I'm BACK!

I kind of dropped off the face of the blogging world for a while, I know. My first excuse was that I was completely immersed in being Mommy to Eli, Bethany and Mallory. But, then I lost my means of blogging, my computer, back in March due to power outages during a terrible storm. I've stayed busy, but I've missed my friends in the blogging world. We live all over the country, and this is the only way I really stay in touch with you all. So, I'm so glad to be back. I'll try to get back into a regular blogging groove. :)

So, what have I been up to? Let's see, since January 31, my last post??

• Bethany turned 8. She had her first "friends from school" birthday party. She was baptized which was so wonderful for all of us. I wish I had a recording of she and Mallory singing "I Know My Savior Loves Me".


• Elijah was blessed the day after Bethany's baptism. Super special. Of course, we were running late and I didn't even take a picture of him alone in his sweet, little white outfit.


• I turned 34 in March. Big whoop. Next year might be depressing, but I usually don't worry much about age. The aging in my face, however, is a different story. :)


• We took the spring sports season off this year. But, we're gearing up for our first soccer season with both girls playing. Oh, boy, it's gonna be crazy.


• We visited my parents for General Conference weekend and for Easter.


• May turned out to be a busy month because our niece, Katie, graduated from Pharmacy school at WVU, my sister, Jessica, graduated with her Criminology degree from WVU - in the same weekend, and my sister, Heather, was in labor during graduation. My niece, Amelia Kate, was born May 16. She is adorable and precious.


• At the end of May, Mallory broke her mommy's heart by taking scissors to her beautiful, long curls. I've said that I'm surprised that I didn't wake up with all white hair the next morning. I was so upset...I had to bag up all of the hair, drive 45 minutes to see Brad at work just so he could hug me. Really. I knew he'd understand how upset I was. It felt so personal, like it was worse than if it had been my own hair. Silly, huh? I'm actually lucky that her hair is curly because I can hide the different lengths with clips and headbands.


• In June we started summer vacation which included a short vacation of Washington DC. We visited the temple, the National Zoo, and a few of the Smithsonian museums. It was a great getaway. My nephew, Ranger, turned one year old June 30th. He is adorable.


• Our niece, Katie, got married on July 1. It was a beautiful wedding, and we love her husband, Ray. Amelia was blessed two days later. July brought with it Brad's 35th birthday, which he was not pleased about, and our 13th wedding anniversary, which we still haven't really celebrated. We went to Idlewild Park that day with our kids and my brother's family. It was lots of fun, despite the rain. Our family from California visited in July, and it was great to spend time with them. Our kids love that time with their cousins. Brad also traveled to CA for a golf-filled "Brothers' Weekend". I think the kids and I did pretty well while he was away, but we missed him.

There you go! A six month summary.....I probably forgot a few highlights, but good enough for now. Send me some love, people. I've been socially starved for those six months. ;)

Our beautiful girl and her Daddy

My brother Daniel, my dad, Brad with Elijah, and his dad

Big sister, Bethany, with Elijah

My squeezable, cuddly boy.....ready for a walk on a cool day.

Before church on Easter morning

First day of "shorts weather"....I just wanted to kiss those little legs. :)

Katie with Uncle Brad

Jess, 4 years down - 2 to go!

Our kids just love being on the temple grounds. Brad and I take turns in the temple.

Natural History Smithsonian....they LOVE the dinosaurs and animal exhibits.

Ranger

Jaxson and Mallory at Idlewild Park