Catching you up

I just learned how to put videos on my blog, so I guess I need to catch you all up on all the adorable videos we have of our wonderful girls! This first one is Katelyn's first dance recital from earlier this year. The class was mostly 3 year olds (Kate was the youngest one). You can tell it was their first time on stage. OH MY GOSH, it's hilarious. Some of them just stand there, one girl actually danced, and one girl starts to get naked. Us parents were all so proud. More to come!

Christmas (the abridged version)

We went to the Homer family Christmas party on Christmas Eve at my mom's church. We ate yummy food (including two of my favorite desserts: Maxine brownies and Grandma Homer's home made chocolate chip raisin cookies. Everyone knows not to leave me alone in a room with them!) Then the kids opened gifts.

Kate got an awesome Barbie with huge sparkly butterfly wings. We both love it.


Brookie loved her gifts, but loved chasing after my cousin's baby June even more. She kept giving her hugs. She is so sweet.


Katelyn was so fun Christmas morning. Brookie sleeps later than Kate does, so she got her own special time to open gifts. Katelyn loves singing to the Christmas tree. She makes up her own songs that are so cute and fun.


The girls got a Cinderella table that has two chairs. Brooklyn was so proud that she was sitting in a big girl chair next to sister! I wasn't completely happy with this picture, so I tried to take another one...


Uh-huh. I snapped the picture right as Brooklyn fell off the chair. I think this picture is hilarious. She's tough. She was upset for just a minute and then she wanted back up - that's my girl!


We had the Adams family Christmas party the day after Christmas this year. I got to hang out with my adorable newest nephew Matthew. He is so sweet! I'm all ready his favorite auntie...I can tell.

Jordan's here!

Jo and my girls...so cute!



Me and my "little" brother


Erin and Eric at the airport...they are so awesome!


All the kids waiting for Uncle Jo!

Are you guilty?

To all of you who bring your sick kids out and about, especially to special occasions and family gatherings: STOP THE FREAKING MADNESS! I promise that it will not hurt you to stay home with your sick kid and miss out on whatever it is the rest of us are doing! It does hurt my kids to get sick because you were too selfish and thoughtless to keep your germs at home. It does hurt when my husband gets sick and has to choose between working sick out in freezing temperatures, or cutting a chunk out of our only source of income to stay home and get better! Do I seriously have to start calling everyone before get togethers to ask, "Does anyone have a fever? Has anyone thrown up? Do you suspect that anyone in your family is getting sick? Has anyone been exposed to lice?" Now, I am a reasonable person. If your kid has no symptoms the night of a family gathering and then wakes up the next day puking their guts out, there's nothing you can do about that. You can't prevent ever taking germs around anyone if you don't know they're getting sick. However, if your kid has a fever, a runny nose (with the exception of allergies and teething), or a horrible hacking cough, KEEP THEM HOME! WE DON'T WANT THEIR GERMS, I DON'T WANT MY KIDS, MY HUSBAND, OR MYSELF TO GET SICK!!! For those of you who make the sacrifice and are considerate of others by keeping the nastiness to yourself: Thank you! I will continue to do the same, even if others choose not to offer the same respect.

Katelyn's 1st Haircut!!!

Katelyn had her first haircut yesterday at a salon in Layton. Jordan's beautiful friend Melissa did it for me...she does such a good job and is so sweet. And Katelyn loves her! I spent the day before the hair cut building it up...how cool the salon is, how fancy she would be in her own princess hair cutting chair and cape. By the time we got there, she was rearin' to go!

A couple before pictures:

When Katelyn first started getting hair, it kind of grew in the back/bottom first and the top eventually caught on. It was kind of mullet-ish when she was little, but as it grew out, it just looked layered!


As soon as Melissa started cutting, Katelyn got very still and serious. She wasn't upset, just concentrating REALLY hard.


I caught her yawning half way through


What a sweet face. Melissa washed Katelyn's hair after it was cut, which I was nervous for cause lately she freaks out when I wash her hair in the tub. She was perfectly fine for Melissa though. huh.


Another really intense concentration face.


Brookie was very good for the whole thing.


The finished product! Melissa asked Katelyn if she wanted her hair straight or curly. Of course she chose curly. This is Katelyn we're talking about. She spent the rest of the day telling everyone that would listen about her hair cut at the salon by Uncle Jo's friend Melissa.



Katelyn is such a beautiful girl and so much fun! I can't wait to do more fun girly things with her and Brookie as they get older.

Far Too Many Goodbyes

This last week, we were lucky enough to get to spend a lot of time with Steve's side of the family. Jeff and Denise arranged an awesome early Thanksgiving dinner and family photo session because, for the last time in who knows how long, we were all in the same place at the same time. Paul, Katie, and Lily came in for a visit from California where they are stationed because Paul is in the Navy. Travis was about to leave for the reserves, so we definitely needed to get together before everyone left. It was so nice to have everyone together. The next day was my nephew Matthew's blessing. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that...Brooklyn and I had to miss out because she got sick. It was really cool though because Tiffany got to have all of her brothers in the circle to bless Matthew. What a neat miracle! Travis, Stacie, Kayla and Miles were up at our house the night before Travis left. It was so good to see him one more time before he left for boot camp. When it came time to leave, Steve and Paul gave Travis a blessing. It was so sad to say good bye to Travis, and I feel so bad for the family he's leaving behind! We also had to say good bye to Paul and Katie and Lily. I am so, so sad that they had to leave! I had such a great time getting to know Katie better and becoming friends with her. She is such a sweet and funny girl...I wish so bad we lived closer so we could hang out all the time! And then there's Lily. Oh. My. Goodness. That little girl is so amazingly sweet. I am so taken with her. It's always so much fun to have Paul around. He is freakin hilarious and such good friends with Steve. The only consolation I have about them moving is that they will be back for Christmas! I can't wait.



Travis, Steve, and Paul goofing off a few minutes before Travis had to leave.


Cute Katie and her beautiful Lily.


Paul and Steve freaking out about a football game. These two are hilarious.


Paul and Katie are so cute together. I am so glad they found each other and gave me my beautiful niece! lol


Brookie and Lily had so much fun playing together. They chased this balloon around for a while. It was so fun to watch them together!



These two cuties did a lot of kissing while they were together...it was so sweet. However, Brooklyn weighs about three times as much as Lily does, so poor Lily got knocked over a few times. She's just so dainty! Brooklyn, on the other hand, is the brute squad!


Such beautiful girls


Me and my sweet Lily. I couldn't get enough of her while they were here and I can't wait to see them again!

Kate's 3 Year Pictures

Oh Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Anyone that knows me knows how much I love the sky. Steve called me the other day and told me to hurry outside and look at the sky. When I got to my front yard, this is what I found. Thank you hubby!

Halloween

On our way to the ward Halloween party! I got to hang out with one of my favorite ladies from the ward. She is so sweet and always wants to hold Brooklyn. What a sweetheart!

For the ward party, Katelyn was a princess. All the kids got to take turns on the stage to show off their costumes. When it was Kate's turn, she would hardly look at anyone. Wouldn't curtsy, nothing. One lady in the audience finally got her to wave, but I think she might be traumatized from the whole thing. Poor girl.

This was taken outside my parent's house on Halloween. By then, Kate had decided to be Tinker Bell (thanks anyways, Denise!). Brookie got to use Aunt Nana's dumbo costume this year. She looked adorable, but she hated it, as you can probably tell in every one of the pictures!

All the cousins on my side from left to right: Kate as Tinker Bell, Ben being grabbed by a ghoul, Matty is Stitch, Lucas was Buzz Lightyear and stayed in character all night, Josh was a ghoul or something, and Brooke is on the end, I think she'd finally given up at that point! All in all it was a fun night, we kept it simple and got home early, which is fine with me for so many reasons: one, I'm exhausted. two, Halloween is the number one holiday for drunk driving. As grandma Homer would say, "everyone's started their holiday drinking!"

Sisters

Steve and I have the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting in November. The bishop asked us to speak on gratitude, so that has been on my mind a lot lately. The next few posts will be about some of the things in life that I am most grateful for.

My sisters and I didn't like each other much growing up. Rather, I liked Erin and wanted to be just like her, but I was the annoying little sister. I imagine it was about the same for Becky. We've grown up and worked out most of the kinks, and thank goodness, because these amazing women are my sanity. I have the best sisters in the world. They are always there for me. Always. Both of them have, on several occasions, dropped what they were doing to help me in one way or another. They are both beautiful, loyal, and life savers. I am so glad that they have stuck by me through so much and forgiven me for things of the past. I always have so much fun whenever I'm with them. We are all so different, and have so much to learn from each other.

Erin is an amazing wife and mother. She is a very hard worker and gets so much done, it's astonishing. She is creative and is always working to improve herself. She is always helping me see things in a new way, and is so uplifting. I laugh so hard when I'm with her. The mundane, every day things cease to become a chore when I'm with her. Erin, thank you so much for being such a good friend and sister. You are such a beautiful daughter of God and such a good example for me. What would I do without you? You have forgiven much, and are one of the biggest blessings in my life. Thank you for all that you do and for the beautiful person you are. I love you, sis!

Becky and I have traveled a completely different road. We have been through some really hard times and spent years not knowing who the other person was. Through patience, forgiveness, and a strong desire to know each other better, we have become so close. Becky is the least judgmental person I know. She is so kind and understanding, and would do anything for those she loves. What a beautiful spirit she is. Spending time with Becky is refreshing and calming. She is such a sweet mother and has an amazing amount of patience. I am so grateful for Becky's forgiveness. The best word to describe Becky is sweet. Something that amazes and baffles me about her is that she has no idea how beautiful she is. She is so humble. Becky, I'm so glad we've become friends. Thank you for all you do, I love you!

I know my mom is in this picture too, but I'm going to write about my parents on a different post. (love you!)

Our Beautiful Day

We finally got our pictures of our sealing day! Here is a little taste, more to come later!

Silly Girl

Kate loves to put on make up and play dress up. On this day, she decided to put mascara in her eyebrows. She's so fun.

A couple random Katelynisms:

"Mom, Little Red Riding Hood is best friends with Little Miss Muffin."

You know how if you go forehead to forehead with someone, the eyes kind of smoosh into one eye and they look like a cyclops? Kate's Aunt Nana did this with her one day and Erin was saying "one eye! one eye!". Kate came up to Erin a couple minutes later to do it back to her and started saying "I won! I won!"

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

My beautiful girl on her 3rd birthday first thing in the morning. She carried her balloons around with her all day!

We took Kate to Fat Cats to play games and go bowling. She loves the tiny merry-go-round they have there! We had a blast.

Steve and Marcia made an awesome castle cake for Katelyn. It was so cool.


We gave Kate her very own rocking chair. She loves it, and even fell asleep in it, wearing her princess dress and all. I tried to take a picture of it, but she woke up.


Katelyn got several very cute dress-ups that she wears all day, every day now. Sometimes several of them at once.


Katelyn got so excited over every gift. Most kids toss the gift after barely looking at it to hurry and open the next one. She loved each one so much, I had to keep reminding her that there were more to open! She is such a sweet girl.


We had partied so hard for two days, by the time her second party was done she was pooped. She fell asleep in her princess dress. What a little angel.

Katelyn,
I have to write everything down cause I'll never remember all the sweet things if I don't. Happy Birthday, my big three year old! I can't believe how big you've gotten so fast. You have always been such a good girl and I've loved watching you grow. You are so imaginative and full of life. You are passionate about everything. You love to act out scenes from movies, especially ones about princesses, Wizard of Oz, and the Sound of Music. You love to have sleep overs with me and dad or grandma Marcia. You ask questions because you have such a thirst for knowledge, and you are so smart because you retain all of it! You are such a peacemaker, telling anyone who starts to get upset to "take a deep bwef". You are very sweet to your baby sister, and she is so in love with you. She thinks everything you do is so cool. You always tell me when she wakes up and you always want to hold her first thing. You are my bff and there is not a better little girl in the world. You have the sweetest spirit and you always try so so hard to do what is right and to make everyone happy. You love anything girly and it is a struggle to get you to wear anything besides a dress! You have such an amazing sense of humor...you're always making us laugh! I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has entrusted me and dad with your amazing spirit. I promise I will always try my hardest to be the best mother I can be and live up to everything you need. I love you, angel girl!