Birthday Week

For those who don't know I have 3 birthdays in 2 days. Ren was born on July 31st and Emma and Jackson share July 30th. That makes for one crazy week every summer. Despite the fact that I tell myself every year that I will tone down their birthday celebrations every year I can't help myself. It's their birthdays and I went them all to feel special. So this year started out with a girls day out with Emma.

I forgot my camera so this is the only birthday one I have, sorry Emma. Alisha joined me as I took Emma, Savannah and a friend Avery to Tucson. 10 is the magic age in our family to get your ears pierced so that's what we started out doing. The girl making the holes made her 2 purple dots on the ears to make sure the earings were even. She then proceeded by piercing one ear well below the purple dot. Emma assured us that they were fine the way they were but Alisha and I vetoed her so Emma got 3 holes for the price of 2. No pain, no gain. We had lunch, saw a movie, and of course did some shopping. I love spending time with my girls. Happy Birthday to my favorite Emma in the whole world!!!

Ren had a surprise party this year. The kids seemed to have fun swimming and taking underwater pictures. Ren loved it. He loves to be the center of attention. He gets that from Dave. He's a freshman this year and I wanted to send him off with a bang. Good luck at high school Ren. I love your guts and ribs!

We finished out the week with a BBQ and swim party for Jack. It started with a bit of a hiccup because we had to change locations at the last minute but it ended up being a better party for it. Good food, good friends and a great kid! I couldn't ask for a better end to the summer. A HUGE thanks to Heidi for providing a killer location for Ren and Jack's parties!!!

I couldn't end without a special note to Lisa. Once again she came through with an amazing cake. The kids loved the smoking volcano. You never cease to amaze me Lis! Thanks for everything.

Girls Camp

Pictures to come soon I hope.

Savannah was so excited to go to Girls Camp. This was her first year and she was a little nervous but she could hardly hold still the night before she was so anxious to get started. All of her gear was packed and loaded in the trailer and the rest of her stuff was sitting by the door to grab in the morning. She showered and I braided her hair so she could get out the door quick since they were headed out at 5:30 in the morning. She still insisted on setting her alarm for 4:00 am. Unfortunately, she was so tired that she slept through the alarm. I woke up with my alarm at 5:00 and went in to check on her. I gently shook her shoulder and she sat straight up and jumped off the top bunk. To my amazement she was fully dressed. She had slept in her clothes so she would be faster in the morning.

We arrived at the Strebe's home to load up the girls and she quickly met up with her friend Laura, another first year. They were talking a mile a minute in hyper voices and I felt for Sister Williamson who had a 5 hour drive ahead of her with all the first years.

We missed Savannah so much in that week but we were happy to see what a good time she had. She gave a talk this Sunday on her experience and she shared her sweet testimony of the Savior and the gospel. Her dad and I are starting to understand that the pigtails are almost gone.

Trip to the Temple

It has been awhile since Dave and I have been able to go to the temple. This last weekend though we were able to con I mean convince some friends into taking our kids off our hands so we could enjoy the blessings of the temple. Thank you so much Wilcox and Pyle families!!!

Our friends Jeremy and Alisha came with us. We told them we should take pictures because who knows when they'll be back after the twins arrive.

It was a wonderful experience as always. I love to spend time in the temple. Dave's schedule is so crazy lately that spending any time with him is a treat so to have him drop everything and take me to the temple was wonderful. Work did catch up to him on the way home but by then it was too late for them to ruin our day. I love you Dave.

Savannah's Birthday

This is what you might call the beginning of the end. Our Savannah just turned 12. Gone are the days of staying home and playing with dolls (okay so maybe not quite). She is a Young Woman now and pretty soon all thoughts of family will be replaced by friends and boys (okay so that's already happened). Savannah is such a sweet, talented and beautiful girl. We love you sweetheart!

We celebrated with a bit of make-up, hair-do's, pedicures, and ZUMBA!!

Here's Savannah with Aubrey and Cherylynn.

Emma and her friend Avery didn't want to miss out on the fun!

Thank you Alisha, Debbie, Polly and Betsy for all the help on the party!