Second Birthday, Second Grade and A Broken Arm

Jackson's birthday! Don't you love how we are all "helping" him blow out his candles! hahaha!!! Pirate Island had their pre-grand opening so we decided to give it a try! Here is everyone making their best pirate face! Mahlia does not believe in mean pirates - only nice ones!

Joseph and Daddy like mean pirates!

Jackson, well, obviously he's just not that into pirates. Ü

First day of Second Grade! Waiting for the bus. Everyone was so excited!

Joseph LOVES his new shorts he picked out from Old Navy. (no they are not capri's!) Ü

Second day of second grade. Joseph's favorite shirt. This is one of those pictures that took my breath away. He is really growing up!!! Whaaa!!!

So handsome!

Mahlia has been AMAZING with her broken arm! She hasn't complained at all about the pain! It's incredible. She has been such a trooper. This is in the orthopedic surgeon's office.

She was just too cute! I had to have a pic! (she's waiting for her fingernails and toenails to dry... thus the awkward pose!)

Happy Birthday Jackson! #2!

We love you Jackson buddy boo! You are such a delight to have in our family. You are so funny, such a people person, the way you scrunch up your nose for your silly smile. You are so good with all of your animal sounds - especially "what does a duck say?" "duck! duck! duck!" and "what does a horsey say?" "heee! heee!" in an airy laugh! So fun! We LOVE how you love to sing in church! The minute you sit down you grab a Hymn book and "oooooh! oooooooohhhhh!" and have everyone chuckling. And how much you love High School Musical - especially the "I need, I need...." part to Fabulous! We laugh and laugh!!! You have become Mahlia's favorite Prince when she plays dress up and Joseph's best buddy. I could do without your love of lotion, soap, shampoo, deodorant and anything that sprays...But you are helping me lose weight with always chasing you down! We love you so much and we're so thankful to have "Jackie boo boo" (as Joseph and his buddies call you) and our little boo bear. Thank you for adding so much joy and laughter and fun into our family. We will forgive you for all of the hearing loss you have given us with your screams! Ü

Summer Fun!

Jackson's new trick! This happened so many times in our old house, and now he's figured it out here in our new house! He has us cornered at the front door! If we open it to get him, we get drenched! It takes two of us to get the hose away from him! One of us to distract him at the front door, then the other sneaks around out the garage or back door and gets him from behind! It's hilarious (and frustrating!) and we laugh so hard as he giggles his little heart out at his favorite game!!!

We are so going to miss our fun neighbors! Good thing we are still close!

Mahlia and Andee are the BEST of friends! Neighbors on both sides! Our kids played SO well together! It was a dream!!! This is how we spent most of the summer!!! They are the BEST of friends!!! We couldn't ask for better neighbors and friends. We miss you so much already!

This was such a fun day! Paityn and Joseph's trail mix and lemonade stand! So fun!!!

We Moved!

Our new house! We love the layout - 4 bedrooms upstairs, formal living, 1/2 bath, family room and kitchen on main. Basement with 1 more bedroon (playroom!), bathroom, family room and huge storage! We only moved about a mile East of our old house - we couldn't leave our mountain views, Joseph's awesome school and being right there next to the mouth of Provo Canyon. We are getting used to the stronger mountain breeze in the evenings and mornings, but we're so happy! And did I mention there are like 70+ kids in our primary?

Right now we are living with THIS!

The tile is coming along!

We didn't plan on tearing out the floor - as you can see there was ALOT of tile that was placed right on top of linoleum. It was really starting to crack. Cheaper to replace it now rather then later. Just makes a big mess and hard to live in! (not to mention the unplanned extra spending!)

Soon we will have refinished cabinets, new countertops, an island, our fridge, dishwasher and stove. Until then, we will be patient and enjoy our bedrooms and family room! We LOVE having a family room! Something we did not have our our old house. And to have all the bedrooms on the same floor. We LOVE it!

Memories of our old house. Our HUGE kitchen - LOVED the morning sun!!!

Our remodled bath - Hooray for John learning how to tile.... we had no idea what he was in for!

We spent ALOT of time out here!!! We loved sitting there admiring the mountains and the stars at night. And my beautiful lilac's from Grandpa Nielsen's starts.

Looks so empty without us!

Temple Trip

Note to readers - Blogger is having major issues today! The pictures are all out of whack! Forgive me, but I'm going to get this posted then mess with it later! Ü Lots of love to all!!!

I can't believe it has been more then 2 months since my last post! I have a whole summer of pictures to catch up on! Moving has kept me sorta busy!!! I just have to post about this cute primary activity we went to this week. It was our first activity in our new ward and we are continually impressed with this ward and neighborhood. We went to the temple and since I just got called to teach the 12 year old class in Primary (11 year olds turning 12) I got to go! (Yes, we only got to go to Sunday School once together! and it was the greatest class... I was definitely bummed to only get to sit with John that once and then be whisked off into Primary again. Don't get me wrong... I LOVE Primary! But it was sure nice to sit with my hubby again!)

Anyway, on with the activity. I took Mahlia and Jackson along with Joseph. We drove to the Mt. Timpanogos temple and there the Primary President told the kids we needed to be reverent and respectful as we walked around the temple grounds. Mahlia and Jackson took this very seriously and the whole time we walked from the van to the grounds they walked like this... singing "I Love to See the Temple"

Mahlia and Jackson were very reverent and loved every minute that we sat and sang Primary songs as people went in and out of the temple they stopped to listen to the sweet voices and tears welled up in their eyes as they felt the amazing Spirit these beautiful children brought with them.

And last but not least, as we were leaving to walk across the street to the park, Mahlia spotted a bride. She was entranced by the beauty of her white dress, veil, shoes and of course her Prince! She immediately let go of my hand and started running towards the bride. I got nervous, hoping this bride would be kind and gracious to my daughter who was completely awe struck! Mahlia ran to her with her arms open wide and practically tackled her with a hug! Mahlia asked her if she was a princess, then of course asked her if she could see her shoes. Mahlia was so excited to see gorgeous sparkling white high heels under the beautiful dress. Mahlia then asked her if that boy was her prince. The bride got teary as well as "her prince" as he answered, "yes I am!". It was so beautiful as she let Mahlia hold her bouquet and her photographer took a bunch of pictures. (if anyone happens to know this bride - I would love to get a hold of her! Her mom offered to email me the pictures, but we didn't have a pen or paper handy, so I'm hoping to somehow find them!) Mahlia told the bride she loved her and as we left Mahlia said she couldn't wait to be married in the Temple too. Mahlia ran to find her little friend and when she did she said, "Eliza, I saw the prettiest Princess - she's a bride and got married to her prince in the Temple today! Come here!" So, they ran back to the bride and the bride was so sweet and let me take these pictures. Mahlia asked me later if I heard the bride when she told her a secret. I told her "no" I didn't. And she said, "Mommy, she told me 'I love you' and then she told me 'thank you'"! Mahlia has had her picture of the temple taped to the foot of her bed ever since. She told her grandma that night that she felt the temple in her heart, right there in her heart. It has truly touched her.

p.s. Joseph was there too, he was just in a different group and having a great time with the boys - no time for pictures with Mom! :o(