18 Months

Already one and a half!

I love this photo. She looks so independent.
I can just hear Gramma singing, "Here she comes..." "Miss America!"

I Miss This Guy

This is my Evan. Wait, Jared says he's his Evan, too (gotta love back seat readers!) All of us are missing him especially today, on his Angel Day, or Freedom Day, as we sometimes call it. Tonight, for Evan Time we went through photos that we haven't looked at in way too long. I came across this one. I think he's about 18 mo. here at our Layton home.

We also listened to a song that someone wrote about him, his brothers, Jace and Lance (they loved hearing their names), Cool Ranch Doritos, Ramen Noodles, Mom and Dad, and dancing. He loves country music, especially Shania Twain (no influence from his mother), and this song is very country :). I remember thinking it was a pretty goofy song as I listened to it with Evan while he was sick, but today it jerked tears out of me. So many funny things about him that we loved!! I cannot believe it has been 6 years.

Anyway, Kyle and Cami's name is not in the song, but Kyle gets to share Evan's name (in his middle name), and (this is a little stretch, but) Cami's doctor's name was "Evan" when she was born, overseeing Jared's catching job ;)

We live a bit too far to visit his grave, but we have sweet people taking care of it for us, and I have this sweet photo that we took on Memorial Day before we moved.

We are looking for a tree to plant here so that the kids and we can have an "Evan place" for anything we would have taken to his grave.

Ah! We miss you, Evan! Can't wait to see you again!

I Have a Ten Year Old

I cannot believe...

My Yankee Doodle Dandy is 10!

• Jace's favorite day of the year is: Independence Day
• Second Favorite Day is: Christmas (then Easter)
• His favorite thing to do is: learn about how things work
• He loves: his family
• He really doesn't like: brussel sprouts
• His favorite food is Shells 'n' Cheddar (seriously, I even reminded him of foods like steak and BBQ chicken)
• If he were an animal, he would be a Preying Mantis, "because a spider wouldn't be able to eat me". ( I thought he just liked to pray.)
• When he grows up, he would like to be: an NBA star
• If he has to have a real job, he would be: an NBA star (of course that's a real job, mom!)
• His role model is Paul Milsap because he's an awesome basketball player and he has a good attitude
• Hobby: Basketball, soccer, riding bikes, catching bugs, especially lightning bugs, swimming

Isn't he a great cheeser? Jace still lets me do flag cakes for his birthday. This year, I did a fruit pizza, too. Yummy.
He wanted a pool party, just as I was hoping, since we are members of this great pool around the corner from our house.

Jace has gained many immediate friends here. There are 3 other ten year olds on our street who have welcomed him right in and they are almost inseparable. He also invited friends from his primary class in church. We had their families come, too - we hadn't even met them yet! They played Watermelon Relay, where two teams see who can get the watermelon across first. By the looks of it, Jace is getting beat by a girl HOWEVER he assures me that his team was 3 people ahead of them and were actually winning.

Jace lights the candles
Happy Birthday to you...

I'm impressed with Jace's friend-making skills. Not bad for his first month in MO!
We are so grateful for our Dandy Jace! (Yankee Doodle, that is) (sorry, couldn't resist)

For Gramma

Here's the photo with Cami in pigtails. I took this just a couple days after we moved in.
For the rest of you bloggers- this beautiful rocking chair is from my Gramma and Grampa in CA. I had to keep it in storage for FOUR YEARS! That's a long time! I love seeing my things again and enjoying this classy addition to our home. It fits nicely in our formal sitting room :) I love having a formal sitting room :)

House Tour

The first morning I awoke here, I felt like a queen in my castle. Euphoric. There are tons of windows and light in here. I spread my arms and walked from one end of the house to the other without my fingertips touching any walls. I feel so blessed.

Here are a few clips of our house. I took these the day we moved in, as I was seeing the house for the first time. Please forgive my bad video - ing skills. I was so excited. The kids and I love this house! Jared did an awesome job finding it. Our realtor also rocks. If anyone is moving to MO, I highly recommend Greg Erker. He takes all the time in the world to talk to you and answer your questions.

I'll be posting more pics as we go, but for now, I have been having a blast trying to figure out what to do with all this space! There is also a basement behind the door that Jace was trying to unlock that is the same size as our house, minus the kitchen and garage.

More pics coming!

One of My Favorite Blogs

While I was contemplating how I was going to catch up on my blog with so many exciting things that have happened, I was reading this woman's blog, and it was so inspirational, I just had to share. Her post is titled, "Holding Him, Holding Her, Holding Me" I don't even know this woman, but I learned about her blog when I was pregnant with Cami when I told a friend the name that I was thinking of for my girl. She told me of this woman that has a blog who lost her baby girl, also named Camille. Her blog has since been a huge inspiration to me as she endures and shares her pain and joys during her grieving process. She is a beautiful writer. I have emailed her a few times and feel like we have a lot in common even though we live in completely different states and have never met.
Below is another of my favorite posts written by her about TV watching and screen time for your family. I love this!
Whisperings Become a Reality

And if you'd like to enjoy the rest of her wonderful blog, the site is: adailyscoop.blogspot.com.

Come in!!!

Sit down, converse!

It doesn't always look like this,

Somedays it's even worse!

I was reminded of this poem today as I was packing. My Mom used to keep it hung up in her house, but has since given it to me. I'm not sure why ;)
Our house is hiliarious. Our couch is standing up on end in the back there, can you see it? We're trying to figure out where to put the rest of the boxes we keep packing up...

But I am SO grateful for awesome friends and neighbors!!! We had a yummy dinner brought to us tonight by our good friends and neighbors across the street. Plus, I was lucky enough to have a few fabulous helpers earlier today. Mandy and her children came. Lance and her son are the best of friends, and she is a dear friend of mine that used to live upstairs. It has been perfect to play together. We both had our baby girls within a months of each other. Aren't these two beautiful??? Her daughter was born with a headful gorgeous dark hair. I will miss all of my sweet friends!

PS- I think this photo of mother and daughter should be framed :) So cute!!!

Hey Baby, Let's Go to Vegas!

I had a lot of anxiety about leaving all our kids and taking off to Vegas and being carefree the week before we move halfway across the country. I talked to my good neighbor about it, thinking she would side with me on the part about "I would rather stay home with my kids and pack", but she firmly said, "GO! Take this opportunity while you can. Just do it!"
And I'm glad she said it because I would do it again!!

Check out this hotel room. It had a kitchen, complete with refrigerator, microwave, and cabinets, plus a dining table set to eat. I kept thinking they would bring our meal in any moment. It was so relaxing! (To help you picture "relaxing", Jared will model it for you.)

Jared has been wanting to take me to Rodizio's for a long time. Finally our day has come!
Picture this with the music , "God Bless America" It was awesome.

Oh ya! I can see a resemblance!Goofin' around

We enjoyed the dinner theatre show, "Fight of Kings" or something like that, at the Excaliber. We tried to go to this show on our honeymoon, but it was sold out. Here's to our second honeymoon! It was so fun. We ate with our fingers, game hens, dragon's blood (tomato soup), and other fun foods. We were stuffed.

I have a photo of us about right here on our honeymoon 11 years ago. Ah! Feels like it was just yesterday!

This trip wouldn't have been possible without Jared's parents and my parents. I'm so grateful to them! It was nice to feel like a couple again for a few days.

Class of 2010

Doesn't this smile say it all?

Jared's parents and usMwah! Mwah!!

I love this man and am so proud of him!!!

FRIENDS

Spouses of students in Jareds class: Michelle lived upstairs in my building and has been the sweetest neighbor anyone could have. She also knew Jared since he was a kid. She was in preschool with his little sister. Margene lives the next building over from me and also had a baby boy just before her husband began med school. I had Kyle about a month after Jared began, and we both had 3 kids and were very busy and husbandless many times, together.

Jared, Nate, and Jeremy

Jared and Josh, Margene's hubbie

Jessica and me. We were both pregnant going into med school also. Her little boy and Kyle have been great little buddies. She finished nursing school while he was beginning medical school and supported the family. I don't know how she did it.

Jared and Garrett, Jessica's hubbie

I caught a picture just as Jeremy and Jen were leaving. Jen is an amazing, talented beautician that very professionally cut and styled the neighborhood's hair, including Jared and mine, for an unbelievable low price - plus, if you ever needed an idea planted into your spouse's head, she's the one to do it.

We will miss her and Jeremy, as well as the rest of our sweet dear friends pictured here or not, SO MUCH! I'm so grateful to have gotten the chance to rub shoulders and party with the talented, intelligent, fun people in Jared's class!

He's a Doctor!!!

Medical Graduates Reception

We were blessed enough to live in student housing with these great friends in Jared's class. I'm so grateful for these friendships and good times!

Dinner with Grandma Jenny

Jared's Grandma Jenny (and Jared also has a sister named, "Jenny"! And his other sister married a "Jared", just to keep us confused - wait, no, I think she liked him, too) invited us over for a delicious meal of coconut shrimp and other yummy goodies. She has always been a talented cook. Hopefully I can cook this recipe like she told me it's done.

Lance's Graduation from Preschool

Lance made great friends in preschool this year. This is his friend, Jonah. On the first day of preschool, Lance noticed that they both wore the same shoes (crocs). This friendship was meant to be. Their dads both happen to be in medical school. While having a playdate one day, they had a hiliarious conversation about their dad's careers here.

Raise your hand if you're 3 years old! There were two 3 year olds in the bunch that got a turn to run under the parachute while it was up in the air.Cami found her spot in someone else's stroller.This little girl is amazing and inspiring. She has a disability where she cannot use her hands, but she doesn't let that stop her. She writes, eats, and does most things with her feet. The entire preschool class absolutely loves this sweet, beautiful girl.Lance is congratulated and given a certificate by one of his teachers. Wanna see?

Twinners! His other preschool teacher called him "G.I. Joe" because he wore camoflauge every chance he got.

What a great year this has been! Lance has had so much fun this year with his friends in preschool. I can't believe he's going to Kindergartin!

Jace Can Hunt Now

Jace passed his hunter safety course with flying colors today. He'd been studying the Hunter Proclamation all week, but was nervous because he didn't get to finish reading it. His dad gave him a crash course before the test.
Jared said that he peeked in at Jace while he was taking the test at one point and Jace was gazing around doing nothing when he caught his dad's eye and he excitedly clapped his hands (quietly) and had this big grin on his face. Jared heard the instructor asking question #34 out of 50, and Jared was like, "What are you doing, Jace?" He gave a hand signal as if he was writing like, "Get it done! Finish the test!" And Jace mouthed back, "I'm done!"
Soon after, he got back his score and he got a 100%!!
He also scored well on the shooting test ( they count how many you have within range of the bullseye).
Now he can hunt small game with his dad. Way to go, Jace!!