This week...

This week has been a fun week, and I even feel like I got a lot accomplished as well. Tuesday I needed a break so Neil watched the girls while my sister Charity and I went to dinner and a movie. The Proposal was absolutely hilarious! We also managed to squeeze in a little shopping between the dinner and the movie. I'm so grateful to have a sister close by to save my sanity when needed. The picture below was taken by Neil while I was at the grocery store. Yes, Evelyn in laying on the sack of potatoes, but gladly enough only a few potatoes managed to escape before they were caught by Daddy.

Wednesday night Charity met Randy and Daisie in Beaver, so that Daisie and her kids could come spend the weekend at Charity's while Randy went off to California to go deep sea fishing with some friends. So naturally Thursday became a small family reunion at Charity's house. It was a blast! It was so cute to see how much Houston age 7 and Peyton age 5 (Daisie's boys) just loved playing with Adia and Evelyn and carrying them around. Of course Eve and Adi loved the attention. Below is Kaylee(Felicia's) holding Adia.

When I got over to Charity's I asked who else would be showing up. The only other person who had mentioned coming up that day was Chavonne with her 2 kids. When she finally arrived Mom, Corinne, and Felicia and her 2 kids had decided to come along. So that made for a very pleasant surprise. It was so fun to watch all the nieces and nephews play together. Below is Kaylee(Felicia's) and Sydnie(Charity's) lounging in Eve's and Adi's car seats. I guess they decided they looked pretty comfortable.

oh and those binkies are also Eve's and Adi's

Adia was pretty excited when Aunt Corinne decided to put her up on this rocking horse she had not left along since we got there.

Dinner time! The table was completely full of grandkids, and this is only 8 of 14. Brynn 4(Charity's), Kaylee 2(Felicia's), Houston 7(Daiseis), Dusty 3(Felicia's), Sienna 2(Daisie's), Jaycee 6(Charity's) and Peyton 5(Daisie's), and you can kind of see Wyatt 2(Chavonne's) standing behind Jaycee's chair. The ones who were there but aren't in the picture are Sydnie 1(Charity's), Misty 1- or will be tomorrow(Chavonne's) and mine; Evelyn and Adia 9 months.

It was so great to get to see so many of my sisters. We all missed seeing Erika and Tiffany but 6 out of 8 is pretty good anyhow, hopefully it won't be too long before we all can get together again. Now to the fun that has yet to begin... Neil's family is current en route to Utah. His youngest brother Gary is going into the MTC on Wednesday so they decided to come down and spend a little time. We are SO excited to see them! We haven't seen Grandma Kathy and Auntie Christy since February and Grandpa Van and Uncle Gary we last down in March. I am seriously counting down the hours til they get here. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and to have married into a such a wonderful family as well.

Our very favorite!

What's Adi's favorite?

What's Eve's favorite?

Their Daddy, of course!

Eve and Adi were playing in their room, and I was in the front room listening to them jabber away at each other when Neil came home from work. I got my customary "I missed you" kiss and a "How are you?" and the jabber in the next room stopped. Next thing we know Adia is crawling as fast as her little self could go into the room with Eve right on her heels. Daddy was home! And they weren't about to wait for him to come to them. So Neil laid down on the floor so his daughters could greet him properly, by climbing all over him. It melts my heart to see how much they love their Daddy. Thanks for being such a wonderful dad to my precious little girls Neil, I love you.

4th of July

Happy Independence Day!

Grandma Kathy sent some cute stuff for Evelyn and Adia for the 4th of July.

Adia showing off her "Baby's first fourth" bid and "red, white, & cute" socks

Evelyn in her bib and socks, thanks Grandma! Daddy is off to the side trying to get her to smile.

My little yoga baby. I am constantly catching Eve doing her "downward facing dog", if I'm lucky I'll catch her with her head on the floor as well, like she's about to do a summer salt.

Evelyn bonking heads with Daddy.

My view of Adia, I loved this face, mid-jabber.

Lately

I been pretty busy so I feel the need to catch up on the fun things I been doing the past couple of weeks.

On one of Neil's days off we had a family day out, it was great. It was so nice to be out and Eve and Adi loved it too. They are just a couple of social butterflies that love people. We went and walked around the mall for while we set the girls in the same chair, I thought it was pretty cute. They loved the pond/waterfall.

The weather has finally started to resemble summer time, so we grilled some hamburgers on the barbeque.

Some friends of ours were in town for a couple of days. We were lucky enough to spend some time with them. This is Adia playing with little Finn. He is such a cutie, he crawls really well and uses things to pull himself up to standing. Ever since their visit Adia has be trying to pull herself up on everything.

Jason, please don't kill me. This is Ellynn holding her little boy Finn. He had a blow out so he had to borrow a sleeper. This was the least girlie one we had. Jason wasn't too thrilled about his son wearing girl clothes. Jason and Ellynn served in Finland with Neil and then Ellynn and I went to hair school together. Talk about a friendship that is meant to be. Our due dates were about 2 weeks apart, of course the girls came weeks early and Finn came 2 weeks late. Hopefully they will be moving back to Utah sometime soon, and close by.

I had the chance to go down to Moapa for my cousin's wedding. I didn't get very many pictures, so I'm kinda bummed about that. But it had been over a year since I had been down there last. It was so great to see my sisters and the rest of the family. My mom let Chavonne, Felicia, and I borrow her suburban so we could all fit. We still had to send Chavonne's little boy Wyatt with my mom and dad but we had a good time. Below is Misty, Adia, and Evelyn slepping, crammed in the very backseat of the suburban.

After the wedding in Las Vegas all the family headed back to Moapa for the luncheon. I was sitting next to my cousin Krista when she pointed out that the table next to us was completely full of little kids. It made us laugh cause it reminded us of when we were that age.

I had to post this picture because I finally got a picture of Adia where she doesn't have the "deer in the head lights" look on her face.

One of Evelyn's very favorite things is to be on her Daddy's shoulders. She seriously has a permanent grin on her face the whole time she is up there. I love how much my girls love their Daddy.

Father's Day

I know I'm late but oh well. I had so many pictures to choose from to show Neil, the father of our little family, in action. I decided this was a good one because it always makes me laugh and it shows one of the many silly things he does to play with his daughters and also make me laugh. I couldn't have asked for a better father of my children. I love you Meil!

So I had been teasing Neil about getting him Scrabble for Father's Day. He made it very clear that a board game for any kind of gift is lame in his book. Needless to say, I couldn't resist. I'd been planning to get him an ipod touch but this made for the perfect delivery.

I was so excited, I had a hard time waiting until Father's Day to have him open it. I felt so clever. Let me just explain that Neil has this ridiculously accurate ability to guess what his gifts are(makes for an interesting Christmas). So if I can get him something and have him be surprised I count that as a HUGE accomplishment.

And to be honest, I have flat out lie about some things when it come to giving him things so Neil never completely believes what I tell him about his gifts. But I did tell him I was getting him Scrabble for Father's Day.

The Surprise! In the card its says "Adia and Evelyn insisted that this was what you really wanted for Father Day."

Now to my Dad. He is such a strength and example in my life. I've learned so much from him, I know I wouldn't be the person I am today without him and his guidance throughout my life. I love you Daddy!

And to the father-in-law I always wanted. I can't explain the bond that we seem to have. We don't see much of each other but we do have a special relationship. Thank you for being such a wonderful father to the father of my children. Love you Van!

Ashley

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to go through the temple with the family of a very dear friend of mine who was killed in a car crash a year ago June 9th. My heart aches for this family as I try to imagine how it would feel to lose a child. One of a father's 2 children, a brother's little sister, a mother's only daughter, and a fiance's sweetheart, Ashley was a great friend to everyone she met and could always make you laugh. It was a bitter sweet situation, one I had never experienced before. A wonderful and happy occasion knowing she is on the other side finally enjoying the blessing of being endowed in the temple. But sad and heartbreaking to know that she wasn't able to experience in her short life herself.

My first night in Fountain Green was spent on her basement floor. Not knowing a soul my parents shipped us off to Girl's Camp for our soon to be ward. Her Mom, Denice, was in the Young Women's presidency. Talk about being thrown into an experience. Our friendship took off from there. I always get a little teary eyed thinking of her, missing her silly jokes, and the great times we had skipping class, or having a lazy day on a porch swing, waiting for our latest interests to drive by. I get choked up hearing a certain song or two that was one of our favorites to sing in the car. Thinking of her, even after all this time still hurts, but it a good hurt, if that makes any sense. My mom described it as healing and I think it fits well.

I just felt the need to put my feelings out there and to honor her and the wonderful person that she was in this life and still is on the other side. Love you and miss you Marge

Uh Oh!

I knew eventually this day would come, and it has. Evelyn and Adia made their first "mess" today. Lets be honest we all know its not really a mess but this is the first time they've ever gotten into anything.

Adia's first time emptying the dvds. I know there are many more and much bigger messed that will be made and I can't wait to blog about them.