June in Review

I did something Sydney did not approve of. She said, "Mom, I think you'd better shout at Dad for this..."

Jackson said, "Carter doesn't have any teeth, so I think he has a gizzard."

Jackson said, "Mommy, maybe you should pretend its happy mothers day, and you could sleep on the couch, and we could bring you breakfast in bed on the couch!"

Going to bed at night, we told the kids they should go to the bathroom first. Jackson said, "But I just went right before breakfast."

Jackson said, "To get music out of a harp, all you have to do is just tickle the strings and music comes out!"

Jackson wasn't feeling too hot. He said, "It feels like I have a canchor sore in my ear."

Sydney said, "Mom, can we have a horseshoe crab for our pet?"

Jackson came down and said, "I need help to put on my jammies shirt, because it's inside out, so I need help to put it outinside."

The kids always speak baby gibberish to Carter, and it gets loud and annoying fast. I told them, "Why don't you kids try to teach Carter some real words?" Sydney said to Carter, "Ma ma ma ma Da da da da." Jackson said to Carter, "Eyeballs."

Sydney was making some play hot cocoa for Keresa. She said, "Be careful mom because it's pretty hot. Wait just a minute and it will warm off."

Sydney asked Jackson to do something. He told her, "No, because I have a headache."

Jackson told us, "Remember when we had forkchops and I liked them so much I ate them all gone?"

Sedona

My parents own a time share in Sedona, AZ.  They reserved all of last week invited all the married/older kids to come and hang out for as long or as short as we like.  With McKay in crazy study mode I decided to venture there alone with the kids.  Luckily my sister Kelly came along with us and acted as the second mother to my kids for three days.  We had so much fun relaxing and hanging out.  THANK YOU Kelly for making the trip so much fun and helping SO much!

For the most part we were able to be lazy and sit around the beautiful time share watching movies and playing games, but we did get out to do a couple things.

We spent several hours by the pool.

Walked through all the tourist shops and even let the kids ride the statue that had a sign saying not to...it was all Kelly's idea!

Tried on everything that could be tried on.

Snapped a couple pictures along the way.

And threw pennies in the pond.

It was a nice relaxing week  McKay got lots done and is getting closer every day to being ready to take the bar exam next month!  We've decided our family motto has always been "Just a few more weeks."  And it's more true now than ever. Just a FEW more weeks and McKay will take the bar.  Then just a FEW more weeks and he'll get the results.  Then just a FEW more weeks and he'll be a lawyer.  Then just a FEW more weeks and we'll actually be earning some money!  Life had been good to us every step of the way and each new stage is exciting and fun.  I just have to remember to breath and enjoy the moment.

Life is good.

What we've been up to...

I've said it a million times, but being back in Vegas has been so wonderful.  Me and the kids keep ourselves super busy which makes it easier for McKay to study his LONG hours while preparing to take the bar exam in July.  Here are a few pictures (and a video) from the last couple of weeks.

First, Carter doing pat-a-cake.  Today is his 7 month birthday.

Jackson was remembering daddy's graduation, so McKay let the kids get his cap out and try it on.

(This is a good shot of Carter's two little teeth!)

My little younger brother Jared graduated from high school on Friday.  I was even able to peel McKay's eyes away from his computer to come celebrate for a few hours.  Congrats Jared!  You sure looked slick in your white cap and gown!

Sydney got a new swim suit and insisted that I take her picture.

There's a great group of Moms in our new ward at church that all have kids the same ages as ours. They have a little co-op preschool that Jackson will get to go to next year and they invited us to tag along to some of the last activities before Summer break. Here are some pictures of a bird sanctuary/petting zoo we went to.

We invested in a $8 swimming pool...and it has already provided HOURS of fun for the big kids.  I have it set up right outside our back glass doors so I can be inside with Carter while the kids play outside... best.eight.dollars.ever.spent.

I feel like Summer hasn't even begun yet.  We haven't been to a "real" swimming pool.  We haven't been to the beach.  The weather's only been in the 100's about 5 times and it's already the middle of JUNE!  I'm excited for the weeks ahead and loving ever second with my little family. 

(Oh, and Sydney starts KINDERGARTEN in 2 months...WHAT??)

She's done it again!!

Yup!  My cousin Diana blew my mind again with her beautiful picture taking skills!! 

CHECK HER OUT!!!

We had these pictures taken for my Mom for Mother's day this year.  We got all the cousins together and she did a wonderful job capturing each personality.  THANK YOU Diana!!!  You're amazing!

I don't think this is normal...

What do you think?

*about half way through the video I start getting some action with the nose sucker...so you may want to stop watching at that point...haha*

Thanks, Sydney for being my camera man.

A couple months in review

Jakn said I need a newspaper. Mom said why. Jakn said to wipe my runny nose.

Syd saw one of my pants rip because I bent down wrong. I told her it was because of my huge muscles. The next day while I was getting ready she said, "Dad be careful of your muscles today because I don't want people to think 'hey look at that guy--he has a hole in his pants.' "

Jackson and Sydney were inside watching a bug crawling on the outside of the window. Jackson said, "He has a big crack on his butterfly!"

Jackson and I were playing kitchen and food. We made some pretend cake. I took a bite and said, "Mmm. Tastes like cake." Jackson took a bite and said, "Yeah, and tastes like air too."

During dinner we had to bribe Jackson with this: "First you have to take a few more bites of your spaghetti, then you can have more green beans." (Is it opposite day or something?)

Jackson said, "I love that movie Californiacate your Dragon." (how to train your dragon)

Jackson asked Sydney why we have to match our shoes. She said, "So you don't look funny I guess." Jackson thought and said, "Well my shoes look funny because they have stripes."

Jackson said, "I'm going to be a daddy pretty soon because look at all this hair happening on my arms."

Sydney said she was still hungry at the end of dinner. Jackson said, "Well sometimes our bellies think they are hungry but really they are just thirsty, so try to get a big drink of water."

Jackson was talking to Sydney in the bathroom. He said, "Do you know what diarhea means? Broken poop."

Kgw got her nails done. She was washing her hands and Jackson saw. He said "Be careful mommy you don't wash too hard and wash off your plastic nails!"

We picked up a box of sugar cubes. Sydney saw them and got all excited. She was surprised when they weren't cold.

Jackson saw a horse wearing a fly mask over its eyes. He laughed and said, "That guy can't see because he has underpants on his head!"

Half Camp Out

The other night we had a camp out (sorta) in our back yard.  McKay told me he wanted to set up the tent and sleep in the backyard with the kids and I suggested just doing all the fun parts of a camp out....minus the actually sleeping outside part.  So, we set up their little zebra tent and got our flashlights and lantern out.  We had smores, read books in the dark, sang some songs and then came inside.  We had lots of fun.  Easy and fun...,my kind of camp out!

And I just had to include this picture of our happy 6 MONTH OLD boy!!

Our new home in Las Vegas.

Welcome to our new house. Come on in!

From the garage you walk into the kitchen. Nice and spacious with plenty of cupboard space.

Walking in from the garage you have a nice workspace (Mckay has claimed this area) to your right. See the nice stacks of bar prep books? Those are McKay's life for the next 2 1/2 months...fun right?

And the laundry room to your left.

From the kitchen you move into the dining room.

From the dining room looking back into the kitchen. We have a nice little bar where the kids love to eat breakfast and lunch.

The dining room connects to our play room/work space (claimed by me). Now the kids can play while I work (or play, whatever you want to call it). ;-)

Next is the living room where the front entry is. The front door is to the left of the big window.

Now upstairs.

First is the Sydney/guest room. Jackson has an extra bed in his room, so Sydney will bunk with him when we have guests (hint hint, we'd love some guests!!) Haha.

(Sorry, I didn't notice my camera lens was so nasty...too bad.)

Next, Jackson's room. Some day I'll be able to decorate in here.

Then the master bedroom.

Walk-in closet on left (YESSSS!) and bathroom on right.

And lastly, Carter's room. He'll get some decorations some day too...maybe.

And that's our house! We love it and feel right at home. We're near every store and restaurant you could imagine and about a 5 minute walk from the elementary school. We had the kids count how many seconds it took us to get to church on Sunday and it was 32. What a difference from our 50 minute drive in Grundy!! Feel free to visit any time!!