This is the place

It took a looooong time. Much longer than I would have liked in fact. But at the beginning of December, we finally got OUT of Helena for the first time in almost a year and a half. We'd been on an overnight trip with the girls to Billings, MT in October 2008, but that was just for a doctor appointment for Samantha. We also went to Great Falls, MT in September 2009 for my nephew's baby blessing, but that was only a day trip. Seriously, every time I drove to Jefferson City to my parents' house 20 minutes away I wanted to just keep driving south!!! We just never had the reasons and resources to make any trips.

We knew that my nephew T. J. was getting baptized at the beginning of December and that Ross's parents were coming up to Utah from California for it.We spent a while wishing and scheming and dreaming. Then it just came to a point where we knew we wanted to go and we weighed out all the good and the bad of the trip until we finally knew it would be worth it! Our top priority was to see Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins again. We also needed to go to the temple again. We could see and show our children Temple Square all lit up for Christmastime. And oh so many other reasons seemed to trump the stupid money issue.

So we left Thursday morning, December 3rd and made the drive to Provo to stay with my oldest brother Jeff and his family. It's always interesting making those long trips with more and more members of our family all the time, but we made the 8 hour trip in about 9 hours. Better than it coulda been. Once we got into Utah we had fun counting the temples we could see from the freeway with the kids. :o)

We got up and went to the temple on Friday morning. Our cute, sweet niece Melinda is going to BYU and came over to Jeff's house to babysit. Ross's parents also drove up from Payson where they were staying and helped out so they could play with the kids.

Our temple experience was wonderful. It had been way too long, I hate to admit. It is so refreshing and uplifting to go. We went to the Provo temple and came away feeling the need to go again soon.

While we were there, I saw Elizabeth Smart coming out of the dressing room. I briefly tried to mouth to Ross who it was and then stopped myself knowing that she probably gets that all the time and doesn't need or want to be gawked at. It did make me think about what an amazing person she must be and that I am so happy for her making the decision to go on a mission (to FRANCE, lucky girl) and showing her strength to the world. My trials feel minimal and I am awed by her example of rising above.

We spent some time talking with Grandma and Grandpa and then headed up to Salt Lake City to see my sister Wendy. She lives in a cute little apartment downtown and can see the temple from her kitchen window. We went up to see if she could take our family picture again, but it was too cold and windy. She'd tried at Thanksgiving, but Luke was so extremely sleepy we could hardly keep him in the picture. If you got our Christmas card, that's why he looks the way he does. :o)

We went to Temple Square that night with Mike, pregnant Wendy, and cutie Cecily. We bundled up and walked down the hill. It was twinkly and breathtaking everywhere you looked. I read in the Friend magazine that the lights start going up August 1st and are finally all down by March 31st. Wow! That's a lot of hard work, but it makes for a beautiful, spiritual sight. I started crying as we watched the life size nativity display presentation with the powerful music and script and the testimony of President Thomas S. Monson. It was a magical evening.

Our family next to the Conference Center on the way down the hill.

Samantha and Logan

Ross and Logan

Uncle Mike, Cecily, Wendy and her tummy ;o)

Two reasons I'm putting up this random picture: One is because it shows Samantha RUNNING from picture to picture of Jesus. She was so excited to read the plaques on the pedestals in front of each scene of Christ's life. (Makes a momma feel good.) The second reason is this shows me wearing Mike's shoes! I was stupid and only brought my high heeled boots to Wendy's. Her feet are tiny compared to mine (I've decided not to hate her for that) and so Mike pulled out one of his smaller pairs of sneakers for me. Thanks Mike!

Lukey and Becky all bundled up

Samantha and Janet

Another family shot

On Saturday we met Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins at the Provo Towne Center Mall and just hung out for a while eating lunch and looking around. Then we all went up to Taylorsville for T.J.'s baptism. It was so adorable to see how excited he was. Everyone was commenting on how he couldn't stand still and then when he finally had to stand still his little toes were still wiggling. It was so wonderful to participate in that special day with Uncle Stephen's family.

T.J. chose IHOP for his post-baptism dinner celebration.

T.J. was confirmed a member of the Church the next day in sacrament meeting and we went over to Stephen's house for enchilada casserole afterward. Here's Logan, Michael, Rebecca, Samantha, T. J., Hunter, and Baby Zaden.

Amy and Zaden. Look at those big blue eyes!

We had so much fun staying with Jeff's family. Celina made lemon cake one night and the kids enjoyed it!

Esther and Samantha
It was fun to be at a house where the Christmas tree was already up. The most fun, though, was that we were also there for Dutch Christmas! Jeff worked at Novell in Holland for two years and so they continue to celebrate. Esther was excited to tell her cousins how it worked. The kids put their shoes out by the door for a few nights while we were there and in the morning little gifts were left inside, I think, by the helper Black Pete. The final night Sinterklaas came and left even more candy and presents. It was a lot of fun! We even got online and watched some videos of the Dutch News tracking Sinterklass and listened to Celina and Esther sing carols in Dutch as well.


Here's darling little Stevie Denny with a popcorn bowl on his head. Looks like a top hat! "Start spreadin' the news..."

"At the Wilky, Wilkinson Center! R.M.'s and Freshman are making connections at the Wilky! Will they find love?"

On Monday we went to the BYU campus just for fun. Why was it fun? I'm not sure, but Ross and I enjoyed remembering things and showing the kids this BYU place we're always talking about. (Sidenote: We've got a "My First BYU Boardbook" that we do at storytime. The fight song is in the back and we sing it with the kiddoes. Can we call it a lullaby?) Luke was cute because he saw the "Y" up on the mountain and started yelling, "BYU, MOM! BYU!" Training 'em young, I tell ya!

We had a lunch at the Cougareat. Wow. I'm only 32. I stood there in line with my purse on my shoulder feeling out of place. I didn't have on a backpack and coat. I wasn't talking about classes or finals or that cute boy in my ward. Did I look old to those kids I only have 10-13 years on? Was there a matronly air about me? Not sure, but it was a strange feeling.

We walked around the bookstore for a while and then went back downstairs to the bowling alley and game room Logan had seen on the way in and kept talking about the entire time we'd been upstairs. It was great to kill a little time there too.

Ross was happy to get a little time at a pinball machine.

Mommy helping Luke play skee ball (Camera phone at work here.)

We had Family Home Evening with the Lay family that night. Celina suggested we go to the Monte L. Bean museum on campus. We used to park there all the time for football games, but I'd never actually been inside. It was a great little place. I was floored by the amount of animals we saw in there. There were so many I'd never even heard of! (Do you know what a Water Deer is? It has a hung fang!) Obviously I need to educate myself more.

Samtha smiling in front of a diorama

Here's one cute Rebecca standing in front of the Baby Jesus surrounded by a whole lot of animals I wasn't aware were in Bethlehem. ;o) Seriously, isn't that a funny, but neat display?

Logan in the Africa room

This huge bear scared the kids. It was around a corner and all of a sudden loomed up in front of you!

An example of an animal I'd never heard of. Look how it's just about as big as the hippo it's next to!

Ross and Becky by the North American animals I did recognize.

So, the next time you're really excited and you say, "WAHOO!" you can think of this fish. :o)

Luke giving me that cute look in the insect room

Okay, so I liked this display and had to get a closer shot of it. I'm weird that way.

Aunt Celina, Samantha, and Logan hanging out with the giant clam.

Not sure what we're looking at here, but I'm usually on camera duty, so here I am in a picture Celina took. It was a fun place and we're glad we went.

We left Tuesday morning and drove again by the new In-N-Out Burger in Orem. Every time we went by the line was extremely long and the inside was packed too. It would have been nice to go, but I don't think our four little kids would appreciate that yummy place as much as we do and be willing to wait that long to boot.

It was a quick, but memorable little vacation that we are very happy we took. Sometimes the money factor has to just fly out the window!

The Power of Music

It was one of those days for me. I'm not completely sure why, but I really felt the Adversary working on me today. A few stupid things happened and I felt frustrated and inadequate and that made me whiny and upset. Not a pretty thing to be around.

My fabulous sister-in-law, Celina, who has been the big sister I never had since she married my brother nearly 15 years ago, let me vent to her. Vent is putting it mildly. But she listened.

Later, I called my mom. She has always listened to me when I needed it for as long as I've been her daughter. She was extremely patient with me because I know (and even said to her) that I was being a baby and that I already knew what I needed to do to solve my problems. She was sweet and kind and offered good advice and insight as always.

Eventually, I called my little sister. We've become so much closer as we've gotten older and I'm really grateful for that. She let me burst out with the same issues I'd already complained about to others. I knew that she got exactly where I was coming from and understood how I was feeling even if how I was feeling was a little ridiculous.

And finally, my wonderful husband dealt with me throughout the day. First I chatted with him online about what was going on and then we talked on the phone with him ever taking care of me and asking what he could do to help me feel better. He got home and got the kids dinner and then played video games with them and was even wonderful enough to still go work on our basement we're still trying to finish.

You'd think that after all this love and support I'd be doing great. It felt good to get it out, obviously, since I did it multiple times. But as I said, I know this was a day that Satan knew I needed to do good things and rise above the difficult parts of life, so he was working on me extra hard to keep me from that. As Ross got home and started bustling around doing things, my mood was still poor and pathetic. Silly, silly me.

A couple of Mother's Days ago, Ross bought me an iPod Shuffle. It took me a while to ever work up a playlist to put on it and use it. I felt bad when he'd ask me if I had liked it because there I was ignoring this gift. I finally loaded it and it has become a stress reliever for me. I usually use it when I'm cleaning house because I forget I'm cleaning (to some degree) if I'm listening to the music. (Just ask my brothers who'd get mad at me for dancing to the radio they had on while I was supposed to be helping them with the dishes.) Usually I like the upbeat songs then because they spur me on to do the work.

This evening I finally realized I needed to get in and clean the kitchen. My iPod didn't have much of a charge, but I put it on anyway. So here's the point to this post: I could hardly believe the songs that came on when I pressed play. They were exactly what I needed.

The first song is called "J'attendais" which means "I Was Waiting" and is sung by Celine Dion. I've always loved it because it talks about going through life not realizing that you were waiting for that certain someone until you meet them and their love brings more meaning to your life. Tonight, however, brought a slightly different thought to my mind because today was a day of impatience for me. I kept telling my mother how I HATE WAITING. I'm tired of things taking so long and feeling so tedious. As I heard the song tonight it made me think first of my sweet husband and that in that regard, I'm not waiting anymore. I have him and he's wonderful and he does bring so much meaning to my life. And I also thought about waiting and that it really is part of the Lord's plan. He knows what is best for us and we will learn and grow as we have to wait sometimes.

Then the song "Every Season" by Kenneth Cope came on. I love the message in it because it talks about the fact that we will have our happy, bright summers of life, but that the change of fall will come, because it always does, and brings the wintery cold of trial and hard times with it. The blessing though, and the thing to remember, is that the blossoms of life, the renewal that spring brings lies in wait and oh! how wonderful it feels and how much we appreciate it when it comes! God's presence is there in all the seasons and in all the seasons of our life. Each part is beautiful and teaches us something.

After that, a song called "If You Want Me To" came on. My sister Wendy found it and gave it to me a few years back. The girl who sings it, Ginny Owens, we later found out is blind and the song took on greater meaning. She sings about knowing that even though you can feel unsure about life, knowing that the Lord loves you gives you a desire to go through the trials anyway. There are so many lines in it like, "I'm clinging to the promise that you're not through with me yet." and "I'll remember the suffering your love put you through, and I'll go through the valley if you want me too." I guess remembering that we're never alone helps.

About that time my kids were being kids. Hungry, wanting attention, and demanding in various other ways. My patience was still short as Rebecca stood at my feet screaming and crying for no apparent reason. I couldn't console her no matter what I did. Then the song "Old Eyes" by Kenneth Cope came on. He wrote it for two of his little daughters and it speaks about the miracle of little children and how close they are to heaven having only recently left. They are "fresh from forever". They can teach us so much and help us put things in the right perspective with their innocence and faith. So I stopped trying to do other things, picked up my baby girl, and rocked her on a chair at my dining table. I think she and I both started feeling better.

A Jim Brickman song called "The Gift" sung by Collin Raye and Susan Ashton started next and I was reminded of the gifts in my life, in particular my husband. I prayed to marry the right man more than I've ever prayed about anything. I was truly blessed to have him come into my life. I love the line that says, "You saved my heart from being broken apart." He is a true gift in my life.

The next song was "Angel Standing By" by Jewel. There's not much to it. Jewel's pretty high voice and a very short, tender lyric about watching over your loved ones. It made me smile because I feel that from those who love me and also because it's on the soundtrack to the movie "Return to Me" which is an all-time favorite of ours. Warm fuzzy.

Then I heard the song "Smaointe" by Enya. I have no idea what she's singing about or even what language it is. (Gaelic, I think?) That didn't matter. Enya's music is soul soothing and I've known it to be that for a long time. My mother used to play Enya for the kids in her daycare to help them go to sleep at nap time. She has used it often in hospital stays she's had to go through. It made me think more about how music influences us like few other things do.

Another Celine Dion song came on called "Then You Look At Me". Okay, so I'm a sucker for big, over-the-top, mushy love ballads. Not everyone's preference, but as for me, I love them. Again, I thought of Ross and how he can make me feel better about everything, sometimes by just being there. Even when he's doing the "man" thing and trying to fix the problem when I'm not looking for that yet, I still know he cares and wants me to be happy as I want him to be. Having him as a partner through life to make decisions with, raise children with, and to enjoy all that we can is amazing.

Finally, the last song that spoke to me was "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone. It's a love song, I guess, but for me it's always been my song with my mom. It came out around the time I was born and my mother connected it to me. I distinctly remember a time when it came on the radio and my mom called me into her bedroom and stood there behind me with her arms around my shoulders, rocking and crying as she talked to me about it and told me how much she loved me. It has a special place in my heart and can make me emotional. I hope my mom knows how much I love her too and hope I can ever be even the tiniest bit as wonderful as she is.

So all these songs were on the slower, mellower side and it was the music, not only the lyric, that slowly brought me out of my funk and made me think about things I hadn't been. Knowing that the Lord's plan is perfect, I'm so grateful to know that music is a part of that. I know that we need to seek out good music and not just any song that is cranked out these days.

Yes, I'm kinda sappy. I realize that as I read over what I've just written. It may also be kind of weird for me to say I think that I needed to hear these songs. Is it possible that the Lord guided those specific songs to play tonight? That sounds a little strange, but I'm not ruling anything out. What do you think?




J'attendais
Every Season
If You Want Me To
Old Eyes
The Gift
Angel Standing By
Smaointe
Then You Look At Me
You Light Up My Life

Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins!

To our Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins in California:
We love you and miss you so much! Here's some Christmas Greetings from your Montana grandkids to you.

Samantha and Logan : A Short Christmas Concert

Luke sort of lets me video him

Rebecca "talking" to the grandparents
(When she crosses her two little fingers, that's her way of doing "I love you" in sign language. ) :o)

Merry Christmas!

Ornaments 2009

First of all, I am sadly not a good photographer. Secondly, the camera is about 6 years old. So forgive the quality of these photos and let me tell you anyway how excited I am about our Christmas ornaments this year! I'm not even sure why.
I grew up from the time I was 4 getting my very own Christmas ornament every year. It's a tradition I enjoy still and have continued for the last 10 Christmases since I got married.
Many years we get the ornament to coincide with something we did that year, but with my kids still being little right now there's not always a major event to match an ornament to. It occurred to me that my mom did many years where the whole family got ornaments of a similar theme. My favorite one is a little ceramic mouse climbing on a star, so I thought it would be fun to find some ceramic ornaments and take the time to paint them all oh-so-cute. Looked around a little bit and they were either too expensive or not that cute. (And seriously, would I have really gotten them done in time?)
Enter a visit to Wal-Mart. Lots of things to complain about with that store, but every once in a while I find a silly cheap thing that is just what I wanted! I came across a collection of gold tone ornaments. They were only (as you can see in the pictures) $2.50! I found some that worked for our family and thought they might be okay.
At some point I wondered if there would be a way to get color onto them. Paint seemed like it would flake off and be hard to do. I remembered some markers we got to color the pumpkin at Halloween, but they were too watery to stay on the metal surface. Then I grabbed my black fine point Sharpie marker and started to color on Logan's penguin. It worked! I found some more markers in other colors and went to town on the ornaments. I think they turned out pretty cute for the minimal cost and effort. I love it when a plan comes together!:o)

Luke's Snowman

Rebecca's Puppy

Ross and Janet's Angel Kids

Logan's Penguin

Samantha's Kitty

The "Before" look

Halloween and Prize winning chili!

BOO!
Our Halloween festivities were tons of fun this year.
We started things off the morning of the 30th by getting Samantha all dolled up for her school party. I'd braided her hair in seven little braids the night before and so it was good and "crinkly" (as she puts it) the next morning for her Ariel costume. We'd borrowed it from her cousin Maryann at 9:30 the night before. (Loooooong search for a costume with 3 of the 4 kids in tow. So not fun. I gotta get more organized!) Samantha was darling and had fun, fun, fun, at school. They had a parade, a party, lots of Halloween activities and even read by flashlight!


That night we went to our ward party at church. It was a chili cook-off and pumpkin decorating contest. We went to the chili cook-off last year and thought to ourselves that if the ward did it again we'd have to remember to make our Creamy White Chili recipe. So we did! Ross whipped up a batch and I decorated the pumpkin with some permanent markers and a clown wig I bought the night before.

As always, the kids had fun running around. There was a family that came in some darling costumes, including this little boy, Spencer, who was dressed up as a Jedi. Logan "battled" with him the whole night! This picture is a little blurry, but it's funny to me because the fact that he didn't actually have a light saber was not a problem! Imaginations are the best!

Our pumpkin won the "Most Colorful" prize. We were the only ones that didn't carve ours, but that was fine with me!

We enjoyed lots of yummy chili that everyone else had made and even a bowl or two of ours just because we enjoy it. We sat and listened as the sister in charge gave out prizes for the chili like "So mild you could serve it in a rest home", "Most likely to put hair on your chest", "5 alarm chili", and so on. She got to the "Best of Show" prize and much to our surprise, WE WON! We thought maybe it would win in one of the other random categories, but it won the overall award. We got a kick out of it and so did the kids. Our prize was a bowl full of beans glued onto a pedestal and spray painted silver. We also got an official certificate (printed off someone's computer only hours before). ;o)

Here we are posing with our prizes! (Sigh. This was the worst picture and angle of me, but the only one where everyone was facing forward.)

The next day on Halloween we lounged around the house. Not really. Rebecca and Logan had both thrown up during the night, so we were watching them carefully all day. Luke had been really sick like that a couple of days earlier, so we were worried Logan wouldn't be up to trick or treat. Thankfully he was just fine to the point of bouncing off the walls!
The kids played all day and then that afternoon I got busy working on carving our pumpkin. At 5:00 we set off for the Trunk or Treat at the church. (Oh, how we love the ease of the Trunk or Treat!)

Bumblebee and Optimus Prime were there!

But really it was just those cute boys, Logan and his cousin Isaac.

Here's the darling Princess Liana (AKA Olivia) and Thomas the Train (AKA Luke)!

Samantha and Maryann as a BYU cheerleader and Ariel the Mermaid

This was a fun picture to take. We had to take about seven to get one where all 3 one year olds were smiling, but it was worth it. Aren't they adorable? Rebecca is Boo from Monsters, Inc. Brady is Luigi from Super Mario Brothers. Hyrum is a Puppy Dog.
My other nephews (Brady's older brothers) were there too as a football player, ninja and Mario, but they are almost 12, 8, and 6, so they were running around getting candy and were harder to pin down for a picture.
We decided to go to the Helena mall after the Trunk or Treat was over. Uh, lame. That's only word for it. It was only 5:30 and the two stores that actually seemed to be giving candy were already out of it.

I had no idea what to do for Rebecca's costume until the LAST minute. I suddenly remembered that I could easily do "Boo". We already had jammies and Sully and Rebecca certainly looks just as much at 18 months like Boo as Samantha did at 16 months. See?

Boo -- 2009

Boo -- 2003


Grandma and Grandpa Lay briefly stopped by with a baggies of Halloween treats for the kids and brought lots of hugs and kisses with them too.

Here's my creation on our doorstep that night. Yes, I carved the pumpkin this year! I was going to flip the pumpkin around to the side opposite our drawn-on clown face and then decided that I'd just carve the face out instead. I even figured out how to keep the general look of the mouth. Yes, I was very pleased with myself!

Cute, huh?

At about 9:00 that night, all the kids were in bed, the house was quiet and we were enjoying it. The doorbell rang. It was, of course, teenagers. Ross gave them his best gruff adult voice and said, "Really, you guys? It's nine o'clock. Really?" But then he turned to get the bowl of candy, saw that we still had a ton left and ended up giving each kid 3 or 4 pieces each, to which one kid replied, "I thought so." :o)

It was a fun little holiday this year. Look forward next year to a darling Little Red Riding Hood because I got an adorable costume for Rebecca at the clearance sales!

Logan Dennis, 5 and counting

In his primary class Logan is literally a head (and sometimes shoulders) shorter than the girls in his class who were born at the beginning of the year. For whatever reason, he's just our little shorty right now. We're pretty sure he won't always be that way, but just because he's not very tall now doesn't mean that there's not a whole lot of energy, personality, vocabulary, and cuteness packed into him!
Logan turned 5 a few weeks ago and we had a very fun day celebrating him. We got up and gave him his new Star Wars t-shirt so he could wear it to his party. He was so excited that it was hard to tell him he couldn't put it on until after I'd given him a bath!
Grandma and Grandpa Lay picked up Logan and Luke and took them to McDonald's for lunch. They played and played on the playground there and Logan got a new Transformer and some matching cards from them. Here's Logan holding up "Sideswipe" in front of Grandpa Lay's face. Good thing we can tell it's Grandpa by the reflection in the mirror. :o)

I kept cleaning and cooking while the boys were gone and then as soon as Samantha got home from school we waited for the guests to arrive for Logan's party! Living close to cousins is like a party all the time, but it also makes for good party guests. Caleb, Jacob, Maryann, Isaac, Olivia, and Hyrum came to have a blast at Logan's Stars Wars party.

Here's our awesome little dude making a very cool Star Wars pose. Notice the sneer curling on his lips. He must have The Force.

The kids played a game in two teams where they had to stick stickers on planets and spaceships worth different point amounts. It was the boys (The Empire) against the girls and Luke (The Rebellion).

And here's the winning Empire team!

On to the presents! Logan obviously enjoyed this part a lot.

He loves the new Thomas the Train puzzle which Luke insisted for days afterward was his.

This is a great plush Mater that came with a soft brown blanket on the inside. Logan loves it and even started insisting that the Winnie-the-Pooh blanket he's loved since he was tiny was "old" and he only wanted the Mater blanket now. My little boy is growing up! Sniff.

Love this grin. We found a Bumblebee Transformer costume for cheap and Logan was thrilled to get to use it for Halloween.

The party guests minus Rebecca and Hyrum, and also Luke who had been in this shot until about 3 seconds before I took the picture. He wouldn't hold still. Sigh...

I racked my brain the night before the party trying to come up with how to do a Star Wars cake. I searched for pictures of R2D2 cakes online, made a weak attempt at drawing him, checked blogs of people I know who have done Star Wars parties and I couldn't come up with anything.
The next morning Logan said he wanted R2D2 and "that gold guy" on his cake. I started wishing I had an applique like I did for Samantha's cake. Finally, it dawned on me that I could just print a picture off the net. Success! I even found a bag of candy stars in my cupboard left over from our gingerbread house last Christmas. I picked out the white, yellow and blue ones and because I was of course running late during the party again, my mom and sister-in-law Celeste helped me throw the cake together. It looked FABULOUS and Logan was very happy with it. Why do we mothers freak out about things like this? I could have killed myself off trying to make something extra cute to impress everyone but the one who mattered most: the Birthday Boy!!!

See how happy he is? (Not to mention adorable?)

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM and cake!

We took the whole family to Applebee's for dinner that night. We were put in a booth, so there was no room for a high chair because the aisle was so narrow. We put Rebecca in a booster seat and she wiggled and wriggled and managed to dump her entire bowl of macaroni on the floor. Next time I will wait until a table is available!!! Aside from that little mishap, Logan loved the waiters coming to sing to him and getting his very own special dessert. (Notice Rebecca's funny face in the background and the fact that she's NOT in her booster seat.)

I realized that I hadn't gotten a picture of Logan in front of the game he was so excited about, so when we got home and he'd already put on his pajamas I made him put his shirt back on and pose in front of it. Yes, there's a glare and no, I'm not a good photographer. Someday I'll upgrade my camera, but since the subject matter is so darling I'm good for now.

My brothers used to get me to make this face every time my parents would try to take a photo of me. Logan does it well!

This is just us playing around that night. It's a horrible shot looking straight up my nose, but I love the fun, crazy, giggly feel the picture has.

We gave Logan a few more gifts before he went to bed. He'd been asking for a toy called "Tractor Tippin'" from the Cars movie. He asked everyone he saw that day if they present they got him was "Tractor Tippin' Fun" and so we had to get him on video when he opened it. He loves to talk and you'll notice I have a hard time getting him to stop. Again the lighting is poor, but it was still worth taking because he was so funny on camera.

He crawled into bed that night and said, "That was a REALLY great day!!!" and Ross and I were once again grateful to have been blessed with our funny little talkative short guy. Emergency c-sections can be worth the end result.

Three years of Luke Blaine

What a fun ride we've had so far! We celebrated Luke's 3rd birthday last week. It's fun to get kids to this age because they are so much more aware of what their birthday is. I got him talking about his day coming up and how old he'd be and much cuteness occurred in his answers. :o)

Our Helena cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Lay came for the party. It's been nice weather (up until today!) so all the cousins ran straight for the back yard when they arrived. It's so nice to have a yard! Two years in this house and I'm still thankful.



Rebecca was putting on the cute that night so she made it into a couple of pictures!

Luke got a rug from G & G Lay that has a picture of Radiator Springs from the CARS movie on it. He and Logan have been having a ton of fun running their cars around it!

This present was a big case full of play tools and a hard hat. I love that you can't even see Luke in the picture! Just his little foot.

We took the kids to the Dollar Store to get little gifts for Luke. Logan gave him this 25 piece Mickey Mouse puzzle. Luke LOVES it! He has been playing with it constantly since his birthday. He loves to "scwamble" it up and do it over and over again! (And isn't this a great pic of the top of my head!)

I found this idea online for his "cake". The one online was a little more elaborate and had colored frosting, but I love how my version turned out. (Samantha thought that the chocolate frosting meant these were coal cars!) I used Sour Patch Kids for the "people" and was thrilled to find the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" toothpick candles for added decoration. It helped to already have a Thomas Train that was just the right size for the graham cracker cars.

Here's Rebecca stealing the shot with all her adorableness again.

My friend Kim posted pictures of her kids through the years which I thought was so adorable. So because I'm only creative enough sometimes to imitate others, here's my darling boy's life so far:

Newborn (My "little" 9 lbs 7 ozs baby!)

One year old

Two years old

Three years old with all his birthday loot!