Better Late Than Never!

On Sunday September 9, we officially blessed baby Miles. Miles was 4 1/2 months old & BARELY fit into his blessing outfit....the pants were too short & he was popping the snaps, literally. We all joked around that by the time we blessed him, he would be crawling his way to the front of the chapel!! Jason traveled all summer and although he came home some weekends, they were not planned far enough for us to make blessing plans. We had the honor of having 2Pops (Brent) & Michele Burnham and Nate & Presli join us for the event. Jason gave a beautiful blessing for Miles and it was a special day for our little guy. We love him so much.

Presli, Michele, Brent, Dana, Arlo, Josiah, Jason, Miles, Nate

GARNER 2012

Labor Day Weekend - Garner State Park, Texas.

Nate & Kjersti Burnham have an annual camping trip Labor Day weekend and this was our first year going. We had LOTS of fun "building fires," hiking, swimming, dancing, playing in the dirt, roasting s'mores & hobo dinners on the fire and LOTS of hanging out. The boys absolutely LOVED camping and we were all sad when the weekend of fun was over....good thing we'll be camping again in Utah next week!

Josiah & his campfire

Arlo & his campfire

Hiking in their PJs

Climbing trees

During the day, the tent was WAY too hot, so we took the air mattress into the shelter for naptime.

Arlo & Josiah trying out their new fishing poles with daddy

Miles after eating his oatmeal

Arlo & his S'more

At the river

Miles spent much of his time naked to escape the hot weather

We look forward to Garner 2013!!

Heaven is Here

I just read this book and it is AMAZING. I'm sure many of you have heard of this woman, Stephanie Nielson, the Mormon woman whose body was 80% burned from a plane crash. She is the author of nieniedialogues.com and has become like a Mormon celebrity. I've kept up with her blog here and there and was excited to read the book. I believe that every woman should read this book. If you think your life is hard, this book will put things in perspective. She inspires me to be more faithful and to be a better wife & mother. Her story teaches me to cherish every moment of life - to love and appreciate every detail of my children; and to bask in their love & innocence. I want to hold my children longer and memorize every inch of their faces. She is a strong woman and an inspiration. 

(And I like her even more now because I just learned that she loves Alison Krauss!)

BUY THIS BOOK & READ IT....NOW.

VIRGINIA

OMG - Where do I begin?!! The kids and I went to Virginia for almost 4 weeks this summer while Jason was traveling for work and it was HEAVEN!! My parents live on 65 acres in the beautiful green Virginia mountains - 15 miles from the closest grocery store. It's the perfect escape from the cares of life. We hardly had a day of rest because we played so hard every day. My kids practically fell into bed every night because they were so tired from the fun all day.

Here is a SHORT list of the things we did along with just a few photos.

A visit from my dear college friend, Jessica and her 3 kids. She also has a set of twins so between the two of us, we have 6 kids, 3 years & younger. 

We went to the Floyd Country Store for some good bluegrass music!

The 3 babies

 We took a few days to chill at my parents' timeshare near Charlottesville. The place is called Shenandoah Crossing and we stayed in cabins and played from sun-up to sun-down. Cousins always have the BEST time together! Some of the things we did there....
 

Mini-golf

Horse back riding

Pontoon Ride

Another pic on the pontoon ride

Courtney Doolittle & I

We went swimming every day!

Golf Carting all over the place!

Other things we did while visiting my parents' house...

Sandbox-ing

Body painting with watercolors

Visiting Uncle Joel's sugar cane field

 

and feeding Uncle Joel's goats (potato chips!!)

Fishing at Kenny & Dixie's house. The boys and I also took a wild inner-tube ride on the lake, 60MPH, SO FUN!

We visited several family cemeteries and were able to clean some very important tombstones

Baby Miles with the tombstone of his Civil War Soldier ancestor (the Confederacy, of course!)

Playing in the creek at Camp Alta Mons

LOTS & LOTS of go-karting, all day, every day...

and more go-karting...

We went the Floyd Country Store again for more bluegrass

A visit to Krispy Kreme after a big day at the waterpark

Miles was along for the ride the whole time....next year he will be running wild with the rest of the cousins

Tractor rides

 More activities we did that were not documented with photos...
A visit from Cherish Davis & her 2 adorable children
Riding bikes with cousins in the basement & back porch
Playing in the toy room for hours
Swimming at the pool & the waterpark
Birthday party for cousin Addie
Hot dog & smores roasting over an open fire
Picnics
Milkshakes at McDonalds
Shopping with the women
Ice Cream cones EVERY night before bed
Popcorn parties
Zumba classes with my sister

Love Those Boys!

A quick update on my 3 little guys....

                                                                  MILES: 
He's a little more than 3 months old now and growing LIKE A WEED. At his 2 month check he weighed 13lbs, so I imagine he has gained a few more pounds since then. He's officially in 6 month clothes (which is weird to me because the twins were so tiny for their age.) He smiles and laughs often. He can roll from his stomach to his back. He is SO STRONG. He loves tummy time and works hard to push up on his knees....uh oh. Miles LOVES his big brothers so much and they love to smother him with love. He uses a binkie, but has recently been sucking his thumb. Most nights he will sleep 7 hours straight and then another 3-4 hours and has started sleeping on his belly now. He HATES having covers on his legs and kicks them off immediately.  Miles is such a joy to have in our home.

Miles LOVES LOVES LOVES water. Whether it's the bathtub or the pool, he's a fan.

JOSIAH: 
He initiates learning and is always looking to learn new skills. He can buckle his carseat 100% by himself. He rides a "big boy bike" with training wheels and always wants to do what the big kids are doing. He likes structure and I think he'll really enjoy school. (when the time comes.) Josiah likes to dress himself and comes up with some interesting "outfits" (as shown in the photos).

                              ARLO:
"The Enforcer" - Rules apply to everyone except him!!
Mischevious
Wild
Accident-Prone
Charismatic
Charming
Energetic
Happy
Social

His most recent accident - wrestling with his brother and he hit the floor hard! poor baby.