and not feel his JOY.

Swim Lessons

Andrew is taking swim lessons this summer, and loving it! He loves wearing goggles, (aren't they hilarious, who is that kid?), playing motor boat, and jumping into the pool. (He isn't too crazy about the whole floating thing or getting his face wet thing, yet).





Ryan loves his swim time with Mommy while Andrew takes lessons. I brought this float for a friend's baby, but Ryan decided it was fun to wear with his goggles.

This pic is for Nana. She bought this cute pirate hat for Ryan and he wouldn't wear it while she was here. After his nap, he wore it all afternoon.

Molly's 9 Week's Old

Molly is a loud sleeper. We have had a hard time capturing it, but here is a short clip we caught tonight. It still doesn't do it justice, she really is very loud.

Molly had her 2 month check up this week. She was 11 pounds 11 ounces and 22 inches long. She is now in the 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height (last time she was 95th for both). Her head is still 95th percentile, though.

Molly continues to sleep through the night, 12 hours at a time a few nights. I have never had one do that before. I am a little worried about my milk supply, but the doctor said to let her sleep and it would be fine. I haven't had any trouble yet.

Molly is smiling and cooing lots. She loves her mobiles and loves her brothers still. She went to the pool for the first time this week, but wasn't too impressed with the water I dipped her toes in.

Happy Father's Day

We had a really fun Father's Day with presents, homemade banners, cards, and yummy food. While we were shopping for Chad's present, Andrew and I had the following conversation.

Andrew-Mommy, I am really excited about Daddy's Day.
Me-Yeah, it should be really nice. I love the cool sign you made for him. Maybe you can help me cook breakfast on Sunday.
Andrew-Umm, actually I am really excited because we don't have to go to church on Father's Day.
Me-Really? Why not?
Andrew-We didn't go on Mother's Day! So Daddy shouldn't have to go on Father's Day.

(I was still not taking Molly to church yet on Mother's Day and so we drove to Pinehurst for the day. We got there too late for their church and left too early for the guys to make it to ours).

Andrew spent the next three days trying to convince me that we didn't really need to go to church. (He loves his primary teachers, I do not know why he prefers staying at home).

But, much to Andrew's dismay, Chad and I (AND the kids) attended a great sacrament meeting today where both speakers spoke about lessons they have learned from their fathers. On the way home from church, we talked about lessons we had each learned from our fathers. It was hard to choose just one or two like the speakers had done. It was a neat conversation as we contemplated the MANY times our fathers had set examples for us. We wondered what our kids would say they learned from us 20 years from now when they gave talks in their own congregations. We both have been blessed with fantastic fathers.

Chad said that he had learned kindness and respect for others from his dad. He said he had never seen his dad be unkind to anyone (even rude cashiers at Wal-mart). His dad is warm and friendly and is able to put people at ease. People just instantly know he is a good person.



I have been blessed to have two fathers in my life. My Dad, Gary, is a very hard worker. He goes the extra mile at his job and has a strong work ethic and commitment to quality. He takes responsibility for himself and those he supervises. I admire that in him and enjoy talking with him about his work. He is also a great grandpa and loves to play with his grandsons. I really appreciate the time and sacrifice he has made to be a part of my children's lives. It means more to me than I could ever put in words. I love you, Dad!



My Dad, Bryan, has taught me to have very clear priorities in life. He is committed first of all to our Heavenly Father, then our family, then our church, then his country. In that order. I know without a doubt that he loves God more then me, my sisters, or even my mom. And because of this, I know that he loves us more than he could if he did not love God more than us. He is a noble and courageous man. A man of great integrity. I love him and am grateful for his love for me.

Fun with Our Cousins

On Monday we went to Pinehurst to celebrate Masen's 5th birthday at a swimming dinosaur party! It was very fun! Aunt Emily made a yummy chocolate cake shaped like a volcano. Andrew is a bit obsessed with volcanos these days and asked, "Where's the lava?" Then he answered his own question, "Oh I know, when you light the candles. That's the lava."




A local theater is offering summer movies for kids. Because I am so choosy about media with my kids, they have never actually been to a theater to see a movie since they were newborns and went on dates with mommy and daddy. So it was a very big deal for them to be able to go with their cousins Alex and Evin to see "Curious George" at the movie theater this week. They loved it and have asked to go back every day since.

Andrew and Alex sat together and watched the whole movie. Andrew got out of his seat once to bring me his empty popcorn box. His eyes never left the screen.

Ryan sat through the whole movie next to me. He kept saying,
"Monkey is big, Mommy. Dat monkey is funny."

Evin opted to sit on the floor next to Molly's car seat. Evin loves Molly and wants to be wherever she is. What a sweet big cousin.