MMM....Yummy???

Rigdon has surprised us with another first! He LOVES rice cereal, and really eats it!

I couldn't shovel it in fast enough for him.

He continues to have a super sensitive tummy...we are going all organic with him so far. He can handle the rice, but threw up the bananas and sweet potatoes. I think we will keep it pretty simple for awhile.

The girls were big helps feeding him!

4 1/2 months old!

Surivival of the FITTEST!

We SURVIVED saying goodbye to all of our sweet friends who were graduting and moving on! It is such a bitter sweet moment. We hate to loose them, but love thier accomplishment.

We also SURVIVED saying see ya laters to our friends who will be waiting for us when we get back! We are happy that we will have some constants in our life at least for another year!

We SURVIVED packing and cleaning our house in preparation for our 8 week vacation (Josh can we call it a vacation?) We GIGGLED after we loaded the girls in the car and drove from our apartment to Joshs school (about a mile away) to grab some papers on the way out. The girls, I kid you not, asked if we were in UTAH! YES, we packed and cleaned for 2 days, loaded everything on top of our car and into the back, got movies and games and treats all for a 1 min car ride! YOU WISH!

We SURVIVED driving 21 hours straight (stopping only to get gas and go potty twice)!

We SURVIVED thenext day getting only 20 miles in 3 hours due to Brielles sick little tummy, and having to change out a wiper blade.

We SURVIVED 2 blowout from Rigs, but at least it wasn't a tire!

Needless to say we SURVIVED a 40 hour car ride with 3 kids!

Today was Josh's first day on his internship and we SURVIVED saying our goodbye for the week. The plan is for him to leave Monday morning for Orem and come back Friday night. We can already tell that in order to SURVIVE we will need a Wednesday visit.

Josh SURVIVED his first day reporting that the worst part of the day was the 6 inches of SNOW! We are sure missing our Virginia weather of 85-90 degrees.

I am SURVIVING my first of many lonely night! The days always seem about the same, but it is the night time when the true ache sets in.

The good thing is we know that this is just for a short time and like alway time will pass and like always WE WILL SURVIVE!

oh this girl!

This girl has to be pushed just a little. While at Busch Gardens she gets a little nervous. There was a couple of rides we literally carried her on and she ended up giggling and loving it the whole time. Josh really wanted to take her on the swings and she did not want to go. She didn't even want to do the little kid ones. Josh finally just said she was doing it. Here is how the conversations went as they were walking to the line.

Hope: "ok I do the little ones, not the big ones, I do the little ones! I do the little ones!

Josh: "No were going to do the big ones ok?"

Hope: "umkay" in a small defeated voice. Sometimes she gives in so easily.

She came running off to tell me all about the fun big swings. She is so silly. She just needs that little push.

"I AM NOT 5 YET!"

This morning while Brielle was eating breakfast I said to her

"Happy Birthday my big 5 year old!"

She replied "I am not 5 yet!"
Me:"You are 5! Today is the day, you are officially 5"

She ran back into the back. I assumed she was going to tell Josh that she was, in fact, finally 5. When I found her in her room I was surprised to see her standing on the top bunk.

"See mom!" She said very insistent "I am not 5! My head does NOT touch the ceiling and Haileys does and she is 5!"

Hailey is very tall for her age. I had to explain that 5 years come in all different heights, and you could be tall or short and still be 5.

Here are Brielle's Kindergarten check up stats:

41 pounds (50 %)
42 ins. tall (70%)

Today we took her to kangaroo Jac's to celebrate the day. It was a fun little surprise.
Happy Birthday my big 5 year old!

Happy 6th anniversary!

For our anniversary (which was actually the same night as Brielles slumber party) we went to Busch Gardens! ALL BY OURSELVES! We got to ride the big roller coasters, we didn't have to push any strollers, or make a potty stop every time we saw the bathroom.

It was more than FANTASTIC!

We went on all the rides in 5 hours. It is amazing how much faster you can go without kids.
We had a great night and a great anniversary. We felt like kids again.

Happy 6th anniversary babe!

Thanks Jill and Victoria for watching the kiddos!

The long awaited Birthday!

Brielle has been talking about her birthday for a year now. Last year must have been a disappointment, because as soon as it was over she was talking about this year. She has never had a friend party, it was the big #5, and she talked non-stop about it, so we went BIG!

We invited 7 girls

The food and craft table

Brielle went to the store with me and picked out all the treats and junk food they were going to eat. It is all her favorite things!

The cake! I can't believe there is a 5 on top of that cake!

And I made this tent for them to sleep in! It was so much fun!

The girls started coming and immediately started having pillow fights. I didn't even know they knew you were suppose to have pillow fights at sleepovers...it must be natural. They were all so excited they could hardly stand it. For a lot of them, it was their first sleepover.

We painted wooden paper dolls.

and josh painted nails. The girls thought it was pretty funny when he painted his own too.

We had pillow case races.

We ate cake and ice cream.

We played duck, duck, goose.

And then (like a crazy person) I thought we could turn on a movie and they would magically all fall asleep. They just wanted to go play, so play they did.

About 10:30 we pulled them out of Brie's room and told them it was time to settle down and Brielle picked out another movie. By now, Destiny was asleep on the couch. She was the first one. We laid all the girls down in their sleeping bags.
Brielle came in and sat on Joshs' lap and said she needed a little break.
She was asleep in seconds.

Eventually one by one they all started dropping off. The last 2 were just before midnight. I wanted a picture of them all sleeping soundly so I tip toed out and left the lights off and snapped a picture. When I looked at it Destiny (who was sleeping on the couch) was gone. I panicked! I started counting bodies. Checked the locked door, and went to get Josh. We flipped on the lights and finally found her....

Laying right on top of Brielles head. (this is zoomed in from the picture above) She had fallen off the couch. We were laughing so hard that not one of them woke up.

So, they are finally sleeping soundly right? We can go in and go to bed. I was so surprised to wake up to GIGGLING GIRLS at 4:00 AM! Yes 4:00! I quickly went out and told them to go back to sleep, I then laid on the couch so they would be quite. Brielle is the only one who slept through the 4:00 am giggle fest.


In the morning we had breakfast! Just cereal and yogurt, nothing fancy, but by that time I was exhausted. I had bought the straw cereal bowls though so they were excited.

Brielle thought the party was fantastic! She kept telling me "MOM your the best. Your the coolest. You are the best mom ever!" Every time I put a new decoration up she would exclaim "it is so beautiful..."
Needless to say I think it was a success.

Happy Birthday my BIG 5 year old!

busch gardens

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