Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister! Katie is 22 day and I thought I would mention just a few of the reasons I love her.

She is great entertainment in the car and knows the most fun songs. Granted I'm really sick of the "bazooka zooka bubble gum" song, but the others are still fun. Most 22 year olds won't dance to the penguin song with their nephews endlessly and do the buffalo.

Holidays just aren't the same without her.

Rain or shine she is there for us...this time is was rain. No complaints though. She even let us go to two hunts in the rain.

She is a great babysitter. She watched Evan for us outside the temple in 100 degree heat while Bryce got married. When we came out Evan was still happy and having a good time despite being in a suit in that heat.

She can always make me smile.

Gotta love a girl who will tube with the kids. This summer she saved me countless times playing with my kids in the water while I was too fat to do it. Even after a hard day at work.

I couldn't ask for a better sister. It makes me kind of sad that she is getting married soon and won't be around as much anymore. I'm crossing my fingers that Ben gets a job up here so all the fun times can continue. We love you TAY! Happy Birthday!

My Crazies

I actually got a picture of all three kiddos looking at the camera. When will that ever happen again?

Grace debuted her BYU sweatshirt Saturday in honor of the football team win. Go Cougars!

I was trying to get the brunette half of the family and Evan snuck in....still pretty cute, but I think Brandon needs a bigger lap.

What a difference two years makes. I can't believe how big Kyle is in comparison.

1 Month Already

Grace is already a month old (and a few days) and the time has flown by. I realized we haven't posted pictures in a few weeks, so here are a few of our ever changing baby girl.

Fresh out of the shower, which she loves.

Snuggling with Gramps at Evan's party.

Modeling another cute dress. She is so fun to dress up and she puts up with the outfit changes pretty well.

I love this picture. The boys love her and are so good with her.

This was a week or so ago, so she is even chunkier now. I weighed her yesterday and she is about 11.5 lbs. That puts her at 3 lbs over her birthweight already.

Her first time at church. This dress is size 6 month and it already fit her. Maybe a little big, but not much.

Striking a post in some new jammies. They fit better when she had her feet out.

Her new toy. She likes to be held and rocked (all the time) so today we went and bought her a swing that we hope will hold up to her chubby self. The one we had with Evan would moan and groan but couldn't keep him moving when he was about 6 weeks old. So far this one seems to be doing a better job.

Evan's Party

I'm a little late on this one, but better late than never. Evan had a birthday party the Sunday after his birthday with all of his Washington grandparents and great-grandparents. This year he picked a Batman theme so Brandon had to make a Batman cake.

Then Brandon had to make pin-the-face on Batman. Evan really wanted to play a pin-the- something game, and he was prepared to have an Elmo party because he thought that was the only way to do it (after Kyle's party). They didn't have a Batman one at the store so Super-Daddy came to the rescue and made this the night before.

Kyle cheated, but he still didn't win. I'm not sure he knew where he was aiming. Grandma (my mom) was the big winner this year.

The results of the game...a many headed Batman.

Birthday boy and trusty assistant getting the candles blown out. I'm pretty sure he had a good party.

Happy 5th Birthday!

Today Evan turned 5. I can't believe it has been 5 years since we brought this little guy home from the hospital.

We opened presents yesterday since Brandon was asleep all day today. He was so excited with his legos and new 2 wheeled scooter. Kyle was excited for the 3 wheeled scooter that got passed down to him. I love that he was willing to let Kyle sit by him and be in on all of the action and he even let Kyle take his new scooter for a ride.

Today we played legos all morning, I took him to McDonalds for a Happy Meal for lunch, and then he had a date with Grandma and Grandpa. They took him to Red Robin for dinner where he got balloons, stickers, apparently he got to hug Red, they sang to him, and he got a free dessert. Very exciting. Then they went for a "surprise activity." After he guessed about a million things on the way there, and asked what an activity was, they ended up at Build-A-Bear. He created Sammy, the wolf in a Spiderman costume. He barks instead of howling because Evan wanted him to seem nicer I guess. Overall he has had a fabulous birthday.

Photoshoot

Our sister in-law Ann is a photographer and offered to take some photos of our baby girl and our family. She did a wonderful job and we are so pleased with the pictures. These are some of our favorites. Thank you Ann and Brian!Grace's big lips are from Becca. My siblings think they are reminiscent of Steven Tyler's, but much cuter. I love this shot of both of my beautiful girls.This face is a favorite of Becca and mine. It makes us laugh.What a little sweetie!Evan is always platinum blond by the end of the summer. I think his dark brown eyes are a striking contrast. He's a handsome little guy, and no, we're not looking forward to high school.A candid of Kyle: He doesn't give up smiles for just anyone, you gotta work for it, but it's worth it.The is the first of all 5 of us together in one shot. Our family just keeps growing. And yes, I am tickling Kyle.Brian made this tool to block out the direct sunlight for our family shot. One would think we could have had some overcast skies in Washington, but it was nothing a little duct tape, garbage bags, and tent poles couldn't handle. Ingenious work, Brian!

Two Weeks

I can't believe Grace is already 2 weeks old. The time has gone by pretty quickly for the most part. There have been a few long nights trying to get her to burp, but she is getting better. I think she has nights and days pretty well figured out now. Overall she is a pretty good baby and we are enjoying her.You can tell she is putting on weight. At her one week appointment she weighed 5 oz over her birthweight so we got to skip the usual two week appointment.

Gotta love dresses. The boys like this one since it is green.

Family Togetherness

This past week we had all of my family in town. We had a blast having everyone together and enjoyed a lot of time on the lake. Grandma and Grandpa looking like real grandparents now with 4 grandkids

Camille showing off her moves on the wakeboard.

Bryce trying to pull off some tricks (which he did successfully)

Evan's favorite activity. He would tube all day long if we would let him.

Baby Grace experiencing the lake for the first time.

Baby Graham being his usual smiley self.

Last but not least Kyle showing off his grin. These are some spoiled kids getting to play on the lake.